No GNW (or “Peter goes South”)

[alexmilman]

Peter is Great, thus, every war he starts must be the biggest and most important conflict of the age for the unmatched glory of the State

Well, he is declared “Great” officially so there is some breathing space but, anyway, it is all a matter of how the glorious deeds are being represented so something not too big may end up being promoted to a needed level.

Nevermind the real kerfuffle going down a bit to the west.

Ah, but it is important because it is up to the “West” to put that label on person’s forehead and, because we are in the early 18th, the process is not as well established as in the second half of the century when for the promotion to the greatness you just needed to provide a reasonably small financial help to the members of the Greatness Committee (also known as the French philosophers) plus to exchange with them few letters assuring that you did read all that garbage that they wrote (of course, it had to be formulated in a polite way), got deeply impressed by the depth, width, smell (avoid “stench”) and other parameters of their ideas and are going to start implementing then immediately after the breakfast (don’t specify which one). After which you’ll get an official diploma regarding the greatness of a candidate of your choice. Biography comes at extra cost but also quite affordable.

Though I get a feeling that he's really gonna need those seven years.

Well, my imagination has limits so we’ll see…. 😜

 

[alexmilman]

29. Propaganda

“If I had a newspaper like this one, nobody would even hear about the Waterloo”
Napoleon after reading newspaper “Правда» [1]

Stieve: “And this will be a great propaganda!” The commissars: “Ah, propaganda!”
“Silk stockings”

“By the last reports, King Charles completely surrounded army of Tsar Peter near the place called ‘Poltava”
“A glass of water” movie of 1979
​

Well, the victories are won, the Crimea is occupied and now it is a time to make it all known to the “civilized world”, which was generally too occupied with a great chess game of the WoSS to pay to much attention to the events on the Wild East, after the LNW [2] was over. Seriously, can you even find the place on a map? Yes, to be fair, Tsar Peter was a loyal ally of Charles, the Russian troops did participate in some battles (under Charles’ leadership, to be sure) and there was even a recent marriage between the families so probably by now the Muscovites made it all the way up to “semi-barbarians” while these Tatars were …. well, they had been “Tatars” and that’s it.
Of course, “Vedomosty” [3] had been printing the glowing reports and, of course, the foreign diplomats in Moscow had been reading them because this was their job but there is a big distance between reading and taking seriously. And the diplomatic corps in Moscow was (with the exception of the Swedes who knew and the Saxons who would not dare) somewhat pissed off with all that secrecy and itching to retaliate in its usual diplomatic way spreading all types of the innuendos picked up by the newspapers. Even “Oprechte Haerlemsche Courant” [4], generally sympathetic to the Russians (important trade partners), was vaguely mentioning “rumors” about the ongoing war.

Suddenly all all that “media” circus came to an abrupt end. The Swedish “Ordinari Post Tijdender “ [5] started publishing reports from the campaign written by the Swedish volunteers participating in that war. Social positions of the correspondents made it quite difficult, if not impossible, to doubt contents of these reports [6] . Baron Fabian Ernst Stael von Holstein with his younger brothers, Jackob Axel and George Boguslav, [7] were with Sheremetev’s army and two young officers, baron Carl Henrik Wrangel [8] and baron Mattias Alexander von Ungern-Stenberg had been with the Golitsin’s corps. The military ranks of the correspondents excluded an option of giving credit for the victories to them and at least Fabian Ernst (35 years old) and Jackob Axel (27 years) were mature enough to be taken seriously and they were also confirming reports of the younger officers. Eventually, capture of the Crimea had been grudgingly confirmed by Constantinople making the news worthy of publishing by “La Gazette”, “London Gazette”, “Daily Courant”, “Wiener Zeitung” and other newspapers of various importance.

Big celebrations in Moscow with the captured colors and guns, and the exotic-looking Tatar nobles who arrived to Moscow to swear their loyalty to Peter personally (and to receive some nice carrots [9] had been adding weight to the arriving reports.

To be fair, the depictions, the maps, the numbers, and pretty much everything else tended to get on a fanciful side but this time in a right direction. For example, look at the mighty fortress below. Of course, the whole thing had nothing in common with the Perekop fortress (moat filled with water, its sides paved with a stone, a drawbridge, some kind of the Great Wall of China instead of the earth rampart, huge citadel) but it much more flattering not to deny that you took it by a direct bloody assault than try to explain how did it happen in a reality. 😜

Anyway, on the European theaters 1707 was seemingly on uneventful side so some attention could be spared to the Affairs of the East. With, of course, a smirk: we’ll have to see how are you going to square against the Ottomans. And, actually, this warning did make sense because the Ottomans slowly but steadily started assembling an army with the intention to start operations on the land and sea early the next year.

