A rare propaganda map designed by Maurice Neumont on behalf of “La Conference au Village contre la Propagande ennemie en France” (an institution founded with the aim of advancing the patriotic cause in rural and provincial France) and published in Paris by the publisher P.J. Gallais. The work is fully in keeping with the ideological and psychological climate of the First World War and echoes a famous phrase attributed to Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Comte de Mirabeau, a figure of the French Revolution, to suggest a historical continuity between 18th-century Prussian policy and the German aggression of 1914, presented as an expression of a structural vocation for war.
The map shows Central and Eastern Europe with a strong symbolic distortion. Prussia stands out in the center, represented as a menacing octopus enveloping and squeezing territories such as Alsace-Lorraine, the Balkans, Poland, and the Baltic regions.
The octopus is a well-established metaphor in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century political graphics: it embodies the idea of an expansionist, insidious, and pervasive power, capable of infiltrating and gradually suffocating the surrounding spaces. In Neumont’s case, the tentacles allude to Prussia’s progressive expansion from the 18th century until the formation of the German Empire, while at the same time denouncing the occupation of French and Belgian territories during the ongoing conflict. The representation suggests that German aggression is not a contingent event, but the inevitable outcome of a systematic and planned policy.
This specimen is a rare smaller version compared to the more famous large-format edition (here for comparison). This variant is particularly notable for the absence, on the right side of the composition, of the soldier who appears in the larger version. The removal of this figurative element accentuates the centrality of the map and the octopus, focusing attention exclusively on the geopolitical and symbolic dimension of Prussian expansion. While in the larger version the presence of the soldier helped to dramatize the conflict and personalize the enemy, in this smaller version the visual narrative appears more essential and cartographic, but no less incisive in terms of propaganda.
Another difference from the “large” version is the presence on the reverse side of a text entitled “Le Rêve Allemand” (The German Dream), which presents Germany as an overproductive and ambitious industrial power, driven by economic necessity and nationalist pride—summarized in the motto “Deutschland über alles”—to seek expansion and domination over Europe.
Through quotations from German authors and references to an alleged “Greater Germany” project intended to control Central Europe, the text argues that the war is the expression of a pre-existing hegemonic plan. This interpretation is visually translated in the map, where Germany is depicted as an octopus whose tentacles envelop and suffocate the surrounding territories.
Text and image thus complement each other: the former constructs the political and economic argument against Pan-Germanism, while the latter makes it immediately perceptible through a powerful graphic metaphor. In the context of 1917, the aim was to strengthen consensus and present the French war as a necessary defense against a project of continental domination.
Maurice Louis Henri Neumont (1868–1930) was a French painter, illustrator, and lithographer, best known for his vibrant posters and propaganda illustrations during World War I. A leading figure in the École patriotique, he contributed to France’s visual mobilization with works of strong graphic and symbolic impact. Neumont studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, where he gained recognition for his engraving and lithography. Active in Paris during the Belle Époque, he was a member of the Salon d’Automne and collaborated with the Société des Humoristes. His style combined academic rigor with a satirical spirit, adapting to the tastes of the bourgeois public and the needs of mass communication.
In addition to posters, Neumont illustrated numerous menus for the Société du Cornet, contributing over fifty drawings between 1904 and 1929. He received gold medals for engraving in Liège and Brussels and participated in group exhibitions until the late 1920s.
