Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)

Russo-Turkish War
Part of the Great Eastern Crisis and the Russo-Turkish wars

Clockwise, from top left: the Action off Măcin, the Battle of Shipka Pass, the Siege of Plevna, the Battle of Tashkessen
Date24 April 1877 – 3 March 1878
(10 months and 1 week)
Location
Result Russian coalition victory, see § Aftermath
Territorial
changes
  • Establishment of the Principality of Bulgaria
  • Independence of Romania, Serbia and Montenegro from the Ottoman Empire
  • Kars and Batum oblasts become part of the Russian Empire, Britain occupies Cyprus, Austria-Hungary occupies Bosnia
  • Russian annexation of Southern Bessarabia from Romania, Romanian annexation of Northern Dobruja
  • Greek annexation of Thessaly and Arta
Belligerents
Romania
Serbia
Montenegro

Serbian rebels
Greek rebels

Imamate rebels
Abkhazian rebels
Commanders and leaders
  • Alexander II
  • GD. Nikolai
  • GD. Mikhail
  • Dmitry Milyutin
  • Iosif Gurko
  • Mikhail Loris-Melikov
  • Grigol Dadiani
  • Arshak Ter-Gukasov
  • Prince Alexander
  • Pyotr Vannovsky
  • Mikhail Dragomirov (WIA)
  • Mikhail Skobelev
  • Ivan Lazarev
  • Eduard Totleben
  • Nikolai Stoletov
  • Vladimir Dobrovolsky (DOW)
  • Carol I
  • Milan I
  • Kosta Protić
  • Nikola I
  • Abdul Hamid II
  • Ibrahim Pasha
  • Hamdi Pasha
  • İsmail Pasha
  • Muhtar Pasha
  • Osman Pasha 
  • Şakir Pasha
  • Süleyman Pasha
  • Hasan Pasha
  • Hüseyin Pasha
  • Ali Pasha
  • Hobart Pasha
  • Abdülkerim Pasha
  • Eyüb Pasha
  • Fuad Pasha
  • Rıza Pasha
  • Baker Pasha
  • Giranduk Bey
Strength
  • Russia:
    Initial: 185,000 in the Army of the Danube, 75,000 in the Caucasian Army[6]
    Total: 260,000 in four corps[7][8]
    Romania
    Around 114,000 in the Romanian army[9]
Ottoman Empire:
Initial: 70,000 in the Caucasus
Total: 281,000[10]
Spring of 1877
Olender: 490,000–530,000
Barry: 378,000
Casualties and losses
Total: 96,733–111,166 dead[11][12]
  • Russia
    • 15,567–30,000 killed[11][12]
    • 81,166 died of disease
    • 56,652 wounded
    • 1,713 died from wounds[11]
  • Romania
    • 4,302 killed and missing
    • 3,316 wounded
    • 19,904 sick[13]
  • Bulgarian Legion
    • 2,456 killed and wounded[14]
    • Several thousand total military deaths (mostly disease)
  • Serbia and Montenegro
    • 2,400 dead and wounded[14]
Total: 90,000–120,000 dead[15]
500,000–1.5 million Muslim and Jewish civilians displaced[17][18]

The Russo-Turkish War[a] (1877–1878) was a conflict between the Ottoman Empire and a coalition led by the Russian Empire which included Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro.[19] Precipitating factors included the Russian goals of recovering territorial losses endured during the Crimean War of 1853–1856, re-establishing itself in the Black Sea and supporting the political movement attempting to free Balkan nations from the Ottoman Empire. The Romanian army had around 114,000 soldiers in the war.[9] In Romania the war is called the Russo-Romanian-Turkish War (1877–1878) or the Romanian War of Independence (1877–1878).

The Russian-led coalition won the war, pushing the Ottomans back all the way to the gates of Constantinople, leading to the intervention of the Western European great powers. As a result, Russia succeeded in claiming provinces in the Caucasus, namely Kars and Batum, and also annexed the Budjak region. The principalities of Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro, each of which had had de facto sovereignty for some years, formally proclaimed independence from the Ottoman Empire. After almost five centuries of Ottoman domination (1396–1878), Bulgaria emerged as an autonomous state with support and military intervention from Russia.

  1. ^ "Ethnologia Polona". Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology. 13 September 1992 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Torsten Ekman (2006). Suomen kaarti 1812–1905 (in Finnish). Helsinki: Schildts. ISBN 951-50-1534-0.
  3. ^ "Hamid Zahir Mahmoud, Assist.Prof.Dr.Qahtan Ahmed Farhoud Russian war-Ottoman Empire (1877-1878 AD) and the role of Sheikh Obaid Allah Al-Nahri in it p.947".
  4. ^ Tenik, Ali (2015). Tarihsel süreçte Kürt coğrafyasında tasavvuf ve tarîkatlar (in Turkish). Nûbihar. pp. 134–135. ISBN 9786055053659.
  5. ^ Jwaideh, Wadie (2006). The Kurdish National Movement. p. 96. ISBN 9780815630937.
  6. ^ Timothy C. Dowling. Russia at War: From the Mongol Conquest to Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Beyond. 2 Volumes. ABC-CLIO, 2014. p. 748
  7. ^ Menning B. W. Bayonets before Bullets: the Imperial Russian Army, 1861–1914. Indiana University Press, 2000. P. 55. ISBN 0-253-21380-0
  8. ^ Olender P. Russo-Turkish Naval War 1877–1878. 2017. Stratus. p. 88. ISBN 978-83-65281-36-4
  9. ^ a b "ARMATA ROMANA IN RAZBOIUL DE INDEPENDENTA AL ROMANIEI (1877-1878)". Archived from the original on 27 April 2006.
  10. ^ Мерников, АГ (2005), Спектор А. А. Всемирная история войн (in Russian), Minsk, p. 376{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  11. ^ a b c Urlanis, Boris C. (1960). "Войны в период домонополистического капитализма (Ч. 2)". Войны и народонаселение Европы. Людские потери вооруженных сил европейских стран в войнах XVII–XX вв. (Историко-статистическое исследование) [Wars and the population of Europe. Human losses of the armed forces of European countries in the wars of the 17th–20th centuries (Historical and statistical research)] (in Russian). М.: Соцэкгиз. pp. 104–105, 129 § 4.
  12. ^ a b Büyük Larousse, cilt VII, s. 3282–3283, Milliyet Yayınları (1986)
  13. ^ Scafes, Cornel, et al., Armata Romania in Razvoiul de Independenta 1877–1878 (The Romanian Army in the War of Independence 1877–1878). Bucuresti, Editura Sigma, 2002, p. 149 (Romence)
  14. ^ a b Urlanis, Boris C. Войны и народонаселение Европы, Часть II, Глава II.
  15. ^ a b c Мерников А. Г.; Спектор А. А. (2005). Всемирная история войн. Мн.: Харвест. ISBN 985-13-2607-0.
  16. ^ "Turkish prisoners of war 1877–1878: accommodation, keeping, relationships with the population of the Russian provinces". Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  17. ^ The Middle East, Abstracts and Index. Northumberland Press. 1999. p. 493.
  18. ^ Karpat, Kemal. Ottoman Population. pp. 72–75.
  19. ^ Crowe, John Henry Verinder (1911). "Russo-Turkish Wars" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 931–936 [931, para 5]. The War of 1877–78


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