As the main reason for the outbreak of hostilities, historians single out an increase in national self-consciousness in the Balkan countries. This kind of sentiment in society was associated with the so-called April Uprising, which took place in Bulgaria. The ruthlessness and cruelty with which this rebellion was suppressed forced the European states (together with the Russian Empire) to show sympathy for the brothers in faith who were in Turkey.
So, on the twenty-fourth of April 1877, Russia declares war on the Port. Archbishop Pavel at a prayer service after the Chisinau solemn parade reads the manifesto of Alexander II, who announced the beginning of the war against the Ottoman Empire. Already in May of the same year, Russian troops entered the Romanian land.
The military reform of Alexander II also affected the preparedness and organization of the troops. The Russian army consisted of almost seven hundred thousand people.
The army's move to Romania was made to eliminate the Danubian fleet, which controlled most of the Danube crossings. A small Turkish river flotilla was unable to fight back, and very soon the Dnieper was forced by Russian troops, which was the first step towards Constantinople. As the next important step, we can single out the siege of Plevna, which capitulated on the tenth of December. After that, the Russian troops, consisting of three hundred thousand people, were preparing for the offensive.
In the same period, Serbia resumes operations against the Porte, and on December 23, 1877, a detachment of General Romeiko-Gurko makes a raid through the Balkans, thanks to which Sofia was taken.
On the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth of December, an important battle takes place at Sheinovo, the result of which is the defeat of the Turkish army of thirty thousand.
The main tasks of the Asian direction of the Russian-Turkish war were to ensure the security of the borders and the desire to break the concentration of the Turks on the European border.
Historians are accustomed to consider the beginning of the Caucasian campaign the Abkhazian rebellion, which took place in May 1877. In the same period, the city of Sukhum was abandoned by the Russians and it was only possible to return it in August. During the Transcaucasian operations, Russian troops captured many strongholds and fortresses. However, in the second half of the summer of 1877, hostilities "froze" in anticipation of reinforcements.
Beginning in the fall, Russian troops adhered exclusively to siege tactics. For example, they took the city of Kars, the capture of which never took place due to a truce.
War between Turkey and Russia in 1877-1878. was unleashed as a result of the political crisis that swept Europe in the early 70s of the 19th century.
In 1875, an uprising against the Turkish sultan broke out in Bosnia and within a few months spread to the territories of Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Bulgaria. The Turkish army was forced to suppress the Slavic resistance, which brought huge human losses for these states.
The forces of the warring parties were unequal; the small Slavic states did not have either a professional army or a material and technical base. To free from Turkish expansion, the help of other, strong states was required, thus, the Russian Empire was drawn into the conflict.
The Russian government at first acted as an arbiter, trying to try on the sides, however, with the strengthening of the anti-Slavic policy of the Tupetsk Sultan, it was forced to enter into a confrontation with the Ottoman Empire.
The Russian emperor tried by all available methods to delay the hostilities: the reformation of the army, which began in the late 60s, had not yet been completed, the military industry was working at a low level and there was an acute shortage of ammunition and weapons.
Despite this, in May 1877, Russia entered into an active military confrontation. The fighting took place in two theaters, the Transcaucasian and the Balkan. Between July and October, the Russian army, together with the military forces of Bulgaria and Romania, won a number of victories on the Balkan front.
At the beginning of 1878, the Allied army was able to overcome the Balkan Mountains and occupy part of southern Bulgaria, where decisive hostilities were unfolding. Under the leadership of the outstanding general M, D. Skoblev, the Russian troops not only held back a large-scale enemy offensive from all fronts, but already in early January 1879 they were able to occupy Adrianople and reach Constantinople.
Significant successes were also achieved on the Transcaucasian front in November 1877, the Russian army stormed the main strategic object of the Ottoman Empire, the Kare fortress. Turkey's defeat in the war became obvious.
In mid-1878, a peace treaty was concluded between the warring parties in the Constantinopolitan suburb of San Stefano. According to the treaty, the Balkan states received sovereignty and independence from the Ottoman Empire.
The Russian Empire, as a victor, regained Southern Bessarabia, lost during the Crimean War, and also acquired new military bases in the Caucasus Ardagan, Bayazet, Batum and Kara. The possession of these fortresses meant Russia's complete control over the actions of the Turkish government in the Transcaucasian region.
