Oldal 282 [282]
From Allies to Enemies: The Two Balkan Wars (1912—1913) in Caricatures
important political and field events unfold before our eyes. Satirical magazines
are not only exciting sources, they also constitute an interesting but distorted re¬
flection of the social and political thinking of the period. The satirical magazines
were popular contemporary readings; moreover, the readers also authored some
of the texts and suggested caricatures. Thus, we are able, even if only partially, to
reconstruct contemporary public opinion and the views of the participants in the
historical conflicts.
Satirical magazines formed an integral part of civic culture in Hungary and
in Austria, a fact amply reflected in the locations from which the satirical texts
and caricature suggestions were sent to the editorial offices by the readers and in
the coffeehouses where the editors really worked (and where most readers enjoyed
the magazines). The editors and the readers were in touch with each other—both
were able to read Viennese satirical magazines sitting in coffeehouses in Budapest,
which had an effect on the caricatures as well; and the Austrian magazines had cor¬
respondents in Hungary and vice versa. The Austrian weeklies also had correspon¬
dents from other European countries, while the Hungarian magazines had readers
mostly from the territory of the monarchy, but the editors and caricaturists knew
and read many European satirical magazines. The models of the Hungarian satiri¬
cal papers were also the Viennese, German, French, and English satirical weeklies,
which also explains the use of similar symbols, editorial methods, and schemata.
The Austrian and Hungarian satirical papers had long traditions, existing since
the 1840s and 1850s, and together with other European satirical magazines they
were well known by the caricaturists of the national minorities living in the monar¬
chy, too. In order to make understandable the drawings, the caricaturist had to use
symbols and myths well known in the given society. Some of these symbols were
very common in Europe (for example, symbols of characteristic Jewish appearance
and symbols of death or the devil), and almost all of the caricaturists employed
them, as we will see below.
For the comparative analysis of the depiction of the Balkan wars, I have chosen
drawings from the Hungarian satirical magazine Borsszem Janke published in Buda¬
pest between October 1912 and August 1913 and from the Austrian magazine Der
Floh published in Vienna between October 1912 and August 1913, since they were
satirical magazines of the respective liberal Hungarian and Austrian governments.
Austria-Hungary was highly interested in the conflicts in the Balkans because, on
the one hand, the territory of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy was home to Serbs
who might want to join the new Serbian state, and the Viennese and Hungarian
governments were afraid of the Serbs’ independence movements. On the other hand,
the monarchy had economic, as well as foreign political interests in the Balkans, and
the monarchy carried out the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina (in 1908), which
was against the interests of nations and national minorities living in the Balkans.
Therefore, it is interesting to analyze how these two satirical magazines depicted
the two Balkan wars, whether the fear of a new and probably strong Serbian state
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