Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 9,001
The Fortress Plewna Falls!
After three preparatory field battles, a five-month siege ...
... and three unsuccessful assault attacks with tens of thousands of deaths (they were never counted!) on December 10, 1877 during the Russian-Ottoman War (until 1878) Russian troops under General Mikhail Dmitrijewitsch Skobelew ...
... take the strategically important fortress town of Plewna (Plewen) in northern Bulgaria ...:
The famous painter Wassilij Wassiljewitsch Wereschtschagin captured the moment before the final assault in his picture ...:
The Ottoman commander Osman Passha ...
... must capitulate ...:
To witness the fall of the city and to accept the surrender, the Russian Tsar Aleksandr II went to the field army ...:
The defeated Ottoman officers receive free withdrawal "on word of honor" ...
... (they must undertake not to take up arms against the Russians during the war!) - their soldiers are taken prisoner of war.
The course of the war will lead the Russian troops to San Stefano a few kilometers from Constantinople - Russia's centuries-long goal, the control of the Bospurus, seems within reach.
The peace treaty of San Stefano (March 3, 1878) secures the Russian endeavors, Bulgaria becomes independent, albeit a Russian satellite state. To this day, Bulgarians celebrate this date as their Independence Day.
When the results become known in the Russian camp, there is cheering!
But the results of the Berlin Congress (June 13 to July 13, 1878) ...
... ruin everything again!
Russia has to almost completely vacate the conquered area, Bulgaria is being transformed back into a principality and a buffer state under Ottoman control, as the great European powers France and Great Britain do not want to allow Russian control of the straits, and a new war threatens.
Russian blood has flowed freely for two years ...
After three preparatory field battles, a five-month siege ...
... and three unsuccessful assault attacks with tens of thousands of deaths (they were never counted!) on December 10, 1877 during the Russian-Ottoman War (until 1878) Russian troops under General Mikhail Dmitrijewitsch Skobelew ...
... take the strategically important fortress town of Plewna (Plewen) in northern Bulgaria ...:
The famous painter Wassilij Wassiljewitsch Wereschtschagin captured the moment before the final assault in his picture ...:
The Ottoman commander Osman Passha ...
... must capitulate ...:
To witness the fall of the city and to accept the surrender, the Russian Tsar Aleksandr II went to the field army ...:
The defeated Ottoman officers receive free withdrawal "on word of honor" ...
... (they must undertake not to take up arms against the Russians during the war!) - their soldiers are taken prisoner of war.
The course of the war will lead the Russian troops to San Stefano a few kilometers from Constantinople - Russia's centuries-long goal, the control of the Bospurus, seems within reach.
The peace treaty of San Stefano (March 3, 1878) secures the Russian endeavors, Bulgaria becomes independent, albeit a Russian satellite state. To this day, Bulgarians celebrate this date as their Independence Day.
When the results become known in the Russian camp, there is cheering!
But the results of the Berlin Congress (June 13 to July 13, 1878) ...
... ruin everything again!
Russia has to almost completely vacate the conquered area, Bulgaria is being transformed back into a principality and a buffer state under Ottoman control, as the great European powers France and Great Britain do not want to allow Russian control of the straits, and a new war threatens.
Russian blood has flowed freely for two years ...
