The entry into the Russian-Turkish war of France, Sardinia and England on the side of Turkey after the famous Battle of Sinop determined the transfer of armed clashes to land, to Crimea. With the beginning of the campaign in Crimea, the war of 1853-1856. acquired a defensive character for Russia. The Allies deployed almost 90 warships (mostly steam-powered) in the Black Sea against Russia, while the Black Sea squadron consisted of about 20 sailing and 6 steam-powered ships. There was no point in a naval confrontation - the superiority of the coalition forces was obvious.
In September 1854, allied troops landed near Yevpatoria. On September 8, 1854, the Russian army under the command of A.S. Menshikova was defeated at the Alma River. It seemed that the path to Sevastopol was open. In connection with the increased threat of the capture of Sevastopol, the Russian command decided to scuttle part of the Black Sea fleet at the entrance to the city’s large bay in order to prevent enemy ships from entering there. The guns were first removed to strengthen the coastal artillery. The city itself did not give up. On September 13, 1854, the defense of Sevastopol began, lasting 349 days - until August 28 (September 8), 1855.
Admirals V.A. played a huge role in the defense of the city. Kornilov, V.I. Istomin, P.S. Nakhimov. Vice Admiral Vladimir Alekseevich Kornilov became the commander of the defense of Sevastopol. Under his command there were about 18,000 people (later the number would be increased to 85,000), mainly from naval commands. Kornilov was well aware of the size of the Anglo-French-Turkish landing force, numbering 62,000 people (later the number would reach 148,000) with 134 field and 73 siege guns. By September 24, the French occupied the Fedyukhin Heights, and the British entered Balaklava.
In Sevastopol, under the supervision of engineer E.I. Totleben, engineering work was carried out - forts were erected, redoubts were strengthened, and trenches were created. The southern part of the city was more fortified. The Allies did not dare to storm the city and began engineering work, but successful forays from Sevastopol did not allow the construction of the siege fortifications to be completed quickly.
Sevastopol was subjected to the first major bombardment on October 5, 1854, after which its assault was planned. However, the well-aimed response from Russian batteries thwarted these plans. But on this day Kornilov died.
The main forces of the Russian army under the command of Menshikov undertook a series of unsuccessful attack operations. The first was carried out on October 13 on the approaches to Balaklava. This attack did not have any strategic gain, but during the battle almost an entire brigade of British light cavalry was killed. On October 24, another battle took place in the area of the Inkerman Heights, which was lost due to the indecisiveness of the Russian generals.
On October 17, 1854, the Allies began shelling Sevastopol from land and sea. The bastions also responded with fire. Only the British were able to achieve success, acting against the third bastion of Sevastopol. Russian losses amounted to 1,250 people. In general, the defenders continued the tactics of night raids and surprise raids. The famous Pyotr Koshka and Ignatius Shevchenko, with their courage and heroism, have repeatedly proven how high the price the enemy will have to pay for invading Russian spaces.
Sailor of the 1st article of the 30th naval Black Sea crew Pyotr Markovich Koshka (1828-1882) became one of the main heroes of the city’s defense. At the beginning of the Sevastopol defense, P. Koshka was assigned to one of the batteries of the Ship side. He was distinguished by extraordinary courage and resourcefulness. By the beginning of 1855, he made 18 forays into enemy positions, most often acting alone. A verbal portrait of him has been preserved: “Average height, lean, but strong with an expressive high-cheekbone face... A little pockmarked, light brown hair, gray eyes, did not know how to read and write.” In January 1855, he already proudly wore “George” in his buttonhole. After leaving the southern part of the city, he was “dismissed due to injury on a long vacation.” They remembered Koshka in August 1863 and called him to serve in the Baltic, in the 8th naval crew. There, at the request of another hero of Sevastopol, General S.A. Khrulev he received another “George” of the second degree. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the defense of Sevastopol, monuments to him were unveiled in Koshka’s homeland and in Sevastopol itself, and one of the city streets was named after him.
The heroism of the defenders of Sevastopol was massive. Sevastopol women, under enemy fire, bandaged the wounded, brought food and water, and repaired clothes. The chronicle of this defense includes the names of Dasha Sevastopol, Praskovya Grafova and many others. Dasha Sevastopolskaya was the first sister of mercy and became a legend. For a long time, her real name was not known, and only recently it became clear that Dasha was an orphan - the daughter of the sailor Lavrenty Mikhailov who died in the Battle of Sinop. In November 1854, “for exemplary diligence in caring for the sick and wounded,” she received a Gold Medal with the inscription “For Diligence” on the Vladimir Ribbon and 500 silver rubles. It was also announced that when she got married, she would be “given another 1,000 rubles in silver for the establishment.” In July 1855, Daria married sailor Maxim Vasilyevich Khvorostov, with whom they fought side by side until the end of the Crimean War. Her further fate is unknown and is still awaiting research.
Surgeon N.I. provided invaluable assistance to the defenders. Pirogov, who saved the lives of thousands of wounded. The great Russian writer L.N. also took part in the defense of Sevastopol. Tolstoy, who described these events in the series “Sevastopol Stories”.
Despite the heroism and courage of the city’s defenders, the hardships and hunger of the Anglo-French army (the winter of 1854-1855 was very harsh, and the November storm scattered the allied fleet in the Balaklava roadstead, destroying several ships with supplies of weapons, winter uniforms and food) It was impossible to change the general situation - it was impossible to unblock the city or effectively help it.
On March 19, 1855, during the next bombing of the city, Istomin died, and on June 28, 1855, while detouring the advanced fortifications on the Malakhov kugran, Nakhimov was mortally wounded. The circumstances of his death are truly tragic. The officers begged him to leave the mound, which was under heavy fire. “Not every bullet is in the forehead,” the admiral answered them, and these were his last words: the next second a stray bullet hit him in the forehead. An outstanding Russian naval commander, Admiral Pavel Stepanovich Nakhimov (1802-1855) actively participated in the defense of Sevastopol, commanding the defense of the strategically important southern side of the city. Shortly before his death, he was awarded the rank of admiral. Nakhimov was buried in the Vladimir Cathedral in Sevastopol. Ships of the Russian fleet and naval schools in Sevastopol and St. Petersburg bear his name. In 1944, in memory of the admiral, an order named after him in two degrees and a medal were established.
Attempts by the Russian ground army to distract the enemy ended in failure in battles, in particular on February 5, 1855 at Yevpatoria. The immediate result of this failure was the dismissal of Menshikov from the post of commander in chief and the appointment of M.D. Gorchakova. Note that this was the last order of the emperor, who died on February 19, 1855. Overcoming a severe flu, the sovereign “remained in service” to the end, visiting marching battalions in the bitter cold that were leaving for the theater of war. “If I were a simple soldier, would you pay attention to this ill health?” he remarked to the protest of his life doctors. “In all of Your Majesty’s army, there is not a doctor who would allow a soldier in such a situation to be discharged from the hospital,” replied Dr. Carrel. “You have fulfilled your duty,” the emperor replied, “let me fulfill my duty.”
