This poster encourages Russian citizens to buy war bonds at a rate of 5.5 percent, a figure that seems to have been fairly consistent during the war, as indicated by a range of posters from the period. While the Russians had a population of around 126 million during World War I, in contrast to the German population of about 67 million, and therefore faced no real shortage of manpower, the country was extremely short of funds and so this kind of war-bond drive was essential. The composition shows two sailors loading a gun turret on a battleship with the lettering below them set over the diagonal blue cross of the Russian navy. In October 1917, after some eight months of political chaos, the Bolsheviks finally overthrew the Tsarist regime; in March 1918, they signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany, pulling the country out of the war, which they dismissed as an imperialist conflict. The bonds became worthless.