Image of the enemy

The article provides an analysis of the representation of the Russian Empire in the works of the British cartoonist W. K. Haselden, which were published in the tabloid Daily Mirror between 1905 and 1906 The primary focus of the study is the transformation of Russia’s image against the backdrop of the Russo-Japanese War. The analysis of 97 cartoons reveals that, despite Britain’s formal neutrality, the British cartoonist’s visual rhetoric was predominantly critical and hostile towards Russia. Thematic analysis identified predominant themes, including images of threat, guilt, belligerence, and weakening. The internal and foreign policies of the Tsarist government, as well as the actions of the Russian fleet, were subject to criticism. The study concludes that W. K. Haselden’s cartoons functioned as a tool for shaping public opinion by simplifying complex international processes into a binary friend-or-foe framework.