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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:EBOOKS Russo Turkish War 1870's.

Hi Hank,

this is really one of the „forgotten“ wars in history. Two years of bloody battles, the independence of Romania, freedom for Bulgaria and even the Serbs had a better time after the 1876 war against the Turks.
The Turks were quiet when the Bulgarians united with East-Romelia in 1885 and fought the Serbs (another interesting little war).

There are a lot of interesting units on both sides, very big battles with interesting manoevers etc. The war was fought in the mountains (Shipka pass for example, where the Bulgarians stopped the Turks) or the better known battle of Plevna in which the Turks hold out for a long time.

The Russians and their allies tried to advance in a pincer movement in the direction of Konstantinopel. So from the landscape everything is possible. Wooden village houses, old Venetian style houses, contemporary Turkish houses (I have a good book here, in case you need photos). The landscape is different, because of the long “front”.

I have no idea if railways were in the Balkans these days?

Frank Ryan is the specialist here, I hope Frank you would come to our help!

There are a lot of German books about this war, mostly from the Russian point of view.
Beside this take a look at Archive.org

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=russo-turkish war

31 hits just for the Russo-Turkish war It takes a little bit longer to load a pdf-file down than from Google-books, but these books are sometimes written after 1900 and not available at google and we can load them down worldwide.

Try to search the Crimean war or the Turkish army

Question to all the other readers because you are so quiet, is this war known or interesting for you?

Cheers
Uwe

Hey, Strelets!.

Hi, Uwe,
I've read about it to a degree. Plevna is one of the great battles in history to be sure.
Am I interested in this war? Well, if there were figures for it, sure I'd be interested. So your list of possible conversions has got me thinking.
Hey, Strelets: any chance of you picking up this period?
regards, donald

Yes

Re: Yes

Dear Strelets, thank you for your reply.
I carefully read through it, examining the caveats,the implications & weighing your words & I *think* that was an unquivocable affirmative.
Am I correct?
donald

Re: Re:

Hi Donald,and i joinyou to hope that will be a fine(strelets) chance.

Earlier ij the thread we discuss railway in Bulgaria/Romania.I detect BVD Bulgaria had horse drawn railwya (same as teh Crimea Balaclava- Kadikoi line) built in 1850's. This was upgraded to staem locomotive eventually.th ebook about teh english surgeon (above) mentions several rail links in teh book.Early rom Stamboul to Tatar Bazardjik then 5 day march to Sophia.Some small rail line are mentioned with exchanges.Turks have no forts so they camp in transit by railway stations.I hope i get a old map of the region from somewhere with all town names etc.

The Turks did well with using water transport Danube Steamboats and MONITORS (6) .Alot of dexcriptive in teh book i am at chapter 9 so thankfully more to divulge.So at lats ACW colelctors can use much figures here in RT War.Inshallah

railways

hey Hank!

I doubt that there was railway around Plevna.

Regarding Romania, I did some research, but found only romanian texts. In 1877, the length of the steam rails was 1377 km. At the beginning of the conflict, it was normal that the russian troops had to pass Romania to get to the turks in Bulgaria. Thus, a formal request was made, and accepted by the romanian parliament after long debates, but with several conditions. The russian troops had to travel only by rail, and not leave the trains.
The crossing over the Danube was done at Giurgiu, which was linked by rail to Bucharest from 1869. In Giurgiu, on the banks of the Danube, was a romanian battery, which exchanged fire with the turkish artillery. This was actually the way the war started between romanians and turks, with artillery duels at several points along the Danube, followed by minor raids by small parties across the river.

Hank, in case you didn't already get the pdf I've promised you from Uwe, please write to my email a hello, so I can send it to the email address you currently use.

Radu

Re: Russo Turk War Railways

first Bulgarian railway Russe to Varna
http://www.ahomeinbulgaria.net/Bulgarian_towns_and_cities/Ruse_Bulgaria.htm

http://railroadfocus.com/bulgaria/

http://www.museums.hit.bg/

http://www.bg-papermoney.com/html/en/pobzdo_en.html
After 1864 the reforms on the territory of Bulgaria were felt considerably when Midhad Pasha was appointed as a governor of the Danube Vilayet. He made special efforts to Europeanize not only the administrative center Rouse but he also organized roads' building in North Bulgaria. In 1866 the first railway line was opened up. It connected Rouse and Varna. Shortly afterwards the other two railway lines were finished off. (Tarnovo - Jambol, Thessalonica - Skopie). Also, Midhad Pasha promoted the establishment of the so-called agrarian funds. Their main function was to give assistance to the people because the money lending was still in its prosperity. On the other hand in 1864 a special law was passed fixing the interest between 12 % and 15.

