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PLEVNA (Bulgarian Pleven)
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See also:PLEVNA (Bulgarian Pleven) , the See also:chief See also:town of the See also:department of Plevna, See also:Bulgaria; 85 m. N.E. of See also:Sofia, on the Tutchinitza, an affluent of Vid, which flows See also:north into the See also:Danube and on the Sofia-See also:Varna railway (opened in 1899). Pop. (1906), 21,208. A See also:branch See also:line, 25 M. See also:long, connects Plevna with Samovit on the Danube, where a See also:port has been formed. After the events of 1877, it was almost entirely forsaken by the See also:Turks, and most of the mosques have gone to ruin; but, peopled now mainly by Bulgarians, it has quite recovered its prosperity, and has a large See also:commerce in See also:cattle and See also:wine. Battles of 1877.—Plevna, See also:prior to the Russo-See also:Turkish See also:War of 1877 (see Russo-TURKISH See also:WARS) a small and unknown town without fortifications became celebrated throughout the See also:world as the See also:scene of See also:Osman See also:Pasha's victories and his five months' See also:defence of the entrenched See also:camp which he constructed around the town, a defence which upset the Russians' plans and induced them to devote their whole energies to its See also:capture. Osman Pasha See also:left Widin on the 13th of See also:July with a See also:column consisting of 19 battalions, 6 squadrons and 9 batteries, a See also:total of 12,000 men and 54 guns. See also:Hearing that he was too See also:late to relieve See also:Nikopol, he pushed on to Plevna, where there was a See also:garrison of 3 battalions and 4 guns, under Atouf Pasha. Passing through Plevna on the afternoon of the Iyth of July he at once took up a position, previously selected by Atouf Pasha, on the hills covering the town to the north and See also:east. The column had been joined en route by 3 battalions from the See also:banks of the Danube, so that Osman's command now consisted of 25 battalions. He was none too soon. See also:General Schilder-Schuldner, commanding the 5th See also:division of the The First IX. See also:corps, which had just captured Nikopol, had See also:Battle of been ordered to occupy Plevna, and his guns were Pievna. already in See also:action. The Turkish batteries came into action as soon as they arrived and returned the See also:fire. A desultory See also:artillery See also:duel was carried on till nightfall, but no attack was made by the Russians on the 19th. Osman distributed his troops in three sections: on the Janik Bair, facing north, were 13 battalions and 4 batteries, with advanced posts of 2 battalions marked degree. Cases of this sort are often protracted, and '.See also:heir results unsatisfactory as regards See also:complete recovery. In the treatment of See also:early See also:pleurisy, See also:pain may be relieved by a hypodermic of morphia or the application of leeches. A purgative is essential. Fixation of the affected See also:side of the See also:thorax by strapping with adhesive See also:plaster gives See also:great See also:relief. The See also:ice-bag is useful in the early stages, as in See also:pneumonia. The open-See also:air treatment of cases is recommended, as the See also:majority of the cases are of tuberculous origin. When effusion has taken See also:place, See also:counter irritation and the See also:exhibition of iodide of See also:potassium are useful. Dry See also:diet and saline purgatives have been well spoken of. The most satisfactory method of treatment is early and if necessary repeated aspiration of the fluid. The operation (thoracentesis) was practised by See also:ancient physicians, but was revived in See also:modern times by Armand Trousseau (1801-1867) in See also:France and See also: Inoculation of healthy cattle with the fluid from the diseased lungs produces, after a certain See also:interval, characteristic changes at the seat of inoculation, and though it does not develop the lung lesions always observed in natural infection, yet there is a See also:local anatomical similarity or identity. Though numerous investigations have been made, the nature of the infective See also:agent remains doubtful. In 1888 Arloing, of See also:Lyons, described various bacilli obtained from the lesions, but the pathogenic organism of lung-plague has not been discovered.
