KOSTROMA 19th INFANTRY REGIMENT formed on June 25, 1700 by Prince Repnin from recruits, consisting of 10 companies, under the name Nicholas von Werden infantry regiment. Once formed, the regiment set out on a campaign against the Swedes and was on November 19, 1700 in the battle of Narva.

The following year, the regiment took part in Prince Repnin’s campaign in Livonia; in 1702 it was named the Dedyut regiment, and on March 10, 1708 - the Lutsk infantry regiment.

In 1711, the regiment took part in the Prut campaign, and in 1712 it was sent to Finland, where it served on galleys and participated in several expeditions to Sweden and the Åland Islands.

In 1722, 4 companies of the regiment were assigned to the Lower Corps and, having taken part in the campaign in Persia, were on August 23, 1722 during the occupation of Derbent. On June 9, 1724, these companies entered the formation of the Astrabad infantry regiment, and instead of them, new companies were formed under the Lutsk regiment.

From February 16 to November 13, 1727, the regiment was given the name Tula Infantry Regiment. On November 13, 1727, the regiment was named the Velikolutsk Infantry.

During the Crimean campaigns of 1736-37. the regiment was in the army of the gr. Minikha and participated in the assault on Perekop, Bakhchisarai and Ochakov.

On August 17, 1739, the Velikolutsk regiment took part in the battle of Stavuchany and the capture of Khotyn.

During the Swedish War of 1741-42. The regiment took part in the capture of Vilmanstrand.

On January 17, 1747, the regiment was reduced to a 3-battalion structure with 3 grenadier companies.

During the reign of Emperor Peter III, the regiment was called the infantry regiment of Major General Lyapunov from April 25 to June 5, 1762.

In 1788, the regiment took part in the war with the Swedes and was in the battles of the villages of Utti, Gekforse and Pardakoski.

When Emperor Paul ascended the throne, the regiment was brought into a 2-battalion structure and was called after the chiefs; major generals Glazov (from October 31, 1798), Vyatkin (from 1799) and Castelia (from 1800). On March 31, 1801, the regiment was again named Velikolutsky and included in 3 battalions.

Aug 29 In 1805, from 6 companies of Velikolutsky and 2 companies of Vilmanstrand and Kexholm garrison battalions, with the addition of recruits, the 3rd battalion of the Kostroma Musketeer Regiment was formed by Major General Prince Shcherbatov.

In 1806, the Kostroma Regiment, as part of Bennigsen’s corps, took part on December 14 in the battle of Golymin. During the retreat of our army from Yankov to Preussisch-Eylau, the regiment formed the rearguard of Barclay de Tolly's detachment and for 4 days participated in continuous battles with the French.

On January 25, 1807, the Kostroma regiment was attacked near the village of Gof by numerous enemy cavalry and, after desperate resistance, lost its banners. The regiment then fought at Preussisch-Eylau, Gutstadt, Heilsberg and Friedland.

Appointed on December 10, 1809 to the Moldavian Army, the 1st and 2nd battalions of the regiment participated on July 22, 1810 in the unsuccessful assault on Rushchuk and lost over 80% of their strength (1 general, 3 staff officers, 26 chief officers and 849 lower ranks).

During World War II, the Kostroma Regiment was part of the 3rd Reserve Army and took part in the battles of Gorodechnya, Vyzhva and Stakhov.

In 1813, the regiment was at the siege of Thorn and at the battle of Konigswart. In the battle of Bautzen, the Kostroma regiment covered the battery near the village of Gleina and delayed Ney’s advance. Assigned to the Silesian Army, the regiment then took part in the battles of Katzbach and crossed the Rhine on December 20. The campaign of 1814 was marked by the regiment's participation in the battles of Brienne, La Rotière, Montmirales and Chateau-Thierry. In the last battle of the Kostroma regiment, the regiment was cut off by the French, but, having lost about 60%, fought its way back to its troops with bayonets. For the distinction rendered in the Napoleonic wars, the regiment was awarded St. George's trumpets, which, according to the Highest order, were replaced on June 16, 1833 with signs on headdresses with the inscription “For Distinction.” On June 30, 1828, the 1st and 2nd battalions of the regiment set out on a campaign against the Turks and, having crossed the Danube at Kalarash, took part in the siege of Silistria. The following year, the Kostroma regiment was assigned to the troops blockading Zhurzha.

With the outbreak of the Polish rebellion in 1831, the regiment was assigned to Lithuania and took part in many skirmishes with the rebels. On January 28, 1833, when the entire infantry was reorganized, the regiment, with the addition of the 9th Jaeger Regiment, was named the Kostroma Jaeger Regiment.

2 Apr. 1833, Adjutant General Prince A.G. Shcherbatov, who formed the regiment in 1805, was appointed chief of the Kostroma regiment and held this rank until his death on December 15, 1848.

In 1849, on the occasion of the war with Hungary, the regiment went on a campaign and took part in the crossing of the Tissa and in the battle of Debrechin.

In 1854, the Kostroma Regiment, located in the Lublin province and maintaining observation posts along the Austrian border there, was assigned to reinforce the troops in the Crimea. On July 27, 1855, the regiment arrived at a position near the river. Kacha and on August 4 took part in the battle on the river. Black. On this day, the Kostroma regiment, sent to reinforce the right flank, heroically attacked the Fedyukhin heights and lost 26 officers and 900 lower ranks. Upon retreat to the river. The Kacha regiment was in position at the Inkerman Heights and, due to significant losses, was reduced to a 2-battalion structure. On August 25, the regiment entered Sevastopol and on the 27th withstood a stubborn battle for the Gervais battery. For the courage shown on this day, the regiment was awarded a “campaign for military distinction” on August 20, 1856.

17 Apr In 1856, after the destruction of the Jaeger Regiment, the regiment was named the Kostroma Infantry and was organized into 4 battalions with 4 rifle companies.

On April 6, 1863, from the 4th battalion and indefinite leave, the Kostroma reserve regiment was formed, named on August 13, 1863, the Trinity Infantry. At the beginning of the Polish uprising of 1863, the regiment's companies were unexpectedly attacked by rebels and lost 1 staff officer and 18 lower ranks. Then sent to the Sedletsk province, the Kostroma regiment took an active part in suppressing the rebellion and participated in numerous skirmishes and searches. On March 25, 1864, No. 19 was added to the name of the regiment.

During the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-78. The regiment took part in the unsuccessful assault on Plevna on July 8 and lost its regimental commander, Colonel Kleinhaus, 23 officers and 914 lower ranks.

After the surrender of Plevna, the regiment made a winter campaign through the Balkans and took part in the battle of Tashkisen on December 19. For participation in the war of 1877, the regiment was awarded the St. George Banner with the inscriptions: “For crossing the Balkans in 1877 and for Tashkisen” and “1700 - 1850.”

In 1879, the 4th battalion was formed from 3 rifle companies and the newly formed 16th company.

On June 29, 1900, the regiment celebrated its 200th anniversary and received a new St. George banner with the inscription: “For crossing the Balkans in 1877 and for Tashkisen” and “1700 - 1900”, with the Alexander anniversary ribbon.

During the Russian-Japanese War, the Kostroma Regiment was mobilized and moved to the theater of military operations at the end of 1904, but did not take part in them.

(Chronology based on the Military Encyclopedia 1911-1914)

On April 22, 1854, the Anglo-French squadron shelled Odessa. This day can be considered the moment when the Russian-Turkish confrontation de facto turned into a different quality, turning into a war of four empires. It went down in history under the name Crimean. Although many years have passed since then, this war still remains extremely mythologized in Russia, and the myth passes through the category of black PR.

“The Crimean War showed the rottenness and powerlessness of serf Russia,” these were the words that a friend of the Russian people, Vladimir Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, found for our country. With this vulgar stigma, the war entered Soviet historiography. Lenin and the state he created have long since passed away, but in public consciousness the events of 1853-56 are still assessed exactly as the leader of the world proletariat said.

In general, the perception of the Crimean War can be likened to an iceberg. Everyone remembers the “top” from their school days: the defense of Sevastopol, the death of Nakhimov, the sinking of the Russian fleet. As a rule, those events are judged at the level of clichés implanted in people’s heads by many years of anti-Russian propaganda. Here is the “technical backwardness” of tsarist Russia, and the “shameful defeat of tsarism,” and the “humiliating peace treaty.” But the true scale and significance of the war remains little known. It seems to many that this was some kind of peripheral, almost colonial confrontation, far from the main centers of Russia.

The simplified scheme looks simple: the enemy landed troops in Crimea, defeated the Russian army there, and, having achieved his goals, solemnly evacuated. But is it? Let's figure it out.

Firstly, who and how proved that Russia’s defeat was shameful? The mere fact of losing does not mean anything about shame. In the end, Germany lost its capital in World War II, was completely occupied and signed an unconditional surrender. But have you ever heard anyone call it a shameful defeat?

Let's look at the events of the Crimean War from this point of view. Three empires (British, French and Ottoman) and one kingdom (Piedmont-Sardinia) then opposed Russia. What was Britain like then? This is a gigantic country, an industrial leader, and the best navy in the world. What is France? This is the third economy in the world, the second fleet, a large and well-trained ground army. It is easy to see that the alliance of these two states has already had such a resonant effect that the combined forces of the coalition had absolutely incredible power. But there was also the Ottoman Empire.

Yes, by the middle of the 19th century, her golden period was a thing of the past, and she even began to be called the sick man of Europe. But we should not forget that this was said in comparison with the most developed countries of the world. The Turkish fleet had steamships, the army was numerous and partially armed with rifled weapons, officers were sent to study in Western countries, and in addition, foreign instructors worked on the territory of the Ottoman Empire itself.

By the way, during the First World War, having already lost almost all of its European possessions, “sick Europe” defeated Britain and France in the Gallipoli campaign. And if this was the Ottoman Empire at the end of its existence, then one must assume that in the Crimean War it was an even more dangerous opponent.

The role of the Sardinian kingdom is usually not taken into account at all, but this small country put up a twenty thousand strong, well-armed army against us. Thus, Russia was opposed by a powerful coalition. Let's remember this moment.

Now let's see what goals the enemy was pursuing. According to his plans, the Aland Islands, Finland, the Baltic region, Crimea and the Caucasus were to be torn away from Russia. In addition, the Kingdom of Poland was restored, and an independent state of “Circassia”, a vassal state of Turkey, was created in the Caucasus. That's not all. The Danube principalities (Moldova and Wallachia) were under the protectorate of Russia, but now it was planned to transfer them to Austria. In other words, Austrian troops would reach the southwestern borders of our country.

They wanted to divide the trophies like this: the Baltic states - Prussia, the Aland Islands and Finland - Sweden, the Crimea and the Caucasus - Turkey. Circassia is given to the leader of the highlanders Shamil, and, by the way, during the Crimean War his troops also fought against Russia.

