Talk:Mustafa III

= Comments =

kids these days
Could someone find the real (and not anecdotical!) number of this Sultan's children? 582 male-only children is somewhat exaggerating... --Kensai 14:55, 19 July 2006 (UTC)
 * There is no evidence to support anything but two sons and five daughters. I've removed the obvious hoax. —Cuivi é nen 20:40, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

WHO STARTED THE WAR?
Mustafa III was NEVER FORCED to declare the war, he just did what the French ambassador told him to do. François de Tott, (from WIKIPEDIA) he was appointed consul in Crimea in order to investigate about the country and to provoke the Crimean Tatars against the Imperial Russia. Catherine II at this period had a poor country and absolutelly disorganized army. Russia did not want any war at this time. Mustafa III served the French interests in this war. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.226.233.172 (talk) 21:10, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Correspondance between Voltaire and Catherine II removed
I removed a section in the article which reads (as of today): In a series of correspondence between prominent French thinker Voltaire and Catherine the Great, Mustafa III was consistently ridiculed, with Voltaire referring to him as "fat and ignorant.". I removed this section because the background and context of the correspondance are not explained. Without such context, this statement is extremely prone to misunderstanding. Catherine the Great and Voltaire were very good friends. Catherine's lifetime objective was to conquer Constantinople and destroy the Ottoman Empire. Voltaire considered Catherine as an enlightened monarch and supported her in every way. This correspondance is simply a letter between good friends where one friend is giving emotional support to another. It is not a realistic portrayal of Mustafa III. I am almost sure that Voltaire had never seen a portrait of Mustafa III. He could not have known firsthand how fat Mustafa III is. By the way, Catherine the Great herself was pleasantly plump herself. I seriously don't think this kind of foolish gossip between two frieds has any place in this article. Voltaire is not talking as a great thinker in that letter, instead he is talking as if he is Catherine's BFF.---Vikiyazar (talk) 13:58, 24 August 2009 (UTC)