Just caught up with this - just wanted to say that I'm enjoying it and that I'm impressed by the amount of work you've obviously put into it.
You have a way with words
No GNW (or “Peter goes South”)
- Thread starter alexmilman
- Start date
Domestic affairs (cont)
23. Domestic Affairs (cont.)
[interlude “back to OTL”:
Just to provide OTL’s general background allowing to get a better idea of what we are dealing with
«Предписано было везти к Петербургу вышневолоцкою системою дубовый лес для балтийского флота: … это драгоценное дубье, среди которого иное бревно ценилось тогдашних рублей во сто, целыми горами валялось по берегам и островам Ладожского озера, полузанесенное песком, потому что указы не предписывали освежать напоминаниями утомленную память преобразователя…»
Ключевский
(It was ordered to carry to Petersburg by Vyshnevolotskaya system the oak timber for the Baltic fleet: … this precious material, of which some logs had value of 100 rubles, had been piled in the whole mountains along the Ladoga Lake and on its islands, half buried under the sand, because the rescripts did not contain the instructions regarding refreshing a tired memory of the reformer).
All forests near Voronezh had been cut down for the fleet construction, turning area into the steppe. But only a small fraction of this material had been used and the rest was just laying all over the place rotting.
And, speaking of a tired memory, here are just very few of Peter’s “jewels”:
«В ГОСТИ ПРИДЯ, С РАСПОЛОЖЕНИЕМ ДОМА ОЗНАКОМЬСЯ ЗАРАНЕЕ НА ЛЕГКУЮ ГОЛОВУ, ОСОБЛИВО ОТМЕТИВ РАСПОЛОЖЕНИЕ КЛОЗЕТОВ, А СВЕДЕНИЯ ЭТИ В ТУ ЧАСТЬ РАЗУМА ОТЛОЖИ, КОЯ ВИНИЩУ МЕНЕЕ ОСТАЛЬНЫХ ПОДВЛАСТНА».
(When coming with a visit, while still sober, start with familiarizing yourself with a house especially location of the toilets, a keep that information secure in a part of your brain which is the least impacted by alcohol)
«БЕДУ ПОЧУЯВ, НЕ ПАНИКУЙ, НО СКОРЫМ ШАГОМ СЛЕДУЙ В МЕСТО УПОМЯНУТОЕ, ПО ДОРОГЕ НЕ МЕШКАЯ И ВСЕ СИЛЫ УПОТРЕБЛЯЯ НА СОДЕРЖАНИЕ В КРЕПОСТИ ЗЛОДЕЙСКИ ПРЕДАВШЕГО ТЕБЯ БРЮХА».
(When feeing yourself in trouble, don’t panic but in a fast step proceed to the place mentioned using all efforts to keep under control your treasonous stomach)
«НАМИ ЗАМЕЧЕНО, ЧТО ПО НЕВСКОЙ ПЕРШПЕКТИВЕ И В АСАМБЛЕЯХ НЕДОРОСЛИ ОТЦОВ ИМЕНИТЫХ В НАРУШЕНИЕ ЭТИКЕТУ РЕГЛАМЕНТУ ШТИЛЯ, В ГИШПАНСКИХ КАМЗОЛАХ И ПАНТАЛОНАХ С МИШУРОЮ ЩЕГОЛЯЮТ ПРЕДЕРЗКО.
ГОСПОДИНУ ПОЛИЦМЕЙСТЕРУ САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГА УКАЗЫВАЮ ВПРЕДЬ ОНЫХ ЩЕГОЛЕЙ С РВЕНИЕМ ВЕЛИКИМ ВЫЛАВЛИВАТЬ, СВОДИТЬ В ЛИТЕЙНУЮ ЧАСТЬ И БИТЬ КНУТОМ, ПОКА ОТ ГИШПАНСКИХ ПАНТАЛОН ЗЕЛО ПОХАБНЫЙ ВИД НЕ ОКАЖЕТСЯ. НА ЗВАНИЕ И ИМЕНИТОСТЬ НЕ ВЗИРАТЬ, ТАКО ЖЕ НА ВОПЛИ НАКАЗУЕМЫХ.
(It came to our attention that on the Nevsky Perspective and in the Assemblies the young sons of the distinguished fathers, in a violation of the style regalement, are arrogantly appearing in the Spanish-style camisoles and pantaloons. [1]
I’m ordering the head of St-Petersburg police in the future to hunt down eagerly these dandies and beat them with a knout until the costume is completely destroyed, disregarding their social position and the cries as well.)
«ПОДЧИНЕННЫЙ ПЕРЕД ЛИЦОМ НАЧАЛЬСТВУЮЩИМ ДОЛЖЕН ИМЕТЬ ВИД ЛИХОЙ И ПРИДУРКОВАТЫЙ, ДАБЫ РАЗУМЕНИЕМ СВОИМ НЕ СМУЩАТЬ НАЧАЛЬСТВО».
(A subordinate, when facing his superiors must present an appearance brave and idiotic, so that the superiors are not being confused by his mental capacities) [2]
«ВПРЕДЬ УКАЗУЮ ГОСПОДАМ СЕНАТОРАМ РЕЧЬ В ПРИСУТСТВИИ ДЕРЖАТЬ НЕ ПО ПИСАННОМУ, А ТОКМО СВОИМИ СЛОВАМИ, ДАБЫ ДУРЬ КАЖДОГО ВИДНА БЫЛА ВСЯКОМУ».
(I’m ordering the Senators during the official proceedings to talk with a prepared paper but only with their own words so that stupidity of each of them would be obvious to everybody). [3]
A lot can be said about Peter’s canal projects: while idea of connecting the Russian river-based trade system by the canals was solid, most of its implementation during Peter’s time was a failure, mostly due to “first do then think approach”. Take the (old) Ladoga canal. It was/is 117 km long and its construction lasted from 1719 till 1730. In 1723, 4 years and 2 millions rubles later, Peter personally inspected the construction and ordered to arrest a person in charge (Menshikov’s appointee, to be sure). Munnich was put in charge [4] and in 1726 the 1st section (29 km long) was open to traffic, in 1730, and in spring 1731 the first boats were able to sail along the canal between the Volkhov River and the Neva River. A tiny problem: the depth of canal was less than 1 meter (Peter “envisioned” it to be deeper but never bothered to check). This was not too bad because most of the commercial traffic had been done by the small flat-bottomed barges “propelled” by the humans or by the rafts.
But it was silted up so badly that AII’s government decided that it was more practicable to build a new canal instead of repairing the old facilities. The New Ladoga Canal was built closer to Lake Ladoga between 1861 and 1866 parallel to the old one (closer to the lake) did not require the sluices, was wider (37 meters) and deeper (3 meters on average). Keep in mind that in 1861 the equipment available for the construction was mostly the same as in 1700s and then try to figure out (a) why a better route (meters away) was not chosen from the very beginning and (b) why nobody (Peter including) bothered to check the depth?
Or, during his travel to France Peter was impressed by the French silk production and immediately decided to have his own silk manufacture. As soon as his wish became known, Menshikov, Shafirov and Tolstoy (sum total of the “moral qualities” = 0 or less) volunteered to create a silk manufacture. They got a big “assistance” from the state, a freedom from taxation for the next 50 years and a right of the free silk import from abroad. In no time they sold the “enterprise”. Shouldn’t Peter know that all three of them had been absolutely lacking any relevant experience?
To make the long story short, we can change Peter but will it be enough?
]
With all ongoing entertainment Peter found himself in a need to address two fundamental problems that so far looked almost mutually exclusive:
1. Seriously increase state expenses (army, fleet, construction of all types)
2. Not to destroy population financially [5].
Expenses on #1 had to be kept under a strict control [6] and some of the “experiments” to be abandoned. First on the list was a wharf on Ladoga. It was replaced by a new one in St.Petersburg. All wood collected and stored on the Ladoga shores was counted and sent to St. Petersburg. The new wharf started with building a number of the big Dutch-style flyuts to carry the Russian exports to Sweden and then, hopefully, to the Netherlands. Riga and Danzig were doing great selling the grain and Peter decided to abolish the old restrictions on its exports. Few warships will be, eventually, necessary but as of right now the smaller craft built on Ladoga and even in Archangelsk together with the newly-built fortification s pf the Kotlyn Island and between it and a coast were adequate for the task of defending the port. Port itself, after relatively expensive and labor-consuming task of preparing the ground, did not involve the major expenses because, with the exception of few administrative building, barracks for the garrison and state-owned warehouses, most of the construction had been conducted by the “interested parties”, aka, Russian and foreign merchants, artisans, etc.
Unfortunately, Voronezh remained a big problem without solution: ability of the relatively big ships (from 50 guns and up) to make from it to the Sea of Azov was fully dependent upon the water level in the Voronezh and Don rivers and, as of right now most of the ships of the line of Azov flotilla had been standing in Tarnov awaiting for it to raise. Unfortunately, in the existing circumstances nothing could be done about an alternative wharf: it had to be on the Black Sea and preferably, in a mouth of a reasonably big river.
Expensive administrative construction in Moscow ws kept to a minimum and partially had been covered by the “voluntary donations” of the aristocrats and rich merchants. Even a new modern Tsar’s residence in Kremlin was a relatively modest affair just adequate for the intended purpose.
As Peter saw it, the important component of increasing state income was going to be a greatly expanded export. Of course, mercantilism also implied a protectionism but Peter was somewhat ambivalent: reasonably high but not prohibitive tariffs on the imported luxury goods (to which there was no Russian competition, anyway) would provide gold and silver while those with the Russian analogs would be more expensive than those domestically produced (and also bring him cash) and competition may force the local producers to improve rather than just sit there enjoying monopoly. Nomenclature of the exports started changing: iron (up to 13% of total export cost), sailcloth and cables (instead of flax and hemp), timber and steadily increasing volumes of grain.
Effectiveness of the taxation was increased by shifting collection of the taxes from voyevodas to the elected “burmisters”. However, a significant increase of the revenues was achieved by introducing a lot of the new fees, from a mandatory usage of the special paper “with the eagle” for all types of the official communications and all the way to a tax on the oak coffins and, not to be forgotten, income from selling vodka.
[Fundamental difference with OTL is that Peter is not trying to put everything under the state control, thus pretty much killing or at least severely handicapping development of the free enterprises. Except for a few “strategic areas” the state interference is minimal or absent in in the “strategic” ones the “government sector” (enterprises directly owned by the state) is quite small with a practice of transferring these enterprises to the high-placed court personages is absent: if they are failing, they are being sold to the “capitalists”.
Which does not mean that everything is nice: the enterprise owners have right to buy the serfs and in some cases they are given by the state.]
___________________
[1] Don’t know why but “Spanish-style” was referencing male costumes which were using expensive material, a lot of lace, gold, etc.
[2] Definitely makes a lot of sense, especially in the military. 😉
[3] A naive question is why are you appointing the fools in your Senate?
[4] And, in his usual style, liberally used the soldiers’ labor.
[5] In OTL he was busy exclusively with #1
[6] Including and especially activities of his “lieber Freund” Menshikov; actually, there could be advantages in having a designated “Thief #1”: from time to time he could be forced to return at least a part of the stolen amount: one such a revision found that he stole a sum amounting to 20-25% of the state annual budget so with a half of it being returned you are getting more than from a broader search for the much smaller amounts.
[interlude “back to OTL”:
Just to provide OTL’s general background allowing to get a better idea of what we are dealing with
«Предписано было везти к Петербургу вышневолоцкою системою дубовый лес для балтийского флота: … это драгоценное дубье, среди которого иное бревно ценилось тогдашних рублей во сто, целыми горами валялось по берегам и островам Ладожского озера, полузанесенное песком, потому что указы не предписывали освежать напоминаниями утомленную память преобразователя…»
Ключевский
(It was ordered to carry to Petersburg by Vyshnevolotskaya system the oak timber for the Baltic fleet: … this precious material, of which some logs had value of 100 rubles, had been piled in the whole mountains along the Ladoga Lake and on its islands, half buried under the sand, because the rescripts did not contain the instructions regarding refreshing a tired memory of the reformer).
All forests near Voronezh had been cut down for the fleet construction, turning area into the steppe. But only a small fraction of this material had been used and the rest was just laying all over the place rotting.
And, speaking of a tired memory, here are just very few of Peter’s “jewels”:
«В ГОСТИ ПРИДЯ, С РАСПОЛОЖЕНИЕМ ДОМА ОЗНАКОМЬСЯ ЗАРАНЕЕ НА ЛЕГКУЮ ГОЛОВУ, ОСОБЛИВО ОТМЕТИВ РАСПОЛОЖЕНИЕ КЛОЗЕТОВ, А СВЕДЕНИЯ ЭТИ В ТУ ЧАСТЬ РАЗУМА ОТЛОЖИ, КОЯ ВИНИЩУ МЕНЕЕ ОСТАЛЬНЫХ ПОДВЛАСТНА».
(When coming with a visit, while still sober, start with familiarizing yourself with a house especially location of the toilets, a keep that information secure in a part of your brain which is the least impacted by alcohol)
«БЕДУ ПОЧУЯВ, НЕ ПАНИКУЙ, НО СКОРЫМ ШАГОМ СЛЕДУЙ В МЕСТО УПОМЯНУТОЕ, ПО ДОРОГЕ НЕ МЕШКАЯ И ВСЕ СИЛЫ УПОТРЕБЛЯЯ НА СОДЕРЖАНИЕ В КРЕПОСТИ ЗЛОДЕЙСКИ ПРЕДАВШЕГО ТЕБЯ БРЮХА».