It is generally believed that Palmerston, an influential member of the British cabinet, lobbied for this plan, while the French Emperor had a different view. However, we will give the floor to Napoleon III himself. This is what he told one of the Russian diplomats:

“I intend... to make every effort to prevent the spread of your influence and force you to return to Asia from whence you came. Russia is not a European country, it should not be and will not be such if France does not forget about the role that it should play in European history... It is worth weakening your ties with Europe, and you yourself will begin to move to the East, so that again turn into an Asian country. It won’t be difficult to deprive you of Finland, the Baltic lands, Poland and Crimea.”

This is the fate England and France prepared for Russia. Aren't the motifs familiar? Our generation was “lucky” to live to see the implementation of this plan, but now imagine that the ideas of Palmerston and Napoleon III would have been realized not in 1991, but in the middle of the 19th century. Imagine that Russia enters the First World War in a situation where the Baltic states are already in the hands of Germany, when Austria-Hungary has a bridgehead in Moldova and Wallachia, and Turkish garrisons are stationed in Crimea. And the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45, in this geopolitical situation, completely turns into a deliberate disaster.

But “backward, powerless and rotten” Russia left no stone unturned in these projects. None of this came to fruition. The Paris Congress of 1856 drew a line under the Crimean War. According to the concluded agreement, Russia lost a tiny part of Bessarabia, agreed to free navigation on the Danube and neutralization of the Black Sea. Yes, neutralization meant a ban on Russia and the Ottoman Empire to have naval arsenals on the Black Sea coast and to maintain a military Black Sea fleet. But compare the terms of the agreement with what goals the anti-Russian coalition initially pursued. Do you think this is a shame? Is this a humiliating defeat?

Now let's move on to the second important issue, to the “technical backwardness of serf Russia.” When it comes to this, people always remember rifled weapons and the steam fleet. They say that the British and French armies were armed with rifled guns, while the Russian soldiers were armed with outdated smoothbore guns. While advanced England, together with advanced France, had long ago switched to steamships, Russian ships were sailing. It would seem that everything is obvious and the backwardness is obvious. You will laugh, but the Russian navy had steam ships, and the army had rifled guns. Yes, the fleets of Britain and France were significantly ahead of the Russian one in the number of ships. But excuse me, these are two leading maritime powers. These are countries that have been superior to the whole world at sea for hundreds of years, and the Russian fleet has always been weaker.

It must be admitted that the enemy had much more rifled guns. This is true, but it is also true that the Russian army had missile weapons. Moreover, the combat missiles of the Konstantinov system were significantly superior to their Western counterparts. In addition, the Baltic Sea was reliably covered by the domestic mines of Boris Jacobi. This weapon was also one of the best in the world.

However, let’s analyze the degree of military “backwardness” of Russia as a whole. To do this, there is no point in going through all types of weapons, comparing each technical characteristic of certain models. It is enough just to look at the ratio of losses in manpower. If Russia really was seriously lagging behind the enemy in terms of armaments, then it is obvious that our losses in the war should have been fundamentally higher.

The figures for total losses vary greatly in different sources, but the number of those killed is approximately the same, so let’s turn to this parameter. So, during the entire war, 10,240 people were killed in the army of France, 2,755 in England, 10,000 in Turkey, 24,577 in Russia. About 5 thousand people are added to Russia’s losses. This figure shows the number of deaths among the missing. Thus, the total number of killed is considered equal to
30,000. As you can see, there is no catastrophic ratio of losses, especially considering that Russia fought for six months longer than England and France.

Of course, in response, we can say that the main losses in the war occurred in the defense of Sevastopol, here the enemy stormed the fortifications, and this led to relatively increased losses. That is, Russia’s “technical backwardness” was partially compensated by an advantageous defensive position.

Well, then let’s consider the first battle outside Sevastopol - the Battle of Alma. A coalition army of about 62 thousand people (the absolute majority are French and British) landed in Crimea and moved towards the city. In order to delay the enemy and gain time to prepare the defensive structures of Sevastopol, Russian commander Alexander Menshikov decided to fight near the Alma River. At that time, he managed to gather only 37 thousand people. It also had fewer guns than the coalition, which is not surprising, because three countries opposed Russia at once. In addition, the enemy was also supported from the sea by naval fire.

“According to some indications, the Allies lost 4,300 people on the day of Alma, according to others - 4,500 people. According to later estimates, our troops lost 145 officers and 5,600 lower ranks in the Battle of Alma,” Academician Tarle cites such data in his fundamental work “The Crimean War.” It is constantly emphasized that during the battle our lack of rifled weapons affected us, but please note that the losses of the sides are quite comparable. Yes, our losses were greater, but the coalition had a significant superiority in manpower, so what does this have to do with the technical backwardness of the Russian army?

An interesting thing: the size of our army turned out to be almost half as large, and there are fewer guns, and the enemy fleet is firing at our positions from the sea, in addition, Russia’s weapons are backward. It would seem that under such circumstances the defeat of the Russians should have been inevitable. What is the real result of the battle? After the battle, the Russian army retreated, maintaining order; the exhausted enemy did not dare to organize pursuit, that is, its movement towards Sevastopol slowed down, which gave the city’s garrison time to prepare for defense. The words of the commander of the British First Division, the Duke of Cambridge, best characterize the state of the “winners”: “Another such victory, and England will not have an army.” This is such a “defeat”, this is the “backwardness of serf Russia.”

I think one non-trivial fact has not escaped the attentive reader, namely the number of Russians in the battle on Alma. Why does the enemy have a significant superiority in manpower? Why does Menshikov have only 37 thousand people? Where was the rest of the Russian army at this time? The answer to the last question is very simple:

“At the end of 1854, the entire border strip of Russia was divided into sections, each subordinate to a special commander with the rights of commander-in-chief of an army or a separate corps. These areas were as follows:

a) The coastal region of the Baltic Sea (Finland, St. Petersburg and Baltic provinces), the military forces of which consisted of 179 battalions, 144 squadrons and hundreds, with 384 guns;

b) Kingdom of Poland and Western provinces - 146 battalions, 100 squadrons and hundreds, with 308 guns;

c) The space along the Danube and the Black Sea to the Bug River - 182 battalions, 285 squadrons and hundreds, with 612 guns;

d) Crimea and the Black Sea coast from the Bug to Perekop - 27 battalions, 19 squadrons and hundreds, 48 ​​guns;

e) the shores of the Sea of ​​Azov and the Black Sea region - 31½ battalions, 140 hundreds and squadrons, 54 guns;

f) Caucasian and Transcaucasian regions - 152 battalions, 281 hundreds and a squadron, 289 guns (⅓ of these troops were on the Turkish border, the rest were inside the region, against the mountaineers hostile to us).”

It is easy to notice that the most powerful group of our troops was in the southwestern direction, and not at all in Crimea. In second place is the army covering the Baltic, the third in strength is in the Caucasus, and the fourth is on the western borders.

What explains this, at first glance, strange arrangement of Russians? To answer this question, let’s temporarily leave the battlefields and move to the diplomatic offices, where no less important battles unfolded, and where, in the end, the fate of the entire Crimean War was decided.

British diplomacy set out to win over Prussia, Sweden and the Austrian Empire to its side. In this case, Russia would have to fight almost the entire world. The British acted successfully, Prussia and Austria began to lean toward an anti-Russian position. Tsar Nicholas I is a man of unbending will; he was not going to give up under any circumstances, and began to prepare for the most catastrophic scenario. That is why the main forces of the Russian army had to be kept far from Crimea along the border “arc”: north, west, southwest.

Time passed, the war dragged on. The siege of Sevastopol lasted for almost a year. In the end, at the cost of heavy losses, the enemy occupied part of the city. Yes, yes, no “fall of Sevastopol” never happened, Russian troops simply moved from the southern to the northern part of the city and prepared for further defense. Despite all efforts, the coalition achieved virtually nothing. During the entire period of hostilities, the enemy captured a small part of Crimea and the tiny fortress of Kinburn, but was defeated in the Caucasus. Meanwhile, at the beginning of 1856, Russia concentrated over 600 thousand people on its western and southern borders. This is not counting the Caucasian and Black Sea lines. In addition, it was possible to create numerous reserves and gather militias.

What were the representatives of the so-called progressive public doing at this time? As usual, they launched anti-Russian propaganda and distributed leaflets - proclamations.

“Written in a lively language, with full effort to make them understandable to the common people and mainly soldiers, these proclamations were divided into two parts: some were signed by Herzen, Golovin, Sazonov and other persons who left their fatherland; others by the Poles Zenkovich, Zabitsky and Worzel.”

Nevertheless, iron discipline reigned in the army, and few people succumbed to the propaganda of the enemies of our state. Russia rose to the Second Patriotic War with all the ensuing consequences for the enemy. And then alarming news came from the front of the diplomatic war: Austria openly joined Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire and the Sardinian Kingdom. A few days later, Prussia also made threats against St. Petersburg. By that time, Nicholas I had died, and his son Alexander II was on the throne. After weighing all the pros and cons, the king decided to begin negotiations with the coalition.

As mentioned above, the treaty that ended the war was not at all humiliating. The whole world knows about this. In Western historiography, the outcome of the Crimean War for our country is assessed much more objectively than in Russia itself:

“The results of the campaign had little impact on the alignment international forces. It was decided to make the Danube an international waterway, and declare the Black Sea neutral. But Sevastopol had to be returned to the Russians. Russia, which previously occupied a dominant position in Central Europe, lost its former influence over the next few years. But not for long. The Turkish Empire was saved, and also only for a while. The alliance between England and France did not achieve its goals. The problem of the Holy Lands, which he was supposed to solve, was not even mentioned in the peace treaty. And the Russian Tsar annulled the treaty itself fourteen years later,” this is how Christopher Hibbert described the results of the Crimean War. This is a British historian. For Russia, he found much more correct words than Lenin.

1 Lenin V.I. Complete Works, 5th edition, volume 20, p. 173.
2 History of diplomacy, M., OGIZ State Socio-Economic Publishing House, 1945, p. 447
3 Ibid., p. 455.
4 Trubetskoy A., “Crimean War”, M., Lomonosov, 2010, p.163.
5 Urlanis B.Ts. “Wars and the population of Europe”, Publishing House of Socio-Economic Literature, M, 1960, p. 99-100
6 Dubrovin N.F., “History of the Crimean War and the Defense of Sevastopol”, St. Petersburg. Printing house of the Public Benefit Partnership, 1900, p.255
7 Eastern War 1853-1856 Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron
8 Eastern War 1853-1856 Encyclopedic Dictionary of F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron
9 Dubrovin N.F., “History of the Crimean War and the Defense of Sevastopol”, St. Petersburg. Printing house of the Public Benefit Partnership, 1900, p. 203.
10 Hibbert K., “Crimean Campaign 1854-1855. The Tragedy of Lord Raglan", M., Tsentrpoligraf, 2004.

