The battles of the world

by J. Douglas Borthwick

Toulon, 1707 and 1793.

Tournay, 1340, 1312, 1581, 1667, and 1709. During this siege the best defence ever drawn from countermines was here practised; also besieged in 1765 and 1794.

Tunis, 1270, 1535.

Valenciennes, May 23rd to July 14th, 1793. See [this article].

Warsaw, September 8th, 1831.

Zutphen, 1572 and 1586.

SILISTRIA, SIEGE OF.—In 1854.—The following is an admirable account of the siege of this place:

“After the battle of Citate, so bitter a blow to the pretensions of Russia, the enemy’s Generals found it advisable to change their plan of operations. Adopting Foktchani as their basis, they accumulated a large amount of military stores, and finding that the Turks were not to be tempted into crossing the Danube, calmly awaited reinforcements. When these had arrived, it was resolved to make a desperate effort to force the passage of the river. Imperative orders arrived from St. Petersburg to press the war vigorously, and at any cost. On the 13th of February they attacked Giurgevo, on the Wallachian bank of the Danube, with a considerable force, and after a vigorous resistance, the Turks were forced to evacuate their position, though not without being able to effect an orderly retreat across the river, and establish themselves firmly in the opposite town of Rustchuk. The Russian Generals now resolved on concentrating their strength, and making an irresistible advance into Bulgaria. With characteristic promptness, however, Omer Pacha initiated the attack. Throwing a small column across the Danube at Rahova, he assaulted and drove back the outposts at Kalarasch with considerable slaughter; and the Turks, after this dashing feat, retired in security to Rahova. Another attempt was made by the extreme right of the Russian line, on the 11th of March, to seize Kalafat; but they were energetically repulsed by the brave garrison of that renowned town. Four days later, Prince Gortschakoff made a desperate effort to wrest from its Ottoman defenders the island in the Danube between Tukurtai and Oltenitza, which had been so important a position in the battle at the latter place. The Russians were again driven back, but some idea of the sanguinary nature of the struggle may be formed from the fact that 2000 soldiers of the Czar left their bodies on the disputed ground.

“Five days before this desperate attempt to force the passage of the river at Oltenitza, General Luders had succeeded in crossing, at Galatz, into the Dobrudscha. Gortschakoff, defeated as he had been, resolved upon abandoning the position he had so disastrously occupied, and shifting his ground farther to the east, effected a passage at Tultscha, beyond the point where Luders had passed with his army. The two divisions were now united, and numbered about 5000 men. By a curious coincidence, the 23rd of March, the day on which Gortschakoff crossed the river, was the same day in which Odessa was so successfully bombarded by the allied fleets. Thus was the Russian success more than counterbalanced. Four days later, England and France had officially entered into the struggle. The great object of the enemy’s movements now became apparent. Prince Paskiewitch, the veteran General, the most celebrated commander of the Russian army, was summoned from Poland to assume the supreme command, and Schilders, the most accomplished general of engineers, also hastened to the scene of operations. The capture of Silistria, the strongest fortress on the southern bank of the Danube, and the key to Bulgaria, was evidently the object of the Russians. So important was the possession of this place deemed by the Czar, that the most imperative directions were forwarded to accomplish it at any cost. The plan of operations was this. Gortschakoff and Luders, having crossed the Danube, were to advance towards Silistria, intercepting communications, and investing it on the land side; while Paskiewitch was to throw forward the main body of the army and vigorously assault it from the northern side. The garrison of Silistria, commanded by Moussa Pacha, a General of great ability and indomitable courage, did not number more than 8000 men.