(When feeing yourself in trouble, don’t panic but in a fast step proceed to the place mentioned using all efforts to keep under control your treasonous stomach)
«НАМИ ЗАМЕЧЕНО, ЧТО ПО НЕВСКОЙ ПЕРШПЕКТИВЕ И В АСАМБЛЕЯХ НЕДОРОСЛИ ОТЦОВ ИМЕНИТЫХ В НАРУШЕНИЕ ЭТИКЕТУ РЕГЛАМЕНТУ ШТИЛЯ, В ГИШПАНСКИХ КАМЗОЛАХ И ПАНТАЛОНАХ С МИШУРОЮ ЩЕГОЛЯЮТ ПРЕДЕРЗКО.
ГОСПОДИНУ ПОЛИЦМЕЙСТЕРУ САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГА УКАЗЫВАЮ ВПРЕДЬ ОНЫХ ЩЕГОЛЕЙ С РВЕНИЕМ ВЕЛИКИМ ВЫЛАВЛИВАТЬ, СВОДИТЬ В ЛИТЕЙНУЮ ЧАСТЬ И БИТЬ КНУТОМ, ПОКА ОТ ГИШПАНСКИХ ПАНТАЛОН ЗЕЛО ПОХАБНЫЙ ВИД НЕ ОКАЖЕТСЯ. НА ЗВАНИЕ И ИМЕНИТОСТЬ НЕ ВЗИРАТЬ, ТАКО ЖЕ НА ВОПЛИ НАКАЗУЕМЫХ.
(It came to our attention that on the Nevsky Perspective and in the Assemblies the young sons of the distinguished fathers, in a violation of the style regalement, are arrogantly appearing in the Spanish-style camisoles and pantaloons. [1]
I’m ordering the head of St-Petersburg police in the future to hunt down eagerly these dandies and beat them with a knout until the costume is completely destroyed, disregarding their social position and the cries as well.)
«ПОДЧИНЕННЫЙ ПЕРЕД ЛИЦОМ НАЧАЛЬСТВУЮЩИМ ДОЛЖЕН ИМЕТЬ ВИД ЛИХОЙ И ПРИДУРКОВАТЫЙ, ДАБЫ РАЗУМЕНИЕМ СВОИМ НЕ СМУЩАТЬ НАЧАЛЬСТВО».
(A subordinate, when facing his superiors must present an appearance brave and idiotic, so that the superiors are not being confused by his mental capacities) [2]
«ВПРЕДЬ УКАЗУЮ ГОСПОДАМ СЕНАТОРАМ РЕЧЬ В ПРИСУТСТВИИ ДЕРЖАТЬ НЕ ПО ПИСАННОМУ, А ТОКМО СВОИМИ СЛОВАМИ, ДАБЫ ДУРЬ КАЖДОГО ВИДНА БЫЛА ВСЯКОМУ».
(I’m ordering the Senators during the official proceedings to talk with a prepared paper but only with their own words so that stupidity of each of them would be obvious to everybody). [3]
A lot can be said about Peter’s canal projects: while idea of connecting the Russian river-based trade system by the canals was solid, most of its implementation during Peter’s time was a failure, mostly due to “first do then think approach”. Take the (old) Ladoga canal. It was/is 117 km long and its construction lasted from 1719 till 1730. In 1723, 4 years and 2 millions rubles later, Peter personally inspected the construction and ordered to arrest a person in charge (Menshikov’s appointee, to be sure). Munnich was put in charge [4] and in 1726 the 1st section (29 km long) was open to traffic, in 1730, and in spring 1731 the first boats were able to sail along the canal between the Volkhov River and the Neva River. A tiny problem: the depth of canal was less than 1 meter (Peter “envisioned” it to be deeper but never bothered to check). This was not too bad because most of the commercial traffic had been done by the small flat-bottomed barges “propelled” by the humans or by the rafts.
But it was silted up so badly that AII’s government decided that it was more practicable to build a new canal instead of repairing the old facilities. The New Ladoga Canal was built closer to Lake Ladoga between 1861 and 1866 parallel to the old one (closer to the lake) did not require the sluices, was wider (37 meters) and deeper (3 meters on average). Keep in mind that in 1861 the equipment available for the construction was mostly the same as in 1700s and then try to figure out (a) why a better route (meters away) was not chosen from the very beginning and (b) why nobody (Peter including) bothered to check the depth?
Or, during his travel to France Peter was impressed by the French silk production and immediately decided to have his own silk manufacture. As soon as his wish became known, Menshikov, Shafirov and Tolstoy (sum total of the “moral qualities” = 0 or less) volunteered to create a silk manufacture. They got a big “assistance” from the state, a freedom from taxation for the next 50 years and a right of the free silk import from abroad. In no time they sold the “enterprise”. Shouldn’t Peter know that all three of them had been absolutely lacking any relevant experience?
To make the long story short, we can change Peter but will it be enough?
]
With all ongoing entertainment Peter found himself in a need to address two fundamental problems that so far looked almost mutually exclusive:
1. Seriously increase state expenses (army, fleet, construction of all types)
2. Not to destroy population financially [5].
Expenses on #1 had to be kept under a strict control [6] and some of the “experiments” to be abandoned. First on the list was a wharf on Ladoga. It was replaced by a new one in St.Petersburg. All wood collected and stored on the Ladoga shores was counted and sent to St. Petersburg. The new wharf started with building a number of the big Dutch-style flyuts to carry the Russian exports to Sweden and then, hopefully, to the Netherlands. Riga and Danzig were doing great selling the grain and Peter decided to abolish the old restrictions on its exports. Few warships will be, eventually, necessary but as of right now the smaller craft built on Ladoga and even in Archangelsk together with the newly-built fortification s pf the Kotlyn Island and between it and a coast were adequate for the task of defending the port. Port itself, after relatively expensive and labor-consuming task of preparing the ground, did not involve the major expenses because, with the exception of few administrative building, barracks for the garrison and state-owned warehouses, most of the construction had been conducted by the “interested parties”, aka, Russian and foreign merchants, artisans, etc.
Unfortunately, Voronezh remained a big problem without solution: ability of the relatively big ships (from 50 guns and up) to make from it to the Sea of Azov was fully dependent upon the water level in the Voronezh and Don rivers and, as of right now most of the ships of the line of Azov flotilla had been standing in Tarnov awaiting for it to raise. Unfortunately, in the existing circumstances nothing could be done about an alternative wharf: it had to be on the Black Sea and preferably, in a mouth of a reasonably big river.
Expensive administrative construction in Moscow ws kept to a minimum and partially had been covered by the “voluntary donations” of the aristocrats and rich merchants. Even a new modern Tsar’s residence in Kremlin was a relatively modest affair just adequate for the intended purpose.
As Peter saw it, the important component of increasing state income was going to be a greatly expanded export. Of course, mercantilism also implied a protectionism but Peter was somewhat ambivalent: reasonably high but not prohibitive tariffs on the imported luxury goods (to which there was no Russian competition, anyway) would provide gold and silver while those with the Russian analogs would be more expensive than those domestically produced (and also bring him cash) and competition may force the local producers to improve rather than just sit there enjoying monopoly. Nomenclature of the exports started changing: iron (up to 13% of total export cost), sailcloth and cables (instead of flax and hemp), timber and steadily increasing volumes of grain.
Effectiveness of the taxation was increased by shifting collection of the taxes from voyevodas to the elected “burmisters”. However, a significant increase of the revenues was achieved by introducing a lot of the new fees, from a mandatory usage of the special paper “with the eagle” for all types of the official communications and all the way to a tax on the oak coffins and, not to be forgotten, income from selling vodka.
[Fundamental difference with OTL is that Peter is not trying to put everything under the state control, thus pretty much killing or at least severely handicapping development of the free enterprises. Except for a few “strategic areas” the state interference is minimal or absent in in the “strategic” ones the “government sector” (enterprises directly owned by the state) is quite small with a practice of transferring these enterprises to the high-placed court personages is absent: if they are failing, they are being sold to the “capitalists”.
Which does not mean that everything is nice: the enterprise owners have right to buy the serfs and in some cases they are given by the state.]
___________________
[1] Don’t know why but “Spanish-style” was referencing male costumes which were using expensive material, a lot of lace, gold, etc.
[2] Definitely makes a lot of sense, especially in the military. 😉
[3] A naive question is why are you appointing the fools in your Senate?
[4] And, in his usual style, liberally used the soldiers’ labor.
[5] In OTL he was busy exclusively with #1
[6] Including and especially activities of his “lieber Freund” Menshikov; actually, there could be advantages in having a designated “Thief #1”: from time to time he could be forced to return at least a part of the stolen amount: one such a revision found that he stole a sum amounting to 20-25% of the state annual budget so with a half of it being returned you are getting more than from a broader search for the much smaller amounts.
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On a cheerful side….
24. On a cheerful side….
To get money you need to have them
For the Treasury to be able to collect taxes by money instead of the natural products and services, country …. must have money. Somehow this seemingly obvious idea escaped Peter’s predecessors. In 1680 Tsardom’s Treasury was receiving 1.2M rubles of income from the taxes. In 1725 (OTL) it was getting 7.4M. Of course, Peter increased a number of various taxes but that was not just it and it is not like during the reigns of his gather and older brother Tsardom’s population lived in a luxury (look at the rebellions during his father’ reign).
Table below shows average amounts of money minted annually during Peter’s reign (in thousands of rubles). What is not shown are average annual data for the period 1164-1680 (prior to Peter’s reign) - only 58 thousands rubles. Peter not just introduced the modern minting technology and a new system of coins, he was dumping huge amount of them on the “market” [1]
The old system consisted of the tiny silver kopecks (cut from a silver wire) and its half and quarter (also silver). Peter started with the silver 1, 3, 5, 10, 25, 50 kopeks and 1ruble (eventually, a gold coin). 0.5 and 0.25 kopek had been replaced with the copper coins of the same denomination and then, slowly but steadily, the coins of 1, 3 and 5 kopeks had been copper.
So, here and now, by the early 1707 [4] Russian budget of approximately 8M rubles looks balanced with the army and navy expenses amounting to 63%. Of course, if there is going to be a war, these expenses are going to increase but there are no catastrophic shortages.
Do you REALLY need these ships?
When Peter received the news that most of his expensive battleship squadron of Azov flotilla is being stranded near Voronezh and is going to remain there for the time unpredictable [5] he almost freaked out but being a more thoughtful version of himself decided to start with listening to what general-admiral Apraxin has to say and only then order his execution : after all, Apraxin was his relative, friend, a nice and quite “Westernized” person [6], and, what’s more relevant, he was paying a lot of attention to improving the work pf Voronezh wharves. It did not take Apraxin too long to turn the tables pointing out that he was warning about the water level problems for the big ships built on Peter’s explicit order and that he was also warning that “build fast” orders result in using not properly prepared wood with a resulting need of the frequent repairs.
But after this came cherry on the top of the cake. Following Peter’s own instructions regarding “brave and idiotic” appearance, he produced a map of the Sea of Azov, which by that time he knew quite well, and pointed out that, with the sea being very shallow and almost everything worthy of attention along its cost is in the areas with the sea depth between 2 and 5 meters [7], usefulness of the ships of the line with a draft of over 3 meters for support of the land troops may be quite tricky and that, for example, for helping the troops to het into the Arabat Split they are simply useless.
If the Ottomans decide to attack Taganrog from the sea, they are more then welcomed: besides fortress itself, he has few prams (floating batteries), each with 44 heavy guns, set in the shallow waters so the Ottomans will get a very warm reception.
Furthermore, trying to look even more brave without overdoing the idiotic part, he explained that while the Ottoman fleet never was seen in the Sea of Azov since the second Azov campaign and usually is being kept away in the Sea or Marmara if not further, captains of his small ship had been sailing inside that sea for the last 7 years. Most of the Ottoman ships of the line still have these enormous cannons throwing stones weighting few pouds and requiring eternity for reloading. Some of his captains who have a rather checkered past assured him that with a minimal luck the big Ottoman ships could be attacked by a smaller craft and either burned or boarded and captured: their crews are not very good.
He personally, added Apraxin, is not quite sure why is it absolutely necessary to fight the barbarians like the Ottomans using the tactics of a civilized Western fleets. What’s so good, anyway, in forming two lines and just keeping shooting at each other not trying to get any tactical advantage? After all, Sheremetev is not preparing his army for fighting in the perfect lines so why the navy should be different?
At which point, Peter decided that perhaps he can postpone execution until Apraxin really fails.
Now, the excuse for starting the war had been needed……[8]
________________
[1] Of course, with a considerable profit from “conversion” from the old system to the new one.: 10.7 millions total. 😜
[2] Foreign gold and silver coins of big nominations had been used as the state awards to be worn instead if the non-existing medals.
