Comic Map of Seat of War with Entirely New Features (London: Rock Brothers and Payne, 1854)
A satirical map of Europe during the Crimean war
Palermo, Italy
State Archives of Palermo
About MIBACT | State Archives of Palermo, Palermo
Archivio di Stato di Palermo
1854
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”.
ASPa, Ministero per gli Affari di Sicilia, busta 1199, fasc. 212
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
Related Content
On display in
Sharing History Exhibition(s)
Rediscovering The Past | Mapmaking | OverviewMWNF Galleries
Prints and drawingsDownload
As PDF (including images) As Word (text only)