Defense of Sevastopol (1854-1855). On September 14, the allied army occupied Balaklava, and on September 17 approached Sevastopol. The main base of the fleet was well protected from the sea by 14 powerful batteries. But from land, the city was weakly fortified, since, based on the experience of past wars, the opinion was formed that a large landing in the Crimea was impossible. There was a 7,000-strong garrison in the city. It was necessary to create fortifications around the city just before the Allied landing in Crimea. The outstanding military engineer Eduard Ivanovich Totleben played a huge role in this. In a short time, with the help of the defenders and the population of the city, Totleben accomplished what seemed impossible - he created new bastions and other fortifications that surrounded Sevastopol from the land. The effectiveness of Totleben’s actions is evidenced by the entry in the journal of the city’s defense chief, Admiral Vladimir Alekseevich Kornilov, dated September 4, 1854: “They did more in a week than they previously did in a year.” During this period, the skeleton of the fortification system literally grew out of the ground, which turned Sevastopol into a first-class land fortress that managed to withstand an 11-month siege. Admiral Kornilov became the head of the city's defense. “Brothers, the Tsar is counting on you. We are defending Sevastopol. Surrender is out of the question. There will be no retreat. Whoever orders a retreat, stab him. If I order a retreat, stab me too!” were the words of his order. In order to prevent the enemy fleet from breaking through into the Sevastopol Bay, 5 battleships and 2 frigates were sunk at the entrance to it (later a number of more ships were used for this purpose). Some of the guns arrived on land from the ships. 22 battalions were formed from naval crews (24 thousand people in total), which strengthened the garrison to 20 thousand people. When the Allies approached the city, they were greeted by an unfinished, but still strong fortification system with 341 guns (versus 141 in the Allied army). The Allied command did not dare to attack the city on the move and began siege work. With the approach of Menshikov’s army to Sevastopol (September 18), the city garrison grew to 35 thousand people. Communication between Sevastopol and the rest of Russia has been preserved. The Allies used their firepower to capture the city. On October 5, 1854, the 1st bombardment began. The army and navy took part in it. 120 guns fired at the city from land, and 1,340 ship guns fired at the city from the sea. This fiery tornado was supposed to destroy the fortifications and suppress the will of their defenders to resist. However, the beating did not go unpunished. The Russians responded with accurate fire from batteries and naval guns.

The hot artillery duel lasted five hours. Despite the enormous superiority in artillery, the allied fleet was severely damaged and was forced to retreat. And here the Russian bomb guns, which had proven themselves well at Sinop, played an important role. After this, the Allies abandoned the use of the fleet in bombing the city. At the same time, the city's fortifications were not seriously damaged. Such a decisive and skillful rebuff of the Russians came as a complete surprise to the allied command, which had hoped to take the city with little bloodshed. The city's defenders could celebrate a very important moral victory. But their joy was overshadowed by death during the shelling of Admiral Kornilov. The defense of the city was led by Pyotr Stepanovich Nakhimov. The Allies became convinced that it was impossible to quickly cope with the fortress. They abandoned the assault and moved on to a long siege. In turn, the defenders of Sevastopol continued to improve their defense. Thus, in front of the line of bastions, a system of advanced fortifications was erected (Selenga and Volyn redoubts, Kamchatka lunette, etc.). This made it possible to create a zone of continuous rifle and artillery fire in front of the main defensive structures. During the same period, Menshikov's army attacked the allies at Balaklava and Inkerman. Although it was not able to achieve decisive success, the allies, having suffered heavy losses in these battles, ceased active operations until 1855. The allies were forced to winter in the Crimea. Unprepared for the winter campaign, the Allied troops suffered dire needs. But still, they managed to organize supplies for their siege units - first by sea, and then with the help of a laid railway line from Balaklava to Sevastopol.

Having survived the winter, the Allies became more active. In March - May they carried out the 2nd and 3rd bombings. The shelling was especially brutal on Easter (in April). 541 guns fired at the city. They were answered by 466 guns, which lacked ammunition. By that time, the Allied army in Crimea had grown to 170 thousand people. against 110 thousand people. among the Russians (of which 40 thousand people are in Sevastopol). After the Easter Bombardment, the siege troops were led by General Pelissier, a supporter of decisive action. On May 11 and 26, French units captured a number of fortifications in front of the main line of bastions. But they were unable to achieve more due to the courageous resistance of the city’s defenders. During the battles, ground units supported with fire the ships of the Black Sea Fleet that remained afloat (steam frigates “Vladimir”, “Khersones”, etc.). General Mikhail Gorchakov, who led the Russian army in the Crimea after the resignation of Menshikov, considered resistance useless due to the superiority of the allies. However, the new Emperor Alexander II (Nicholas I died on February 18, 1855) demanded that the defense be continued. He believed that the quick surrender of Sevastopol would lead to the loss of the Crimean Peninsula, which would be “too difficult or even impossible” to return to Russia. On June 6, 1855, after the 4th bombardment, the Allies launched a powerful assault on the Ship side. 44 thousand people took part in it. This onslaught was heroically repulsed by 20 thousand Sevastopol residents, led by General Stepan Khrulev. On June 28, while inspecting positions, Admiral Nakhimov was mortally wounded. The man under whom, according to contemporaries, “the fall of Sevastopol seemed unthinkable,” has passed away. The besieged experienced increasing difficulties. They could respond to three shots with only one.

After the victory on the Chernaya River (August 4), the allied forces intensified their attack on Sevastopol. In August they carried out the 5th and 6th bombings, from which the losses of the defenders reached 2-3 thousand people. in a day. On August 27, a new assault began, in which 60 thousand people took part. It was reflected in all places except the key position of the besieged ~ Malakhov Kurgan. It was captured by a surprise attack at lunchtime by the French division of General MacMahon. To ensure secrecy, the allies did not give a special signal for the attack - it began on a synchronized clock (according to some experts, for the first time in military history). The defenders of Malakhov Kurgan made desperate attempts to defend their positions. They fought with everything they could get their hands on: shovels, picks, stones, banners. The 9th, 12th and 15th Russian divisions took part in the frantic battles for Malakhov Kurgan, which lost all the senior officers who personally led the soldiers in counterattacks. In the last of them, the head of the 15th division, General Yuferov, was stabbed to death with bayonets. The French managed to defend the captured positions. The success of the case was decided by the firmness of General MacMahon, who refused to retreat. To General Pelissier’s order to retreat to the starting lines, he responded with the historical phrase: “I am here and I will stay here.” The loss of the Malakhov Kurgan decided the fate of Sevastopol. On the evening of August 27, 1855, by order of General Gorchakov, the residents of Sevastopol left the southern part of the city and crossed the bridge (created by engineer Buchmeyer) to the northern part. At the same time, powder magazines were blown up, shipyards and fortifications were destroyed, and the remains of the fleet were flooded. The battles for Sevastopol are over. The Allies did not achieve his surrender. The Russian armed forces in Crimea survived and were ready for further battles. "Brave comrades! It is sad and difficult to leave Sevastopol to our enemies, but remember what sacrifice we made on the altar of the fatherland in 1812. Moscow is worth Sevastopol! We left it after the immortal battle under Borodin.

The three-hundred-and-forty-nine-day defense of Sevastopol is superior to Borodino!” said the army order dated August 30, 1855. The Allies lost 72 thousand people during the Sevastopol defense (not counting the sick and those who died from diseases). Russians - 102 thousand people. In the glorious The chronicle of this defense includes the names of admirals V.A. Kornilov and P.S. Nakhimov, engineer E.I. Totleben, surgeon N.I. Pirogov, General S.A. Khrulev, captain G.A. Butakov, sailor P.M. .Cats, officer A.V. Melnikov, soldier A. Eliseev and many other heroes, united from that time on by one valiant name - "Sevastopol". The first sisters of mercy in Russia appeared in Sevastopol. Participants in the defense were awarded the medal "For the Defense of Sevastopol". The defense of Sevastopol was the culmination of the Crimean War, and after its fall the parties soon began peace negotiations in Paris.

Battle of Balaklava (1854). During the Sevastopol defense, the Russian army in Crimea gave the allies a number of important battles. The first of these was the battle of Balaklava (a settlement on the coast, east of Sevastopol), where the supply base for British troops in the Crimea was located. When planning an attack on Balaklava, the Russian command saw the main goal not in capturing this base, but in distracting the allies from Sevastopol. Therefore, rather modest forces were allocated for the offensive - parts of the 12th and 16th infantry divisions under the command of General Liprandi (16 thousand people). On October 13, 1854, they attacked the advanced fortifications of the Allied forces. The Russians captured a number of redoubts that were defended by Turkish units. But further onslaught was stopped by a counterattack by the English cavalry. Eager to build on their success, the Guards Cavalry Brigade, led by Lord Cardigan, continued the attack and arrogantly delved into the location of the Russian troops. Here she ran into a Russian battery and came under cannon fire, and was then attacked in the flank by a detachment of lancers under the command of Colonel Eropkin. Having lost most of his brigade, Cardigan retreated. The Russian command was unable to develop this tactical success due to the lack of forces sent to Balaklava. The Russians did not engage in a new battle with additional allied units rushing to help the British. Both sides lost 1 thousand people in this battle. The Balaklava battle forced the Allies to postpone the planned attack on Sevastopol. At the same time, he allowed them to better understand their weak points and strengthen Balaklava, which became the sea gate of the allied siege forces. This battle received wide resonance in Europe due to the high losses among the English guards. A kind of epitaph for Cardigan’s sensational attack were the words of the French General Bosquet: “This is great, but this is not war.”

Battle of Inkerman (1854). Encouraged by the Balaklava affair, Menshikov decided to give the Allies a more serious battle. The Russian commander was also prompted to do this by reports from defectors that the Allies wanted to finish off Sevastopol before winter and were planning an assault on the city in the coming days. Menshikov planned to attack English units in the Inkerman Heights area and push them back to Balaklava. This would allow the French and British troops to be separated, making it easier to defeat them individually. On October 24, 1854, Menshikov’s troops (82 thousand people) gave battle to the Anglo-French army (63 thousand people) in the Inkerman Heights area. The Russians delivered the main blow on their left flank by detachments of generals Soimonov and Pavlov (37 thousand people in total) against the English corps of Lord Raglan (16 thousand people). However, the well-conceived plan was poorly thought out and prepared. The rough terrain, lack of maps, and thick fog led to poor coordination between the attackers. The Russian command actually lost control over the course of the battle. The units were brought into battle in parts, which reduced the force of the blow. The battle with the British broke up into a series of separate fierce battles, in which the Russians suffered heavy damage from rifle fire. By firing from them, the British managed to destroy up to half of some Russian units. General Soimonov was also killed during the attack. In this case, the courage of the attackers was dashed by more effective weapons. Nevertheless, the Russians fought with unrelenting tenacity and eventually began to press the British, knocking them out of most positions.