Not to be forgotten:

1. In a short campaign Menshikov took Bender, kicked the Edisan Horde out of its territory to the Budjack, establishing defensive perimeter by the Dniester River, after which he besieged Ochakov.

The first Russian attack was repelled with heavy losses, but as a result of Russian mortar fire, a fire broke out, and on the second day a powder magazine within the city blew up, killing around 6,000 defenders.The fortress quickly surrendered and in the ensuing slaughter, all but 3,000 of the garrison were killed.The stench of decaying corpses was such that the Russians had to withdraw 15 miles from the fortress. Alexander Danilovich got the first big victory of his own and was ready to start pushing it into everybody’s faces.

2. Joy of joys! The rains finally raised a water level the the Voronezh and Don Rivers and all 9 ships of the line sailed into the Sea of Azov and joined the less impressive but so far much more useful squadron of the small ships at Kafa.

3. The awards had been generously distributed except for St. George: Peter wanted to keep this carrot for the war against the Ottomans. 😉
​

​

______________________
[1] Unfortunately, I could not find any depiction of this event on the web. 😢
[2] Due to the participation of Sweden, Denmark and Saxony this was an European conflict and as such it warranted certain attention, especially due to the participation of such a chivalric figure as Charles XII.
[3] Russian official newspaper established in 1702.
[4] Dutch newspaper published in Haarlem since 1656.
[5] In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was the leading news source in the country.
[6] These were reports to King Charles personally with the excerpts published by his order, which made it hard to discredit them without causing a diplomatic scandal.
[7] Actually, I don’t know if they were brothers or cousins but this is not really relevant.
[8] In OTL a future fieldmarshal 😂
[9] Kremlin’s Armory had been full of the expensive Eastern weaponry and other valuable stuff

​

 

[alexmilman]

30. Fun ends, serious business starts….


Below is a map of coming war’s theater. It is rather short on the names so: the right-most river is Dniester, the next one Prut and one at the bottom is the Danube.

The Russian border & occupation (by the end of 1707 campaign) is by the Dniester including Bender on the right bank.

In the late 1707 Menshikov’s army is holding front from Ochakov on the Black Sea to the North from Bender and Shetemetev’s army, after leaving the garrisons in the Crimea, is marching to take positions to the North of it all the way to fortress of Khotyn on the other bank of the Dniester.

The main and well-known problems which the Russians are going to face in the coming campaign are not the Ottomans (they are still a formidable opponent but with the known weaknesses) but combination of the supplies shortages and permanently going epidemics in the Danube Principalities against which there is no effective defense.

Edit: The main strategic goal was to protect the conquests made in 1707, ideally, extend them to the Prut River and to fought the Ottomans into the situation when they are forced to accept these losses. Operations on the territories beyond the Prut have to be purely military without any goals regarding their annexation or bringing them within the Russian sphere of influence. Whatever agreements have to be made with the locals, they are not to be considered binding (if necessary, the persons involved could be provided a refuge and appropriate accommodations in Russia ). Everything beyond tze Prut is going to be a bargaining chip.

So far, the chosen short-term strategy is to wait for the Ottoman approach on the left bank of the Dniester, preparing the means for a fast crossing and gathering supplies on the Russian territory, and then crossing fast and attacking energetically at a relatively short distance thus minimizing potential losses from the diseases and efforts needed for the food and forage collection in Moldavia and Wallachia [1]. Operations of the 1st (Sheremetev) and 2nd (Menshikov) armies should be coordinated in such a way that the Ottoman attention and forces had to switch from one sector of the front to another allowing the Russians to exploit the operational opportunities. Peter’s spiel about the need of cooperation and the dire consequences in the case of its absence had been met with two blank stares (“Are you talking about us? When it was the last time when we did not cooperate?”) so the oration had been abruptly interrupted at the most interesting point [2] and conversation turned back to the practical issues.

Troops has to be provided with the comfortable winter quarters and adequate supplies to cut health-related losses to the minimum. The supply system will be using the Dnieper and Dniester as the major routes with the major supply depots established in the space between these two rivers, fortified and supplied with the adequate garrisons against possible enemy’s raids. The locals with their wagons are to be mobilized for bringing supplies to the front.

Fortifications of Ochakov are to be repaired, the city garrisoned and some of the available fleet brought into it to be used based upon the situation. The Greeks of the Crimea and the Black Sea coast should be persuaded in using their naval skills and ships for helping with the supplies delivery and, equally important, the piratical activities on the Black Sea. Apraxin has to think about recruiting them and supplying them with the needed weapons.