On August 27, the last shelling of the city began. In less than a day, the defenders lost from 2.5 to 3 thousand killed. After a two-day massive bombardment, on August 28 (September 8), 1855, the French troops of General MacMahon, with the support of English and Sardinian units, began a decisive assault on the Malakhov Kurgan, which ended with the capture of the heights dominating the city. The fate of the Malakhov Kurgan was decided by the persistence of MacMahon, who, in response to the order of Commander-in-Chief Pelissier to retreat, replied: “I’m staying here.” Of the eighteen French generals who went on the assault, 5 were killed and 11 were wounded.
Realizing the gravity of the current situation, General Gorchakov gave the order to retreat from the city. And on the night of August 27-28, the last defenders of the city, having blown up the powder magazines and sank the ships there in the bay, left the city. The Allies thought that Sevastopol was mined and did not dare to enter it until August 30. During the 11-month siege, the Allies lost about 70,000 people. Russian losses - 83,500 people.
Important memories of the defense of Sevastopol were left by Theophyllus Klemm, whose ancestors in the 18th century. came to Russia from Germany. His story is strikingly different from the memoirs written by representatives of the aristocratic strata of Russia, since a significant part of his memories are devoted to the everyday life of a soldier and the difficulties of camp life.
“A lot has been written and spoken about this Sevastopol life, but my words will not be superfluous, as a living participant in this glorious combat life for the Russian soldier in this bloody feast, not in the position of a white-handed woman, like those writers and talkers who know everything from hearsay, but a real laborer-soldier, who was in the ranks and did, along with the other guys, everything that was humanly possible.
You used to sit in a trench and look into a small embrasure, what was happening in front of your nose, you couldn’t stick your head out, now they would remove it, without such cover, it was impossible to shoot. Our soldiers had fun, they hung their hats on the ramrod and pulled them out from behind the trench rim, and the French riflemen shot it into the sieve. It used to happen that every now and then there would be a click somewhere, a soldier would fall down, hit in the forehead, his neighbor would turn his head, cross himself, spit, and continue his business - firing somewhere, as if nothing had happened. The corpse will be placed somewhere to the side so that it does not interfere with walking along the trench, and so, dear, it lies until the shift - at night the comrades will drag it into the redoubt, and from the redoubt into the brotherly pit, and when the pit is filled with the required number of bodies, they will fall asleep first, if there is, with lime, but if not, with earth - and the matter is settled.
After such a school you will become a real soldier in blood and bones, and I bow deeply to every such combat soldier. And what a charm he is in wartime, you can find whatever you want in him, when you need it, he is good-natured, warm-hearted, when you need it, he is a lion. With my own feeling for his endurance and good qualities as a soldier, I love him with my soul and heart. Without pretensions, without special demands, patient, indifferent to death, efficient, despite obstacles and danger. I believe that only the Russian soldier is capable of anything, I speak from what I have seen and past.”
Despite the fact that English rifled guns hit almost three times further than Russian smooth-bore guns, the defenders of Sevastopol repeatedly proved that technical equipment is far from the most important thing in comparison with combat courage and bravery. But in general, the Crimean War and the defense of Sevastopol demonstrated the technical backwardness of the army of the Russian Empire and the need for change.
Crimean War 1853-1856 also called the Eastern War because of the so-called “Eastern Question”, which officially served as a pretext for the outbreak of hostilities. What is the “Eastern Question”, as it was understood in Europe in the middleXIXcentury? This is a set of claims to Turkish possessions, stretching back to the Middle Ages, from the time of the Crusades, to lands associated with the ancient shrines of Christianity. Initially, they meant only Palestine and Syria. After the capture of Constantinople and the Balkans by the Turks, the “Eastern Question” began to be called the plans of European powers to assert their dominion over all the lands of the former Byzantium under the pretext of “liberation of Christians.”
In the middleXIXcentury Russian Emperor NicholasIdeliberately strained relations with Turkey. The pretext for this was the transfer by the Turkish government of jurisdiction over some Christian churches in Jerusalem to the Catholic mission, which was under the patronage of France. For Nicholas, this was a violation of a long-standing tradition, according to which Turkey recognized the Russian autocrat as the patron of all Christians on its territory, and the Orthodox confession enjoyed advantage there over other Christian denominations.
Nicholas's politicsIin relation to Turkey has changed several times. In 1827, the Russian squadron, together with the Anglo-French one, defeated the Turkish fleet in Navarino Bay under the pretext of protecting the rebel Greeks. This event served as a reason for Turkey to declare war on Russia (1828-1829), which once again turned out to be successful for Russian weapons. As a result, Greece gained independence and Serbia gained autonomy. But NikolaiIfeared the collapse of Turkey and in 1833 threatened war with the Egyptian Pasha Muhammad Ali if he did not stop the movement of his army to Istanbul. Thanks to this NikolaiImanaged to conclude a profitable agreement with Turkey (in Uskär-Inkelessi) on the free navigation of Russian ships, including military ones, through the Bosporus and Dardanelles.
However, by the 1850s, Nicholas had matured a plan to divide Turkey with other powers. First of all, he tried to interest the Austrian Empire in this, which in 1849 was saved from collapse by the Russian army, which suppressed the revolution in Hungary, but came across a blank wall. Then NikolaiIturned to England. At a meeting with the British Ambassador to St. Petersburg, Hamilton Seymour, in January 1853, the Tsar expressed a plan for the division of the Ottoman Empire. Moldova, Wallachia and Serbia came under Russian protectorate. Bulgaria stood out from the Balkan possessions of Turkey, which was also supposed to form a state under the protectorate of Russia. England received Egypt and the island of Crete. Constantinople turned to a neutral zone.
NikolayIwas confident that his proposal would meet with the approval and participation of England, but he cruelly miscalculated. His assessment of the international situation on the eve of the Crimean War turned out to be erroneous, and this was the fault of Russian diplomacy, which for decades had been sending reassuring reports to the Tsar about the constant respect that Russia enjoys in the West. Russian ambassadors in London (Baron F.I. Brunnov), Paris (Count N.D. Kiselyov), Vienna (Baron P.K. Meyendorff) and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count K.V., who coordinated them from St. Petersburg. Nesselrode managed not to notice the rapprochement between England and France and the growing hostility of Austria towards Russia.
NikolayIhoped for rivalry between England and France. At that time, the tsar considered France his main opponent in the East, who incited Turkey to counteract. French ruler Louis Bonaparte, who in 1852 proclaimed himself emperor under the name of NapoleonIII, dreamed of settling scores with Russia, and not only because of his famous uncle, but also because he considered himself deeply offended by the Russian Tsar, who did not recognize his imperial title for a long time. England's interests in the Middle East brought it closer to France, as opposed to Russia's intentions.
