Italy, which entered World War I on May 23, 1915, by declaring war on Austria-Hungary, financed its war effort primarily through domestic and international loans, along with some increases in taxation. Between December 1914 and the beginning of 1916 the Italian government issued three national loans to support the war effort. The war was not popular in Italy, and these loans were not greeted with particular enthusiasm by domestic investors. Posters were used to advertise Italian government bonds, which were sold predominantly in northern Italy to lower-middle-class buyers. This poster of 1916 advertising the 5 percent loan of that year features a winged victory brandishing a sword and a laurel wreath. Over the course of the war, the Italian government launched five national loans. The poster is by Ugo Finozzi (1874‒1932), an artist and illustrator who produced other war posters and postcards, including the much bleaker “Cacciali via!” (Drive them out!), an advertisement for war bonds of 1918 that shows an Italian soldier with a dagger drawn protecting an Italian mother and her child from the unseen invader.