‘Gazeta Warszawska’ on the Russo-Turkish War (the 1789 campaign)

Abstract

The article presents a selected campaign of the Russo-Turkish War, which Turkey fought with Russia and its ally, Austria, in 1787–1792. The Author used the reports of „Gazeta Warszawska” – a leading information magazine, published in 1774–1793 under the editorial supervision of an ex-Jesuit, Father Stefan Łuskina, as the principal source of information. Throughout the entire conflict, Łuskin’s newspaper reported regularly (almost in every issue) on activities on the eastern front. The editor-in-chief was an advocate of pro-Russian position, which did affect the information provided by the publication. The news from the Eastern War published in „Gazeta Warszawska” was selected in such a way as to show the superiority of the Russian army over the Ottoman fleet and army and to prove that the opponents of the Tsaritsa opponents would be inevitably defeated.

Keywords

• „Gazeta Warszawska”
• Polish information press
• Stefan Łuskina
• Russian-Turkish war of 1789–1792
• 1789 campaign
• 18th century