On the right flank, General Timofeev’s detachment (10 thousand people) pinned down part of the French forces with its attack. However, due to the inaction in the center of General Gorchakov’s detachment (20 thousand people), which was supposed to distract the French troops, they were able to come to the rescue of the British. The outcome of the battle was decided by the attack of the French detachment of General Bosquet (9 thousand people), who managed to push the Russian regiments, exhausted and suffering heavy losses, back to their original positions. “The fate of the battle was still in flux when the French who arrived to us attacked the enemy’s left flank,” wrote the London correspondent of the Morning Chronicle newspaper. “From that moment the Russians could no longer hope for success, but, despite this, there was no sign of not the slightest hesitation or disorder. Hit by the fire of our artillery, they closed their ranks and bravely repelled all the attacks of the allies... Sometimes a terrible battle lasted for about five minutes, in which the soldiers fought either with bayonets or rifle butts. It is impossible to believe, without being an eyewitness, that there are troops in the world who know how to retreat as brilliantly as the Russians... Homer would compare this retreat of the Russians to the retreat of a lion, when, surrounded by hunters, he retreats step by step, shaking his mane, turning his proud brow towards his enemies, and then continues on his way again , bleeding from the many wounds inflicted on him, but unshakably courageous, undefeated." The Allies lost about 6 thousand people in this battle, the Russians - more than 10 thousand people. Although Menshikov was unable to achieve his intended goal, the Battle of Inkerman played an important role in the fate of Sevastopol. It did not allow the Allies to carry out their planned assault on the fortress and forced them to switch to a winter siege.

Storm of Evpatoria (1855). During the winter campaign of 1855, the most significant event in Crimea was the assault on Yevpatoria by Russian troops of General Stepan Khrulev (19 thousand people). In the city there was a 35,000-strong Turkish corps under the command of Omer Pasha, which threatened the rear communications of the Russian army in Crimea from here. To prevent the offensive actions of the Turks, the Russian command decided to capture Yevpatoria. The lack of allocated forces was planned to be compensated by a surprise attack. However, this was not achieved. The garrison, having learned about the assault, prepared to repel the onslaught. When the Russians launched an attack, they were met with heavy fire, including from the ships of the allied squadron located in the Yevpatoria roadstead. Fearing heavy losses and an unsuccessful outcome of the assault, Khrulev gave the order to stop the attack. Having lost 750 people, the troops returned to their original positions. Despite the failure, the raid on Yevpatoria paralyzed the activity of the Turkish army, which never took active action here. The news of the failure near Evpatoria, apparently, hastened the death of Emperor Nicholas I. On February 18, 1855, he died. Before his death, with his last order, he managed to remove the commander of the Russian troops in Crimea, Prince Menshikov, for the failure of the assault.

Battle of the Chernaya River (1855). On August 4, 1855, on the banks of the Chernaya River (10 km from Sevastopol), a battle took place between the Russian army under the command of General Gorchakov (58 thousand people) and three French and one Sardinian divisions under the command of Generals Pelissier and Lamarmore (about 60 thousand in total). people). For the offensive, which had the goal of helping the besieged Sevastopol, Gorchakov allocated two large detachments led by generals Liprandi and Read. The main battle broke out on the right flank for Fedyukhin Heights. The assault on this well-fortified French position began due to a misunderstanding, which clearly reflected the inconsistency of the actions of the Russian command in this battle. After Liprandi’s detachment went on the offensive on the left flank, Gorchakov and his orderly sent a note to Read “It’s time to start,” meaning to support this attack with fire. Read realized that it was time to start attacking, and moved his 12th division (General Martinau) to storm the Fedyukhin Heights. The division was introduced into battle in parts: Odessa, then Azov and Ukrainian regiments. “The speed of the Russians was amazing,” a correspondent of one of the British newspapers wrote about this attack. “They did not waste time shooting and rushed forward with extraordinary impetus. The French soldiers ... assured me that the Russians had never before shown such ardor in battle.” . Under deadly fire, the attackers managed to cross the river and canal, and then reached the advanced fortifications of the Allies, where a hot battle began. Here, on the Fedyukhin Heights, not only the fate of Sevastopol was at stake, but also the honor of the Russian army.

In this final field battle in the Crimea, the Russians, in a frantic impulse, sought for the last time to defend their dearly purchased right to be called invincible. Despite the heroism of the soldiers, the Russians suffered heavy losses and were repulsed. The units allocated for the attack were insufficient. Read's initiative changed the commander's initial plan. Instead of helping Liprandi's units, which had some success, Gorchakov sent the reserve 5th Division (General Vranken) to support the assault on the Fedyukhin Heights. The same fate awaited this division. Read brought the regiments into battle one by one, and separately they also did not achieve success. In a persistent effort to turn the tide of the battle, Read led the attack himself and was killed. Then Gorchakov again shifted his efforts to the left flank to Liprandi, but the allies managed to pull up large forces there, and the offensive failed. By 10 o'clock in the morning, after a 6-hour battle, the Russians, having lost 8 thousand people, retreated to their original positions. The damage to the Franco-Sardinians is about 2 thousand people. After the battle on Chernaya, the allies were able to allocate the main forces for the assault on Sevastopol. The Battle of Chernaya and other failures in the Crimean War meant the loss for almost a whole century (until the victory at Stalingrad) of the sense of superiority previously won by the Russian soldier over Western Europeans.

Capture of Kerch, Anapa, Kinburn. Sabotage on the Coast (1855). During the siege of Sevastopol, the Allies continued their active attack on the Russian coast. In May 1855, a 16,000-strong Allied landing force under the command of generals Brown and Otmar captured Kerch and plundered the city. Russian forces in the eastern part of Crimea under the command of General Karl Wrangel (about 10 thousand people), stretched along the coast, did not offer any resistance to the paratroopers. This success of the allies cleared the way for them to the Sea of ​​Azov (its transformation into an open sea zone was part of England's plans) and cut off the connection between Crimea and the North Caucasus. After the capture of Kerch, the allied squadron (about 70 ships) entered the Sea of ​​Azov. She fired at Taganrog, Genichevsk, Yeisk and other coastal points. However, local garrisons rejected offers of surrender and repelled attempts to land small troops. As a result of this raid on the Azov coast, significant reserves of grain that were intended for the Crimean army were destroyed. The Allies also landed troops on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, occupying the Anapa fortress abandoned and destroyed by the Russians. The last operation in the Azov-Black Sea theater of military operations was the capture of the Kinburn fortress by General Bazin's 8,000-strong French landing force on October 5, 1855. The fortress was defended by a 1,500-strong garrison led by General Kokhanovich. On the third day of the bombing he capitulated. This operation became famous primarily for the fact that armored ships were used for the first time. Built according to the drawings of Emperor Napoleon III, they easily destroyed the stone Kinburn fortifications with gun fire. At the same time, shells from Kinburn’s defenders, fired from a distance of 1 km or less, crashed against the sides of the battleships without much damage to these floating fortresses. The capture of Kinburn was the last success of the Anglo-French troops in the Crimean War.

Caucasian theater of military operations (1853-1856)

The Caucasian theater of military operations was somewhat in the shadow of the events that unfolded in Crimea. Nevertheless, actions in the Caucasus were very important. This was the only theater of war where the Russians could directly attack enemy territory. It was here that the Russian armed forces achieved the greatest successes, which made it possible to develop more acceptable peace conditions. The victories in the Caucasus were largely due to the high fighting qualities of the Russian Caucasian army. She had many years of experience in military operations in the mountains. Its soldiers were constantly in the conditions of a small mountain war, had experienced combat commanders aimed at decisive action. At the beginning of the war, Russian forces in Transcaucasia under the command of General Bebutov (30 thousand people) were more than three times inferior to Turkish troops under the command of Abdi Pasha (100 thousand people). Using their numerical advantage, the Turkish command immediately went on the offensive. The main forces (40 thousand people) moved towards Alexandropol. To the north, on Akhaltsikhe, the Ardagan detachment (18 thousand people) was advancing. The Turkish command hoped to break through to the Caucasus and establish direct contact with the troops of the mountaineers, who had been fighting against Russia for several decades. The implementation of such a plan could lead to the isolation of the small Russian army in Transcaucasia and its destruction.

Battle of Bayardun and Akhaltsikhe (1853). The first serious battle between the Russians and the main forces of the Turks marching towards Alexandropol took place on November 2, 1853 near Bayandur (16 km from Alexandropol). Here stood the vanguard of the Russians, led by Prince Orbeliani (7 thousand people). Despite the significant numerical superiority of the Turks, Orbeliani boldly entered the battle and was able to hold out until Bebutov’s main forces arrived. Having learned that fresh reinforcements were approaching the Russians, Abdi Pasha did not get involved in a more serious battle and retreated to the Arpachay River. Meanwhile, the Ardahan detachment of Turks crossed the Russian border and reached the approaches to Akhaltsikhe. On November 12, 1853, his path was blocked by a half-size detachment under the command of Prince Andronnikov (7 thousand people). After a fierce battle, the Turks suffered a heavy defeat and retreated to Kars. The Turkish offensive in Transcaucasia was stopped.

Battle of Bashkadyklar (1853). After the victory at Akhaltsikhe, Bebutov’s corps (up to 13 thousand people) went on the offensive. The Turkish command tried to stop Bebutov at a powerful defensive line near Bashkadyklar. Despite the triple numerical superiority of the Turks (who were also confident in the inaccessibility of their positions), Bebutov boldly attacked them on November 19, 1853. Having broken through the right flank, the Russians inflicted a heavy defeat on the Turkish army. Having lost 6 thousand people, she retreated in disarray. The Russian damage amounted to 1.5 thousand people. The Russian success at Bashkadiklar stunned the Turkish army and its allies in the North Caucasus. This victory significantly strengthened Russia's position in the Caucasus region. After the Battle of Bashkadyklar, Turkish troops did not show any activity for several months (until the end of May 1854), which allowed the Russians to strengthen the Caucasian direction.

Battle of Nigoeti and Chorokh (1854). In 1854, the strength of the Turkish army in Transcaucasia was increased to 120 thousand people. It was headed by Mustafa Zarif Pasha. Russian forces were brought to only 40 thousand people. Bebutov divided them into three detachments, which covered the Russian border as follows. The central section in the Alexandropol direction was guarded by the main detachment led by Bebutov himself (21 thousand people). On the right, from Akhaltsikhe to the Black Sea, Andronikov’s Akhaltsikhe detachment (14 thousand people) covered the border. On the southern flank, to protect the Erivan direction, a detachment of Baron Wrangel (5 thousand people) was formed. The first to take the blow were units of the Akhaltsikhe detachment on the Batumi section of the border. From here, from the Batum region, Hassan Pasha's detachment (12 thousand people) moved to Kutaisi. On May 28, 1854, his path was blocked near the village of Nigoeti by a detachment of General Eristov (3 thousand people). The Turks were defeated and driven back to Ozugerty. Their losses amounted to 2 thousand people. Among those killed was Hassan Pasha himself, who promised his soldiers to have a hearty dinner in Kutaisi in the evening. Russian damage - 600 people. The defeated units of Hassan Pasha's detachment retreated to Ozugerty, where Selim Pasha's large corps (34 thousand people) was concentrated. Meanwhile, Andronnikov gathered his forces into a fist in the Batumi direction (10 thousand people). Without allowing Selim Pasha to go on the offensive, the commander of the Akhaltsikhe detachment himself attacked the Turks on the Chorokh River and inflicted a severe defeat on them. Selim Pasha's corps retreated, losing 4 thousand people. The Russian damage amounted to 1.5 thousand people. The victories at Nigoeti and Chorokhe secured the right flank of Russian troops in Transcaucasia.

