Ireland & Poland (recruiting appeal quoting the Rev. William P. Burke)
A text-only Irish recruiting poster headed 'Ireland & Poland' reprints a clergyman's speech: Germany has 'uprooted some 25,000 Polish farmers', Britain has 'restored' 4,000 Irish tenants, and 'Is Germany going to treat Ireland differently from Poland?' The tell is a harm staged as the default outcome of a German victory with one prescribed remedy (enlistment), vouched for by a named speaker rather than by evidence on the sheet.
- Date
- 1915
- Period
- First World War
- Made by
- Irish recruiting appeal in the United Kingdom (no sponsoring committee printed); speech by the Rev. William P. Burke, C.C., Cahir, 14 Nov 1915; printed by Alex. Thom & Co., Dublin
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Regime
- Asquith Government
- Leader
- Herbert Henry Asquith
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Recruit
- Themes
- War and the military, Empire and colonialism
- Event
- World War I
- Techniques
- Fear appealTestimonial
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Library of Congress, retrieved September 29, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (published 1915; LOC: no known restrictions on publication)
Alex. Thom & Co. Ltd., Dublin, 1915. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZC4-10983.
Text on the object
IRELAND & POLAND The Germans have set themselves to crush Poland out of existence. They have uprooted some 25,000 Polish farmers, and replaced them by Germans. To complete the destruction of Poland, the Germans passed a law prohibiting any Pole purchasing land, so that in process of time the whole soil of Poland must pass into German hands. Now, during all this period, the British Government has been labouring to reinstate and root the Irish People in their own soil. Great ranches have been divided up, and no fewer than 4,000 tenants have been restored. Is Germany going to treat Ireland differently from Poland? This is a war of conquest, and the Germans mean to exchange the arid wastes of the Baltic and the sands of Brandenburg for the rich pastures of Ireland. Every one of us should face these facts as common-sense men, and not as dreamers or talkers. I appeal to every Young Man of Military age to join the Colours. The REV. WILLIAM P. BURKE, C.C., at Cahir, 14th November, 1915. ALEX. THOM & CO. LTD., ABBEY STREET, DUBLIN.
The printer's line at the foot is very small; it was read from an enlarged crop.
