The Battle of Kars During the Russo-Turkish War (1877- 1878) in V. P. Meshcherskiy's ‘Caucasian Travel Diary’

Yıl 2021, Sayı: 73, 195 - 213, 15.02.2021

Aslı Gülseven

https://doi.org/10.26650/iutd.759817

Öz

Travel notes and memoirs contain many contents that fill the gaps in official history, and are thus precious material for historians as primary sources. This study aims to explore the historical context of the Battle of Kars during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 by focusing on Vladimir Petrovich Meshcherskiy’s travel notes and memoirs on the trip from Moscow to Kars during the war in 1877. Although there is a vast literature on the course and consequences of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, we have little first-hand information from the field to fill the gaps in our knowledge of the developments during and aftermath of the Kars attack. Meshcherskiy's travel diary does not only provide us with a close-up view of the Eastern front of the Russo-Turkish War, but it also sheds light on the attitude of the local people under the Russian siege. Although this diary provides a rich source of information from the viewpoint of Meshcherskiy, a prominent Russian journalist and novelist, it has never been used in the academic literature on the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Meshcherskiy, The Russo-Turkish War, The Caucasian Front, Kars, Russia

V.P. Meshcherskiy'nin “Kafkas Seyahat Günlüğü”nde Rus-Türk Savaşı (1877-1878) sırasında Kars Muharebesi

Öz

Seyahat notları, hatıratlar ve günlükler resmi tarih yazımındaki boşlukları dolduracak nitelikte birçok içeriğe sahiptir ve bundan dolayı tarihçiler için kıymetli kaynaklardır. Bu çalışmanın amacı, 93 Harbi’nde Kars Muharebesi’ndeki tarihsel bağlamı Vladimir Petrovich Meşçerski'nin 1877'de savaş sırasında Moskova'dan Kars'a yaptığı yolculuğunu konu alan "Kafkasya Seyahat Günlüğü"nden yola çıkarak irdelemektir. 93 Harbi’ne dair geniş bir literatür bulunmasına rağmen, Kars taarruzu esnasındaki ve sonrasındaki gelişmelere ilişkin bilgimizdeki eksiklikleri tamamlayacak cepheye dair ilk elden bilgiye pek sahip değiliz. Meşçerski'nin seyahat günlüğü 93 Harbi’nde doğu cephesine yakından bir bakış sağlamanın ötesinde Rus işgali altındaki yerel halkın tavırlarına ışık da tutmaktadır. Bu günlük gazeteci ve yazar Meşçerski'nin bakış açısından aktarılan önemli bir bilgi kaynağı sunmasına rağmen daha önce 93 Harbini konu alan akademik literatürde kullanılmamıştır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Meşçerski, 93 Harbi, Kars, Kafkas Cephesi, Rusya

Kaynakça

• Allen, William Edward David, Paul Muratoff, Caucasian Battlefields, A History of Wars on the Turco-Caucasian Border, 1828-1921, Cambridge University Press, New York 1953.
• Anderson, M. S., The Eastern Question, 1774–1923: A Study in International Relations, St Martin’s, New York 1966.
• Aybar, Meriç, "1877-1878 Osmanli Rus Harbinde Erzincan," ed. Hüsrev Akın, International Erzincan Symposium, Proceedings, 28 September-1 October 2016, Issue 1, Erzincan University Faculty of Law, Erzincan 2016, p. 93-102.
• Barry, Quintin, War in the East: A Military History of the Russo-Turkish War 1877-78, Helion and Company ltd., Solihull 2012.
• Bitva za Kavkaz v issledovaniiakh, dokumentakh i fotomaterialakh, ed. S. I Lintsa, PGLU, Pyatigorsk 2015.
• Drury, Ian, Raffaele Ruggeri, The Russo-Turkish War 1877, Osprey, London: 1994.
• Greene, F. V., Report on the Russian Army and its Campaigns in Turkey in 1877-1878, D. Appleton and Company, New York 1879.
• Gorizontov, Leonid E. "The Crimean War as a Test of Russia's Imperial Durability," Russian Studies in History, Issue 51, (2012/1), p. 65–94.
• Gülseven, Aslı Yiğit, “Rethinking Russian pan-Slavism in the Ottoman Balkans: N.P. Ignatiev and the Slavic Benevolent Committee (1856–77),” Middle Eastern Studies, Issue 53, (2017/3), p. 332-348.
• Kırımlı, Hakan “Emigrations from the Crimea to the Ottoman Empire during the Crimean War”, Middle Eastern Studies, Issue 44, (2008/5); p.751-773.
• Kolyubakin, B. M., Russko-Turetskaia Voyna, 1877-1878 gg. na Kavkaz i v Maloy Azii, Tipo-Tsintographiia A. G. Rozena, St. Petersburg 1906.
• Lieven, Dominic, Empire: The Russian Empire and Its Rivals, Yale University Press, New Haven 2000.
• Meshcherskiy, V. P., Kavkazkiy Putevoy Dnevnik, 1878, Tipografiia G. E. Blagosvetlova, St. Petersburg 1878.
• Meshcherskiy, V. P., Moi Vospominaniia, Zakharov, Moscow 2003.
• Morse, Stephen P., Converting between Julian and Gregorian Calendar, https://stevemorse.org/jcal/julian.html
• Reid, James, Crisis of the Ottoman Empire, Prelude to Collapse 1839-1878, Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2000.
• Rostunov, I. I., Russko-turetskaia voina 1877–1878, Voenizdat, Moscow 1977.
• Substantive and Procedural Aspects of International Criminal Law, eds. Gabrielle Kirk McDonald and Olivia Swaak-Goldman, vol.1, Kluwer Law International, The Hague 2000.
• Tanrıverdi, Mustafa, "The Treaty of Berlin and the Tragedy of the Settlers from the Three Cities" in The Russo- Turkish War of 1877-78 and the Treaty of Berlin, eds. Hakan Yavuz and Peter Sluglett, Utah University Press, Salt Lake City 2011, p. 449-478.
• The New York Times, "Czar's Adviser, Mestchersky, Dies," (Published: July 24, 1914)
• War and Diplomacy. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 and the Treaty of Berlin, eds. Hakan Yavuz and Peter Sluglett, Utah University Press, Salt Lake City 2011.
• Zagiev, A. A., "Osada Shturm Kreposti Kars Oseniu 1877 goda," Vserossiyskie Millerovskie Chteniia, No.6, 2018, 210-214.
• Zolotarev, V. A., "Rossiia i Turtsiia 1877-1878 gg.," Nauka, St. Petersurg 1983.