Nevertheless, being confident in the benevolence or cowardice of the Western powers, NicholasIin the spring of 1853 he sent Prince A.S. as Ambassador Extraordinary to Constantinople. Menshikov with the task of negotiating “holy places” and the privileges of the Orthodox Church in Turkey from a position of strength. Menshikov carried out the severance of relations with Turkey desired by the tsar, and in June of the same year NikolaiIbegan to send Russian troops into Moldova and Wallachia, which were under the protectorate of Turkey.
For their part, France and England, being confident in their strength, also looked for a reason for war. Both powers were not at all happy about the strengthening of Russia’s position in the East, and they had no intention of ceding influence to it in Turkey, which was falling apart at the seams. British diplomacy very skillfully showed the appearance that it did not want to aggravate relations with Russia. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the British ambassador in Constantinople, Stretford-Ratcliffe, vigorously incited the Porte to be intransigent to Menshikov in the negotiations (which, however, was easy). When England finally dropped the mask, NikolaiII understood everything, but it was already too late.
The Tsar decided to occupy the Danube principalities to ensure his demands on Turkey, but, as in 1827, he did not yet declare war, leaving it to the Turks to do this (which happened in October 1853). However, unlike the times of the Battle of Navarino, the situation was now completely different. Russia found itself in international isolation. England and France immediately demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from the Danube principalities. The Viennese court was increasingly inclined to accept an ultimatum from Russia regarding the same. Only Prussia remained neutral.
NikolayIbelatedly decided to intensify military action against Turkey. Having abandoned the landing operation near Constantinople at the very beginning, he gave the order to the troops to cross the Danube and transfer the war to the Ottoman Empire itself (to the territory of present-day Bulgaria). At the same time, the Russian Black Sea Fleet destroyed the Turkish fleet in the Sinop roadstead and burned the city. In response to this, England and France sent their fleets into the Black Sea. On March 27, 1854, they declared war on Russia.
The main reason for the Crimean War was the desire of the great European powers to assert themselves at the expense of the decrepit Ottoman Empire and prevent their rivals from doing so. In this regard, Russia, England and France were motivated by similar motives. England and France managed to agree on common interests, but Russia failed to attract any ally. The unsuccessful foreign policy combination for Russia, in which the war began and proceeded for it, was due to an inadequate assessment by its ruling circles of the international situation, as well as the forces and influence of Russia.
100 great wars Sokolov Boris Vadimovich
CRIMEAN WAR (1853–1856)
CRIMEAN WAR
(1853–1856)
The war started by Russia against Turkey for dominance in the Black Sea straits and on the Balkan Peninsula and turned into a war against the coalition of England, France, the Ottoman Empire and Piedmont.
The reason for the war was a dispute over the keys to holy places in Palestine between Catholics and Orthodox Christians. The Sultan handed over the keys to the Bethlehem Temple from the Orthodox Greeks to the Catholics, whose interests were protected by the French Emperor Napoleon III. Russian Emperor Nicholas I demanded that Turkey recognize him as the patron of all Orthodox subjects of the Ottoman Empire. On June 26, 1853, he announced the entry of Russian troops into the Danube principalities, declaring that he would withdraw them from there only after the Turks satisfied Russian demands.
On July 14, Turkey addressed a note of protest against Russia's actions to other great powers and received assurances of support from them. On October 16, Turkey declared war on Russia, and on November 9, an imperial manifesto followed that Russia declared war on Turkey.
In the autumn there were minor skirmishes on the Danube with varying success. In the Caucasus, the Turkish army of Abdi Pasha tried to occupy Akhaltsykh, but on December 1 it was defeated by the detachment of Prince Bebutov at Bash-Kodyk-Lyar.
At sea, Russia also initially enjoyed success. In mid-November 1853, a Turkish squadron under the command of Admiral Osman Pasha, consisting of 7 frigates, 3 corvettes, 2 frigate steamships, 2 brigs and 2 transport ships with 472 guns, was heading to the Sukhumi (Sukhum-Kale) and Poti area for landing troops , was forced to take refuge in Sinop Bay off the coast of Asia Minor due to a strong storm. This became known to the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Admiral P.S. Nakhimov, and he led the ships to Sinop. Due to the storm, several Russian ships were damaged and were forced to return to Sevastopol.
By November 28, Nakhimov’s entire fleet was concentrated near Sinop Bay. It consisted of 6 battleships and 2 frigates, surpassing the enemy in the number of guns by almost one and a half times. Russian artillery was superior to Turkish artillery in quality, as it had the latest bomb cannons. Russian gunners knew how to shoot much better than Turkish ones, and the sailors were faster and more dexterous in handling sailing equipment.
Nakhimov decided to attack the enemy fleet in the bay and shoot it from an extremely short distance of 1.5–2 cables. The Russian admiral left two frigates at the entrance to the Sinop roadstead. They were supposed to intercept Turkish ships that would try to escape.
At half past 10 in the morning on November 30, the Black Sea Fleet moved in two columns to Sinop. The right one was headed by Nakhimov on the ship "Empress Maria", the left one was headed by the junior flagship Rear Admiral F.M. Novosilsky on the ship "Paris". At half past one in the afternoon, Turkish ships and coastal batteries opened fire on the approaching Russian squadron. She opened fire only after approaching at an extremely short distance.
After half an hour of battle, the Turkish flagship Avni-Allah was seriously damaged by the Empress Maria's bomb guns and ran aground. Then Nakhimov’s ship set fire to the enemy frigate Fazly-Allah. Meanwhile, the Paris sank two enemy ships. In three hours, the Russian squadron destroyed 15 Turkish ships and suppressed all coastal batteries. Only the steamer "Taif", commanded by the English captain A. Slade, taking advantage of its speed advantage, was able to break out of Sinop Bay and escape the pursuit of Russian sailing frigates.
The Turks' losses in killed and wounded amounted to about 3 thousand people, and 200 sailors led by Osman Pasha were captured. Nakhimov's squadron had no losses in ships, although several of them were seriously damaged. 37 Russian sailors and officers were killed in the battle and 233 were wounded. Thanks to the victory at Sinop, the Turkish landing on the Caucasian coast was thwarted.
The Battle of Sinop was the last major battle between sailing ships and the last significant battle won by the Russian fleet. In the next century and a half, he no longer won victories of this magnitude.
In December 1853, the British and French governments, fearing the defeat of Turkey and the establishment of Russian control over the straits, sent their warships into the Black Sea. In March 1854, England, France and the Kingdom of Sardinia declared war on Russia. At this time, Russian troops besieged Silistria, however, obeying the ultimatum of Austria, which demanded that Russia clear the Danube principalities, they lifted the siege on July 26, and in early September they retreated beyond the Prut. In the Caucasus, Russian troops defeated two Turkish armies in July - August, but this did not affect the overall course of the war.
