On April 13 (25), 1877, one of the most unpleasant for Russia pages of the Paris treatise, which ended the Crimean War, was turned over. The Russian army entered Izmail, reuniting Southern Bessarabia (Danube) with the Russian state. The united principality of Wallachia and Moldavia (later Romania), which until 1878 was a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, was forced to cede this region back to Russia, receiving assistance from St. Petersburg in gaining state independence, as well as territorial compensation - Northern Dobrudja with the city of Constanta.
The rejection of the Danube from Russia after the Crimean War had a negative impact on its development. The creation of a pan-European free zone for safe navigation on the Danube on the territory of the region led to the severing of economic ties with Russia. This undermined industrial production and led to an outflow of the population. In just two years (1860 and 1861) more than 20 thousand people left South Bessarabia (with a total population of about 120 thousand people).
By the time of the reunification, the Izmail fortress had already been destroyed (according to the terms of the Paris Peace in 1856), but its name was assigned to the former suburb (forstadt), founded in 1809 three miles from the fortress, which grew greatly and in 1812-1856 was officially named the city of Tuchkov.
The young city was named Tuchkov in recognition of the merits of its founder - the Russian major general, commandant of the fortresses of Bessarabia, Sergei Tuchkov. He personally determined the place where construction began, outlined the city blocks, laid the first buildings for the magistrate and city administration, and attracted many settlers. However, during the years when the Danube region was a part of the Moldavian-Wallachian principality, the toponym "Tuchkov" was excluded from office work and was forgotten by the population. In addition, since the time of the legendary Suvorov assault on Izmail, the name of the Danube fortress turned out to be so fanned with glory in the mass consciousness of Russians that it was passed on to the city that arose next to this fortress.
The first reliable information about the Turkish fortress of Izmail dates back to 1768, when the German traveler Nikolaus Kleeman in his notes described it as small and weakly fortified. Even before the construction of the fortress (in the middle of the 17th century), Izmail had its own port, in which there were up to 500 ships. The city-fortress consisted of about 2,000 houses, many trade shops, the population was mainly engaged in trade - every year merchants sent more than two thousand carts of salted fish to the Polish and Russian lands. There was a slave market in the city. In addition to Muslims, Greeks, Armenians, and Jews lived in Izmail.
In July 1770, the Russian army under the command of Peter Rumyantsev defeated the 150,000-strong Turkish army at Cahul. The corps of Lieutenant General Nikolai Repnin pursued a 20,000-strong detachment of Turkish cavalry, which retreated to Izmail. The garrison of the fortress after the Battle of Kagul was demoralized, rebelled and tried to seize ships in order to cross the Danube. Repnin's detachment consisted of four infantry squares, three hussar regiments and Cossacks, a total of 7-8 thousand people. On July 26 (August 5), 1770, the Turkish cavalry, not daring to join the battle under the walls of Ishmael, began a retreat to Kiliya along the road along the Danube. Repnin tried to pursue the enemy for six miles, but fell behind and returned to Ishmael.
To take the fortress, he sent Major General Grigory Potemkin with three infantry battalions. After a small skirmish, the Turks surrendered. During the occupation of the fortress, the Russians lost 11 people killed and 10 wounded. As trophies, 37 cannons, 8,760 cannon balls, 96 barrels of gunpowder and other property were taken from the fortress. The attitude of the local population towards the Russian troops is evidenced by the fact that after the occupation of Izmail, about 250 Moldovans from the surrounding villages joined the Russian army as volunteers (arnauts) to fight against the hated Turks.
To strengthen the fortress, Rumyantsev sent an engineering major-general Illarion Golenishchev-Kutuzov (father of Mikhail Kutuzov), as well as an artillery major general Ungern von Sternberg. In early August, the main forces of Repnin's corps moved to the strong fortress of Kiliya, and in Izmail a Russian river flotilla began to form from ships and boats repulsed from the enemy; a shipyard was erected for the construction of new ships. By the end of 1770, Izmail became the main base for the new Russian Danube Flotilla.
The first Russian commandant of the Izmail fortress was appointed Colonel Dmitry Ivkov, who held this position until September 1774, when, according to the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi peace treaty, the fortress again ceded to the Ottoman Empire. Ivkov developed an active activity, in every possible way fortifying the fortress, participating in the construction of the shipyard. To work at the shipyard, the commandant hired Russian artisans.
The events of the Rumyantsev war showed the great importance of Izmail in the Danube defense system. Having returned the city, the Turks tried to build a new, more powerful fortress on the site of the old fortifications. To do this, they brought in French and German engineers. However, the project of the second Izmail fortress was developed only in 1789. By the time of the next siege of Izmail by the Russian army in 1790, he had not been fully embodied. Before the Russian wars, a largely wooden-earthen fortress appeared with a moat (12 m wide and up to 10 m deep) and a rampart (6–8 m high). Stone walls were only on the corner northwestern and southwestern bastions.
