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Description: | obverse design : bear, Russian, being crushed by a steamroller. Perched on the massive rollers of the machine are the
Imperial German and Austrian eagles. Below the bear a cockade flanked on the left by a page of "The Times" and on the right by a page of
"Le Temps". On each side of the design a curved jaw of a pair of pincers. The jaw on the left terminating in the head of a cock, that on
the right terminating in the head of a lion
reverse text : "UEBER ALLEN. WALZEN IST RUH' - VON ALLEN. ZANGEN SPUEREST DU KAUM EINEN HAUCH - VON SILBERNEN KUGELN SCHWEIGT'S IM
BLAETTERWALDE. WARTE NUR BALDE VOM.AUSHUNGERN AUCH! FREI NACH GOETHE. O.E.W." (embossed in eleven lines)
German First World War medal by Martin Götze constituting an extravagant satire on the failing military power, by 1917,
of the Russian armies, the once feared 'Russian steamroller' (a literal translation of the title). More generally the satire is directed
against the Allied powers (Britain, France and Russia) and their misplaced confidence in their joint military capacity. The reverse text, a
parody of Goethe's 'Wandrers Nachtlied II' is translated as, 'Over all the rollers it is still; of all the pincers you can scarce feel a
breath; the silver bullets are silent in the leafy wood. Wait! Soon, through starvation, you will be too. Freely after
Goethe'. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Subjects: | First World War & Alliance satirical Allied Powers & 1914 = 1917 | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Götze, Martin | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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