I tre diogene. Papagallo No. 43. Anno V.

Satirical lithographed plate published in the supplement to the political newspaper charivaric Papagallo / Le Perroquet N. 43, in the 5th year, published in Bologna. Satirical plate published in the supplement to the political newspaper charivaric Papagallo / Le Perroquet N. 43, published in Bologna. The title and the legend are in Italian, the text on the back is in French (French version).
Translation of the legend: "Three Diogenes.The first finds only spider webs.The second one does not find a melon worth something, the third finds no allies. "
The plate features three characters: a John Bull emaciated and ragged (symbol of England) looking inside an empty cage, the European cage (Gabbia europea), itself covered with a cloth torn up representing a map of the Mediterranean countries; a ragged Bismarck whose skull depicts the Mediterranean Sea and the riparian countries, which, with one hand using an oil lamp entitled "Politica", illuminates melons titled Italia, Austria, Grecia, Spagna, Russia and Ungheria, and on the other hand touches these melons with a stick; a third character looks inside an empty safe titled "Finanze dei Russi" (Russian Finance)..

"Bismarck was above all a man of the old regime who intends to preserve the" dynastic legitimacy "of Europe. As such, he was, throughout the period, a fierce opponent of revolutionary ideas and movements for the emancipation of minorities.

In 1872, he created a "conservative bloc" around Germany, embodied by the Entente of the Three Emperors (Germany, Austria, Russia) and bound by the Polish question (these three countries are the beneficiaries of the division of Poland from the Treaty of Vienna of 1815).

For twenty years, the German Chancellor worked to maintain a relative peace in Europe in the interest of Germany. For this, it tried to preserve the balance of powers by maintaining the territorial status quo, ensuring that no European power was able to take a decisive advantage over others.
Thus, after the Russian victory over the Ottoman Empire (1877), Germany weighs all its weight to avoid a Russian domination of the Balkans.
The Berlin Treaty, negotiated under the presidency of the "Iron Chancellor", was a masterpiece of compromise: the independence of Romania and Serbia, Slav brothers of Russia, are proclaimed: Austria-Hungary occupies Bosnia, the United Kingdom obtains Cyprus, France gets rights on Tunisia and Italy on Tripolitania (current Libya).

By these multiple concessions, Bismarck obtains the support of the European leaders by guaranteeing the balance of the forces: everybody wins (except the Ottoman Empire ...) but nobody obtains a decisive advantage. (The Eyes of the World.fr).

Taken from the Italian satirical newspaper Il Papagallo a satirical magazine founded in January 1873 by Augusto Grossi (1835-1919), which specialized in color-printed caricatures like this one. At its peak circulation reached 50,000, and in 1878 a Parisian version, 'Le Perroquet', and London edition, 'The Parrot', were launched. 'Il Papagallo' closed in 1915, when Grossi was 70 years old.

More about Augusto Grossi and Il Papagallo. [+]