The Orthodox Ethos of the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878: Topological and Discursive Analysis

Abstract

The article analyzes the Orthodox ethos of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. It is not only about justifying participation in the war, but also about the creation of a universal rhetorical practice to explain both global military events and one's own personal choice in war. Military journalists were the main actors in the creation of this ethos. Topos, as an angle of view for the production of arguments, is a "commonplace", the starting point of reasoning, for all subjects of interaction within the information space of war. The filling of the topos was one or another discourse - an oral or written text in which the meaning of the statement unfolds. © 2021 Matica Srpska. All rights reserved.