RUSSIAN ARMY OF NICHOLAS I FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF THE BRITISH DURING THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR OF 1853-1856 (LINGUOIMAGOLOGICAL ASPECT)

Abstract

The article analyzes the views of British soldiers, officers and journalists on their adversaries – the Russians during the Russo-Turkish War of 1853-1856 from the viewpoint of linguoimagology. This area explores the means of image verbalization. Memoirs of Crimean witnesses, journalist notes, letters from English soldiers and officers were selected for the study. The assessment that the British gave to the enemy is of particular interest. In the article the following aspects are explored: the Russians in battle, the cunning behavior of Nicholas’ I soldiers and their weapon. Summarizing the material, we can draw some conclusions. The opponent's assessment was made taking into account the national picture of the world. From the perspective of many British historians, the Eastern War of 1853-1856 was “pointless” and “unnecessary”. The authors are inclined to believe that this was the last campaign of the uncompetitive army of the Russian emperor. The analysis of the binary opposition “our / other” (“friend / enemy”) in the military discourse is made. Numerous works by British poets and writers on the Crimean War of 1853-1856 have implemented the basic archetypes: hero (British soldier, French soldier) – villain (the Russian tsar, a soldier with a bayonet, a Cossack), own space (Great Britain, Balaklava, transformed into “Little London”) – foreign space (Sevastopol under siege, Russia in general), backward (Russian, Tatar, Turk) – civilized (British, French). The British had good attitude to their officers and soldiers and also to the military of allies, but showed bad attitude to the enemy (the Russians). This characterizes them as people who have subjective assessment. The authors of the memoirs use the following means of interpretation of the linguoimagological aspect: inversion, metaphor, exclamation marks, superlatives, juxtaposition, expressive phrases, phonetic repetitions, lexical repetitions, detail. Aesthetic and ethical assessment is used to add expressiveness to the narrative. English witnesses condemn the defense tactics of the Russians, their attempts to fall to the ground and destroy everything possible during the retreat. English writers and journalists use stereotypes that have negative connotations.