Stages of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877 1878. Russian-Turkish wars - briefly

The results of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 were very positive for Russia, which managed to return not only part of the territories lost during the Crimean War, but also its position in international politics.

The results of the war for the Russian Empire and not only

The Russo-Turkish War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of San Stefano on February 19, 1878.

As a result of the hostilities, Russia not only received part of Bessarabia in the south, which it lost due to the Crimean War, but also the strategically important Batum region (in which the Mikhailovsky fortress was soon erected) and the Karr region, the main population of which were Armenians and Georgians.

Rice. 1. Mikhailovskaya fortress.

Bulgaria became an autonomous Slavic principality. Romania, Serbia and Montenegro became independent.

Seven years after the conclusion of the Treaty of San Stefano, in 1885, Romania united with Bulgaria, they became a single principality.

Rice. 2. Map of the distribution of territories under the Treaty of San Stefano.

One of the important foreign policy consequences of the Russian-Turkish war was that the Russian Empire and Great Britain emerged from a state of confrontation. This was greatly facilitated by the fact that she received the right to send troops to Cyprus.

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A comparative table of the results of the Russian-Turkish war will give a clearer idea of ​​what the terms of the San Stefano Treaty were, as well as the corresponding terms of the Berlin Treaty (signed on July 1, 1878). The need for its adoption arose due to the fact that the European powers expressed their dissatisfaction with the original conditions.

Rice. 3. Map of the distribution of territories according to the Berlin Treaty.

The English historian A. Taylor noted that after 30 years of wars, it was the Treaty of Berlin that established peace for 34 years. He called this document a kind of watershed between two historical periods. Report Evaluation

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The war between the Russian and Ottoman empires, which lasted from April 12, 1877 to February 18, 1878. A number of Balkan states also acted on the side of Russia. The result of the war was the liberation of the Balkan peoples from Ottoman rule, the independence of Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, as well as the acquisition of broad autonomy by Bulgaria. In addition, Russia annexed the Kars region and Southern Bessarabia, and Romania - Silistra. Also, part of the territory of the Ottoman Empire was occupied by Great Britain and Austria-Hungary.

Prerequisites
The 19th century was marked by an intensification of the struggle for independence among the peoples of the European part of the Ottoman Empire. After a series of uprisings in 1815, the autonomy of Serbia was achieved. In 1829, under the Treaty of Adrianople, Turkey granted autonomy to Moldavia and Wallachia, and in 1830, after a long war, it recognized the independence of Greece. In 1866-1869 there was an uprising in Crete, which was suppressed by the Porte. Nevertheless, the islanders managed to achieve a number of privileges. In 1875, the Bosnian uprising began, in 1876 - the April uprising in Bulgaria, which were suppressed by the Ottoman government. The cruelty of the Turks caused outrage in Europe. Serbia and Montenegro declared war on Turkey, and numerous Russian volunteers fought on the side of the Serbs. Russia, seeking to regain its influence in the Balkans, began to mobilize the army, but to start the war it was necessary to make sure that the Western powers did not enter the conflict on the side of Turkey. The Constantinople Conference of the Great Powers was convened, which tried to resolve the conflict through diplomacy, but the Porta rejected their proposals. During secret negotiations, it was also possible to obtain guarantees of non-intervention by Austria-Hungary in exchange for the occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by the Austrians. On April 24, 1878, Russia officially declared war on Turkey.

Side forces

In the European theater of operations, Russia had 185 thousand soldiers, together with the Balkan allies, the number of the group reached 300 thousand people. Russia had about 100,000 soldiers in the Caucasus. In turn, the Turks in the European theater had a 186,000-strong group, and about 90,000 soldiers in the Caucasus. In addition, the Turkish fleet almost completely dominated the Black Sea, in addition, the Port had the Danube Flotilla.

The course of the war

In May 1877, Russian troops entered the territory of Romania, on June 27 the main forces of the Russian army crossed the Danube and began to move deep into the territory of the enemy. On July 7, a detachment of General Gurko occupied Tarnovo and moved around the Shipka Pass, trying to surround the Turkish troops stationed there. As a result, on July 19, the Turks occupied Shipka without a fight. On July 15, the troops of General Kridener occupied Nikopol, but at the same time, a large Turkish army under the command of Osman Pasha occupied the Plevna fortress, located on the right flank of the Russian troops. To successfully continue the campaign, it was necessary to take the fortress, but two hasty assaults on July 20 and 31 were unsuccessful. In August, Turkish troops tried to dislodge the Russian units from Shipka, but they encountered fierce resistance and were forced to withdraw four days later.

