France’s Prussian Nemesis
Mark Bryant on how French cartoonists of the 1870s responded to national humiliation at the hands of a beligerent Prussia.
Though the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 lasted less than a year, it was fiercely fought not only by the armies of both sides but also by the cartoonists and caricaturists of their respective nations. These drawings had a particularly powerful impact in France as the war took place during the heyday of some of the country’s greatest satirical artists, from Honoré Daumier, Cham and Alfred Le Petit to Faustin, Pilotell and Draner. They were greatly aided by the main personalities involved, who were a gift to caricaturists – Napoleon III with his long, waxed moustache, Wilhelm I of Prussia with his bushy side-whiskers, and the bulldog-like Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck.
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