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Picture
postcards of the First World War
- Soldiers humour on Great War postcards |
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Of all categories into which war postcards can be
catalogued, humour is the largest. But what is funny
about war, which is violent, ruthless and bloody? It is
precisely because war is all of this and more, that
soldiers need some sort of compensating factor. Many of
these soldiers feared that if they did not laugh at
their hardship they would go mad. It was always an
ironical laughter, not light-hearted amusement.
Generally, there are two themes into which most cards
fit. One displays humour directed at oneself en one’s
own situation, and the other is humour directed at the
enemy. No one nation has a monopoly on any particular
type of honour, yet overall British humour is good
natured and simple, while French and German displays an
underlying vindictiveness.
For the soldiers of the Great War, amusing episodes took
place not only in training and in action, but also on
leave, in romantic situations, in delousing baths and
when dealing with civilians. Postcard designers took
advantage of all these factors, often in full-blown
comic drawings, sometimes in more subtle ways.
Soldiers liked such cards, perhaps because they said
something which they could not themselves express in
words. At times, they regarded the anecdote on the front
of a card as rather more important than the accompanying
drawing. The simplicity of the humour, with its almost
complete lack of sophistication is often striking. But
then the postcards reflect their era. |
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All
picture postcards
are
taken from my own private collection
WWI picture postcards.
Any use of copyrighted images is accidental, and any such
material will be promptly
removed from this site upon notification from the copyright
holder.
© Menno Wielinga - 2009
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