The states of Europe could not come to terms with the fact of strengthening the positions of the Russian Empire on the Balkan Peninsula. In the summer of 1878, a congress was convened in Berlin, in which the sides of the Russian-Turkish war and European countries took part.
Under the political pressure of Austria-Hungary and England, the Balkan states were forced to give up their sovereignty. Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina actually turned into colonies of European powers. The Ottoman Empire, for the support provided to England, provided the island of Cyprus.
The defeat in the Crimean War of 1853-1856 and the subsequent Treaty of Paris significantly undermined Russia's influence in the Balkans and the Black Sea. Only after the annulment of the restrictive articles of this treaty did the Russian government seriously think about revenge. An opportunity soon presented itself.
In April 1876, an uprising against the Turks broke out in Bulgaria, which the Turkish troops suppressed with incredible cruelty. This caused outrage in European countries and especially in Russia, which considered itself the patroness of Christians in the Ottoman Empire. Turkey rejected the London Protocol, signed on March 31, 1877 by Great Britain, Russia, Austria-Hungary, France, Germany and Italy, which provided for the demobilization of the Turkish army and the beginning of reforms in the Balkan provinces of the Ottoman Empire. And then a new Russian-Turkish war became inevitable. On April 24, Emperor Alexander II signed a manifesto on the war with Turkey.
ARMIES OF THE PARTIES
By the beginning of the war, the Russian Empire approached with a renewed army, rebuilt according to new principles. It was no longer a serf army of the times of the Crimean War, staffed by recruitment, but armed forces recruited on the basis of general military service. They also received new weapons, primarily modern Berdan rifles. The field artillery was equipped with rifled breech-loading guns - 4-pounder (2/3 foot batteries and all mounted) and 9-pounder (1/3 foot batteries). In 1870, rapid-fire 10-barreled Gatling and 6-barreled Baranovsky guns with a rate of fire of 200 rounds per minute were adopted by artillery brigades. The Turkish army was organizationally inferior to the Russian one. Most of her cavalry were Bashi-Bazouk irregulars. They were capable of repairing the massacre of the Bulgarian rebels, but useless against the regular army. The command dispersed about half of the infantry in the fortresses. Small arms were relatively modern - English and American-made rifles, but artillery was significantly inferior to Russian.
At sea, the situation was not in favor of Russia, which had not yet had time to restore the fleet after the abolition of the restrictive articles of the Paris Treaty. If Turkey had powerful armored forces on the Black Sea, then Russia had only a few mobilized steamships. This made it difficult for the Russian troops to supply supplies.
Instead of a sea route, supplies had to be transported by land, which, in the absence of railways, was not an easy task. To counter the Turkish fleet, Russian sailors widely used mine weapons, as well as a novelty of that time - "self-propelled mines" (torpedoes).
PLANS OF THE PARTIES
The Russian command focused its main attention on the Balkan theater of operations: here one could count on the support of the local population, whose liberation from Ottoman oppression was presented as the main goal of the war. In addition, the exit of the Russian army to Constantinople could mean the final defeat of the Ottoman Empire. But the path to this goal was blocked by two frontiers.
The first of them is the Danube River with powerful fortresses on its banks (Rushchuk, Silistra, Shumla, Varna) and a Turkish flotilla of 17 armored monitor ships. The second no less serious obstacle is the Balkan Range. Several passes led through it, which the enemy could easily block. It was possible to bypass the Balkan Range along the sea, but then one would have to take the well-fortified Varna by storm.
The Russian war plan, prepared in 1876 by General N. Obruchev, was based on the idea of a lightning victory during one campaign. The army was supposed to cross the Danube in the middle reaches of the river, where the Turks had no fortresses, in an area populated by Russian-friendly Bulgarians. After the crossing, the army was to be divided into three equal groups. The first blocks Turkish fortresses in the lower reaches of the Danube, the second acts against Turkish forces in the direction of Vidin, the third crosses the Balkans and goes to Constantinople.
The Turkish side planned to resort to active defense. Having concentrated the main forces (about 100 thousand people) in the "quadrangle" of the fortresses Ruschuk - Shumla - Bazardzhik - Silistria, the Turkish military leaders were going to lure the Russians who had crossed to the Balkans, deep into Bulgaria, and then defeat them, falling on the left flank. At the same time, quite significant forces (about 30 thousand people) were concentrated in Western Bulgaria near Sofia and Vidin. This corps monitored Serbia and Romania and was supposed to prevent the connection of the Russian army with the Serbs. In addition, small detachments occupied the Balkan passages and fortifications along the Middle Danube.
