Name of Object:

Comic Map of Seat of War with Entirely New Features (London: Rock Brothers and Payne, 1854)

Other name of the Object (second name):

A satirical map of Europe during the Crimean war

Location:

Palermo, Italy

Holding Institution:

State Archives of Palermo

 About MIBACT | State Archives of Palermo, Palermo

Holding Institution (original language):

Archivio di Stato di Palermo

Date of Object:

1854

Description:

In the annex to the map, the authors made explicit their view on the international situation and the political message that they intended to promote. They portrayed Russia as “the Great Bear of Europe”: a tyrannical power, epitome of despotism and oppression, which used the whip against her own subjects. “The claws of the Bear, improperly extended to the Black Sea, are undergoing the process of being clipped by our brave fellows”.
Turkey, which was participating in the war on the side of Britain, was represented as a turkey. The authors argued that it was no longer the “sick bird of Europe”. With “head erect and again in good feather”, Turkey looked “its defiance to Russia”. England was described as “the old Lion of the World, majestic, strong and patient”.

Archival or Bibliographical Reference:

ASPa, Ministero per gli Affari di Sicilia, busta 1199, fasc. 212

Citation of this web page:

Renata De Simone "Comic Map of Seat of War with Entirely New Features (London: Rock Brothers and Payne, 1854)" in "Sharing History", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;AWE;it;82;en

Prepared by: Renata De Simone
Copyedited by: Anne Dowell

MWNF Working Number: IT1 082