The image of Austria-Hungary on the pages of the magazine «New Satyrikon» in the first months of World War I

Frolov Vasilii Vladimirovich ORCID: 0000-0002-4182-3703 PhD in History Associate Professor; Department of National and Universal History; Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education 'Pskov State University' Leading Researcher; Youth Research Laboratory for Cross-regional and Cross-Border Studies; Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education 'Pskov State University' 180000, Russia, Pskov region, Pskov, Sovetskaya str., 9, sq. 19 frolov1406@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Russian-Austrian relations have a long history. The first contacts between the two states date back to the end of the XV century, when Grand Duke Ivan III exchanged ambassadorial missions with the Roman King (the de facto head of the Holy Roman Empire) and Archduke Maximilian of Western Austria and Tyrol. In the future, the destinies of the Austrian and Russian peoples were quite closely connected. Austria has repeatedly been an enemy and an ally for Russia in various conflicts and wars. In 2022, after the start of a special military operation of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine, Vienna supported the anti-Russian sanctions of the European Union and the United States, and Moscow included Austria in the official list of unfriendly countries of Russia. That is why in the future the Russian Federation and the Republic of Austria will have to reset their bilateral relations in the interests of their peoples.

In this article, we will turn to the analysis of the image of Austria-Hungary, which was formed on the pages of the weekly satirical magazine Novy Satyricon in the first months of the First World War (July – December 1914), when the Russian Empire was in active military confrontation with the states of the military-political bloc of the Central Powers in the European Theater of Operations. and the Habsburg monarchy was one of its main opponents on the Eastern Front.

Novy Satyricon was a Russian weekly literary and artistic illustrated satirical magazine published in St. Petersburg from June 1913 to August 1918. This periodical, which continued the tradition of Satyricon, was much more politicized and combined political satire and humor. The magazine was also known for its critical anti-government publications (the objects of the publication's satire were: the State Duma, its parties and individual deputies, the government and local authorities, including governors-general – auth.). The magazine was censored, and sometimes it was not individual materials that were seized, but entire issues that were banned. Despite the significant oppositional vector in its activities, the publication actively supported patriotic sentiments in Russian society, sought to rally the subjects of the empire in the face of a common enemy for their state, and therefore many of the magazine's publications did not escape the chauvinistic character. The main, but at the same time quite effective, tool of the journalists of the "New Satyricon" in expressing their civic and political positions were works of art (feuilletons, cartoons, satirical drawings, short stories, poems, hand-drawn stories, etc.), which clearly and clearly conveyed to the readers of the magazine all the necessary messages addressed to them by the editors of the printed material we are investigating. THE media.

Such Russian authors as A. G. Vasiliev ^[1], A. A. Grigorieva ^[2], A. N. Zaichenko ^[3], S. V. Biryukov ^[4], B. S. Kotov ^{[5; 6]}, D. O. Ponomarev ^[7] addressed the image of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the beginning of the XX century., E. S. Senyavskaya ^[8], V. V. Frolov ^{[9; 10]} and others.

One should also mention the scientific works in which the images of unfriendly states created on the pages of Russian periodicals in 1900-1914, including with the help of artistic means, were studied. Such works include, first of all, the studies of A. S. Sviridova ^[11], A. A. Akopov ^[12], L. O. Gorbacheva ^[13], N. V. Mikhalenko ^[14], M. V. Bratolyubova ^[15], L. V. Antonova ^[16], M. N. Lukyanov ^[17], T. A. Filippova ^{[18; 19]}, I. K. Bogomolov ^[20], Yu. I. Dokuchaeva ^[21], S. V. Gavrilova ^[22], R. S. Pereslavtseva ^[23], E. V. Stepochkina ^[23], N. V. Rostislavleva ^[25], S. V. Pyshnograeva ^[26], E. A. Vorobyova ^[27] and others.

Before directly addressing the implementation of the above–mentioned purpose of this study, it should be noted that in 1867 the Austrian monarchy was officially transformed into a dualistic state - Austria-Hungary (with two titular nations), as a result of which a new constitution was adopted in this empire. Thanks to this transformation, this multinational state managed to avoid disintegration, but had to face a number of new acute problems, primarily a sharp aggravation of the national issue ^{[9, p. 143]}. At the same time, as a number of state and political figures of the Russian Empire believed, the participation of the Habsburg monarchy in a large-scale war on the European continent could lead to the final demise of the state of Franz Joseph I. In the official and pro-government print media of the period of the First World War, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was portrayed as a weak and "sick" state in favor of state interests, which was in strong financial and military-technical dependence on Germany ^{[28, p. 6; 29, P. 4; 30, P. 5; 31, P. 6; 32, P. 3; 33, P. 3; 34, P. 2; 35, P. 4; 36, P. 5; 37, P. 2; 38, P. 3; 39, P. 6-7; 40, P. 42-47; 41, P. 68-69; 42, P. 93-95; 43, P. 295; 44, P. 363; 45, P. 49]}.