PROGRESS OF BATTLE ACTIONS
The Russian army, by prior agreement with Romania, passed through its territory and in June crossed the Danube in several places.
To ensure the crossing of the Danube, it was necessary to neutralize the Turkish Danube flotilla in places of possible crossings. This task was accomplished by the installation of minefields on the river, covered by coastal batteries. Light mine boats deployed from the Baltic were also involved. On May 26, 1877, boats sank the Khivzi Rahman monitor. Since the coastal artillery sent the Lufti Celil monitor to the bottom two weeks earlier, the Turkish flotilla was paralyzed and could not prevent the crossing of the Russian troops. However, not everything went without problems. If the Lower Danube detachment successfully crossed on June 22 at Galati and Brela and soon occupied Northern Dobruja, then the crossing of the troops of General M. Dragomirov at Zimnitsa, which began on June 27, took place under fierce shelling, which led to the death of 1100 soldiers. Only on July 3, when the sappers built a pontoon bridge near Zimnitsa, it was possible to start crossing the main forces of the army.
PLEVNA AND SHIPKA
On July 7, 1877, a detachment of General Gurko occupied Tarnovo and moved around the Shipka Pass. Fearing encirclement, on July 19 the Turks left Shipka without a fight. On July 15, Russian troops took Nikopol. However, a large Turkish army under the command of Osman Pasha, previously stationed in Vidin, entered Plevna, threatening the right flank and communications of the Russian army. On July 20, an attempt by a detachment of General Schilder-Schuldner to dislodge the Turks from Plevna was unsuccessful. Without capturing this fortress, the Russians could not continue their offensive beyond the Balkan Range. Plevna became the central point where the outcome of the campaign was decided.
On July 31, a detachment of General Kridner attacked the troops of Osman Pasha, but was defeated. In the meantime, another Turkish army under the command of Suleiman Pasha, transferred from Montenegro, defeated the detachments of the Bulgarian militias and launched an assault on Shipka on August 21. Fierce battles continued for four days. It came to bayonet fighting and hand-to-hand combat. Reinforcements approached the Russian detachment defending on the pass, and the Turks were forced to retreat.
On September 27, General Totleben was appointed commander-in-chief of the army, who began a systematic siege of Plevna. Suleiman Pasha's army unsuccessfully tried to break through the Balkans and release Plevna in November and early December.
On December 10, Osman Pasha launched a final attack to escape from the besieged fortress. The Turks passed two lines of Russian trenches, but on the third they were stopped and surrendered.
HIKING THROUGH CHURYAK
After the capture of Plevna, Russian troops, despite the harsh winter, immediately moved through the Balkan Mountains. On December 25, Gurko's detachment passed the Churyak Pass and on January 4, 1878 entered Sofia. In early January, the main forces overcame the Balkan Range near Shipka. On January 10, Russian troops defeated the Turks at Sheinovo and surrounded their detachment, which had previously besieged Shipka. 22 thousand Turkish soldiers and officers were captured.
On January 20, General Skobelev occupied Adrianople without a fight. The Turkish command no longer had any significant forces in the Balkan theater. On January 30, Russian troops came close to the last defensive positions in front of Istanbul. On January 31, 1878, an armistice was signed in Adrianople.
FIGHTING IN THE CAUCASUS
In May 1877, mountaineers, with the support of Turkish emissaries, raised a rebellion in Abkhazia. The Russians left Sukhum after a two-day bombardment of the city by a Turkish squadron, consisting of five battleships and several armed steamers, and an amphibious landing. By June, the entire coast of Abkhazia was occupied by the Turks. Turkish troops left Sukhum only on August 19 after reinforcements from Russia approached the Russian troops in Abkhazia.
In Transcaucasia, Russian troops occupied Bayazet on April 17, 1877, but on June 28, after a three-week siege, they were forced to leave it. In July-August, a lull continued here, but at the end of September, the Russian troops, having received reinforcements, resumed the offensive. On November 6, they took the fortress of Kare. The remnants of the Turkish army were besieged in Erzurum, where they managed to hold out until the signing of a truce.
