Violent peace: effigies and the marking of the Armistice in Britain

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines how effigies were used in Britain after the signing of the Armistice in November 1918. Effigies of Kaiser Wilhelm, the Crown Prince and members of the German High Command were paraded through the streets of villages, towns and cities as part of celebrations for the cessation of hostilities. These figures were physically and verbally abused, hanged on gibbets, displayed from shop windows, placed on trial and ‘executed’ by hanging and public burning. The violence that these effigies were subjected to is significant as it indicates the way the brutality of the war became part of civic life but it also demonstrates how civilians returned public spaces to public life. The war brought greater control of civic society by the operation of government to mobilise individuals and communities for the war effort. The carnivalesque celebrations that marked the end of the war was a means of acknowledging victory but also formed a means of dissent against the operation of power. Whilst these moments were fleeting and some harked back to traditional forms of celebration, the use of effigies transformed wartime spaces back into public ownership.