War Bonds

I came across an exhibit of Austrian war bond posters today at the Neue Galerie. This poster caught my eye:

(Apologies for the poor quality of the photo).

Austria-Hungary began issuing war bonds in November 1914 and did so at six month intervals thereafter. It seems likely this poster dates from the second bond issue in May 1915. This would have been shortly after Georg von Trapp's submarine sunk the French armored cruiser Leon Gambetta. The sinking was an enormous boost to Austrian morale which had been battered by a series of setbacks in the land war with Serbia and Russia. Over 600 French soldiers and sailors were lost. As Agathe wrote:

When the news of his extraordinary accomplishment reached the mainland, Georg von Trapp was considered a hero by the civilian population. Schoolgirls sent him congratulatory letters, and postcards were printed with his photograph and that of the U-5.