--- title: '''Viennesi!'' tricolour leaflet dropped over Vienna in D''Annunzio''s flight, 9 August 1918' url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/viennesi-volo-su-vienna-leaflet-1918/ description: Italian text printed over a green, white and red flag whose white band carries the red Savoy shield with its white cross. section: Collection --- [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) [!['Viennesi!' tricolour leaflet dropped over Vienna in D'Annunzio's flight, 9 August 1918](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/viennesi-volo-su-vienna-leaflet-1918.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/viennesi-volo-su-vienna-leaflet-1918.jpg) # 'Viennesi!' tricolour leaflet dropped over Vienna in D'Annunzio's flight, 9 August 1918 Italian text printed over a green, white and red flag whose white band carries the red Savoy shield with its white cross. It offers the Viennese 'a greeting of three colours, the three colours of liberty' instead of bombs, and tells them 'all the world has turned against you'. The flag is made the carrier of the word liberty, and the claim of universal opposition stands in for argument. ## Text on the object Original (Italian) · read from the image, not independently checked ``` VIENNESI! Imparate a conoscere gli italiani. Noi voliamo su Vienna, potremmo lanciare bombe a tonnellate. Non vi lanciamo che un saluto a tre colori: i tre colori della libertà. Noi italiani non facciamo la guerra ai bambini, ai vecchi, alle donne. Noi facciamo la guerra al vostro governo nemico delle libertà nazionali, al vostro cieco testardo crudele governo che non sa darvi nè pace nè pane, e vi nutre d'odio e d'illusioni. VIENNESI! Voi avete fama d'essere intelligenti. Ma perchè vi siete messa l'uniforme prussiana? Ormai, lo vedete, tutto il mondo s'è volto contro di voi. Volete continuare la guerra? Continuatela. E' il vostro suicidio. Che sperate? La vittoria decisiva promessavi dai generali prussiani? La loro vittoria decisiva è come il pane dell'Ucraina: Si muore aspettandola. POPOLO DI VIENNA, pensa ai tuoi casi. Svégliati! VIVA LA LIBERTÀ! VIVA L'ITALIA! VIVA L'INTESA! 128 ``` English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader) ``` VIENNESE! Learn to know the Italians. We are flying over Vienna; we could drop bombs by the ton. We throw you only a greeting in three colours: the three colours of liberty. We Italians do not make war on children, on the old, on women. We make war on your government, enemy of national liberties, your blind, stubborn, cruel government that cannot give you either peace or bread, and feeds you on hatred and illusions. VIENNESE! You have a reputation for being intelligent. But why have you put on the Prussian uniform? By now, you see it, the whole world has turned against you. Do you want to go on with the war? Go on with it. It is your suicide. What do you hope for? The decisive victory promised you by the Prussian generals? Their decisive victory is like the bread of Ukraine: one dies waiting for it. PEOPLE OF VIENNA, think of your own affairs. Wake up! LONG LIVE LIBERTY! LONG LIVE ITALY! LONG LIVE THE ENTENTE! 128 ``` Text is printed in black over the green and red bands of the flag, which lowers contrast in places, but every word is legible. The accent in 'Svégliati' and the spellings 'nè' and 'E'' are as printed. The final '128' is a small figure at the lower right, not part of the text. [← 浦潮派兵ノ宣言 (Declaration on the Dispatch of Troops to Vladivostok), Official Gazette extra](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/siberian-intervention-declaration-kanpo-1918/) [Le Rire rouge, cover "Grand Bazar de la Paix - Wilhelm Directeur" (Paris, 2 November 1918) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/le-rire-rouge-grand-bazar-de-la-paix-1918/) ## 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) - [Gold coin of Kanishka: King of Kings legend, king at the altar, deity Oesho](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gold-dinar-kanishka-king-of-kings-0130/) (Kushan Empire · 0130 · Transfer) - [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (Byzantine Empire · 0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (Kingdom of England · 1070 · Transfer, Card stacking) - [Mughal gold coin of Jahangir, dated 1028 AH, with a bull inside a ring of sun rays](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jahangir-gold-zodiac-coin-sun-rays-1619/) (Mughal Empire · 1619 · Transfer) - [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (Dutch Republic · 1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [Consult of the doctors on the grave illness of the Grand Sultan (Consult vande medicijnen inde swaere siekte vanden grooten Sultaen)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/consult-of-the-doctors-sick-sultan-antwerp-1683/) (Spanish Netherlands · 1683 · Transfer, Bandwagon) - [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)