Battle at Chingil Pass (1854). Having failed to break into Russian territory in the area of ​​the Black Sea coast, the Turkish command launched an offensive in the Erivan direction. In July, a 16,000-strong Turkish corps moved from Bayazet to Erivan (now Yerevan). The commander of the Erivan detachment, Baron Wrangel, did not take a defensive position, but himself stepped out to meet the advancing Turks. In the scorching heat of July, the Russians reached the Chingil Pass with a forced march. On July 17, 1854, in a counter battle, they inflicted a severe defeat on the Bayazet Corps. The Russian casualties in this case amounted to 405 people. The Turks lost over 2 thousand people. Wrangel organized an energetic pursuit of the defeated Turkish units and on July 19 captured their base - Bayazet. Most of the Turkish corps fled. Its remnants (2 thousand people) retreated to Van in disarray. The victory at the Chingil Pass secured and strengthened the left flank of Russian troops in Transcaucasia.

Battle of Kyuryuk-dak (1854). Finally, a battle took place on the central sector of the Russian front. On July 24, 1854, Bebutov’s detachment (18 thousand people) fought with the main Turkish army under the command of Mustafa Zarif Pasha (60 thousand people). Relying on numerical superiority, the Turks left their fortified positions at Hadji Vali and attacked Bebutov’s detachment. The stubborn battle lasted from 4 a.m. to noon. Bebutov, taking advantage of the stretched nature of the Turkish troops, managed to defeat them piecemeal (first on the right flank, and then in the center). His victory was facilitated by the skillful actions of the artillerymen and their sudden use of missile weapons (missiles designed by Konstantinov). The losses of the Turks amounted to 10 thousand people, Russians - 3 thousand people. After the defeat at Kuryuk-Dara, the Turkish army retreated to Kars and ceased active operations in the Caucasian theater of military operations. The Russians received a favorable opportunity to attack Kars. So, in the campaign of 1854, the Russians repelled the Turkish onslaught in all directions and continued to maintain the initiative. Turkey's hopes for the Caucasian highlanders also did not materialize. Their main ally in the Eastern Caucasus, Shamil, did not show much activity. In 1854, the only major success of the mountaineers was the capture in the summer of the Georgian town of Tsinandali in the Alazani Valley. But this operation was not so much an attempt to establish cooperation with Turkish troops as a traditional raid with the aim of seizing booty (in particular, princesses Chavchavadze and Orbeliani were captured, for whom the highlanders received a huge ransom). It is likely that Shamil was interested in independence from both Russia and Turkey.

Siege and capture of Kars (1855). At the beginning of 1855, General Nikolai Muravyov, whose name is associated with the greatest success of the Russians in this theater of military operations, was appointed commander of the Russian forces in Transcaucasia. He united the Akhaltsikhe and Alexandropol detachments, creating a united corps of up to 40 thousand people. With these forces, Muravyov moved towards Kars with the goal of capturing this main stronghold in eastern Turkey. Kars was defended by a 30,000-strong garrison, led by the English general William. The siege of Kars began on August 1, 1855. In September, Omer Pasha's expeditionary force (45 thousand people) arrived from Crimea to Batum to help Turkish troops in Transcaucasia. This forced Muravyov to act more actively against Kars. On September 17, the fortress was stormed. But he was not successful. Of the 13 thousand people who went on the attack, the Russians lost half and were forced to retreat. The damage to the Turks amounted to 1.4 thousand people. This failure did not affect Muravyov's determination to continue the siege. Moreover, Omer Pasha launched an operation in Mingrelia in October. He occupied Sukhum, and then got involved in heavy battles with the troops (mostly police) of General Bagration Mukhrani (19 thousand people), who detained the Turks at the turn of the Enguri River, and then stopped them on the Tskheniskali River. Towards the end of October it began to snow. He closed the mountain passes, dashing the garrison's hopes for reinforcements. At the same time, Muravyov continued the siege. Unable to withstand hardships and without waiting for outside help, the garrison of Kars decided not to experience the horrors of winter sitting and capitulated on November 16, 1855. The capture of Kars was a major victory for the Russian troops. This last significant operation of the Crimean War increased Russia's chances of concluding a more honorable peace. For the capture of the fortress, Muravyov was awarded the title of Count of Karsky.

Northwestern Theater of Operations (1854-1856)

Fighting also took place in the Baltic, White and Barents Seas. In the Baltic Sea, the Allies planned to capture the most important Russian naval bases. In the summer of 1854, an Anglo-French squadron with a landing force under the command of Vice Admirals Napier and Parseval-Duchenne (65 ships, most of them steam) blocked the Baltic Fleet (44 ships) in Sveaborg and Kronstadt. The Allies did not dare to attack these bases, since the approach to them was protected by minefields designed by Academician Jacobi, which were first used in combat. Thus, the technical superiority of the Allies in the Crimean War was by no means total. In a number of cases, the Russians were able to effectively counter them with advanced military equipment (bomb guns, Konstantinov missiles, Jacobi mines, etc.). Fearing the mines at Kronstadt and Sveaborg, the Allies attempted to seize other Russian naval bases in the Baltic. The landings in Ekenes, Gangut, Gamlakarleby and Abo failed. The only success of the Allies was their capture of the small fortress of Bomarsund on the Åland Islands. At the end of July, an 11,000-strong Anglo-French landing force landed on the Åland Islands and blocked Bomarsund. It was defended by a 2,000-strong garrison, which surrendered on August 4, 1854 after a 6-day bombardment that destroyed the fortifications. In the fall of 1854, the Anglo-French squadron, having failed to achieve its goals, left the Baltic Sea. “Never before have the actions of such a huge armada with such powerful forces and means ended with such a ridiculous result,” the London Times wrote about this. In the summer of 1855, the Anglo-French fleet under the command of Admirals Dundas and Pinault limited themselves to blockading the coast and shelling Sveaborg and other cities.

On the White Sea, several English ships tried to capture the Solovetsky Monastery, which was defended by monks and a small detachment with 10 cannons. The defenders of Solovki responded with a decisive refusal to the offer to surrender. Then the naval artillery began shelling the monastery. The first shot knocked out the monastery gates. But the attempt to land troops was repulsed by fortress artillery fire. Fearing losses, the British paratroopers returned to the ships. After shooting for two more days, the British ships set off for Arkhangelsk. But the attack on him was also repelled by the fire of Russian cannons. Then the British sailed to the Barents Sea. Joining French ships there, they mercilessly fired incendiary cannonballs at the defenseless fishing village of Kola, destroying 110 of the 120 houses there. This was the end of the actions of the British and French in the White and Barents Seas.

Pacific Theater of Operations (1854-1856)

Particularly worth noting is Russia’s first baptism of fire in the Pacific Ocean, where the Russians, with small forces, inflicted a severe defeat on the enemy and worthily defended the Far Eastern borders of their homeland. Here the garrison of Petropavlovsk (now the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky), led by the military governor Vasily Stepanovich Zavoiko (over 1 thousand people), distinguished itself. It had seven batteries with 67 guns, as well as the ships Aurora and Dvina. On August 18, 1854, an Anglo-French squadron (7 ships with 212 guns and 2.6 thousand crew and troops) under the command of Rear Admirals Price and Fevrier de Pointe approached Petropavlovsk. The Allies sought to capture this main Russian stronghold in the Far East and profit from the property of the Russian-American company here. Despite the obvious inequality of forces, primarily in artillery, Zavoiko decided to defend himself to the last extreme. The ships "Aurora" and "Dvina", turned by the city's defenders into floating batteries, blocked the entrance to the Peter and Paul harbor. On August 20, the Allies, having a triple superiority in cannons, suppressed one coastal battery with fire and landed troops (600 people) ashore. But the surviving Russian artillerymen continued to fire at the broken battery and detained the attackers. The artillerymen were supported by fire from guns from the Aurora, and soon a detachment of 230 people arrived at the battlefield, and with a bold counterattack they dropped the troops into the sea. For 6 hours, the allied squadron fired along the coast, trying to suppress the remaining Russian batteries, but it itself received heavy damage in an artillery duel and was forced to retreat from the coast. After 4 days, the Allies landed a new landing force (970 people). captured the heights dominating the city, but his further advance was stopped by a counterattack by the defenders of Petropavlovsk. 360 Russian soldiers, scattered in a chain, attacked the paratroopers and fought them hand-to-hand. Unable to withstand the decisive onslaught, the allies fled to their ships. Their losses amounted to 450 people. The Russians lost 96 people. On August 27, the Anglo-French squadron left the Petropavlovsk area. In April 1855, Zavoiko set out with his small flotilla from Petropavlovsk to defend the mouth of the Amur and in De Castri Bay won a decisive victory over a superior British squadron. Its commander, Admiral Price, shot himself in despair. “All the waters of the Pacific Ocean are not enough to wash away the shame of the British flag!” one of the English historians wrote about this. Having checked the fortress of Russia's Far Eastern borders, the allies stopped active hostilities in this region. The heroic defense of Petropavlovsk and De Castri Bay became the first bright page in the annals of the Russian armed forces in the Pacific.

Parisian world

By winter, fighting on all fronts had subsided. Thanks to the resilience and courage of the Russian soldiers, the offensive impulse of the coalition fizzled out. The Allies failed to oust Russia from the shores of the Black Sea and the Pacific Ocean. “We,” wrote the London Times, “have found a resistance superior to anything hitherto known in history.” But Russia could not defeat the powerful coalition alone. It did not have sufficient military-industrial potential for a protracted war. The production of gunpowder and lead did not even half satisfy the needs of the army. The stocks of weapons (cannons, rifles) accumulated in the arsenals were also coming to an end. The Allied weapons were superior to the Russian ones, which led to huge losses in the Russian army. The lack of a railway network did not allow for the mobile movement of troops. The advantage of the steam fleet over the sailing fleet made it possible for the French and British to dominate the sea. In this war, 153 thousand Russian soldiers died (of which 51 thousand people were killed and died from wounds, the rest died from disease). About the same number of allies (French, British, Sardinians, Turks) died. Almost the same percentage of their losses were due to disease (primarily cholera). The Crimean War was the bloodiest conflict of the 19th century after 1815. So the Allies’ agreement to negotiate was largely due to heavy losses. PARISIAN WORLD (03/18/1856). At the end of 1855, Austria demanded that St. Petersburg conclude a truce on the terms of the allies, otherwise threatening war. Sweden also joined the alliance between England and France. The entry of these countries into the war could cause an attack on Poland and Finland, which threatened Russia with more serious complications. All this pushed Alexander II to peace negotiations, which took place in Paris, where representatives of seven powers (Russia, France, Austria, England, Prussia, Sardinia and Turkey) gathered. The main terms of the agreement were as follows: navigation on the Black Sea and Danube is open to all merchant ships; the entrance to the Black Sea, the Bosporus and the Dardanelles is closed to warships, with the exception of those light warships that each power maintains at the mouth of the Danube to ensure free navigation on it. Russia and Turkey, by mutual agreement, maintain an equal number of ships in the Black Sea.