As far as the Ottomans themselves had been involved, the main problem was their cavalry. The Ottoman “regulars” had better horses than their Russian counterparts and, on average, had been better horsemen. Then, there were the Tatars of Mehmed Giray. After the last campaign he could raise between 35 and 40,000 as a combination of the Edisan and Budjack hordes and the Cossacks of Orlik (including those from the Sich). Their main value was in ability to impede the foraging operations by harassing the small Russian detachments. On a cheerful (for the Russians 🤣) side was an absence of the discipline: these superb horsemen still tended to act as the individuals with a stress upon the personal valor. If their charge is repelled, they’ll most probably gallop away in disorder.
However, it was quite clear that there will be a need in a reasonably numerous and effective irregular cavalry. The Ukrainian Cossacks did not perform impressively during the last campaign but those of the Don did so both in the Crimea (they were among those storming the Arabat fortress) and in the Kuban against Nogays [3] so 5,000 of them had been sent to the Dniester. In addition to them Ayuka Khan volunteered to sent 15,000 Kalmyks (for which Peter presented him with a beautiful bejeweled sword). Unfortunately, the unit of the Crimean Tatars was only in a process of creation and its reliability in the present scenario would be questionable.

The obvious (to everybody concerned) problem with this strategy was the obvious fact that it is hardly going to be productive in the terms of forcing the Ottomans to agree to the peace talks and serious territorial concessions in a near future.

As a result, strategy of the second stage assumed, after destroying most of the Ottoman armies close to the border, to launch a fast advance deep into the Ottoman territory bypassing their fortifications in Bulgaria and just pushing ahead until the Sultan is scared enough to ask for the peace. The obvious issue of the supplies is still a problem, which can be resolved by the “Swedish-style” warfare [4] and, in the ideal case scenario, the Azov flotilla, now renamed into the Black Sea fleet, will be able to provide at least some supplies. The battleships of the fleet have to try an aggressive operations against the fleet which the Ottomans may to deploy on the Black Sea.

This was, of course, quite opportunistic plan but better than a single complicated pre-set plan which was inevitably going to fall apart after meeting the first obstacle.








________________
[1] Their clergy and perhaps even population may cheer arrival of the Russians but their enthusiasm is not going to be extended all the way to sharing the supplies. During the war of 1769-74 this was a big problem (and one of the very few military activities in which Potemkin, then only a mid-rank officer, proved to be very competent and efficient😂 ). And the diseases kept devastating the Russian armies operating in the region all the way to 1877 when it was crossed very fast.
[2] Usually, Peter was quite inventive when explaining what exactly he is going to do to the people and his mixture or the Russian expletives, terminology picked up from the Dutch sailors and some British and German ….er… “idioms” made listening quite fascinating to the new audience. But Sheremetev and Menshikov had been listening his speeches for years and, to be fair, in Sheremetev’s presence he was usually cutting the “literary part” to a bare minimum making them much less entertaining.
[3] Strictly speaking, the Budjack and Edisan hordes also had been the Nogays,
[4] An idea that the Orthodox population of Bulgaria is going unselfishly spare the food which it still left after passage of the Ottomans was not even brought due to its obvious absurdity.

 

[X Oristos]

The Greeks of the Crimea and the Black Sea coast should be persuaded in using their naval skills and ships for helping with the supplies delivery and, equally important, the piratical activities on the Black Sea. Apraxin has to think about recruiting them and supplying them with the needed weapons.

I am under the impression that the local Crimean Greeks (both greek speakers and tatar and turkish speakers) would have had a great tradition in seafaring. When they were moved to Mariupol by Catherine, they mostly took up agriculture. So, currently there are no Greeks with maritime expertise, just industrious peasants : the Mariupol Greeks quickly established vineyards, mulberry orchards and tobacco plantations.

However, as soon as the war is over, Greeks will flock to the Black Sea ports as they did in OTL. To quote from the book "Odessa Recollected":

Many other foreigners came to Odessa to make a fortune in exporting the golden grain from the steppes. The most visible of these were the Greek émigrés who answered the siren call of the seaport. Within four years of the establishment of the city, at least forty Greek families resided in Odessa, which one Greek described as the land of “milk and honey” because trade flourished and the rule was mild. These prosperous families soon built their own Greek theater, commercial school, and benevolent societies. The Ralli, Rodokanaki, Scaramanga, Serafino, Mavrokordato, Iannopulo, Christodoulou, Mavros, Papudov, Zarifi, Paleologos, Inglesi, and Marazli families were among the pioneers in the grain trade. They took advantage of far-flung family members in Mediterranean and European seaports, Venice, Trieste, Livorno, Marseille and others for commercial intelligence and help in selling Russian grain to be transformed into French bread and Italian pasta. By 1832 most of the forty export firms in Odessa were in Greek hands, some worth as much as a million rubles, but most valued between 50,000 and 100,000 rubles.