On September 11, the third assault on Plevna was undertaken, despite local successes, which also ended unsuccessfully for the Russian troops. After that, it was decided to begin a tight siege of the fortress, for which General Totleben was summoned from St. Petersburg. At this time, the army of Suleiman Pasha tried several times to break through the Shipka Pass, but each time failed.

In December 1877, the Plevna garrison attempted to break through the positions of the Russian troops, but the grenadier corps withstood the blow of the Turks, after which they retreated back to the city and capitulated.

After the capture of Plevna, Russian troops, despite the harsh winter, continued to move south. On December 25, a detachment of General Gurko crossed the Churyak Pass and on January 4, 1878, occupied Sofia. In early January, the main forces of the Russian army crossed the Balkan Range. January 10 detachment M.D. Skobelev and N.I. Svyatopolk-Mirsky defeated the Turks at Sheinovo, capturing 22,000 soldiers and officers. Suleiman Pasha's army retreated to Plovdiv, where on January 15-17 it was defeated by Gurko's detachment, losing more than 20 thousand people.

On January 20, Skobelev occupied Adrianople, on January 30, Russian troops approached the suburbs of Istanbul.

In the Caucasian theater, the Turks managed to occupy the Black Sea coast in May after the uprising in Abkhazia, but already in August they were forced to retreat. On October 15, Russian troops defeated the army of Ahmed Mukhtar Pasha at the Battle of Aladzhi and laid siege to Kars, which surrendered on November 18.

Results
On March 3, 1878, the Treaty of San Stefano was signed. According to him, Kars, Ardagan, Batum and Bayazet, as well as South Bessarabia, departed from Russia. Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina received wide autonomy, and Serbia, Montenegro and Romania - independence. In addition, Turkey pledged to pay an indemnity of 310 million rubles. The conditions of the peace did not satisfy the great powers, and under their pressure Russia was forced to take part in the Berlin Congress, at which the results of the peace were revised. The territory of Bulgaria was cut, Bayazet remained with Turkey, in addition, Great Britain received Cyprus, and Austria-Hungary - Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Nevertheless, the main result of the war - the independence of the Balkan peoples - was not revised.

In artistic culture

Painting:

Artist V.V. Vereshchagin dedicated his Balkan series of paintings to the war. In addition to him, a cycle of paintings dedicated to the war was created by N.D. Dmitriev-Orenburgsky.

Literature:

Garshin V.M. From the memoirs of Private Ivanov. 1885.

Akunin Boris. Turkish gambit. 1998.

Pikul V. Bayazet. 1960.

Vasiliev B. There were and were not. 1981.

Cinema:

Heroes of Shipka, 1960

Julia Vrevskaya, 1978 (dir. Nikola Korabov)

Bayazet, 2003 (dir. Andrey Chernykh, Nikolay Istanbul)

Turkish Gambit, 2005 (Dir. Janik Faziev)

Institute for Noble Maidens, 2010-2013 (dir. Yuri Popovich, Sergey Danelyan)

Peace was signed in San Stefano on February 19 (March 3), 1878. Count N.P. Ignatiev even gave up some of the Russian demands in order to end the matter precisely on February 19 and please the tsar with the following telegram: "On the day of the liberation of the peasants, you freed the Christians from the Muslim yoke."

The San Stefano peace treaty changed the entire political picture of the Balkans in favor of Russian interests. Here are its main terms. /281/

1. Serbia, Romania and Montenegro, previously vassal to Turkey, gained independence.
2. Bulgaria, previously a province without rights, acquired the status of a principality, although vassal in form to Turkey (“paying tribute”), but in fact independent, with its own government and army.
3. Turkey undertook to pay Russia an indemnity of 1,410 million rubles, and on account of this amount it ceded Kapc, Ardagan, Bayazet and Batum in the Caucasus, and even South Bessarabia, torn from Russia after the Crimean War.

Official Russia noisily celebrated the victory. The king generously poured awards, but with a choice, falling mainly into his relatives. Both Grand Dukes - both "Uncle Nizi" and "Uncle Mikhi" - became field marshals.

Meanwhile, England and Austria-Hungary, reassured about Constantinople, launched a campaign to revise the Treaty of San Stefano. Both powers took up arms especially against the creation of the Bulgarian Principality, which they correctly regarded as an outpost of Russia in the Balkans. Thus, Russia, having just with difficulty mastered Turkey, who had a reputation as a "sick man", found herself in the face of a coalition from England and Austria-Hungary, i.e. coalitions of "two big men". For a new war with two opponents at once, each of which was stronger than Turkey, Russia had neither the strength nor the conditions (a new revolutionary situation was already brewing within the country). Tsarism turned to Germany for diplomatic support, but Bismarck declared that he was ready to play only the role of an "honest broker", and proposed to convene an international conference on the Eastern question in Berlin.

