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The Qing counterinsurgency, led by General Zuo Zongtang began in September 1876 and concluded in December 1877, having completely retaken the lands that were lost. During this time, Russia had promised to return all occupied lands to China. |
The Treaty of Livadia actually consisted of two separate agreements. |
The first treaty consisted of eighteen articles, and stipulated that: |
The second treaty contained seventeen articles that focused on the logistics of conducting trade, such as tax issues, passport requirements, and certification procedures, the total effect of which was very preferential to Russian commercial interests and represented unprecedented access to the Chinese interior. There w... |
At the time of negotiations, China was in a strong position. Zuo's army was still in the region and far outnumbered the Russian troops that remained. Furthermore, Russia had recently concluded the Russo-Turkish War and the resulting Treaty of Berlin had not been particularly favorable to them. Military expenditures dur... |
As the months passed, tensions between the two countries remained high and both sides prepared for war. China dispatched Zeng Jize as their new negotiator. The foreign emissaries in Beijing pleaded on behalf of Chonghou, and even Queen Victoria personally interceded. Finally, on 12 August 1880, it was announced that Ch... |
For many years, the story that Chonghou was solely responsible for the debacle was perpetuated by the Chinese government, and this was the view put forth by historians as well. Although Chonghou had survived, he was turned into a nonperson by the government; he was expunged from government records and his letters were ... |
Historian S. C. M. Paine investigated the circumstances around the treaty and discovered that contrary to the official story, Chonghou was an experienced diplomat and had a career of over thirty years in negotiations with France, England, and the United States. In fact, he led the delegation to France to offer the Chin... |
Instead, Paine believes blame should be laid on the Qing government as a whole. At the Zongli Yamen (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Prince Gong, who had founded the ministry, had plenty of experience dealing with Russia during negotiations for the Convention of Peking in 1860, and during the Russian occupation period, t... |
Paine argues that given Chonghou's experience, because the terms were so unfavorable to China, it is unlikely that he would have made those concessions on his own, as evidenced from the subsequent outrage. It was only when Empress Dowager Cixi sought comment on the treaty from others that it turned into a scandal. Cixi... |
In short, Paine believes that Chonghou was poorly advised by the Zongli Yamen and when the court became outraged by the treaty, he became the scapegoat, otherwise the ministry and by extension Manchus (who made up the majority of Zongli Yamen officials) would have to take the blame. |
Suuksu or Suuk-su (, , ) is a cape on the southern coast of Crimea, Ukraine between the town Gurzuf and western slopes of Mount Ayu-Dag ("Bear Mountain"). On top of the cape is an early medieval cemetery. Excavation of the cemetery began in 1903 and turned up a variety of jewelry, dishes and weapons. |
The cemetery was named for the cape, which it is located. In the Crimean Tatar language, it means "cold water" (suvuq - cold, suv - water). |
The Evacuation of the Crimea (November 13–16, 1920) was an event in the Russian Civil War, in which the White Russian state evacuated over sea from the Crimean Peninsula, their last stronghold on the Southern Front, bringing an end to the fighting on that Front. |
During the occupation of Crimea by the Crimean Soviet Army under the command of Pavel Dybenko in April 1919, the Entente troops were evacuated from Sevastopol, taking with them a number of refugees, including some of the leaders of the Second Crimean regional government of Solomon Crimea. White Army units retreated to ... |
However by the end of October 1920, the White Army had been driven out of Southern Russia and Ukraine, and only held the Crimean Peninsula, defended behind the narrow Perekop Isthmus. When this last defensive line was breached by the Red Army during the Siege of Perekop, the commander of the White Army, Pyotr Wrangel, ... |
During the evacuation from the ports of the Crimean peninsula (Sevastopol, Yevpatoria, Kerch, Feodosia, Yalta) a total of 145,693 soldiers and civilians, not counting the crews, were taken on board on 126 ships and "sudenosheks" (small boats and tugs). |
This fleet, known as Wrangel's fleet, and composed of ships of the Whites' Black Sea fleet, foreign ships and the temporarily mobilized ships of the Voluntary Fleet, first sailed to Entente-occupied Constantinople. A significant part of the passengers left the ships here, replenishing the ranks of White Russian emigree... |
The soldiers and civilians who were left behind in the Crimea, suffered under the Red Terror organised by Béla Kun and Rosalia Zemlyachka, under the general management of the representative of the Russian Soviet government Yuri Pyatakov and authorised by Vladimir Lenin. <br> |