The Allies planned to land the main landing force in Crimea in order to deprive the Russian Black Sea Fleet of its bases. Attacks on the ports of the Baltic and White Seas and the Pacific Ocean were also envisaged. The Anglo-French fleet concentrated in the Varna area. It consisted of 34 battleships and 55 frigates, including 54 steam ships, and 300 transport ships, on which there was an expeditionary force of 61 thousand soldiers and officers. The Russian Black Sea Fleet could oppose the allies with 14 sailing battleships, 11 sailing and 11 steam frigates. A Russian army of 40 thousand people was stationed in Crimea.
In September 1854, the Allies landed troops in Yevpatoria. The Russian army under the command of Admiral Prince A.S. Menshikova on the Alma River tried to block the path of the Anglo-French-Turkish troops deep into the Crimea. Menshikov had 35 thousand soldiers and 84 guns, the allies had 59 thousand soldiers (30 thousand French, 22 thousand English and 7 thousand Turkish) and 206 guns.
Russian troops occupied a strong position. Its center near the village of Burliuk was crossed by a ravine along which the main Evpatoria road ran. From the high left bank of the Alma, the plain on the right bank was clearly visible, only near the river itself it was covered with gardens and vineyards. The right flank and center of the Russian troops was commanded by General Prince M.D. Gorchakov, and the left flank - General Kiryakov.
The allied forces were going to attack the Russians from the front, and the French infantry division of General Bosquet was thrown around their left flank. At 9 a.m. on September 20, 2 columns of French and Turkish troops occupied the village of Ulukul and the dominant heights, but were stopped by Russian reserves and were unable to strike in the rear of the Alm position. In the center, the British, French and Turks, despite heavy losses, were able to cross the Alma. They were counterattacked by the Borodino, Kazan and Vladimir regiments, led by generals Gorchakov and Kvitsinsky. But crossfire from land and sea forced the Russian infantry to retreat. Due to heavy losses and the numerical superiority of the enemy, Menshikov retreated to Sevastopol under cover of darkness. The losses of Russian troops amounted to 5,700 people killed and wounded, the losses of the allies - 4,300 people.
The Battle of Alma was one of the first where scattered infantry formations were massively used. The superiority of the Allies in weapons also affected this. Almost the entire English army and up to a third of the French were armed with new rifled guns, which were superior to Russian smoothbore guns in rate of fire and range.
Pursuing Menshikov's army, the Anglo-French troops occupied Balaklava on September 26, and on September 29 - the Kamyshovaya Bay area near Sevastopol. However, the Allies were afraid to immediately attack this sea fortress, which at that moment was almost defenseless from land. The commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Nakhimov, became the military governor of Sevastopol and, together with the chief of staff of the fleet, Admiral V.A. Kornilov began hastily preparing the defense of the city from land. 5 sailing ships and 2 frigates were sunk at the entrance to Sevastopol Bay to prevent the enemy fleet from entering there. The ships that remained in service were supposed to provide artillery support to the troops fighting on land.
The city's land garrison, which also included sailors from sunken ships, numbered 22.5 thousand people. The main forces of the Russian army under the command of Menshikov retreated to Bakhchisarai.
The first bombardment of Sevastopol by allied forces from land and sea took place on October 17, 1854. Russian ships and batteries responded to the fire and damaged several enemy ships. The Anglo-French artillery then failed to disable the Russian coastal batteries. It turned out that naval artillery was not very effective for firing at ground targets. However, the defenders of the city suffered considerable losses during the bombing. One of the leaders of the city's defense, Admiral Kornilov, was killed.
On October 25, the Russian army advanced from Bakhchisarai to Balaklava and attacked British troops, but was unable to break through to Sevastopol. However, this offensive forced the Allies to postpone the assault on Sevastopol. On November 6, Menshikov again tried to release the city, but again could not overcome the Anglo-French defense after the Russians lost 10 thousand, and the allies - 12 thousand killed and wounded, in the battle of Inkerman.
By the end of 1854, the Allies concentrated more than 100 thousand soldiers and about 500 guns near Sevastopol. They conducted intense shelling of the city fortifications. The British and French launched local attacks with the aim of capturing individual positions; the city’s defenders responded with forays into the rear of the besiegers. In February 1855, the allied forces near Sevastopol increased to 120 thousand people, and preparations began for a general assault. The main blow was supposed to be delivered to the Malakhov Kurgan, which dominated Sevastopol. The defenders of the city, in turn, especially fortified the approaches to this height, fully understanding its strategic importance. In the Southern Bay, 3 additional battleships and 2 frigates were sunk, blocking the allied fleet’s access to the roadstead. To divert forces from Sevastopol, the detachment of General S.A. Khrulev attacked Evpatoria on February 17, but was repulsed with heavy losses. This failure led to the resignation of Menshikov, who was replaced as commander-in-chief by General Gorchakov. But the new commander also failed to reverse the unfavorable course of events in Crimea for the Russian side.
During the 8th period from April 9 to June 18, Sevastopol was subjected to four intense bombings. After this, 44 thousand soldiers of the allied forces stormed the Ship side. They were opposed by 20 thousand Russian soldiers and sailors. Heavy fighting continued for several days, but this time the Anglo-French troops failed to break through. However, continuous shelling continued to deplete the forces of the besieged.
On July 10, 1855, Nakhimov was mortally wounded. His burial was described in his diary by Lieutenant Ya.P. Kobylyansky: “Nakhimov’s funeral... was solemn; the enemy in whose sight they took place, while paying honor to the deceased hero, remained deeply silent: at the main positions not a single shot was fired while the body was buried.”
On September 9, the general assault on Sevastopol began. 60 thousand allied troops, mostly French, attacked the fortress. They managed to take Malakhov Kurgan. Realizing the futility of further resistance, the commander-in-chief of the Russian army in Crimea, General Gorchakov, gave the order to abandon the southern side of Sevastopol, blowing up port facilities, fortifications, ammunition depots and sinking the surviving ships. On the evening of September 9, the city’s defenders crossed to the northern side, blowing up the bridge behind them.
In the Caucasus, Russian weapons were successful, somewhat brightening up the bitterness of the Sevastopol defeat. On September 29, General Muravyov’s army stormed Kara, but, having lost 7 thousand people, was forced to retreat. However, on November 28, 1855, the garrison of the fortress, exhausted by hunger, capitulated.
After the fall of Sevastopol, the loss of the war for Russia became obvious. The new Emperor Alexander II agreed to peace negotiations. On March 30, 1856, peace was signed in Paris. Russia returned Kara, occupied during the war, to Turkey and transferred Southern Bessarabia to it. The Allies, in turn, abandoned Sevastopol and other cities of Crimea. Russia was forced to abandon its patronage of the Orthodox population of the Ottoman Empire. It was prohibited from having a navy and bases on the Black Sea. A protectorate of all great powers was established over Moldavia, Wallachia and Serbia. The Black Sea was declared closed to military vessels of all states, but open to international commercial shipping. Freedom of navigation on the Danube was also recognized.
