--- title: Сдал австриец русским Львов (The Austrian Surrendered Lvov to the Russians) url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/austrians-surrendered-lvov-1914/ description: Russian lancers under the tricolour charge past a Cubist-styled Lvov while Austrian soldiers crouch, flee and drop their weapons. section: Collection --- [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) [![Сдал австриец русским Львов (The Austrian Surrendered Lvov to the Russians)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/austrians-surrendered-lvov-1914.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/austrians-surrendered-lvov-1914.jpg) # Сдал австриец русским Львов (The Austrian Surrendered Lvov to the Russians) Russian lancers under the tricolour charge past a Cubist-styled Lvov while Austrian soldiers crouch, flee and drop their weapons. Mayakovsky's couplet puns on the city's name (Lvov, 'of lions') and calls the Austrians hares against lions and a herd of crayfish backing away past Krakow. The animal labels carry the argument: the enemy is timid by nature, so the battle needs no further account. - **Date:** 1914 - **Period:** [First World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwi) - **Made by:** Segodniashnii Lubok publishers, Moscow; Aristarkh Lentulov (image), Vladimir Mayakovsky (verse) - **Region:** [Eastern Europe and Eurasia](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=eastern-europe-eurasia) - **Country:** [Russian Empire](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=russian-empire) - **Medium:** [Print](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=print) - **Issuer type:** [Media](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=media) - **Regime:** [Russian Empire](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=russian-empire) - **Leader:** [Nicholas II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=nicholas-ii) - **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public) - **Purpose:** [Reassure](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=reassure) - **Themes:** [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military), [Home front](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=home-front) - **Event:** [World War I](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=world-war-i) - **Techniques:** [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) - **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are - **Source:** [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2021669077/), retrieved September 27, 2026 - **Rights:** Public domain in the U.S. (published before 1931) Lentulov, Aristarkh Vasilievich, 1882-1943 Artist.. 1914. Library of Congress. ## Text on the object Original (Russian) · read from the image, not independently checked ``` Сдалъ австріецъ русскимъ Львовъ, Да за дали, да за Краковъ, Гдѣ имъ зайцамъ противъ львовъ! Пятить будутъ стадо раковъ! Типо-Лит. С. Мухарскаго. Москва, Бол. Никитская, 22. Издательство «Сегодняшній Лубокъ» Москва, Тверская, 29, кв. 30. Тел. 2-78-64. ``` English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader) ``` The Austrian surrendered Lvov to the Russians, Yes, [they'll be pushed back] as far as Kraków too, Where can hares stand against lions! A herd of crayfish will back away! Lithography of S. Mukharsky. Moscow, Bolshaya Nikitskaya St., 22. Publisher "Today's Lubok." Moscow, Tverskaya St., 29, apt. 30. Tel. 2-78-64. ``` The verse is a double pun the translation cannot carry: 'Львовъ' (Lvov, genitive plural also reads as 'of lions') set against 'зайцамъ' (hares), and 'раковъ' (crayfish, which move backward) for the retreating Austrians. A small handwritten catalog number near the lower-left corner of the sheet is an archival annotation, not part of the print, and is not transcribed. [← I.W.W. Hat Card](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/iww-bread-or-revolution-1914/) [यह सिपाही हिन्दुस्तान की हिफ़ाज़त कर रहा है (This Soldier Is Defending India), Indian Army recruiting poster, Bombay →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/indian-army-hindi-recruiting-poster-1914/) ## Using the same techniques - [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking) - [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling) - [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer) - [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking) - [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (1791 · Name-calling, Transfer) - [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling) - [Exit Liberté a la Francois! or Buonaparte closing the Farce of Egalité, at St. Cloud (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/exit-liberte-buonaparte-gillray-1799/) (Nov 21, 1799 · Name-calling) - [Van Moscouw tot Elba moest ik wyken (From Moscow to Elba I had to give way), Napoleon caricature by Wijnand Esser](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/van-moscouw-tot-elba-napoleon-esser-1814/) (1814 · Name-calling)