The concept «war of 1812» in foreign encyclopedias of 20 -beginning 21 century

In modern conditions the formation of an open information space of the political and scientific communication in the world is available through the mass consciousness of characters and shapes. Images of the countries, states, nations have become the tools of designing national and civilization identities. The image of Russia in our time are interesting for millions of people- the Russians themselves, foreigners who study the country, people unfamiliar with it. This article is executed within an imagenology, the interdisciplinary direction studying images of the countries, cultures and peoples. The British and American encyclopedias, dictionaries and directories are studied in this paper. Western authors interpret the concept 'War 1812'. The war of 1812 in Russia is often called «Napoleon's invasion into Russia», «Russian episode in Napoleonic wars» and «The patriotic war». The war of 1812 found reflection in the majority of the western editions and is estimated as a considerable victory of Russian people. A certain attention is given to Russian commanders with the instruction that in military campaigns proved to be originally talented strategists only Napoleon and Wellington. Kutuzov's activity is reflected in pages of foreign editions. He typically relied on quick maneuvers and sought to avoid unnecessary battles, husbanding his forces to strike at the proper moment. The visual image of war is created by subjects of Russian art which are stored in the American museum Hillwood. It was created in 1973 according to the will of businesswoman M.M. Post. In 1937-1938 she together with the third husband D.I.Davies (at that time he was the ambassador of the USA in the USSR) lived to Moscow. Marjorie Post opened here for itself Russian art and made it a passion and collecting subject on all life. Among symbols of the war - Alexander's I bronze busts, Russian plates with views of Berlin, glasses with medallions by F.P.Tolstoy, a box with a portrait of emperor Alexander I. The portraits of Russian commanders drawn with G. Dawe, are printed in the best encyclopedias. Many modern scholars point out that stereotypes often reflect issues of mutual perception of the society to which it belongs by the publication of these problems, he takes part in the described object. In this sense, Russia's image appears as a mirror of the West.

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