Reflections on the French Public Opinion about Battle of Sinop and Entry of the French Flotilla into the Black Sea (1853-1854)

• Main Author: Eyyub ŞİMŞEK
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Karadeniz Technical University 2017-07-01
• Series: Karen: Karadeniz Araştırmaları Enstitüsü Dergisi
• Subjects: Ottoman; France; Battle of Sinop; Public Opinion
• Online Access: http://www.ktu.edu.tr/dosyalar/karendergi_60890.pdf

Destruction of the Ottoman fleet in Black Sea around Sinop is the most critical incident of the Crimean War (1853-1856). This incident had a very remarkable im-portance, in terms of showing that in a short time, Rus-sia through the Black Sea, had the power to end the war that had just begun. For this reason, the French and the British, which abstained from entering the war with some diplomatic moves, waged war on Russia without any hesitation. The focal point of this article is; the im-pact of the Sinop Incident on French public opinion and the entry of the French navy into the Black Sea. While Russia's attack on the Ottomans from the land was con-sidered an acceptable action, this attack from the sea caused a panic in French public opinion. French people never forgot Napoleon Bonaparte's fiasco in Russia and French newspapers regarded this war as a revenge for the lost war in 1812 so they did not hesitate to invite Napoleon III. to war. Thus, the mission of the French fleet entering the Black Sea and its observations of the Sinopean incident are very essential in terms of unders-tanding the issue and approaching from a broader perspective. Therefore, the activities and obser-vations of the French fleet in the Black Sea were also included this article. The main sources of the work are French newspapers and French archival documents.