This cartoon represents the Anschluss, Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria in 1938. German Chancellor Adolf Hitler is shown stuffing Austria into a sack labeled, “Austria in the Bag,” indicating German control. In the foreground, Italian leader Benito Mussolini declares, “I planned it that way and Adolf carried it out!”
The Austrian invasion surprised the whole world, including Italy, and Hitler’s failure to warn Mussolini may have been an assertion of power over his nominal ally. Mussolini’s declaration in the cartoon that he “planned it that way,” shows the Italian dictator’s attempt to repair his image both in the eyes of his people and the Nazis. In the cartoon, Mussolini is drawn much smaller than Hitler, perhaps foreshadowing the Italian dictator’s shrinking power.
This cartoon was drawn by Clifford Berryman, one of Washington, DC’s best-known cartoonists in the early to mid-1900s. Berryman drew for the Washington Post and Evening Star newspapers. His cartoons touched on a variety of subjects including politics, elections, and both World Wars.
This cartoon is featured in America and the World: Foreign Affairs in Political Cartoons, 1898–1940, a free PDF book from the Center for Legislative Archives at the National Archives.