No one knows anything in advance. And the greatest misfortune can befall a person in the best place, and the greatest happiness will find him - in the worst..
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
In the foreign policy of the Russian Empire in the 19th century, there were four wars with the Ottoman Empire. Russia won three of them, lost one. The last war in the 19th century between the two countries was the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, in which Russia won. The victory was one of the results of the military reform of Alexander 2. As a result of the war, the Russian Empire regained a number of territories, and also helped to acquire the independence of Serbia, Montenegro and Romania. In addition, for non-intervention in the war, Austria-Hungary received Bosnia, and England received Cyprus. The article is devoted to the description of the causes of the war between Russia and Turkey, its stages and main battles, the results and historical consequences of the war, as well as the analysis of the reaction of Western European countries to the growing influence of Russia in the Balkans.
Historians identify the following reasons for the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878:
Now let's look at the causes of the war between Russia and Turkey in more detail, since it is important to know and correctly interpret them. Despite the lost Crimean War, Russia, thanks to some reforms (primarily military) of Alexander II, again became an influential and strong state in Europe. This forced many politicians in Russia to think about revenge for the lost war. But this was not even the most important thing - much more important was the desire to return the right to have the Black Sea Fleet. In many ways, to achieve this goal, the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 was unleashed, which we will discuss briefly later.
In 1875, an uprising against Turkish rule began on the territory of Bosnia. The army of the Ottoman Empire brutally suppressed it, but already in April 1876 an uprising began in Bulgaria. Turkey dealt with this national movement as well. In protest against the policy towards the South Slavs, and also wishing to realize their territorial tasks, Serbia in June 1876 declared war on the Ottoman Empire. The Serbian army was much weaker than the Turkish one. Since the beginning of the 19th century, Russia has positioned itself as a defender of the Slavic peoples in the Balkans, so Chernyaev went to Serbia, as well as several thousand Russian volunteers.
After the defeat of the Serbian army in October 1876 near Dyunish, Russia called on Turkey to stop hostilities and guarantee the cultural rights of the Slavic people. The Ottomans, feeling the support of Britain, ignored the ideas of Russia. Despite the obviousness of the conflict, the Russian Empire tried to resolve the issue peacefully. This is evidenced by several conferences convened by Alexander II, in particular in January 1877 in Istanbul. Ambassadors and representatives of key European countries gathered there, but did not come to a common decision.
In March, an agreement was signed in London, which obliged Turkey to carry out reforms, but the latter completely ignored it. Thus, Russia was left with only one option for resolving the conflict - a military one. Until the last, Alexander 2 did not dare to start a war with Turkey, as he was worried that the war would again turn into resistance of European countries to Russia's foreign policy. On April 12, 1877, Alexander II signed a manifesto declaring war on the Ottoman Empire. In addition, the emperor concluded an agreement with Austria-Hungary on the non-accession of the latter on the side of Turkey. In exchange for neutrality, Austria-Hungary was to receive Bosnia.
In the period April-August 1877, several important battles took place:
The main problem of Russia was that the inexperienced brother of the emperor Nikolai Nikolayevich commanded the troops. Therefore, individual Russian troops actually acted without a center, which means they acted as uncoordinated units. As a result, on July 7-18, two unsuccessful attempts to storm Plevna were made, as a result of which about 10 thousand Russians died. In August, the third assault began, which turned into a protracted blockade. At the same time, from August 9 until December 28, the heroic defense of the Shipka Pass lasted. In this sense, the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, even briefly, seems to be very contradictory in terms of events and personalities.
In the autumn of 1877, a key battle took place near the fortress of Plevna. By order of Minister of War D. Milyutin, the army abandoned the assault on the fortress, and moved on to a systematic siege. The army of Russia, as well as its ally Romania, numbered about 83 thousand people, and the garrison of the fortress consisted of 34 thousand soldiers. The last battle near Plevna took place on November 28, the Russian army emerged victorious and was finally able to capture the impregnable fortress. This was one of the biggest defeats of the Turkish army: 10 generals and several thousand officers were taken prisoner. In addition, Russia was establishing control over an important fortress, opening its way to Sofia. This was the beginning of a turning point in the Russian-Turkish war.