During the Crimean War, France lost 10,240 people killed and 11,750 died from wounds, England - 2,755 and 1,847, Turkey - 10,000 and 10,800, and Sardinia - 12 and 16 people. In total, the coalition troops suffered irretrievable losses of 47.5 thousand soldiers and officers. The losses of the Russian army in killed were about 30 thousand people, and about 16 thousand died from wounds, which gives the total irretrievable combat losses for Russia at 46 thousand people. Mortality from disease was significantly higher. During the Crimean War, 75,535 French, 17,225 British, 24.5 thousand Turks, 2,166 Sardinians (Piedmontese) died from disease. Thus, the non-combat irretrievable losses of the coalition countries amounted to 119,426 people. In the Russian army, 88,755 Russians died from disease. In total, in the Crimean War, non-combat irrecoverable losses were 2.2 times higher than combat losses.
The result of the Crimean War was the loss of Russia's last traces of European hegemony, acquired after the victory over Napoleon I. This hegemony gradually faded away by the end of the 20s due to the economic weakness of the Russian Empire, caused by the persistence of serfdom, and the emerging military-technical backwardness of the country from other great powers. Only the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 allowed Russia to eliminate the most difficult articles of the Paris Peace and restore its fleet in the Black Sea.
From the book Symbols, Shrines and Awards of the Russian Empire. part 2 author Kuznetsov AlexanderIn memory of the war of 1853–1856, collections quite often contain bronze and brass medals, on the front side of which, under two crowns, there are the monograms “Н I” and “А II” and the dates: “1853–1854 – 1855–1856”. On the reverse side of the medal is the inscription: “In You, Lord, I trusted, but
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From the book History of Cavalry [with illustrations] author Denison George TaylorBEOTIAN WAR (378–362 BC) A war of the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta against a coalition of Thebes, Athens and their allies. In 378, the Spartans unsuccessfully attempted to capture the Athenian harbor of Piraeus. In response, Athens entered into an alliance with Thebes and created the Second Athenian Empire.
From the book History of the Cavalry [no illustrations] author Denison George TaylorROMAN-SYRIAN WAR (192–188 BC) The war of Rome with the king of Syria, Antiochus III Seleucid, for hegemony in Greece and Asia Minor. One of the reasons was also that at the court of Antiochus, Hannibal, a longtime enemy of Rome, found refuge, forced in 195 leave Carthage. The Romans didn't
From the book Award Medal. In 2 volumes. Volume 1 (1701-1917) author Kuznetsov AlexanderHow did Russian society feel about the prospects of a military conflict with France at the beginning of the Crimean War of 1853–1856? At the beginning of the 1850s, the great victory of 1812 was still alive in the memory of Russian society; it seemed completely unthinkable that the nephew
From the book History author Plavinsky Nikolay Alexandrovich From the book Crimea. Great historical guide author Delnov Alexey Alexandrovich From the book History. New complete student guide for preparing for the Unified State Exam author Nikolaev Igor Mikhailovich From the book History of Fortresses. The evolution of long-term fortification [with illustrations] author Yakovlev Viktor VasilievichThe Crimean War and its consequences for Russia The Crimean War (1853–1856) is a war in which Russia was opposed by a coalition of countries: Great Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia. Causes of the war: - confrontation between Russia and Turkey for control of
From the author's bookChapter 50 The Crimean War We have already encountered how conflicting the problems associated with the right to supervise Christian shrines in Palestine, the Holy Land, which belonged to the Turks, could turn out to be. After in 1808 in the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulcher
From the author's bookCrimean War (1853–1856) The reason for the war was the conflict between the Catholic and Orthodox churches: who should own the keys to the Bethlehem Temple and repair the dome of the Cathedral of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. French diplomacy contributed to the aggravation of the situation
Crimean War.
Causes of the war: in 1850, a conflict began between France, the Ottoman Empire and Russia, the reason for which was disputes between the Catholic and Orthodox clergy regarding the rights to the Holy Places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Nicholas I was counting on the support of England and Austria, but he miscalculated.
Progress of the war: in 1853, Russian troops were introduced into Moldova and Wallachia, met with a negative reaction from Austria, which took a position of unfriendly neutrality, demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops and moved its army to the border with Russia. In October 1853, the Turkish Sultan declared war on Russia.
The first stage of the war - November 1853 - April 1854: Russian-Turkish campaign. November 1853 – Battle of Sinop. Admiral Nakhimov defeated the Turkish fleet, and in parallel there were Russian actions in the Caucasus. England and France declared war on Russia. The Anglo-French squadron bombarded Russian territories (Kronstadt, Sveaborg, Solovetsky Monastery, Kamchatka).
Second stage: April 1854 - February 1856 Russia against the coalition of European powers. September 1854 - the allies began landing in the Evpatoria area. Battles on the river Alma in September 1854, the Russians lost. Under the command of Menshikov, the Russians approached Bakhchisarai. Sevastopol (Kornilov and Nakhimov) was preparing for defense. October 1854 - the defense of Sevastopol began. The main part of the Russian army undertook diversionary operations (the battle of Inkerman in November 1854, the offensive at Yevpatoriya in February 1855, the battle on the Black River in August 1855), but they were not successful. August 1855: Sevastopol was captured. At the same time, in Transcaucasia, Russian troops managed to take the strong Turkish fortress of Kars. Negotiations began. March 1856 - Paris peace. Part of Bessarabia was torn away from Russia; it lost the right to patronize Serbia, Moldova and Wallachia. The most important thing is the neutralization of the Black Sea: both Russia and Turkey were prohibited from keeping a navy in the Black Sea.
There is an acute internal political crisis in Russia, due to which reforms have begun.
39. Economic, socio-political development of Russia at the turn of the 50-60s. XiX century Peasant reform of 1861, its content and significance.
In the 50s, the need and hardships of the masses noticeably worsened, this happened under the influence of the consequences of the Crimean War, the increasing frequency of natural disasters (epidemics, crop failures and, as a consequence, famine), as well as the increasing oppression from the landowners and the state in the pre-reform period. Recruitment, which reduced the number of workers by 10%, and requisitions of food, horses and fodder had a particularly severe impact on the economy of the Russian village. The situation was aggravated by the arbitrariness of the landowners, who systematically reduced the size of peasant plots, transferred peasants to households (and thus deprived them of land), and resettled serfs to worse lands. These acts assumed such proportions that the government, shortly before the reform, was forced to impose a ban on such actions by special decrees.
The response to the worsening situation of the masses was the peasant movement, which in its intensity, scale and forms was noticeably different from the protests of previous decades and caused great concern in St. Petersburg.
This period was characterized by mass escapes of landowner peasants who wanted to enlist in the militia and thus hoped to gain freedom (1854-1855), unauthorized resettlement to war-ravaged Crimea (1856), a “sober” movement directed against the feudal system of wine farming (1858-1859 ), unrest and escapes of workers during the construction of railways (Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod, Volga-Don, 1859-1860). It was also restless on the outskirts of the empire. In 1858, Estonian peasants took up arms in their hands (“Machtra War”). Major peasant unrest broke out in 1857 in Western Georgia.
