APH-The Slavic Eagles by *Noive
Artist’s Comments:
“… Here they are, Serbia and his lovely older bro Russia, just after the collapse of Ottoman Empire. Serbia, formerly under Turkish control, wants now to create a BIG slavic nation in south eastern Europe, so he claims for the control over Bosnia. But Bosnia is under Austro-Hungarian Empire. He´s a stubborn boy, young Serbia, so he starts some terrorist activities against Austria.
Meanwhile, Russian Empire, as a slavic nation, says that he must support Serbia´s idea to create Yugoslavia (that is, the Southern Slavic state). Of course, Russia wants to influence over these territories, that would give him a new window to the Mediterranean Sea.
So, he promises to protect Serbia from Austria, who´s getting more and more pissed off day after day.
And finally, the ultimate insult, one day in Sarajevo, 28th June 1914. Nationalist Gavrilo Princip shots the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofía Choték with a Browning M1910, the pistol Serbia´s holding here. About the Orthodox cross… no special meaning, just a symbol of Russian and Serbian common culture, by the way, both are majoritarly Orthodox, but there´s no religious implication on the picture. However, colors are important. Red, white and blue (common in Russian and Serbian flags) are used in many elements, as Russia´s dress, the cross and the eagles.
Oh, yes, and Russia is treading Austrian flag.”