How Suvorov won without weapons, or the main diplomatic victories of the Russian commander

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The legendary military leader Alexander Suvorov has not suffered a single defeat in his entire service life. Each battle under his leadership, and there were at least sixty, remained with Russia. The Russian army under the command of Alexander Vasilyevich smashed the Turks, the French, and the Poles. The military genius of Suvorov was revered not only by compatriots and allies, but also as an enemy. The whole world of the 18th century knew about Suvorov's victories over the many times superior enemy forces, about the heroic assault on Ishmael and the unprecedented crossing of the Alps. But one of the many battles Suvorov managed to win without a single shot.

Crimea between Russia and the Ottomans

According to the treaty concluded in 1774 as a result of the Russian-Turkish war, the Crimean Khanate came out from under the Ottoman rule, and the Russians had the right to free movement in the Black Sea. But the Turks, of course, continued to try to regain their former dominion on the peninsula. Large Turkish warships and small ships were based in Akhtiarskaya Bay (the territory of today's Sevastopol). The Russian Empire of that period did not have a navy in the Black Sea, and without a direct declaration of war, it seemed difficult to drive Turkish ships out of the deep harbor.

Empress Catherine chose Suvorov to fulfill the most difficult military-political task. The order to go to the Crimea overtook the general in Kolomna, where he was in charge of the regiment of the Moscow division. The complexity of the situation was that Crimea was no longer Turkish, but it was not listed as Russian either. The ended war with the Turks (Suvorov, by the way, was noted in it with a number of bright victories) crossed out the centuries-old Crimean vassalage in relation to the Ottoman sultan. For almost three centuries, the Khanate, having secured the patronage of the Ottoman Empire, plundered the south of Russia. Now an unstable balance has emerged - the signing of a peace treaty clashed Russia and Turkey in a new, now political struggle for a neutral Crimea.

Suvorov's tasks

It was Suvorov who had to deal with the adjustment of this struggle in order to establish Russian influence on the peninsula. The Tatar Khanate at that time was not limited to Crimea, occupying the entire northern Black Sea region - from the Kuban to Transnistria. The war was formally over, but the situation remained alarming. In the very first report to Suvorov, who arrived in Crimea, it was reported that a patrol was ambushed last night, there were killed. The following years, spent on the territory entrusted to his reliable hands, became a real test and feat for the commander. In war, after all, everything is more familiar and understandable - this is the enemy, aim and shoot. Here, formally, there was peace. True, with periodic skirmishes and Ottoman squadrons, armed to the teeth, walking on the very shores of the "independent" khanate.

Daring plans and a show of strength

In 1778-1779, Suvorov, who had limited infantry forces and modest cavalry, had to not only prevent the Turkish fleet, in the words of the general himself, "push into the Crimea," but also drive it away from the shores. And it was highly desirable, on which the empress herself was emphasizing, to do this without firing shots. Nobody planned to get involved in a new big war, not yet fully recovered from the previous one. Suvorov gave the order to quickly and without delay begin the construction of coastal fortifications along the shores of the Akhtiarskaya Bay. Moreover, there was no concealment of the process of building the target - measured work was carried out at the very nose of the Turkish ships.

In a short time, several batteries were erected by Russian soldiers. By the way, in modern Sevastopol on the site of one of them is the Konstantinovskaya battery. Cannons were rolled into the coastal batteries at the very exit from the bay, still open in broad daylight. The Turkish observers had the opportunity to leisurely count the number of cannons ready at any second to fire an aimed salvo at inappropriate ships. No negotiations were conducted, no requests and proposals were voiced. There was only a cold-blooded demonstration of the power of Russian weapons.

Disruption of anti-Russian riots and quarantine trick

The Turks were in no hurry to leave, and the Crimean Khan openly called on local Muslims to fight the infidels. The protester Shahin Giray was successfully cajoled with a personal donation in the amount of 100 thousand rubles. The Turks continued to put into practice the methods of hybrid warfare. Using the actions of the khan and shaping his image of an "apostate" in the eyes of local Muslims, they incited the people to revolts. At the end of 1777, under the cover of Ottoman ships, a Turkish protege landed on the peninsula, who identified himself as the Crimean Khan by the name of Selim Girey III. The rebellion planned by him was easily suppressed by the Suvorov troops in the very beginning. The next steps of the Turks were repeated attempts to blockade the Crimean ports with their fleet in order to prevent the movement of Russian ships and the landing of troops on the coast. But the competent defensive measures of the wise Suvorov did not allow these initiatives to be realized.

During this period, a plague epidemic, usual for that time, began in Crimea. Alexander Suvorov coped with this difficult situation brilliantly. First of all, he took all the necessary quarantine measures. For example, soldiers and civilians were ordered to bathe several times a day. Such an order provoked complaints against the general with suspicion of "obsurmanivanie".

Under the pretext of restrictive quarantine due to the aggressively spreading infection, the military leader ordered the closure of all Crimean ports. The general intercepted the attempts of the Turks to disembark without agreement with silent, but not devoid of swift artillery maneuvers. At the same time, the correspondence with the Turkish admiral was conducted by Suvorov in a deliberately friendly and amiable manner. He argued that he would gladly let the Turks into the Crimean land to replenish supplies of fresh water and simply walk along the sea coast, if not for such an untimely quarantine. In the end, the Turkish fleet, having no more fresh water and experiencing the pressure of the Russian guns placed along the coast, withdrew from the peninsula. And together with the enemy, Crimea got rid of looming revenge and anti-Russian riots on Turkish yeast.

Well, the commander himself in life was not an easy temper. And had their ideas about serfdom in Russia.