According to the Treaty of Paris (1856), Sevastopol was returned to Russia in exchange for Kars, and the lands at the mouth of the Danube were transferred to the Principality of Moldova. Russia was prohibited from having a navy in the Black Sea. Russia also promised not to fortify the Åland Islands. Christians in Turkey are compared in rights with Muslims, and the Danube principalities come under the general protectorate of Europe. The Paris peace, although not beneficial for Russia, was still honorable for her in view of such numerous and strong opponents. However, its disadvantageous side - the limitation of Russia's naval forces on the Black Sea - was eliminated during the life of Alexander II with a statement on October 19, 1870.

Results of the Crimean War and reforms in the army

Russia's defeat in the Crimean War ushered in the era of the Anglo-French redivision of the world. Having knocked the Russian Empire out of world politics and secured their rear in Europe, the Western powers actively used the advantage they had gained to achieve world domination. The path to the successes of England and France in Hong Kong or Senegal lay through the destroyed bastions of Sevastopol. Soon after the Crimean War, England and France attacked China. Having achieved a more impressive victory over him, they turned this country into a semi-colony. By 1914, the countries they captured or controlled accounted for 2/3 of the world's territory. The war clearly demonstrated to the Russian government that economic backwardness leads to political and military vulnerability. Further lag behind Europe threatened with even more serious consequences. Under Alexander II, the reform of the country begins. The military reform of the 60s and 70s occupied an important place in the system of transformations. It is associated with the name of Minister of War Dmitry Alekseevich Milyutin. This was the largest military reform since the time of Peter, which led to dramatic changes in the armed forces. It affected various areas: organization and recruitment of the army, its administration and armament, training of officers, training of troops, etc. In 1862-1864. The local military administration was reorganized. Its essence boiled down to weakening excessive centralism in the management of the armed forces, in which military units were subordinated directly to the center. For decentralization, a military-district control system was introduced.

The country's territory was divided into 15 military districts with their own commanders. Their power extended to all troops and military institutions of the district. Another important area of ​​reform was changing the officer training system. Instead of cadet corps military gymnasiums (with a 7-year training period) and military schools (with a 2-year training period) were created. Military gymnasiums were secondary educational institutions, similar in curriculum to real gymnasiums. Military schools accepted young men with secondary education (as a rule, these were graduates of military gymnasiums). Junker schools were also created. To enter they were required to have a general education of four classes. After the reform, all persons promoted to officers not from schools were required to take exams according to the program of cadet schools.

All this increased the educational level of Russian officers. Mass rearmament of the army begins. There is a transition from smooth-bore shotguns to rifled rifles.

Field artillery is also being re-equipped with rifled guns loaded from the breech. The creation of steel tools begins. Russian scientists A.V. Gadolin, N.V. Maievsky, V.S. Baranovsky achieved great success in artillery. The sailing fleet is being replaced by a steam one. The creation of armored ships begins. The country is actively building railways, including strategic ones. Improvements in technology required major changes in troop training. The tactics of loose formation and rifle chains are gaining an increasing advantage over closed columns. This required increased independence and maneuverability of the infantryman on the battlefield. The importance of preparing a fighter for individual actions in battle is increasing. The role of sapper and trench work is increasing, which involves the ability to dig in and build shelters for protection from enemy fire. To train troops in methods of modern warfare, a number of new regulations, manuals, and teaching aids are being published. The crowning achievement of the military reform was the transition in 1874 to universal conscription. Before this, a recruiting system was in effect. When it was introduced by Peter I, military service covered all segments of the population (excluding officials and the clergy). But from the second half of the 18th century. it limited itself only to the tax-paying classes. Gradually, among them, buying off the army from rich people began to be an official practice. In addition to social injustice, this system also suffered from material costs. Maintaining a huge professional army (its number has increased 5 times since the time of Peter) was expensive and not always effective. In peacetime, it outnumbered the troops of the European powers. But during the war, the Russian army did not have trained reserves. This problem was clearly manifested in the Crimean campaign, when additionally it was possible to recruit mostly illiterate militias. Now young people who had reached the age of 21 were required to report to the recruiting station. The government calculated the required number of recruits and, in accordance with it, determined the number of places that conscripts were drawn by lot. The rest were enlisted in the militia. There were benefits for conscription. Thus, the only sons or breadwinners of the family were exempted from the army. Representatives of the peoples of the North, Central Asia, and some peoples of the Caucasus and Siberia were not drafted. The service life was reduced to 6 years; for another 9 years, those who served remained in the reserve and were subject to conscription in case of war. As a result, the country received a significant number of trained reserves. Military service lost class restrictions and became a national affair.

On October 23, 1853, the Turkish Sultan declared war on Russia. By this time, our Danube Army (55 thousand) was concentrated in the vicinity of Bucharest, with forward detachments on the Danube, and the Ottomans had up to 120 - 130 thousand in European Turkey, under the command of Omer Pasha. These troops were located: 30 thousand at Shumla, 30 thousand in Adrianople, and the rest along the Danube from Viddin to the mouth.

Somewhat earlier than the announcement of the Crimean War, the Turks had already begun military operations by seizing the Oltenice quarantine on the left bank of the Danube on the night of October 20. The arriving Russian detachment of General Dannenberg (6 thousand) attacked the Turks on October 23 and, despite their numerical superiority (14 thousand) almost occupied the Turkish fortifications, but was pulled back by General Dannenberg, who considered it impossible to hold Oltenica under the fire of Turkish batteries on the right bank of the Danube . Then Omer Pasha himself returned the Turks to the right bank of the Danube and disturbed our troops only with isolated surprise attacks, to which the Russian troops responded.

At the same time, the Turkish fleet delivered supplies to the Caucasian highlanders, who were acting against Russia at the instigation of the Sultan and England. To prevent this, Admiral Nakhimov, with a squadron of 8 ships, overtook the Turkish squadron, which had taken refuge from bad weather in Sinop Bay. On November 18, 1853, after a three-hour Battle of Sinop, the enemy fleet, including 11 ships, was destroyed. Five Ottoman ships were blown up, the Turks lost up to 4,000 killed and wounded and 1,200 prisoners; The Russians lost 38 officers and 229 lower ranks.

Meanwhile, Omer Pasha, having abandoned offensive operations from Oltenitsa, gathered up to 40 thousand to Kalafat and decided to defeat the weak advanced Lesser Wallachian detachment of General Anrep (7.5 thousand). On December 25, 1853, 18 thousand Turks attacked the 2.5 thousand detachment of Colonel Baumgarten at Cetati, but arriving reinforcements (1.5 thousand) saved our detachment, which had shot all the cartridges, from final death. Having lost up to 2 thousand people, both of our detachments retreated at night to the village of Motsetsei.

After the battle at Chetati, the Lesser Wallachian detachment, reinforced to 20 thousand, settled in apartments near Kalafat and blocked the Turks’ access to Wallachia; further operations of the Crimean War in the European theater in January and February 1854 were limited to minor clashes.

The Crimean War in the Transcaucasian theater in 1853

Meanwhile, the actions of Russian troops in the Transcaucasian theater were accompanied by complete success. Here the Turks, having assembled a 40,000-strong army long before the declaration of the Crimean War, opened military operations in mid-October. The energetic Prince Bebutov was appointed head of the Russian active corps. Having received information about the movement of the Turks towards Alexandropol (Gyumri), Prince Bebutov sent a detachment of General Orbeliani on November 2, 1853. This detachment unexpectedly came across the main forces of the Turkish army near the village of Bayandura and barely escaped to Alexandropol; The Turks, fearing Russian reinforcements, took a position at Bashkadyklar. Finally, on November 6, a manifesto was received about the beginning of the Crimean War, and on November 14, Prince Bebutov moved to Kars.

Another Turkish detachment (18 thousand) on October 29, 1853 approached the Akhaltsykh fortress, but the head of the Akhaltsykh detachment, Prince Andronnikov, with his 7 thousand. On November 14, he himself attacked the Turks and put them to a disorderly flight; the Turks lost up to 3.5 thousand, while our losses were limited to only 450 people.

Following the victory of the Akhaltsykh detachment, the Alexandropol detachment under the command of Prince Bebutov (10 thousand) defeated a 40 thousand-strong Turkish army on November 19 in a strong Bashkadyklar position, and only the extreme fatigue of people and horses did not allow them to develop the success achieved by pursuit. However, the Turks lost up to 6 thousand in this battle, and our troops - about 2 thousand.

Both of these victories immediately raised the prestige of Russian power, and the general uprising that was being prepared in Transcaucasia immediately died down.

Crimean War 1853-1856. Map

Balkan theater of the Crimean War in 1854

Meanwhile, on December 22, 1853, the united Anglo-French fleet entered the Black Sea in order to protect Turkey from the sea and help it supply its ports with the necessary supplies. Russian envoys immediately broke off relations with England and France and returned to Russia. Emperor Nicholas turned to Austria and Prussia with a proposal, in the event of a war with England and France, to maintain strict neutrality. But both of these powers avoided any obligations, refusing at the same time to join the allies; To secure their possessions, they concluded a defensive alliance among themselves. Thus, at the beginning of 1854, it became clear that Russia was left without allies in the Crimean War, and therefore the most decisive measures were taken to strengthen our troops.

By the beginning of 1854, up to 150 thousand Russian troops were located along the Danube and the Black Sea to the Bug. With these forces it was planned to move deep into Turkey, raise an uprising of the Balkan Slavs and declare Serbia independent, but the hostile mood of Austria, which was strengthening its troops in Transylvania, forced us to abandon this bold plan and limit ourselves to crossing the Danube to capture only Silistria and Ruschuk.

In the first half of March, Russian troops crossed the Danube at Galati, Brailov and Izmail, and on March 16, 1854 they occupied Girsovo. A non-stop advance towards Silistria would inevitably lead to the occupation of this fortress, the armament of which had not yet been completed. However, the newly appointed commander-in-chief, Prince Paskevich, had not yet personally arrived at the army, stopped it, and only the insistence of the emperor himself forced him to continue the offensive towards Silistria. The commander-in-chief himself, fearing that the Austrians would cut off the retreat route of the Russian army, proposed returning to Russia.

