Lord Kitchener Wants You

British: Lord Kitchener needs you. Go to the army!
God save the king.

A poster that in 1914 the British Secretary of War Lord Kitchener above the words "wants YOU" ( want YOU represented) was the most famous motif that the British army during the recruitment campaign in the First World War propaganda began.

One day after Britain entered the First World War, Kitchener was appointed Minister of War of the British Kingdom by Prime Minister Asquith on August 5, 1914 . Kitchener was one of the first in the British leadership to predict a multi-year war and based his policy on it from the start. So within a short time he set up 70 new army divisions. His campaign to recruit millions of volunteers for service in France (known as Kitchener's Army ) was particularly successful . The well-known poster, which shows him pointing directly at the viewer, also dates from this time.

The poster was a design by the graphic artist Alfred Leete (1882–1933); a similar poster read “ Your country needs you ”.

Variations of the motif

This position of an outstretched hand pointing directly at the viewer triggered numerous imitations and also parodies:

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  USA , 1917. JM Flaggs Uncle Sam recruits soldiers for the First and Second World Wars

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  USA , World War One . Daughter of Zion : Your old new territory needs you! Come to the Jewish Regiment .

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  Revolution in Brazil 1932: You have a duty to perform. Ask your conscience!