Original Item: Only One Available. This is a fair example of a rather iconic WWI Liberty Bonds propaganda poster. The poster is pasted at the top and bottom to the cardboard on which it lays.

During World War I, American propaganda played on the fears of its citizens, including potential foreign invasion by the 'barbaric Hun.' Such propaganda tactics were used in fundraising campaigns, specifically the Liberty Bond program.

The phrase ‘Hun’ refers to the Hunnic Empire, specifically Attila the Hun in the 5th Century. The term became associated with Germany after Kaiser Wilhelm II gave a speech in 1900, praising the aggressive and merciless tactics of Attilla’s armies. The speech, known as the Hun Speech or Hunnenrede, is considered the origin of the pejorative term.

“Beat Back the Hun” was one of many posters issued by the U.S. government during World War I to encourage support of the war. This poster shows a bestial and massive German soldier, his head and shoulders looming over a war-stricken landscape.

The artwork was done by Frederick Strothmann. Strothmann was born in New York City in 1872, although some sources say in Philadelphia in 1879. Little is known about his early life, except that his parents were migrants to the United States from Germany. He studied art at the Carl Hecker School of Art in New York, the Royal Academy in Berlin and in Paris.

By 1900, Strothmann was established as an illustrator, working for The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, Life, Harper's Magazine, and Good Housekeeping. He also illustrated many books. Strothmann created a well-known poster for the Liberty Bond drive of 1918, "Beat back the Hun with Liberty Bonds", showing a German soldier with blood on his hands, holding a bayonet and coming over the Atlantic Ocean towards burning ruins, which became an iconic image of the First World War.

Strothmann and his family were living in Manhattan at the time of the censuses of 1910, 1920, 1930 and 1940, and he ended his life living in Flushing, Queens, where he died in 1958.

An obituary noted that Strothmann had continued to work as an illustrator until two years before his death.

The poster is in fair condition considering the age, but it is not without fault. There are several tears along the bottom as shown, with one going up about 11”. There is some discoloration, possibly from water damage. The top of the poster is much cleaner, and it will look much better framed. The poster is pasted to the cardboard at the top and bottom, so it would be safer to frame the entire board instead of trying to remove it.

A lovely example ready to be displayed and framed.