Journal of Historical Archaeology & Anthropological Sciences Research Article Open Access Voltaire, Diderot, Catherine II and the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774 Abstract Volume 3 Issue 3 - 2018 The Russo-Turkish war of 1768-1774, provoked by the government of Louis XV, Jean Christophe Rebejkow hostile to the geopolitical aims of Catherine II who sought both commercial outlets on Academy of Créteil, France the Black Sea and the establishment of a Greek Orthodox empire in Ottoman territory, 1 has strongly interested enlightened Europe, in particular Voltaire and Diderot. France Correspondence: Jean Christophe Rebejkow, Academy of was an ally of Turkey, Sweden and Poland (all three beaten by Catherine II), which Créteil, France, Email
[email protected] may explain the sometimes ambiguous attitude of Diderot, divided between love for his country and his support for Catherine II. The Czarina, wishing to conciliate the Received: September 28, 2017 | Published: May 18, 2018 esteem of the writers, distributed those compliments, medals and money. They seemed to have won over to his cause, with the exception of Mably and Rousseau who were reluctant because of the question of Raynal’s division of Poland, which criticized his Legislative Commission for the establishment of a new Code of Laws wrote an Instruction for her, the Nakaz), of Madame du Deffand, who criticized her ostentatious attitude.2 Keywords: Russo-Turkish war, philosophers, constantinople, ottoman empire, prisoner Introduction stationed in Poland to protect the Orthodox minority residing there, Poland, by the perpetual treaty of March 1768, being placed somehow We would like to ask questions about the conditions of this meeting.