Anapa Campaign (1790)

The Anapa Campaign in Winter 1790 was a military expedition launched by the Russians to capture the fortress of Anapa. The expedition ended in fiasco for the Russian army.

Anapa Campaign
Part of Sheikh Mansur Movement and Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792)
Date10th February – 4th May 1790[1]
Location
Circassia and the Ottoman Empire
(Modern–day Republic of Adygea and Krasnodar Krai, Russian Federation)
Result

North Caucasian–Ottoman victory

  • Heavy Russian casualties
  • Failure of the Russian army to capture Anapa
Belligerents
Sheikh Mansur Movement
Ottoman Empire		  Russian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Sheikh Mansur
Kose Mustafa Pasha
Hussein Batal Pasha		 Russian Empire Yuri Bibikov
Units involved
Unknown

Separate Caucasian Corps:[2]

14 Infantry Battalions
6 Dragoon Squadrons
7 Cossack Regiments
Strength
15,000
or
48,000[3]

7,609[2]

26 cannons
Casualties and losses

630 KIA[3]

Unknown		 2,202
The campaign costed the Russian Empire more than 52,000 rubles and ended in a serious Russian defeat. As a result, Yuri Bibikov, the commander of the Separate Caucasian Corps, was dismissed and replaced by Anton de Balmen, and the army which Bibikov led into Circassia was awarded a special silver medal on a blue ribbon, with the inscription: “For loyalty”.[4]

Background

The fort of Anapa is located on Krasnodar Krai facing the black sea and Crimea. In the past centuries, it was a lively trading post where many Turks, Greeks, and Genoese came to buy slaves from Circassia and Abkhazia. By the end of the 18th century, the fort became a battleground for between the Ottomans, Russians, Circassians, Crimean, and Nogai due to its strategic location. In the year 1787, the Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia. The Chechen leader, Sheikh Mansur, who was allied at that time with the Ottomans, took a position to defend Anapa from the Russians.[5]

Campaign

On March 1790, the Russians dispatched a military expedition to conquer the Ottoman fort of Anapa.[5] The fort had a garrison of 15,000 men,[6] led by Battal Hussein Pasha.[7] The Russians were led by General Yuri Bibikov, who had a force of 12,000 men.[5] Yuri arrived at a village nearby the fort and attacked it. He began attacking some Circassian and Nogai tribes, successfully defeating them. Battal Pasha dispatched a force under Kose Mustasa Pasha to aid the tribes; however, he was defeated and was forced back to the fort.[5][7]

After his victory, Yuri attacked the fort of Anapa on March 24.[5][7] The Russian troops did not have scaling ladders, horses, and foodstuffs, and the hostile Caucasian population began attacking the Russians instead of supporting them.[8] The Russian attack on the fort was repulsed due to heavy Ottoman artillery and constant attacks from the forces of Sheikh Mansur. The Russians called off the attack and withdrew.[5] Yuri has lost 5,000 men and an additional 1,000 sick and wounded who died 40 days later.[9] The Russian Tsarina, Catherine the Great, dismissed Yuri and later was sent for trial.[10][11]

See also

References
  1. Мусаев 2007, p. 73–74.
  2. Мусаев 2007, p. 73.
  3. Campaign in the North Caucasus in 1790 (in Russian)
  4. Мусаев 2007, p. 74.
  5. Oztas 2013, p. 8.
  6. The Black Sea Encyclopedia, p. 93
  7. Şahin 2017, p. 62.
  8. The Black Sea Encyclopedia, p. 93
  9. M. Sadık Bilge, 155
  10. The Black Sea Encyclopedia, p. 93
  11. M. Sadık Bilge, 155

Bibliography
  • Мусаев, Алаудин (2007). Шейх Мансур [Sheikh Mansur] (in Russian). pp. 73–74.
  • Oztas, Ahmet (2013). A Page from the History of the North Caucasus: Imam Mansur Ushurma. EHESS. pp. 1–14.
  • Şahin, Mustafa (2017). Şahin, Büşra (ed.). Aşk Özgürlüktür Şeyh Şamil (in Turkish). YAYINEVİ. pp. 1–235. ISBN 9786058299702.
  • Sergei R. Grinevetsky، Igor S. Zonn، Sergei S. Zhiltsov، Aleksey N. Kosarev، Andrey G. Kostianoy (2014), The Black Sea Encyclopedia.
  • M. Sadık Bilge (2005), Osmanlı Devleti ve Kafkasya: Osmanlı varlığı döneminde Kafkasya'nın siyasî-askerî tarihi ve idarî taksimâtı, 1454-1829.
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