Roumania Past and Present
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'The Russian authorities,' writes the same correspondent in the month of
August, 'are greatly pleased with the appearance and apparent efficiency
of the Roumanian artillery. Indeed, the Roumanian troops are everywhere
now spoken of with a consideration not previously evinced.'[182]
No more talk now of five Russians running in twenty Roumanians; and we
shall hear quite a different story presently. And not alone had the
soldiers risen in Muscovite esteem, but the Russians were beginning to
understand that there might be some virtue in the commanders also; for
about September 1, or a day or two previously, they so far admitted
their superiority as to invite Prince Charles to take the
command-in-chief of the whole Russo-Roumanian army before Plevna, which
he did, with the Russian general Zotoff as chief of his staff and second
in command.
On this occasion he issued an address to the Roumanian soldiers,
reminding them that success for the Turks would mean pillage and
desolation in their fatherland, assuring them that, although their
numbers were few, he had confidence in their courage, and in their
ability to retain for Roumania the good opinion which she deserved and
enjoyed amongst the nations of Europe. He concluded by announcing, in
modest terms, his own appointment as Commander-in-chief of the allied
armies.
[Footnote 179: According to Col. Fife Cookson the Bulgarians, during
this war, were guilty of atrocities as deep-dyed as any that had
previously caused such indignation in Europe; but he also says (p. 23),
'In this war armed Bulgarians resisting the Turks were looked upon as
rebels, and received no quarter.']
[Footnote 180: _War Correspondence_, vol. i. pp. 131-132.]
[Footnote 181: _War Correspondence_, p. 82.]
[Footnote 182: _Ibid._ p. 390.]
V.
On August 31, Osman Pasha had made a sortie against the besiegers, in
which he was eventually repulsed with heavy loss, and then it was that
under the new command a fresh attack on Plevna was decided upon. In
order, however, to understand the events which followed, and the part
taken therein by the Roumanians, it is necessary that we should briefly
describe the position and constitution of the forces engaged, and refer
to the operations which preceded the assault.
[Illustration: DEFENCES OF PLEVNA.]
The scene of the long-continued struggle is an undulating country, and
Plevna, the centre of attack and defence, is in the hollow of a valley
running in a northerly and southerly direction. The ground adjacent to
this valley was described by one of the war correspondents as consisting
of great solid waves with their faces set edgeways to the valley of
Plevna. To describe it in detail here would be impossible, but the
positions of the attacking and defending armies were very simple. The
Turkish positions were, roughly speaking, 'a horseshoe, with its
convexity pointing east, and the town of Plevna standing about the
centre of the base.' Another writer compares it to 'a reaping-hook, with
the point opposite Bukova, the middle of the curve opposite Grivica,
the junction of the handle close on to Plevna, and the end of the
handle at Krishine.'
The Russians had been surrounding this horseshoe, leaving the base open,
and the form of their attack on this occasion was in the line of their
environment straight to their front. The main point of interest in the
struggle, so far as we are concerned, is the Turkish redoubt of
_Grivica_ or _Grivitza_, the strongest of all the positions of defence:
this was situated on the toe, if we may so call it, of the horseshoe,
and directly opposite was the Russo-Roumanian centre.
The Russo-Roumanian army numbered about 80,000 infantry, of whom 28,000
were Roumanians, in two corps, under Colonels George and Alexander
Angelescu, and 10,000 cavalry, whereof 4,000 were Roumanians. The whole
Roumanian division was commanded by General Cernat; the Russians by
Baron Kruedener, General Kriloff, Prince Meretinsky, and the brave but
erratic General Skobeleff; and this army of 90,000 men was provided with
250 field and 20 siege guns. The number of the defenders under Osman
Pasha is estimated at about 70,000 men.
