The naval visit of the Russian squadron to Toulon in 1893: representation in the Popular French Daily Newspapers

The article is devoted to identifying the ideas about the Franco-Russian Alliance and the Russian Empire as an ally, which popular French daily newspapers formed to their readers during the visit of the Russian squadron under the command of Admiral F. K. Avellan to Toulon in October 1893. The ideas translated in the articles of the four largest French daily newspapers (Le Petit Parisien, Le Matin, Le Petit Journal and Le Journal) reflect the relationship within the Franco-Russian Alliance that developed between the signing of the consultative pact and the ratification of the military convention. In combination with the existing studies on the Franco-Russian Alliance the use of the popular French daily newspapers seems promising for further research. General scientific and special historical methods, such as historical-genetic, historical-comparative and historical-systemic methods were used in this study. The novelty of the research is the introduction of materials from popular French daily newspapers into scientific circulation. Based on the analysis of the content of Le Petit Parisien, Le Matin, Le Petit Journal and Le Journal, it is concluded that the French newspapers were not only active participants in the Toulon celebrations, but also pursued a unified political line in covering the Russian-French manifestations. The mechanisms used by popular French daily newspapers to construct the image of the Franco-Russian Alliance and Russia as an ally for their target audience were identified. Among them: the special emotionality of the narrative, the idea of the natural sympathy of peoples for each other, the presentation of the Franco-Russian Alliance as a guarantee of establishing a balance of power in Europe and achieving long-term peace, the removal of contradictions between the forms of government of Russia and France, etc.