Campaigns of Rumyantsev, Potemkin and Suvorov in Turkey. The biggest mistakes in history

Under the cut is small, but instructive story about how a gypsy camp, which accidentally turned out to have a barrel of alcohol, determined the fate of mankind.

In 1788, the Austrian emperor Joseph II decided for no reason at all to free the Balkans from the Turkish yoke - an intention worthy of a Christian, but based, of course, not on pious intentions, but on the desire to extend Austrian influence to the so-called "underbelly of Europe". Having gathered a huge army, the Austrians crossed the border.

After marches, transitions, large and small skirmishes with varying success, both sides prepared for the decisive battle.

On a moonless night on September 19, 100,000 Austrians were moving closer to the 70,000th Turkish army in order to fight, which was to determine the fate of the war.

A company of hussars, marching at the forefront of the Austrians, crossed the small river Temesh, near the town of Karansebes, but there were no Turkish troops on the shore - they had not yet approached. However, the hussars saw a gypsy camp. Pleased with the opportunity to earn extra money, the gypsies offered the hussars to refresh themselves after the crossing - for money, of course. For a few coins, the cavalry bought a barrel of alcohol from the gypsies and began to quench their thirst.

In the meantime, several infantry companies crossed in the same place, which didn’t get any alcohol, but they wanted to drink ... A squabble began between the hussars and infantrymen, during which one cavalryman either accidentally or out of anger fired at a soldier. He collapsed, after which a general dump began. All the hussars and all the foot soldiers who were nearby intervened in the fight.

And the drunken hussars, and the infantry languishing with thirst, heated up by the massacre, did not want to yield. Finally, one of the sides took over - the defeated shamefully fled to their shore, pursued by a jubilant enemy. Who was broken? - history is silent, more precisely, the information is contradictory. It is quite possible that in some places the hussars won, and in others the foot soldiers. Be that as it may, the troops approaching the crossing suddenly saw frightened fleeing soldiers and hussars, crumpled, bruised, covered in blood ... The victorious cries of the pursuers were heard behind.

Meanwhile, the hussar colonel, trying to stop his fighters, yelled in German: “Halt! Halt!” Since there were many Hungarians, Slovaks, Lombards and others who did not understand German well in the ranks of the Austrian army, some soldiers heard - “Allah! Allah!", after which the panic became general. During the general bustle and noise, several hundred cavalry horses that were in the corral broke out from behind the fence. So it happened late at night, everyone decided that the Turkish cavalry had broken into the army. The commander of one corps, having heard the formidable noise of the "advancing cavalry", gave the order to the artillerymen to open fire. Shells exploded in the crowd of distraught soldiers. The officers who tried to organize resistance built their regiments and threw them into an attack on artillery, in full confidence that they were fighting the Turks. In the end, everyone fled.

The emperor, who did not understand anything, was also convinced that the Turkish army had attacked the camp, tried to take control of the situation, but the fleeing crowd threw him off his horse. The emperor's adjutant was trampled on. Joseph himself escaped by jumping into the river.

By morning everything was quiet. The whole space was littered with guns, dead horses, saddles, provisions, broken ammunition boxes and overturned cannons - in a word, everything that a utterly defeated army throws. On the field of the strangest battle in the history of mankind, 10 thousand dead soldiers remained lying - that is, by the number dead battle standing in line biggest battles humanity (in the famous battles of Hastings, Agincourt, Valmy, in the Valley of Abraham and many others, the number of dead is much less). The Austrian army ceased to exist, as the survivors fled in horror.

Two days later, the Turkish army approached. The Turks looked with surprise at the piles of corpses, wandered among the wounded, groaning in delirium soldiers, puzzling over the question - which unknown enemy utterly defeated one of the most strong armies peace and saved Turkey from defeat. The Christian world failed to acquire the Balkans. Austria did not become the strongest state in Europe, could not stop French Revolution, the world went the way of France ...

A small gypsy camp, which accidentally turned out to have a barrel of alcohol, determined the fate of mankind.

The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -

The war of 1787-1792 between the coalition of Austria and Russia on the one hand and the Ottoman Empire on the other threatened the Turks with a war on two fronts. Russian troops were advancing in the southern Black Sea region and in the Kuban, and the Austrians launched a direct attack on Istanbul through Belgrade.

In this situation, the Ottomans concentrated their main forces against the Austrians in order to remove the immediate threat to their capital.