The estimated number of executions vary from minimum 12,000 over 50,000 to 120,000. The White Army soldiers had been falsely promised amnesty if they surrendered. |
Several rare photographs of the moment of evacuation in Sevastopol and Yalta have been preserved. The Crimean Evacuation is also shown in Soviet feature films "Two Comrades Were Serving" (1968) and "The Flight" (1970), and also in the 2014 film "Sunstroke" . |
Trebizond already had a long history of autonomous rule before it became the center of a small empire in the Late Middle Ages. Due to its natural harbours, defensible topography and access to silver and copper mines, Trebizond became the pre-eminent Greek colony on the eastern Black Sea shore soon after its founding. I... |
The rulers of Trebizond called themselves "Megas Komnenos" ("Great Comnenus") and – like their counterparts in the other two Byzantine successor states, the Empire of Nicaea and the Despotate of Epirus – initially claimed supremacy as "Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans". However, after Michael VIII Palaiologos of Nica... |
Geographically, the Empire of Trebizond consisted of the narrow strip along the southern coast of the Black Sea and the western half of the Pontic Alps, along with the Gazarian Perateia, or southern Crimea (soon losing to Genoese Gazaria and Theodorite Gazaria). |
The empire traces its foundation to April 1204, when Alexios Komnenos and his brother David took advantage of the preoccupation of the central Byzantine government with the encampment of the soldiers of the Fourth Crusade outside their walls (June 1203 – mid-April 1204) and seized the city of Trebizond and the surround... |
After marching from Georgia, and with the help of their paternal aunt Queen Tamar, Alexios and David occupied Trebizond in April 1204. That same month Alexios was proclaimed emperor at the age of 22, an act considered by later writers as the moment the Empire of Trebizond was founded. Alexios would then proceed to rule... |
For most of the 13th century Trebizond was in continual conflict with the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm and later with the Ottoman Turks, as well as Constantinople, the Italian republics, and especially the Republic of Genoa. It was an empire more in title than in fact, surviving by playing its rivals against each other, and... |
The second son of Alexios I, Manuel I (1238–1263), preserved internal security and acquired the reputation of a great commander. His accomplishments included capturing Sinope in 1254. He was the first ruler to issue silver coins, which were known as "aspers". |
From the civil wars to the end of the 14th century. |
Under the rule of Alexios III, Trebizond was considered an important trade center and was renowned for its great wealth and artistic accomplishment. It was at this point that their famous diplomatic strategy of marrying the princesses of the Grand Komnenos to neighboring Turkish dynasts began. However, Anthony Bryers h... |
Alexios IV's eldest son, John IV (1429–1459), could not help but see that his Empire would soon share the fate of Constantinople. The Ottoman Sultan Murad II first attempted to take the capital by sea in 1442, but high surf made the landings difficult and the attempt was repulsed. While Murad's son and successor, Mehme... |
After John's death in 1459, his brother David came to power. David intrigued with various European powers for help against the Ottomans, speaking of wild schemes that included the conquest of Jerusalem. Mehmed II eventually heard of these intrigues and was further provoked to action by David's demand that Mehmed remit ... |
Mehmed's response came in the summer of 1461. He collected a sizable army at Bursa, and in a surprise move marched on Sinope, whose emir quickly surrendered. Then the Sultan moved south across eastern Anatolia to neutralize Uzun Hasan. Having isolated Trebizond, Mehmed quickly swept down upon it before the inhabitants ... |
In the relatively limited territory of the kingdom of the Grand Komnenoi (known as the “Empire of Trebizond”) there was enough room for three dioceses: Trebizond, which was the only diocese established far in the past, Cerasous and Rizaion in Lazika, both formed as upgraded bishoprics. All three dioceses survived the O... |
Christianity strongly influenced society in the Empire of Trebizond. According to the Acts of Vazelon, which were written by contemporary monks, most peasants in the Matzouka region of the Empire had first names relating to Christian religious figures. Last names often referred to Christian saints, trades, and place na... |
In Italian, there exists the expression "to lose the Trebizond" ("perdere la Trebisonda") which means "to be bewildered". Trebizond was a port reachable by all the routes that crossed the Black Sea, and therefore a safe shelter in case of storms. |
The Russo-Crimean Wars were fought between the forces of Russia and the Nogays of the Crimean Khanate during the 16th century over the region around the Volga River. |