Here is a concise account of the attack. After the unsuccessful sortie
of Osman Pasha on August 31, in which the Russians recovered all the
positions temporarily occupied by the enemy, there was a partial
cessation of hostilities before Plevna until September 6. Meanwhile, on
the 3rd, a force of 22,000 Russians under Meretinsky, including a
brigade of Cossacks commanded by Skobeleff, succeeded, after a
sanguinary conflict, in driving 7,000 Turks from the village of Loftcha
and a defensive position west of it, which they permanently
occupied.[183] This operation had the effect of cutting off the supplies
of Osman Pasha from the south. An artillery duel then followed between
the whole of the attacking and defending armies, which lasted until the
11th, and, judging from the long and careful accounts of the
correspondents, the firing seems to have had little effect on either
side. In the interim the Roumanians were posted opposite the Grivitza
Redoubt, which, as we have already said, was the most formidable of all
the Turkish defences. Meretinsky and Skobeleff were in the vicinity of
the Loftcha road; and Kriloff and Kruedener were moving about in
co-operation, the former having posted himself on the Radisovo height
with the forces under his command.[184] Of the Grivitza and the
Roumanian operations we shall speak more fully hereafter. At the other
points of attack nothing serious happened until the 11th, when, a
general assault being ordered, the attack of Kriloff and Kruedener was
directed against a position known as the 'Mamelon,' south of Plevna,
whilst Skobeleff made a vigorous assault upon a double redoubt on the
south-east, the object being to carry these positions which were
believed to be the most vulnerable, whilst the Roumanians were 'holding'
the Turks at their strongest redoubt--the Grivitza. Supported by
Roumanian artillery, Kriloff attacked the 'Mamelon' three times during
the day, each time with fresh forces; but he was as often repulsed with
terrible loss, the third attack and defeat lasting only twenty minutes.
In fact, Kriloff and Kruedener were repulsed all along the line.
Skobeleff was somewhat more fortunate, having begun his attack after
Kriloff's second reverse. With a loss of 2,000 men he succeeded in
carrying the Turkish position; and at a further sacrifice of 3,000 he
held it for a time only, for it was commanded by the Krishine redoubt
(which was the ultimate object of his operations) on his left, and by
Plevna on the north. The Turks attempted in vain five times to dislodge
him. Skobeleff supplicated time after time for support, but it only
arrived when, after the sixth Turkish attack--this time successful--he
had been forced to withdraw, and was retreating to his old ground. The
closing scene of his day's operations has been frequently described, but
as his recent escapade gives fresh interest to anything concerning him,
it will lose nothing by repetition: 'It was just after this that I met
General Skobeleff the first time that day. He was in a fearful state of
excitement and fury. His uniform was covered with mud and filth, his
sword broken, his cross of St. George twisted round on his shoulder, his
face black with powder and smoke, his eyes haggard and bloodshot, and
his voice quite gone. He spoke in a, hoarse whisper. I never before saw
such a picture of battle as he presented. I saw him again in his tent at
night. He was quite calm and collected. He said, "I have done my best. I
could do no more. My detachment is half destroyed; my regiments do not
exist. I have no officers left. They sent me no reinforcements, and I
have lost three guns." They were three of the four guns which he placed
in the redoubt upon taking it, only one of which his retreating troops
had been able to carry off. "Why did they refuse you reinforcements?" I
asked. "Who was to blame?" "I blame nobody," he replied; "it is the will
of God!"'[185]
[Footnote 183: _War Correspondence_, vol. i. pp. 441-442. Cassell
(Ollier), pp. 404-405, where a plan of the Loftcha struggle is given.]
[Footnote 184: It is not clear what these were; probably the tenth and
thirtieth divisions, composing the fourth corps. Compare _Daily News War
Correspondence_, vol. i. pp. 443 and 444.]
[Footnote 185: _War Correspondence_, vol. i. pp. 482-483.]
VI.
We have thus loosely described how the Turks had effectually disposed of
the whole Russian attack excepting that of the Roumanians, and now we
must turn for a moment to enquire what was occurring at Grivitza. This
redoubt is constantly referred to by the correspondents as the most
formidable of all the Turkish positions. It is called 'the indomitable
Grivica redoubt;' 'the dreaded redoubt;' 'they' (the Russians) 'may
bombard it for a week, sacrifice a brigade of infantry, and not succeed
in taking it.' 'The Turkish positions,' says one writer, 'opposite to
the Roumanian section, are the stronger both by nature and art. But
there are but 28,000 Roumanians to 50,000 Russians. It seems logically
to follow that the function of the Roumanians is intended to be chiefly
of a demonstrative character.'[186] How 'demonstrative' it was we shall
see presently.
Already on the 7th and 8th, the Russian siege guns had been pushed
forward in closer proximity to the Grivitza, and on the 9th the
Roumanians worked their batteries nearer to it; whilst on the 10th their
infantry occupied a natural shelter-trench, from which they were picking
off the Turkish gunners in the redoubt. On the same day a couple of
companies of Russians, thinking the redoubt was evacuated, made an
attempt to take it, but when a small party of advancing skirmishers
arrived within a hundred yards of the foot of the glacis, they were
confronted by a row of rifle muzzles and Turkish heads, and thought it
more prudent to retire.