In the first months of the First World War (July–December 1914), the authors of the New Satyricon paid close attention to Austria-Hungary, its political and military characteristics (distinctive features) on the pages of their magazine. However, the central attention of the journalists of the publication we are investigating was still focused on the German Empire, since it was the Hohenzollern Empire that was the heart of the military-political alliance of the Central Powers.

In the first issue of the New Satyricon, published after the outbreak of the First World War (No. 31 in 1914), its editors set themselves the following main goal – to capture the face of a German in all its "beauty" on the pages of their magazine (representatives of this person meant not only Germans, but Austrians – auth.), who did not hide behind the mask of a civilized European and breathed rabid hatred of the Slavs ^{[46, P. 2]}. The journalists of the New Satyricon were convinced that this face of the enemy should have remained forever in Russian caricature and satire.

In the same issue of the publication, a drawing by Nikolai Vladimirovich Remizov (pseudonym – Re-mi) "Pleasant War" was published. It depicts a cartoon image of an Austrian officer who participated in the bombing of Belgrade, which was abandoned by Serbian troops. The picture also shows a sarcastic phrase on behalf of this "warrior" Franz Joseph I: "Really, war is not such a terrible thing; I even think that I probably wouldn't have been afraid at all if I had known that these damned Serbs had left altogether..." ^{[46, p. 4]}. Thus, N.V. Remizov wanted to convey to the readers of the New Satyricon the idea that Austrian soldiers and officers showed courage in battles with the Serbs only if they were opposed by civilians, women and children. In general, according to the author of the "Pleasant War" drawing, the Austrians were cowards and knew how to kill and maim only civilians. Courage and bravery are those traits that were not characteristic of the soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army.

In issue 32 of the magazine for 1914, a satirical drawing by the artist Alexei Alexandrovich Radakov "Big Appetite" is depicted, in which the Emperor of the German Empire Wilhelm II unsuccessfully tried to "swallow" (conquer) the whole of Europe. In turn, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary tried his best to help his powerful ally accomplish his plans. The elderly Austrian monarch was ready to unconditionally provide all possible support to the German emperor: "even a pat on the back" so that William II "would not choke on Russia, Great Britain and France" ^{[47, P. 4]}. This drawing clearly shows that Germany, represented by its emperor, was the main force of the Triple Alliance, and Austria-Hungary, represented by monarch Franz Joseph I, acted as Berlin's "younger brother".

A. A. Radakov did not ignore the "courage" of the Austrian soldiers and officers. The drawing "In the Land of Franz Josef" (No. 32 for 1914) depicts a very "delicate" embarrassment of an Austrian officer who arose when meeting a Russian Cossack. The Austrian was so scared by the Cossack that he couldn't help himself and wet his trousers ^{[47, p. 9]}. The artist A.A. Radakov also drew the attention of readers of the magazine we are investigating to the cowardice and indecision of the Austro-Hungarian army.

In No. 33 of the New Satyricon for 1914, the cartoon "The Triple Alliance" was published, which depicted soldiers of three states: a German, an Austrian and an Italian, who were under a common (made in Germany) hood. The floor was already actively cracking under the feet of these soldiers, which indicated that the military-political alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy was not durable and was not of a long-term nature. "This toy, made by artisanal German diplomats, is a very fragile thing" ^{[48, p. 8]}.

In Arkady Averchenko's satirical short story "A Task for the oldest children" (No. 34 for 1914), its author informed readers of the magazine we are interested in that the Austro-Hungarian army had many unresolved problems and shortcomings (lack of combat experience and truly significant victories; low combat capability due to its ethnic composition; influx of non-professional A. Averchenko especially emphasized that the units of the Austro-Hungarian army, staffed by Slavs (Serbs, Czechs, Galicians and Bosnians), showed low combat capability and often surrendered. "The Russians appear, and the Czechs rush to them. The Galician commanders are commanding – “They fell to the Czechs!”. But the Galicians, instead, are running to the Russians. Bosnian commanders are commanding – “Fire on the Galicians!”. But the Bosnians are also fleeing to the Russians" ^{[49, P. 3]}. A. Averchenko called Austria-Hungary a "stupid country" and was convinced that the Habsburg monarchy, like its army, was no longer viable and continued to exist only thanks to economic and military-political support from Germany.

A. A. Radakov's satirical drawing "In the Austrian Army" (No. 35 for 1914) also testified that there was no unity and high morale in the ranks of the armed forces of Austria-Hungary. The Slavic peoples did not want to give their lives for a monarch and empire alien to them. The Austrians not only had to fight with Russia and Serbia, but also quite often clashed with soldiers of their own army – rebellious Czechs, Serbs, Bosnians, Galicians and representatives of other Slavic peoples. That is why the Austrian guns "fired in two directions at once" – in the direction of the enemy and at their own location. "Our soldiers [soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army] are very unreliable! Therefore, we are fighting on two fronts at once" ^{[50, p. 4]}.