[3] With the payments to the state being received only in silver until all these coins had been gone. Of course, quality of the silver in the silver coins was steadily going down, and, while a marker price of 1 poud of copper was 8 rubles by 1704 it was used to produce 20 rubles worth of the copper coins and by 1718 - 40 rubles. Of course, this bonanza did not last forever but Peter was not around to see its end. The guy was a real major scale … ah yes, genius. 😂
[4] With more brains, greater exports, less reforms and other head-hitting entertainments we are 17 years ahead of the OTL schedule in almost everything. Well, most of the ships built for Azov did not yet have time to rot properly (in OTL by 1709 most of them needed serious repairs and by 1711 still had been in Taganrog waiting for a high water).
[5] In an absence of climatology, ecology, meteorology, hydrology and some other sciences which I did not mention due to a complete ignorance regarding their potential existence, formula “God’s will” worked as an universal excuse and “А хрен его знает” (inadequate translation “I have no idea”) as an honest equivalent to “I run a computer model”. 😜
[6] At one of the dinners given by “Prince-Caesar” Romodanovsky when the host proceeded with what was his favorite idea of the practical jokes and made Apraxin a butt of one of them, an enraged Apraxin, instead of starting a fistfight (which was a part of the entertainment) pulled out his sword and rushed at Romodanovsky chasing him around the table.
[7] Of course, he did not use “meters”.
[8] Peter (or any other Russian) did not really need an excuse but but he wanted to be an offended side and, if expected “excuse” comes in a form he anticipated, he’ll have (for a while) certain strategic advantage.
To get money you need to have them
For the Treasury to be able to collect taxes by money instead of the natural products and services, country …. must have money. Somehow this seemingly obvious idea escaped Peter’s predecessors. In 1680 Tsardom’s Treasury was receiving 1.2M rubles of income from the taxes. In 1725 (OTL) it was getting 7.4M. Of course, Peter increased a number of various taxes but that was not just it and it is not like during the reigns of his gather and older brother Tsardom’s population lived in a luxury (look at the rebellions during his father’ reign).
Table below shows average amounts of money minted annually during Peter’s reign (in thousands of rubles). What is not shown are average annual data for the period 1164-1680 (prior to Peter’s reign) - only 58 thousands rubles. Peter not just introduced the modern minting technology and a new system of coins, he was dumping huge amount of them on the “market” [1]
The old system consisted of the tiny silver kopecks (cut from a silver wire) and its half and quarter (also silver). Peter started with the silver 1, 3, 5, 10, 25, 50 kopeks and 1ruble (eventually, a gold coin). 0.5 and 0.25 kopek had been replaced with the copper coins of the same denomination and then, slowly but steadily, the coins of 1, 3 and 5 kopeks had been copper.
So, here and now, by the early 1707 [4] Russian budget of approximately 8M rubles looks balanced with the army and navy expenses amounting to 63%. Of course, if there is going to be a war, these expenses are going to increase but there are no catastrophic shortages.
Do you REALLY need these ships?
When Peter received the news that most of his expensive battleship squadron of Azov flotilla is being stranded near Voronezh and is going to remain there for the time unpredictable [5] he almost freaked out but being a more thoughtful version of himself decided to start with listening to what general-admiral Apraxin has to say and only then order his execution : after all, Apraxin was his relative, friend, a nice and quite “Westernized” person [6], and, what’s more relevant, he was paying a lot of attention to improving the work pf Voronezh wharves. It did not take Apraxin too long to turn the tables pointing out that he was warning about the water level problems for the big ships built on Peter’s explicit order and that he was also warning that “build fast” orders result in using not properly prepared wood with a resulting need of the frequent repairs.
But after this came cherry on the top of the cake. Following Peter’s own instructions regarding “brave and idiotic” appearance, he produced a map of the Sea of Azov, which by that time he knew quite well, and pointed out that, with the sea being very shallow and almost everything worthy of attention along its cost is in the areas with the sea depth between 2 and 5 meters [7], usefulness of the ships of the line with a draft of over 3 meters for support of the land troops may be quite tricky and that, for example, for helping the troops to het into the Arabat Split they are simply useless.
If the Ottomans decide to attack Taganrog from the sea, they are more then welcomed: besides fortress itself, he has few prams (floating batteries), each with 44 heavy guns, set in the shallow waters so the Ottomans will get a very warm reception.
Furthermore, trying to look even more brave without overdoing the idiotic part, he explained that while the Ottoman fleet never was seen in the Sea of Azov since the second Azov campaign and usually is being kept away in the Sea or Marmara if not further, captains of his small ship had been sailing inside that sea for the last 7 years. Most of the Ottoman ships of the line still have these enormous cannons throwing stones weighting few pouds and requiring eternity for reloading. Some of his captains who have a rather checkered past assured him that with a minimal luck the big Ottoman ships could be attacked by a smaller craft and either burned or boarded and captured: their crews are not very good.
He personally, added Apraxin, is not quite sure why is it absolutely necessary to fight the barbarians like the Ottomans using the tactics of a civilized Western fleets. What’s so good, anyway, in forming two lines and just keeping shooting at each other not trying to get any tactical advantage? After all, Sheremetev is not preparing his army for fighting in the perfect lines so why the navy should be different?
At which point, Peter decided that perhaps he can postpone execution until Apraxin really fails.
Now, the excuse for starting the war had been needed……[8]
________________
[1] Of course, with a considerable profit from “conversion” from the old system to the new one.: 10.7 millions total. 😜
[2] Foreign gold and silver coins of big nominations had been used as the state awards to be worn instead if the non-existing medals.
[3] With the payments to the state being received only in silver until all these coins had been gone. Of course, quality of the silver in the silver coins was steadily going down, and, while a marker price of 1 poud of copper was 8 rubles by 1704 it was used to produce 20 rubles worth of the copper coins and by 1718 - 40 rubles. Of course, this bonanza did not last forever but Peter was not around to see its end. The guy was a real major scale … ah yes, genius. 😂
[4] With more brains, greater exports, less reforms and other head-hitting entertainments we are 17 years ahead of the OTL schedule in almost everything. Well, most of the ships built for Azov did not yet have time to rot properly (in OTL by 1709 most of them needed serious repairs and by 1711 still had been in Taganrog waiting for a high water).
[5] In an absence of climatology, ecology, meteorology, hydrology and some other sciences which I did not mention due to a complete ignorance regarding their potential existence, formula “God’s will” worked as an universal excuse and “А хрен его знает” (inadequate translation “I have no idea”) as an honest equivalent to “I run a computer model”. 😜
[6] At one of the dinners given by “Prince-Caesar” Romodanovsky when the host proceeded with what was his favorite idea of the practical jokes and made Apraxin a butt of one of them, an enraged Apraxin, instead of starting a fistfight (which was a part of the entertainment) pulled out his sword and rushed at Romodanovsky chasing him around the table.
[7] Of course, he did not use “meters”.
[8] Peter (or any other Russian) did not really need an excuse but but he wanted to be an offended side and, if expected “excuse” comes in a form he anticipated, he’ll have (for a while) certain strategic advantage.
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When you need an excuse….
25. When you need an excuse, you’ll find one
Why bother
Why did Peter need an excuse to go to war? The reasons are falling into 3 main categories:
1. International. Of course, this was 1707 and everybody in Europe had been quite busy fighting WoSS but nobody could tell for how ling it is going to last and if by that time Peter still would be fighting the Ottomans. Taking into a convoluted and not always comprehensible policies of the main Western powers [1] it would be nice to have “they started it” as an excuse in the case of a diplomatic pressure from the Brits and Dutch [2]: the rest could be politely offered to take a hike or to commit some kind of an unnatural act to themselves. Last but not least, it was important to maintain a moral high ground with the “dear brother” Charles who was taking the issues of just and unjust wars quite seriously. Of course, it was not expected that he is going to break the relations (strengthened by the recently established family link) but why spoil a beautiful friendship with the unnecessary complications?
2. Strategic. Russian-Ottoman Treaty of Constantinople had a provision regarding punishments for the peace violations. So, if an excuse is good (as in “big”) enough, the Ottoman may take a pause before directly interfering into the Russian-Crimean conflict before the Russians start attacking the Ottoman holdings in and outside the Crimea. Ideally, this may allow to crush the main Crimean force between the Ottoman help arrives.
3. Operational. While this was quite cynical, it would be more desirable to have the Crimeans to get out of the peninsula and their home territories, attack them when they are burdened with the loot and prisoners and can’t escape, and then pursue all the way to Perekop and further into the peninsula rather than to act along the traditional lines of marching through the steppe with the Crimeans being unhurt and ready to use their usual tricks.
So the excuse was important on more than one account and on the Crimean side there was a person eagerly and sincerely working on providing Peter with a very good one.
Meet the “hero”
Let me introduce the “walking excuse”, Phillip Orlik. Born in the Grand Duchy, Orthodox szlachtich. Got education in Jesuit Collegium in Vilno and then in Kiev-Mogilev Academy (the most prestigious educational institution of the Orthodox Church at that time) where his teacher was Stephen Yavorsky [3]. A talented writer with knowledge of the Polish, Swedish, French, Bulgarian, Serbian, Italian, German, Greek, Latin and Ancient Greek languages.
Orlik made career in the Hetmanate all the way up to the position of the General Scribe [4]. Was quite enthusiastic when Mazepa became Hetman of Both Banks but, as soon as it became clear that this is going to be an empty sound, his attitude changed: what sense would it make to be chief of staff of the non-existing army, to be in charge of a documentation for the non-existing state and to be in charge of the Hetmanate’s foreign affairs when they were explicitly forbidden? Of course, he was offered Russian nobility, a nice estate and a position within the new Ukrainian administration but this compensation looked as a joke comparing to his position within the Hetmanate. So he fled to Bender together with some other unsatisfied members of the Cossack “starshina” and rank Cossacks. After Mazepa’s death in 1706 [5] these refugees elected him a Hetman and approved the “constitutional” document he composed (below is its last page with his signature and a seal).
The original title of the document (in Latin and contemporary Western Russian) is extremely long (the rule requires full translation of the non-English texts so I’m not going to reproduce the original title😉) and it is often being referenced just as “Orlik’s constitution”. Its fundamental part relevant to the subject is that Ukraine was proclaimed independent both from Russia and Poland and in a permanent alliance with the Crimea and Ottoman Empire [6]. Hetmanate's territory was defined by the Zborov Treaty of 1649 , Ukrainian Church had to be subordinated to Constantinople and on the territory of Hetmanate presence of the people all other religions, foreigners and, first of all, followers of “the evil Judaism” had been prohibited.
Peter’s “Posolsky Prikaz” (Ministry of the Foreign Affairs) studied this document with a great satisfaction because it provided a ground for sending to the Ottomans a request (and getting its denial) for delivering Orlik & Co to Russia to be tried for a high treason. In an absence of a direct provocation, this will do as an excuse for starting a war.
A little bit less cheerful news was that a part of the Zaporizie Cossacks with their leader, Koshevoy Kosta Gordienko, also fled to the Ottoman territory but, OTOH, this made occurrence of the “provocation” much more likely because it provided Orlik with his own military force.
The needed missing element was a Khan ready to act even within explicit permission from Constantinople. Fortunately, Devlet II Giray, who was
deposed by Sultan Mustafa II for the excessive eagerness, was recently restored by Sultan Ahmet III and itched for a fight. At Sultan’s court he was backed by pro-French party led by Sultan’s mother, Gülnuş Sultan, who had a considerable influence over her son.
Orlik and Devlet Giray got in touch, went along fabulously (both being a little bit too excitable) and came with a plan of the joint operations:
1. Orlik with Gordienko’s Zaporizhians ( 7-8,000) and Khan’s son Kalga Sultan Mehmed Giray (approximately 30,000 Tatars) and 400 Janissary, using the Bender as a base, are going to invade the Right Bank Ukraine expecting support of the local Cossacks and some Poles unhappy with King August. Their task is to advance as far as possible, occupying the territory, defeating the weak Russian garrisons and capturing fortress White Church (Белая Церковь), the only more or less seriously fortified place in the region (by the look at its reconstruction you can get an idea how badly fortified were the other places).
2. In a meantime, Siltan himself is going to invade the Left Bank Ukraine with 30-40,000 with the same strategic goal in mind.
3. On the right flank the Nogays and Tatars of Kuban are going to attack the Cissacks of Don and Kalmuks preventing them from attacking Khan at the flank and rear.
4. Ukraine on both banks is going to get under Giray/Orlik control, the Russians and their supporters will be kicked out and the Sultan will kick in providing troops for the garrisons and preventing Tsardom from retaliation. [7]
____________________
[1] At least from the Russian perspective: after the experience at Karlowitz when the allies had been actively working to prevent Tsardom’s peace with the Ottomans, a consensus of the Russian diplomacy was that the Western powers with a high probability are act against the Russian interests as a matter of principle (in the case of France probability was 100% due to their traditional pro-Ottoman orientation). Sweden was a nice exception but that was it.
[2] Not because either of them could attack Russia or contribute anything of substance to the Ottomans but because Russia needed trade with them: having a positive trade balance of at least 50% in the case of Britain and lesser but still substantial with the Dutch, not losing a big source of gold and silver (which Peter was melting to conduct his monetary reform racket) was quite important.
[3] Later one of the leading figures in the Russian Church - was exarch of the Patriarchate and then Chairman of the Synod.
[4] In a peacetime head of the Hetman’s chancellery and in a wartime chief of staff of the Hetmanate’s army. In charge of all military and documentation, Hetman’s main advisor, participant of all high level diplomatic discussions and in charge of the foreign relations.
