potpourri of terrible fears

[HaraKiriBlade]

“In the minds of many, the real and imagined causes for Russia's defeats quickly mingled into a potpourri of terrible fears” (W. Bruce Lincoln).

It's not so much that I don't know what potpourri of terrible fear means as is that I don't know how coherent it is to the whole sentence.

I mean, I don't know how the real and imagined causes for Russia's defeats quickly mingled into 'a potpourri of terrible fears', or even, just 'fears' in the minds of many. Can you help me with this?

- HKB

[Tdol]

I'd say that people got scared and the causes becames exaggerated.