The ex-scarecrow of Europe
Subject(s): Bears, China, Crows, England, Germany, Japan, Laughter, Russia (Federation), Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), Scarecrows, Sin, Turkey
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The Russian Bear, as a soldier with rifle, has been turned into a scarecrow. A crow labeled “Japan” bites its nose. Another crow labeled “England” is perched on its cap. A crow labeled “Germany” is flying around its head. A crow labeled “Turkey” is on the ground at its feet. A crow labeled “China” is perched on the rifle butt. All these crows, and several others on a fence nearby, are cawing with laughter at the scarecrow.
Comments and Context
The term “Sick Man of Europe” has been applied through centuries of international diplomacy to several countries — the Ottoman Empire and Turkey during periods of decline, and Great Britain when parts of its empire fell away. In the years prior to World War I, Russia surely wore the mantle.
At the time of J. S. Pughe’s cartoon, a decade preceding the war, Russia had been weakened by internal protests, exacerbated by brutal suppression and international approbation; and border wars, regional conflicts in lands it once dominated, and defiant attacks by stronger neighbors. It had lost allies and puppet regimes in the Baltic and Slavic territories. When Czar Nicholas I provoked Japan around the time of this cartoon, it was met by savage military response (eventually pleading for intervention, which came in the person of President Roosevelt).
Rather than a docile scarecrow, Russia might better have been depicted as a wounded bear — such creatures in nature tend to lash out blindly, as Russia (whose tradition cartoon symbol was a bear) did leading up to, and through, World War I.
Pughe, interestingly, drew the crows defying the tattered scarecrow roughly in their geographical relationships, except for England and Germany, of the Russian empire. Not central at all to this cartoon, but notable in history was the fact that the sovereigns of Russia, Germany, and England, when war commenced, were first cousins.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1904-08-31
Creator(s)
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909
Period
U.S. President – 1st Term (September 1901-February 1905)
Repository
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Page Count
1
Record Type
Image
Resource Type
Rights
These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.
Citation
Cite this Record
Chicago:
The ex-scarecrow of Europe. [August 31, 1904]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277852. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909. The ex-scarecrow of Europe. [31 Aug. 1904]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. February 26, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277852.
APA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909., [1904, August 31]. The ex-scarecrow of Europe.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277852.
Cite this Collection
Chicago:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. February 26, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
APA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