After the defeat in the Crimean War, in the context of a growing revolutionary upsurge, the crisis at the top intensified, manifested, in particular, in the intensification of the liberal opposition movement among part of the nobility, dissatisfied with military failures, the backwardness of Russia, who understood the need for political and social change. “Sevastopol hit stagnant minds,” wrote the famous Russian historian V.O. Klyuchevsky about this time. The “censorship terror” introduced by Emperor Nicholas I after his death in February 1855 was virtually swept away by a wave of glasnost, which made it possible to openly discuss the most pressing problems facing the country.
There was no unity in government circles on the issue of the future fate of Russia. Two opposing groups formed here: the old conservative bureaucratic elite (head of the III department V.A. Dolgorukov, Minister of State Property M.N. Muravyov, etc.), which actively opposed the implementation of bourgeois reforms, and supporters of reforms (Minister of Internal Affairs S.S. Lanskoy, Ya.I. Rostovtsev, brothers N.A. and D.A. Milyutin).
The interests of the Russian peasantry were reflected in the ideology of the new generation of revolutionary intelligentsia.
In the 50s, two centers were formed that led the revolutionary democratic movement in the country. The first (emigrant) was headed by A.I. Herzen, who founded the “Free Russian Printing House” in London (1853). Since 1855, he began publishing the non-periodical collection “Polar Star”, and since 1857, together with N.P. Ogarev, the newspaper “Bell”, which enjoyed enormous popularity. Herzen's publications formulated a program of social transformation in Russia, which included the liberation of peasants from serfdom with land and for ransom. Initially, the publishers of Kolokol believed in the liberal intentions of the new Emperor Alexander II (1855-1881) and placed certain hopes on wisely carried out reforms “from above.” However, as projects for the abolition of serfdom were being prepared, illusions dissipated, and a call to fight for land and democracy was heard loudly on the pages of London publications.
The second center arose in St. Petersburg. It was headed by leading employees of the Sovremennik magazine N.G. Chernyshevsky and N.A. Dobrolyubov, around whom like-minded people from the revolutionary democratic camp rallied (M.L. Mikhailov, N.A. Serno-Solovyevich, N.V. Shelgunov and others). The censored articles of N.G. Chernyshevsky were not as frank as the publications of A.I. Herzen, but they were distinguished by their consistency. N.G. Chernyshevsky believed that when the peasants were liberated, the land should be transferred to them without ransom; the liquidation of autocracy in Russia would occur through revolutionary means.
On the eve of the abolition of serfdom, a demarcation emerged between the revolutionary-democratic and liberal camps. Liberals, who recognized the need for reforms “from above,” saw in them, first of all, an opportunity to prevent a revolutionary explosion in the country.
The Crimean War presented the government with a choice: either to preserve the serfdom that existed in the country and, as a consequence of this, ultimately, as a result of a political, financial and economic catastrophe, lose not only the prestige and position of a great power, but also threaten the existence of the autocracy in Russia, or to carry out bourgeois reforms, the primary of which was the abolition of serfdom.
Having chosen the second path, the government of Alexander II in January 1857 created a Secret Committee “to discuss measures to organize the life of the landowner peasants.” Somewhat earlier, in the summer of 1856, in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, comrade (deputy) minister A.I. Levshin developed a government program for peasant reform, which, although it gave serfs civil rights, retained all the land in the ownership of the landowner and provided the latter with patrimonial power on the estate. In this case, the peasants would receive allotment land for use, for which they would have to perform fixed duties. This program was set out in imperial rescripts (instructions), first addressed to the Vilna and St. Petersburg governors-general, and then sent to other provinces. In accordance with the rescripts, special committees began to be created in the provinces to consider the case locally, and the preparation of the reform became public. The Secret Committee was renamed the Main Committee for Peasant Affairs. The Zemstvo Department under the Ministry of Internal Affairs (N.A. Milyutin) began to play a significant role in preparing the reform.
Within the provincial committees there was a struggle between liberals and conservatives over the forms and extent of concessions to the peasantry. Reform projects prepared by K.D. Kavelin, A.I. Koshelev, M.P. Posen. Yu.F. Samarin, A.M. Unkovsky, differed in the political views of the authors and economic conditions. Thus, the landowners of the black earth provinces, who owned expensive land and kept peasants in corvee labor, wanted to retain the maximum possible amount of land and retain workers. In the industrial non-black earth obroch provinces, during the reform, landowners wanted to receive significant funds to rebuild their farms in a bourgeois manner.
The prepared proposals and programs were submitted for discussion to the so-called Editorial Commissions. The struggle over these proposals took place both in these commissions and during the consideration of the project in the Main Committee and in the State Council. But, despite the existing differences of opinion, in all these projects it was about carrying out peasant reform in the interests of the landowners by maintaining landownership and political dominance in the hands of the Russian nobility, “Everything that could be done to protect the benefits of the landowners has been done,” - Alexander II stated in the State Council. The final version of the reform project, which had undergone a number of changes, was signed by the emperor on February 19, 1861, and on March 5, the most important documents regulating the implementation of the reform were published: “Manifesto” and “General Provisions on Peasants Emerging from Serfdom.”
In accordance with these documents, peasants received personal freedom and could now freely dispose of their property, engage in commercial and industrial activities, buy and sell real estate, enter the service, receive an education, and conduct their family affairs.
The landowner still owned all the land, but part of it, usually a reduced land plot and the so-called “estate settlement” (a plot with a hut, outbuildings, vegetable gardens, etc.), he was obliged to transfer to the peasants for use. Thus, Russian peasants received liberation with land, but they could use this land for a certain fixed rent or serving corvee. The peasants could not give up these plots for 9 years. For complete liberation, they could buy the estate and, by agreement with the landowner, the allotment, after which they became peasant owners. Until this time, a “temporarily obligated position” was established.
The new sizes of allotments and payments of peasants were recorded in special documents, “statutory charters”. which were compiled for each village over a two-year period. The amounts of these duties and allotment land were determined by “Local Regulations”. Thus, according to the “Great Russian” local situation, the territory of 35 provinces was distributed into 3 stripes: non-chernozem, chernozem and steppe, which were divided into “localities”. In the first two stripes, depending on local conditions, “higher” and “lower” (1/3 of the “highest”) allotment sizes were established, and in the steppe zone - one “decreed” allotment. If the pre-reform size of the allotment exceeded the “highest” one, then pieces of land could be produced, but if the allotment was less than the “lowest” one, then the landowner had to either cut off the land or reduce duties. Cut-offs were also made in some other cases, for example, when the owner, as a result of allocating land to the peasants, had less than 1/3 of the total land of the estate left. Among the cut-off lands there were often the most valuable areas (forest, meadows, arable land); in some cases, landowners could demand that peasant estates be moved to new locations. As a result of the post-reform land management, stripes became characteristic of the Russian village.
