CRY HAVOC AND LET LOOSE THE DOGS OF WAR…Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

 

Some years ago I purchased an original drawing dated 1915 in original frame and backing.  It was in a collection of antiquities for sale at the shows on the New England show circuit, and apparently was distributed in various forms including postcards.

 

 

It caught my eye for several personal reasons.  Two of the five dogs were hounds.  My first purebred dog was a Dachshund, a black and tan female.  The one in the illustration is a red.  The dogs I was exhibiting were Borzoi.  The one in the illustration is typical of the New England Borzoi produced by Majenkir Kennel.  Mine looked rather different, being mostly tri colour.  Currently I have one for sale that looks identical to the one in the photo.  The kennel owner from whom I obtained my original breeding stock was famous for Borzoi, formerly known as Russian Wolfhounds, and also for the French Bulldogs as seen in the photo.  A very striking cover for the Canadian Kennel Club magazine called ‘Dogs in Canada’ showed two of his top show dogs, one of each breed, so much in contrast as one was small and squat, the other lean and racy.  It was an expensive purchase, and only these personal links persuaded me to part with so much for a drawing.

 

In the context of the time, the Dachshund represented the German imperial war machine under the Kaiser, with its spiked helmet.  It is a dog of German origin, but small and laughable, poking fun at the German troops.  The French Bulldog in its kepi I suppose was made to poke fun at the French who were unable then as later in World War II to stop the German war machine.

 

The British have long used the symbol of a compact man as ‘John Bull’, to show their dogged resistance as an island nation to foreign invaders and their wars.  What better representative than the British Bulldog?  The cap and red coat were also reminiscent of the dress of the Highland regiments.  Wearing red coats has long been a British tradition, with reckless bravery.  No camouflage for the redcoats at that time.

 

The long suffering Russians were represented by that symbol of the Czars and their nobility, the Russian Wolfhound (Borzoi), lavishing so much time and money on wolf hunting while their peasants starved.  Two years later, the Revolution broke out with the mutiny on the Battleship Potemkin.  It was named after the famous government official who built the Potemkin villages…lined with cardboard house facades, so that the Czar in his travels thought his subjects were living well, instead of in the typical squalid houses.  Unfortunately, the vicissitudes of World War I were extremely hard on the troops, and the various mutinies resulted in the rise of Communism, the destruction of the aristocracy who were often incompetent and cruel officers in the war, the murder of the Czar and his family, the surrender of the country to Germany before the end of World War I, and of course much misery and murder on the helpless wolfhounds.  Twenty five million Russians starved to death, and only in the most recent times has better government and a revival of visits of breeders and judges of the Borzoi cheered the hearts of Russian wolfhound owners.

 

The Americans were patriotic then as now, but caught up in a web of neutrality.  They finally joined the fray in 1917 and helped bring the ‘War to End All Wars’ to an end.  The League of Nations did not succeed, and more war would follow.  Again the imperialistic and expansionistic Germans brought misery to Europe, the British and their Commonwealth allies finally went to the aid of the Belgians and French to no avail.  The Russians tried to stay out of it, but were attacked by the Germans anyway.  Pearl Harbor brought the Americans in again, and at the end of the war Hitler and his henchmen went down, and at Yalta we have that memorable photo of Churchill, like the British bulldog, Charles de Gaulle, and Stalin.

 

No longer neutral, American soldiers went on many foreign endeavors…to Korea, Viet Nam, the Gulf, and now finally to Afghanistan.  Anyone returning to 2001 by time machine from 20 years earlier would be astonished to see the former Communist Russians repenting of their invasion of Afghanistan, no longer in a socialist mode, handing out rations to starving Afghans, and the French and Germans working side by side to restore peace.  The warlike British now hesitate to hand over Ben Laden to any country with capital punishment, and the formerly neutral Americans have plans to continue to invade other countries and fight terrorism wherever it is lurking.

 

It would be bad enough if the dogs were only represented as soldiers in art.  They were punished by noncombatants for their association with their countries of origin.  Little Dachshunds were kicked and beaten by misguided patriots.  To-day Afghans are being abused.  A hotel hosting a dog show had to change their marquee that said ‘Welcome Afghans’ to the name of the dog specialty show.  An unfortunate American kennel with the registered name of Jihad has also been criticized.

 

It is perhaps fitting that the ‘dogs of war’ will now demolish terrorists who not only hate and destroy innocent civilians, but also consider dogs unclean in their religion.  Dogs are man’s best friend, and in this case, symbolic or otherwise, will be on the winning side.