As early as 1817, three Greek insurance companies were established in the city. These companies, which also served as benevolent aid societies, supported a Greek commercial school. The school, which opened in November 1817, with great fanfare—Governor- General Langeron, the metropolitan and all the Greek notables were in attendance— instructed Greek youth not only in commercial subjects, but also in Russian, ancient and modern Greek, religion, natural sciences, humanities, and Italian. It soon enjoyed the reputation of being the second-best school in Odessa, after the Richelieu Lyceum. Supported entirely by the local Greek community, it attracted students from other Greek colonies and from the homeland itself.

Now in OTL, Odessa was founded in 1794 and by 1805 the exports from Odessa amounted to 3,4m rubles. However, the Napoleonic Wars were a terrific business opportunity. Even so, if a major port is founded by Peter in the 1710s, by the 1730s it can significantly boost trade.

 

[alexmilman]

I am under the impression that the local Crimean Greeks (both greek speakers and tatar and turkish speakers) would have had a great tradition in seafaring. When they were moved to Mariupol by Catherine, they mostly took up agriculture. So, currently there are no Greeks with maritime expertise, just industrious peasants : the Mariupol Greeks quickly established vineyards, mulberry orchards and tobacco plantations.

You lost me: you started with saying that the Crimean Greeks had a seafaring tradition and your next sentence is about those migrated during Catherine’s reign, which is irrelevant in the context because there is no time for the migration (the war is going on and we are talking about months, not years) and Russia does not have any functioning Black Sea ports, yet. Definitely, there is no Odessa. 😜

However, as soon as the war is over, Greeks will flock to the Black Sea ports as they did in OTL. To quote from the book "Odessa Recollected":





Now in OTL, Odessa was founded in 1794 and by 1805 the exports from Odessa amounted to 3,4m rubles. However, the Napoleonic Wars were a terrific business opportunity. Even so, if a major port is founded by Peter in the 1710s, by the 1730s it can significantly boost trade.

 

[X Oristos]

You lost me: you started with saying that the Crimean Greeks had a seafaring tradition and your next sentence is about those migrated during Catherine’s reign, which is irrelevant in the context because there is no time for the migration (the war is going on and we are talking about months, not years) and Russia does not have any functioning Black Sea ports, yet. Definitely, there is no Odessa. 😜

Well I lost you because I had basically a brain fart: I wanted to write from the beginning that the original Crimean Greeks were peasants and did not have a seafaring tradition. And as you very accurately mentioned, I did not make sense at all

Bottomline: local Greeks = peasants, migrating Greeks from the Ottoman Empire= maritime trade.

Well it doesn't really matter if there is no Odessa. The Russians will need a major port in the Black Sea and Azov if pretty bad as a major port. In any place that a major port is established, Greeks, Armenians, Jews and Italians will flock to take advantage of trade opportunities. But yeah, I am talking about the near future and not the current war.

 

[alexmilman]

Well I lost you because I had basically a brain fart: I wanted to write from the beginning that the original Crimean Greeks were peasants and did not have a seafaring tradition. And as you very accurately mentioned, I did not make sense at all

Bottomline: local Greeks = peasants, migrating Greeks from the Ottoman Empire= maritime trade.

I’m not sure about this. The Crimea had some actively functioning ports and (IIRC, can check), the Greeks had been playing an active role in the trade. Plus, the Khanate had a reasonably developed “fishing industry” with its products being exported to the Ottoman Enpire. Taking into an account that a majority of these fishermen definitely were not the Tatars and that there were not too many Turks outside the port cities, it leaves us with the Greeks, Armenians, Karaims and the former/existing slaves. Out of this list, it is known that, among other things the Greeks had been active in the seafaring. Of course there were the Greeks who lived inside the Peninsula and had been the peasants but there were also the Greeks who lived on the Ottoman-held port cities (the Khanate had a single port, Eupatoria). Most of them had been the Ottoman subjects and many of them had been engaged in the naval activities.

Well it doesn't really matter if there is no Odessa. The Russians will need a major port in the Black Sea and Azov if pretty bad as a major port. In any place that a major port is established, Greeks, Armenians, Jews and Italians will flock to take advantage of trade opportunities. But yeah, I am talking about the near future and not the current war.