On June 13, 1878, the historic Congress of Berlin opened. All his affairs were handled by the "big five": Germany, Russia, England, France and Austria-Hungary. The delegates of another six countries were extras. A member of the Russian delegation, General D.G. Anuchin, wrote in his diary: "The Turks are sitting like chumps."

Bismarck presided over the congress. The British delegation was headed by Prime Minister B. Disraeli (Lord Beaconsfield), a long-term (from 1846 to 1881) leader of the Conservative Party, which still honors Disraeli as one of its founders. France was represented by Minister of Foreign Affairs W. Waddington (an Englishman by birth, which did not prevent him from being an Anglophobe), Austria-Hungary was represented by Minister of Foreign Affairs D. Andrassy, ​​once a hero of the Hungarian revolution of 1849, sentenced to death by an Austrian court for this , and now the leader of the most reactionary and aggressive forces of Austria-Hungary. The head of the Russian / 282 / delegation was formally considered the 80-year-old Prince Gorchakov, but he was already decrepit and ill. In fact, the delegation was led by the Russian ambassador in London, the former chief of gendarmes, ex-dictator P.A. Shuvalov, who turned out to be a much worse diplomat than a gendarme. Evil tongues assured him that he happened to confuse the Bosphorus with the Dardanelles.

The Congress worked for exactly one month. Its final act was signed on July 1 (13), 1878. During the congress, it became clear that Germany, worried about the excessive strengthening of Russia, did not want to support it. France, which had not yet recovered from the defeat of 1871, gravitated toward Russia, but was so afraid of Germany that it did not dare to actively support Russian demands. Taking advantage of this, England and Austria-Hungary imposed decisions on the Congress that changed the Treaty of San Stefano to the detriment of Russia and the Slavic peoples of the Balkans, and Disraeli did not act like a gentleman: there was a case when he even ordered an emergency train for himself, threatening to leave the Congress and thus disrupt his work.

The territory of the Bulgarian principality was limited to only the northern half, and southern Bulgaria became an autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire under the name "Eastern Rumelia". The independence of Serbia, Montenegro and Romania was confirmed, but the territory of Montenegro was also reduced in comparison with the agreement in San Stefano. Serbia, on the other hand, slaughtered part of Bulgaria in order to quarrel them. Russia returned Bayazet to Turkey, and collected not 1410 million, but only 300 million rubles as an indemnity. Finally, Austria-Hungary negotiated for itself the "right" to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina. Only England seemed to have received nothing in Berlin. But, firstly, it was England (together with Austria-Hungary) who imposed all the changes in the San Stefano Treaty, which were beneficial only to Turkey and England, which stood behind her back, to Russia and the Balkan peoples, and secondly, the British government a week before the opening The Berlin Congress forced Turkey to cede Cyprus to him (in exchange for the obligation to protect Turkish interests), which the Congress tacitly sanctioned.

The positions of Russia in the Balkans, won in the battles of 1877-1878. at the cost of the lives of more than 100,000 Russian soldiers, were undermined in the debates of the Berlin Congress in such a way that the Russian-Turkish war turned out to be for Russia, although won, but unsuccessful. Tsarism never managed to reach the straits, and Russia's influence in the Balkans did not become stronger, since the Berlin Congress divided Bulgaria, cut Montenegro, transferred Bosnia and Herzegovina to Austria-Hungary, and even quarreled with Serbia and Bulgaria. The concessions of Russian diplomacy in Berlin testified to the military and political inferiority of tsarism and, paradoxically as it looked after the war won /283/, the weakening of its authority in the international arena. Chancellor Gorchakov, in a note to the tsar on the results of the Congress, admitted: "The Berlin Congress is the blackest page in my official career." The king added: "And in mine too."

The speech of Austria-Hungary against the Treaty of San Stefano and Bismarck's unfriendly brokerage towards Russia worsened the traditionally friendly Russian-Austrian and Russian-German relations. It was at the Berlin Congress that the prospect of a new alignment of forces was outlined, which would eventually lead to the First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary against Russia and France.

As for the Balkan peoples, they benefited from the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. much, although less than what would have been received under the Treaty of San Stefano: this is the independence of Serbia, Montenegro, Romania and the beginning of an independent statehood of Bulgaria. The liberation (albeit incomplete) of the “Slav brothers” stimulated the rise of the liberation movement in Russia itself, because now almost none of the Russians wanted to put up with the fact that they, as the well-known liberal I.I. Petrunkevich, "yesterday's slaves were made citizens, and they themselves returned home as slaves."

The war shook the positions of tsarism not only in the international arena, but also within the country, exposing the ulcers of the economic and political backwardness of the autocratic regime as a consequence incompleteness"great" reforms of 1861-1874. In a word, like the Crimean War, the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. played the role of a political catalyst, accelerating the maturation of a revolutionary situation in Russia.