In issue 37 of the magazine for 1914, a short article "How Austrian museums are replenished" was published. In it, its author sarcastically stated that the Austrians, in pursuit of military trophies, were ready to send Emperor Franz Joseph I even clothes taken from wounded or killed Russian soldiers and Cossacks, since they simply could not present anything more weighty to their monarch. And therefore, as this author of the New Satyricon believed, almost any Austrian soldier who stripped peaceful passers-by could assemble an entire museum of "trophies" for old Joseph ^{[51, p. 10]}.

In the humorous story "International telephone. Vienna – Berlin" (No. 38 for 1914) by its author Vladimir Azov purposefully focused the attention of readers of the New Satyricon magazine on such personal characteristics of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I as stupidity, old age, despondency, shortsightedness. "I don't have any gold, Willy [William II – auth.]... I'm a poor old man. It's not good for me to be angry: I'm old… I'm very unhappy, Willie..." ^{[52, p. 4]}. According to Vladimir Azov, such a weak leader of the state simply could not lead his people to victory in the war with Russia and its allies in the Entente. This means, as this journalist of the periodical we are investigating believed, Austria-Hungary was soon doomed to defeat in the war and the subsequent disintegration into separate (independent) nation-states. The Austro-Hungarian Empire had no future.

In the same issue of Novy Satyricon, Arkady Bukhov published the poem "The Austrian Inheritance", in which its author called Austria-Hungary "a purulent wound of the great Slavic hearts", and Franz Joseph I - "a helpless, frail old man" ^{[52, p. 8]}. Arkady Bukhov was convinced that the Austro-Hungarian Empire was in for a complete defeat in battles with the Russian army, and therefore very soon "the historian, finishing his business, will calmly write on the map where Austria used to be" ^{[52, p. 8]}.

In the humorous short story "Victory" (No. 39 for 1914), its author Isidor Gurevich also paid attention to Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary. This author of the New Satyricon once again pointed out to the readers of the magazine we are investigating the stupidity, gullibility and helplessness of the Austro-Hungarian monarch. Franz Joseph I was ready to endlessly listen to the "stories" and "fairy tales" of his ministers and generals about the fictional victories and achievements of the Austro-Hungarian army on the battlefields with Russia. In reality, the armed forces of the Austrian monarch suffered painful defeats in the theaters of combat, and a significant part of the soldiers and officers surrendered to the Russian army ^{[53, p. 7]}.

In issue 40 of the Novy Satyricon magazine for 1914, a comic strip by Nikolai Vladimirovich Remizov (Re-mi) "Two Boys, or"We have pancakes nonet," which presents a curious dialogue between Austrian and Russian boys. Russian Russians tried to prove to their Russian peers that Austria-Hungary had at its disposal enough diverse and effective resources ("heavy artillery", "Tyrolean riflemen", "Landsturm", "German corps", "cavalry") to give a worthy rebuff to the Russian army. Russian Russian boy had only one answer to all this, but a solid one: "A Russian soldier came to you." This meant that the Russian army had entered the territory of Austria-Hungary and the seizure of the lands of this "sick" empire began ^{[54, pp. 6-7]}. At the end of the dialogue, the Austrian boy began to cry, as he realized that his homeland had nothing left to oppose the Russian Empire on the battlefield, which meant that the Habsburg Monarchy and its peoples had to prepare for imminent defeat in the First World War.

Vladimir Vasilyevich Lebedev's satirical drawing "The Exact Answer" (No. 42 for 1914) once again hinted to the readers of the New Satyricon at the low morale in the Austro-Hungarian army and the lack of unity in its ranks. That is why another caricatured Austrian general was forced to admit in front of the elderly Franz Joseph I that there was a large "drain of people" in the army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (desertion and surrender to the enemy) ^{[55, p. 7]}.

In Nadezhda Alexandrovna Teffi's feuilleton "On Military affairs and the Howitzer" (No. 43 for 1914), the following characteristic of the Austro-Hungarian army and its soldiers is given: "The Austrians, as already proved by zoologists, developed breakneck speed while running. Did you think they organized various Sokolsky (sports movement – ed.) and other clubs for nothing? They were preparing for war... the Russians are chasing, the Austrians are fleeing. There is no way to stop them, no means. Any day now, they will reach the natural border – the ocean, where they will partly drown and partly swim to America" ^{[56, p. 3]}. Thus, in this work, the emphasis is placed on the fact that the Austro-Hungarian army did not pose a serious threat to Russia, and that without the support of Germany, the Habsburg monarchy would have long since capitulated to the onslaught of the Russian army and its allies.

