Campaign of 1708
32. Campaign of 1708 and not only….
Things domestic
1. In 1706 Russia expanded nomenclature of its exports by adding grain. Not to be completely dependent upon its Dutch partners, a small caravan of 10 merchant ships with the mixed crews and wearing the Swedish colors sailed through the the Sound to Amsterdam. This was a small potato but with a great potential. Russian direct participation in a maritime trade, especially outside the “Russia-Sweden” route, also was something brand new: in general, the Russian merchants were rather reluctant to operate outside the home territory and, among other things, were lacking the credit institutions. Amsterdam had been chosen by two reasons: 1st, it was handling most of the Baltic grain trade and 2nd, it was a main Russian trade partner so there were some useful connections.[1]
2. Moscow water supply was mostly from the rivers flowing through it (not very clean, to put it mildly), the ponds (800 of them with a water quality even worse because population had been dumping into it garbage and excrements). Which left only the wells as a source of a clean drinking water. Moscow had over 5,000 of them but they were mostly on the private properties and only 3 of them available for the public use. The poor people had to pay the water carriers and quality of their water was not always high with the resulting regular epidemics of various infectious diseases.
To deal with the issue, Peter ordered construction of a water supply system based upon the high quality spring water available in Mytishchi famous for its high quality water and conveniently located above Moscow city level. 43 water accumulation reservoirs had to be created, from them water would flow into reservoir at «Громовый ключ»
and from it for 20km down the hill all the way to Moscow into the public fountains. The most spectacular part of the system was an aqueduct 292 meters long. The rest of the way water had been flowing by the underground pipes.
The project was going to be expensive and time/labor-consuming. The labor-related part Peter addressed in his usual way by ordering military governor of Moscow to send 400 soldiers daily to work on the construction.[2]
3. Ukaz had been issued allowing everybody to look for the metals’ deposits (including silver and gold, which were so far state monopoly) a right to start extraction with the defined arrangements regarding compensation to the land owner and taxation (the precious metals had to be eventually sold to the state but this was a big difference from the existing state monopoly on the extraction).
4. It was officially announced that Tsarevna Ulrika Eleonora (Елена Карловна) is pregnant.
5. The newly founded wharf in Kherson completed construction of 2 first ships of the line, 84 and 74 guns. The usual caveat applied: they had been built fast which means that the wood was not dried properly and there are going to be problems with a speed and a length of service. But Peter needed the ships right here and now.
[To avoid misunderstandings, Apraksin is general-admiral, which is strictly speaking an administrative position, a minister of the navy with the corresponding functions but not a fighting admiral Of course, in OTL during Peter’s reign quite a few things had been confused because he kept borrowing the foreign titles without bothering to define their meaning. As a result, Apraksin was all over the place, constructing fleets, building fortresses and havens in Southern Russia, being chief of the admiralty and commanding the naval operations. Small wonder that he did not really excel in any of these activities and in 1715 fell into temporary disgrace with the tsar, who had been informed about disorders and bribery in the Admiralty. After brief investigation, he was fined and dispatched to govern Estonia.
In this TL he is predominantly concentrating on the Admiralty/ministerial duties, with the better results in the terms of a naval construction, supplies and preparing the personnel. The naval battles are going to be conducted by the professionals.]
Back to war
On the Russian side. By the start of 1708 campaign the Russian armies are positioned behind their “front line” on the Pruth and Danube. Their size is approximately the same as at the start of the previous year campaign: the battle losses are patched and those of the “natural causes” kept to minimum due to the adequate supplies during the winter. Their strategic plan is pretty much the same as in the previous year, only slightly more aggressive: instead of letting the Ottoman armies to just fell apart, engage and destroy them in the battles putting a psychological pressure upon the Sultan.
The navy has pretty much the same task: not to allow landings of the Ottoman troops in the Crimea or in a rear of the Russian armies. The Black Sea fleet, with the newly-built ships, may start acting more aggressively.
On the Ottoman side. A brand new Vizier [3] is raising one more army of 150,000 with a stated goal of kicking the Russians out of Moldavia. The ideas regarding conquest of Kiev (,Moscow and Kamchatka) are temporarily put on hold. A second “prong” of the Ottoman advance is to organize landings everywhere from Ochakov to the Kuban. A newly-appointed Kapudan Pasha ( لِسانِ عُثمانى, lisân-ı Osmânî) got his position swearing to clear the Black Sea from the Russian presence [4]. Part of the Ottoman navy had been moved from the Aegean to the Black Sea and positioned at Varna. The leftovers of the Mehmed Giray’s Tatars are still around on the Lower Danube.
______________
[1] In a long run Peter and Charles may try to turn market of the Baltic exports into a quasi-monopoly allowing to keep the high prices. For this they’ll need cooperation of (at least) two other players.
[2] Of course, this construction is not perfect and in a few decades will need the improvements and reconstruction but its completion (within few years) is going to supply Moscow with a clean drinking water.
[3] Surprise? Anybody? 😜
[4] Well, and the fact that he is married to the Sultan's sister also did not hurt.