Historical experience has shown that war (especially if it is ruinous and even more unsuccessful) exacerbates social contradictions in the antagonistic, i.e. ill-ordered society, aggravating the misery of the masses, and hastening the maturation of the revolution. After the Crimean War, the revolutionary situation (the first in Russia) developed three years later; after the Russian-Turkish 1877-1878. - by the next year (not because the second war was more ruinous or shameful, but because the sharpness of social contradictions by the beginning of the war of 1877-1878 was greater in Russia than before the Crimean War). The next war of tsarism (Russian-Japanese 1904-1905) already led to a real revolution, since it turned out to be more ruinous and shameful than even the Crimean War, and social antagonisms are much sharper than during not only the first, but also the second revolutionary situations . Under the conditions of the world war that began in 1914, two revolutions broke out in Russia one after the other - first a democratic one, and then a socialist one. /284/

Historiographic reference. War 1877-1878 between Russia and Turkey is a phenomenon of great international importance, because, firstly, it was conducted because of the Eastern question, then almost the most explosive of the issues of world politics, and, secondly, it ended with the European Congress, which redrawn the political map in the region, then perhaps the "hottest", in the "powder magazine" of Europe, as diplomats spoke of it. Therefore, the interest in the war of historians from different countries is natural.

In pre-revolutionary Russian historiography, the war was portrayed as follows: Russia unselfishly seeks to liberate the "Slav brothers" from the Turkish yoke, and the selfish powers of the West prevent it from doing this, wanting to take away Turkey's territorial inheritance. This concept was developed by S.S. Tatishchev, S.M. Goryainov and especially the authors of the official nine-volume Description of the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878. on the Balkan Peninsula" (St. Petersburg, 1901-1913).

For the most part, foreign historiography depicts the war as a clash of two barbarities - Turkish and Russian, and the powers of the West - as civilized peacekeepers who have always helped the Balkan peoples to fight against the Turks with intelligent means; and when the war broke out, they stopped Russia from beating Turkey and saved the Balkans from Russian rule. This is how B. Sumner and R. Seton-Watson (England), D. Harris and G. Rapp (USA), G. Freitag-Loringhoven (Germany) interpret this topic.

As for Turkish historiography (Yu. Bayur, Z. Karal, E. Urash, etc.), it is imbued with chauvinism: the yoke of Turkey in the Balkans is presented as progressive guardianship, the national liberation movement of the Balkan peoples is for the inspiration of European powers, and all wars , which led the Brilliant Porte in the XVIII-XIX centuries. (including the war of 1877-1878), - for self-defense against the aggression of Russia and the West.

More objective than others are the works of A. Debidur (France), A. Taylor (England), A. Springer (Austria), where the aggressive calculations of all the powers participating in the war of 1877-1878 are criticized. and the Berlin Congress.

Soviet historians for a long time did not pay attention to the war of 1877-1878. proper attention. In the 1920s, M.N. wrote about her. Pokrovsky. He sharply and witty denounced the reactionary policy of tsarism, but underestimated the objectively progressive consequences of the war. Then, for more than a quarter of a century, our historians were not interested in that war /285/, and only after the second liberation of Bulgaria by the force of Russian arms in 1944, the study of the events of 1877-1878 resumed in the USSR. In 1950, P.K. Fortunatov "The War of 1877-1878. and the Liberation of Bulgaria” - interesting and bright, the best of all books on this subject, but small (170 pages) - this is only a brief overview of the war. Somewhat more detailed, but less interesting is the monograph by V.I. Vinogradov.

Labor N.I. Belyaev, although great, is emphatically special: a military-historical analysis without due attention not only to socio-economic, but even to diplomatic subjects. The collective monograph “The Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878”, published in 1977 on the 100th anniversary of the war, edited by I.I. Rostunov.

Soviet historians studied the causes of the war in detail, but in covering the course of hostilities, as well as their results, they contradicted themselves, equals sharpening the aggressive goals of tsarism and the liberation mission of the tsarist army. The works of Bulgarian scientists (X. Khristov, G. Georgiev, V. Topalov) on various issues of the topic are distinguished by similar advantages and disadvantages. A generalizing study of the war of 1877-1878, as fundamental as the monograph by E.V. Tarle about the Crimean War, still not.

For details about it, see: Anuchin D.G. Berlin Congress // Russian antiquity. 1912, nos. 1-5.

Cm.: Debidur A. Diplomatic history of Europe from the Vienna to the Berlin Congress (1814-1878). M., 1947. T 2; Taylor A. Struggle for supremacy in Europe (1848-1918). M., 1958; Springer A. Der russisch-tiirkische Krieg 1877-1878 in Europa. Vienna, 1891-1893.

