GOETZ: Europe's Suicide

[Goetzdude]

K-199 Europa's Selbstmord–1917 (Europe's Suicide), 1917, Cast Bronze, 84.9mm, wt.172.10g. UNC, Scarce.

 

Obverse: Europe, as a naked female, rides the European bull into an army of helmets and bayonets while trampling crowns.

 

Reverse: A cannon barrel, decorated with ram-heads, spits money into the waiting arms of a Japanese while Wilson tries to divert him and catch the money in his top hat. Inscription, "Die lachenden Erben" (The Laughing Heirs)

 

[Scottishmoney]

One of the perplexing observations of this particular medal and some others of Goetz's work are that there seem to be complex messages with some hidden meaning in them. Particularly with this one, the obverse is suggestive that Europa has taken a suicidal path, and perhaps this is a veiled criticism from within of the Prussian war machine driving Germany head long into ruinous destruction.

 

In my opinion in my limited knowledge of Karl Goetz's work, I believe he was a master of conveying many themes and emotions in his works, which is something only a truly remarkably talented individual can perform. His work is always without fail, passionate, heartfelt. It can be a mixture betwixt sublime messages to those of stark reality which shock the sensations.

[Art]

Another great medal.

[Goetzdude]

Secret agreements with France, Britain, and the United States in 1917 recognized Japan's territorial gains in China and the Pacific. The Nishihara Loans (named after Nishihara Kamezo, Tokyo's representative in Peking) of 1917 and 1918, while aiding the Chinese government, put China still deeper into Japan's debt. Toward the end of the war, Japan increasingly filled orders for its European allies' needed war material, thus helping to diversify the country's industry, increase its exports, and transform Japan from a debtor to a creditor nation for the first time.

 

World War I permitted Japan, which fought on the side of the victorious Allies, to expand its influence in Asia and its territorial holdings in the Pacific. Acting virtually independently of the civil government, the Japanese navy seized Germany's Micronesian colonies.

[ccg]

Interesting piece, and history!