In the 16th century, the Wild Steppes in Russia were exposed to the Khanate. During the wars, the Crimean Khanate (supported by the Turkish army) invaded central Russia, devastated Ryazan, and burned Moscow. However, the next year they were defeated in the Battle of Molodi. Despite the defeat, the raids continued. As a... |
The raids began shortly after the establishment of the Russian buffer state, Qasim Khanate, and the domination of Russia in the Russo-Kazan Wars of the late 15th century. |
The Crimean invasions of Russia began in 1507, after the death of Moscow's grand duke Ivan III, with the Crimean Khanate attacking the Russian towns of Belev and Kozelsk. |
Over the course of the 16th century, the outer border of the "Wild Steppes" was near the city of Ryazan, outside the Oka River. The main path for the invading forces to Moscow was the Muravsky Trail, running from the Crimean Isthmus of Perekop, between the basins of the Dnieper and Seversky Donets rivers, and finally u... |
Each spring, Russia mobilized up to several thousand soldiers for border service. The defensive lines consisted of a circuit of fortresses and cities. |
To protect from invasions by the Nogai Horde in the region between the Volga and Irtysh rivers, the Volga cities of Samara (1586), Tsaritsyn (1589), and Saratov (1590) were founded. |
The most damaging invasions occurred in 1517, 1521 (supported by the Khanate of Kazan), 1537 (supported by the Khanate of Kazan, the Lithuanians, and the Ottoman Empire), 1552, 1555, 1570–72 (supported by Sweden and the Ottoman Empire), 1589, 1593, 1640, 1666–67 (supported by Poland–Lithuania), 1671, and 1688. |
In 1570 the Crimean Tatars' horde devastated the Ryazan borderland of Russia. |
In May 1571, the 120,000-strong Crimean and Turkish army (80,000 Tatars, 33,000 irregular Turks, and 7,000 janissaries) led by the khan of Crimea Devlet I Giray, and Big and Small Nogai hordes and troops of Circassians, bypassed the Serpukhov defensive fortifications on the Oka River, crossed the Ugra River, and rounde... |
The Crimean army devastated unprotected towns and villages around Moscow, and then set fire to suburbs of the capital. Due to a strong wind, the fire quickly expanded. The townspeople, chased by a fire and refugees, rushed to the northern gate of the capital. At the gate and in the narrow streets, there was a crush, pe... |
Within three hours, Moscow burnt completely. In one more day, the Crimean army, sated with its pillage, left on the Ryazan road to the steppes. Contemporaries counted up to 80,000 victims of the invasion in 1571, with 150,000 Russian taken as captives. Papal ambassador Possevin testified of the devastation: he counted ... |
After the burning of Moscow, Devlet Giray Khan, supported by the Ottoman Empire, invaded Russia again in 1572. A combined force of Tatars and Turks, however, this time they were repelled in the Battle of Molodi. In July–August, the 120,000-strong horde of Devlet I Giray of Crimea was also defeated by the Russian army, ... |
Later, the Russian expansion turned to the Black Sea region and the Crimean khanate was invaded several times in the 18th century and finally conquered during the Russo-Turkish Wars. |
This list does not include raids into Poland-Lithuania (75 raids during 1474–1569) |
Crimean Regional Government ( "Krymskoe kraevoe pravitel'stvo") refers to two successive short-lived regimes in the Crimean Peninsula during 1918 and 1919. |
Following Russia's 1917 October Revolution, an ethnic Tatar government proclaimed the Crimean People's Republic. The republic was soon overrun by Bolshevik forces in early 1918 who established the Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic and then by the forces of the Ukrainian People's Republic with a military assistance from... |
The first Crimean Regional Government was established on 25 June 1918. It was formed under German protection with Lipka Tatar General Maciej (Suleyman) Sulkiewicz as prime minister, minister of interior and military affairs. There were efforts by Ukraine to exert control over Crimea but, with German support, the region... |
Following the withdrawal of German troops from Crimea, the unpopular Sulkiewicz fell from power on 25 November 1918 and was succeeded by Crimean Karaite politician and former "Kadet" member Solomon Krym. This liberal, anti-Bolshevik regime included fellow former "Kadet" member Maxim Vinaver as foreign minister and Vlad... |
The Krym government, also called the Crimean Frontier Government, began to crumble in early 1919 due to tensions with the Russian White movement's Volunteer Army under Anton Denikin which suspected the loyalty of its main figures. The collapse of the World War I Central Powers and the withdrawal of the Allies had made ... |
On 2 April 1919, the Soviet Red Army occupied Simferopol and the second Crimean Regional Government was dissolved. The Crimean Socialist Soviet Republic was then established only to be retaken by White forces in June 1919. The Whites under Denikin and later Pyotr Wrangel held Crimea until November 1920. |