Don’t put cart ahead of the horse. 😜 Before creating the ports on the Black Sea, they have to hold the region during the war (the Ottomans are going to try to get it back) and then to get it permanently as a part of a peace deal and I did not yet start the war seriously (and have to plan it on both sides so Odessa has to wait. 😂😂😜

 

[alexmilman]

31. The first moves

[Sorry, can’t download the really good map pf the theater, it is too big. So, it is either one of the previous chapter or, if you are really interested in all geographic names, here is the link to not-cooperating one: https://www.historicpictoric.com/pr...EwqSnUDQcDxoAWlnPZUPXCNFLU5Cc-7YaAhc-EALw_wcB ]

The Russian side (from West to East):
1. Sheremetev’s army (Moldavian Army) - approximately 50,000 regulars (31,000 infantry in 3 divisions and 19,000 cavalry in 4 cavalry divisions) with 96 field guns and brigade of the siege artillery (32 guns). After leaving troops to defend the Crimea, it was strengthened by 20,000 regular troops mostly added to the existing divisions and it also received 5,000 Cossacks of Don and 5,000 Kalmyks. Holds front along the Dniester from Khotyn (Choczin) to Bender. The most important update of the command structure: Michael Golitsin is made a commander of the former Weide’s division.
2. Menshikov’s army (Bessarabian Army) - approximately 25,000 regulars (2 infantry and 1 cavalry division) with 64 field guns. Plus, 10,000 Ukrainian Mounted Landmilitia and 10,000 Kalmyks. Holds front on the Dniester from Bender to the Black Sea. Can be helped by a part of the Black Sea fleet (mostly the light ships of the former Azov Flotilla) based in Ochakov and so-called “Dnieper flotilla”, couple thousands loyal Zaporizhian Cossacks on their boats [1].
3. Crimean general-governorship. Governor-General Prince Yakov Dolgoruky,
[important info: Rurikovich in XXIV generation [2] but, notwithstanding such a handicap, a very intelligent and capable person. Peter’s loyalist since 1682. Held various administrative positions during Sophia’s regency. In 1687 had been sent on a diplomatic mission to France and Spain. Since 1701 head of Prikaz of the Military Affairs (appointments of the military personnel, raising the troops, commissariat, etc.) with a rank of “general-kriegscommisar”. Spent some time in Sweden getting familiar with the state institutions and then serving as Peter’s “consultant” on the subject [3]. A rare bird: absolutely honest person and formulated his approach to the service as “The truth is Tsar’s best servant” [4]. Taking into an account the general delicacy of the situation in the Crimea, Peter needed there a governor who is not going to start alienating the locals by the “traditional” looting and extortions and competent enough to organize an effective defense against the probable Ottoman attacks and the local fifth column. ]

The forces in his disposal: 20,000 regular troops and 3,000 Don Cossacks. Plus, out of the local Greek population of approximately 32,000 he started formation of 4 Greek battalions and of the Crimean Tatar regiment of approximately 1,000 [5].

As a military commander of these forces Dolgoruky has Weide: his failing health prevented him from participation in the planned campaign on the Dniester but he should be able to handle the defense of the Crimea.


4. There were garrison troops on the coast of the Azov Sea all the way to the Kuban River and on Taman Peninsula. Fortifications of Kerch and Taman had been strengthened to keep the strait under artillery fire and, in the case of Taman, to repel a possible attack from the land. Enough of the small craft had been kept in Kerch to allow a speedy transfer of the reinforcements to Taman the newly built Taman fortress.

Navy:
The Don Flotilla, had been based in Kafa to prevent enemy’s penetration into the Azov Sea. They should be covering all coast from Kerch to Balaklava. It included 12 “newly-invented ships” [6], 5 prams (floating battery), 4 auxiliary ships, 44 “military boats”, and 48 small boats. Later during the war 1 32-guns frigate and 5 transports had been added.

The Black Sea fleet based in Ochakov included 9 ships of the line, 5 frigates and small ships.

The Ottoman side.

The main Ottoman army under command of the Grand Vizier Baltadj Mehmed Pasha was being assembled on the right bank of the Danube. On paper it amounted to 120,000 (80,000 infantry and 40,000 cavalry) with 300 artillery pieces [7].

Besides this army, there were up to 35,000 Ottomans and 20,000 Tatars at Khotyn and 20,000 more Tatars on the right bank of the lower Dniester.

Not to be forgotten, there was also Polish confederacy in Podolia [8]. Not that it represented any significant threat to anybody besides the local peasants who had to feed the confederates, but it was there and August could do little about it because the Sejm, after the LNW experience, was refusing to give him any funds and by the Treaty of Warsaw the Saxon troops could not enter the PLC territory. As a result, there was a small-scale across-the-border entertainment in which couple Landmilitia regiments had been happily involved.

