Russians Cross the Danube

The Russian victories had caused scarcely less consternation in London than in Constantinople.

Continuing Russo-Turkish War 1877,
our selection from Political History of Recent Times by Wilhelm Mueller published in 1882. The selection is presented in twelve easy 5-minute installments. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in Russo-Turkish War 1877.

Time: 1877-1878
Place: Balkans

The Russian advance had been so rapid and unchecked that the Turkish authorities, filled with consternation, regarded Adrianople as lost and fearfully expected to see the victorious enemy before the gates of the capital itself. Savfet Pacha, Redif Pacha, Minister of War, and Chairulla Effendi, the Sheik-ul- Islam, were removed from their posts. Mustapha Pacha was made Minister of War, and the fanatical Kara Chalil Effendi Sheik-ul-Islam; while Mehemet Ali Pacha, a descendant of the Huguenots, Detroit by name, from Magdeburg, in Prussia, was appointed commander of the Army of the Danube. Aarifi Pacha, formerly Turkish ambassador in Vienna, was entrusted with the conduct of foreign affairs. He at once issued a circular-note announcing to the Powers that, owing to the barbarities perpetrated by the Russians and Bulgarians, the Porte could not engage to prevent the Muslim population from resorting to reprisals, and massacring all the Christians whom they could find.

The Russian victories had caused scarcely less consternation in London than in Constantinople. On the news of the passage of the Danube, Admiral Hornby, with thirteen ironclads, was at once dispatched to Besika Bay. The crossing of the Balkans induced the English Cabinet to send three thousand men to Malta.

The four Russian army corps in Central Bulgaria were so disposed as to form three separate armies. Two corps, under the command of the Czarevitch, operated toward the east, against the Turkish positions at Rustchuk, Rasgrad, and Shumla ; a third, toward the south, occupied a position extending from Tirnova to the southern extremity of the Shipka Pass; while General Krudener, with the Ninth Army Corps, faced toward the Osma and the Vid. On July 17th the last-named commander received word that hostile troops had appeared in the neighborhood of Plevna. Three regiments sent to dislodge them were defeated, on the 20th, with a loss of sixty-six officers and two thousand seven hundred seventy-one men. About the middle of July Osman Pacha received permission to occupy Nikopoli, but before he could reach it that fortress capitulated. Osman turned southward, and, selecting the unfortified village of Plevna as the most favorable for his purpose, improvised there, in a few days, a fortification of the first rank. After the defeat of the Russians, on the 20th, a Turkish column was dispatched against Lovatz and with Plevna and Lovatz in their hands, Osman’s thirty thousand men were in a position to checkmate the Russian plans.

The Russian generals had been taken unawares; it was to them as if a hostile army had fallen from the skies. The advance in the Tunja and Maritza valleys was stopped, the Czarevitch’s army was condemned to inaction, and all available troops were sent in hot haste to the support of General Krudener. Handing over Nikopoli to the Romanians, the latter officer, with thirty-eight thousand men, advanced against Osman’s position at Plevna; but in the meantime, the strength of the Turkish army had been raised to fifty thousand.

The Second Battle of Plevna was fought on July 30th and although the Russian troops conducted themselves with the greatest valor, they were repulsed with a loss of eight thousand men.

Osman failed to follow up his success and contented himself with strengthening his position and bringing up reinforcements. The Grand Duke Nicholas at once transferred his headquarters from Tirnova to Biela. The two army corps which had been left behind as a coastguard were ordered to the front; the guard corps, the grenadier corps, and other regular troops were mobilized; one hundred eighty-five thousand four hundred sixty-seven reserve and landwehr troops were called out, and an additional levy of two hundred six thousand men commanded.

But the regular troops could not reach the seat of war before September, and the others were not ready for action in time to take any direct part in the campaign. A new alliance of offence and defense between Russia and Romania called forth no protest. Two divisions of the Romanian army crossed the Danube at Korabia on September 2nd, a third was in possession of Nikopoli, and the fourth remained at Kalafat. The command of the army of investment before Plevna was conferred on Prince Charles, and the Russian general ZatofI was made his chief of staff.

On August 30th Osman awakened from his lethargy sufficiently to attack the Russian positions at Pelifat and Selvi but both attacks were unsuccessful. On September 3rd the Russians again assumed the offensive. General Imeritinski, with twenty thousand men, carried Lovatz by storm, and joined the Russian army of investment before Plevna. With this addition, that army consisted of nine infantry and four cavalry divisions, with four hundred guns and on the 11th a general attack on the Turkish positions was ordered. The Romanians on the north succeeded in taking the Grivitza redoubt, but the Russian center was repulsed, while an entrenchment which had been captured by Skobeleff on the south was recaptured by the Turks on the following day.

South of the Balkans, also, the Turks had developed more activity since the change of ministers and commanders. Suleiman Pacha embarked on Turkish transports at Antivari on July 16th, landed at Dedeagh, advanced by rail to Hermanly and thence directed his march toward the Shipka Pass. On July 30th and 31st Reouf Pacha, without awaiting his arrival, at tacked General Gourko in a fortified position at Eski-Sagra and was repulsed. On the night of the 3 1st Suleiman arrived. Forming a junction with the remnant of Reouf ‘s defeated forces, he surprised the Russians in their entrenchments and routed them utterly early on the morning of August 1st. Some of them fled toward the Shipka, others toward the Hankioi Pass. Suleiman followed, burning and massacring as he went, and with about forty battalions took up a position directly in front of the Shipka. Instead of sending a detachment to attack the Russian garrison, which numbered about four thousand men, in the rear, while the main army assailed them in front, Suleiman hurled his whole force against the southern entrance of the pass, and for four weeks wasted his men in useless attacks.

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