--- title: '"''War is Hell.'' Sherman, [but] Peace in Cuba under Spanish Rule Is Worse than Hell" (Judge, 30 April 1898)' url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/war-is-hell-sherman-peace-in-cuba-judge-1898/ description: A bloodied, brutal figure of Spain tramples an emaciated Cuban child and a dead sailor of the USS Maine. Tagged by technique, with source and rights. section: Collection --- 1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/) 2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) 3. "'War is Hell.' Sherman, [but] Peace in Cuba under Spanish Rule **Content note:** 1898 atrocity cartoon: a brutal figure of Spain tramples an emaciated child and a dead sailor. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) [!["'War is Hell.' Sherman, \[but\] Peace in Cuba under, 1898 US cartoon: A bloodied, brutal figure of Spain tramples an emaciated](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/war-is-hell-sherman-peace-in-cuba-judge-1898.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/war-is-hell-sherman-peace-in-cuba-judge-1898.jpg) # "'War is Hell.' Sherman, [but] Peace in Cuba under Spanish Rule Is Worse than Hell" (Judge, 30 April 1898) A bloodied, brutal figure of Spain tramples an emaciated Cuban child and a dead sailor of the USS Maine. The tell: Sherman's famous line is borrowed, then turned to say that peace under Spain is the greater evil, so war is presented as the lesser one. A colour lithograph by Grant Hamilton for the New York magazine Judge, published on 30 April 1898, days after the US blockade of Cuba began, and part of the so-called yellow press genre of atrocity imagery around the Spanish-American War. A brutal, bloodied figure of Spain tramples an emaciated Cuban child and a dead sailor of the USS Maine. It borrows Sherman's line about war and turns it to say that peace under Spain is worse. Fear appeal stages the harm to a child and a sailor, and scapegoating assigns it to Spain, although Spain denied responsibility for the Maine and later investigations differ on its cause. ## Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/) [Scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/) ## Full record Region, Country, Medium, Issuer type, Regime, Leader, Audience, Purpose, Themes, Event, Source, Rights [← Uncle Sam looks at "Cuba" holding a "Cuban Revolutionist" baby (Bartholomew cartoon, April 1898)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/startled-uncle-sam-cuban-revolutionist-baby-bartholomew-1898/) [El soldado de Cuba: —¡Ven tú, cobarde! (The Soldier of Cuba: 'Come here, you coward!') →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/el-soldado-de-cuba-blanco-y-negro-1898/) ## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques - [Miniature of Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, Les Passages d'outremer (BnF Fr. 5594, fol. 19r)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passages-doutremer-council-of-clermont-colombe-1474/) (France · 1474 · Testimonial, Fear appeal). Content note: Medieval religious imagery and a French text describing alleged killings and captivity of eastern Christians, as used to argue for the First Crusade; the text is shown as written. - [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Engraving of a hanged, bare-breasted Taino woman, burning huts and people being killed by Spanish soldiers. - [Der Warner (broadsheet lampoon on the Jesuits after Breitenfeld and Rain)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/der-warner-anti-jesuit-broadsheet-1632/) (Holy Roman Empire · 1632 · Scapegoating, Fear appeal) - [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling) - [Proclamation de Sonthonax en créole, Cap-Français (Proclamation of Commissioner Sonthonax in Creole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sonthonax-proclamation-creole-1793/) (France · Aug 29, 1793 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating). Content note: Colonial-era proclamation on slavery and emancipation in Saint-Domingue; speaks of slaves, whips and 'Nègues' in period terms. - [Gazette of the United States, "The Jeffersoniad" no. VIII, 14 August 1800](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gazette-us-jeffersoniad-1800/) (United States · Aug 14, 1800 · Name-calling, Fear appeal, Ad hominem, Straw man) - [Tyrants Prostrate, Liberty Triumphant (pro-Polk cartoon on Dorr), 1844](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/tyrants-prostrate-liberty-triumphant-polk-1844/) (United States · 1844 · Name-calling, Fear appeal). Content note: Speech balloons contain anti-Catholic and nativist wording ('the ruins of Popery') in the mouths of the Whig figures, written by a Democratic cartoonist and shown unaltered. - [Brolej Žemajčiaj! (Brothers Samogitians!): hand-painted broken-cross poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/brolej-zemajciaj-broken-cross-1862/) (Russian Empire · 1862 · Fear appeal, Transfer)