Cm.: Vinogradov V.I. Russian-Turkish war 1877-1878 and the liberation of Bulgaria. M., 1978.

Cm.: Belyaev N.I. Russian-Turkish war 1877-1878 M., 1956.

Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878(Turkish name: 93 Harbi, 93 war) - a war between the Russian Empire and its allied Balkan states on the one hand, and the Ottoman Empire on the other. It was caused by the rise of national consciousness in the Balkans. The cruelty with which the April Uprising was crushed in Bulgaria aroused sympathy for the position of the Christians of the Ottoman Empire in Europe and especially in Russia. Attempts to improve the position of Christians by peaceful means were frustrated by the stubborn unwillingness of the Turks to make concessions to Europe, and in April 1877 Russia declared war on Turkey.

In the course of the ensuing hostilities, the Russian army managed, using the passivity of the Turks, to successfully cross the Danube, capture the Shipka Pass and, after a five-month siege, force the best Turkish army of Osman Pasha to surrender at Plevna. The subsequent raid through the Balkans, during which the Russian army defeated the last Turkish units blocking the road to Constantinople, led to the withdrawal of the Ottoman Empire from the war. At the Berlin Congress held in the summer of 1878, the Berlin Treaty was signed, which fixed the return of the southern part of Bessarabia to Russia and the annexation of Kars, Ardagan and Batum. The statehood of Bulgaria was restored (it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1396) as a vassal Principality of Bulgaria; the territories of Serbia, Montenegro and Romania increased, and the Turkish Bosnia and Herzegovina was occupied by Austria-Hungary.

Background to the conflict

[edit] Oppression of Christians in the Ottoman Empire

Article 9 of the Paris Peace Treaty, concluded as a result of the Crimean War, obliged the Ottoman Empire to grant Christians equal rights with Muslims. The matter did not progress further than the publication of the corresponding firman (decree) of the Sultan. In particular, in the courts the evidence of non-Muslims (“dhimmi”) against Muslims was not accepted, which effectively deprived Christians of the right to judicial protection from religious persecution.

§ 1860 - in Lebanon, the Druzes, with the connivance of the Ottoman authorities, massacred over 10 thousand Christians (mainly Maronites, but also Greek Catholics and Orthodox). The threat of French military intervention forced Porto to restore order. Under pressure from the European powers, Porta agreed to appoint a Christian governor in Lebanon, whose candidacy was nominated by the Ottoman sultan after agreement with the European powers.

§ 1866-1869 - uprising in Crete under the slogan of uniting the island with Greece. The rebels took control of the entire island except for the five cities in which the Muslims fortified. By the beginning of 1869, the uprising was crushed, but the Porte made concessions, introducing self-government on the island, which strengthened the rights of Christians. During the suppression of the uprising, the events in the monastery of Moni Arkadiou became widely known in Europe ( English), when over 700 women and children who had taken refuge behind the walls of the monastery preferred to blow up the powder magazine, but not to surrender to the besieging Turks.

The consequence of the uprising in Crete, especially as a result of the brutality with which the Turkish authorities suppressed it, was to draw attention in Europe (the Russian Empire in particular) to the issue of the oppressed position of Christians in the Ottoman Empire.

Russia emerged from the Crimean War with minimal territorial losses, but was forced to abandon the maintenance of the fleet on the Black Sea and tear down the fortifications of Sevastopol.

Revising the results of the Crimean War has become the main goal of Russian foreign policy. However, it was not so easy - the Paris Peace Treaty of 1856 provided for guarantees of the integrity of the Ottoman Empire from Great Britain and France. The openly hostile position taken by Austria during the war complicated the situation. Of the great powers, only Prussia maintained friendly relations with Russia.

It was on the alliance with Prussia and its chancellor Bismarck that Prince A. M. Gorchakov, appointed by Alexander II in April 1856 as chancellor, staked. Russia took a neutral position in the unification of Germany, which ultimately led to the creation of the German Empire after a series of wars. In March 1871, taking advantage of the crushing defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian war, Russia, with the support of Bismarck, achieved international agreement to repeal the provisions of the Paris Treaty, which forbade it to have a fleet on the Black Sea.

The remaining provisions of the Paris Treaty, however, continued to operate. In particular, Article 8 gave the right to Great Britain and Austria in the event of a conflict between Russia and the Ottoman Empire to intervene on the side of the latter. This forced Russia to exercise extreme caution in its relations with the Ottomans and coordinate all its actions with other great powers. A one-on-one war with Turkey, therefore, was possible only if carte blanche was received from the rest of the European powers for such actions, and Russian diplomacy was waiting for the right moment.