[5] There is no reason whatsoever to believe in any of the numerous rumors related to this event. After all, some types of the poisonous mushrooms look very similar to the eatable varieties.
[6] The original document also declared Ukraine to be Swedish vassal but in this TL it does not make sense.
[7] To the credit of planners, it is necessary to notice that they kept their goals seemingly realistic (“seemingly” if not to keep in mind that it mostly ignored Tatar style of a warfare) and in that regard it can be favorably compared to the Prussian war plan of 1806 or a plan composed by Franz von Weyrother for Austerlitz even if in all these cases a cornerstone assumption was the same: the enemy is an inept idiot who is going to allow you to proceed with your plan.
Why bother
Why did Peter need an excuse to go to war? The reasons are falling into 3 main categories:
1. International. Of course, this was 1707 and everybody in Europe had been quite busy fighting WoSS but nobody could tell for how ling it is going to last and if by that time Peter still would be fighting the Ottomans. Taking into a convoluted and not always comprehensible policies of the main Western powers [1] it would be nice to have “they started it” as an excuse in the case of a diplomatic pressure from the Brits and Dutch [2]: the rest could be politely offered to take a hike or to commit some kind of an unnatural act to themselves. Last but not least, it was important to maintain a moral high ground with the “dear brother” Charles who was taking the issues of just and unjust wars quite seriously. Of course, it was not expected that he is going to break the relations (strengthened by the recently established family link) but why spoil a beautiful friendship with the unnecessary complications?
2. Strategic. Russian-Ottoman Treaty of Constantinople had a provision regarding punishments for the peace violations. So, if an excuse is good (as in “big”) enough, the Ottoman may take a pause before directly interfering into the Russian-Crimean conflict before the Russians start attacking the Ottoman holdings in and outside the Crimea. Ideally, this may allow to crush the main Crimean force between the Ottoman help arrives.
3. Operational. While this was quite cynical, it would be more desirable to have the Crimeans to get out of the peninsula and their home territories, attack them when they are burdened with the loot and prisoners and can’t escape, and then pursue all the way to Perekop and further into the peninsula rather than to act along the traditional lines of marching through the steppe with the Crimeans being unhurt and ready to use their usual tricks.
So the excuse was important on more than one account and on the Crimean side there was a person eagerly and sincerely working on providing Peter with a very good one.
Meet the “hero”
Let me introduce the “walking excuse”, Phillip Orlik. Born in the Grand Duchy, Orthodox szlachtich. Got education in Jesuit Collegium in Vilno and then in Kiev-Mogilev Academy (the most prestigious educational institution of the Orthodox Church at that time) where his teacher was Stephen Yavorsky [3]. A talented writer with knowledge of the Polish, Swedish, French, Bulgarian, Serbian, Italian, German, Greek, Latin and Ancient Greek languages.
Orlik made career in the Hetmanate all the way up to the position of the General Scribe [4]. Was quite enthusiastic when Mazepa became Hetman of Both Banks but, as soon as it became clear that this is going to be an empty sound, his attitude changed: what sense would it make to be chief of staff of the non-existing army, to be in charge of a documentation for the non-existing state and to be in charge of the Hetmanate’s foreign affairs when they were explicitly forbidden? Of course, he was offered Russian nobility, a nice estate and a position within the new Ukrainian administration but this compensation looked as a joke comparing to his position within the Hetmanate. So he fled to Bender together with some other unsatisfied members of the Cossack “starshina” and rank Cossacks. After Mazepa’s death in 1706 [5] these refugees elected him a Hetman and approved the “constitutional” document he composed (below is its last page with his signature and a seal).
The original title of the document (in Latin and contemporary Western Russian) is extremely long (the rule requires full translation of the non-English texts so I’m not going to reproduce the original title😉) and it is often being referenced just as “Orlik’s constitution”. Its fundamental part relevant to the subject is that Ukraine was proclaimed independent both from Russia and Poland and in a permanent alliance with the Crimea and Ottoman Empire [6]. Hetmanate's territory was defined by the Zborov Treaty of 1649 , Ukrainian Church had to be subordinated to Constantinople and on the territory of Hetmanate presence of the people all other religions, foreigners and, first of all, followers of “the evil Judaism” had been prohibited.
Peter’s “Posolsky Prikaz” (Ministry of the Foreign Affairs) studied this document with a great satisfaction because it provided a ground for sending to the Ottomans a request (and getting its denial) for delivering Orlik & Co to Russia to be tried for a high treason. In an absence of a direct provocation, this will do as an excuse for starting a war.
A little bit less cheerful news was that a part of the Zaporizie Cossacks with their leader, Koshevoy Kosta Gordienko, also fled to the Ottoman territory but, OTOH, this made occurrence of the “provocation” much more likely because it provided Orlik with his own military force.
The needed missing element was a Khan ready to act even within explicit permission from Constantinople. Fortunately, Devlet II Giray, who was
deposed by Sultan Mustafa II for the excessive eagerness, was recently restored by Sultan Ahmet III and itched for a fight. At Sultan’s court he was backed by pro-French party led by Sultan’s mother, Gülnuş Sultan, who had a considerable influence over her son.
Orlik and Devlet Giray got in touch, went along fabulously (both being a little bit too excitable) and came with a plan of the joint operations:
1. Orlik with Gordienko’s Zaporizhians ( 7-8,000) and Khan’s son Kalga Sultan Mehmed Giray (approximately 30,000 Tatars) and 400 Janissary, using the Bender as a base, are going to invade the Right Bank Ukraine expecting support of the local Cossacks and some Poles unhappy with King August. Their task is to advance as far as possible, occupying the territory, defeating the weak Russian garrisons and capturing fortress White Church (Белая Церковь), the only more or less seriously fortified place in the region (by the look at its reconstruction you can get an idea how badly fortified were the other places).
2. In a meantime, Siltan himself is going to invade the Left Bank Ukraine with 30-40,000 with the same strategic goal in mind.
3. On the right flank the Nogays and Tatars of Kuban are going to attack the Cissacks of Don and Kalmuks preventing them from attacking Khan at the flank and rear.
4. Ukraine on both banks is going to get under Giray/Orlik control, the Russians and their supporters will be kicked out and the Sultan will kick in providing troops for the garrisons and preventing Tsardom from retaliation. [7]
____________________
[1] At least from the Russian perspective: after the experience at Karlowitz when the allies had been actively working to prevent Tsardom’s peace with the Ottomans, a consensus of the Russian diplomacy was that the Western powers with a high probability are act against the Russian interests as a matter of principle (in the case of France probability was 100% due to their traditional pro-Ottoman orientation). Sweden was a nice exception but that was it.
[2] Not because either of them could attack Russia or contribute anything of substance to the Ottomans but because Russia needed trade with them: having a positive trade balance of at least 50% in the case of Britain and lesser but still substantial with the Dutch, not losing a big source of gold and silver (which Peter was melting to conduct his monetary reform racket) was quite important.
[3] Later one of the leading figures in the Russian Church - was exarch of the Patriarchate and then Chairman of the Synod.
[4] In a peacetime head of the Hetman’s chancellery and in a wartime chief of staff of the Hetmanate’s army. In charge of all military and documentation, Hetman’s main advisor, participant of all high level diplomatic discussions and in charge of the foreign relations.
[5] There is no reason whatsoever to believe in any of the numerous rumors related to this event. After all, some types of the poisonous mushrooms look very similar to the eatable varieties.
[6] The original document also declared Ukraine to be Swedish vassal but in this TL it does not make sense.
[7] To the credit of planners, it is necessary to notice that they kept their goals seemingly realistic (“seemingly” if not to keep in mind that it mostly ignored Tatar style of a warfare) and in that regard it can be favorably compared to the Prussian war plan of 1806 or a plan composed by Franz von Weyrother for Austerlitz even if in all these cases a cornerstone assumption was the same: the enemy is an inept idiot who is going to allow you to proceed with your plan.
And at the moment like 60 to 40 % of Russian lead was still imported, Altai and Urals just barely covering the needs. And lead is the stuff important for warfare, so you cannot piss off these two powers too much.
Good Lord, just how unhappy do you have to be with King August to welcome a Tatar raid?
OTOH, it is not like Britain and the Netherlands had been self-sufficient in their domestic production of tallow, flax, hemp, leather and some other strategic materials so, with all their political differences during the XVIII century the sides never found themselves in a serious confrontation even when officially they were in it. Pissing match is an entertainment in which both sides can participate. BTW, never saw and could not find data on lead imports or it being listed in the important import items. Any useful reference?
While the government of the Netherlands introduced embargo during the GNW, Peter’s main source for supplying pretty much everything was Amsterdam.
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Well, this was a rather routine practice for quite a while and the last time it happened in 1769 when the Tatars came to help the Bar Confederacy: this was, of course, an official purpose because in a reality they just looted both Russian and Polish territory. Zaporizhian Cossack declared neutrality and let them ride through the Sich territory.
In OTL version of the event (1711) 3-5,000 Poles did participate.
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I only remember some printed materials re. Founding of Berg-Kollegia.
The self-sufficiency of Russia re. lead truly began only in 1687 with Nerchinsk lead production. Though given that they produced less than 1000 pouds per year in a given period - some still has to be bought. And it seems that urban planning projects consumed even more lead than warfare.
Up until 1680ies there was none known lead deposits in explored Russia or very low productive ones.
I had to arrange a dynastic marriage with Imeriti in my Skopin Shuiski prospers TL to have some early 17th century self-sufficiency re. silver AND lead (mines of those two minerals go together; ironically I found that without any "progressors" silver near Archangelsk is found easier than lead - the lead Polar Urals mines are at Novaya Zemlya and are unminable with 17th-18th century tech).
I had to arrange a dynastic marriage with Imeriti in my Skopin Shuiski prospers TL to have some early 17th century self-sufficiency re. silver AND lead (mines of those two minerals go together; ironically I found that without any "progressors" silver near Archangelsk is found easier than lead - the lead Polar Urals mines are at Novaya Zemlya and are unminable with 17th-18th century tech).
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The war starts but not quite, yet
26. The war starts but not quite, yet….
The map below is the only one that I found which (a) could be loaded and (b) is not excessively confusing in the terms of what was there in the XVIII vs. what is there now. Ignore the arrows - they represent wars of Khmelnitsky period. What is important:
1. by the time in question Russia controls territories painted in pale yellow, Kiev and Braclaw Voyevodships (Киевское Воеводство and Брацлавское Воеводство on the map)
2. Off white piece below these areas is Zaporizie (the Sich).
3. Bender - Бендеры on the map.
4. The river which is going from North to South through all these lands is the Dnieper, one to the left of it is Bug (Буг), further to the left Dniester (Днестр) . The river which flows into the Dnieper from the left is Psel (Псел).
So the Great Raid of 1707 started in February [1].
Left Flank
Neither Orlik nor Mehmed Giray bothered themselves excessively with gathering “strategic intelligence”. The border towns were “historically” weakly fortified and did not have adequate garrisons (and this was the case when Orlik fled to Bender) and the rest was routinely found during the raids. So when it was discovered that Braclaw, Boguslav and Nemirov do have the newly created earth and wood fortifications with the artillery and adequate garrisons [2] it was unpleasant surprise but not a major problem. The Problem (for Orlik’s plans) started almost immediately because the Tatars of Mehmed Giray did not really care too much about Orlik’s political goals, Hetmanate and other nonsense: they were there explicitly and exclusively for looting and if, by whatever reason, Mehmed Giray had a different opinion, it was just too bad [3]. So, as soon as they entered Right Bank Ukraine they spread and proceeded with the important business. The resisting places had been bypassed but if the Cossacks wanted to besiege them, they had a complete freedom to do so. Probably it should come as not a big surprise that as soon as the looting started, the Orlik’s cossacks (most of them from the Right Bank) began to desert en mass leaving him mostly with the Zaporizian “knights” who did not give a blip.
As a result, only by the late March the army reached “mighty fortress” Белая Церковь and stuck there. Well, it is not like Vauban had anything to do with its design but when a besiegers do not have an artillery and most of them consider a very idea of digging (for which they don’t have tools, anyway) as something well below their dignity, the siege may prove to be a long and not very productive. The Crimeans and Zaporizians tried to storm it, lost over 1,000 and abandoned the idea. By that time the troops of Dmitry Golitsyn, Ukrainian Governor, crossed the Ros River at Корсунь (Korsun) cutting off a retreat route to the “neutral” Zaporizie.
