Latest / The Romanov Dynasty: Rise, Power, and Bloody End — Fexingo History / The Romanovs and the Russo-Turkish War: 1877-78
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've touched on the Crimean War a few times, and how humiliating that was for Russia. But by the 1870s, the empire was looking to restore its prestige, and the Balkans became the stage. This is the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, and it's a conflict that's often overshadowed by the world wars but it really reshaped Eastern Europe. Luna: I feel like I only know this war through the Siege of Plevna. Was that the turning point? Lucas: Plevna is huge, but it's part of a bigger story. The war started with Russia declaring war on the Ottoman Empire in April 1877, ostensibly to protect Orthodox Christians in the Balkans, but really to expand Russian influence. The Russian army crossed the Danube and pushed into Bulgaria, and initially things went well. But then they hit Plevna, a fortress town held by Osman Pasha, and it became a five-month slog. Lucas: Osman Pasha was a brilliant defensive commander. He fortified the town, built redoubts, and his soldiers were well supplied. The Russians launched three major assaults, and all three failed with heavy casualties. It was like a mini-Verdun, but in the 1870s. The Russian command was frankly inept, and it took the arrival of a Romanian army to finally break the siege. Luna: That sounds brutal. How did they finally take it? Lucas: They besieged it properly, cutting off supplies. After months of starvation, Osman Pasha tried a desperate breakout, but he was wounded and captured. The fall of Plevna in December 1877 was a massive morale boost for Russia. It opened the road to Constantinople, and the Ottomans sued for peace. The Treaty of San Stefano in March 1878 created a large Bulgarian state, which alarmed the other European powers. Lucas: And that's where the Congress of Berlin comes in. Bismarck hosted, and the great powers basically redrew the map. Bulgaria was split into three parts, and Russia got some territory in the Caucasus but didn't get Constantinople. The war did achieve some goals, but it also showed Russia's military weaknesses and sowed seeds for future conflicts. Luna: What about the famous 'White General' — Skobelev? I've heard his name. Lucas: Mikhail Skobelev was a controversial and charismatic figure. He wore a white uniform and rode a white horse, and he was genuinely fearless. He distinguished himself at Plevna and then led a stunning winter crossing of the Balkan mountains to capture the Shipka Pass. That was a brutal campaign, with soldiers freezing in the snow, but it forced the Ottomans into a retreat. Skobelev became a national hero, though his pan-Slavic zeal made him unpopular with some in the government. Lucas: The war's legacy is complicated. For the Romanovs, it was a victory that temporarily boosted the dynasty's prestige. Alexander II was already the 'Tsar Liberator' for freeing the serfs, and now he was liberating Balkan Christians. But it also strained the Russian economy and exposed logistical problems. And the Congress of Berlin left the Balkans a powder keg — the very tensions that led to World War I. Luna: It's like the war solved one problem and created a dozen more. Lucas: Exactly. And there's a personal connection to the Romanovs' fate: Skobelev's death in 1882, supposedly of a heart attack, was mysterious. Some say he was poisoned by the secret police because he was becoming too popular and too politically dangerous. And that's a reminder of how the dynasty always feared its own heroes. Luna: That's wild. So this war, which started with such high hopes, ended with a lot of the same old problems. Lucas: Yeah, and it also set the stage for the Balkan Wars and ultimately the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. The Bulgarians, the Serbs, the Romanians — they all got a taste of independence, and they wanted more. The Romanovs thought they were securing their legacy, but they were really helping to build the fault lines that would bring down all the empires. Lucas: Speaking of which, if you've been following our conversations about the Romanovs, you know we love digging into these overlooked corners. And a few of you have asked how we keep this ad-free. We're not a big operation — it's just us, digging through sources, and a handful of listeners chip in monthly through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That's honestly what keeps these episodes coming. Luna: Yeah, we really appreciate those who do. It lets us spend the time on the archives and the details. Lucas: So, back to the war. One thing I find fascinating is how this conflict was one of the first to be covered extensively by war correspondents. Painters like Vasily Vereshchagin went to the front and created these incredibly graphic, anti-war paintings. He was with the Russian army, and his depictions of the slaughter at Plevna were so real that some in the military accused him of treason for showing the suffering. Luna: That's a side of the war I never thought about. Art as a kind of resistance. Lucas: Absolutely. Vereshchagin's painting 'The Apotheosis of War' — a pyramid of skulls — was inspired by this war. It's a powerful reminder that these conflicts aren't just about generals and treaties, they're about the human cost. And that's something that often gets lost in the history books. Lucas: The Russo-Turkish War is a perfect example of how a regional conflict can have global implications. It changed the balance of power, it fueled nationalism, and it set the stage for the 20th century. When we think about the Romanovs' downfall, we usually look to World War I, but this war, twenty years earlier, already showed the cracks in the empire's armor. Luna: It's a lot to take in. I'm glad we spent time on this.