Turkeys and Vultures: the Ottoman Empire in American satire

This album contains a number of representations involving the Ottoman Empire taken from the American satire magazine Puck, which operated until the First World War (1871-1918). In addition to providing insight into the ways that the Ottoman world and other countires were characterized and charicatured within the American imagination, these images offer critiques about some aspects of the policies of Western states vis a vis the Ottoman Empire. These images have been cropped to illustrate depictions of the Ottoman Empire but links to the entire images can be found in the captions.

"Tough on Turkey" - 1885
Britain and Russia intimidating the Ottoman turkey

"Waiting" - 1912
European powers as vultures waiting to prey on the Ottoman Empire during the Balkan wars

"Uneasy Turks" - 1908
From the Thanksgiving edition of 1908, a play on words in reference to the Young Turk revolution

"John Bull's dilemma" - 1895The certain doom awaiting the Ottoman Empire's Christian communities was a common theme in the Western press, but this cartoon also points to the ambivalent role of Western states in this dynamic at the time of the Armenian massacres in 1895.

For the entire images please visit www.loc.gov.

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