The earliest notices of this disease testify that it first prevailed in central See also:Europe, and in the 18th See also:century it was See also:present in certain parts of See also:southern See also:Germany, See also:Switzerland and France, and had also appeared in upper See also:Italy. Though See also:Valentine described an epizooty occurring among cattle in 1693 in See also:Hesse, doubts have been entertained as to whether it was this malady. It was not until 176g that it was definitely described as prevailing in Franche-See also:Comte by the name of " murie." From that date down to 1789 it appears to have remained more or less limited to the Swiss mountains, the See also:Jura, See also:Dauphine and See also:Vosges, See also:Piedmont and upper See also:Silesia; it showed itself in See also:Champagne and Bourbonnais about the time of the Revolution, when its spread was greatly accelerated by the wars that followed. In the lgth century its See also:diffusion was accurately determined. It invaded See also:Prussia in 1802, and soon spread over north Germany. It was first described as existing in See also:Russia in 1824; it reached See also:Belgium in 1827, See also: On the loth of July at 5 a.m., having made no preliminary See also:reconnaissance, the See also:Russian See also:commander brought his guns into action, and, after a See also:short See also:bombardment, advanced his See also:infantry sent a force of 6 battalions and 1 battery under Rifaat Pasha to occupy Lovcha (Lovatz), where they entrenched themselves. The Plevna garrison now numbered 20,000 (35 battalions, 8 squadrons, 57 guns and 400 mounted irregulars), who were organized in two wings with a general reserve. Adil Pasha commanded the left wing consisting of 12 battalions, 3 batteries and 2 squadrons, and held the ground from the Vid See also:bridge to Grivitza, See also:Hassan Sabri Pasha commanded the right wing, of equal strength, covering from Grivitza to the south. The See also:remainder, as general reserve, was posted orr the See also:crest and slopes of the hill east of the town, with one See also:battalion in Plevna itself. The west front was not fortified till See also:October. Trenches were o I : 3 Turkish Intrenchments,See also:September,7th.,1877 rL Additional Turkish Intrenehmentn,Oecember, loth.,1877 e!* Tartish Camps shoran thus :CJ Daftly Metropol in four See also:separate columns. On the north flank they pressed into Bukova, and also succeeded in See also:driving back the Turkish right wing; but in both cases Turkish reinforcements arrived and with vigorous counter-attacks pressed back the Russians, with the result that by See also:noon they were in full See also:retreat, having lost 2800 men out of a total of 8000. The Turks lost 2000. Osman made no See also:attempt to reap the fruits of his victory by pursuit. He at once See also:drew up plans for the fortification of the position, and the troops were employed See also:night and See also:day constructing redoubts and entrenchments. A plentiful See also:supply of tools and daily convoys of stores reached Plevna from Orchanie, and on the 24th of July Osman's strength was increased by 14 battalions and a battery from Sofia. In See also:order to secure his line of communications, on the 25th of July he 4 ft. deep and the redoubts had a command of ro to 16 ft., with parapets about 14 ft. thick. In addition to the trenches to the flanks, there were in some cases two lines of See also:trench to the front, thus giving three tiers of fire. In accordance with orders from the Russian headquarters at Tirnova, a fresh attack was made by General Kriidener on the 3oth of July. He had been reinforced by three brigades of infantry and one of cavalry under General Shakovskoi, and his force numbered over 30,000 with 176 guns. After a preliminary cannonade the infantry advanced at 3 p.m., as before in widely spread columns. The columns attacking from the north and north-east were repulsed with heavy loss. Shakovskoi advancing from Radischevo, his left flank safeguarded by Skobelev from Second Battle of Plevna. the neighbourhood of Krishin,temporarily occupied two redoubts, but a heavy counter-stroke by the Turkish reserves forced him back with severe loss. The Russians retreated, the See also:northern column to Tristenik and Karagakh, the southern to Poradim. Their losses amounted to 7300, while the Turkish losses exceeded 2000. Had the Turkish garrison of Lovcha been called in, the result would have been still more disastrous to the Russians. The victory was decisive, but Osman again failed to pursue. His troops were elated by success, the moral of the enemy severely shaken, the undefended Russian bridge over the Danube was within 40 M. of him, but he lost his opportunity, and contented himself with strengthening his defensive See also:works. It is said that he was tied down to Plevna by orders from See also:Constantinople. The Russians now concentrated all their available forces against Plevna and called in the aid of the Rumanians. By the end of See also:August they had assembled a force of 74,000 infantry, Io,000 cavalry and 44o guns, including 24 See