Don Cossacks and the Battle of Rassevat on September 4, 1809

Abstract

Introduction. The Russian-Turkish war of 1806–1812 was the longest military conflict between Russia and Turkey. In the hope to force the Turks to peace, Russian troops crossed the Danube several times and fought for key fortresses on its banks. One of the battles on the right Bank of the Danube in 1809 was won practically by the Don Cossacks alone. In this battle Russian troops were led by such famous military leaders as Bagration, Miloradovich, Platov. After this battle Miloradovich and Platov were promoted to “full generals” (general in chief). Methods and materials. This battle is also interesting because the state archive of Rostov region has a very detailed collection of documents about it. Of all the documents relating to this war, the greatest number refers to the battle of September 4, 1809, because after it Don ataman Platov received his highest rank. The purpose of this study is to identify reasons for such an unusual victory. Analysis and results. The author investigates the course of the battle in detail using archival materials. The study shows that Russian forces were twice as superior to Turkish ones; during the battle, the command made a number of mistakes, which did not allow to completely surround the Turkish troops. High awards received by the command for this battle did not quite correspond to the level of success. The Russian commanders had friends at court and this partly affected the awards.