Siege of Silistria (1854)

For other uses, see Siege of Silistria.

Siege of Silistria
Part of the Crimean War
Siege of Silistria by Bogdan Willewalde
Date 11 May – 23 June 1854 Location Silistria, Ottoman Bulgaria Result Ottoman victory
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire Egypt Eyalet	Russian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Omar Pasha Musa Pasha † Behram Pasha	Karl Andreevich Shilder † Ivan Paskevich Mikhail Gorchakov Dmitriy Selvan †
Strength
12,000–18,000	50,000–90,000 266 guns
Casualties and losses
1,400 killed	419 to 2,500 killed 1,783–1,987 wounded In total: 2,455 to 10,000 death & wounded

The siege of Silistria, or siege of Silistra, took place from 11 May to 23 June 1854 during the Crimean War, when forces of the Russian Empire besieged the Ottoman fortress of Silistria, located in present-day Bulgaria. The operation formed part of the Danubian phase of the war, following Russia’s incursion into Ottoman territory across the Danube.

Despite being heavily outnumbered, the Ottoman garrison, composed of regular troops, Egyptian auxiliaries, and supported by foreign advisors, resisted sustained assaults on the fortress. Russian forces, under the overall command of Prince Ivan Paskevich and later General Mikhail Gorchakov, attempted to breach the defences with the assistance of military engineers, but were unable to encircle the town completely. The siege culminated in plans for a final assault, which was abruptly cancelled when the Russian command received orders to withdraw under pressure from Austria and the arrival of Anglo-French troops at nearby Varna.

The lifting of the siege marked a strategic setback for the Russian campaign in the Balkans. While the siege was lifted due to diplomatic pressure and Allied buildup near Varna, the Ottoman garrison resisted for over a month despite heavy Russian bombardment and numerical inferiority.

Background

Following the outbreak of the Crimean War, a Russian army consisting of two corps crossed the Danube into Ottoman territory on 20 March 1854. In the east, a force numbering 50,000 men, under General Alexander von Lüders advanced from Bessarabia into Dobruja, occupying key strongholds. By early April, Russian troops had reached the lines of Trajan’s Wall, approximately 30 miles east of Silistria.

Meanwhile, the central Russian force under Prince Mikhail Gorchakov, crossed the Danube and approached Silistria, laying siege to the fortified town on 14 April. The Ottoman garrison, commanded by Ferik Musa Hulusi Pasha (Musa Pasha), numbered between 12,000 and 18,000 men and included Albanian and Egyptian units. The defenders were supported by several foreign advisors, notably British officers, who arrived before the siege commenced. An additional Ottoman force of 40,000 to 45,000 under Omar Pasha was stationed further south in Şumnu.

Action

Silistria had ancient Roman foundations, it was built up by Turkey as a major fortress and trading centre, fortified with an inner Citadel it had an outer ring of ten forts. The Ottoman army at Silistria was composed mostly of Albanians and Egyptians under the command of Musa Pasha. About six British Officers were helping the Ottomans, most notably Robert Cannon (Behram Pasha). Captain James Butler and Lieutenant Charles Nasmyth, were some of the foreign officers directing Ottoman troops against the Russians. Nasmyth arrived in Silistria on 28 March 1854, before it was besieged by the Russians. Nasmyth and Butler of the Ceylon Rifles, offered their services to the garrison, both men had served with the East India Company Army.

On 5 April the vanguard of the Russian force under General Karl Andreyevich Schilder and his assistant military engineer Lieutenant-Colonel Eduard Totleben arrived at the fortress and commenced the siege by building entrenchments. Schilder had taken Silistria in 1829 by mining operations, this time Totleben was in charge of fortifications and sapper work. However, they were unable to completely surround the town, and the Ottoman forces were able to keep the garrison supplied. On 22 April Field Marshal Prince Ivan Paskevich, the commander of all Russian forces took personal control of the Danube campaign and arrived from Warsaw to Bucharest to take charge of the siege.

