I Principati danubiani, la Russia e la Guerra d’Oriente nello sguardo dell’esilio romeno (1853)

This essay focuses on the initial period of the war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, from October 1853 to the first half of 1854. The theatre of military events was the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which were first invaded by the Russian army and then occupied by Austrian troops. In the face of the new political and military scenarios of 1853, which revealed a potential reorganisation of Eastern Europe, Romanian exiles took again action. They attempted to exploit the new international political situation to achieve what had not been accomplished during the 1848 revolution due to Russian-Ottoman repression. The Romanian exiles reorganised their propaganda activities abroad. They believed that the Danubian provinces were the outpost of the Western world. If the Russian invasion prevailed, it would have been followed by invasions of Turkey and, ultimately, Europe. Therefore, supporting Romanian people and the sovereign rights of the Ottoman Empire meant defending the entire West, which would sooner or later have been attacked by Russia if the rest of Europe stood by and watched events unfold without acting. In the second part of the article, the most significant written contribution on these topics within the context of Romanian exile is examined: Ion Ghica’s 1853 brochure Dernière occupation des Principautés danubiennes par la Russie.