Constructing and Visualizing Enemy Image in Russia During Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)

This article explores the representations of the enemy image (Japan and the Japanese) through visual propaganda in the Russian Empire during the Russo-Japanese War. Drawing on a wide array of visual sources, it identifies the contexts in which the enemy image was constructed and its key components. The analysis includes mass media from the period as well as visual materials such as posters, postcards, lithographs, drawings, and caricatures, revealing distinct features of enemy representation, its intended direction, and target audience. A comparative study of Russian and Japanese visual propaganda is conducted to uncover the reasons for their differences. The effectiveness of Russian visual propaganda is analyzed along with its primary consequences. The author concludes that the visual propaganda of the Russo-Japanese War largely reiterated images and meanings that had been ingrained in public consciousness and state ideology prior to the conflict — portraying the Japanese as “savages,” “barbarians,” “Asians,” and “monkeys,” alongside the “Yellow Peril” paradigm and the belief that Japan acted under the influence of hostile powers against Russia. Ultimately, it is argued that this propaganda, aimed at the “common people” and emphasizing the utter insignificance of the enemy, became so detached from reality that, after approximately 9-10 months of war, it resulted in a counterproductive effect—shifting the enemy image from the Japanese to the Russian autocratic regime and its representatives.

Russo-Japanese War, propaganda, enemy image, Japanese, posters