Start of hostilities. The Russian army in the Balkans, led by the tsar's brother Nikolai Nikolaevich, numbered 185 thousand people. The king was also at the headquarters of the army. The number of the Turkish army in Northern Bulgaria was 160 thousand people.

On June 15, 1877, Russian troops crossed the Danube and launched an offensive. The Bulgarian population enthusiastically welcomed the Russian army. Bulgarian voluntary squads joined its composition, showing high morale. Eyewitnesses said that they went into battle as "to a merry holiday."

Russian troops quickly moved south, in a hurry to take possession of the mountain passes through the Balkans and go to southern Bulgaria. It was especially important to occupy the Shipka Pass, from where the most convenient road to Adrianople went. After two days of fierce fighting, the pass was taken. Turkish troops retreated in disarray. It seemed that a direct path to Constantinople was opening up.

Turkish counteroffensive. Battles on Shipka and near Plevna. However, the course of events suddenly changed dramatically. On July 7, a large Turkish detachment under the command of Osman Pasha, having made a forced march and ahead of the Russians, occupied the Plevna fortress in Northern Bulgaria. There was a threat of a flank strike. Two attempts by Russian troops to dislodge the enemy from Plevna ended in failure. The Turkish troops, who could not withstand the onslaught of the Russians in open battles, sat well in the fortresses. The movement of Russian troops through the Balkans was suspended.

Russia and the liberation struggle of the Balkan peoples. In the spring of 1875, an uprising began against the Turkish yoke in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A year later, in April 1876, an uprising broke out in Bulgaria. Turkish punishers suppressed these uprisings with fire and sword. In Bulgaria alone, they slaughtered more than 30,000 people. Serbia and Montenegro in the summer of 1876 started a war against Turkey. But the forces were unequal. The poorly armed Slavic armies suffered setbacks.

In Russia, a social movement in defense of the Slavs was expanding. Thousands of Russian volunteers were sent to the Balkans. Donations were collected all over the country, weapons, medicines were bought, hospitals were equipped. The outstanding Russian surgeon N.V. Sklifosovsky led the Russian sanitary detachments in Montenegro, and the well-known general practitioner S.P. Botkin - in Serbia. Alexander II contributed 10 thousand rubles in favor of the rebels. Calls for Russian military intervention were heard from everywhere.

However, the government acted cautiously, realizing Russia's unpreparedness for a major war. Reforms in the army and its rearmament have not yet been completed. They did not have time to recreate the Black Sea Fleet either.

Meanwhile, Serbia was defeated. Serbian Prince Milan turned to the king with a request for help. In October 1876, Russia presented an ultimatum to Turkey: immediately conclude an armistice with Serbia. Russian intervention prevented the fall of Belgrade.

Through tacit negotiations, Russia managed to ensure the neutrality of Austria-Hungary, albeit at a very high price. According to the Budapest Convention, signed in January 1877, Russia

agreed to the occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austro-Hungarian troops. Russian diplomacy managed to take advantage of the indignation of the world community with the atrocities of Turkish punishers. In March 1877, in London, representatives of the great powers agreed on a protocol in which Turkey was asked to carry out reforms in favor of the Christian population in the Balkans. Turkey rejected the London Protocol. On April 12, the king signed a manifesto declaring war on Turkey. A month later, Romania entered the war on the side of Russia.

Having seized the initiative, the Turkish troops ousted the Russians from southern Bulgaria. In August, bloody battles for Shipka began. The five thousandth Russian detachment, which included Bulgarian squads, was led by General N. G. Stoletov. The enemy had a fivefold superiority. The defenders of Shipka had to fight off up to 14 attacks a day. The unbearable heat increased the thirst, and the stream was under fire. At the end of the third day of fighting, when the situation became desperate, reinforcements arrived. The environmental threat has been eliminated. After a few days, the fighting subsided. The Shipka passage remained in the hands of the Russians, but its southern slopes were held by the Turks.

Fresh reinforcements from Russia were drawn to Plevna. Its third assault began on 30 August. Using thick fog, a detachment of General Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev (1843-1882) secretly approached the enemy and broke through the fortifications with a swift attack. But in other sectors, the attacks of the Russian troops were repulsed. Having received no support, Skobelev's detachment retreated the next day. In three assaults on Plevna, the Russians lost 32 thousand, the Romanians - 3 thousand people. The hero of the Sevastopol defense, General E. I. Totleben, arrived from St. Petersburg. Having examined the positions, he said that there was only one way out - a complete blockade of the fortress. Without heavy artillery, a new assault could only lead to new needless victims.