In the rear, at Varna, the Ottoman fleet had been slowly assembled (money, money, money) to conduct landings in the Kuban, Crimea and wherever else it will be feasible.

Vizier’s general plan roughly looked as following:
1. Defeat and completely annihilate the Russians located along the Dniester.
2. Keep advancing to the Dnieper with an ultimate goal to capture Kiev. The confederates will help advancing from the Podolia.
3. A smaller force, mostly the Tatars, will have to march into the Crimea supported by the local massive uprising and landing of the Ottoman troops. From here it should proceed to Azov being joined by the Nogays advancing from the Kuban.

The plan was as good as it gets and the Sultan approved it. What else do you need for a victory?

____________________
[1] To those who did not flee with Gordienko, substantial cookies had been promised: a preserved (if somewhat trimmed on the sides 😜 ) autonomy, regular salary, a privileged social status, etc.
[2] Which makes Peter a parvenue.
[3] In OTL was taken prisoner in 1700 and spent years in Stockholm where was overseeing money distribution among the Russian POWs. While his exchange (to Rehnskiold) kept being delayed, took over a ship on which he and 44 other prisoners had been transported to Umea and made it to the Russian-held Revel. So I just skipped some unnecessary details but not the important fact. 😜
[4] One of the very few people who dared to contradict Peter in public and get away with it. There was a famous case when he torn to pieces Peter’s ukaz saying that the Tsar would not want to upset him by insisting on implementation. Peter did not insist. 🤗
[5] In OTL these units had been created in the later times.
[6] An official name of the type of the ships designed specifically for the operations in the shallow Azov Sea. They were flat bottomed ships with 2 masts, draft at the full load - 2.6 - 2.75 meters. Their armament included: 2 3 poud mortairs, 2 1 poud hiwitzers, 14 10-pounders and 4 3-pounders (on some of these ships there were 12- and 14-pounder guns). A small draft was allowing them to go without problem from the shallow part of the Don to the Sea of Azov and operate in its coastal waters. Of course, their seagoing qualities had been low.
[7] When it comes to the assessment of the Ottoman forces in the Russian-Ottoman wars up to post-1820s, we have to keep in mind a “double BS” situation: on one hand, the Ottomans tended to exaggerate their numbers all the way to absolutely fantastic (400 - 600,000) both to underscore the might of the Ottoman Empire and (as far as the leadership on all level was involved), to pocket the difference between the claimed and real expenses. OTOH, they had been actively corroborated by their Russian counterparts who could easily turn 4,000 into 16,000 to emphasize greatness of their victories. Plus, even within the reasonably shrunk numbers, the Ottomans routinely had a high proportion of the non-combatants. There is one thing that we do know: Nappy did have very serious problems with managing 200-300,000 (and even less) highly disciplined and well-organized troops in the wide front campaigns and on a narrow front we have 1812. So, unless we have a bunch of the unrecognized military geniuses on the Ottoman side, probably certain self-restraint in assessment of their numbers is warranted. 😜
[8] With the Swedes and Russians gone, it was a good time to organize a confederation with an official goal being return of the lands lost in Ukraine. Not that the confederates had any realistic means to invade it but when impracticality had been stopping them? Anyway, there was a Big Ottoman Brother ready to help in this noble goal and all types of the trifles could be ignored.

 

[alexmilman]

31. Dances at the border

On May 21st the main Ottoman army crossed the Danube and on June 3rd the Prut. Vizier’s initial plan was to advance to the Bender against Menshikov but to prevent this from happening Sheremetev sent Golitsyn with his division and the Cossacks across the Dniester to imitate an attack on Khatin, garrison of which had been already suffering from the food shortages. The Vizier stopped his advance at Ryabaya Mogila and sent a corps under command of Moldavancha-Pasha to relieve Khatin. After few skirmishes, Golitsyn returned on the left bank of the Dniester. The whole episode was considered by the Ottomans as a victory, Vizier was replaced and executed for mismanagement, theft and high treason. The “hero of Khatyn”, Moldavancha-Pasha, was made a new vizier but attack on Menshikov did not materialize, which was an idea of the whole charade.