On the 11th, however, the Roumanians, with whom were three battalions of
Russians, made their 'demonstration' against the Grivitza simultaneously
with the Russian attacks on the other redoubts. Little attention appears
to have been paid to them in the slaughter of that terrible day, but on
the following the correspondents narrated the result of their
operations, and as those not only substantiated the title of the young
army to _elan_ and bravery, but really constituted the turning point in
the war, we will endeavour to follow their brief descriptions of the
events.
'It appears,' writes one of the chroniclers, 'that at half-past two
p.m. the redoubt was attacked by two Roumanian brigades each
consisting of four battalions, and three battalions of Russians.
The Roumanians attacked from the east and south-east, the Russians
from the south and south-west. The attack was made in the following
manner:--First a lino of skirmishers with men carrying scaling
ladders, gabions, and fascines among them. The latter had their
rifles slung on their backs, and were ordered in no case to fire
but merely to run forward, fill up the ditch, and place their
ladders behind. Then followed the second line in company column
formation for the attack, followed by the third line to support the
assault. At half-past two p.m. the attack was made by the
Roumanians, and it is said that by some mistake the Russians
arrived half an hour too late. Be that as it may, the assault was
repulsed, and all retired except two companies of infantry, which
rallied, and, keeping under cover, maintained a brisk fire against
the work.
'At half-past five the attack was renewed by a battalion of the
Roumanian militia, followed by two Russian battalions of the 17th
and 18th regiments. The redoubt was then carried, and the Turks
withdrew to the other redoubt a little to the north of the captured
work. But it was soon apparent that the redoubt could not be held
without reinforcements, and three Roumanian battalions with a
battery of artillery were ordered forward. They lost their way,
however, in the fog, and were thus precluded from rendering the
required assistance; consequently, when the Turks returned to the
attack, the allies were driven out.
'The third assault soon followed, and the work was finally captured
at seven p.m. Four guns and a standard were the trophies of the
feat of arms. More than once during the night did the Turks advance
with shouts of "Allah," but no serious attack was made. Thus, to my
surprise, when I reached the Plevna valley this morning, I beheld a
flagstaff up defiantly exposing the Roumanian flag in that hitherto
dreaded Grivica Redoubt.'[187]
How sanguinary had been the struggle which is here described in a few
commonplace sentences is manifest from the subsequent appearance of the
captured redoubt.
'The interior of this large work was piled up not only with dead
but with wounded, forming one ghastly undistinguishable mass of
dead and living bodies, the wounded being as little heeded as the
dead. The fire had hindered the doctors from coming up to attend to
the wounded, and the same cause had kept back the wounded-bearers.
There were not even comrades to moisten the lips of their wretched
fellow-soldiers, or give them a word of consolation. There they
lie, writhing and groaning. I think some attempt might have been
made, at whatever risk, to aid these poor fellows, for they were
gallant men, who, twenty-four hours before, had so valiantly and
successfully struggled for the conquest of that long-uncaptured
redoubt; and it was sad now to see them dying without any attempt
being made to attend to them. I could fill pages with a description
of this harrowing scene and others near it, which I witnessed, but
the task would be equally a strain on my own nerves and on those of
your readers.'[188]
But the Roumanians were not contented with holding their position.
Within 250 yards of the Grivitza was another Turkish redoubt whose fire
commanded the former, and that they attempted in vain to take on the
11th. Nothing daunted, however, they held their ground day after day,
and on the 18th they made another gallant but futile attempt to expel
the enemy from his position. 'It is said they will renew it,' writes one
of the spectators, 'and there is plenty of fight in Prince Charles's
gallant young army, but, in my opinion, there is little chance of
success unless they work up to the hostile redoubt by sap.'[189] On
September 24 they were progressing by trenches, and were only 80 yards
from the second Grivitza redoubt. 'Their fighting spirit and cheerful
endurance of hardships are admirable,' we hear. And again, on the 26th:
'The Roumanians are pushing forward their works against the second
redoubt with a perseverance and pluck worthy all praise, and which is
the more remarkable as the Russians are doing absolutely nothing on
their side.'[190] This contrast comes from the pen of the chronicler who
told the story of the twenty Roumanians being taken prisoners by five
Russians, and whose views of the relative merits of the combatants had
evidently undergone considerable modification; for he now says of the
Russians: 'They are waiting for reinforcements, which are arriving
slowly, and which, when they are here, will hardly more than cover the
losses by battle and by sickness during the last two months. I think
history offers no such example of a splendid army in such an utterly
helpless condition. The Roumanian generals are showing far more pluck
and energy.'[191]
[Illustration: PRINCE (NOW KING) CHARLES OF ROUMANIA, BEFORE PLEVNA
(_From a Photograph taken on the spot by F. Duschek_.)]