The stop of Russian troops at Girsov gave the Turks time to strengthen both the fortress itself and its garrison (from 12 to 18 thousand). Approaching the fortress on May 4, 1854 with 90 thousand, Prince Paskevich, still fearing for his rear, positioned his army 5 versts from the fortress in a fortified camp to cover the bridge across the Danube. The siege of the fortress was carried out only against its eastern front, and on the western side the Turks, in full view of the Russians, brought supplies to the fortress. In general, our actions near Silistria bore the imprint of the extreme caution of the commander-in-chief himself, who was also embarrassed by incorrect rumors about the alleged union of the allies with the army of Omer Pasha. On May 29, 1854, shell-shocked during a reconnaissance mission, Prince Paskevich left the army, handing it over to Prince Gorchakov, who energetically led the siege and on June 8 decided to storm the Arab and Peschanoye forts. All orders for the assault had already been made, and two hours before the assault an order was received from Prince Paskevich to immediately lift the siege and move to the left bank of the Danube, which was carried out by the evening of June 13. Finally, according to the terms concluded with Austria, which pledged to support our interests in front of the Western courts, on July 15, 1854, the withdrawal of our troops from the Danube principalities, which had been occupied by Austrian troops since August 10, began. The Turks returned to the right bank of the Danube.

During these actions, the Allies launched a series of attacks on our coastal cities on the Black Sea and, by the way, on Holy Saturday, April 8, 1854, they brutally bombarded Odessa. Then the allied fleet appeared near Sevastopol and headed towards the Caucasus. On land, the allies supported the Ottomans by landing a detachment at Gallipoli to defend Constantinople. These troops were then transported to Varna in early July and moved to Dobruja. Here cholera caused severe devastation in their ranks (from July 21 to August 8, 8 thousand fell ill and 5 thousand of them died).

The Crimean War in the Transcaucasian theater in 1854

Military operations in the spring of 1854 in the Caucasus began on our right flank, where on June 4, Prince Andronnikov, with the Akhaltsykh detachment (11 thousand), defeated the Turks at Cholok. Somewhat later, on the left flank, the Erivan detachment of General Wrangel (5 thousand) attacked 16 thousand Turks on the Chingil Heights on June 17, overthrew them and occupied Bayazet. The main forces of the Caucasian army, i.e. the Alexandropol detachment of Prince Bebutov, moved towards Kars on June 14 and stopped at the village of Kyuryuk-Dara, having the 60-thousand-strong Anatolian army of Zarif Pasha 15 versts ahead of them.

On July 23, 1854, Zarif Pasha went on the offensive, and on the 24th, Russian troops also moved forward, having received false information about the retreat of the Turks. Faced with the Turks, Bebutov lined up his troops in battle formation. A series of energetic infantry and cavalry attacks stopped the Turkish right wing; then Bebutov, after a very stubborn, often hand-to-hand fight, threw back the enemy center, using up almost all his reserves for this. After this, our attacks turned against the Turkish left flank, which had already bypassed our position. The attack was a complete success: the Turks retreated in complete frustration, losing up to 10 thousand; in addition, about 12 thousand bashi-bazouks fled. Our losses amounted to 3 thousand people. Despite the brilliant victory, Russian troops did not dare to begin the siege of Kars without a siege artillery park and in the fall retreated back to Alexandropol (Gyumri).

Defense of Sevastopol during the Crimean War

Panorama of the Defense of Sevastopol (view from Malakhov Kurgan). Artist F. Roubaud, 1901-1904

The Crimean War in the Transcaucasian theater in 1855

In the Transcaucasian theater of war, actions resumed in the second half of May 1855 with our occupation of Ardahan without a fight and an offensive towards Kars. Knowing about the lack of food in Kars, the new commander-in-chief, General Muravyov, limited himself to just a blockade, but, having received news in September about the movement of Omer Pasha’s army transported from European Turkey to the rescue of Kars, he decided to take the fortress by storm. The assault on September 17, although carried out on the most important, but at the same time the strongest, western front (Shorakh and Chakhmakh heights), cost us 7,200 people and ended in failure. The army of Omer Pasha could not advance to Kars due to lack of transportation means, and on November 16 the garrison of Kars surrendered.

British and French attacks on Sveaborg, Solovetsky Monastery and Petropavlovsk

To complete the description of the Crimean War, it is also worth mentioning some minor actions taken against Russia by the Western allies. On June 14, 1854, an allied squadron of 80 ships, under the command of the English admiral Napier, appeared near Kronstadt, then retreated to the Åland Islands, and in October returned to their harbors. On July 6 of the same year, two English ships bombarded the Solovetsky Monastery on the White Sea, unsuccessfully demanding its surrender, and on August 17, an allied squadron also arrived at the port of Petropavlovsky on Kamchatka and, having fired at the city, made a landing, which was soon repulsed. In May 1855, a strong allied squadron was sent to the Baltic Sea for the second time, which, after standing for some time near Kronstadt, went back in the fall; Its combat activities were limited only to the bombing of Sveaborg.

Results of the Crimean War

After the fall of Sevastopol on August 30, military operations in Crimea stopped, and on March 18, 1856, the Parisian world, which ended the long and difficult war of Russia against 4 European states (Turkey, England, France and Sardinia, which joined the allies at the beginning of 1855).

The consequences of the Crimean War were enormous. After it, Russia lost its dominance in Europe, which it had enjoyed since the end of the Napoleonic War of 1812-1815. It has now passed to France for 15 years. The shortcomings and disorganizations revealed by the Crimean War ushered in the era of reforms of Alexander II in Russian history, which renewed all aspects of national life.

At the end of May 1855 in Mariupol, despite the eve of Trinity, there was no usual pre-holiday excitement. For a week now, the city had been in the grip of rumors that the Anglo-French squadron, having broken through the Kerch dam, which had been built in advance in the strait to prevent the penetration of invaders into the Sea of ​​Azov, was landing troops in the coastal cities of the Azov region. Reports were received that Kerch was captured by the enemy, and Genichesk and Berdyansk were attacked. On May 22, Mariupol residents saw with their own eyes how an enemy squadron passed past the city towards Taganrog. The most meticulous eyewitnesses of this unusual phenomenon were able to count eleven large steamships, and there were so many small ships that they lost count.

The heroic defense of Sevastopol was going on for the ninth month, and the people of Mariupol did not remain indifferent to the defenders of this city. When troops heading to Crimea passed through Mariupol, they were greeted cordially and hospitably. So, for example, the 61st Don Cossack Regiment was greeted not only with banners and a solemn prayer service, but from the city each soldier was given white bread and a portion of meat, “the lower ranks were treated to a portion of wine from the commission agent Alafuso,” during the day’s work the soldiers “being located in philistine apartments, they enjoyed the cordiality of the residents,” and for Colonel Zhirov and his officers the city nobility arranged a gala dinner.

However, Mariupol’s assistance to the defenders of Sevastopol was expressed not only in the cordiality and hospitality with which passing troops were met here. The city and residents of the surrounding Greek villages collected 26 thousand quarters (that is, 4160 tons) of crackers, 300 bulls, and ten thousand rubles for the dam of the Kerch Strait for the benefit of the soldiers. A temporary military hospital was set up in the building of the city parish school, where soldiers and sailors were treated, saved from death by the skill and art of the great surgeon N.I. Pirogov.

Huge reserves of grain and fodder were stored in the ports of the Azov region, so the British and French, wanting to deprive Sevastopol of supply bases, sent a large squadron into the Sea of ​​Azov and launched military operations there.

On the evening of May 23, 1855, the Anglo-French squadron, which had brutally bombarded Taganrog, appeared in the Mariupol roadstead. Most of the residents were evacuated to Sartana and other nearby villages, and two hundred Cossacks of the 68th Don Regiment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Kostryukov prepared with guns and sabers (there was no artillery) to defend themselves against a squadron of 16 pennants.

At seven o'clock in the morning on May 24, a lively boat landed a truce on the shore, who demanded that a landing force be allowed into Mariupol unhindered “to destroy government buildings and other property.” Kostryukov answered with dignity that if enemy troops landed on the shore, the Cossacks were ready to meet them with fire.

Excruciating minutes of waiting dragged on. At 9:30 a.m. the squadron's long-range guns roared, and the first red-hot cannonball hit the Harlampie Cathedral - the tallest building and an excellent landmark for enemy artillerymen. Bombs exploded in various parts of the essentially defenseless city.

While the cannonade thundered, five longboats, packed to capacity with riflemen, armed with cannons, entered the mouth of the Kalmius and began to rise upstream. Kalmius, at that time a deep river, about eight versts from Mariupol to its mouth, formed a wide estuary. In this estuary, near the Cossack farm of Kosorotov, about seventy coastal ships took refuge, which the paratroopers intended to destroy.

Lieutenant Colonel Kostryukov, convinced that he was unable to prevent the bombardment of the city, left an observation post here, and he himself led his two hundred to Kosorotov. Having galloped there, he hurried one hundred, scattered riflemen along the shore and met the paratroopers with friendly rifle fire. Two hundred of the same 68th regiment, which on the outskirts of Mariupol loaded government grain onto carts and sent it to Sartana, under the command of military foreman Titov, hurried to the aid of Kostryukov. Seeing all this, the longboats first stopped, then turned back and went to sea along with the other five longboats that the squadron sent to help them.

But while Kostryukov and Titov and their Cossacks were repelling the landing at Kosorotov, the interventionists, under the cover of artillery fire, landed several people in Mariupol. They doused the buildings on the Exchange with some special composition and set fire to the timber located on the shore, several private stores with bread and salt, and fish warehouses. All this property belonged to the Membeli brothers and the merchant Despot.

The interventionists also ruled in the city itself. On Ekaterininskaya they burned the houses of Kharajaev, Kachevansky, Paleolog and others. The French officer burned on the orders of the English commander.

In between, the British and French caught geese in the courtyard and slaughtered them on the porch of the Kharlampyevsky Cathedral. There are two cannonballs stuck in the wall of this church. Mariupol residents kept them in memory of the enemy bombing, which lasted three and a half hours.

In the evening the squadron weighed anchor and went to sea.

After the May bombing of the Azov cities, “the enemy did not undertake anything particularly important either against Taganrog or against Mariupol.” The British and French limited themselves to cruising near these cities, that is, they essentially established a naval blockade, measured the depth of the sea, and sometimes fired cannons, without, however, causing significant harm to the residents. One such episode occurred in the fall of 1855.

On September 12, two English steamships approached the Belosarayskaya Spit with the goal of destroying fish factories there. The Cossacks met the four landing longboats with fire and successfully repulsed the British attempts to land on the shore. The unequal battle lasted for six hours, but when two more English ships approached from Berdyansk, the Cossacks were forced to retreat, and the factories were burned.

Two days later, the same two ships approached Mariupol and fired at the Exchange with volleys for an hour and a half. In addition to the mentioned three hundred of the 68th Don Regiment, the Shatsk squad of the Tambov militia under the command of Major General Masalov was located here at that time. Cossacks and warriors took up defensive positions, ready to repel the British if they tried to land.