On the eastern front, the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 also developed rapidly. In early November, another important strategic fortress, Kars, was captured. Due to simultaneous failures on two fronts, Turkey completely lost control over the movement of its own troops. On December 23, the Russian army entered Sofia.
In 1878, Russia entered with a complete advantage over the enemy. On January 3, the assault on Phillipopolis began, and already on the 5th the city was taken, the road to Istanbul was opened before the Russian Empire. On January 10, Russia enters Adrianople, the defeat of the Ottoman Empire is a fact, the Sultan is ready to sign peace on Russia's terms. Already on January 19, the parties agreed on a preliminary agreement, which significantly strengthened the role of Russia in the Black and Marmara Seas, as well as in the Balkans. This caused the strongest fear of the countries of Europe.
Most of all, England expressed dissatisfaction, which already at the end of January brought a fleet into the Sea of Marmara, threatening an attack in the event of a Russian invasion of Istanbul. England demanded to move Russian troops away from the Turkish capital, and also to start developing a new treaty. Russia found itself in a difficult situation that threatened to repeat the scenario of 1853-1856, when the entry of European troops violated Russia's advantage, which led to defeat. Given this, Alexander 2 agreed to revise the treaty.
On February 19, 1878, in San Stefano, a suburb of Istanbul, a new treaty was signed with the participation of England.
The main outcomes of the war were recorded in the San Stefano Peace Treaty:
However, these conditions did not suit the European states. As a result, in June-July 1878, a congress was held in Berlin, at which some decisions were revised:
The Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 traditionally became a "minute of glory" for many soldiers and military leaders. In particular, several Russian generals became famous:
In Bulgaria there are over 400 monuments erected in honor of the Russians who fought in the war against the Ottomans in 1877-1878. There are many memorial plaques, mass graves, etc. One of the most famous monuments is the Freedom Monument on the Shipka Pass. There is also a monument to Emperor Alexander 2. There are also many settlements named after the Russians. Thus, the Bulgarian people thank the Russians for the liberation of Bulgaria from Turkey, and the cessation of Muslim rule, which lasted more than five centuries. During the war years, the Bulgarians themselves called the Russians "brothers", and this word remained in the Bulgarian language as a synonym for "Russians".
History reference
The Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 ended with the complete and unconditional victory of the Russian Empire, but despite the military success, the European states put up a swift resistance to the strengthening of Russia's role in Europe. In an effort to weaken Russia, England and Turkey insisted that not all the aspirations of the southern Slavs were realized, in particular, not the entire territory of Bulgaria gained independence, and Bosnia passed from the Ottoman occupation to the Austrian one. As a result, the national problems of the Balkans became even more complicated, as a result turning this region into a "powder keg of Europe". It was here that the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne took place, becoming the pretext for the start of the First World War. This is generally a funny and paradoxical situation - Russia wins victories on the battlefield, but over and over again suffers defeats in the diplomatic fields.
Russia regained its lost territories, the Black Sea Fleet, but never achieved the desire to dominate the Balkan Peninsula. This factor was also used by Russia when entering the First World War. For the Ottoman Empire, which was completely defeated, the idea of revenge was preserved, which forced it to enter into a world war against Russia. These were the results of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, which we briefly reviewed today.
On January 19, 1878, in the Turkish city of Adrianople, the Ottoman Empire signed the preliminary peace conditions dictated by Russia, which won a number of brilliant victories - at Plevna, Sheinovo and near Philippopolis (now the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv). The military gave way to diplomats.
Alexander II
The Treaty of Paris, concluded following the unsuccessful Crimean War of 1853–56 for Russia, obliged the Ottoman Empire to grant Christians in the Balkans equal rights with Muslims.
However, the rulers of the Sublime Porte failed to fulfill this important point of the agreement: the governors of the provinces and the Muslim majority regarded the firman on the protection of the Christian population as an infringement of their rights. Pogroms began with the destruction of Christian churches and monasteries.
In response, an uprising broke out in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1875, in Bulgaria in 1876, and then Serbia and Montenegro declared war on Turkey. But the Ottoman Empire inflicted several defeats on them, forcing Serbia to seek help from European countries, including Russia.
The prospect of active intervention in the Balkan conflict was initially viewed with skepticism in Russia.