The Yalta Raion (; ) was an administrative division (a district) of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and later the Crimean Oblast as part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic until it was reorganized into the Yalta municipality in 1948. |
About 50 years later, students from Moscow created a monument of remembrance for the battle. |
In November 1920, immediately prior to the main attack on Perekop, the balance of forces was as follows: |
The construction of fortifications on the isthmus of Perekop began in the autumn of 1919. The White Army defense system consisted of two strips of defense: The Perekop (founded on the Turkish Wall with a total length of 11 km, it included a ditch, barbed wire in 3-5 rows and three lines of trenches) and Ishun (20–25 km... |
There were also fortifications to strengthen the Chonhar Peninsula and the Arabat Spit - up to 5-6 lines of trenches and trenches with barbed wire.<br> |
Relatively weak defended was the Lithuanian Peninsula with only one line of trenches and barbed wire. |
Approximately 10,000 White Army soldiers defended Perekop and Ishun while 3,000 defended the Syvash, the Chongar Strait and Arabat Spit, a strong reserve. Just over 14,000 were located in the rear. |
Initially, Frunze had planned to deliver the main blow toward Chongar but due to the ice holding back the Azov flotilla, the main attack was transferred on toward Perekop. |
The assault on Perekop was executed by the 6th Army, 1st Cavalry Army and 2nd Cavalry Army.<br> |
Communists and Komsomol members were sent to strengthen the troops. Just before the operation began, 8,000 Communists and 2,500 Komsomol members were added to the Army. |
On the night of November 8, 1920, the striking force of the 6th Army, in adverse weather conditions (strong winds and minus 11-12 degrees Celsius), crossed the 7-kilometer water obstacle (Syvash), and captured the Lithuanian Peninsula on that day. |
At the same time, the 51st Rifle Division undertook a frontal attack at the Turkish Redoubt. For the purpose of the concentration of forces in the attack, the division was reorganized into six waves - the first component grenade launchers and wire cutters, second - attack aircraft; third - reserve; fourth - "cleaners",... |
After back-and-forth fighting, complicated by fluctuating water levels in Syvash bay, the Red Army achieved a breakthrough on November 12, 1920, sending the opposition in general retreat.<br> |
General Wrangel had no other option than to evacuate his army from the Crimea to Constantinople. |
A popular uprising in Sevastopol in 1830 in response to strict quarantine measures imposed upon the city to combat the spread of the plague. |
In 1828, there was a plague in the southern part of the Russian Empire, which was then at war with The Ottoman Empire. Even though there was no plague in Sevastopol, a quarantine was called as a preventative measure, likely due to the city's strategic importance as a port for the Russian Navy. |
In May 1828, a quarantine cordon was built around Sevastopol, and all traffic into and out of the city had to pass through a checkpoint. In the summer of 1829, the quarantine was made stricter, such that anyone travelling to the city had to spend 2–3 weeks in the quarantine zone. Anybody suspected of illness had to be ... |
The deficit and poor quality of the goods in the city contributed to illness and death amongst the population, and the effects were the most pronounced in the poorer parts of the city. |
Matters got so bad that an official commission was ordered from St. Petersburg to investigate the situation. Mass abuses were found, but no officials were punished and the commission was disbanded in November of that same year. |
In March 1830, the quarantine was toughened further when all of the residents were ordered not to leave their homes. This ban was lifted in May, except for those residents of the poorer Korablenaya neighborhood, who were ordered to remain in quarantine for another 7 days, and upon passage of this week, for another 2 we... |
The quarantine was enforced by the infantry, and the desperate residents began planning an armed resistance, led by retired military amongst them. Many within the infantry sympathised with the residents. The two sides managed to avoid the outbreak of an armed confrontation. |
On the 3rd of June, Lt. General and Military Governor of Sevastopol, Nikolai Stolypin, in response to the growing instability, positioned troops in the streets and around the governor's mansion. This further incensed the revolting residents, who descended upon the governor's mansion in an angry mob and murdered Stolypi... |
They were supported by the military garrisons deployed to enforce the quarantine, some of these soldiers tore down the quarantine cordon around the neighbourhood. The revolting citizens and soldiers held control of the city for 22 hours, during which time they ordered 'plague' officials to sign written documents statin... |
The next day Lt. Gen. Andrei Turchaninov replaced the murdered Stolypin and signed a decree ordering the end of the quarantine. |