The fall of Plevna and a turning point in the course of the war. Winter has begun. The Turks held Plevna, the Russians - Shipka. “Everything is calm on Shipka,” the command reported. Meanwhile, the number of frostbite reached 400 per day. When a snowstorm broke out, the supply of ammunition and food was stopped. From September to December 1877, the Russians and Bulgarians lost 9,500 frostbitten, sick and frozen people on Shipka. Nowadays, there is a monument-tomb on Shipka with the image of two warriors bowing their heads - a Russian and a Bulgarian.

At the end of November, food supplies ran out in Plevna. Osman Pasha made a desperate attempt to break through, but was thrown back into the fortress. On November 28, the Plevna garrison surrendered. In Russian captivity were 43 thousand people, led by the most talented Turkish commander. During the war there was a turning point. Serbia again began hostilities. In order not to lose the initiative, the Russian command decided to go through the Balkans without waiting for spring.

On December 13, the main forces of the Russian army, led by General Iosif Vladimirovich Gurko (1828-1901), began their journey to Sofia through the difficult Churyak Pass. Troops moved day and night along steep and slippery mountain roads. The rain that had begun turned into snow, a blizzard swirled, and then frost hit. On December 23, 1877, in icy overcoats, the Russian army entered Sofia.

Meanwhile, the troops under the command of Skobelev were supposed to withdraw from the fight the group blocking the Shipka Pass. Skobelev crossed the Balkans west of Shipka along an icy sloping ledge over a precipice and went to the rear of the fortified camp of Sheinovo. Skobelev, who was nicknamed the "white general" (he had a habit of appearing in dangerous places on a white horse, in a white tunic and white cap), valued and took care of the soldier's life. His soldiers went into battle not in dense columns, as was customary then, but in chains and quick dashes. As a result of the battles at Shipka-Sheinovo on December 27-28, the 20,000-strong Turkish group capitulated.

A few years after the war, Skobelev died suddenly, in the prime of life and talent, at the age of 38. Many streets and squares in Bulgaria are named after him.

The Turks surrendered Plovdiv without a fight. A three-day battle south of this city ended the military campaign. January 8, 1878 Russian troops entered Adrianople. Pursuing the randomly retreating Turks, the Russian cavalry reached the shores of the Sea of ​​Marmara. A detachment under the command of Skobelev took the place of San Stefano, a few kilometers from Constantinople. It was not difficult to enter the Turkish capital, but, fearing international complications, the Russian command did not dare to do so.

Military operations in Transcaucasia. Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolayevich, the youngest son of Nicholas I, was formally considered the commander of the Russian troops in the Transcaucasian theater of military operations. In fact, the command was carried out by General M.T. Loris-Melikov. In April - May 1877, the Russian army took the fortresses of Bayazet and Ardagan and blockaded Kare. But then a series of setbacks followed, and the siege of Kars had to be lifted.

The decisive battle took place in autumn in the area of ​​the Aladzhin Heights, not far from Kars. On October 3, Russian troops stormed the fortified Mount Avliyar, a key point of Turkish defense. In the battle of Aladzhin, the Russian command for the first time used the telegraph to control troops. On the night of November 6, 1877, Kare was taken. After that, the Russian army went to Erzurum.

San Stefano Peace Treaty. On February 19, 1878, a peace treaty was signed in San Stefano. Under its terms, Bulgaria received the status of an autonomous principality, independent in its internal affairs. Serbia, Montenegro and Romania gained full independence and significant territorial gains. Southern Bessarabia, which had been torn away under the Treaty of Paris, was returned to Russia, and the Kars region in the Caucasus was transferred.

The provisional Russian administration that ruled Bulgaria developed a draft constitution. Bulgaria was declared a constitutional monarchy. Individual and property rights were guaranteed. The Russian project formed the basis of the Bulgarian constitution adopted by the Constituent Assembly in Tarnovo in April 1879.

Berlin Congress. England and Austria-Hungary refused to accept the terms of the San Stefano Peace. At their insistence, the Berlin Congress was held in the summer of 1878 with the participation of six powers (England, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Turkey). Russia found itself isolated and forced to make concessions. The Western powers categorically objected to the creation of a unified Bulgarian state. As a result, Southern Bulgaria remained under Turkish rule. Russian diplomats managed to achieve only that Sofia and Varna were included in the autonomous Bulgarian principality. The territory of Serbia and Montenegro was significantly reduced. Congress confirmed the right of Austria-Hungary to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina. England negotiated for itself the right to lead troops to Cyprus.

In a report to the tsar, the head of the Russian delegation, Chancellor A. M. Gorchakov, wrote: "The Berlin Congress is the blackest page in my official career." The king noted: "And in mine too."

