Kaiserportraits

Franz Joseph I and Wilhelm II founded the permanent alliance of the Central Powers in the Great War. Although Wilhelm was related to almost every major European royal family, of course the alliances were not made on a dynastic basis, as in the past, in historical times. Thus, Germany’s ally became the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, with which it had fought a war not so long ago for dominance over the German-speaking area, that is, for German unity.

The two allied monarchs were depicted together or separately in countless forms in a wide variety of propaganda materials. The colorful postcard shows the well-known portraits of the two rulers. This time, the two badges depict the portraits of the two rulers separately. The connection between them is created by the extremely filigree decoration.

As you can see, in order to create harmony in the opening image, I reversed the image of the badge depicting the Austrian emperor. In the text, however, he looks in the original direction.