Siege of Kars

Siege of Kars
Part of the Crimean War
Date June - November 1855 Location Kars Result Russian victory
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire British Empire	Russian Empire
Commanders
William Fenwick Williams Omar Pasha	Nikolay Muravyov
Strength
17,000[1]	25,000 soldiers
Casualties and losses
1,400 killed	2,300 killed 5,000 wounded

The Siege of Kars was the last major operation of the Crimean War. On June 1855, in an attempt to alleviate pressure on the troops at Sevastopol, Emperor Alexander II ordered General Nikolay Muravyov to lead his troops against areas of Turkish interest in Asia Minor. Uniting disparate contingents under his command into a strong corps of 25,000 soldiers and 88 light guns, Muravyov decided to attack Kars, the most important fortress of Eastern Turkey.

The first attack was repulsed by Turkish garrison under British general William Fenwick Williams. Russians began setting up siege lines and started a siege that would last until November. Upon hearing news of the attack, the Turkish Commander Omar Pasha asked for Turkish troops to be moved from the line at the Siege of Sevastopol and redeployed to Asia Minor mainly with the idea of relieving Kars. On September 6, Omar Pasha left the Crimea for Sukhumi with 45,000 soldiers.

Omar Pasha's arrival to Sukhumi induced Muravyov to begin a third assault, which was repulsed by the now nearly starved Turkish forces at Kars. Of 13,000 Russians who took part in the 17 September attack, about 2300 were killed and some 5000 wounded (Turks lost 1400). However, Omar Pasha, instead of relieving the garrison, plunged into prolonged warfare in Mingrelia and took Sukhumi in the aftermath. In the meantime, the Turkish reserves in Kars were running out and the supply lines had been thinned.

The heavy snowfall in late October made the arrival of Turkish reinforcements to Kars quite impracticable. Selim Pasha, Omar's son, landed another army at the ancient city of Trebizond and began marching south to Erzerum in order to prevent Russian retreat further into Turkey. The Russians sent a small force from the Kars lines to attack Pasha and stop his advance. Turks were defeated at the River Ingur on November 6.

The garrison of Kars declined to face further hardships of the winter siege and on November 26, 1855 surrendered to General Muravyov, who on the occasion was authorized by the tsar to change his name to "Muravyov-Karssky", in order to commemorate his part in the taking of the Turkish fortress.

References

The Siege of Kars 1855: Defence and Capitulation Reported by General Williams London: The Stationery Office, 200.

See also

Military history of the Ottoman Empire portal

• Decline of the Ottoman Empire