---
title: La Grande-Bretagne n'a pas cessé d'être une île (Great Britain has not ceased to be an island), ORAFF poster
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/vichy-clemenceau-england-oldest-enemy-oraff-1943/
description: A stylised portrait of Georges Clemenceau sits above a block of his words on Britain as 'our oldest enemy', signed with his name and a book title.
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![La Grande-Bretagne n'a pas cessé d'être une île (Great Britain has not ceased to be an island), ORAFF poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/vichy-clemenceau-england-oldest-enemy-oraff-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/vichy-clemenceau-england-oldest-enemy-oraff-1943.jpg)

# La Grande-Bretagne n'a pas cessé d'être une île (Great Britain has not ceased to be an island), ORAFF poster

A stylised portrait of Georges Clemenceau sits above a block of his words on Britain as 'our oldest enemy', signed with his name and a book title. The tell: the poster carries no argument of its own; it borrows a World War I leader's authority to make an anti-British claim.

## Text on the object

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

```
LA GRANDE-BRETAGNE
N'A PAS CESSÉ D'ÊTRE UNE ÎLE
DÉFENDUE PAR LES FLOTS, CE POUR
QUOI ELLE SE CROIT TENUE
DE MULTIPLIER LES CAUSES DE
DISCORDES ENTRE LES PEUPLES
DU CONTINENT POUR ASSURER
LA PAIX DE SES CONQUÊTES. CETTE
POLITIQUE A EU DE GRANDS JOURS
POUR ELLE CONTRE NOUS.
L'ANGLETERRE FUT HISTORIQUEMENT
NOTRE PLUS VIEILLE ENNEMIE.

CLEMENCEAU
GRANDEURS ET MISÈRES D'UNE VICTOIRE

IMP. BEDOS & Cie - PARIS
ORAFF V. I 1053
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
GREAT BRITAIN HAS NOT CEASED TO BE AN ISLAND DEFENDED BY THE WAVES, WHICH IS WHY SHE BELIEVES HERSELF BOUND TO MULTIPLY THE CAUSES OF DISCORD BETWEEN THE PEOPLES OF THE CONTINENT, TO ENSURE THE PEACE OF HER CONQUESTS. THIS POLICY HAS HAD GREAT DAYS FOR HER AGAINST US. ENGLAND WAS HISTORICALLY OUR OLDEST ENEMY.

CLEMENCEAU
GRANDEURS AND MISERIES OF A VICTORY

PRINTED BY BEDOS & CO - PARIS
ORAFF V. I 1053
```

Translation is FRAME's own literal rendering, machine-assisted and not verified by a fluent reader.

[← 戰機萬架 掃蕩三島 (Ten Thousand Warplanes Sweep the Three Islands), U.S. Office of War Information poster in Chinese](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-government-ten-thousand-warplanes-chinese-poster-1944/) [J'aimerais mieux rendre l'âme à Dieu (I would rather give up my soul to God), ORAFF poster →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/vichy-joan-of-arc-english-hands-oraff-1943/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (Roman Empire · 0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Seljuq gold dinar of Sanjar, dated 493 AH, with the Abbasid caliph named on one face](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/seljuq-gold-dinar-sanjar-caliph-name-1099/) (Great Seljuk Empire · 1099 · Testimonial)
- [J'Accuse...! Lettre au Président de la République (J'Accuse...! Letter to the President of the Republic), L'Aurore, 13 January 1898](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jaccuse-laurore-front-page-1898/) (France · Jan 13, 1898 · Testimonial). Content note: Newspaper page about a wrongful-conviction controversy; the letter text refers to a prisoner held in torture-like conditions on Devil's Island; no graphic imagery.
- [The Speaker, front page 'The Week', 22 June 1901: Hobhouse report and 'methods of barbarism'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/speaker-hobhouse-camps-methods-of-barbarism-1901/) (United Kingdom · Jun 22, 1901 · Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Text on deaths of women and children in British camps in South Africa, with mortality rates.
- ["The War with Japan" (Puck cover, 23 October 1907)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/puck-the-war-with-japan-1907/) (United States · Oct 23, 1907 · Testimonial, Scapegoating)
- [Bande Mataram (Paris), memorial page to Madan Lal Dhingra, 17 August 1909](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bande-mataram-paris-dhingra-memorial-1909/) (France · Aug 17, 1909 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Indian Opinion (Phoenix, Natal), page 266: 'Natal Mercury's Comments' and 'The Durban Conference' during the coal-mine strike, 29 October 1913](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/indian-opinion-natal-mercury-durban-conference-1913/) (Union of South Africa · Oct 29, 1913 · Testimonial)
- ['Do your duty bravely. Fear God. Honour the King.' Lord Kitchener postcard (about 1914)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kitchener-duty-bravely-postcard/) (United Kingdom · 1914 · Testimonial, Transfer)