Despite accomplishing their immediate goal, the revolters did face repercussions when a division under Timofeyev arrived to regain control of the city. A committee under the governor of Novorossiya, Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov, considered the cases of about 6,000 people. 7 people were executed for leading the uprisin... |
The Government of South Russia ( ) was a White movement government established in Sevastopol, Crimea in April 1920. |
It was the successor to General Anton Denikin's South Russian Government (Южнорусское Правительство "Yuzhnorusskoye Pravitel'stvo") set up in February 1920. |
General Pyotr Wrangel was the "pravitel"' (правитель, "ruler") while the head of the government itself was the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Alexander Krivoshein, with Peter Berngardovich Struve serving as foreign minister. The government officially adopted the name "Government of South Russia" on 16 August 192... |
The Government of South Russia received assistance from the Allied Powers including France (which recognized it in August 1920) and the United States, as well as from the newly independent Poland. However, foreign support gradually dried up so offensives of the former Armed Forces of South Russia and the Volunteer Army... |
In early November with the Perekop–Chongar operation, the Bolsheviks won decisive victories and entered Crimea proper. Between 7 and 17 November it broke through Russian Army defenses on the Isthmus of Perekop, crossing the Sivash and capturing the Lithuanian Peninsula, the fortified , Yushun, and Chongar positions. Af... |
Chersonesus (; ; modern Russian and Ukrainian: Херсоне́с, "Khersones"; also rendered as "Chersonese", "Chersonesos"), in medieval Greek contracted to Cherson (Χερσών; Old East Slavic: Корсунь, "Korsun") is an ancient Greek colony founded approximately 2,500 years ago in the southwestern part of the Crimean Peninsula. S... |
The ancient city is located on the shore of the Black Sea on the outskirts of present-day Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula, where it is referred to as "Khersones" (). The site is part of the "National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos". The name "Chersonesos" in Greek means "peninsula" and aptly describes the site on w... |
During much of the classical period Chersonesus operated as a democracy ruled by a group of elected Archons and a council called the "Demiurgoi". As time passed, the government grew more oligarchic, with power concentrated in the hands of the archons. A form of oath sworn by all the citizens from the 3rd century BC onw... |
In 2013 UNESCO listed Chersonesus as a World Heritage Site. |
In the late 2nd century BC Chersonesus became a dependency of the Bosporan Kingdom. It was subject to Rome from the middle of the 1st century BC until the 370s AD, when it was captured by the Huns. |
It became a Byzantine possession during the Early Middle Ages and withstood a siege by the Göktürks in 581. Byzantine rule was slight: there was a small imperial garrison more for the town's protection than for its control. It was useful to Byzantium in two ways: it was an observation point to watch the barbarian tribe... |
According to Theophanes the Confessor and others, Chersonesus was the residence of a Khazar governor ("tudun") in the late 7th century. Between approximately 705 and 840, the city's affairs were managed by elected officials called "babaghuq", meaning "father of the city". |
In 833, Emperor Theophilus sent the nobleman Petronas Kamateros, who had recently overseen the construction of the Khazar fortress of Sarkel, to take direct control over the city and its environs, establishing the theme of Klimata/Cherson. It remained in Byzantine hands until the 980s, when it reportedly fell to Kiev. ... |
Since this campaign is not recorded in Greek sources, historians have suggested that the account actually refers to the events of the Rus'–Byzantine War (1043) and to a different Vladimir. In fact, most valuables looted by the Slavs in Korsun' made their way to Novgorod (perhaps by way of Joachim the Korsunian, the fir... |
After the Fourth Crusade (1202–04), Chersonesus became dependent on the Byzantine Empire of Trebizond as the Principality of Theodoro. After the Siege of Trebizond (1461) the Principality of Theodoro became independent. The city fell under Genoese control in the early 13th century. In 1299, the town was sacked by the M... |
Chersonesus had been a Roman pre-Great Schism, later Greek/Orthodox, episcopal see for centuries, elevated early to the rank of archbishopric, since it is mentioned as such in the "Notitiae Episcopatuum"; it disappeared after the Turkish conquest in 1475 and the destruction of the city. |
In the late 19th century, the grand Russian Orthodox St Vladimir's Cathedral (completed 1892) was built on a small hill overlooking the site; designed in Byzantine style, it was intended to commemorate the site of Vladimir's baptism. |
In 1333, a Latin Church diocese of Chersonesus was established, but it appears that it had only a bishop, a Dominican called Richard the Englishman. |
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