Page 232 - Le Operazioni Interforze e Multinazionali nella Storia Militare - ACTA Tomo I

232 XXXIX Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

than to settle the Jerusalem issue. Because Tsar had already ceased to hope to reach an
agreement with Britain on dividing and sharing the Ottoman state.
When Menshikov returned to Russia empty-handed, the relations between the
two countries ruptured and Russia began to occupy Moldavia without declaring any
war. Thereupon, the Ottoman state indicated that it would not put up with a foreign
intervention in its Orthodox subjects, and demanded from Russia the immediate
4
evacuation of Moldavia.
Omer Lutfi Pasha, the Commander of the Ottoman Rumelian Army in Sumnu
(Shumen), gave an ultimatum to Russian commander Prince Gorchakov on October 04,
5
1853, and demanded the evacuation of Wallachia and Moldavia. Upon the rejection of
6
this demand, all the Ottoman armies were ordered to get ready to wage war. When the
ultimatum period expired on October 19, the Turkish forces crossed the Danube in Vidin
on October 23 and thus the war started officially.
7
In the course of this war between the two states, on 30 November 1853, a Russian
fleet under the command of Admiral Pavel Nakhimov made a raid on and set fire to the
Ottoman fleet, which was transporting provisions and war equipments to Batumi and
stopped at Sinop due to a storm, and shelled the city. The Ottoman fleet was totally
8
destroyed as a result of that raid. After this event, Britain and France took the side of the
Ottoman state for fear that Istanbul would be seized by the Russians, and thus the three
states united against Russia.
9
In the meantime, the Russian Tsar planned to reach Varna in the south and Black Sea
coasts as soon as possible, before the Western states, which landed soldiers on Gallipoli,
deployed their troops and had time to stop the Russian advance towards Istanbul. The
key to the strike operations was to seize the Turkish fort Silistra.
10
While the French and British forces assembled in Gallipoli, the Russian troop started
their advance on Silistra on May 10, 1854 to besiege the city. Thus, Ottoman Minister of
War Riza Pasha, Commander of French Forces Marshall Jacques Leroy de Saint Arnold
(died of cholera later, and replaced by General Canrobert), and Commander of British
Forces General Lord James Henry Ragan (who had lost one of his arms at the Waterloo
War) arrived in Varna and negotiated the possible action plans with Marshal Omer Lutfi

4 Kemal Karpat, Kısa Türkiye Tarihi 1800-2012, Timas Yayinlari, Istanbul, 2012, pp. 49-51.
5 Stanford Shaw, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu ve Modern Türkiye, E Yayinlari, Istanbul, 1977, p.178, Prime
Ministry Ottoman Archives (Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi-BOA), Foreign Ministry Policy Office (Hariciye
Nezareti Siyasi Kalemi-HR.SYS), 903/2-37, 39.
6 BOA, HR.SYS, 903/2-38.
7 Virginia H. Aksan, Kuşatılmış Bir İmparatorluk Osmanlı Harpleri 1700-1870, translated by Gül Çağalı
Güven, Türkiye İs Bankasi Yayinlari, Istanbul, 2010, p. 478.
8 Rifat Uçarol, Siyasi Tarih, Filiz Kitapevi, Istanbul, 2000, pp. 200-201.
9 Ömer Çakır, Turkish Studies, “Tanzimat Sonrası Türk Edebiyatının Kaynaklarından Biri Olarak Harpler
I: Kırım Harbi (1853-1856)”, Volume 4/1-II Winter 2009, p. 1857; “Denizaşırı Seferler ve Çıkarmalar”,
Supplement to the Journal Askeri Tarih Bülteni, Issue 9, translated by Ahmet Onur, Ankara, 1980, p.14;
Besim Özcan, “Sinop Deniz Felaketi”, Naval Forces Command Publications, Istanbul, 2008, pp.70-81.
10 Orlando Figes, Kırım Son Haçlı Seferi, translated by Nurettin Elhüseyni, Yapi Kredi Yayinlari, Istanbul,
2012, pp. 185-190.