THE RUSSIAN ARMY and the EASTERN QUESTION, 1821-34’ Ph.D
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
1 ‘THE RUSSIAN ARMY AND THE EASTERN QUESTION, 1821-34’ Ph.D. ALEXANDER BITIS THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE, 2000 UMI Number: U615B58 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U615B58 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 lH £ S £ S F 3530 • ^ ,p 0' ^ t ABSTRACT This dissertation consists of a study of the role of the Russian army in Russo-Turkish relations from the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence to the conclusion of the Mohammed Ali crisis. It focuses primarily on the activities of the Russian Second Army - a force quartered in the southern regions of the Russia and designated to conduct military operations against the Ottoman Empire in Europe. Under the leadership of General P. D. Kiselev, the General Staff of this army conducted a thorough research of previous Russo-Turkish wars (1711-1812) and integrated the lessons of these campaigns into a new strategic and tactical doctrine. Ultimately, this research was to result in the formulation of an innovative new Turkish war plan which proposed that the Russian army, for the first time in its history, cross the Balkan mountain range and march on Constantinople. These issues are examined in the context of the development of Russian military thought and from the wider perspective of their impact on Russia’s foreign policy in the East. The dissertation then examines the conduct of the 1828-29 Russo-Turkish war (in both the Balkan and Caucasian theatres) with particular attention to the reasons behind the failure of the 1828 Balkan campaign and the Russian army’s organisation and use of Balkan partisans 1828-29. Following the conclusion of the war in September 1829, peace negotiations are discussed with emphasis on the role military figures played in the negotiation of the Treaty of Adrianople. One of the key terms of the treaty was the Sultan’s agreement to the prolonged Russian occupation of the Danubian Principalities. This occupation (1829-34) is examined with reference to the important reforms introduced by Kiselev, which aimed at transforming the province into a Russian protectorate. Finally, the work outlines Russia’s military preparations and planning during the Mohammed Ali crisis of 1832-33. This dissertation is based on archival research conducted in the Russian State Military-History Archive (RGVTA) (Moscow), the Russian State History Archive (RGLA) (St Petersburg) and the Public Record Office (Kew, London). CONTENTS Acknowledgements .................................................................................... page 5 A Note on Spellings, Dates and Terms...............................................................6 List of Maps..........................................................................................................7 List of Abbreviations ...........................................................................................8 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 10 I THE DIPLOMATIC BACKGROUND, 1801-1821......................................... 22 II INTRODUCTORY NOTES ON THE RUSSIAN ARMY AFTER 1815........ 36 The Politics of the Russian Army .......................................................................45 m THE SECOND ARMY AND THE GREEK REVOLUTION, 1821-22......... 57 The Origins of Ypsilantis’ Revolt, 1820-21.......................................................57 The Tsarist Reaction, 1821-22........................................................................... 60 The Second Army and the Study of the Greek Revolt ......................................67 IV THE GENERAL STAFF OF THE SECOND ARMY AND THE................... 82 DEVELOPMENT OF RUSSIAN MILITARY THOUGHT, 1815-34 The Impact of the Napoleonic Wars on Russian Military Thought ................. 82 Kiselev and the Development of the Empirical School.................................... 87 The Military Ideas of I. P. Liprandi....................................................................91 V WAR PLANNING AND DIPLOMACY, 1819-28.............................................111 The Search for Strategy, 1819-28.......................................................................I l l The Greek Question in the Period of Congress Diplomacy, 1822-25 .............. 120 The Accession of Nicholas I and the Drift to War, 1826-28............................ 124 VI THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, 1828-29..........................................................151 Preparations for War: The War Budget, Men and Supplies............................. 151 The Balkan Campaign of 1828...........................................................................157 The Caucasian Campaign of 1828..................................................................... 163 Conclusions on the 1828 Campaign...................................................................167 Political and Military Developments, October 1828 - April 1829................... 169 The Balkan Campaign of 1829...........................................................................175 Conclusions on the 1829 Campaign...................................................................178 The Caucasian Campaign of 1829........ ............................................................. 179 Vn THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR AND THE USE OF BALKAN.....................198 IRREGULARS The Campaign of 1828........................................................................................200 Developments over the Winter of 1828-29........................................................203 The Campaign of 1829........................................................................................208 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 211 4 VIH THE TREATY OF ADRIANOPLE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES...............221 The Execution of Revision of Adrianople........................................................229 IX THE DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES: OCCUPATION AND...................... 239 REFORM, 1828-34 Russia and the Principalities: Relations to 1828..............................................239 The Second Army and the Principalities.......................................................... 242 The Wartime Occupation of the Principalities.................................................247 Kiselev and the Reform of the Principalities....................................................251 Conclusions on Kiselev’s Reforms ................................................................... 264 X PRESERVING THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE, 1830-33................................. 279 The Russian Response........................................................................................281 The Treaty of Unkiar-Skelessi and its Consequences ......................................286 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 294 Bibliography ........................................................................................................298 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I should like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Janet Hartley and the following institutions: the British Academy, the British Library, the Public Record Office, the British Library of Political and Economic Science, the Library of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, the University of London Library, the Russian State Military-History Archive (Moscow), the Russian State History Archive (St Petersburg), the Russian State Library (Moscow) and the Russian National Library (St Petersburg). 6 A NOTE ON SPELLINGS, DATES AND TERMS Russian proper nouns are transliterated accoring to the modified Library of Congress system, except for surnames of a non-Russian extraction, e.g. Diebitsch not Dibich. The spelling of proper nouns connected with the Balkans presents more substantial difficulties. There is nation of Romania, Rumania and Roumania, the region of Dobruja, Dobrudja and Dobrutcha, the Danubian fortress of Widin, Widdin and Viddin and the Greek revolutionary leader Ipsilanti, Ypsilanti, Ipsilantis and Ypsilantis. It has been well stated that ‘a completely standard and uniform system is an impossibility’, B. Jelavich, Russia and the Formation o f the Romanian National State, 1821-1878 (Cambridge, 1984), p. xi. This said, I have chosen to follow the spellings used in the standard work in English on nineteenth-century international relations and the Balkans, M. S. Anderson, The Eastern Question , 1774-1923 (London, 1966). Proper nouns not found in this work are spelt according to their most common form. Place names in the Russian Caucasus are transliterated from Russian; those in the Ottoman Caucasus are spelt according to Anderson. Unless otherwise specified, the term ‘rouble’ denotes ‘paper’ roubles (assignatsia) not silver roubles. Where the type of rouble is not specified in the documents, this is taken as paper roubles. As regards dates, the