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Description: | obverse: giants, four, standing side by side, facing, the group enclosed by a glory of rays. Each figure supports a shield
and holds a point-grounded sword. The shields bear the arms of, from left to right respectively, Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary, Germany and
Turkey. In the foreground, a column of German infantry marching from left to right. To the right are three large howitzers. At the giants'
feet, artillery pieces and, in the distant background, marching columns of troops.
exergue: 'VIERBUND' (in small indented characters)
In this circa 1916 allegorical piece medallist Ludwig Gies (1887-1966) uses his fascination with the machinery of
warfare to commemorate the military strength of the Central Powers or 'Vierbund' (translated as 'The Quadruple Alliance'). The emphasis on
artillery pieces to suggest destructive power and armed might reflects the primacy of large calibre ordnance in the First World War (the
war of guns). Gies' depiction of the human participants in warfare as diminutive columns of massed marching figures emphasises their
powerlessness and subservience to the enormous and deadly modern engines of war. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Subjects: | Allegory Central Powers & 1916 commemorative Artillery Alliance First World War | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Gies, Ludwig | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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