The Roumanians were unable to capture the second redoubt, but they
managed not only to hold their advanced position before Plevna, but to
give material assistance elsewhere in turning the siege into an
investment. On November 21 they captured Rahova, on the Danube, which
greatly facilitated operations against the doomed fortress and aided to
make the works of the allies impregnable. In the closing incidents of
the investment of Plevna the Roumanians took little or no part in
consequence of the position which they occupied. On the morning of
December 10, Osman Pasha made his brave but unsuccessful attempt to
break through the Russian lines, a struggle in which both sides
performed prodigies of valour. One whole Russian regiment was
annihilated in the effort to check the enemy, whose general was himself
wounded; and after having kept the Russo-Roumanian army at bay with
an inferior force for more than four months, he was at length obliged to
surrender with his whole army. Here is a glimpse of the final scene, as
the wounded hero met his conquerors:--
'The Grand Duke rode up to the carriage, and for some seconds the
two chiefs gazed into each other's faces without the utterance of a
word. Then the Grand Duke stretched out his hand and shook the hand
of Osman Pasha heartily and said: "I compliment you on your defence
of Plevna; it is one of the most splendid military feats in
history." Osman Pasha smiled sadly, rose painfully to his feet in
spite of his wound, said something which I could not hear, and then
reseated himself. The Russian officers all cried "Bravo! bravo!"
repeatedly, and all saluted respectfully. There was not one among
them who did not gaze on the hero of Plevna with the greatest
admiration and sympathy. Prince Charles, who had arrived, rode up,
and repeated unwittingly almost every word of the Grand Duke, and
likewise shook hands. Osman Pasha again rose and bowed, this time
in grim silence.'[192]
[Footnote 186: _Ibid._ p. 444.]
[Footnote 187: _Daily War Correspondence,_ vol. i. p. 485.]
[Footnote 188: _Ibid._ p. 487.]
[Footnote 189: _Daily News War Correspondence_, vol. i. p. 491.]
[Footnote 190: _Ibid._ p. 495.]
[Footnote 191: _Ibid._ p. 496.]
[Footnote 192: _Daily News Correspondence_, vol. ii. p. 153.]
VI.
How easy it is to be magnanimous to a fallen foe; how difficult, with
some people, to be honourable in their dealings with an ally, especially
if he has been successful where they failed! The first is a claim of
superiority, and the higher the meed of praise awarded by us to the
vanquished the greater appears our victory; but the less we admit to be
due to our comrade in arms, the greater credit is left for ourselves.
And yet what will be the judgment of posterity upon the conduct of
Russia towards her brave ally who had saved her honour, if not the
integrity of her empire? Whatever she may think, the joy-bells would
have rung throughout a great portion of Europe, and certainly the party
then dominant in England would have rejoiced exceedingly, if she had
been driven back over the Pruth, and had been compelled to busy herself
with much-needed reforms in her own country instead of meddling with the
affairs of her neighbours and seeking to extend her already overgrown
possessions.
The war was never popular with the masses in Roumania, and although, at
the opening of the Chambers in November 1877, the royal speech predicted
that the fall of Plevna would mean a complete emancipation for
Roumania, much uneasiness prevailed concerning the designs of
Russia--uneasiness which was justified by subsequent events. On December
17, a load having been lifted from the mind of the nation by the
surrender of Osman Pasha, there was great rejoicing at Bucarest on the
occasion of the Czar's visit. He was on his way to St. Petersburg to
receive the congratulations of his subjects, having left Plevna behind
him, 'full of horrors.' He is dead now, but his son and all princes who
live by the sword would do well to peruse and reperuse the accounts of
the tragical scenes that the victors left upon the battle-field when
they departed to receive the ovations of the fickle populace. The
Roumanians feted their victorious allies, to whom it must be admitted
that we have here done ample justice in all their proceedings. But they
were the same Russians who, under Peter the Great, were reported to have
stolen the boots from the feet of their sleeping hosts; the same whose
hands the Roumanians had kissed when in 1829 they had released them from
the Turkish yoke; who it 1853 overran the Principalities with a view to
their permanent occupation, and who a few months after the events above
recorded betrayed their allies, and, for the risk they had run of once
more sacrificing their national existence, deprived them of Southern
Bessarabia, a province inhabited almost entirely by Roumanians.
