Abstract
The capture of the town of Rahovo in Bulgaria (now Oryahovo) on November 9, 1877 does not belong to the significant events of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, but in the history of Romania, where this war is treated as a war for independence, it is interpreted as “an important moment of the operation to encircle the Plevna Ottoman grouping” and is on a par with the capture of Grivitsky redoubt No. 1 on August 30, 1877. There is a widespread claim in historiography that the Romanian detachment stormed Rahovo. The study of published documents, primarily the multi-volume “Collection of Materials on the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 on the Balkan Peninsula”, as well as the diaries of Russian officers who participated in this war, allows us to show how factual errors and historical myths arise. The article shows that the Russian-Romanian detachment solved a tactical problem — Rahovo was liberated from the Turks, and a Romanian garrison was located in it. But the fortifications and the city were not taken during the fight, the Romanian troops could not defeat the Turks in battle, and entered Rahovo only after the Turkish garrison had left it. The statements about the storming of Rahovo as well as Grivitsky redoubt No. 1 by Romanians refer to the same hoax, deliberately created in 1877 for the glory and growth of popularity of Prince Charles in Romania, to strengthen the authority of his dynasty.
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