In times of war it was not entirely uncommon to see caricatures of the enemy side, often depicting their king, general or whoever held great power or authority at the time. The Napoleonic era was certainly one of those times when England managed to produce a hefty amount about Napoleon. And now when Sweden was at war she would do so as well to both improve the peoples thought about the war as well as sending some over to Finland to be captured by the Russians.

An influential journalist and artist, Karl Nilsson, collected a series of newspaper to form his opinion and listened to rumours before he began working…

Headline: Massakern vid Radom! [Резня в Радоме / The massacre at Radom]

On the city walls of Radom stood a pair of scruffy soldiers, Austrian and Russian, one sickly pale and the other grabbing his forehead in panic. They looked over a field of bodies and on the other side a group of angry poles standing in front of the Prussian monarch, Fredrick William III, who handed them a rifle with a note attached to it “Borttappade vapen” [Потерянное оружие / Lost weapons]. This whole image played on the rumours that the massacre had killed most of the Russian army and left the Austrian scared. The Prussian monarch handing over weapons was based more on a cruel assumption that even though his armies left they must have also handed over their rifles considering the continued ferocity of the revolt.

Behind the Russians was the sickly Tsar Nikolaus I who leaned against a walking stick situated in Finland. Standing at the base of the walking stick in Finland was the Finnish revolt who used axes to cut away a chunk from the stick. A though bubble emerged above him, “Jag undrar var jag ska skicka min mäktiga armé därefter?” [Интересно, куда мне отправить мою могучую армию дальше? / I wonder where to send my mighty army next?]. This imagery played on the assumption that the Russian army was both tired and beaten from a mere revolt in Poland and that if they were to go to Finland would suffer the same fate. At the same time it pointed towards the inept tsar for not being able to crush said rebellion with even the largest of armies and would likely be deposed as he fell in Finland.

Commentary below image: Även med 200,000 man så utplånades Kejsarallianses trupper och lämnade en täcke över fälten vid Radom med deras kroppar, 100.000 stupade!

[Даже имея 200 000 солдат, имперские войска были уничтожены и оставили свои тела на полях Радома, 100 000 погибших! // Even with 200,000 soldiers, the imperial troops were destroyed and left their bodies littered on the fields of Radom, 100,000 dead!]