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In: World War I·Humour·British Literature
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #11571.
Mr. Punch’s History of the Great War is a pictorial chronicle that blends the satirical spirit of the famed British magazine with a serious, month‑by‑month account of Britain’s involvement in World War I. The work opens with a poetic dedication to the “O. S.” and his artistic collaborators, then launches into a sweeping prologue that traces Mr. Punch’s imagined life from the Crimean War through the rise of the German empire, using a series of cartoons to comment on each geopolitical shift. The author, Charles L. Graves, makes clear that the volume is not a conventional military history; rather, it is a “mirror of varying moods” that records the home front’s morale, the Empire’s mobilisation, and the evolving perception of Germany as a menace, all illustrated with the magazine’s characteristic caricatures.
The voice is that of a contemporary British commentator steeped in Edwardian patriotism, employing a blend of lyrical verse, sardonic humor, and earnest exhortation. Its style is dense with period references, newspaper‑style illustrations, and a tone that oscillates between solemn reflection and comic relief. Readers who enjoy World‑War‑I primary sources, the cultural history of wartime journalism, or the satirical art of Punch will find this volume a vivid window into how a nation used humor to endure catastrophe.
The opening · free to read
Though a lover of peace, Mr. Punch from his earliest days has not been unfamiliar with war. He was born during the Afghan campaign; in his youth England fought side by side with the French in the Crimea; he saw the old Queen bestow the first Victoria Crosses in 1857; he was moved and stirred by the horrors and heroisms of the Indian Mutiny. A little later on, when our relations with France were strained by the Imperialism of Louis Napoleon, he had witnessed the rise of the volunteer movement and made merry with the activities of the citizen soldier of Brook Green. Later on again he had watched, not without grave misgiving, the growth of the great Prussian war machine which crushed Denmark, overthrew Austria, and having isolated France, overwhelmed her heroic resistance by superior numbers and science, and stripped her of Alsace-Lorraine.
In May, 1864, Mr. Punch presented the King of Prussia with the "Order of St. Gibbet" for his treatment of Denmark.
In August of the same year he portrayed the brigands dividing the spoil and Prussia grabbing the lion's share, thus foreshadowing the inevitable conflict with Austria.
In the war of 1870-1 he showed France on her knees but defying the new Caesar, and arraigned Bismarck before the altar of Justice for demanding exorbitant securities.
And in 1873, when the German occupation was ended by the payment of the indemnity, in a flash of prophetic vision Mr. Punch pictured France, vanquished but unsubdued, bidding her conqueror "Au revoir."
"Defiance, Emperor, while I have strength to hurl it!"
More than forty years followed, years of peace and prosperity for Great Britain, only broken by the South African war, the wounds of which were healed by a generous settlement. But all the time Germany was preparing for "The Day," steadily perfecting her war machine, enlarging her armies, creating a great fleet, and piling up colossal supplies of guns and munitions, while her professors and historians, harnessed to the car of militarism, inflamed the people against England as the jealous enemy of Germany's legitimate expansion. Abroad, like a great octopus, she was fastening the tentacles of permeation and penetration in every corner of the globe, honeycombing Russia and Belgium, France, England and America with secret agents, spying and intriguing and abusing our hospitality. For twenty-five years the Kaiser was our frequent and honoured, if somewhat embarrassing, guest, professing friendship for England and admiration of her ways, shooting at Sandringham, competing at Cowes, sending telegrams of congratulation to the University boat-race winners, ingratiating himself with all he met by his social gifts, his vivacious conversation, his prodigious versatility and energy.
though unfortunately never nodding in the way that Homer did. (This cartoon, by the way, caused Punch to be excluded for a while from the Imperial Palace.)
In February, 1896, Mr. Punch drew the Kaiser as Fidgety Will. In January, 1897, he was the Imperial actor-manager casting himself for a leading part in Un Voyage en Chine; in October of the same year he was "Cook's Crusader," sympathising with the Turk at the time of the Cretan ultimatum; and in April, 1903, the famous visit to Tangier suggested the Moor of Potsdam wooing Morocco to the strains of
"Unter den Linden"--always at Home, "Under the Limelight," wherever I roam.
"AU REVOIR!"
In 1910 he was Teutonising and Prussifying Turkey; in 1911 discovering to his discomfort that the Triple Entente was a solid fact.
And in September, 1913, he was shown as unable to dissemble his disappointment at the defeat of the German-trained Turkish army by the Balkan League.
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