On April 24, 1877, two weeks before this caricature was published, Russia declared war on the Ottomans and began the ninth and final Russo-Turkish war.

In the same year the Ottomans withdrew from the Conference of Constantinople. Romania declares independence and war on Turkey, joined by Serbians and Bulgarians and finally the Russians (see also Russian Foreign Affairs after the Crimean War).

In the lower box on the left, Franz Joseph I of Austria stands next to England's John Bull. Across from them on the right, sits Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of Germany. Between them a skeleton conducts an orchestra of cannons, bombs and rifles. Above the stage, a hydra-headed plaque surrounded by the legend Theatrum Mundi (Theatre of the World) is flanked by skulls and bones that drip blood onto the stage.