also:siege guns, about See also:Ioo,000 men in all. On the 3oth of August Osman moved out of Plevna with all his cavalry, 3 batteries of artillery and 19 battalions of infantry, and on the 31st attacked the Russians about Pelishat. He returned to Plevna the same evening. The Turks lost 1300 and the Russians moo men. The Russians determined to occupy Lovcha, and so cut Osman's communications before again attacking Plevna. After three days' fighting this was accomplished by Skobelev, acting under Imeretinski, with a force of 20,000 men, on the 3rd of September. Osman moved out to the relief of the garrison that day with a strong column, but, finding he was too late, returned to Plevna on the 6th. The survivors from Lovcha were re-formed into 3 battalions, including which Osman had been reinforced by 13 battalions, 21 batteries of artillery and 11 squadrons of cavalry. His strength was now 30,000, with 72 guns, 46 battalions, 19 squadrons and 12 batteries. This force was organized in 4 approximately equal commands, the northern, south-eastern and southern, and a general reserve. The Russians moved to their preliminary positions on the night of September 6th—7th. Their See also:plan was for the Rumanians; Third the IX. and IV. corps and Imeretinski's column to Battle of attack the north-east, south-east and south fronts Pievna. simultaneously. An artillery bombardment began at 6 a.m. on the 7th of September, was carried on till 3 p.m. on the 11th, when the infantry advanced. The Rumanians took one Grivitza See also:redoubt; Skobelev occupied two redoubts on the south front, but the centre attack on the Radishevo front failed. On the 12th the Turks recaptured the southern redoubts, the Rumanians remained in See also:possession of the Grivitza redoubt, but the Russian losses already amounted to 18,000 and they withdrew, and entrenched themselves on a line Verbitza-Radishevo, with cavalry on either flank to the Vid. The Turkish losses totalled 5000, of which only a few See also:hundred were caused by the artillery fire of the first few days. There was no question of pursuit. The Russians were greatly See also:superior in See also:numbers and the Turks were completely exhausted. Several causes contributed to the Russian defeat. The Russian bombardment, at ranges beyond the See also:powers of their guns and lacking the co-operation of the infantry to give them a See also:target, had been useless. No reconnaissance had been made of the position. The infantry attacks were not simultaneous, and were beaten in detail, besides which, they were spread over the whole of a strongly fortified front in equal strength, instead of being pressed See also:home at definite points. The lack of unity of command, in that the commander-in-chief interfered with the dispositions and conduct of the operations as arranged by the commander of the Plevna forces also militated against the Russian success.
This was the last open-force attack on Osman's lines. Investment General See also:Todleben, the defender of See also:Sevastopol, was now and See also:Pall entrusted with the conduct of the siege, and he de-
Plevna. termined to complete the investment, which was accomplished by the 24th of October, Osman's See also:request to retirefrom Plevna having been refused by Constantinople. Supplies eventually gave out and a sortie on the night of the 9th–loth of See also:December failed, with the result that he and his See also:army capitulated.
Plevna is a striking example of the futility of the purely passive defence, which is doomed to failure however tenaciously carried out. Osman Pasha repelled three Russian attacks and practically held the whole Russian army. It remained for the other Turkish forces in the See also: They failed to realize the resisting force of improvised fortifications and the strength conferred by extensive and well-placed entrenchments, and despising their adversary made See also:direct frontal attacks on a well-fortified position, instead of aiming at a flank or the rear. The See also:part played by Plevna in the war was due in the first place to the imaginary importance set by the Russians on its capture, and later to their faulty See also:procedure in attack on the one See also:hand, and to the skill evinced by the Turks in fortifying and defending the position on the other. _ (J. H. V. C.) See W. V. See also:Herbert, The Defence of Plevna, 1877 (See also:London, 1895) ; F. V. See also:Greene, The Russian Army and its See also:Campaign in See also:Turkey (London, 188o) ; General See also:Kuropatkin (Ger. trans. by Krahmer), Kritische Riickblicke auf den russisch-tiirkischen Krieg; Mouzaffer Pacha and Talaat See also:Bey, Defense de Plevna; Krahmer's See also:German See also:translation of the Russian See also:Official See also:History; General H. See also:Langlois, Lessons of Two See also:Recent Wars (Eng. trans., War See also:Office, 191o); Th. von Trotha, Kampf um Plevna (See also:Berlin, 1878) ; Vacaresco (Ger. trans.), Rumdniens Antheil am Kriege, 1877—1878 (See also:Leipzig, 1888). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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