Original Item. Only One Available. This is one of the rarest propaganda posters we have ever offered. This is a very graphic poster featuring “Cossack Petey”, a Russian Cossack soldier, chopping Japanese soldiers into pieces, watched with horror by John Bull (The United Kingdom), Uncle Sam (The United States), a Chinese man and a Korean man. The poster includes a poem at the bottom describing the many heroic feats of 'Cossack Pyetrukha'. The poster measures 16” × 24".

The top of the poster reads Publisher Nessler and Co. 1904 Poster No. 4. The bottom of the poster reads Kazak Petrukha or “Cossack Petey”. The following text reads:

Everyone knows, the whole world knows, Loud glory is alive. Dexterity, courage without covenant, Well Done Cossacks! He beat the Taters, he beat the Turks, he beat other honest enemies. I had to hit the macaques with cigarette butts, beat the Japanese thieves! And fighting in an honest way, not in the darkness from around the corner, but in a simple Russian way, with the power of the fist. Hold the horse Vanya, let me deal with the enemy and prescribe Peter with a Russian fist. But when fighting the Japanese, it is a pity to get your fists dirty. Peter begins to scatter the enemy, grabbing the Japanese girl by the leg, and she flew off like nothing. Grab another by the scruff of the neck, and the head comes off. The battle was also seen by passersby, who entered before the Russian guns. The Chinese yellowtail himself, the cunning Yankee and John Bull. Oh, the Japanese will remember for a very long time the prowess of the Cossack and this is a lesson he will not soon forget.

This poster was meant to convey Russia’s military superiority in the Russo-Japanese war and the witnessing of these acts by other countries. This poster’s message was short-lived, however, as Russia would eventually be defeated in the Russo-Japanese War. The poster is in great condition with few flaws minus some tearing around the edges. Two small reinforcements have been applied to the back which are only noticeable when held up to light. This poster is one of the rarest we have ever had the pleasure of offering, and displays a long-forgotten conflict that foreshadows Russia’s defeat during World War I. The colors are all in great shape and this would look phenomenal in a frame. Don’t miss out!

The Russo-Japanese War was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1905 over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major theatres of military operations were located in Liaodong Peninsula and Mukden in Southern Manchuria, and the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan. Russia sought a warm-water port on the Pacific Ocean both for its navy and for maritime trade. Vladivostok remained ice-free and operational only during the summer; Port Arthur, a naval base in Liaodong Province leased to Russia by the Qing dynasty of China from 1897, was operational year round. Russia had pursued an expansionist policy east of the Urals, in Siberia and the Far East, since the reign of Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century. Since the end of the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, Japan had feared Russian encroachment would interfere with its plans to establish a sphere of influence in Korea and Manchuria.

Seeing Russia as a rival, Japan offered to recognize Russian dominance in Manchuria in exchange for recognition of the Korean Empire as being within the Japanese sphere of influence. Russia refused and demanded the establishment of a neutral buffer zone between Russia and Japan in Korea, north of the 39th parallel. The Imperial Japanese Government perceived this as obstructing their plans for expansion into mainland Asia and chose to go to war. After negotiations broke down in 1904, the Imperial Japanese Navy opened hostilities in a surprise attack on the Russian Eastern Fleet at Port Arthur, China on 9 February [O.S. 27 January] 1904.

Although Russia suffered a number of defeats, Emperor Nicholas II remained convinced that Russia could still win if it fought on; he chose to remain engaged in the war and await the outcomes of key naval battles. As hope of victory dissipated, he continued the war to preserve the dignity of Russia by averting a "humiliating peace." Russia ignored Japan's willingness early on to agree to an armistice and rejected the idea of bringing the dispute to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague. The war was eventually concluded with the Treaty of Portsmouth (5 September [O.S. 23 August] 1905), mediated by US President Theodore Roosevelt. The complete victory of the Japanese military surprised international observers and transformed the balance of power in both East Asia and Europe, resulting in Japan's emergence as a great power and a decline in the Russian Empire's prestige and influence in Europe. Russia's incurrence of substantial casualties and losses for a cause that resulted in humiliating defeat contributed to a growing domestic unrest which culminated in the 1905 Russian Revolution, and severely damaged the prestige of the Russian autocracy.