Resumen de Propaganda e retoriche di guerra. Le «Notizie Officiali» e le cronache della battaglia di Maida (1806)
«Notizie Officiali» was a pro-British periodical printed in Messina from July 1806 to February 1807. The propagandistic nature of this journal was clear from the very first issue, as it reported the official notices issued by the British headquarters in Calabria. Through the accounts of «Notizie Officiali» and the study of a series of manuscripts and unpublished documents, consulted at the British Library, this paper intends to examine certain aspects of the “war of opinion” between France and Britain that was waged in the heart of the Mediterranean theatre during the Napoleonic wars. Specifically, this editorial initiative will be framed within the broader strategy pursued by the British to build consensus in the war against Napoleonic France. It was based on the construction of a rhetoric aimed at challenging the widespread belief of the invincibility of the French army and at extolling the British political and constitutional model also as a stepping stone for a greater economic and social development
