“Peace and Future Cannon Fodder”
This scathing cartoon, published in 1920, was drawn by Australian-born artist Will Dyson and published in a British magazine. It shows the “Big Four” power brokers at Versailles — from left to right, Vittorio Orlando of Italy, David Lloyd George of Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France, and Woodrow Wilson of the United States. Clemenceau, who was nicknamed “The Tiger,” turns his head and comments on the crying child. Even at the time, astute observers such as Dyson argued that the treaty might have horrific consequences, particularly in the brutal conditions it imposed on Germany. Dyson sketched “1940 Class” over the head of the child. The young children of 1920 grew up to inherit the consequences of the Versailles treaty, which contributed to the rise of fascism, Nazism, and World War II. British Daily Herald, May 13, 1919.