The Dance of Death

The Dance of Death motif once adorned the walls of churches and burial grounds. It embodies the Latin phrase memento mori, ‘remember that you will die’. The inevitability of death, regardless of earthly status, was a theme that fixated both medieval artists and German medallists during the First World War.

Scenes from The Dance of Death By Hans Holbein the Younger, Germany, about 1526

In the 1520s Hans Holbein the Younger produced a series of 41 woodcuts themed around the Dance of Death. These artistically distinguished works were later bound in book form. They were an influence on the work of many artists all over Europe. Donated by William Mitchell. 1895,0122.807, 813, 814, 817, 818, 820, 822, 830

Totentanz (Dance of Death), 1914–17 By Ludwig Gies, Germany, 1917

Led by Death, German soldiers trudge toward their fate without as much as a backward glance. This medal was produced in the critical third year of the war when Germany partially retreated to a heavily fortified stronghold, known as the Hindenberg Line.

Anonymous donation. 1977,0615.2

War on land and sea By Hans Lindl, Germany, 1914–18

Lindl’s medal depicts medieval soldiers wearing armour and carrying long lances. Their helmets are based on a fifteenth-century design, which inspired the design of the actual helmets issued to soldiers after 1916 (see central case). Donated by Maurice Frankenhuis. 1919,0610.14

The Dance of Death

During the First World War artists updated the medieval Dance of Death motif to feature Death operating guns, Zeppelin airships and other modern instruments of war. In some instances the malevolent figure of Death even became an allegory for the allied powers.

Epidemic By E Reupke, Germany, 1915

Death stands over a tranquil landscape holding a steaming cup of hatred in this apocalyptic vision of the First World War. This print is by a relatively unknown German artist who combined elements of Romanticism and Expressionism in a series of six lithographs.

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Verdun the world blood pump By Walter Eberbach, Germany, 1916

Death pumps blood from a ruined landscape near the French town of Verdun, the target of a major German offensive beginning February 1916. By the end of the battle in December German casualties had amounted to 337,000, of whom 143,000 died. Donated by Maurice Frankenhuis. 1919,0404.26

Detail from Verdun the world blood pump by Walter Eberbach.

Verdun 1917 By Karl Goetz, Germany, 1917

Britain, disguised as Death smoking a pipe, knees a captive France towards her fate. The medal reveals much about the German view of Anglo–French relations during a crucial period, in which Britain assumed a much larger tactical role in the direction of the allied offensive.

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The influence of Expressionism

Many German artists were influenced by emerging art movements such as Expressionism, which enabled them to explore the psychological effects of war. To achieve this they often simplified and distorted the human form. The process distanced subjects from individual acts of heroism by instead depicting them as anonymous victims.

Dance of Death 1917 Print by Otto Dix, Germany, 1924

Caught in barbed wire, bodies lie contorted at odd and demeaning angles in this conceptual interpretation of the Dance of Death. In a series of 50 prints in which he explored and exorcised his memories of conflict, Dix rejected any notion of heroism in death.

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The bomb By Ludwig Gies, Germany, 1914–18

The stick-like figures on Gies’ medal fall like dominoes. This heavily stylised design, showing the soldiers carrying long medieval lances, deliberately avoids depicting the realities of trench warfare.

Donated by Maurice Frankenhuis. 1919,0610.23

Casualty station By Ludwig Gies, Germany, 1914–18

This medal contrasts a jaunty carnival-like group of hospital tents with tiny invalids below on stretchers. The movement of wounded soldiers to casualty stations could take days. Shortage of space and doctors obstructed the chance of treatment. Donated by Maurice Frankenhuis. 1919,0610.20

Detail from Casualty station by Ludwig Gies.

Kitchener’s dream By Hans Lindl, Germany, 1915

Kitchener’s dream was Germany’s nightmare, in which the then British Secretary of State for War could conjure an army of tiny soldiers even while asleep. Yet Lindl’s medal is also a criticism of the way in which countries sacrificed the ordinary soldier in attacks that proved to be futile. Donated by Maurice Frankenhuis. 1919,0610.19

The torpedoed ones By Ludwig Gies, Germany, 1914–18

Survivors of a torpedoed boat huddle on one of its lifeboats. This medal could be viewed as a companion piece to Gies’ Lusitania in which lifeboats hang precariously over the side of the sinking ship (see ‘War at sea’ case opposite).

Anonymous donation. 1977,0615.1

Detail from Kitchener’s dream by Hans Lindl.

War at sea

The First World War brought changes to how battles were fought at sea. New tactics were employed including using blockades, abandoning the survivors of sinking vessels, using merchant ships to carry munitions, and increased use of submarine warfare. These threats brought new dangers to the seas and this is reflected in the medals produced at the time.