On 28 May, after a sally from the Turkish Garrison, the heavily fortified fort of Arab Tabia, a key outwork, was assaulted and briefly captured, but the attackers were left without support and were ordered to withdraw, losing 700 men in total, including General Dmitriy Selvan, who was mortally wounded in the assault. Official Ottoman proclamations announced that their losses were 189 men. Musa Pasha, the garrison commander, died on 2 June killed by shrapnel while performing prayers, he was replaced by British officers Butler and Nasmyth. Paskevich in his reports to Nikolai stated that the Ottomans were defending the city with good strategic knowledge because of the assistance of foreign officers.

On 10 June Field Marshal Paskevich claimed to have been hit when an Ottoman shell exploded nearby. Although he was not wounded, the seventy-two-year old Field Marshal retired and returned to Warsaw while his place was taken by General Gorchakov. On 13 June Schilder was also wounded and died shortly after, a week later, on 20 June, Arab-Tabia was finally captured. On 21 June the Russians prepared to storm the main fortress, the attack was scheduled for 4 am.

The siege of Silistria must be raised if the fortress is not yet taken at the receipt of this letter.

— Nicholas I of Russia to Field Marshal Paskevich, 13 June 1854,

At 2 am on 21 June, just two hours before the assault was due to take place and in the midst of troop movements, Gorchakov received orders from Paskevitch to raise the siege and return to his positions north of the Danube. The concentration of allied troops in the vicinity of Varna, 50,000 French and 20,000 British, as well as Austria's new treaty with Turkey, signed on 14 June, made Nicholas I order a strategic withdrawal. The order was obeyed immediately on 24 June the Russian army crossed the Danube destroying the bridge behind them, the Ottoman army did not follow. The Russian's casualties were 2,500 dead and 1783 wounded during the siege.

Aftermath

Most scholars agree that the Russian offensive was not stopped by Ottoman resistance but by diplomatic pressure and the threat of military action by Austria. The Austrians had been concentrating troops (said to number 280,000) along the borders of Wallachia and Moldavia and had warned Russia not to cross the Danube, then on 30 June 1854, 12,000 French troops commanded by Vice-Admiral Bruat arrived at Varna where 30,000 British troops had already arrived on 27 June, that recent buildup added pressure on Russian command to abandon the siege and retreat back into Russia across the Prut. In order to save face the Russians called their retreat a "strategic withdrawal".

Following the retreat Nicholas I acceded to the Austrian-Ottoman occupation of the Danubian principalities thus signaling the end of the Danubian phase of the war. The Turks under Omar Pasha then crossed the Danube into Wallachia and went on the offensive engaging the Russians in the city of Giurgevo in early July 1854.

References

• Egorshina, O.; Petrova, A. (2023). "Восточная война 1853-1856" [The Eastern War of 1853-1856]. История русской армии [The history of the Russian Army] (in Russian). Moscow: Edition of the Russian Imperial Library. ISBN 978-5-699-42397-2.
• ́Ágoston, G.A.; Masters, B.A. (2010). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. Facts on File Library of World History. Facts On File, Incorporated. ISBN 978-1-4381-1025-7.
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• The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal. Arch. Constable & Comp. 1858.
• Hötte, H.H.A.; Demeter, G.; Turbucs, D. (2017). Atlas of Southeast Europe: Geopolitics and History. Volume Three: 1815-1926. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1 The Near and Middle East. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-36181-2.
• Jaques, T.; Showalter, D.E. (2007). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: P-Z. Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A Guide to 8,500 Battles from Antiquity Through the Twenty-first Century. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-33539-6.
• Ponting, Clive (15 February 2011). The Crimean War: The Truth Behind the Myth. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4070-9311-6.
• Reid, J.J. (2000). Crisis of the Ottoman Empire: Prelude to Collapse 1839-1878. Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte des östlichen Europa. F. Steiner. ISBN 978-3-515-07687-6.
• Russell, W.H. (1865). General Todleben's History of the Defence of Sebastopol, 1854-5: A Review. Tinsley Brothers.
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• Winfried Baumgart (9 January 2020). The Crimean War: 1853-1856. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-350-08345-5.

General references

• Morell, J.R. (1854). The Neighbours of Russia: And History of the Present War to the Siege of Sebastopol. T. Nelson and sons.