The theme of the unity and viability of the Triple Alliance was very relevant in the first months of the First World War. Russia and its allies in the Entente, not without reason, hoped that they would be able to separate Italy from the union of the Central Powers. That is why, in issue 44 of the magazine for 1914, a one-frame hand-drawn story was depicted, telling how an Austrian and a German tried to persuade an Italian not to turn into the French port of Toulon ^{[57, p. 10]}. Despite all the efforts of the "Germans" (German and Austrian), the Italian chose the French territory. The journalists of the New Satyricon were convinced that Italy should have chosen the right path – to side with the Entente and, together with its new allies, begin fighting against the aggressor empires of Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Arkady Averchenko's next feuilleton, "A Military Trick" (No. 47 for 1914), described the meeting of a "small" Austrian detachment of ninety horsemen with a "large" grouping of Russian troops of fifty fighters. Realizing the disparity of forces, the Austrians decided to surrender to the Russian soldiers in order not to lay down their heads in an unequal battle. One of the Russian soldiers described the situation as follows: "It reminded me of when I was an eighteen–year-old boy who fell in love with a widow weighing about eight pounds. And when I hugged her around the waist, the hands on her back did not converge" ^{[58, p. 3]}. The Russians simply could not understand how a large combat unit decided to surrender without a fight to a much smaller one. The cowardice of the Austrians was back on his face, the desire to save his life at any cost. This only caused surprise among the Russian soldiers, which in fact testified to their valor and bravery.

In No. 48 of the New Satyricon for 1914, a new satirical drawing by V. V. Lebedev, "The Austrian Strategy," was published, to which was attached a dialogue between an Austrian military commander and a common soldier. After analyzing the content of this small work of art, the readers of the magazine could come to only one conclusion: the Austro-Hungarian army could and wanted to "advance" in only one direction – towards Vienna ^{[59, P. 2]}. Cowardice, lack of combat experience, unwillingness to die for incomprehensible goals – all this prompted the Austrian soldier to think only about returning home as soon as possible. Thus, the Austro-Hungarian army could not provide decent resistance to the Russian troops confidently advancing to the west.

The cover of No. 51 of the magazine for 1914 features a cartoon by N. V. Remizov (Re-mi) "The Lost Game", which depicted two emperors, Wilhelm II and Franz Joseph I, playing bowling. The pins (targets) for these two monarchs were Russian soldiers. The balls (weapons of destruction) with which the German and Austrian emperors planned to knock down the pins were the Turks (William II) and the Hungarians (for Franz Joseph I). At the same time, as N. V. Remizov noted, if Turkey and Hungary do not help their "masters" in the near future, then the German and Austrian troops will have to flee to their homes very soon ^{[60, P. 1]}. N. V. Remizov did not believe in the success of the alliance of the Central Powers in the war against the Entente.

Analyzing the materials published on the pages of the New Satyricon, we can note the following distinctive features of the image of Austria-Hungary, formed by the journalists of this publication with the help of artistic means (works) in the first months of the First World War:

- a multinational state that has long lost the bonds that can unite its peoples in the face of a common enemy;

- Russia's foreign policy opponent, primarily on the Balkan Peninsula, the enemy of the entire Slavic world;

- an aggressor country, an oppressor of its own and neighboring peoples;

- a state that found itself under the strong military, political and economic influence of Germany, and as a result turned into the "younger brother" of the Hohenzollern Empire within the framework of the military and political bloc of the Central Powers.

Thus, we can conclude that the image of Austria-Hungary, formed on the pages of the opposition periodical of the Russian Empire, the New Satyricon, in the first half of the First World War, corresponded to the main features (characteristics) that were presented during this period in the domestic official and pro–government print media (for example, in the Russian invalid" and "Chronicles of the War of 1914-1917").

In conclusion, it should be noted that on the pages of the weekly satirical magazine Novy Satyricon, in the first months of the First World War (July–December 1914), the Habsburg Monarchy appeared to be a state that was inevitably approaching its collapse, but tried with all possible might to prevent it. In the opinion of the then Austrian government, a military and political alliance with Germany and entry into a new large-scale war were supposed to be the tools that would most likely be able to restore Austria-Hungary to its former economic and political power and prevent the collapse of the "ailing" empire. In fact, the participation of the Habsburg Monarchy in the First World War only accelerated the process of the death of the "prison of nations" of Franz Joseph I. During the military clash with Russia and its allies, all the problems and pain points of the Austro-Hungarian Empire became even more acute, and all this, of course, was reflected in the pages of the periodical Novy Satyricon. In turn, the active use of satire has only reinforced the informative message of the journalists of the periodical we are investigating to their readers.

The article is published in the version approved by the reviewers (after receiving a positive review recommending the manuscript for publication) with corrections made by the author (after receiving the editor’s comments, if any).
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