By evening, one of the two steamships began to go out to sea, but ran aground a mile from the shore. The second steamer, in full view of the city, spun for a long time until, with its help, the first one managed to refloat, but Major General Masalov, an old lawyer, experienced truly cruel torment: even if only one or two fluffy cannons were left behind, the British would not have escaped! But there was no artillery in the city.

What was Mariupol like in 1855? It had only 4,600 inhabitants. There were 768 houses, 5 churches. The only educational institutions in the city were the theological school and the city parish school. There was no hospital yet, but a pharmacy had already opened. 46 shops and 14 cellars traded. There were two brick factories, four tile factories, one lime factory and a pasta factory. There were four watermills and one hotel. There was a commercial club.

2. At the Crooked Spit

Between the two mentioned events, the May and September shelling of the city, another one occurred, which somewhat quenched the unsatisfied feeling of Mariupol residents who felt the need for retribution.

Not only in the Azov Sea, but also in the Black Sea there was no Russian fleet at that time, and the Anglo-French ships felt like masters here. Their impunity was aggravated by the fact that not only in Mariupol, but along the entire Azov coast there was no artillery capable of repelling the invaders. That’s why Mariupol residents so animatedly discussed what happened not far from the city - near Krivaya Spit.

At the beginning of July 1855, the commander of the Anglo-French squadron cruising along the Azov coast sent a gunboat to Taganrog to bombard the city. All day long, carefully choosing a target, the gunboat, invulnerable to the Taganrog residents, fired shell after shell through the city blocks with impunity. In the evening, she moved to Krivaya Spit, but here, about ninety meters from the coast, she unexpectedly ran aground.

S. N. Sergeev-Tsensky paid a lot of attention to military operations on the Sea of ​​​​Azov, including in Mariupol, in his epic “Sevastopol Strada”. This is what he says about the episode at the Crooked Spit:

“The hundred of the seventieth Don Cossack Regiment came into understandable jubilation when they saw such an embarrassment of foreign sailors who had just destroyed their city. The Cossacks, who had been staying away until then, now galloped up to the very shore, hid their horses behind the hillocks, got within range of a rifle shot and opened lively fire on the sailors.”

The gunboat tried to respond with grapeshot from copper cannons, but a strong east wind tilted the ship: shooting became impossible. The British fled on boats, even abandoning their flags, after which the Cossacks rushed.

“Meanwhile, a ship was approaching to rescue the crew. As he walked, he sent cannonball after cannonball at the swimmers. The Cossacks dived, but swam, cackling like geese, and from the shore they shouted encouragement to them and shot at the sailing boats.”

The steamer could not come close: the sea near Krivaya Spit is very shallow, and the Cossacks, having sailed, began to manage the gunboat, a three-masted vessel forty meters long. They took down the large and small flags, and when the Cossack longboats approached, they took down two copper cannons and a lot of stuff. Then they poured oil on the deck and set it on fire.

In the morning, the Cossacks regretted that they had not removed the large gun from the gunboat and pulled out the steam engine. They again approached the steamer in longboats, but they could no longer do anything: the wave covered the inside of the half-burnt gunboat with sand, and the weight of the ship sank even deeper.

This is how, briefly speaking, S. N. Sergeev-Tsensky describes this episode. Now let’s compare the pages of the famous epic with archival historical documents.

First of all, we note that the ship that ran aground at Crooked Spit was called the Jasper. Its appearance near the Krivokossky village (now Sedovo) was not accidental: several of our steamships were sunk here “on the occasion of the enemy’s appearance in the Sea of ​​Azov”: The interventionists wanted to prevent the Cossacks from removing guns, vehicles and valuable equipment from them and intended to take possession of it themselves. But on July 12, the Jasper itself ran aground and, under gunfire from the Cossacks, its crew was forced to abandon the ship, and did so in such a hurry that not only did it leave the flags, but it also did not have time to rivet the cannons and abandoned very valuable signal books on board.

The British could not forgive the Cossacks for the defeat of Jasper. From July 14 to 18, Krivaya Spit was fiercely shelled, first by two ships, then by nine. They tried unsuccessfully to save the half-burnt and sunken gunboat, and in revenge they landed on the shore and burned the Krivokossky farm, which the Cossacks could not prevent, since they had no artillery.

As for the two cannons from the Jasper, which, as S. N. Sergeev-Tsensky writes, were sent to Novocherkassk, the capital of the Don Army region, they were 24-pound caronades, and a large cannon that could not be removed from the ship succeeded, was 92 pounds.

In 1907, residents of the Krivaya Kosa farm, Erast Ivanovich Dudar and Vasily Ivanovich Pomazan, found in the sea, about a hundred yards from the shore, three cannons, one of them weighing eight pounds and one and a half arshins long, many large and small cannonballs and several dozen steamer grates. “According to the stories of old-timers,” the district chief of the Taganrog district reports to the Don Ataman, “at the place where the things were found, it is as if an English steamer was lost during the Sevastopol War.”

More than six decades passed, but the people remembered the events that unfolded in these places during the days of the heroic defense of Sevastopol.

On the Jasper, as we remember, the Cossacks left only one cannon, which they could not remove. The fact that Dudar and Pomazan found three cannons and many steamer grates confirms that Russian steamships, whose weapons and valuables the Anglo-French squadron was so interested in, were indeed sunk in this place.

It is curious that of the three cannons found by the Krivokos, two were delivered to the Don Museum in Novocherkassk, and one remained with the village government in Novonikolaevsk (now the city of Novoazovsk, Donetsk region). Unfortunately, I know nothing about the further fate of these trophies.

3. Founders of Volunteer

One of the villages that are part of the Ilyichevsky district of Mariupol is called Volonterovka. This name - it’s not hard to guess - arose because the residents of the village or its founders turned out to be volunteers in some campaign, that is, volunteers. It was indeed founded by volunteers of the Greek Legion, participants in the defense of Sevastopol in the war of 1853 - 1856.

This battalion (they call it that) acted as part of the Russian army from the very beginning of the war, when the fighting took place in the Danube principalities. It was formed mainly from subjects of the Greek kingdom, but it also included Slavs from various Balkan countries. These people had special scores to settle with the Turkish invaders. The peoples to which they belonged had been under the yoke of the Ottoman Empire for many centuries, and the volunteers were eager to fight, fought with cool blood and courage under fire, and quickly won the respect of Russian soldiers.

After the fall of Sevastopol, volunteers were given an annual salary and offered a choice: those who wish can return to their homeland, and those who want to stay in Russia can settle anywhere in the country. 200 legionnaires, mostly people without families, expressed a desire to settle near their fellow tribesmen and fellow believers - near Mariupol. They were allocated a metropolitan plot of land, that is, the place six miles from Mariupol, where Metropolitan Ignatius initially settled upon his arrival in the Azov region. “The first establishment,” writes I. A. Aleksandrovich in the book “A Brief Overview of the Mariupol District” (1884), “the volunteers received entirely from the government, and the houses for them were built with the help of their compatriots,” that is, the Mariupol Greeks.

The village was called Novo-Nikolaevsky, since officially the Greek Legion bore the name of Nicholas I, but the people stubbornly called it Volonterovka, and this name has been preserved to this day.

Since over time the village became part of the city, we can say that the Mariupol residents participated in the defense of Sevastopol not only by supplying its defenders with food and fodder and offering all possible resistance to enemy landings, but also directly on the bastions of the besieged city.

The feat of the founders of Volunteer is reflected not only in scientific literature, but also in fiction. In particular, S. N. Sergeev-Tsensky dedicated several pages of his novel “Sevastopol Strada” to them.

We meet them in the novel under the following circumstances. During a raid by a detachment of Russian troops on Yevpatoria, General Khrulev was forced to postpone the assault on the city, as he was waiting for the promised reinforcements - the 8th division. But unexpectedly Greek volunteers came, five companies, about six hundred people in total, and declared that the 8th Division would not be able to arrive on time due to the impassable mud.

The volunteers were supposed to go to Sevastopol, but turned to Evpatoria without permission, having heard on the way that the main commander was now Khrulev, whom they had come to know and love on the Danube, and that the Turks were standing against him under the command of Omer Pasha, and the Turks, writes S. N. Sergeev-Tsensky, they knew even better than Khrulev. “It was with the Turks that they now wanted, as always before, to fight; they were full of fiery hatred towards them.”

The writer paints with rich colors the appearance of the Greek volunteers: “They wore brown and blue, lavishly embroidered short jackets, more similar in shape to vests, under which, behind wide sashes made of shawls, their entire huge arsenal was located: pistols, scimitars, daggers, several pieces of each type of weapon; in addition, everyone had a curved Turkish saber attached to the same sash, and a carbine flaunted behind them... On their heads were round low cloth caps with tassels; Everyone’s faces were dark, weather-beaten, hard, and dashing mustaches stuck out from under the warlike appearance of their sharp, aquiline noses...”

According to Khrulev’s disposition, the first to attack were the Greek volunteers. The writer speaks with admiration about their courage and military training. I am forced to give, perhaps, a too long quotation from the Sevastopol Battle,” but who better than its author will tell you how the future founders of the village near Mariupol, Volonterovka, fought in that war:

“Ahead of each company rode a captain on horseback. These five captains seemed to compete with each other in their youth, they rode their horses so dashingly and waved their curved, Turkish-made sabers.

Well done, Greeks! - he (Khrulev) shouted in their direction, as if they could hear him. - Look now what their tactics are! - he turned first to Volkov, then to Tsitovich.

Meanwhile, surprising their battalion commander Panaev, the Greeks quickly scattered, opening their ranks and walked forward, completely breaking away from the elbows of their comrades, with wide and free strides! They removed their carbines from behind their backs only when they approached the rampart for a rifle shot, when gunshot from the fortifications began to reach them and round Turkish bullets began to fly into their ranks.

Then parts of their companies suddenly fell to the ground, as if they had been shot, and from here, covering themselves with some protrusions, stones, hummocks, they opened fire themselves, while other parts of the companies ran forward to also fall all at once and open fire when In turn, the first ones began to run across.

This was the same loose formation that was introduced into the Russian army only after the Crimean War.”

The volunteers who fought well did not have the habit of agricultural work and their new residence near Mariupol with great difficulty. They also faced a delicate problem: almost all of them were bachelors, and in Mariupol the number of male souls still outnumbered the number of female souls, so there were not enough brides for the indigenous residents. How the new settlers got out of this situation - such details have not reached us, but soon in Volonterovka (18 years later, in 1874) a public zemstvo school was opened and girls and boys, sons and daughters of the brave defenders of Sevastopol, who took root in Mariupol land.

Then the population of the village became multinational, it took an active part in the revolution and civil war, and after October it was no coincidence that it began to be called the Red Volunteer.

Lev Yarutsky,

"Mariupol Antiquity".