The Congress of Berlin undoubtedly did not embellish the diplomatic history of not only Russia, but also the Western powers. Driven by petty momentary calculations and envy of the brilliant victory of Russian arms, the governments of these countries extended Turkish rule over several million Slavs.

And yet the fruits of the Russian victory were only partly destroyed. Having laid the foundations for the freedom of the fraternal Bulgarian people, Russia has written a glorious page in its history. Russian-Turkish war 1877-1878 entered the general context of the era of Liberation and became its worthy completion.

Similar information.

The most famous foreign policy event under Emperor Alexander II was the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, which ended successfully for our country.
The so-called eastern question remained open - the struggle of the Slavic peoples of the Ottoman Empire for independence. At the end of the Crimean War, the foreign policy climate on the Balkan Peninsula worsened. Russia was concerned about the weak protection of the southern borders near the Black Sea, and the inability to protect its political interests in Turkey.

Causes of the war

On the eve of the Russian-Turkish campaign, most of the Balkan peoples began to express dissatisfaction, as they were in almost five hundred years of oppression over the Turkish sultan. This oppression was expressed in economic and political discrimination, the imposition of foreign ideology and the widespread Islamization of Orthodox Christians. Russia, being an Orthodox state, in every possible way supported such a national upsurge of the Bulgarians, Serbs and Romanians. This became one of the main factors that predetermined the beginning of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. Also, the situation in Western Europe became the basis for the clash between the two sides. Germany (Austria-Hungary), as a new strong state, began to claim dominance in the straits of the Black Sea, and tried in every possible way to weaken the power of England, France and Turkey. This coincided with the interests of Russia, so Germany became its leading ally.

Occasion

The conflict between the South Slavic population and the Turkish authorities in 1875-1876 served as a stumbling block between the Russian Empire and the Turkish state. More precisely, these were anti-Turkish uprisings in Serbia, Bosnia, and, later, Montenegro joined. The Islamic country suppressed these protests with the most cruel methods. The Russian Empire, acting as the patron of all Slavic ethnic groups, could not ignore these events, and in the spring of 1877 declared war on Turkey. It was with these actions that the conflict between the Russian and Ottoman empires began.

Developments

In April 1877, the Russian army crossed the Danube River and went to the side of Bulgaria, which at the time of the action still belonged to the Ottoman Empire. By the beginning of July, the Shipka Pass was occupied practically without much resistance. The response of the Turkish side was the transfer of the army led by Suleiman Pasha to take these territories. It is here that the most bloody events of the Russian-Turkish war unfold. The fact is that the Shipka Pass was of great military importance, control over it provided free advance of the Russians to the north of Bulgaria. The enemy significantly outnumbered the forces of the Russian army both in armament and in human resources. On the Russian side, General N. Stoletov was appointed commander-in-chief. By the end of 1877, the Shipka Pass was taken by Russian soldiers.
But, despite heavy defeats, the Turks were in no hurry to surrender. They concentrated the main forces in the Plevna fortress. The siege of Plevna turned out to be a turning point in the course of all armed battles of the Russian-Turkish war. Here luck was on the side of the Russian soldiers. Also, Bulgarian troops successfully fought on the side of the Russian Empire. The commanders-in-chief were: M.D. Skobelev, Prince Nikolai Nikolaevich and the Romanian King Carol I.
Also at this stage of the Russian-Turkish war, the fortresses of Ardagan, Kare, Batum, Erzurum were taken; fortified area of ​​the Turks Sheinovo.
At the beginning of 1878, Russian soldiers approached the capital of Turkey, Constantinople. The formerly mighty and warlike Ottoman Empire was unable to resist the Russian army and in February of that year requested peace negotiations.

Results

The final stage of the Russian-Turkish conflict was the adoption of the San Stefano peace treaty on February 19, 1878. Under its terms, the northern part of Bulgaria received independence (an autonomous principality), and the independence of Serbia, Montenegro, and Romania was confirmed. Russia received the southern part of Bessarabia with the fortresses of Ardagan, Kars and Batum. Turkey also pledged to pay indemnities to the Russian Empire in the amount of 1.410 billion rubles.

Only Russia was satisfied with the result of this peace treaty, while it categorically did not suit everyone else, in particular, Western European countries (England, Austria-Hungary, etc.). Therefore, in 1878, the Congress of Berlin was organized, at which all the conditions of the previous peace treaty were revised. The Macedonian Republic and the eastern region of Romania were returned to the Turks; England, which did not take part in the war, received Cyprus; Germany got part of the land that belonged to Montenegro under the San Stefano Treaty; Montenegro was also completely deprived of its own navy; some Russian acquisitions passed to the Ottoman Empire.

The Berlin Congress (tract) significantly changed the initial alignment of forces. But, despite some territorial concessions to Russia, the result for our country was victory.