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Romanian railways
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_Railways#Railways_in_the_19th_century
Railways in the 19th century



A bridge across Oraviţa Creek on the Oraviţa-Baziaş line, which continues to be in operation today, even though it stops at Iam instead of Baziaş
The first railway line on Romania's present-day territory was opened on August 20, 1854 and ran between Oraviţa in Banat and Baziaş, a port on the Danube. The line, which had a length of 62.5 km, was used solely for the transportation of coal. From January 12, 1855, the line was operated by Austrian Railways, the Banat province being at that time part of the Austrian Empire. After several improvements in the following months, the line was opened to passenger traffic from November 1, 1856.

Between 1864 and 1880, several railways were constructed in what was then the Kingdom of Romania. On September 1, 1865, the English company John Trevor-Barkley began construction on the Bucharest–Giurgiu line. The line was opened to traffic on August 26, 1869. The Bucharest-Giurgiu line was the first railway built on Romanian territory at that time, commissioned by the King of Romania (considering that the Oraviţa-Baziaş line was part of Austria-Hungary, even though it presently lies on Romanian territory).

In September 1866, the Romanian Parliament voted for the construction of a 915 km railway, from Vârciorova in the south to Roman in the north, via Piteşti, Bucharest, Buzău, Brăila, Galaţi and Tecuci, all important population centres. The price for the construction was at that time 270,000 gold francs per kilometre and was contracted to the German Strousberg consortium. The line was opened in various stages, the first stage (Piteşti-Bucharest-Galaţi-Roman) being opened to traffic on September 13, 1872, while the Vârciorova-Piteşti segment was opened some time later, on May 9, 1878. The Vârciorova-Roman line was an important part of Romania's rail infrastructure because it spanned the entire Kingdom and provided an important connection for passengers and freight between several significant Wallachian and Moldavian cities.

On September 10, 1868, Bucharest's Gara de Nord (North Station) was finalised. On January 1880, the Romanian Parliament voted to transfer the ownership of the Vârciorova-Roman line from the private administration of the Strousberg consortium to state ownership, under the administration of CFR. 1880 therefore marks the start of the Căile Ferate Române institution which survives to this date. The first administration of CFR was made up of Lords Kalinderu, Stătescu and Falcoianu.

On May 1868, the Romanian state concluded an agreement with another German consortium, known as the "Offenheim Consortium", for the construction of several shorter railways in the region of Moldavia. The lines, which had a total length of 224 km, would run from Roman to Iţcani, from Paşcani to Iaşi and from Vereşti to Botoşani. The lines were progressively opened from December 1869 to November 1871. Due to the poor management of the lines by the Offenheim Consortium, they were placed under the management of CFR in January 1889.

Meanwhile, during the Romanian War of Independence in 1877, Romania annexed the region of Dobrogea, which had previously belonged to the Ottoman Empire. The Romanian state placed under the management of CFR the Constanţa-Cernavodă line, which had been opened during the Ottoman times in 1860. The Bucharest-Giurgiu line, the first line constructed in the Kingdom of Romania, was also placed under the administration of CFR during this time.

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http://railroadfocus.com/romania/


http://cfr.stfp.net/

Re: Re: Russo Turk War Railways zoom map

http://etc.usf.edu/maps/pages/800/866/866z.htm

Re: Re: Re: Under the Red Crecent - by teh brave Australian doctor

What a book. I complted reading this and have found immense clue threads of soutces within teh lines. it is exciting to see many personalities of this "colonial" era appear here and also in other campaigns of adventure.
I recommend this lengthy read which covers so much of the military organization of the Ottoman Turkish Army in 3 battles of Plevna,

http://ia341033.us.archive.org/1/items/underredcrescent00ryanuoft/underredcrescent00ryanuoft_djvu.txt