Unconditional surrender
Subject(s): Meiji, Emperor of Japan, 1852-1912, Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia, 1868-1918, Peace, Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)
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Meiji, Emperor of Japan, and Nicholas II of Russia, kneel before the female figure of “Peace.” Caption: When, your Majesties?
Comments and Context
Given the exigencies of magazine production — writing and drawing, editing, printing and distribution — we cannot be certain whether the events of Russia’s “Bloody Sunday,” the suppression of protesters on January 9, little more than a week of this cartoon’s cover date, prompted Nankivell’s cartoon. A crowd of petitioners, led by an Orthodox monk, were brutally massacred. The world, and much of Russia, reacted with revulsion, and the Revolution of 1905 began. It was ultimately unsuccessful, but formed a direct line to the Bolshevik Revolution a dozen years later.
Puck‘s cover cartoon would have been appropriate during any week of the grinding, bloody war between a rotting Old-World empire (Russia) and a rising force of the 20th century (Japan). The immediate flash-point had been the insistence of the Russian Czar, Nicholas II, to have geographical and security guarantees in Manchuria and warm-water Chinese ports (never mind the prerogatives of the old, weak, overextended Chinese themselves). The Japanese Emperor Meji and his aggressive military leaders sought similar hegemonic understandings for itself in Korea and maritime lanes and islands.
What could have been a pacific agreement was rejected by the headstrong Czar; and Japan was only too willing to respond with pre-emptive strikes, for instance eliminating the Russian fleet in its leased base at the Chinese city of Port Arthur.
As the world watched and winced at the cruel conflict (largely in the Japanese favor), the Czar’s cousins, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany and King Edward of Great Britain (they were all grandsons of Queen Victoria) prevailed through back-channels upon President Theodore Roosevelt. He did so, and the Treaty of Portsmouth (New Hampshire) ended hostilities.
For all of the bloody aspects of a needless war, and the revulsion felt against the leaders of Russia and Japan by the civilized world, cartoonist Nankivell oddly portrayed the two leaders as dignified fellows.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1905-01-18
Creator(s)
Nankivell, Frank A. (Frank Arthur), 1869-1959
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:
Unconditional surrender. [January 18, 1905]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278067. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Nankivell, Frank A. (Frank Arthur), 1869-1959. Unconditional surrender. [18 Jan. 1905]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. February 26, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278067.
APA:
Nankivell, Frank A. (Frank Arthur), 1869-1959., [1905, January 18]. Unconditional surrender.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278067.
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.
