Mo with a message: Lord Kitchener’s World War One call was straight to the point

IT’S the most famous mo ever to have called men to arms (except possibly Hitler’s tiny effort). Along with guilt trips, it worked a treat.

HE points straight at the viewer, eyes blazing, moustache bristling; his message simple and stern.

“Your Country Needs YOU”.

Earl Horatio Kitchener’s steely call to arms was inspired by a front cover of London Opinion Magazine published a century ago today.

The World War I recruitment poster became perhaps the most famous poster of the war and inspired a similar 1917 American poster featuring Uncle Sam in place of Kitchener. It’s been ripped off countless times since — and has plenty of meme variations.

But it was not the most common, or most popular, recruitment poster at the time.

Join up ... the American version.

Call to arms ... the Kitchener cover.

Many other recruiting posters were produced during World War I, using images that appealed to patriotism, mateship and duty, or called on men to halt German militarism or atrocities.

When war came to Europe in 1914, Britain and its allies had a major problem finding enough men to take on the millions of German and Austrian troops.

Initially many in the British government believed the conflict would be over in a few months and their standing army, numbering less than a million, would be adequate for the task.

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Shock value ... a poster by Australian artist Norman Lindsay.

Witty approach ... an Aussie poster. Courtesy State Library NSW

Not so Britain’s new Secretary of State for War, Field Marshall Earl Horatio Kitchener of Khartoum, who argued the war could last years and more soldiers would soon be needed.

Parliament sanctioned the recruitment of 500,000 extra men in stages.

On August 11, 1914, the first official call to arms was published stating “Your King and Country need you”, defining the new terms of service and asking for the first 100,000 volunteers.

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Thousands heeded the call, but as huge numbers fell in the first month of fighting Kitchener asked for the second 100,000.

Even before the second official call to arms was published on September 11, there were calls to get more men to reinforce those in retreat in Europe.

Not really fun and games ... an official poster.

Talk it up ... Kitchener was everywhere.

On September 5, 1914, the London Opinion Magazine ran its Kitchener image, the work of illustrator Alfred Leete.

Official posters published by the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee (PRC) had words, no images and no advertising flair.

Readers of the magazine responded to the magazine’s image, asking for postcard copies.

The magazine made its own limited run of posters which read “Britons” over Leete’s Kitchener image which was followed by the words “Your Country Needs YOU” and “Join your country’s army, God Save the King”. At the bottom was the acknowledgment “Reproduced by permission of London Opinion.” Only three are known to still exist, one sold recently for £30,000 ($A52,000).

Guilt trip ... a recruitment poster from later in the war, circa 1917-18.

Eventually the PRC realised the value of using pictures on its posters, also utilising Kitchener’s impressively stern image on several.

The most popular was an August 1915 poster with a colourised photo of Kitchener and a quote from a July 1915 speech “Men, materials & money are the immediate necessities. Does the call of duty find no response in you until reinforced — let us rather say superseded — by the call of compulsion?” It was a wordier poster for a wordier age.

As the numbers of volunteers dropped off in Britain and in Australia throughout 1915, other tactics were employed to get people to volunteer.

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They need you ... call to arms.

We need you ... and it worked.

In Australia several posters made use of the strong feelings of mateship, encouraging Australians to help their countrymen out. One of the most famous was the poster “A Call from the Dardanelles” asking “Coo-ee, won’t YOU come?”Australian posters also made much of our love of sports, telling sports teams to sign up together and fight together, or chastising those enjoying sport at home while their teammates were dying overseas.

A poster by famous Australian artist Norman Lindsay showed Germans invading Australia with the caption “Will you fight or wait for this?”.

In some cases recruitment material failed to mention the war at all. One pamphlet offered “Two Piece Suits given away, Our Unique Offer” showing a picture of a soldier in uniform. Another simply offered a “Free tour to Great Britain and Europe.”

Not everyone was keen ... a poster opposing the proposal for conscription.

In 1916 the British introduced conscription, but a referendum in Australia rejected compulsory service after a campaign that also produced some striking posters on both sides of the conscription debate.

The issue was raised twice Down Under — and only narrowly failed.

Both nations continued to produce recruitment posters until the end of the war. The ones with an image of Kitchener took an added poignancy when he died after his ship hit a German mine in June 1916.

*World War I posters and pamphlets are on display as part of the exhibition Life Interrupted: Personal Diaries Of World War I on show at State Library Of NSW, until September 21, free.