Anti-Serb Austro-Hungarian Empire Propaganda (1914)

 

The Balkans during the 1910s was a region of ethnic tension and racial hatred. The Austro-Hungarian Empire wanted to stop its diverse ethnic groups from breaking away into their own nations states. The tension been Slavs and Germanic peoples was evident with the imperial order. The  Austro-Hungarian Empire annex Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1908. The Serb population there went from being ruled by the Ottoman Empire to Austrian rule. Serbia was enraged by this action and it motivated Serbian nationalist to become more extreme. The Black Hand was responsible for the assassination of Archduke  Franz Ferdinand. The propaganda at the time depicted Serbs as ape like creatures. The image shows a fist crushing a Serb saying "Serbia must die." The drawing implies all Serbs are terrorists and that the country and people should be attacked. This was published after the murder of Franz Ferdinand. His death was used as a justification for war. Anti-Serb riots broke out in Sarajevo. The anti-Serb violence then spread throughout the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The acts of violence were not random. They were encouraged by the government. The governor of  Bosnia-Herzegovina Oskar Potiorek organized violence against Serbs. The ethnic tension, rival alliance systems, and European colonial imperialism would spark World War I.