The 20th century was a century of national enemy images. And although the age of extremes is said to have ended in 1989, there is little evidence to suggest that the 21st century will be an era of general, unbiased brotherhood and sisterhood among people. Therefore, enemy images are an important topic, not only for historians. The authors aim to contribute to the question of how and why a national public designates certain groups of people as existential adversaries by examining the history of enemy image construction through three case studies: China 1900, Southwest Africa 1904-1907, and Belgium 1914.