In a conversation with the Minister of War, General Dmitry Milyutin, Alexander II said: “I sympathize with the unfortunate Christians of Turkey no less than others, but I put the interests of Russia itself above all,” making it clear to the interlocutor that he strongly doubts whether it is worth exposing the empire to all the risks of a big war.
But when news appeared in the newspapers about the brutal suppression of the Bulgarian uprising by the bashi-bazouks - and there were tens of thousands of victims - Russian public opinion sharply consolidated: both Westerners and Slavophiles called for standing up for the Bulgarians. And the emperor could no longer ignore him.
Therefore, when on April 24, 1877, Constantinople rejected the peace proposals of Russia, Great Britain, Germany, France and Austria-Hungary on the "democratization" of the Sultan's regime in the Balkans, arrogantly declaring that it would not allow interference in the internal affairs of Turkey, the Russian emperor on the same day announced Turkey war.
In his manifesto, Alexander II emphasized that "having exhausted our peacefulness to the end, We are forced by the arrogant stubbornness of the Porte to take more decisive action."
This war became a serious test for the Russian army, for the first time formed on the basis of universal military duty. Thanks to the military reform of General Dmitry Milyutin, carried out in the 60-70s of the nineteenth century, it was possible to reduce the size of the army by 40% in peacetime and at the same time get well-prepared military reserves in case of war.
By the beginning of the military campaign, there were more than a million people under arms, which made it possible to quickly form and transfer fresh units to the active army during the war.
In the course of the reform, the General Staff was created and division into military districts was introduced, which greatly improved command and control of troops. And the network of cadet schools, where representatives of all classes were accepted, qualitatively improved the training of officers - a weak point of the Russian army since Nikolaev times.
The infantry was rearmed: smooth-bore guns replaced the rifled rifles of the Krnk and Berdan systems, which were much lighter, loaded faster and allowed firing at a greater distance.
All this allowed the Russian army to conduct offensive battles on two fronts at once - the Balkan and Transcaucasian, holding the strategic initiative from the first to the last days of the campaign.
The steamship "Grand Duke Konstantin" and its mine boats at sea (engraving by E. Dammuller)
Despite the fact that the Black Sea Fleet of Russia by the beginning of the war was many times inferior to the Turkish one, Russian officers and sailors from the very first days reminded that they were the heirs of the military glory of Admirals Ushakov and Nakhimov.
The passenger steamer “Grand Duke Konstantin”, converted into a mine transport, destroyed several Turkish merchant ships, transported troops with convoys, the wounded, food, fodder and escorted unarmed schooners and steamers.
But he became famous for his mine operations under the command of the famous admiral in the future, and then Lieutenant Stepan Makarov. The brave commander repeatedly attacked Turkish ships, including battleships, with boats launched from the Grand Duke Constantine.
In addition, Makarov armed the ship with four of the latest British Whitehead self-propelled torpedoes.
On January 25, 1878, on the roadstead of Batum, “Grand Duke Konstantin” launched the boats “Chesma” and “Sinop”, which, approaching a distance of 70 meters from the Turkish gunboat Intibah, fired at such a torpedo. Both of them exploded at the same time, sinking the enemy ship with most of the crew. And the Russian sailors returned safely to their base.
Doctors and nurses of the field infirmary of the Russian Red Cross, November 1877
The noble goal of helping the Bulgarian and Serbian “brother at shkam”, caused an unprecedented influx of volunteers into the army. Famous doctors and Nikolai Sklifosofsky became field surgeons, and Sergei Botkin became a life doctor at the imperial headquarters. They made a huge contribution to the development of military field medicine and saved thousands of lives.
The writer Vsevolod Garshin (the author of popular short stories and children's tales, including the famous Traveler Frog) interrupted his studies at the Mining Institute and entered the 138th Bolkhov Infantry Regiment as a volunteer. He participated in the battles, was wounded in the leg, and after the war he was promoted to an officer rank for his distinctions.
Volunteer went to war and his colleague, the future author of the famous book "Moscow and Muscovites", Vladimir Gilyarovsky. He served in the Caucasus in the 161st Alexandropol Regiment and for valor in battle was awarded the insignia of the military order of St. George IV degree and the medal "For the Russian-Turkish War of 1877 - 1878".