To live to his newly-acquired reputation, the new Vizier, who now had approximately 80,000 at Khotin, launched a series of attempts to cross the Dniester on August 6, 14, and 23. All of them had been repelled with the loss of more than 3,000 killed with the Russians losing 182 killed and 337 wounded. On the September 6 the Ottoman force of 12,000 (5,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry) occupied tete-de-pont on the left bank of the Dniester opposite to Khatin. At 9PM Sheremetev sent 14 battalions under M.Golitsin to attack the Ottomans with 3 infantry regiments as a reserve. In a bayonet charge under the cover of darkness the Ottoman detachment was mostly destroyed (killed, drowned, fleeing away) and its extermination continued until September 8th. In a meantime, preparation of the battery of 32 siege guns had been completed and under its fire the Ottomans had to evacuate their camp near Khatin and to retreat back to Ryabaya Mogila and Mehmed Giray had to follow. On September 9th the Russian troops entered abandoned Khotin without a fight taking 182 cannons as the trophies. The main problem for the Russian garrison left there was to bury numerous dead Ottomans (this took 12 days).

Vizier has to retreat to Jassy, his army suffering from the mass desertions. But in Jassy he found out that, while he was busy at Khotin, Menshikov crossed the Dniester, kicked the Tatar forces from Budzack and captured fortress of Ismail after which crossed the Danube and entered Dobrudzia endangering his retreat route. Vizier, being pressed by advancing Sheremetev and now by Menshikov as well, had to run abandoning his baggage train, artillery and most of the infantry, to cross the Siret River before trap is being closed. He managed to do this on October 1st with less than 30,000. Moldavia and Budzack had been lost.

For the winter the Russians established perimeter by the Prut and lower Danube. Huge effort of bringing all types of the supplies by the land and sea started.The first stage was implemented according to the plan and the care had to be taken that when the next year the new Ottoman army (with a brand new Vizier 😂) will materialize, it is going to met the well-rested and well-supplied troops ready to beat it again. Probably, this time the major battles would be unavoidable.

Elsewhere:

On May 29th captain Sukhotin with a squadron of 1 32-gun frigate, 4 “newly-invented” ships and 1 «бот» (whatever the proper English term)

discovered in Kiziotash Liman (delta of the Kuban River) 18 Ottoman ships including 6 big ones. All the big ones had been put on fire and the small ones fled up the river. The next day he burned one and captured one Ottoman transport ship and on June 8th attacked one more transport convoy burning 2 more ships.

On June 21th 2 of the “newly-invented” ships, «Корон» and «Таганрог», under command of the captain 2nd Rank Kingsbergen, been fixing minor problems at Balaklava when report about approaching big Ottoman ship had been received. On 22nd Kingsbergen led his ships out to intercept the enemy. Due to the shortage of the crews he had to mobilize the local Greeks, including those who previously served in the Ottoman navy [1]. On 23rd it was discovered that there are 2 frigates 54-gun frigates, one 36-gun frigate and 24-gun ship with a landing party. After 6 hours long artillery duel the Ottomans, who heavily suffered from a precise fire, had been forced to turn away. For the next two days Kingsbergen was sailing along the coast and on 25th returned to Balaklava scoring the 1st Russian naval victory at this war.

In August it became known that the Ottomans are preparing in Sinop a fleet to land troops on the Crimea and trigger revolt of the Crimean Tatars. The most probable destination point of this fleet was the Ottoman fortress Sudzuk-Kale [2].

Commander of the Don Flotilla, vice-admiral Senyavin sent there a squadron under command of captain Kingsbergen: 1 frigate, 4 “newly-invented” ships (one of which had been sent to Kerch for repairs on August 22nd) and 2 «бот» [3], total of 70-80 guns. On August 23 they met the Ottoman squadron: 3 ships of the line (60-80:guns each), 4 frigates, 3 sciabecco and 8 transports with the troops (6,000). After 2 hours of fighting the Ottomans got to Sudzuk-Kale but, their commander did not risk landing in the Crimea and returned to Sinop.

All these operations disorganized the Ottoman attempts to organize landings in the Crimea and on Kuban. Russian advantage in the efficiency of the artillery fire (and in close to insanity readiness to attack against the huge odds) became clear. But it also became obvious that the Russian ships had been lacking in speed [4].


The Black Sea fleet did little besides securing the naval supply shipments from the mouth of Dnieper to the mouth of the Dniester and tgen the Danube, which was, actually, a big deal taking into an account the anticipated supply issues. [5] It was not strong enough to start attacking targets on the Ottoman coast.

_________
[1] Sorry, @X Oristos , this really happened at the naval battle of Balaklava in 1773 so there were obviously sea-going Greeks. 😂
[2] Near modern Novorossiisk.
[3] Small, single-mast ship of approximately 60 tons with 6-8 small caliber guns.
[4] One of the reasons was Russian “do it fast” approach as a result of which the ships had been constructed of the wood which was not properly dried.
[5] In the mouth of the Dnieper Peter ordered construction of the fort, to serve as a supply depot, and the wharf for tge future base of the Black Sea fleet.

