---
title: In the Biggest of all Wars The Smallest Things Matter - Let's Not Waste Them
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-smallest-things-matter-lets-not-waste-them-1939/
description: A dark photograph shows screws, washers, wire and scraps spilled across a workshop floor under the words 'In the biggest of all wars the smallest things
section: Collection
---

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3. In the Biggest of all Wars The Smallest Things Matter - Let's Not

[![In the Biggest of all Wars The Smallest Things Matter - Let's Not Waste Them, 1939 UK poster: A dark photograph shows screws](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-smallest-things-matter-lets-not-waste-them-1939.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-smallest-things-matter-lets-not-waste-them-1939.jpg)

# In the Biggest of all Wars The Smallest Things Matter - Let's Not Waste Them

A dark photograph shows screws, washers, wire and scraps spilled across a workshop floor under the words 'In the biggest of all wars the smallest things matter'. The tell for transfer is the pairing of the scale of the war with floor sweepings, so the weight of the war is attached to the small act of not wasting.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
IN THE BIGGEST OF ALL WARS

THE SMALLEST THINGS MATTER

LET'S NOT WASTE THEM

MINISTRY OF SUPPLY - 110
Printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Hubners Ltd. 51- 4248
```

[← The Small Holding with the BIG Interest: National Savings Stamps](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-small-holding-big-interest-savings-stamps-1939/) ['Someone forgot that food costs lives' (British food-waste poster) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-someone-forgot-food-costs-lives-1939/)

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- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