The battle painter was seriously wounded in the leg during the attack of the destroyer "Joke" on a Turkish steamer. Then he participated in many battles and created a series of well-known paintings that became evidence of the horrors of war and the courage of Russian soldiers: “Everything is calm on Shipka”, “Shipka-Sheinovo. Skobelev near Shipka”, “After the attack. A dressing station near Plevna”, “The Defeated. Panikhida for fallen soldiers” and others.
Even 58-year-old Ivan Turgenev was eager for war, admitting that only his age did not allow him to be in the ranks of the army. And a veteran of the Crimean campaign, who in April 1877 finished Anna Karenina, at the end of the novel sent his main character Alexei Vronsky as a volunteer to the Balkan War.
Young Emperor Alexander III in a hussar uniform
This tsar, during his lifetime, was awarded the title of “Peacemaker” - in his kingdom the power of the domestic army and navy was strengthened, but Russian blood was not shed on the battlefields.
While still a prince, the 32-year-old heir to the throne gained combat experience precisely in the war with the Turks, commanding the Eastern (Rushchuk) detachment of the Danube army.
After one fierce battle, which cost the detachment the loss of 53 officers and 1248 soldiers, Alexander wrote to his wife: “Yesterday I had a terrible day and I will never forget it.”
At the same time, he managed to maintain composure of spirit and clarity of mind, even when alarming reports began to arrive that the Turks had broken through the Russian positions and were moving with a 100,000-strong army directly to the headquarters of the Ruschuk detachment. The officers persistently persuaded the Tsarevich to go to the rear. But he refused, demanding to carefully recheck the information received, sending reconnaissance patrols in all directions. And he turned out to be right: a gang of Circassians, who robbed the rear units, sowed panic.
Reinforcements soon arrived. The soldiers lit many bonfires, which misled the Turks - they considered that they had a strong enemy in front of them and decided to wait for the morning. In the meantime, the troops of the Ruschuk detachment imperceptibly made a complex flank maneuver, which the German Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke recognized as one of the best tactical operations of the 19th century.
And soon, in September 1877, a battle took place near the town of Chairka, in which the troops of the heir to the Russian throne won a serious victory. After that, General Mehmet-Ali was removed from command, and his successor Suleiman Pasha ordered a retreat.
For the leadership of the troops in this battle, the future emperor was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir of the first degree. His Ruschuksky detachment brilliantly completed the task: it did not allow the enemy to inflict a flank attack on the main Russian forces.
Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand
After the war, relations between the former allies - Serbs and Bulgarians - deteriorated. The reason was the old territorial dispute between the two Slavic peoples, which from time to time led them to armed conflicts since the 9th century.
In 1885, after the unification of Bulgaria with the autonomous Turkish province of Eastern Rumelia, the Bulgarian crisis began, affecting the interests of all the leading European powers.
On November 14, the Serbian king Midan Obrenović declared war on Bulgaria. Russia recalled the officers who served in the Bulgarian army. But when Austria-Hungary threatened to enter the war if the Bulgarians did not stop hostilities, Petersburg made it clear that in this case it would not stand aside either.
Austria-Hungary, Germany, Turkey and Russia were again on the brink of war. And although in February 1886 a peace treaty was signed in Bucharest, according to which all parties to the conflict remained as they were, the Union of the Three Emperors fell apart.
In the end, in the summer of 1913, the Bulgarians again attacked the Serbs, not wanting to share the jointly conquered Turkish territories with them. But in the end, not only were they defeated, but they also lost part of the lands that the same Turks had taken away from them on the sly.
The personality of the Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand I, who on September 22, 1908 proclaimed the independence of Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire, for a long time predetermined the foreign policy of the new state, which in two world wars took the side of Russia's opponents.
The Serbs, on the other hand, chose a pro-Russian orientation, which, as you know, led to the beginning and active hostilities against the Nazis during World War II in occupied Yugoslavia, which Soviet troops liberated shoulder to shoulder with the partisans of Josip Broz Tito.
However, the sympathies of ordinary Bulgarians have also always been on the side of Russia. This prevented the authorities from using their soldiers on the Eastern Front.
And until now, during the Great Entrance to the Bulgarian Orthodox churches, Alexander II and all Russian soldiers and officers who died for the liberation of the country in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 are commemorated.
On the screen saver is a photo fragment: S. Vereshchagin. Two hawks. Bashi-Bazouks. 1878-1879
