Oliver O'Hanlon: French Newspaper Cartoons

Sunday 24 April 2016

French Newspaper Cartoons - Ireland's Easter Rising

Ireland's Easter Rising was reported in the French press through the form of articles, photographs and even some editorial / political cartoons. Editorial cartoons have long been a regular feature of many popular French newspapers.

Here, we can see cartoons on the front pages of Le Matin from 1 May 1916 and from Le Petit Journal from 27 April 1916 and 5 May 1916. In the first cartoon we can see what appears to be a soldier complete with German style military helmet with a sword marked 'Dublin'. The caption reads 'un coup d'épée dans l'eau'. This is an idiomatic expression that means - a complete waste of time.

The second cartoon shows the Kaiser and suggests that there is an error in a newspaper report relating to the Rising and the landing of German arms in Ireland. Should it not read that the Germans were repelled from Ireland, they wonder. The last cartoon again refers to the German army and shows a soldier (or possibly Kaiser Wilhelm) being attacked by Asquith's project.

Le Petit Journal was one of the main four dailies in France during the first half of the 20th century. It was a conservative newspaper that sold around 2 million copies at the beginning of the 20th century. Le Matin was one of France's main dailies between the 1910s and 1920s, selling around 1 million copies in 1914.