I volatori / "The flyers" (1880)
Foretelling WWI: When the balloon breaks, will Europe tumble into frying pan of war?
Italian political cartoon shows a large balloon ("Politica"/ Policy) in the shape of a man ready to gobble up the moon ("Oriente / Orient") defended by a man ("Turco / Turk") holding a fork. Other armed men representing the nations of Europe and North Africa are falling off the balloon into the frying pan of war ("Guerra") held by the Roman god Mars ("Marte").
Italian caption at bottom reads: “I fiduciosi si lasciano portare in alto al punto che il globo piglia un foro col pericolo di cadere nella padella e dalla padella nelle bragie.”
Google translated: “The confident let themselves be carried upwards until they make a hole against the moon with the danger of falling into the pan and from the pan into the coals.”
Characters at top / left to right
Red hat: Bulgarian
Plumed hat and white tunic: Austrian
Riding balloon man’s shoulder with plumed hat: Italian?
White hat red tunic: Englishman
Green with beard: Russian
At balloon man’s chin: Dane
Characters below left to right
Red sash and blue outfit: Egyptian
Red sash brown outfit: Spaniard
Green outfit: Swiss
Below Swiss, wearing blue: Belgian
Red hat with blue striped pants: Bosnian
White hat striped tunic: Herzegovinian
Red hat, blue tunic, red pants: Pole
Red hat and military tunic with large sword: Ungheni
Red hat with white kilt (‘Foustanella'): Greek
On pan left: Albanian
On pan right: Montenegrin
The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 was a conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Eastern Orthodox Christians coalition led by the Russian Empire and composed of Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro. Fought in the Balkans and in the Caucasus, it originated in emerging 19th century Balkan nationalism. Additional factors included the Russian goals of recovering territorial losses endured during the Crimean War of 1853–56, re-establishing itself in the Black Sea and supporting the political movement attempting to free Balkan nations from the Ottoman Empire.
The Russian-led coalition won the war, pushing the Ottomans back all the way to the gates of Constantinople, leading to the intervention of the western European great powers.
As a result, Russia succeeded in claiming provinces in the Caucasus. The principalities of Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro, each of which had had de facto sovereignty for some years, formally proclaimed independence from the Ottoman Empire. After almost five centuries of Ottoman domination (1396–1878), an autonomous Bulgarian state emerged with the help and military intervention of Russia. The Congress of Berlin in 1878 also allowed Austria-Hungary to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina and Great Britain to take over Cyprus. ~ Wikipedia
From: Papagallo, n. 43, anno VIII ; Le perroquet, journal politique charivarique illustré colorié, n. 43, (colorful illustrated political newspaper)
Date: dimanche (Sunday) 24 octobre 1880.
Medium: 1 print : lithograph, hand-colored.
Library of Congress: LC-DIG-ppmsca-02356