The main strength of this fortress was not in the fortifications, but in the fact that behind its ramparts (the total length of the fortifications is more than 6 km) in a vast area, a large number of troops could easily hide and be freely supplied by a large river flotilla. In fact, a huge fortified field camp arose here.
By the time of the second successful assault by Russian troops on December 11 (22), 1790, the Izmail fortress had the status of a horde-kalesi (army fortress). Its garrison was about 25 thousand people (including 8 thousand cavalry) with 265 artillery pieces. The food supply in Izmail was concentrated for a month and a half. The sultan categorically forbade the surrender of the fortress, announcing that if the garrison surrendered or the fortress was captured, the surviving defenders would be executed in any case. The Russian command was able to concentrate under the walls of Izmail a grouping of about 30 thousand people, half of which were irregular units, whose weapons were poorly suited for the assault.
Just like the first assault on the fortress, the capture of Izmail in 1790 is firmly connected with the name of Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin. His Serene Highness was the inspiration and organizer of the brilliant Lower Danube operation. It was carried out by joint efforts of the ground forces, the Black Sea Fleet, the Danube Flotilla, and the Black Sea Cossack flotilla. Within two months, the Turkish forces were defeated and driven out of the lower Danube from Kiliya to Galati. The blockade and capture of Ishmael were the culmination of this operation.
Grigory Potemkin
It was Potemkin who unmistakably identified the military leader, who alone was able to seize the last Turkish stronghold on the Lower Danube. Giving instructions to Alexander Suvorov to prepare for the assault, His Serene Highness anticipated the direction of one of the main blows:
"The side of the city towards the Danube, I consider the weakest, if I start there, so that, having ascended, here, wherever there is to lie down (settle down) and so only lead the assaults, so that in case of something, God forbid, the reflections, there would be where to turn."
Suvorov completed the preparation of troops for the assault in 6 days. The attacking forces were divided into three wings of three columns each. The troops of Major General De Ribas (9 thousand people) were to attack from the river side. The right wing, under the command of Lieutenant-General Pavel Potemkin (7,500 people), was preparing to strike at the western part of the fortress, the left wing of Lieutenant-General Alexander Samoilov (12 thousand people) - along the east. The cavalry reserves of Brigadier Fyodor Westfalen (2,500 people) were on the land side.
On December 10 (21), with the sunrise, artillery preparation for the assault began, in which about 600 guns took part. It lasted almost a day and ended 2.5 hours before the start of the attack. At half past six in the morning, the columns began to attack. At dawn it became clear that the rampart had been taken, the enemy had been driven out of the fortress tops and retreating into the inner part of the city. Russian columns from different sides moved towards the city center. A new, even more fierce battle began in the city blocks. Especially stubborn resistance of the Turks lasted until 11 am. Thousands of horses, leaping out of the burning stables, dashed furiously through the streets and increased the confusion. Almost every house had to be taken with a fight.
At about noon, the troops of Boris Lassi, who were the first to climb the rampart, were the first to reach the city center. Here they met a thousand Tatars under the command of Prince Maksud-Girey. The Tatars fought desperately and surrendered only when most of the detachment was killed. To support the advancing infantry, 20 light cannons were introduced into the city. At about one o'clock in the afternoon, the Turkish defense disintegrated into separate foci. The enemy continued to hold important buildings, tried to attack individual Russian detachments.
The last attempt to turn the tide of the battle was made by the brother of the Crimean Khan Kaplan-Girey. He gathered several thousand horse and foot Tatars and Turks and led them towards the advancing Russians. In a desperate battle in which more than 4 thousand Muslims were killed, Kaplan-Girey fell along with his five sons.
At two o'clock in the afternoon the Russian columns united in the center of the city, and at four o'clock the enemy's resistance ceased. Ishmael fell.
Of the entire garrison, only one person was able to escape, who swam across the Danube on a log. 9 thousand Turks and Tatars were taken prisoner, of which 2 thousand died of wounds the next day. When surrendering, the commander of the Izmail group, Aidos-Mehmet Pasha, died, who uttered the famous words before the assault:
"Rather the Danube will flow backwards and the sky will fall to the ground than Ishmael will surrender."
The fortress took up to 3 thousand pounds of gunpowder, 20 thousand cannonballs and many other ammunition, 8 lansons, 12 ferries, 22 light ships. For the Russians, the total number of casualties was 4582: 1880 killed (of which 64 officers) and 2702 wounded. Some authors determine the number of killed up to 4 thousand, and wounded - up to 6 thousand, only 10 thousand.
The epic assault on Ishmael somewhat overshadowed the colossal political significance of this battle. Since July 1790, when Austria ceased military operations against Turkey, Russia was threatened with diplomatic isolation. There was a high probability of the opening of the second front of the allied Turkey by Prussia. Feeling the support of the patrons (Prussia and England), the Ottoman Empire put forward conditions that were obviously impossible to fulfill at the peace negotiations with Russia.
