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REVISTA IEEE 9

Figure 4. http://revista.ieee.es/index.php/ieee 271 Manuel García Ruiz The cartoon, the new weapon of the First World government started to take an interest in them, giving rise to the Propaganda Office, the “P” service, whose mission consisted of direct propaganda actions among the ranks of soldiers with a view to increasing their morale20. This major role can also be seen in countries which were less relevant in the conflict. The Portuguese magazine Miau, published in Porto in 1916, ridiculed the German victories at the start of the First World War and clearly positioned itself on the side of the allied forces: “A humanidade tem soffrido varias epidemias: a lepra, o cholera, o tipho, etc. Agora soffre do militarismo allemão!”21, even managing to mock the Central European empires. Thus, following the declaration of war of Austria against Portugal (15 March 1916), issue 10 of the magazine, with publication date 24th March, shows the former Austrian emperor Franz Josef saying: “This Wilhelm will force me to do preposterous things until the day I die”, whilst, walking stick in hand, he is supported by the German Kaiser in order to stay standing22. 20  Biblioteca di Storia Moderna e Contemporanea. Available at http://www.bsmc.it/grandeguerra. 21  “Humanity has suffered various epidemics: leprosy, cholera, typhus etc. Now it suffers from German militarism”. Revista Miau, Porto, 25 February 1916 (front cover). Text accompanying an illustration 22  The Austrian emperor was to die at the end of the very same year.


REVISTA IEEE 9
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