Le mythe russe en France et dans la presse française en 1817

understood within a context characterized by the decline of French power in Europe, the trauma of the 1815 invasion, the instability of the political regime and the presence of foreign troops (including Russian ones) on French soil. Despite the persistence of the myth of the “Russian peril” propagated by both Bonapartist and royalist writers, a more nuanced view tends to emerge as well (the Cossack as a good savage, Russians being gradually civilized through the contact with the French, etc.), while France tries to find its place in a post-Napoleonic world where Russia is increasingly viewed as one of the main pillars of the new European order. The overview of the French cultural scene and popular entertainment indicates that there is indeed a widespread fashion for all things Russian. Religion, both orthodox and unorthodox, is another important factor that shapes the image of Russia in France in 1817. While the conservative and Catholic press tends to portray Russia in a positive key as a pious country promised to a great future, the numerous prophecies, both popular and highbrow, tend to consider Russia’s providential role within an eschatological scenario of salvation, and regeneration of France, the expected restoration of the true faith, and as a future leader of an anti-Ottoman crusade destined to finally reunite East and West.