Lusitania By Karl Goetz, Germany, 1915

Goetz’s provocative medal about the Lusitania shows the sinking ship laden with weapons. The prow has been designed to look like the type normally associated with battle cruisers. It was intended as a satirical comment but quickly became used as an instrument of propaganda by both sides. Donated by Henry van den Bergh. 1916,0707.9

Lusitania By Ludwig Gies, Germany, 1915

The sinking of the British liner Lusitania was represented several times on German medals. This example by Ludwig Gies focuses on the human tragedy of the event. The hull of the ship dominates the composition and dwarfs the passengers and crew as they try to escape to the lifeboats. Donated by Maurice Frankenhuis. 1919,0404.38

Lusitania and its box British copy of a medal by Karl Goetz, 1916

On the back of the medal, Death sells tickets to the ill-fated passengers. A caption reads ‘business as usual’, a criticism of the shipping company for allowing the passenger liner to sail, even though they knew it had been recently declared a legitimate naval target by the Germans. Donated by George Hill. 1917,0503.1

Illustration on the lid of the box of the British copy of Goetz’s Lusitania medal.

Britannia rule the waves though? By Walter Eberbach, Germany, 1916

Death, representing a German U-boat submarine, forces a British navy battleship below the waves. Until 1915 U-boats were only permitted to attack warships, but this was expanded to include all British merchant and passenger shipping in response to the allied naval blockade of Germany. Donated by Maurice Frankenhuis. 1919,0404.21

Detail from Britannia rule the waves though? by Walter Eberbach.

War on land

German medallists understood, often from personal experience, what life was like in the trenches. Using imagery drawn from reality, they replaced the romantic ideal of warfare with a version that was brutal and yet mundane.

Trench building in the Argonne By Karl Ott, Germany, 1915

The laborious process of trench digging is portrayed in this medal. Soldiers in the foreground carry sandbags whilst those in the background stretch barbed wire across no-man’s land. The forests of the Argonne were to become part of the last major allied offensive of the war in November 1918. Anonymous donation. 1977,0615.3

Detail from Trench building in the Argonne by Karl Ott.

Hanging sniper By Karl May, Germany, 1914

This medal, inscribed ‘franktireur’ or ‘free shooter’, probably refers to civilians who took up arms to snipe against German soldiers in occupied Belgium and France. A grim fate awaited a captured sniper, as this medal demonstrates.

Donated by Maurice Frankenhuis. 1919,0610.73

Grave of a German soldier By an unknown artist, Germany, 1914–16

A German soldier, wearing a long overcoat, kneels at the grave of a fallen comrade. Between 1914 and 1918 about eleven million Germans went to war, and 1.8 million were killed in action.

Donated by Maurice Frankenhuis. 1920,0233.55

Detail from Hanging sniper by Karl May.

War in the air

The development of aerial warfare enabled German Zeppelin airships to fly over Britain on bombing raids. The raids were extremely risky because the airships were unreliable, difficult to manoeuvre and filled with flammable hydrogen gas. Stories of the raids captured the imagination of German medallists.

Death and the Zeppelin By Arnold Zadikow, Germany, 1915

Death manipulates the giant airships as if they were kites over the landscape below.

Donated by Maurice Frankenhuis. 1919,0610.76

Zeppelins over London By Fritz Eue, Germany, 1915

The design for this medal was based on an erroneous claim by a German airship commander to have bombed London west of Tower Bridge in August 1915. He had in fact mistaken the reservoirs of the Lea Valley for the River Thames. The bombs instead fell on Walthamstow and Leyton in east London, killing several civilians. 1916,0705.1

Detail from Death and the Zeppelin by Arnold Zadikow.

Zeppelins over London By Ludwig Gies, Germany, 1915–17

In Gies’ imagination London was a mass of tower blocks and telegraph posts. Airship bombing raids on London began in 1915 and continued until 1917. They caused relatively few casualties and yet still succeeded in terrorising members of the public. Donated by Maurice Frankenhuis. 1919,0610.21

Detail from Zeppelins over London by Ludwig Gies.

Sinking of Zeppelin L19 By Karl Goetz, Germany, 1916

Zeppelin L19 was returning from a bombing raid when it crashed into the sea. Its crew drowned after a nearby British fishing vessel refused to rescue them. The reverse is inscribed, ‘curse the sea-going British, curse your bad conscience, help-seeking castaways had to perish’. Donated by Maurice Frankenhuis. 1919,0404.29

Zeppelin L19 sinking, as depicted in Le Petit Journal, 27 February 1916.

War at home

German medallists were amongst the earliest to consider the impact of war on civilian populations. Refugee crises, food shortages and labour conscription all became subjects of medals.

Refugees By Ludwig Gies, Germany, 1915

This work shows victims of the invasion of East Prussia by the Russian army between August 1914 and February 1915. It caused chaos and displaced about a million people. Many of those who later returned found that their homes and their crops had been torched by retreating soldiers. Donated by Maurice Frankenhuis. 1919,0610.32

German auxiliary service By Ludwig Gies, Germany, 1916

The German Auxiliary Service law was passed in 1916 to regulate occupations and trades that were necessary to maintain the war effort. This medal refers to Ludwig Gies’ own experience of being conscripted to work in a munitions factory.

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Detail from Refugees by Ludwig Gies.

Bakers By Paul Leibküchler, Germany, 1916

The allied naval blockade of Germany caused severe food shortages, starved civilians and created great social tension. Bakers were accused of adding sawdust to the flour to stretch out supplies, as shown on this medal. It is inscribed, ‘adulteration of flour’. Donated by Maurice Frankenhuis. 1919,0610.44

Detail from German auxiliary service by Ludwig Gies.