Austrian troops numbering up to 100 thousand people were sent to cut across the Ottoman army, intending to give battle. Reconnaissance patrols of the light cavalry were sent ahead, which, having crossed the Temesh River, began to search for the Turkish army. However, after a vain search for Ottoman troops, the Austrian hussars stumbled upon a gypsy camp. The servants were tired and rather wet, so when the hospitable gypsies offered them schnapps, they did not refuse. The drunkenness of the servicemen of this kind of troops entered poetry and prose. How can one not recall Pushkin's "Shot" and the words of its main character Silvio, who served in the hussars: "We boasted of drunkenness."

In general, the feast was in full swing when parts of the infantry crossed the river. Seeing the hussars having fun, the infantrymen demanded their share of refreshments. They refused and there was a quarrel. It is not known who first threatened to use weapons, but as a result, the hussars took up defensive positions behind the gypsy carts, someone pulled the trigger, one infantryman was killed and a shootout began. The Austrian infantry and hussars entered into battle among themselves.

The matter was further complicated by the fact that the Austrian infantry, unable to withstand the pressure of the hussars, began to retreat, and the hussars, heated by the fight, began to pursue them.

The commander of the hussar regiment, trying to stop his subordinates, shouted in German: “Halt, halt” (“Stop, stop”), and some Austrian soldiers heard that the Turks were shouting their battle cry “Allah, Allah”.

The new infantry units that came up behind them, not understanding the situation, began to shout “Turks, Turks!” The situation was further complicated by the fact that the infantry units of the Austrian army were recruited from representatives different peoples who inhabited the "patchwork empire" and often did not know the state German language well. The panicked soldiers could not really explain anything to the officers, and they began to report to their higher authorities that the Austrian vanguard had unexpectedly run into the Turkish army.

Hussar horses were also added to the panic, which the drunken hussars tied loosely and, having heard the shots, broke off their slings and galloped towards the Austrians. The situation was aggravated by the fact that it was evening and dusk was approaching, in which it was difficult to see what was happening.

The commander of one of the Austrian corps decided that the Turkish cavalry was attacking the Austrian troops on the march and, "saving" the army, deployed his artillery and opened fire on the horses and the crowd of fleeing soldiers. Panic reached its climax.

Distraught with fear, the soldiers rushed to the camp where the main forces of the Austrian army were stationed. It was already night and the troops, who were in the camp in full confidence that they were attacked by the Turks, opened fire on their own fleeing soldiers.

The Austrian emperor Joseph II, who commanded the army, tried to sort out the situation and restore command, but the fleeing soldiers threw him and his horse into the river. He received serious bruises and broke his leg. His adjutant was trampled to death.

By morning the battle was over. The Austrian army scattered over the fields and forests, and 10 thousand killed and wounded Austrians, broken cannons, dead and crippled horses and shell boxes remained on the battlefield.

The Ottoman army, under the command of Koji Yusuf Pasha, approached the scene of the incident and examined it with amazement. Yusuf Pasha at first did not understand what had happened, but when it dawned on him that the Austrian army had miraculously dispersed, he seized the initiative and easily occupied the city of Caransebes itself. After the victories won by the Turks at Megadia and Slatina, Joseph II agreed to a three-month truce.

This war was generally not very successful for the Austrians: successes were followed by defeats. The help of the allies did not help much either. The injuries received in the ill-fated campaign of 1788 did not pass without a trace for the Austrian emperor: he died in February 1790. His successor concluded a separate peace with the Ottoman Empire and never again, until its very end, Austria-Hungary fought the Ottomans.

For the Russians, on the contrary, this war was very successful: the Ottomans were defeated at Kinburn, Focsani, Rymnik. Important strongholds of the Ottomans in the Black Sea region were taken - Ochakov and Izmail. In the Caucasian theater of operations, the Russians stormed the fortress of Anapa. The naval battle at Cape Kaliakria completed the complete defeat of the Ottoman forces.

Eventually Ottoman Empire in 1791, she was forced to sign the Yassy peace treaty, which secured the Crimea and Ochakov for Russia, and also pushed the border between the two empires to the Dniester. The Ottomans confirmed the Kyuchuk-Kainarji Treaty and ceded the Crimea and Taman forever.