An idea of getting into a battle with the regular army of 20-30,000 strengthened by “semi-regular” Landmilitia was not even entertained by Mehmed Giray and he did even bothered with soliciting Orlik’s opinion on that account. Neither was he bothered with a rather rhetorical question “And what about the allied Cossacks?”. He was facing a fundamental problem of all Crimean raiders: how to escape with as much loot as possible? Keep in mind that a biggest and most valuable part of the loot were prisoners (“Yasak”) and you will easily figure out that just riding away was an option acceptable only in the life or death cases. So the first goal was to cross the Bug River with the Yasak: the river crossings were traditional places where the raiders had been caught by the pursuers and forced either to flee and to lose the Yasak, or to fight with a loss of significant part of it (and of your own troops as well) [4]. So there has to be a race to the Bug. If the pursuers were relying on their infantry then the Crimean could squeeze so advantage even if it would result in the higher Yasak losses. But if the enemy’s cavalry was strong, then the chances for a comfortable escape with any profit were not good at all. And against Golitsyn’s 8 regiments of the regular cavalry and 5,000 Left Bank Cossacks & mounted Landmilitia they were depressingly bad so the best solution was to spread. To a certain degree this worked: Mehmed Giray with most of his Tatars and Yasak escaped to the Bender but up to 10,000 did not make it and Golitsyn could boast release of 15,000 prisoners which was a clear success [5]. It was also a success because a big part of the Orlik’s followers had been captured and dealt with [6] and because Gordienko’s flight back to the Sich provided a perfect excuse for occupying it and doing a thorough cleansing of the disloyal ones [7]. By April the fighting was over.
Center
The river was wide but there were numerous inlets and small island which would make it worth trying….
As a side note, a rowing boat with few extra people having the spears and just long poles provides certain fighting advantages over a swimmer [9].
Most of the Crimean army never made it across and Sultan’s personal escape did not do too much in the terms of significant improvement of the strategic situation. Anyway, before he could do anything significant in the terms of organizing defense of the Peninsula, two things happened: (a) the Russians already had been there and (b) was replaced by Quaplan Giray and sent to exile to Rodos [10].
Right flank
Ayuka (“Аюка” - Russian mispronunciation of his name “Ayusha”, which had something to do with Buddha, never mind, this is irrelevant), the 4th Chief Taisha and from 1700 the 1st Khan of the Kalmyk Horde. Unified all Kalmyks of Volga. Kind of the Russian vassal. Actively participated in the Russian wars and helped to suppress a number of rebellions. Important part: seriously dislikes the Nogais.
Even before implementation of the Nogai part of the plan started, it was pretty much over: Ayuka Khan with the Cossacks of Don attacked them and chased from their territory all the way to the South of Kuban River.
Turning the tables
By the end of the April, 1707:
1. The Russian army of 25,000 regulars and up to 10,000 mounted Ukrainian Landmilitia under command of Menshikov (Golitsyn returned to his administrative duties) had been standing on the Bug River ready to invade territory of the Enissan Horde.
2. The Russian army of 50,000 under command of Sheremetev after marching through the Sich territory, reached the ruins of Kizi-Kerman (Кызы-Керман) on the lower Dnieper and stopped there to get some rest and, after restoring some of its fortifications, establish a supply base there. [11].
3. Russian force of 15,000 had been concentrating near Genichesk getting itself ready to cross to the Arabat Split, with the assistance of Apraxin’s flotilla, and march along the Split to the Peninsula’s “soft belly”. At its head had been placed a major general Michael Golitsyn speedily promoted after the LNW thanks to the glowing recommendations from King Charles.
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[1] Formally, it did not qualify as a war, just one more routine violation of the Treaty of Constantinople. A very big one but there was nothing in a treaty regarding a size of the raiding parties. OTOH, the treaty stipulated a right of the offended side to resist and retaliate.
[2] Of course, quality of the newly-created Landmilitia was not extremely high but you don’t really need to be the world’s best troops to sit behind the fortifications and fire into the enemy who does not have an artillery and not too much in the terms of the firearms either.
[3] He was not an idiot so there was no problem coming from that corner.
[4] To be fair, the Tatars (or at least their leaders) had been routinely demonstrating a remarkable pragmatism in the terms of the relative values. There plenty of Tatars and their market value was zero because they were not to be sold and, in general, they were, so to speak, coming for free. OTOH, the prisoners did have a market value and their capture involved considerable effort and even some expenses. Also, less raiders on a safe side meant a bigger share of Yasak per capita so, all things considering, the better solution was to fight.
[5] Rather conveniently, success was routinely measured in a number of the released prisoners. Silly questions about the total numbers captured were not asked following the wise principle: “the women will produce the new ones”.
[6] Some of the earliest deserters got an amnesty and some of the rest had been left alive but if you are under impression that Petrian Russia was anywhere close to the liberal Paradise, you are seriously mistaken.
[7] “I have only two categories of the subjects: the loyal ones and disloyal ones”.
[8] Of course, Sheremetev’s performance in the LNW was not impressive enough to make him a world-class celebrity but he made his career fighting with a noticeable success against the Crimeans so the name recognition was there and it did not promise anything good, especially combined with his new warfare style.
[9] Outside of a certain type of the movies, of course.
[10] Actually, chronolgy was somewhat different: Devlet II Giray: 1699-1702, Selim I (this was his 4th reign): 1702-1704, Gazi III Giray, Qaplan Giray: 1707-1708, Devlet II Giray (2nd time): 1709-1713 , Qaplan Giray (2nd but not the last time): 1713-1715. But here the schedule is different (in OTL the big raid happened in 1711 and was a success) so I cut on the unnecessary Girays. 😉
[11] Ottoman fortress taken by Sheremetev in 1695. By the Treaty of Constantinople it was destroyed so its restoration relates only to the earthworks which Sheremetev ordered to add in 1697-98. Now comes the fun part:
On the allegoric engraving of the fortress capture you can see a procession led by Peter who was not there (busily losing his 1st Azov campaign) followed by Sheremetev. 😂
Edit: In practical terms all this means that the Russian armies are starting their operations being in approximately 80km or less from Perekop and being practically across the border from Edisan Horde with the reliably established supply lines by the major rivers. Which makes a fundamental difference from the campaigns of Vasily Golitsyn and OTL War of 1735 where they had to march hundreds miles (with the supplies) to the theater of war. A little bit of an extra time required for putting the Sich under controls is compensated by cutting the OTL problems down to a minimum. Also, the Tatars as an obstructing factor along the route are pretty much gone.
[12] As always, there was some politics involved. Prince Dmitry Golitsyn was somewhat an “ad hoc general”: he was much more valuable as an administrator and statesman. Menshikov, who was always obsessed with self-promotion had been whispering to Peter’s ear that the Prince was too slow and allowed a considerable part of the Crimean Horde to escape (yeah, of course, dealing with the traitors was done brilliantly but nonetheless….) while he (with a ritual mandatory praise toward Sheremetev who was in charge on the Left Bank 😉) played a great role in a complete destruction of Devlet Giray’s army. Which, was, of course, true: as Sheremetev’s top subordinate commander he was quite important in implementing the final trap and idea with the boats was his own. What’s even more important, assembling a big number of those in a very short time was not a mean fit and Menshikov performed it brilliantly (receiving a ritual praise from Sheremetev, these two absolutely different people proved to be a great team). All this warranting him finally to receive an independent command (and became eligible for St. George 1st class 😉). Sheremetev concurred expressing sorrow in being deprived of such a good subordinate (hugs, kisses, assurances of a mutual affection, etc.). Now, the whole reshuffling should not look like an affront to the Golitsyn family so its young rising military star had been given an opportunity to finally show his talents on the Russian service. Of course, his force was small and was a part of Sheremetev’s army but his task was not an ordinary one and presented a great opportunity for showing his abilities. Taking into an account that Apraxin’s small craft was securely controlling the coastal waters, the risk, if everything else was going right, was not prohibitively great and potential operational advantage could be quite significant.
The map below is the only one that I found which (a) could be loaded and (b) is not excessively confusing in the terms of what was there in the XVIII vs. what is there now. Ignore the arrows - they represent wars of Khmelnitsky period. What is important:
1. by the time in question Russia controls territories painted in pale yellow, Kiev and Braclaw Voyevodships (Киевское Воеводство and Брацлавское Воеводство on the map)
2. Off white piece below these areas is Zaporizie (the Sich).
3. Bender - Бендеры on the map.
4. The river which is going from North to South through all these lands is the Dnieper, one to the left of it is Bug (Буг), further to the left Dniester (Днестр) . The river which flows into the Dnieper from the left is Psel (Псел).
So the Great Raid of 1707 started in February [1].
Left Flank
Neither Orlik nor Mehmed Giray bothered themselves excessively with gathering “strategic intelligence”. The border towns were “historically” weakly fortified and did not have adequate garrisons (and this was the case when Orlik fled to Bender) and the rest was routinely found during the raids. So when it was discovered that Braclaw, Boguslav and Nemirov do have the newly created earth and wood fortifications with the artillery and adequate garrisons [2] it was unpleasant surprise but not a major problem. The Problem (for Orlik’s plans) started almost immediately because the Tatars of Mehmed Giray did not really care too much about Orlik’s political goals, Hetmanate and other nonsense: they were there explicitly and exclusively for looting and if, by whatever reason, Mehmed Giray had a different opinion, it was just too bad [3]. So, as soon as they entered Right Bank Ukraine they spread and proceeded with the important business. The resisting places had been bypassed but if the Cossacks wanted to besiege them, they had a complete freedom to do so. Probably it should come as not a big surprise that as soon as the looting started, the Orlik’s cossacks (most of them from the Right Bank) began to desert en mass leaving him mostly with the Zaporizian “knights” who did not give a blip.
As a result, only by the late March the army reached “mighty fortress” Белая Церковь and stuck there. Well, it is not like Vauban had anything to do with its design but when a besiegers do not have an artillery and most of them consider a very idea of digging (for which they don’t have tools, anyway) as something well below their dignity, the siege may prove to be a long and not very productive. The Crimeans and Zaporizians tried to storm it, lost over 1,000 and abandoned the idea. By that time the troops of Dmitry Golitsyn, Ukrainian Governor, crossed the Ros River at Корсунь (Korsun) cutting off a retreat route to the “neutral” Zaporizie.
An idea of getting into a battle with the regular army of 20-30,000 strengthened by “semi-regular” Landmilitia was not even entertained by Mehmed Giray and he did even bothered with soliciting Orlik’s opinion on that account. Neither was he bothered with a rather rhetorical question “And what about the allied Cossacks?”. He was facing a fundamental problem of all Crimean raiders: how to escape with as much loot as possible? Keep in mind that a biggest and most valuable part of the loot were prisoners (“Yasak”) and you will easily figure out that just riding away was an option acceptable only in the life or death cases. So the first goal was to cross the Bug River with the Yasak: the river crossings were traditional places where the raiders had been caught by the pursuers and forced either to flee and to lose the Yasak, or to fight with a loss of significant part of it (and of your own troops as well) [4]. So there has to be a race to the Bug. If the pursuers were relying on their infantry then the Crimean could squeeze so advantage even if it would result in the higher Yasak losses. But if the enemy’s cavalry was strong, then the chances for a comfortable escape with any profit were not good at all. And against Golitsyn’s 8 regiments of the regular cavalry and 5,000 Left Bank Cossacks & mounted Landmilitia they were depressingly bad so the best solution was to spread. To a certain degree this worked: Mehmed Giray with most of his Tatars and Yasak escaped to the Bender but up to 10,000 did not make it and Golitsyn could boast release of 15,000 prisoners which was a clear success [5]. It was also a success because a big part of the Orlik’s followers had been captured and dealt with [6] and because Gordienko’s flight back to the Sich provided a perfect excuse for occupying it and doing a thorough cleansing of the disloyal ones [7]. By April the fighting was over.
Center
Khan Devlet II Giray invaded the Left Bank Ukraine in the mid-March with approximately 35,000 Crimeans and kept advancing in classing raiding fashion on a wide front stretching from the Dnieper to Gadyach (Гадяч). He crossed the Psel River without problems not meeting a serious resistance anywhere but after the crossing things started changing abruptly. The raiders on the right flank had been energetically attacked by a massive force coming from the Russian territory (green on the map) moving with a speed that was so far quite unusual for a mixed army and not burdening itself with taking prisoners. Khan reacted immediately upon receiving the news but getting together the horde spread into the small groups and already burdened with the Yasak was not an overnight process and by the time Devlet Giray assembled most of his army his numbers shrunk below 30,000. It was found that in front of him he has Sheremetev with 30,000 troops which warranted immediate withdrawal behind the Psel [8]. Unfortunately, not to much later Khan was informed that there are also big numbers of the Russian troops on Psel’s left bank blocking the escape route and leaving only an option to try crossing the Dnieper near Kremenchug.
The river was wide but there were numerous inlets and small island which would make it worth trying….
As a side note, a rowing boat with few extra people having the spears and just long poles provides certain fighting advantages over a swimmer [9].
Most of the Crimean army never made it across and Sultan’s personal escape did not do too much in the terms of significant improvement of the strategic situation. Anyway, before he could do anything significant in the terms of organizing defense of the Peninsula, two things happened: (a) the Russians already had been there and (b) was replaced by Quaplan Giray and sent to exile to Rodos [10].
Right flank
Ayuka (“Аюка” - Russian mispronunciation of his name “Ayusha”, which had something to do with Buddha, never mind, this is irrelevant), the 4th Chief Taisha and from 1700 the 1st Khan of the Kalmyk Horde. Unified all Kalmyks of Volga. Kind of the Russian vassal. Actively participated in the Russian wars and helped to suppress a number of rebellions. Important part: seriously dislikes the Nogais.
Even before implementation of the Nogai part of the plan started, it was pretty much over: Ayuka Khan with the Cossacks of Don attacked them and chased from their territory all the way to the South of Kuban River.