Statutory charters were usually concluded with an entire rural society, the “world” (community), which was supposed to ensure mutual responsibility for the payment of duties.
The “temporarily obligated” position of the peasants ceased after the transfer to redemption, which became mandatory only 20 years later (from 1883). The ransom was carried out with the assistance of the government. The basis for calculating redemption payments was not the market price of land, but the assessment of duties that were feudal in nature. When the deal was concluded, the peasants paid 20% of the amount, and the remaining 80% was paid to the landowners by the state. The peasants had to repay the loan provided by the state annually in the form of redemption payments for 49 years, while, of course, accrued interest was taken into account. Redemption payments placed a heavy burden on peasant farms. The cost of the purchased land significantly exceeded its market price. During the redemption operation, the government also tried to get back the huge sums that were provided to landowners in the pre-reform years on the security of land. If the estate was mortgaged, then the amount of the debt was deducted from the amounts provided to the landowner. The landowners received only a small part of the redemption amount in cash; special interest notes were issued for the rest.
It should be borne in mind that in modern historical literature, issues related to the implementation of the reform are not fully developed. There are different points of view about the degree of transformation during the reform of the system of peasant plots and payments (currently these studies are being carried out on a large scale using computers).
The reform of 1861 in the internal provinces was followed by the abolition of serfdom on the outskirts of the empire - in Georgia (1864-1871), Armenia and Azerbaijan (1870-1883), which was often carried out with even less consistency and with greater preservation of feudal remnants. Appanage peasants (belonging to the royal family) received personal freedom based on decrees of 1858 and 1859. “By the Regulations of June 26, 1863.” the land structure and conditions for the transition to redemption in the appanage village were determined, which was carried out during 1863-1865. In 1866, a reform was carried out in the state village. The purchase of land by state peasants was completed only in 1886.
Thus, peasant reforms in Russia actually abolished serfdom and marked the beginning of the development of the capitalist formation in Russia. However, while maintaining landownership and feudal remnants in the countryside, they were unable to resolve all the contradictions, which ultimately led to a further intensification of the class struggle.
The response of the peasantry to the publication of the “Manifesto” was a massive explosion of discontent in the spring of 1861. The peasants protested against the continuation of the corvee system and the payment of dues and plots of land. The peasant movement acquired a particularly large scale in the Volga region, Ukraine and the central black earth provinces.
Russian society was shocked by the events in the villages of Bezdna (Kazan province) and Kandeevka (Penza province) that took place in April 1863. Peasants outraged by the reform were shot there by military teams. In total, over 1,100 peasant unrest occurred in 1861. Only by drowning the protests in blood did the government manage to reduce the intensity of the struggle. The disunited, spontaneous and devoid of political consciousness protest of the peasants was doomed to failure. Already in 1862-1863. the scope of the movement was significantly reduced. In the following years it declined sharply (in 1864 there were fewer than 100 performances).
In 1861-1863 During the period of intensification of the class struggle in the countryside, the activity of democratic forces in the country intensified. After the suppression of peasant uprisings, the government, feeling more confident, attacked the democratic camp with repression.
Peasant reform of 1861, its content and significance.
The peasant reform of 1861, which abolished serfdom, marked the beginning of the capitalist formation in the country.
Main reason Peasant reform resulted in a crisis of the feudal-serf system. Crimean War 1853–1856 revealed the rottenness and impotence of serf Russia. In the context of peasant unrest, which especially intensified during the war, tsarism moved to abolish serfdom.
In January 1857 A Secret Committee was formed under the chairmanship of Emperor Alexander II “to discuss measures to organize the life of the landowner peasants,” which at the beginning of 1858. was reorganized into the Main Committee for Peasant Affairs. At the same time, provincial committees were formed, which began developing projects for peasant reform, considered by the Editorial Commissions.
February 19, 1861 In St. Petersburg, Alexander II signed the Manifesto on the abolition of serfdom and the “Regulations on peasants emerging from serfdom,” consisting of 17 legislative acts.
The main act - “General Regulations on Peasants Emerging from Serfdom” - contained the main conditions of the peasant reform:
1. peasants received personal freedom and the right to dispose of their property;
2. landowners retained ownership of all the lands they owned, but were obliged to provide the peasants with a “homestead residence” and a field allotment “to ensure their livelihood and to fulfill their duties to the government and the landowner”;
3. For the use of allotment land, peasants had to serve corvee or pay quitrent and did not have the right to refuse it for 9 years. The size of the field allotment and duties should have been recorded in the statutory charters of 1861, which were drawn up by landowners for each estate and verified by the peace intermediaries;
-peasants were given the right to buy out an estate and, by agreement with the landowner, a field allotment; until this was done, they were called temporarily obligated peasants.
The “general situation” determined the structure, rights and responsibilities of peasant public (rural and volost) government bodies and the court.
4 “Local Regulations” determined the size of land plots and the duties of peasants for their use in 44 provinces of European Russia. The first of them is “Great Russian”, for 29 Great Russian, 3 Novorossiysk (Ekaterinoslav, Tauride and Kherson), 2 Belarusian (Mogilev and part of Vitebsk) and part of Kharkov provinces. This entire territory was divided into three stripes (non-chernozem, chernozem and steppe), each of which consisted of “localities”.
In the first two bands, depending on the “locality,” the highest (from 3 to 7 dessiatines; from 2 3/4 to 6 dessiatines) and the lowest (1/3 of the highest) amounts of per capita taxes were established. For the steppe, one “decreed” allotment was determined (in the Great Russian provinces from 6 to 12 dessiatines; in Novorossiysk, from 3 to 6 1/5 dessiatines). The size of the government tithe was determined to be 1.09 hectares.
Allotment land was provided to the “rural community”, i.e. community, according to the number of souls (men only) at the time of drawing up the charter documents who had the right to the allotment.
From the land that was in the use of peasants before February 19, 1861, sections could be made if the peasants' per capita allotments exceeded the highest size established for a given “locality”, or if the landowners, while maintaining the existing peasant allotment, had less than 1/3 of the estate's land left. Allotments could be reduced by special agreements between peasants and landowners, as well as upon receipt of a gift allotment.
If peasants had plots of less than a small size, the landowner was obliged to cut off the missing land or reduce duties. For the highest spiritual allotment, a quitrent was established from 8 to 12 rubles per year or corvee - 40 men's and 30 women's working days per year. If the allotment was less than the highest, then the duties were reduced, but not proportionally.
The rest of the “Local Provisions” basically repeated the “Great Russian Provisions”, but taking into account the specifics of their regions.
The features of the peasant reform for certain categories of peasants and specific areas were determined by 8 “Additional Rules”: “Arrangement of peasants settled on the estates of small-scale owners, and on benefits to these owners”; “People of the Ministry of Finance assigned to private mining plants”; “Peasants and workers serving work at Perm private mining plants and salt mines”; “Peasant peasants serving work in landowner factories”; "The peasants and courtyard people in the Land of the Don Army"; "Peasant peasants and courtyard people in the Stavropol province"; "Peasant peasants and courtyard people in Siberia"; "People who emerged from serfdom in the Bessarabian region."
