ABSTRACT
When the Crimean War broke out between the Ottoman Empire and Russia in October 1853, the Russian Tsar Nicholas I announced that his country was involved in the war to protect Orthodox rights in the East. In parallel to this official explanation, Russian chapbooks and cartoons also defined the Crimean War as a “holy war” that Russia fought against its enemies. An analysis of the Russian war propaganda that targeted Russian commoners and aimed to gain their support for the war shows that the Crimean War was more than just a “holy” war. This was the case especially after England and France joined the war in March 1854. Examining Russian chapbooks and cartoons, called lubki, this chapter aims to present and analyse how Russian popular writers and artists, the creators of lubki and the Censor Committee members appointed by Nicholas perceived the war and defined Russia's enemies. While doing this, the chapter also touches upon how these definitions differed from or agreed with some intellectual explanations of the war.
