When we want to learn about history and politics, we resort to academic papers, books, and documentaries, right? However, in doing so, we fail to take into account a unique medium that has the power to offer a unique perspective on events and people while highlighting social injustices: political cartoons. To prove our point, we’ve compiled five influential political cartoons that made history by shaping public opinion like no other medium and changing the minds of thousands of people with a healthy dose of humor!
Rendezvous, by David Low
At the beginning of World War II, Hitler and Stalin agreed that their countries wouldn’t attack each other through the Nazi-Soviet Pact. This terrible agreement between the two dictators paved the way for the joint invasion of Poland, which took place three days later.
This historical event filled David Low with loathing and disgust and led him to publish Rendezvous. In this clever strip, the cartoonist revealed that Hitler and Stalin put aside their hatred for each other only to subjugate their enemy: Poland. What a perfect example of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” don’t you think?