Lizbet Lyubenova
Papers of BAS. Humanities and Social Sciences
Vol. 5, 2018, No. 2
The Balkans through the eyes of a Polish cornet
Lizbet Lyubenova
Abstract. The study is based on an unpublished original diary by the Polish officer Ludovic Przesmycki, who took part in the Russo-Turkish war of 1829, serving under Diebitsch-Sabalkanski (Hans Karl von Diebitsch-Sabalkanski). The manuscript was bought by the Archive Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (now known as Scientific Archive), through the intermediation of Dr. Tadeusz Grabowski, professor of Slavic Literature at Kraków University. The diary reveals interesting aspects of the life of the Balkan nations as observed by the author in his contacts with the local population during the military campaign. Despite his religious bias and subjective judgments, the Polish officer presented a new picture of the ethno-demographic characteristics of the residents of Wallachia, Moldavia, and the northeastern Bulgarian lands.
Keywords: Russo-Turkish War, Hans Karl von Diebitsch-Sabalkanski, Polish cornet, Ludovic Przesmycki