The Manifesto and “Regulations” were published on March 5 in Moscow and from March 7 to April 2 in St. Petersburg. Fearing the dissatisfaction of the peasants with the conditions of the reform, the government took a number of precautions: it redeployed troops, sent members of the imperial retinue to places, issued an appeal from the Synod, etc. However, the peasants, dissatisfied with the enslaving conditions of the reform, responded to it with mass unrest. The largest of them were the Bezdnensky and Kandeevsky peasant uprisings of 1861.
As of January 1, 1863, peasants refused to sign about 60% of the charters. The purchase price of the land significantly exceeded its market value at that time, in some areas -
2–3 times. In many regions, peasants sought to receive gift plots, thereby reducing allotment land use: in the Saratov province by 42.4%, Samara - 41.3%, Poltava - 37.4%, Ekaterinoslav - by 37.3%, etc. The lands cut off by the landowners were a means of enslaving the peasants, since they were vitally necessary for the peasant economy: watering place, pasture, haymaking, etc.
The peasants' transition to ransom lasted for several decades, on December 28, 1881. a law on compulsory redemption was issued on January 1, 1883, the transfer to which was completed by 1895. In total, by January 1, 1895, 124 thousand redemption transactions were approved, according to which 9,159 thousand souls in areas with communal farming and 110 thousand households in areas with household farming were transferred to redemption. About 80% of buyouts were mandatory.
As a result of the peasant reform (according to 1878), in the provinces of European Russia, 9860 thousand souls of peasants received an allotment of 33728 thousand dessiatines of land (on average 3.4 dessiatines per capita). U115 thousand. landowners were left with 69 million dessiatines (an average of 600 dessiatines per owner).
What did these “average” indicators look like after 3.5 decades? The political and economic power of the tsar rested on the nobles and landowners. According to the 1897 census in Russia there were 1 million 220 thousand hereditary nobles and more than 600 thousand personal nobles, to whom the title of nobility was given, but not inherited. All of them were owners of land plots.
Of these: about 60 thousand were small-scale nobles, each had 100 acres; 25.5 thousand - average landowners, had from 100 to 500 acres; 8 thousand large nobles, who had from 500 to 1000 acres: 6.5 thousand - the largest nobles, who had from 1000 to 5000 acres.
At the same time, there were 102 families in Russia: princes Yusupov, Golitsyn, Dolgorukov, counts Bobrinsky, Orlov, etc., whose holdings amounted to more than 50 thousand dessiatines, that is, about 30% of the landowners' land fund in Russia.
The largest owner in Russia was Tsar Nicholas I. He owned huge tracts of so-called cabinet and appanage lands. Gold, silver, lead, copper, and timber were mined there. He rented out a significant part of the land. The king's property was managed by a special ministry of the imperial court.
When filling out the questionnaire for the census, Nicholas II wrote in the column about profession: “Master of the Russian land.”
As for peasants, the average allotment of a peasant family, according to the census, was 7.5 dessiatines.
The significance of the peasant reform of 1861 was that it abolished feudal ownership of workers and created a market for cheap labor. The peasants were declared personally free, that is, they had the right to buy land, houses, and enter into various transactions in their own name. The reform was based on the principle of gradualism: within two years, statutory charters were to be drawn up, defining the specific conditions for the liberation of peasants, then the peasants were transferred to the position of “temporarily obligated” until the transition to redemption and in the subsequent 49-year period, paying the debt to the state that bought the land for peasants from landowners. Only after this should land plots become the full property of the peasants.
For the liberation of peasants from serfdom, Emperor Alexander II was called the “LIBERER” by the people. Judge for yourself, what was more here - truth or hypocrisy? Note that of the total number of peasant unrest that occurred throughout the country in 1857–1861, 1340 out of 2165 (62%) protests occurred after the announcement of the 1861 reform.
Thus, the peasant reform of 1861 was a bourgeois reform carried out by serf owners. This was a step towards turning Russia into a bourgeois monarchy. However, the peasant reform did not solve the socio-economic contradictions in Russia, preserved landownership and a number of other feudal-serf remnants, led to a further aggravation of the class struggle, and served as one of the main reasons for the social explosion of 1905–1907. XX century.
The causes of the war lay in the contradictions between European powers in the Middle East, in the struggle of European states for influence on the weakening Ottoman Empire, which was engulfed in the national liberation movement. Nicholas I said that Turkey’s inheritance can and should be divided. In the upcoming conflict, the Russian emperor counted on the neutrality of Great Britain, to which he promised, after the defeat of Turkey, new territorial acquisitions of Crete and Egypt, as well as the support of Austria, as gratitude for Russia’s participation in the suppression of the Hungarian revolution. However, Nikolai’s calculations turned out to be wrong: England itself was pushing Turkey towards war, thus trying to weaken Russia’s position. Austria also did not want Russia to strengthen in the Balkans.
The reason for the war was a dispute between the Catholic and Orthodox clergy in Palestine about who would be the guardian of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and the temple in Bethlehem. At the same time, there was no talk about access to holy places, since all pilgrims enjoyed them on equal rights. The dispute over the Holy Places cannot be called a far-fetched reason for starting a war.
STEPS
During the Crimean War there are two stages:
Stage I of the war: November 1853 - April 1854. Turkey was Russia's enemy, and military operations took place on the Danube and Caucasus fronts. In 1853, Russian troops entered the territory of Moldavia and Wallachia and military operations on land proceeded sluggishly. In the Caucasus, the Turks were defeated at Kars.
Stage II of the war: April 1854 - February 1856 Concerned that Russia would completely defeat Turkey, England and France, in the person of Austria, delivered an ultimatum to Russia. They demanded that Russia refuse to patronize the Orthodox population of the Ottoman Empire. Nicholas I could not accept such conditions. Türkiye, France, England and Sardinia united against Russia.
RESULTS
Results of the war:
On February 13 (25), 1856, the Paris Congress began, and on March 18 (30) a peace treaty was signed.
Russia returned the city of Kars with a fortress to the Ottomans, receiving in exchange Sevastopol, Balaklava and other Crimean cities captured from it.
The Black Sea was declared neutral (that is, open to commercial traffic and closed to military vessels in peacetime), with Russia and the Ottoman Empire prohibited from having military fleets and arsenals there.
Navigation along the Danube was declared free, for which the Russian borders were moved away from the river and part of Russian Bessarabia with the mouth of the Danube was annexed to Moldova.
Russia was deprived of the protectorate over Moldavia and Wallachia granted to it by the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace of 1774 and the exclusive protection of Russia over the Christian subjects of the Ottoman Empire.
Russia pledged not to build fortifications on the Åland Islands.
During the war, the participants in the anti-Russian coalition failed to achieve all their goals, but managed to prevent Russia from strengthening in the Balkans and deprive it of the Black Sea Fleet.