The map above comes from Life magazine and was published on February 10th, 1916.
It’s titled: My Country ‘Tis of Thee – New Prussia
But it’s important to note, that it was before the United States entered the war on the side of the UK and France.
As Reddit user Pjpjpjpjpj further states:
The organization that created this (the American Rights Committee) was an anti-German imperialism, anti-isolationist group trying to encourage American support for involvement in the war.
At the time, there was a growing anti-Japanese sentiment (racism, stereotypes) on the west coast. In part, they were tapping into American fears.
Also, at the time this was made, Japan had just tried to have China surrender and become a protectorate of Japan. There were also negotiations for a separate peace between Japan and Germany. The attempted Japanese acquisitions and the potential for this separate peace scared the allies and Japan was painted as going their own way for their own self interests. That may have also motivated this map view.
A few months later, mid-1916, Russia and Japan signed an agreement whereby they both committed that they would not separately agree to peace with Germany.
(And as a footnote, one year later in 1917, Russia (after the fall of Russian monarch Nicholas II and the rise to power of the Bolsheviks) defaulted on its commitments by signing a separate peace with Germany and its allies.)
The crazy thing was that Japan was allied to the UK and France at this time, and not with Germany as it was in World War 2.
Some of the more amusing elements include:
- Canada being labelled “Barbarians”
- Bismarck, North Dakota keeping its name
- Nagaseattle
- Florida turning into Turconia
- The American Reservation with Goose Step
- Baja California turning into Austriana
- Gulf of Hate, Straight of Horrors and Cape Frightfulness
- New York being renamed New Potsdam
- Wienerschnitzelplatz
- Washington DC being renamed New Berlin
Cornel has an even more detailed summary:
The map shows the U.S. renamed New Prussia, and American city names replaced with German or Germanized versions. Washington is New Berlin, Chicago is Schlauterhaus, and Boston is Kulturplatz. Denverburg and Salzlakenburg are presumably German, but Florida has become Turconia, California is Japonica, and the northwest is dominated by Nagaseattle and New Kobe. New Mexico is an “American Reservation” in Der Grosse Desert.
…
The American Rights Committee was a group of distinguished New Yorkers, led by “George Haven Putnam, the well-known publisher.” In a “great mass meeting” at Carnegie Hall on March 13, 1916, the Committee broadly and raucously condemned “Prussian Imperial Militarism,” its “brutal and cruel military rule” and “practices of unprecedented barbarity.” Accordingly, the Committee “Resolved, That the safety and honour of the American people and their duty to defend and maintain the rights of humanity require us to approve the cause for which the Entente Allies are fighting, and to extend to these Allies by any means in our power, not only sympathy, but direct co-operation at the proper time.”
What do you think is the most ridiculous thing about this map? Please leave your comments below:
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