Things domestic
1. In 1706 Russia expanded nomenclature of its exports by adding grain. Not to be completely dependent upon its Dutch partners, a small caravan of 10 merchant ships with the mixed crews and wearing the Swedish colors sailed through the the Sound to Amsterdam. This was a small potato but with a great potential. Russian direct participation in a maritime trade, especially outside the “Russia-Sweden” route, also was something brand new: in general, the Russian merchants were rather reluctant to operate outside the home territory and, among other things, were lacking the credit institutions. Amsterdam had been chosen by two reasons: 1st, it was handling most of the Baltic grain trade and 2nd, it was a main Russian trade partner so there were some useful connections.[1]
2. Moscow water supply was mostly from the rivers flowing through it (not very clean, to put it mildly), the ponds (800 of them with a water quality even worse because population had been dumping into it garbage and excrements). Which left only the wells as a source of a clean drinking water. Moscow had over 5,000 of them but they were mostly on the private properties and only 3 of them available for the public use. The poor people had to pay the water carriers and quality of their water was not always high with the resulting regular epidemics of various infectious diseases.
To deal with the issue, Peter ordered construction of a water supply system based upon the high quality spring water available in Mytishchi famous for its high quality water and conveniently located above Moscow city level. 43 water accumulation reservoirs had to be created, from them water would flow into reservoir at «Громовый ключ»
and from it for 20km down the hill all the way to Moscow into the public fountains. The most spectacular part of the system was an aqueduct 292 meters long. The rest of the way water had been flowing by the underground pipes.
The project was going to be expensive and time/labor-consuming. The labor-related part Peter addressed in his usual way by ordering military governor of Moscow to send 400 soldiers daily to work on the construction.[2]
3. Ukaz had been issued allowing everybody to look for the metals’ deposits (including silver and gold, which were so far state monopoly) a right to start extraction with the defined arrangements regarding compensation to the land owner and taxation (the precious metals had to be eventually sold to the state but this was a big difference from the existing state monopoly on the extraction).
4. It was officially announced that Tsarevna Ulrika Eleonora (Елена Карловна) is pregnant.
5. The newly founded wharf in Kherson completed construction of 2 first ships of the line, 84 and 74 guns. The usual caveat applied: they had been built fast which means that the wood was not dried properly and there are going to be problems with a speed and a length of service. But Peter needed the ships right here and now.
[To avoid misunderstandings, Apraksin is general-admiral, which is strictly speaking an administrative position, a minister of the navy with the corresponding functions but not a fighting admiral Of course, in OTL during Peter’s reign quite a few things had been confused because he kept borrowing the foreign titles without bothering to define their meaning. As a result, Apraksin was all over the place, constructing fleets, building fortresses and havens in Southern Russia, being chief of the admiralty and commanding the naval operations. Small wonder that he did not really excel in any of these activities and in 1715 fell into temporary disgrace with the tsar, who had been informed about disorders and bribery in the Admiralty. After brief investigation, he was fined and dispatched to govern Estonia.
In this TL he is predominantly concentrating on the Admiralty/ministerial duties, with the better results in the terms of a naval construction, supplies and preparing the personnel. The naval battles are going to be conducted by the professionals.]
Back to war
On the Russian side. By the start of 1708 campaign the Russian armies are positioned behind their “front line” on the Pruth and Danube. Their size is approximately the same as at the start of the previous year campaign: the battle losses are patched and those of the “natural causes” kept to minimum due to the adequate supplies during the winter. Their strategic plan is pretty much the same as in the previous year, only slightly more aggressive: instead of letting the Ottoman armies to just fell apart, engage and destroy them in the battles putting a psychological pressure upon the Sultan.
The navy has pretty much the same task: not to allow landings of the Ottoman troops in the Crimea or in a rear of the Russian armies. The Black Sea fleet, with the newly-built ships, may start acting more aggressively.
On the Ottoman side. A brand new Vizier [3] is raising one more army of 150,000 with a stated goal of kicking the Russians out of Moldavia. The ideas regarding conquest of Kiev (,Moscow and Kamchatka) are temporarily put on hold. A second “prong” of the Ottoman advance is to organize landings everywhere from Ochakov to the Kuban. A newly-appointed Kapudan Pasha ( لِسانِ عُثمانى, lisân-ı Osmânî) got his position swearing to clear the Black Sea from the Russian presence [4]. Part of the Ottoman navy had been moved from the Aegean to the Black Sea and positioned at Varna. The leftovers of the Mehmed Giray’s Tatars are still around on the Lower Danube.
______________
[1] In a long run Peter and Charles may try to turn market of the Baltic exports into a quasi-monopoly allowing to keep the high prices. For this they’ll need cooperation of (at least) two other players.
[2] Of course, this construction is not perfect and in a few decades will need the improvements and reconstruction but its completion (within few years) is going to supply Moscow with a clean drinking water.
[3] Surprise? Anybody? 😜
[4] Well, and the fact that he is married to the Sultan's sister also did not hurt.
