“Thousands of lives and millions of rubles!” The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 reflected in Czech periodicals
“Thousands of lives and millions of rubles!” The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 reflected in Czech periodicals

Summary/Abstract: The years 1876–1878 were a time when the nationalist movement of the southernSlavic nations in the Balkans was culminating, especially among the Bulgarians, who, underthe influence of the anti-Turkish rebellion in Herzegovina in 1875, accelerated preparationsfor similarly organized rebel activities. These events showed the Bulgarian issue being not aninternal affair of the Ottoman Empire but rather as being integral to the Great Eastern Crisis,related to differing opinions of European powers, especially Great Britain and Russia, whichwas also followed closely by the Czech periodical press (e.g., Národní listy, Světozor, Čech, etc.).This study examines the primary spectrum of attitudes taken on these questions of internationalpolitics by Czech journalists, especially those working for Národní listy, the leading Czechperiodical of that era, who during this era of culminating Czech emancipation, were finallycoming of age in the sense of an independent profession. The focus will not be on the ideologicalparameters of the Russo-Turkish War but rather on the perception of the military conflict and itsreflections in a geographically relatively remote environment, which continues to be relevanteven now.

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