Image of the Italian state during the first Italo-ethiopian war 1895-1896 in the Russian liberal periodical press

Introduction. The article deals with the problem of functioning and transformation of the image of the Italian state during the first Italo-Ethiopian war of 1895-1896 in the Russian liberal periodical press. Special attention is paid to the assessments of the battle of Adua on 1 March 1896 and its significance in changing the political stereotype in Russia about Italy. The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that before in the domestic historiography no attention was paid to historical-imagological studies about this historical period in Russian-Italian relations. Materials and methods . The authors relied on the materials of the journals ‘Russian Thought‘ and ‘Herald of Europe‘ as the most popular and authoritative liberal publications in the Russian Empire of the period under consideration. The methodological basis of the study is the methodology of historical imagology and, accordingly, its conceptual apparatus (image and stereotype). Results . Two periods in the development of the image of Italy during the First Italo-Ethiopian War of 1895-1896 are identified. The first period is fixed from January 1895 to March-April 1896. These boundaries are associated with the time when Prime Minister Francesco Crispi was in power in the country. The Italian state and its policy during this period, according to liberal journalists, was defined by the ‘mania of great power‘, which drove the already ruined population into even greater financial decline. The next chronological phase is associated with the premiership of Antonio Starabba de Rudini, which is recorded from March-April 1896 to 1 January 1897. In this period of time the former image of the Italian state and political stereotype ceases to function. Instead of it a new stereotype is gradually formed. Now the Italian state was presented much more moderately, ‘great caution in politics‘ and aspiration to maintain the status quo were emphasised. This assessment is already neutral-positive, though not so bright.