Turning the tables
By the end of the April, 1707:
1. The Russian army of 25,000 regulars and up to 10,000 mounted Ukrainian Landmilitia under command of Menshikov (Golitsyn returned to his administrative duties) had been standing on the Bug River ready to invade territory of the Enissan Horde.
2. The Russian army of 50,000 under command of Sheremetev after marching through the Sich territory, reached the ruins of Kizi-Kerman (Кызы-Керман) on the lower Dnieper and stopped there to get some rest and, after restoring some of its fortifications, establish a supply base there. [11].
3. Russian force of 15,000 had been concentrating near Genichesk getting itself ready to cross to the Arabat Split, with the assistance of Apraxin’s flotilla, and march along the Split to the Peninsula’s “soft belly”. At its head had been placed a major general Michael Golitsyn speedily promoted after the LNW thanks to the glowing recommendations from King Charles.
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[1] Formally, it did not qualify as a war, just one more routine violation of the Treaty of Constantinople. A very big one but there was nothing in a treaty regarding a size of the raiding parties. OTOH, the treaty stipulated a right of the offended side to resist and retaliate.
[2] Of course, quality of the newly-created Landmilitia was not extremely high but you don’t really need to be the world’s best troops to sit behind the fortifications and fire into the enemy who does not have an artillery and not too much in the terms of the firearms either.
[3] He was not an idiot so there was no problem coming from that corner.
[4] To be fair, the Tatars (or at least their leaders) had been routinely demonstrating a remarkable pragmatism in the terms of the relative values. There plenty of Tatars and their market value was zero because they were not to be sold and, in general, they were, so to speak, coming for free. OTOH, the prisoners did have a market value and their capture involved considerable effort and even some expenses. Also, less raiders on a safe side meant a bigger share of Yasak per capita so, all things considering, the better solution was to fight.
[5] Rather conveniently, success was routinely measured in a number of the released prisoners. Silly questions about the total numbers captured were not asked following the wise principle: “the women will produce the new ones”.
[6] Some of the earliest deserters got an amnesty and some of the rest had been left alive but if you are under impression that Petrian Russia was anywhere close to the liberal Paradise, you are seriously mistaken.
[7] “I have only two categories of the subjects: the loyal ones and disloyal ones”.
[8] Of course, Sheremetev’s performance in the LNW was not impressive enough to make him a world-class celebrity but he made his career fighting with a noticeable success against the Crimeans so the name recognition was there and it did not promise anything good, especially combined with his new warfare style.
[9] Outside of a certain type of the movies, of course.
[10] Actually, chronolgy was somewhat different: Devlet II Giray: 1699-1702, Selim I (this was his 4th reign): 1702-1704, Gazi III Giray, Qaplan Giray: 1707-1708, Devlet II Giray (2nd time): 1709-1713 , Qaplan Giray (2nd but not the last time): 1713-1715. But here the schedule is different (in OTL the big raid happened in 1711 and was a success) so I cut on the unnecessary Girays. 😉
[11] Ottoman fortress taken by Sheremetev in 1695. By the Treaty of Constantinople it was destroyed so its restoration relates only to the earthworks which Sheremetev ordered to add in 1697-98. Now comes the fun part:
On the allegoric engraving of the fortress capture you can see a procession led by Peter who was not there (busily losing his 1st Azov campaign) followed by Sheremetev. 😂
Edit: In practical terms all this means that the Russian armies are starting their operations being in approximately 80km or less from Perekop and being practically across the border from Edisan Horde with the reliably established supply lines by the major rivers. Which makes a fundamental difference from the campaigns of Vasily Golitsyn and OTL War of 1735 where they had to march hundreds miles (with the supplies) to the theater of war. A little bit of an extra time required for putting the Sich under controls is compensated by cutting the OTL problems down to a minimum. Also, the Tatars as an obstructing factor along the route are pretty much gone.
[12] As always, there was some politics involved. Prince Dmitry Golitsyn was somewhat an “ad hoc general”: he was much more valuable as an administrator and statesman. Menshikov, who was always obsessed with self-promotion had been whispering to Peter’s ear that the Prince was too slow and allowed a considerable part of the Crimean Horde to escape (yeah, of course, dealing with the traitors was done brilliantly but nonetheless….) while he (with a ritual mandatory praise toward Sheremetev who was in charge on the Left Bank 😉) played a great role in a complete destruction of Devlet Giray’s army. Which, was, of course, true: as Sheremetev’s top subordinate commander he was quite important in implementing the final trap and idea with the boats was his own. What’s even more important, assembling a big number of those in a very short time was not a mean fit and Menshikov performed it brilliantly (receiving a ritual praise from Sheremetev, these two absolutely different people proved to be a great team). All this warranting him finally to receive an independent command (and became eligible for St. George 1st class 😉). Sheremetev concurred expressing sorrow in being deprived of such a good subordinate (hugs, kisses, assurances of a mutual affection, etc.). Now, the whole reshuffling should not look like an affront to the Golitsyn family so its young rising military star had been given an opportunity to finally show his talents on the Russian service. Of course, his force was small and was a part of Sheremetev’s army but his task was not an ordinary one and presented a great opportunity for showing his abilities. Taking into an account that Apraxin’s small craft was securely controlling the coastal waters, the risk, if everything else was going right, was not prohibitively great and potential operational advantage could be quite significant.
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Just wanted to say I am loving this TL. And so many of the historical (or at least attributed quotes) fit in it with only minor modifications. Peter can still call Swedes his schoolmasters, though in more comfortable circumstances. And Russia now has only four allies: its army, its navy, the King of Sweden and the Khan of the Kalmyks.
Another fine update.
Thinking a bit out loud here, I think in this situation Karl would offer Peter at least a small Swedish force - after all, Peter was a good ally that came to Sweden's aid when Sweden was attacked, Karl would probably want to return the favour.
The logistical situation probably makes it close to impossible, and Peter might politely decline, citing the distances. But Swedish officers observing or serving in the Russian army as volunteers could probably be acceptable by both sides.
And the honest offer to help would probably further help cement the good Swedo-Russian relations.
Thinking a bit out loud here, I think in this situation Karl would offer Peter at least a small Swedish force - after all, Peter was a good ally that came to Sweden's aid when Sweden was attacked, Karl would probably want to return the favour.
The logistical situation probably makes it close to impossible, and Peter might politely decline, citing the distances. But Swedish officers observing or serving in the Russian army as volunteers could probably be acceptable by both sides.
And the honest offer to help would probably further help cement the good Swedo-Russian relations.
The great minds think alike. 😂 I was thinking about such a possibility but the main problem is timing:
1. Russian plan is kept secret to prevent the “opponents” from not implementing their plan. Of course, taking into an account the newly-established family relations, a complete secrecy is pretty much impossible so Charles knows that Peter expects some Tatar/Cossack activity on his Southern borders but this does not mean a major war and offering help for the routine border activity does not make too much sense and can even be offensive.
2. When the figures start moving, there is the first opening. Of course, the Russians are still pretending that this is going to be one of the routine border conflicts but a few young Swedish aristocrats present at court (paying respects to the Princes and visiting their Russian friends) can volunteer to join coming entertainment (wouldn’t they need Charles’ permission?). So they may be present from the very beginning. Advice on some suitable families is appreciated (so far, could not find any candidates suitable by age: 20-30).
3. After the Ukrainian stage is over and the glorious victories are reported to the foreign courts, Charles is going to be informed about the future steps and at that point he may ask if some help is being needed. Definitely, the volunteers are going to be welcomed even if just because this is “European”. 😉
Already a war?
27. Is it already a war? What are you talking about?
Background:
1. General diplomatic framework
If, by the reasons I can’t quite figure out [1], you think that we are already in a midst of war, you are seriously confused. This is just a border activity anticipated by the Treaty of Constantinople. So far, everything is going according to protocol. The Crimeans (with whoever they chose to invite) conducted a raid into the Russian territory, which they should not do and for which the Russians (and whoever else is involved, for example, the Kalmyks) have a right to retaliate and/or to complain to the Sultan who may (its up to his discretion) to reprimand the Khan.
Figuratively speaking, the Crimeans are playing the Russian roulette [2] (no pun intended) but this game has tricky rules. To quote (from the book title of which I don’t remember): “How many of you are playing the Russian roulette with one loaded chamber?” - “We all do” - “But how many of you are playing it with one empty chamber?” - “None”. Khan simply assumed a popular version and, as far as the Ottomans are involved, it is his problem. After all, there are plenty members of the Giray family, none of which is of any special value. And why would anybody care about the ordinary Tatars? The Orlik’s project did make some sense but only in the terms of a “glory”: in a predictable it would not bring any income to the Sultan's Treasury and it could easily produce some burdensome obligations. Khan’s enthusiasm was understandable because he was thinking strictly within the lines of a immediate loot (severely limiting his own future looting base, but one should not expect too much from a member of his family: they were still around not because of their brainpower) but what was there for the Sultan? A questionable honor to be an overlord of an area which was systematically devastated over the last half-century and which was rebelling against each and every of its overlords?
In other words, there is nothing for the Sublime Porte to be worried about and to consider itself at war with Russia unless and until the Russians start attacking the Ottoman possessions. Which means Kerch, Kaffa and other port cities in the Peninsula and Ochakov outside. There was, of course, a touchy issue of the Ottoman garrison of Or Kapu fort, a part of the Perekop fortifications.
2. Fortifications (this is OTL [3])
The only merit of the map below is that it is seemingly more or less contemporary; commenting on its geographic merits is a waste of time and expletives 😂.
All Perekop Istmus, from the Black Sea to the Syvash (“Gniloie More” on the map), 8km long, was crossed by a dry moat with a 20 meters high earth rampart behind it. Along the rampart there were 7 stone towers with the artillery. There was a single bridge across the moat protected by the stone gates behind which there was a fort Ok Kapu, the Perekop Fortress. This fortress had a five-bastioned, rectangular design, with earthen walls lined with stone. The first version was completed around 1509, but the fort was of course built and rebuilt over many decades. It sported twenty, four-sided towers, and mounted around 100 guns. At that time it was garrisoned by 4,000 of the Janissary and Sipahi (quality unknown). In front of the gates was a small settlement protected by the earthworks.
As a side thought, in 1700 Russian defensive perimeter outside Narva was shorter (total length of the inside and outside earthworks was 7.5km) with 30-40,000 defenders, and earthworks having numerous bastion-style arrangements for the flanking fire. Of course the profile was not as high and wide and we should also factor in a winter storm but the point remains: to provide an effective defense of such a perimeter you probably need a lot of troops and something more complicated than just the earthworks with 7 artillery batteries located within more than 1km from each other. Quality-wise, 1700 Swedes vs. Russians “quality ratio” was probably lower than in this TL Russians vs. Tatars: at least in 1700 all Russians had firearms. 😜
A little bit more of the OTL history. When in 1736 Munnich started his campaign against the Crimea everything was happening along the classic scenario “Russia is always being engaged in the long and thorough preparations to the war to find it absolutely unprepared when it starts” (😂). He arrived to the rallying point at Tsaritsinka (half way between Kremenchug and the Samara River) to find that most of his army is not there, yet, and that the reconnaissance is not being done even to the Samara River. To make the long story short, his army started marching in the columns formed by the time of their arrival (a weak between the 1st and 5th column) and by the end of each daily march the 1st column had been building a permanent fortified camp to be used by the columns marching behind so, after 10 days of this exercise, commander of the 1st column reported that his soldiers are completely exhausted. Besides the camps the columns had been establishing the field magazines and constructing the field forts. Small wonder that, with the campaign starting on April 11, only by May 7 the vanguard reached the ruins of Kizi-Kerman (a month behind our TL schedule and much more losses due to the exhaustion) . To add to these slowing down factors, to provide security against possible Tatar attack (which did not materialized up to that point) Munnich ordered march in the column-based huge squares with the baggage train and the oxen (food) inside. The idea immediately resulted in the exhaustion-related losses so big that in few days it had to be abandoned. At Kizi-Kerman Munnich got to his favorite occupation, construction of the fortifications, seriously [4]. His army built a big earth fortification surrounded by the 16 redoubts covering perimeter of over 30 km.
By this time his reconnaissance detachments finally bumped into the Tatars and, with all the resulting skirmishes (and construction) on May 11th the army continued its march. How did they manage to do that much digging for such a short time I have no idea but it is probably safe to assume that they were quite exhausted. Anyway, from that point the army (over 50,000 troops plus a huge wagon train) had been marching in a single square with the wagons inside: the infantry regiments and dismounted dragoons formed 4 ranks with the Cossacks the 5th inside. Artillery was placed at the front and in the corners. It is up to you to figure out synchronization needed for maintaining an order in this marching monstrosity and resulting exhaustion of the troops. On May 17th, 7 days of that exercise (with building a fort and repelling a Tatar attack in a process), army finally reached the Perekop fortifications, built one more fortified camp (and redoubt with the artillery opposite to the gates) and finally opened fire at the gates. Storm of the Perekop started on May 20th.
Skipping details of the storm itself because getting across the wall took less than half a hour, it is probably worth nothing that, with all these tremendous volume of the preparations, the soldiers had to climb the rampart using their bayonets and pikes: there were no ladders or anything else to help them climbing.
3. Logistics or “find Peter” 😂
You are probably familiar with that type of the puzzle games “find <whatever>” on a picture/screen and in this case it is “Find Peter”, which is not trivial because he has to be in more than one place almost simultaneously.