In the Turkish city of Sistov, a diplomatic congress of representatives of Prussia, England, Holland, Austria and Turkey gathered to work out the terms of a Russian-Turkish peace treaty. "European diplomacy" was preparing a statement: if Russia, like Austria, does not immediately make concessions to Turkey, then a war on its western borders will be launched against it. The Prussian and Polish military contingents were already concentrating. Izmail Victoria has sobered many "European partners". The pan-European ultimatum to Russia did not materialize.
In the midst of the assault in 1790, the question of who should be the second Russian commandant of the Izmail fortress was decided. A detachment of Mikhail Kutuzov advanced on the southwestern bastions and the Kiliya gate of the fortress. Suffering heavy losses, he was able to climb the rampart, but, meeting fierce resistance from the Turks, Kutuzov decided to retreat to the range of a rifle shot and reported this to Suvorov. The general-in-chief's answer was unexpected:
"I have already reported to St. Petersburg about the conquest of Izmail, and I appoint Kutuzov as the Izmail commandant."
Using the forces of the reserve grenadier regiment and the surviving rangers, Kutuzov again rushed to storm the bastion. This time they managed to climb the shaft again and overturn the enemy with bayonets.
When Mikhail Illarionovich asked Alexander Vasilyevich why he had appointed him commandant at a time when the fortress had not yet been taken, the great commander replied:
“Kutuzov knows Suvorov, and Suvorov knows Kutuzov. If Ishmael had not been taken, Suvorov would have died under his walls, and Kutuzov as well."
However, Kutuzov's command did not last long: the ongoing war required his presence in the army.
The Lower Danube operation and the capture of Izmail did not leave indifferent the inhabitants of the Danube and adjacent Balkans. As part of the Russian Danube army, 30 volunteer detachments were formed, which included Moldovans, Vlachs, Bulgarians, Greeks, Serbs and others. Nevertheless, after the conclusion of the Yassy Peace Treaty in 1791, Russia was again forced to leave Izmail.
In the interwar period of 1792-1806, the Turkish authorities again rebuilt the Izmail Fortress. It became more compact and fortified, having existed until 1856. The construction was designed and led by French engineer François Kauffer.
During the first two years of the Russian-Turkish war of 1806-1812, Russian troops made several unsuccessful attempts to capture the fortified city. In 1809, Izmail was subjected to another siege by order of the new commander-in-chief of the Moldavian army, Peter Bagration. To take the fortress was entrusted to Lieutenant General Grigory Zass. At the end of August 1809, his detachment of 5 thousand people with 40 guns approached Ishmael and began shelling it. In early September, the Russian Danube flotilla joined the shelling. The bombardment continued with short interruptions until September 13 (25), when the commandant Chelebi Pasha proposed to start negotiations on surrender.
The next day, Russian troops entered Izmail. Under the terms of surrender, his garrison of 4, 5 thousand people crossed to the Turkish right bank of the Danube, about 4 thousand inhabitants remained in the city. The spoils of war amounted to 221 guns, 9 ships with 36 guns, 5 thousand pounds of gunpowder and many shells.
In September 1809, Tuchkov was appointed commandant of the Izmail Fortress. Due to the fact that in 1812 Izmail with all of Bessarabia was annexed to the Russian Empire, the fortress was under his leadership for quite a long time (until 1835).
Sergei Tuchkov made great efforts to increase the population of Izmail, its economic development, using his personal funds. If in 1809 3250 Muslims and 569 Christians lived in the city, then in only six months (from March to August 1811) 2200 people arrived in Izmail, including 947 Ukrainians, 638 Russians, 168 Moldovans and others. After the annexation of Bessarabia in 1812, a significant part of the volunteers who were part of the Bulgarian Zemstvo troops, as well as the Nekrasov Cossacks who had transferred from Turkey, settled in the Danube. At the same time, the Nogais (Budjak Tatars) left South Bessarabia. In 1817, the population of the fortress and the neighboring town of Tuchkov reached 9 thousand people, in 1856 - 30, 6 thousand inhabitants, the vast majority of whom are Russians and Ukrainians. The settlers were provided with significant benefits.
In the first floor. XIX century, twice a year in Izmail - Tuchkov, the Voznesenskaya and Pokrovskaya fairs, famous throughout Russia, were held, which lasted 15 days. The main occupations of the townspeople were craft, trade, fishing, cattle breeding and agriculture. Winemaking and tobacco cultivation began to develop. In the 1820s, the first industrial enterprises appeared: a tannery, a candle factory, three pasta and three brick factories. In the 1830s, the architectural appearance of the city changed: administrative buildings, a hospital, a hospital, educational institutions were built, Cathedral Square was laid, the Intercession Cathedral was erected - the architectural pearl of modern Izmail. Under the leadership of the famous St. Petersburg architect Abraham Melnikov, shopping stone rows are being built in the center of the city square.
Significant changes in the life of the city took place in 1856, when it came under the rule of the Moldavian principality dependent on Turkey, and the Izmail fortress was destroyed. However, 21 years later, Russia returned to Izmail. In April 1877, the predominantly Russian-Ukrainian city was occupied without a single shot by the troops of the Lower Danube detachment of Lieutenant General Prince Alexei Shakhovsky.
