Satire in Illustrated Broadsheets of the Thirty Years' War as a Form of Foreign Policy Propaganda

The article examines a collection of German illustrated broadsheets dedicated to international relations during the Thirty Years' War (1618—1648). These illustrated broadsheets were precursors to political posters and, in the 17th century, represented a unique form of everyday printed material on the book market. They marked an important milestone in the emergence of politically engaged polemics, closely resembling modern propaganda. During this early stage of development, German propaganda served not only as a means of expressing political views but also as a tool of communication. Political polemics, whose primary weapon was printed journalism, contributed to the formation of a "public sphere" within the German states of the Holy Roman Empire - a unified communicative community essential for the emergence of public opinion. The most significant form of expressing perspectives on foreign policy was satire. By combining satirical texts - often written in the style of a Schwank - with accompanying engravings, illustrated broadsheets became the most popular form of journalism. Through foreign-policy satire in illustrated broadsheets, publicists voiced their discontent with the prolonged conflict in the Empire. The first distinctive feature of this satire was the search for those responsible for starting the Thirty Years' War. German authors claimed that the main troubles stemmed from Jesuit interference in Imperial affairs or from Frederick V of the Palatinate, allegedly incited to rebellion by England. Another characteristic of this period's foreign-policy satire was its gradual shift toward arguments based on secular values. A key factor here was the emerging idea - novel for the Thirty Years' War era - of German national unity in the face of a hostile foreign world. Satire grounded in nationalistic rhetoric became one of the defining features of illustrated broadsheets, reflecting the transformation of political propaganda and its evolving nature in the first half of the 17th century.