Ildar Mukhamedzhanov

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Austria-Hungary 1618-1913

Part XII

War of Joseph II against Turkey 1788-90

For this war, also undertaken in conjunction with Russia, the most impressive armies were mobilized by the Austrian side that the Habsburg Monarchy had ever fielded. At the outbreak of hostilities, 264,000 men were in line near the border. The results did not match these huge forces, especially since Turkey divided its forces and sent more than half of its forces against the Russians. The Austrians captured Belgrade and the Austrians and Russians fought and won battles together at Focsani and Martinesti on August 1 and September 22, 1789. These cases cost the victors comparatively little losses. In addition, due to the separation of forces, the war consisted mainly of minor skirmishes and sieges, the results of which were not always favorable for Austrian weapons, and often caused relatively high losses. However, the total losses of the Austrian armies barely reached 10,000, in contrast to the number of deaths from disease, which, as in the previous war, should have been high.

Adapted from Bodart Gaston Losses of life in modern wars - Oxford: at the claredon press, London, 1916

Website site comment:

The Austro-Turkish war of 1788-1790 was the last in a series of Austro-Turkish wars of the 16th-18th centuries. Austria intervened in the ongoing Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791, as it had obligations to Russia under the union treaty of 1781. In January 1788, Austria entered the war. Huge Austrian forces were supposed to cover the Austro-Turkish border, only the army of the Prince of Saxe-Coburg was to operate in the Principality of Moldova, along the Prut River, and take the Khotyn fortress. July 2, 1788 Khotyn was besieged by the Austrian army (15,000 people). The Turks tried to unblock Khotyn from the outside, but the Russian Ukrainian army prevented the Turkish breakthrough. On September 19, 1788, the 7,000-strong Turkish garrison surrendered Khotyn. In 1789, the Austrians were to operate with the main forces in Serbia, while a separate army remained in Wallachia to communicate with the Russians. On August 1, 1789, the Austro-Russian army (17,000 Austrians and 6,000 Russians) under the command of Suvorov attacked and defeated the Turkish army (30,000 people) at Focsani, 45 kilometers northwest of Galati, Romania. The Allies lost 300 people killed and wounded (of which 200 were Austrians), the Turks - 1,100 people, 10 guns. The Turks decided to strike at a small Austro-Russian army, but on September 22, 1789, near Martinesti, 54 kilometers northwest of Brailov, 17,000 Austrians and 10,000 Russians attacked 100,000 Turks dispersed over several camps. The Allies lost 600 men, the Turks 5,000 men. This victory thwarted all offensive plans of the Turks. Meanwhile, the Austrians occupied Bucharest, 13 thousand Austrians on September 12, 1789 besieged Belgrade, which fell on October 8 of the same year. The siege cost the Austrians 900 men. In November 1789, the Austrians occupied Craiova. In the campaign of 1790, the Austrian troops acted against the Turkish fortresses on the Danube. In the spring of 1790, the Austrians captured Orsovo, laid siege to Zhurzha (Zhurzhovo), but the sortie of the Turks on June 18, 1790 forced the Austrians to lift the siege. On June 27, 1790, at Kalefat, 7,000 Austrians defeated an equal force of the Turks, losing 100 people. The Turks lost 2,000 people. By the middle of 1790, the war was going well for Austria, but at that moment Austria entered into separate negotiations with Turkey under the influence of Great Britain and Prussia, who were interested in Austria as an anti-French force. Russian troops left Wallachia (Romania) and retreated across the Seret River. On August 4, 1791, a peace treaty was signed between Austria and Turkey in Sistovo (Bulgaria). Austria returned to the Turks all the gains of this war, except for Khotyn, which was returned to the Turks after the end of the Russian-Turkish war.

Sources:

Soviet Historical Encyclopedia. In 16 volumes. - Soviet Encyclopedia, Moscow 1961-1974

Shirokorad A.B. Russian-Turkish wars 1676-1918 years. - Harvest, Minsk, 2000

Militar-historisches Kriegslexikon (1618-1905), Herausgegeben von G. Bodart, Wien und Leipzig, 1908

They say that history repeats itself, and all the feats and achievements constantly serve as an example to us. This is why it is important to teach history, which helps to guide civilization and our lives. But in history there were also major mistakes, which sometimes led to catastrophic consequences. Here are the wrong decisions, stupid mistakes and unwise actions that should not be repeated.