(a) For as long as it is possible to keep things under umbrella of the “Constantinople Protocol” he has to be in Moscow being visibly busy with the state affairs out of which the minor disturbances on the Southern birder are close to the bottom of the list: the Crimean excursions of various sizes are pretty much an annual event and Tsar of Russia can’t be excessively bothered with them. Of course, the foreign ambassadors can be nosy but Prince Vasily Golitsyn and his subordinates are very good in pretending to be idiots with the stone faces. The official line is along the lines of “Yes, the Crimeans got restless again and yes, it looks like there are some Cossack traitors with them, what’s unusual about that? … Which Hetman? His Majesty did not, yet, appointed a replacement to the deceased one so there is no ‘Hetman’ . Some renegate Cossacks elected him? They are doing this for the last 50 years. Ah, this so-called ‘Hetman’ wrote some paper? Why should we read it or to be interested at all? … Where is Fieldmarshal Sheremetev? Had you been absent when he asked Tsar’s permission to leave for few weeks to put his estates in order and to take care of his health? Where is he exactly? Look, he has many estates and reports only to the Tsar himself…. Why the Swedish nobles visiting Moscow disappeared? They did not: Prince Michael Golitsyn invited his former comrades in arms to have some fun in his estates: much more freedom in the terms of “entertainment” for the young men than in Moscow under the Tsar’s watchful eye”, etc.
Of course, King Charles was somewhat better informed about the events but he was far away in Stockholm and was not a talkative person.
(b) By inclination he wanted to participate in a planned campaign on Ukraine.
(c) The top military figures involved kept insisting that he is going to be much more useful in an “operational rear” (Kiev, Kharkov, etc.) providing that all necessary logistic things are done smoothly without the traditional delays, passing of the responsibility, etc. Sheremetev put it bluntly: “only with you and Alexander Danilovich behind my back I don’t have the troubles” [5]. Menshikov was not happy to be deprived of a military glory but had to accept an implied compliment and assurances that he is going to get an independent command later during the campaign.
As a result, in his usual style, Peter abruptly left Moscow leaving Tsarevich Alexey in charge (“Where is His Majesty? If he did not tell you where he is going, why should I?”) and the diplomatic corps wondering about a purpose of his trip (as was hinted) to the port of St-Petersburg. There were some interesting theories and a flat denial both by Prince Vasily and by the Swedish ambassador only made them more believable. 😜
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[1] So far, the only reason I could come with is that everybody likes a war… on paper. 😉
[2] With an award if you are hitting an empty chamber. 😂
[3] If you are bored with the OTL part of a history, just skip this section.
[4] After all, he was the (military) engineer by education and inclination and, it looks like he seriously was concerned about security of his operations.
[5] Actually, he did wrote something to this effect.
Background:
1. General diplomatic framework
If, by the reasons I can’t quite figure out [1], you think that we are already in a midst of war, you are seriously confused. This is just a border activity anticipated by the Treaty of Constantinople. So far, everything is going according to protocol. The Crimeans (with whoever they chose to invite) conducted a raid into the Russian territory, which they should not do and for which the Russians (and whoever else is involved, for example, the Kalmyks) have a right to retaliate and/or to complain to the Sultan who may (its up to his discretion) to reprimand the Khan.
Figuratively speaking, the Crimeans are playing the Russian roulette [2] (no pun intended) but this game has tricky rules. To quote (from the book title of which I don’t remember): “How many of you are playing the Russian roulette with one loaded chamber?” - “We all do” - “But how many of you are playing it with one empty chamber?” - “None”. Khan simply assumed a popular version and, as far as the Ottomans are involved, it is his problem. After all, there are plenty members of the Giray family, none of which is of any special value. And why would anybody care about the ordinary Tatars? The Orlik’s project did make some sense but only in the terms of a “glory”: in a predictable it would not bring any income to the Sultan's Treasury and it could easily produce some burdensome obligations. Khan’s enthusiasm was understandable because he was thinking strictly within the lines of a immediate loot (severely limiting his own future looting base, but one should not expect too much from a member of his family: they were still around not because of their brainpower) but what was there for the Sultan? A questionable honor to be an overlord of an area which was systematically devastated over the last half-century and which was rebelling against each and every of its overlords?
In other words, there is nothing for the Sublime Porte to be worried about and to consider itself at war with Russia unless and until the Russians start attacking the Ottoman possessions. Which means Kerch, Kaffa and other port cities in the Peninsula and Ochakov outside. There was, of course, a touchy issue of the Ottoman garrison of Or Kapu fort, a part of the Perekop fortifications.
2. Fortifications (this is OTL [3])
The only merit of the map below is that it is seemingly more or less contemporary; commenting on its geographic merits is a waste of time and expletives 😂.
All Perekop Istmus, from the Black Sea to the Syvash (“Gniloie More” on the map), 8km long, was crossed by a dry moat with a 20 meters high earth rampart behind it. Along the rampart there were 7 stone towers with the artillery. There was a single bridge across the moat protected by the stone gates behind which there was a fort Ok Kapu, the Perekop Fortress. This fortress had a five-bastioned, rectangular design, with earthen walls lined with stone. The first version was completed around 1509, but the fort was of course built and rebuilt over many decades. It sported twenty, four-sided towers, and mounted around 100 guns. At that time it was garrisoned by 4,000 of the Janissary and Sipahi (quality unknown). In front of the gates was a small settlement protected by the earthworks.
As a side thought, in 1700 Russian defensive perimeter outside Narva was shorter (total length of the inside and outside earthworks was 7.5km) with 30-40,000 defenders, and earthworks having numerous bastion-style arrangements for the flanking fire. Of course the profile was not as high and wide and we should also factor in a winter storm but the point remains: to provide an effective defense of such a perimeter you probably need a lot of troops and something more complicated than just the earthworks with 7 artillery batteries located within more than 1km from each other. Quality-wise, 1700 Swedes vs. Russians “quality ratio” was probably lower than in this TL Russians vs. Tatars: at least in 1700 all Russians had firearms. 😜
A little bit more of the OTL history. When in 1736 Munnich started his campaign against the Crimea everything was happening along the classic scenario “Russia is always being engaged in the long and thorough preparations to the war to find it absolutely unprepared when it starts” (😂). He arrived to the rallying point at Tsaritsinka (half way between Kremenchug and the Samara River) to find that most of his army is not there, yet, and that the reconnaissance is not being done even to the Samara River. To make the long story short, his army started marching in the columns formed by the time of their arrival (a weak between the 1st and 5th column) and by the end of each daily march the 1st column had been building a permanent fortified camp to be used by the columns marching behind so, after 10 days of this exercise, commander of the 1st column reported that his soldiers are completely exhausted. Besides the camps the columns had been establishing the field magazines and constructing the field forts. Small wonder that, with the campaign starting on April 11, only by May 7 the vanguard reached the ruins of Kizi-Kerman (a month behind our TL schedule and much more losses due to the exhaustion) . To add to these slowing down factors, to provide security against possible Tatar attack (which did not materialized up to that point) Munnich ordered march in the column-based huge squares with the baggage train and the oxen (food) inside. The idea immediately resulted in the exhaustion-related losses so big that in few days it had to be abandoned. At Kizi-Kerman Munnich got to his favorite occupation, construction of the fortifications, seriously [4]. His army built a big earth fortification surrounded by the 16 redoubts covering perimeter of over 30 km.
By this time his reconnaissance detachments finally bumped into the Tatars and, with all the resulting skirmishes (and construction) on May 11th the army continued its march. How did they manage to do that much digging for such a short time I have no idea but it is probably safe to assume that they were quite exhausted. Anyway, from that point the army (over 50,000 troops plus a huge wagon train) had been marching in a single square with the wagons inside: the infantry regiments and dismounted dragoons formed 4 ranks with the Cossacks the 5th inside. Artillery was placed at the front and in the corners. It is up to you to figure out synchronization needed for maintaining an order in this marching monstrosity and resulting exhaustion of the troops. On May 17th, 7 days of that exercise (with building a fort and repelling a Tatar attack in a process), army finally reached the Perekop fortifications, built one more fortified camp (and redoubt with the artillery opposite to the gates) and finally opened fire at the gates. Storm of the Perekop started on May 20th.
Skipping details of the storm itself because getting across the wall took less than half a hour, it is probably worth nothing that, with all these tremendous volume of the preparations, the soldiers had to climb the rampart using their bayonets and pikes: there were no ladders or anything else to help them climbing.
3. Logistics or “find Peter” 😂
You are probably familiar with that type of the puzzle games “find <whatever>” on a picture/screen and in this case it is “Find Peter”, which is not trivial because he has to be in more than one place almost simultaneously.
(a) For as long as it is possible to keep things under umbrella of the “Constantinople Protocol” he has to be in Moscow being visibly busy with the state affairs out of which the minor disturbances on the Southern birder are close to the bottom of the list: the Crimean excursions of various sizes are pretty much an annual event and Tsar of Russia can’t be excessively bothered with them. Of course, the foreign ambassadors can be nosy but Prince Vasily Golitsyn and his subordinates are very good in pretending to be idiots with the stone faces. The official line is along the lines of “Yes, the Crimeans got restless again and yes, it looks like there are some Cossack traitors with them, what’s unusual about that? … Which Hetman? His Majesty did not, yet, appointed a replacement to the deceased one so there is no ‘Hetman’ . Some renegate Cossacks elected him? They are doing this for the last 50 years. Ah, this so-called ‘Hetman’ wrote some paper? Why should we read it or to be interested at all? … Where is Fieldmarshal Sheremetev? Had you been absent when he asked Tsar’s permission to leave for few weeks to put his estates in order and to take care of his health? Where is he exactly? Look, he has many estates and reports only to the Tsar himself…. Why the Swedish nobles visiting Moscow disappeared? They did not: Prince Michael Golitsyn invited his former comrades in arms to have some fun in his estates: much more freedom in the terms of “entertainment” for the young men than in Moscow under the Tsar’s watchful eye”, etc.
Of course, King Charles was somewhat better informed about the events but he was far away in Stockholm and was not a talkative person.
(b) By inclination he wanted to participate in a planned campaign on Ukraine.
(c) The top military figures involved kept insisting that he is going to be much more useful in an “operational rear” (Kiev, Kharkov, etc.) providing that all necessary logistic things are done smoothly without the traditional delays, passing of the responsibility, etc. Sheremetev put it bluntly: “only with you and Alexander Danilovich behind my back I don’t have the troubles” [5]. Menshikov was not happy to be deprived of a military glory but had to accept an implied compliment and assurances that he is going to get an independent command later during the campaign.
As a result, in his usual style, Peter abruptly left Moscow leaving Tsarevich Alexey in charge (“Where is His Majesty? If he did not tell you where he is going, why should I?”) and the diplomatic corps wondering about a purpose of his trip (as was hinted) to the port of St-Petersburg. There were some interesting theories and a flat denial both by Prince Vasily and by the Swedish ambassador only made them more believable. 😜
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[1] So far, the only reason I could come with is that everybody likes a war… on paper. 😉
[2] With an award if you are hitting an empty chamber. 😂
[3] If you are bored with the OTL part of a history, just skip this section.
[4] After all, he was the (military) engineer by education and inclination and, it looks like he seriously was concerned about security of his operations.
[5] Actually, he did wrote something to this effect.
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If it looks like a war….
28. If it looks like a war….
Traditionally, offensive operations against the Crimea had been facing two main inter-related problems: supplies and Tatars’s attacks. A need to carry a huge supply train meant a slow march and a need to be in a constant readiness to repel the attacks on that train because its loss or even just a significant damage would doom the expedition. A slow march also meant that before the troops get anywhere close to the Perekop they’d already consume a big part of the supplies which would force them to turn back or face death by starvation. The Tatars had been adding to the general exhaustion and depression because, while they could hit and run, the marching army did not have means to pursue them.
Now, the lesson had been learned. The Dnieper and Don had been used as the transportation routes from the main depots in Kiev and Voronez, which were getting supplies from the inland regions. The fact that Peter himself was in charge of the supply operation guaranteed that the army will not suffer from the shortages. Of course, this being a real world, it also meant that the needed supplies had been collected with ruthlessness and almost complete disregard to the civilians’s well-being. As Peter wrote “народишко здешний холуй и пользы своей не понимает” (the locals are stupid and don’t understand that this is done for their own good) [1]. Well, anyway, as far as Peter was concerned, the supplies had been collected in abundance, enough of the river craft of all types was commandeered, the traffic was organized, the fortified supply depots along the rivers established and the system started functioning. Now, a care should be taken to keep it functioning for as long as necessary.
Sheremetev’s main army (3 infantry and 3 cavalry divisions, approximately 4,000 Cossacks, 128 cannons) was marching along the Dnieper. This was a longer route but it allowed to avoid march across the waterless steppe. The small rivers on the left side of the Dnieper provided enough water and there were plenty of trees and grass along the Dnieper to take care of the cooking needs and the horses. Most of the rivers on the way were small enough to be crossed on foot and only in few cases special measures had to be taken to get the artillery across them. To cut down marching in a heat, the daily marched started in 2-3AM. Army was marching with a minimal baggage train using supply stations along the river. After disaster at Kremenchug, the Tatars simply were not there in the noticeable numbers and the Cossacks assigned to the army had been adequate for dealing with the occasional small bands even without calling for the regular light cavalry. An assembly point was made at Kiri-Kirman when few days had been spent for the rest, construction of the main supply depot (the last on the Dnieper route) and making the ladders for the future storm of the Perekop. From this point army was going to abandon the Dnieper and march directly South for approximately 80km toward the Perekop.
