Reporting on the Great Northern War

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Leaflet from 1715
Leaflet from 1715

The coverage of the Great Northern War in the European news papers , newspapers and leaflets of the time concentrated on the historical reporting of the military actions in the Northern War from 1700 to 1721.

In contrast, there were hardly any reports on the diplomatic negotiations between the war participants and the mediating powers. The reader in Europe at the time received little insight into the individual phases of the political decision-making process.

Pattern of reporting

The predominantly Western European newspapers of the time often used Swedish reports in their articles . One reason for this was, in addition to the political and cultural proximity of the editors to Sweden , the easier availability of the sources . Clearly Sweden-friendly reporting that used a recurring argumentation pattern therefore predominated . Such patterns of reasoning were:

  • In the reports, the capabilities of the Russian army were rated as low and their members characterized as cowards.
  • The Russian troops attacked with a multiple superior strength.
  • Russian interests were generally ruthlessly enforced against opponents and allies.
  • Russian troops behaved brutally towards the civilian population. This solidified the stereotypical judgment of cruel Muscovites and Russian barbarism in the minds of the people of the time.

The aim of the reporting was to stir up a negative judgment about the Russian opponent of the war in public and to keep it alive. This should be done by continuously repeating the allegations. On the Russian side there were initially few attempts to influence this one-sided press coverage in their own way.

As a result of the turn of the war after the Battle of Poltava , the Russian war successes were published in the gazettes with a delay or were completely concealed.

The pattern of pro-Sweden reporting was aimed at increasing the fame of the victorious King of Sweden, Karl . The Swedish army's victories were upgraded and the Swedish fighting skills emphasized. The Swedish cause has been portrayed as a fight for a just cause. The Swedish troops would also be blessed with divine assistance. The reasons for Swedish defeats were looked for in others. The battle of Poltava was only lost because of the betrayal of the ally Masepa .

After 1709 there was a slight change in reporting. Charles XII. was increasingly criticized. His abilities were questioned, his stubbornness emphasized.

Evaluated newsletters and research status

The article is based on Astrid Blome's scientific analysis of the newspapers of the time. Comparable other works or evaluations on reporting in the Great Northern War are not available in German-speaking countries as of 2016. Their analysis was based on their own selection of daily newspapers from northern Germany , which was also the theater of war in the Great Northern War and was geographically close to Bremen-Verden , which was part of the Swedish Empire. The personal connections between the editors and Sweden were correspondingly strong. At that time Hamburg was a nationally important news center. Hamburg newspapers were read nationwide. Around a third to half of Hamburgers had access to daily newspapers. Hamburg itself was included in the war of Magnus Stenbock in 1712 , which ended in Tönning . Russia, on the other hand, had only established contacts to Western and Northern Europe with the Great Embassy of 1697 and could not fall back on an equally matched news landscape.

Around 1700 there were around 60 newspaper companies with daily newspapers in German-speaking countries . The sheets should give readers unbiased information about current affairs. In addition, the newspapers of the time formed the primary source of information for the political journals and the basis for local political discussion groups, for example in the salons .

The newspaper landscape evaluated by Astrid Blome for the above statements is listed below:

See also

literature

  • Astrid Blome: The German image of Russia in the early 18th century: Investigations into contemporary press coverage of Russia under Peter I., Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2000
  • Mechthild Keller : Russians and Russia from a German perspective: 18th century, Enlightenment, W. Fink, 1987