Still the war brought its compensating advantages. The Dobrudscha which
the Roumanians received in exchange for Bessarabia, is proving a more
valuable acquisition both for trade and for strategical purposes than
was at first anticipated.
The Treaty of San Stephano, which was executed between Russia and Turkey
on February 19 [March 3], 1878, and was practically confirmed by the
Berlin Conference, contained amongst its other provisions this one (part
of Article V.): 'The Sublime Porte recognises the independence of
Roumania, which will establish its right to an indemnity to be discussed
between the two countries;' and (part of Article XII.): 'All the
Danubian strongholds shall be razed. There shall be no strongholds in
future on the banks of this river, nor any men-of-war in the waters of
the Principalities of Roumania, Servia, and Bulgaria, except the usual
_stationnaires_ and the small vessels intended for river police and
custom-house purposes.' And Article XIX. gave to Russia that part of
Turkey bordering on the Danube, known as the Dobrudscha, which Russia
'reserves the right of exchanging for the part of Bessarabia detached
from her by the treaty of 1856,' and which, to the great indignation of
the Roumanians, she subsequently forced them to relinquish in 'exchange'
for her newly acquired territory.
But _n'importe_. Roumania was free; and this time she had fought for and
won her complete independence.
VII.
There is something unsettled in the nature of an independent
principality. The title fails to convey the idea of a free and sovereign
people, and we are always disposed to regard it as the possible province
of some annexing neighbour. So thought a writer on Roumania four years
ago, at the close of the war of liberation. 'Situated as it is, as an
independent State, it must sooner or later fall to Russia or Austria,
more probably to the former.'[193] So, in all probability, thought the
Russian diplomatists when they created a number of weak principalities
south of the Danube to serve them as stepping-stones to Constantinople.
And so, too, thought the Roumanians themselves. They knew that a name is
'neither hand, nor foot, nor arm, nor face, nor any other part belonging
to a man,' and so they 'doffed the name,' and on May 23, 1881, with the
concurrence of the great Powers of Europe, they invested their prince
and princess with the royal dignity, placing upon their sovereign's head
a crown made from the very guns which he had captured whilst he was
fighting for their liberties.
The poetic sentiment which attaches to this last act of the people of
Roumania brings vividly before our mind's eye the dramatic character of
her whole national career. Twice have we found the course of her history
lost in darkness--first in the clouds of antiquity by which the early
life of every nation is obscured; then in the still impenetrable gloom
of the so-called dark ages, which continued to hang over the Danubian
plains long after it was lifted from every other part of Europe.
Conquered first, and civilised by one who ranks amongst the greatest
heroes of the Roman Empire, she has inherited a high antiquity of which
she may be justly proud, remembering, however, that honourable ancestry
alone is not the measure of a nation's greatness. But then, for ages we
might almost say, the blast which swept across her plains with all the
fury of a tempest, but, as it travelled westward, broke and moderated
under the influence of the older civilisation, caused a second blank in
her existence; and when she once more rose from her prostration, she
found herself whole centuries behind the western peoples. But hardly had
she time to breathe again, and ere the wounds inflicted on her by the
Goths, and Huns, and Avars were yet fully healed, another ruthless
conqueror had laid hands upon her; and spite of all her efforts to
regain her liberty he held her fast, and sent her taskmasters as cruel
and exacting as the leaders of barbarian hordes had been before. And yet
her spirit was indomitable; bowed but not broken she continued to live
on, and ever strove for freedom. Mircea, Stephen, Michael, those are the
names which vindicate her claim to courage, and which shield her from
the charge of cowardly submission. And next she is the object of
contention between two neighbouring despots, the one endeavouring to
hold, the other to annex her. It is a marvelt hat between them she was
not dismembered limb from limb.