Upon return to the Crimea after the Kremenchug disaster Devlet Giray tried to put together a new force but was faced with a shortage of both time and enthusiasm: not just his personal prestige sunk to the bottom (and there were already rumors that he is going to be replaced) but, with only couple thousand making back from a failed raid, most of the best warriors had been lost. Quite a few influential nobles at that point would not mind to switch to the Russian side, provided security of their property and privileges was guaranteed. Of course, they would change sides only in the case of the obvious Russian success (and a proper behavior within the peninsula) but they were not rushing to join Devlet Giray either. As a result, the Khan assembled only up to 20,000 at Perekop and there were 4.000 Ottomans sitting in the Perekop Fortress.
After inspecting the enemy’s defenses Sheremetev decided to storm them immediately, without a long siege. The main attack should happen on the Black Sea side. Some infantry and cavalry had to walk across the Syvash bypassing defenders’ right flank while a false attack would be launched at the front of this sector. In the morning the main storming column (11 battalions under command of general Weide) approached the fortifications. The soldiers used the ladders to get down the moat and then up the rampart. At the same time troops under command of general Ronne, using a low tide, crossed Syvash and got to the rear of the fortifications. The defenders fled toward Kafa and had been energetically chased.
The Ottoman garrison of Ok Kapu capitulated. The Russian losses amounted to 160, the Tatars lost up to 1,000 and all Perekop’s artillery. The main army marched to Kafa with a detachment of approximately 3,000 was sent toward Кезлев (Yevpatoria).
The painting below [2] shows the event as viewed from the Russian side. As a result, the North is on the bottom, the West (Black Sea) is on the left and the East (Syvash) is on the right.
In a meantime, Golitsyn’s corps supported by the Azov flotilla (the big ships still waiting in Voronezh for a high water) marched toward Genichesk. A pontoon bridge was constructed from 100 boats brought by the flotilla and Golitsyn's troops entered the Arabat Split closely followed by the flotilla’s small ships sailing close to the ciast. At some point few Ottoman battleships came into sight, but, as Apraxin predicted, they simply could not get anywhere closer and sailed away.
Arabat Split looks like that (Syvsah on the left)
And on the map:
At its end there was Arabat fortress guarding entrance into the peninsula
Most of Golitsyn’s army crossed into the “mainland” at a narrowest place of Syvash, approximately at the half of the Split’s length (see map above) but a detachment of 3,500 kept marching toward the fortress.
Below is one more “beauties” of mapping: author designated the Sea of Azov as the Black Sea but never mind (and ignore the year 😂). It shows that the whole length of the Split was protected by a wall with the fortress blocking the road. Upon the arrival, after a short cannonade the Russians attacked in 3 columns: 2 against the fortress and 1 with a task to bypass the wall and take fortress from the rear. The Ottoman defenders of the fortress opened fire but the attackers ignored it, climbed the walls and got into the fortress. The Ottomans fled with the loss of 500 [3].
Both columns of Golitsyn’s corps, just as the main army, had been marching on Kafa where Khan was hastily assembling some army and expecting arrival of the Ottoman forces. But the battle did not happen: at the news of the Russian approach and the fall of the Arabat fortress, the Khan’s army melted away and he himself boarded a ship at Kafa. The city did not resist and when the Ottoman squadron finally arrived [4] its commander decided that prudence is a greatest of all virtues and sailed away.
Dilapidated fortifications of Kerch, which the Ottomans did not bother to repair since the last war, did not allow for any meaningful resistance and, with the help of the Azov flotilla, the strait was crossed and Taman (again, no improvements since the last war) capitulated. Russians got a complete control over the access to the Sea of Azov.
In the Crimea Sheremetev, who ordered his troops to behave with an utmost restraint, established control over Karasubazar, Bakhchisarai, Kafa, Yevpatoria and other important places and call assembly of the local notables on which “firman” of Tsar Peter had been read:
1. The Crimea was declared a part of Russia
2. Security of all property had been guaranteed.
3. The slaves has to be released but it would be up to them to leave or to remain as the hired workers/servants [5].
4. Freedom of religion is guaranteed.
5. Local nobility gets status of the Russian nobility and those who want, are welcomed to the Russian army as the officers.
6. Corp of the light cavalry is going to be organized out of the local volunteers [6].
7. Those who don’t like, are free to move to the Ottoman territories.
For the majority, this was OK, at least with an alternative being further fight, destruction and most probably death.
Of course, there was a minor issue of the Ottoman consent, which was going to require some not inconsiderable beating…. 😂
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[1] Stolen from «Епифанские шлюзы». 🤣
[2] The painting, just as the whole storm description (except for the commanders’ names) belongs to 1771.
[3] 1771
[4] After the fall of the Perekop it was decided in Constantinople that, after all, this is a war. The Russian ambassador was placed into Yedikule Hisarı (I tried but could not find images of its cells for the high-ranking prisoners, were they something of an Asiatic version of those in Bastille?) but assembling an expedition force to the Crimea was taking time
[5] Except for those to be send to the slave markets outside the Khanate, their situation was, in general, better than of the Russian serfs: most of them worked on the land with a chance to get a mandatory freedom in few years.
[6] Majority of the nomadic population of the Khanate was extremely poor and a regular salary was going to be a major bonus for their families.
Traditionally, offensive operations against the Crimea had been facing two main inter-related problems: supplies and Tatars’s attacks. A need to carry a huge supply train meant a slow march and a need to be in a constant readiness to repel the attacks on that train because its loss or even just a significant damage would doom the expedition. A slow march also meant that before the troops get anywhere close to the Perekop they’d already consume a big part of the supplies which would force them to turn back or face death by starvation. The Tatars had been adding to the general exhaustion and depression because, while they could hit and run, the marching army did not have means to pursue them.
Now, the lesson had been learned. The Dnieper and Don had been used as the transportation routes from the main depots in Kiev and Voronez, which were getting supplies from the inland regions. The fact that Peter himself was in charge of the supply operation guaranteed that the army will not suffer from the shortages. Of course, this being a real world, it also meant that the needed supplies had been collected with ruthlessness and almost complete disregard to the civilians’s well-being. As Peter wrote “народишко здешний холуй и пользы своей не понимает” (the locals are stupid and don’t understand that this is done for their own good) [1]. Well, anyway, as far as Peter was concerned, the supplies had been collected in abundance, enough of the river craft of all types was commandeered, the traffic was organized, the fortified supply depots along the rivers established and the system started functioning. Now, a care should be taken to keep it functioning for as long as necessary.
Sheremetev’s main army (3 infantry and 3 cavalry divisions, approximately 4,000 Cossacks, 128 cannons) was marching along the Dnieper. This was a longer route but it allowed to avoid march across the waterless steppe. The small rivers on the left side of the Dnieper provided enough water and there were plenty of trees and grass along the Dnieper to take care of the cooking needs and the horses. Most of the rivers on the way were small enough to be crossed on foot and only in few cases special measures had to be taken to get the artillery across them. To cut down marching in a heat, the daily marched started in 2-3AM. Army was marching with a minimal baggage train using supply stations along the river. After disaster at Kremenchug, the Tatars simply were not there in the noticeable numbers and the Cossacks assigned to the army had been adequate for dealing with the occasional small bands even without calling for the regular light cavalry. An assembly point was made at Kiri-Kirman when few days had been spent for the rest, construction of the main supply depot (the last on the Dnieper route) and making the ladders for the future storm of the Perekop. From this point army was going to abandon the Dnieper and march directly South for approximately 80km toward the Perekop.
Upon return to the Crimea after the Kremenchug disaster Devlet Giray tried to put together a new force but was faced with a shortage of both time and enthusiasm: not just his personal prestige sunk to the bottom (and there were already rumors that he is going to be replaced) but, with only couple thousand making back from a failed raid, most of the best warriors had been lost. Quite a few influential nobles at that point would not mind to switch to the Russian side, provided security of their property and privileges was guaranteed. Of course, they would change sides only in the case of the obvious Russian success (and a proper behavior within the peninsula) but they were not rushing to join Devlet Giray either. As a result, the Khan assembled only up to 20,000 at Perekop and there were 4.000 Ottomans sitting in the Perekop Fortress.
After inspecting the enemy’s defenses Sheremetev decided to storm them immediately, without a long siege. The main attack should happen on the Black Sea side. Some infantry and cavalry had to walk across the Syvash bypassing defenders’ right flank while a false attack would be launched at the front of this sector. In the morning the main storming column (11 battalions under command of general Weide) approached the fortifications. The soldiers used the ladders to get down the moat and then up the rampart. At the same time troops under command of general Ronne, using a low tide, crossed Syvash and got to the rear of the fortifications. The defenders fled toward Kafa and had been energetically chased.
The Ottoman garrison of Ok Kapu capitulated. The Russian losses amounted to 160, the Tatars lost up to 1,000 and all Perekop’s artillery. The main army marched to Kafa with a detachment of approximately 3,000 was sent toward Кезлев (Yevpatoria).
The painting below [2] shows the event as viewed from the Russian side. As a result, the North is on the bottom, the West (Black Sea) is on the left and the East (Syvash) is on the right.
In a meantime, Golitsyn’s corps supported by the Azov flotilla (the big ships still waiting in Voronezh for a high water) marched toward Genichesk. A pontoon bridge was constructed from 100 boats brought by the flotilla and Golitsyn's troops entered the Arabat Split closely followed by the flotilla’s small ships sailing close to the ciast. At some point few Ottoman battleships came into sight, but, as Apraxin predicted, they simply could not get anywhere closer and sailed away.
Arabat Split looks like that (Syvsah on the left)
And on the map:
At its end there was Arabat fortress guarding entrance into the peninsula
Most of Golitsyn’s army crossed into the “mainland” at a narrowest place of Syvash, approximately at the half of the Split’s length (see map above) but a detachment of 3,500 kept marching toward the fortress.
Below is one more “beauties” of mapping: author designated the Sea of Azov as the Black Sea but never mind (and ignore the year 😂). It shows that the whole length of the Split was protected by a wall with the fortress blocking the road. Upon the arrival, after a short cannonade the Russians attacked in 3 columns: 2 against the fortress and 1 with a task to bypass the wall and take fortress from the rear. The Ottoman defenders of the fortress opened fire but the attackers ignored it, climbed the walls and got into the fortress. The Ottomans fled with the loss of 500 [3].
Both columns of Golitsyn’s corps, just as the main army, had been marching on Kafa where Khan was hastily assembling some army and expecting arrival of the Ottoman forces. But the battle did not happen: at the news of the Russian approach and the fall of the Arabat fortress, the Khan’s army melted away and he himself boarded a ship at Kafa. The city did not resist and when the Ottoman squadron finally arrived [4] its commander decided that prudence is a greatest of all virtues and sailed away.
Dilapidated fortifications of Kerch, which the Ottomans did not bother to repair since the last war, did not allow for any meaningful resistance and, with the help of the Azov flotilla, the strait was crossed and Taman (again, no improvements since the last war) capitulated. Russians got a complete control over the access to the Sea of Azov.
In the Crimea Sheremetev, who ordered his troops to behave with an utmost restraint, established control over Karasubazar, Bakhchisarai, Kafa, Yevpatoria and other important places and call assembly of the local notables on which “firman” of Tsar Peter had been read:
1. The Crimea was declared a part of Russia
2. Security of all property had been guaranteed.
3. The slaves has to be released but it would be up to them to leave or to remain as the hired workers/servants [5].
4. Freedom of religion is guaranteed.
5. Local nobility gets status of the Russian nobility and those who want, are welcomed to the Russian army as the officers.
6. Corp of the light cavalry is going to be organized out of the local volunteers [6].
7. Those who don’t like, are free to move to the Ottoman territories.
For the majority, this was OK, at least with an alternative being further fight, destruction and most probably death.
Of course, there was a minor issue of the Ottoman consent, which was going to require some not inconsiderable beating…. 😂
____________________
[1] Stolen from «Епифанские шлюзы». 🤣
[2] The painting, just as the whole storm description (except for the commanders’ names) belongs to 1771.
[3] 1771
[4] After the fall of the Perekop it was decided in Constantinople that, after all, this is a war. The Russian ambassador was placed into Yedikule Hisarı (I tried but could not find images of its cells for the high-ranking prisoners, were they something of an Asiatic version of those in Bastille?) but assembling an expedition force to the Crimea was taking time
[5] Except for those to be send to the slave markets outside the Khanate, their situation was, in general, better than of the Russian serfs: most of them worked on the land with a chance to get a mandatory freedom in few years.
[6] Majority of the nomadic population of the Khanate was extremely poor and a regular salary was going to be a major bonus for their families.
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Would it be OK if I stick to the “Midsized” one? 😂
Just Russia and the Ottomans with everybody else being busy with the Really Big One: Peter has the whole 6-7 years in his disposal.
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
Nevermind the real kerfuffle going down a bit to the west.
Though I get a feeling that he's really gonna need those seven years.