RUSSIA (HISTORY OF). 



45 



his successor, when the settling of the new boun- 

 daries caused disputes, which were not settled at 

 the time of Alexander's death. Nicholas sent 

 prince Menschikoff to the court of Teheran, to pro- 

 pose an exchange of the province in question ; but 

 the warlike Abbas-Mirza thought the moment pro- 

 pitious for attacking Russia, and marched, August, 

 1826, over the frontier, called the Mussulman sub- 

 jects of Russia to arms, and advanced as far as 

 Elizabethpol ; but, September 14, the Persian army 

 was defeated, and September 25, general Paske- 

 witsch overcame the Persian crown-prince at Eliza- 

 bethpol, and freed the Russian territory. Septem- 

 ber 28, Russia declared war against Persia. Paske- 

 witsch, being appointed commander-in-chief, passed 

 the Araxes, took, April 27, the celebrated Armen- 

 ian monastery, Etschmiasin, October 3, the fortress 

 Surdor Adud, and October 19, the fortress of Eri- 

 van, the bulwark of Persia against Russia. The 

 Russians now entered ancient Media without op- 

 position, and forced the Shah to sue for peace. No- 

 vember 5, 1827, the preliminaries were signed, ac- 

 cording to which Persia ceded the khanships of 

 Erivan, on both sides of the Araxes, and the khan- 

 slap of Nakitschevan, paid the expenses of the war, 

 and the losses caused by the invasion. In the 

 article Ottoman Empire we have touched upon the 

 relations between the Porte and Russia, during the 

 years 1826 and 1827. (For the part of Russia, in 

 the mediation between Turkey and the Greek in- 

 surgents, and in the battle at Navarino, see the end 

 of our article Greece, Revolution of Modern.') 



The patience of Russia was now exhausted by the 

 conduct of the Porte. February 27, 1828, the Rus- 

 sian minister Nesselrode declared to France and Great 

 Britain, that his sovereign must have satisfaction 

 for the violation of the treaty of Ackermann, and 

 for the hatti sheriff of December 20, 1827, which 

 the Porte had addressed to all the pachas, and 

 which contained many offensive charges against 

 Russia. March 14, the emperor Nicholas issued 

 a declaration of war against the Porte. The 

 Russian forces passed the Pruth, May 7, to 

 the number of 115,000 men, including persons of 

 all descriptions, attached to the camp. Count 

 Diebitsch, to whom the plan of the campaign was 

 ascribed, was chief of the emperor's staff, which, 

 on May 19, arrived before Brailow. Count Witt- 

 genstein was commander-in-chief. Jassy was occu- 

 pied May 7, Bucharest May 12, and Brailow in- 

 vested' on the llth. June 11, the third division 

 of the Russian army, in which was the emperor's 

 head-quarters, crossed the Danube. June 15, an 

 attempt was made to carry Brailow by storm, but 

 without success; it capitulated, however, on the 

 19th. The Russians had now the lower Danube 

 in their power, which secured the connexion of the 

 army with Russia. The divisions advanced singly. 

 After the battles of the 7th and 20th of July, the 

 Turks retired into the fortified mountain position 

 of Choumla, which was the centre of their opera- 

 tions. The Turkish army, under Hussein Pacha, 

 here consisted of more than 40,000 men. Varna, 

 fortified by nature and art, and defended by the 

 favourite of the sultan, the capudan pacha, and the 

 warlike Jussuf Pacha of Seres, formed the right 

 wing of the Turkish position. Around these gates 

 of Constantinople^* they are called), Varna and 

 Choumla, the hottest conflict ensued. The princi- 

 pal army, 45,000 men strong, under field-marshal 

 Wittgenstein, with whom the emperor had his 

 head-quarters, approached Choumla, whilst luu- 



tenant-gcneral -Roth besieged Silistria, and lieu- 

 tenant-general count Suchtelen watched Varna. 

 The grand vizier would not give battle at Choumla, 

 but confined himself to the defence of the place. 

 The Russians took possession at last of the key of 

 the Balkan, Prawodi, from which a strong division 

 of the army might have pressed forward to Aidos ; 

 but they did not dare to leave Choumla and Varna 

 in their rear, and some battalions, who had pro- 

 ceeded too far, suffered loss near Eski Stambol, 

 and an intrenchment was taken by the Turks. In 

 proportion to the difficulty of carrying on the siege, 

 in a vast and almost uninhabitable country like 

 Bulgaria, under the fatal influence of the climate, 

 were the efforts of the Russians to get possession 

 at least of Varna. After this place had been in- 

 vested on the land side by prince Menschikoff, and 

 on the sea side by the fleet from the Black sea, re- 

 turning from Anapa, under admiral Greig breaches 

 were made. Omer Vriones advanced to its rtlief, 

 but was driven back by prince Eugene of Wiirtem- 

 berg; a body of troops forced their way into the 

 bastion, October 7, and entered the city, which 

 they soon left again. Terrified by this, the enemy 

 gave up all further resistance, and Jussuf Pacha 

 came himself to the Russian camp to negotiate. 

 The capudan pacha retired into the citadel. The 

 Russians took possession of all the bastions of the 

 fortress, October 11, after two months' siege, with- 

 out any conditions on the part of the inhabitants. 

 The capudan pacha had liberty to retire with 300 

 men. Jussuf Pacha of Seres went over to the 

 Russians with several Turkish troops, and repaired 

 to Odessa. After this conquest, the Russians drew 

 back from Choumla, October 15. The siege of 

 Silistria did not take place till the last of Septem- 

 ber. Winter cume on unusually early, and diseases 

 became prevalent ; a scarcity of food and provender 

 existed, so that the siege was raised on November 

 10th. The campaign in Asia was successful ; prince 

 Menschikoff, on the 22d of June, had taken the 

 fortress of Anapa, on the Black sea, which was 

 dangerous for the provinces of Russia beyond the 

 Caucasus, in consequence of which the predatory 

 population of the neighbouring mountains submitted 

 to the Russians. The Russian army under count 

 Paskewitsch forced their way from Caucasus and 

 Ararat into Asiatic Turkey, and took by storm, 

 July 5, the strong fortress of Kars, the central 

 point of Turkish Armenia, together with the ene- 

 mies' camp. Whilst the Russian fleet on the Black 

 sea destroyed a Turkish flotilla, August 8, and the 

 batteries of Iniada, on the coast, near Constanti- 

 nople, and supported the attack on Varna, Paske- 

 witsch took the fortresses of Achalkalaki, Gert- 

 wiss, and, July 26, Poti, which being situated at 

 the mouth of the Phasis, secured the possession of 

 Mingrelia and Imiretia. The Turks, indeed, wished 

 to press forward from Arsrum, (Erzerum), and for 

 this purpose placed an army of 30,000 men neai 

 Akhalzich. But Paskewitsch crossed an almost 

 impassable mountain, and beat the enemy at Kura, 

 and, on the 21st, the principal body of his forces, 

 after which he took Akhalzich by storm (on the 

 25th). The citadel capitulated. Several strong 

 fortresses fell into the Russian power up to the 21st 

 of September, so that the whole pachalic of Ba- 

 jasid, as far as the banks of the Euphrates, was 

 conquered. The campaign in Europe corresponded 

 less to the general expectation. The numbers of 

 the army were not so complete as had been calcu- 

 lated, and the supplies were deficient. The loss 