The blockade By Karl Goetz, Germany, 1919

Goetz’s medal representing the allied naval blockade of Germany shows starving figures collapsed behind a harbour wall wrapped in barbed wire. The blockade was maintained after the end of fighting in November 1918 until peace was formally signed at Versailles on 28 June 1919. Donated by Maurice Frankenhuis. 1920,0233.16

Detail from The blockade by Karl Goetz.

The enemy

German medallists were often outspoken in their criticism of the enemy. German attitudes towards Britain and France remained constant throughout the war. However, attitudes towards the USA, which entered the war in 1917, and Russia, which negotiated peace in the same year, were more complex.

France, Russia and Britain By Hans Lindl, Germany, 1914

Following rapid advances into France and Belgium, Germany had good reason to be optimistic about the outcome of the war in 1914. The French cockerel, Russian bear and British bulldog are shown wounded in defeat.

Donated by Maurice Frankenhuis. 1919,1010.4

The Russian bear By Ludwig Gies, Germany, 1917–18

Russia is here shown as a huge bear, wounded by the central European powers on either side. Germany’s view of Russia changed throughout the war, from hatred following its invasion of East Prussia in 1914–1915, to pity after the Russian Revolution in 1917. Donated by Maurice Frankenhuis. 1919,0819.11

Detail from France, Russia and Britain by Hans Lindl.

America in the world war By Ludwig Gies, Germany, 1917

Gies’ giant animal-headed raft represents America. Profits from the sale of armaments to allied powers pour from its mouth, while ranks of guns form the beast’s back. America formally joined the war in 1917, although it had been supplying arms to the Allies throughout.

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Detail from The Russian bear by Ludwig Gies.

The laughing heirs By Karl Goetz, Germany, 1917

The supposed heirs to Europe’s ruin, the USA and Japan, are depicted as a caricature of President Woodrow Wilson wearing an ‘Uncle Sam’ costume and a Japanese man. They collect a cascade of coins, representing Europe’s wealth.

Donated by Maurice Frankenhuis. 1919,0404.39

Detail from The laughing heirs by Karl Goetz.

Peace

The end of the war brought a fragile peace to the world. The Allies punished Germany for its part in the conflict by enforcing huge monetary reparations. Medals that commemorated this peace vary considerably in style and illustrate the different perspectives of the countries that produced them.

Pax 1919 By Erzsébet Esseö, Germany, 1919

The representation of Pax (Peace) on this medal is indicative of German attitudes to the end of the war. The look of devastation on her face reflects the high cost of the war imposed on Germany, and is in marked contrast to comparable medals on this subject produced in allied countries. Donated by Maurice Frankenhuis. 1920,0233.71

Victory By Louis Patriarche, France, 1919

This French medal depicts Victory in a traditional style complete with symbolic olive branch. Peace has been restored and the enemy has been vanquished. Yet her expression remains impassive, showing no recognition of the millions who have died.

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Detail from the reverse of Victory by Louis Patriarche.

Treaty of Versailles By Elkington & Co., UK, 1919

This British medal commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Versailles and depicts the palace in the background. The female figure holding the scroll is accompanied by Fame and Justice. The medal represents the view of the Allies on the peace and is celebratory in tone. 1990,0610.2

The Palace of Versailles, France, detail from Treaty of Versailles by Elkington & Co.

Copy of the peace treaty signed at Versailles, 1919 Published by H.M.S.O, UK, 1919

In addition to monetary reparations, Germany was obligated by the peace treaty to accept full blame for the war and all the loss and damage caused. This ‘War Guilt’ clause proved to be controversial and was met with resentment in Germany.

Anonymous loan.

German, British and French First World War medals

Medal styles varied greatly between countries. French medals used a decorative Art Nouveau style, full of allegorical detail. German medallists rejected this in favour of expressionist imagery and coarse surface finishes. Meanwhile, very few British art medals were produced in connection with the war.

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori By A Galambos, Germany, 1916

‘To die for the fatherland is a sweet thing and becoming’ reads the reverse of this medal (right), quoting the Roman poet Horace. The medal commemorates the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and the artist has reproduced the type of German helmet that was used. Donated by Maurice Frankenhuis. 1920,0233.61

German stahlhelm (steel helmet) Germany, 1916–18

This is the same type of helmet as the one worn by the soldier in the medal adjacent. It was issued to German soldiers after 1916 to replace traditional spiked combat helmets.

Loaned by Clive Stewart.

Battle of Jutland By Harold Stabler, UK, 1916

This British medal was the winning design in a prize competition for the best medal commemorating a recent naval battle. Very few British artists had until that point produced medals about the war and the competition was launched in response to the huge number of German medals that were being made. Donated by Sir Arthur Evans. 1917,0302.1

Verdun By Charles Pillet, France, 1916

This French medal uses traditional symbolism and classical imagery to represent the battle of Verdun. French losses at Verdun were huge: 377,000 casualties, of whom 162,440 died. However, the medal refrains from depicting the horrific nature of the fighting.

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