1. NASA accidentally deleted the moon landing record. In fact, there are no original records of this event.


2. It took 177 years to build the Leaning Tower of Pisa and only 10 years for it to lean.

3. The lack of a sufficient number of lifeboats on board the Titanic, since it was considered unsinkable.

4. Decca Records rejection of the group " The Beatles", as they considered that it was not for sale.

5. Loss of NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter, due to the fact that part of the team used the metric system of measurement, and the other - the British.

6. Napoleon, who thought he could capture Russia in the winter.

7. Hitler, who thought he could do it better than Napoleon.

8. The Persians who sent the beheaded ambassadors of Genghis Khan back to the Khan, incurring the wrath of Mongolia.

Source 9The Dutch who discovered Australia 100 years before the British did, but ignored the discovery because they thought it was a useless wasteland.

10. Russian sale of Alaska for 2 cents per acre.

11. The Inca ruler Atahualpa, who agreed to meet with the conquistador Francisco Pissaro when 200 Spanish horsemen ambushed and defeated 80,000 Inca warriors.

12. Those who fell for the "Trojan horse", if it actually existed.

13. Filling the world's largest airship "Hindenburg" with flammable hydrogen, which then caught fire and crashed.

14. Someone who opened the gates of the city and allowed the Turks to capture Constantinople in 1453.

15. China in the 14th century, which abandoned the navy and began to pursue a policy of isolation. Perhaps he would become more influential than any European power.

16. The driver of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who made a wrong turn, which led him to the feet of the murderer Gavrilo Princip. This murder was the reason for the outbreak of the First World War.

17. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor when there was not a single American aircraft carrier in the port, which hastened America's entry into World War II.

18. The faulty design of the Chernobyl reactor, the consequences of the accident of which are still being felt.

19. 12 publishing houses that refused to publish "Harry Potter".

20. Alexander the Great, who did not name the heir to the throne, which led to the death of his empire.

21. Although no one knows the culprit, arson Library of Alexandria was the biggest loss of knowledge in history.

22. Killing Caesar to save the Republic and not realizing that this will only lead to its end.

23. In 1788, the Austrian army accidentally attacked their own and lost 10,000 people.

This military disaster was perhaps the largest in history of those that were committed by their own sloppiness. Near the city of Karansebes, the Austrian army managed to defeat itself. Here is how it was.

By September 17, 1788, Austria had been at war with Turkey for about a year in alliance with Russia. The assembled army of about 100 thousand people approached the city of Caransebes, now located on the territory of Romania.

In the evening, the vanguard of the hussars crossed the Timish River, where, as expected, the Turkish camp was located. But instead of the Turkish camp, a gypsy camp was discovered. It was fun in the camp, and most importantly, there was a lot of wine, which the gypsies shared with the soldiers.

While the hussars were having fun, the first infantry detachments approached the camp. The infantrymen demanded that drinks be shared with them as well. But the hussars refused in a rude manner, or, more simply, sent the infantry through the forest, for whoever is ahead of him and slippers. And in general - the French will come up with equality and fraternity and only in a few years, and the brave Austrian hussars will drink everything themselves.

The infantrymen did not like this situation either, and they took up defensive positions behind the gypsy carts, saying that if the infantrymen climbed, they would start shooting. And the shooting started. It is not clear who fired first, but in any case, a fight ensued between their units.

And then someone, not understanding what was happening, shouted "Turks!". The cry was picked up and panic began. The mess was also intensified due to the fact that in the army there were representatives of different peoples united in the Austrian Empire. The Germans, Slavs, Hungarians, Italians, Romanians did not understand well, but everyone ran together.

The officers were mostly Germans and it was customary to give commands to German. Runners were stopped by shouting “Halt! Halt!”, which in the minds of panicked soldiers who did not know German was perceived as “Allah! Allah!". On top of that, the commander of one artillery unit, mistook the fleeing cavalry for the advancing Turks, deployed the guns and opened fire with grapeshot.

In general, those who could, fought with their own fleeing troops, but most of them simply fled. And so quickly that they almost trampled their own emperor Joseph, who took part in the campaign. With that, his adjutant was trampled, and Joseph himself was saved only by falling into a ditch.

Two days later, the Turkish army approached the same city, discovering a field strewn with the bodies of the Austrians. The army fled, and the losses in the battle with themselves amounted to about 10 thousand people.

To the honor of Emperor Joseph, it should be noted that Austria did not withdraw from the war, but continued the war, gathering the remnants of its forces and recruiting a new army in the future.