 

[redfire]

I am really enjoying this. I wonder if Sweden can maintain itself as a great power in the long term, or if it will fall off like OTL. I think it needs to secure more land and population to be relevant in the future.

As far as Russia and the Ottoman war, not much to say besides I love to see it.

 

[X Oristos]

[1] Sorry, @X Oristos , this really happened at the naval battle of Balaklava in 1773 so there were obviously sea-going Greeks.

Oh I m glad that I learned something new today!
The update was also once again excellent.

 

[alexmilman]

I am really enjoying this. I wonder if Sweden can maintain itself as a great power in the long term, or if it will fall off like OTL. I think it needs to secure more land and population to be relevant in the future.

IMO the notion of the Great Power is a little bit overused. In this TL Sweden definitely remains a major factor in the Baltic region militarily and economically. Securing more land is securing more trouble because it will inevitably step on somebody’s toes and you never know when it is one toe too many.
If the TL alliance holds in a “long term” then a tandem is a “Great Power” even without Swedish territorial expansion.

As far as Russia and the Ottoman war, not much to say besides I love to see it.

Thanks.

 

[alexmilman]

Oh I m glad that I learned something new today!

Just dig it out myself: until starting with that war I had no clue that these encounters even take place.

The update was also once again excellent.

 

[McAuslan_in_the_Rough]

OTOH, they had been actively corroborated by their Russian counterparts who could easily turn 4,000 into 16,000 to emphasize greatness of their victories.

"Write down some more enemy casualties, no need to take pity on the heathens."

The smaller units of the Russian navy are doing very well, I wonder how the ships of the line will match up against the Ottomans. Is TTL's Peter going to be as cautious about using them as OTL's was against the Swedes? If they score some victories against even numbers, it could lead to a more aggressive culture being developed in the Russian navy.

Also curious whether anyone else will want to jump in the war. I know the big powers are all occupied, but Venice's relations with the Porte are not great and if the Ottoman fleet moves to the Black Sea and gets a drubbing there while the Ottoman land forces take some more defeats, it might become tempting.

 

[alexmilman]

"Write down some more enemy casualties, no need to take pity on the heathens."

The smaller units of the Russian navy are doing very well, I wonder how the ships of the line will match up against the Ottomans. Is TTL's Peter going to be as cautious about using them as OTL's was against the Swedes? If they score some victories against even numbers, it could lead to a more aggressive culture being developed in the Russian navy.

Actually, that “culture” was quite aggressive. Look at their operations against the Ottomans in XVIII-XIX centuries.

Also curious whether anyone else will want to jump in the war. I know the big powers are all occupied, but Venice's relations with the Porte are not great and if the Ottoman fleet moves to the Black Sea and gets a drubbing there while the Ottoman land forces take some more defeats, it might become tempting.

The Ottomans are not going to move all their fleet to the Black Sea because this would be too risky. OTOH, the Russians still don’t get enough numbers and can’t build a dozen or so ships of the line overnight and train their crews. There could be some aggressive actions of the battle fleet but I need to work this out based upon the OTL “prototypes”.

 

[McAuslan_in_the_Rough]

Actually, that “culture” was quite aggressive. Look at their operations against the Ottomans in XVIII-XIX centuries.

One of the many reasons I am loving your work is that it is demolishing the stereotypes I had. Excited to see where it goes!

 

[alexmilman]

One of the many reasons I am loving your work is that it is demolishing the stereotypes I had. Excited to see where it goes!

I wish I knew myself. 😂

 

[IvanVII]

I think Peter will be able to convince the Circassians to oppose the Ottomans, or at least against the Nogai. Moreover, there is one interesting young man with three names in his entourage ..

 

[redfire]

IMO the notion of the Great Power is a little bit overused. In this TL Sweden definitely remains a major factor in the Baltic region militarily and economically. Securing more land is securing more trouble because it will inevitably step on somebody’s toes and you never know when it is one toe too many.
If the TL alliance holds in a “long term” then a tandem is a “Great Power” even without Swedish territorial expansion.

Thanks.

I can see what you mean, though I used Great Power as a shorthand for a general idea. I really was thinking specifically about their military capability to resist other “Great Powers.” Historically as you know Sweden’s ability to defend itself really fell off over time, much like Spain or the Netherlands. Against Russia or a United Germany, Sweden of our 20th century would be toast. Even a stronger Sweden would be unlikely to be able to beat either of those nations (if Germany unites) but the power balance could be a lot closer. Great power has a bunch of other connotations a lot of which have to do with perception rather than reality, so maybe I should have used a different term.

 

[Valena]

Бот is spelled boot, this being a loanword from Dutch language.

Other than this, you continue to deliever quality stuff for enjoyment,