Battle
In July 1877, shortly after the siege of Plevna began, the garrison's commander, Osman Pasha, received 15 battalions of reinforcements from Sofia. He chose to use these reinforcements to fortify Lovcha, which protected his lines of support running from Orchanie (present-day Botevgrad) to Plevna.
After the failure of the first two attempts to storm the city of Plevna, the Russians brought up significant reinforcements, and the investing army now totaled 100,000. Intent on cutting Osman's communications and supply lines, General Alexander Imeretinsky was sent out with 22,703 Russian troops to seize Lovcha.
On 1 September Generals Alexander Imerentinsky, Mikhail Skobelev, and Vladimir Dobrovolsky reached Lovcha and attacked the city. Fighting continued for the next two days. Osman marched out of Plevna to the relief of Lovcha, but on 3 September, before he could reach Lovcha, it fell to the Russians. Survivors of the battle withdrew into Plevna and were organized into 3 battalions. After the loss of Lovcha, these additional troops brought Osman's force up to 30,000, the largest it would be during the siege. The Russians settled on the strategy of a complete investment of Plevna, and with the loss of its major supply route, the fall of Plevna was inevitable.
The Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) was a conflict between the Ottoman Empire and a coalition led by the Russian Empire which included Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro. Additional factors included the Russian goals of recovering territorial losses endured during the Crimean War of 1853–1856, re-establishing itself in the Black Sea and supporting the political movement attempting to free Balkan nations from the Ottoman Empire. The Romanian army had around 114,000 soldiers in the war. In Romania the war is called the Russo-Romanian-Turkish War (1877–1878) or the Romanian War of Independence (1877–1878).
Pleven is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality. It is the biggest economic center in Northwestern Bulgaria. At the 2021 census its population was 89,823.
The Romanian War of Independence is the name used in Romanian historiography to refer to the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78), following which Romania, fighting on the Russian side, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire. On April 16 [O.S. April 4] 1877, Romania and the Russian Empire signed a treaty at Bucharest under which Russian troops were allowed to pass through Romanian territory, with the condition that Russia respected the integrity of Romania. Consequently, the mobilization of the Romanian troops also began, and around 114,000 soldiers were massed in the south of the country to defend against an eventual attack of the Ottoman forces from south of the Danube. On April 24 [O.S. April 12] 1877, Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire and its troops entered Romania through the newly built Eiffel Bridge, on their way to the Ottoman Empire. Due to great losses, the Russian Empire asked Romania to intervene. On July 24 [O.S. July 12] 1877, the first Romanian Army units crossed the Danube and joined forces with the Russian Army.
Pleven Epopee 1877, more commonly known as Pleven Panorama, is a panorama located in Pleven, Bulgaria, that depicts the events of the Russian-Turkish War of 1877–78, specifically the five-month Siege of Plevna which made the city internationally famous and which contributed to the Liberation of Bulgaria after five centuries of Ottoman rule.
The Battle of Shipka Pass consisted of four battles that were fought between the Russian Empire, aided by Bulgarian volunteers known as opalchentsi, and the Ottoman Empire for control over the vital Shipka Pass during the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). The final battle is known as the battle of Shipka-Sheynovo or simply the battle of Sheynovo.
The siege of Plevna or Pleven, was a major battle of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, fought by the joint army of Russian Empire and Kingdom of Romania against the Ottoman Empire. After the Russian army crossed the Danube at Svishtov, it began advancing towards the centre of modern Bulgaria, with the aim of crossing the Balkan Mountains to Constantinople, avoiding the fortified Turkish fortresses on the Black Sea coast. The Ottoman army led by Osman Pasha, returning from Serbia after a conflict with that country, was massed in the fortified city of Pleven, a city surrounded by numerous redoubts, located at an important road intersection.
Chronological listing of the Battles of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878).
The Battle of Nikopol, or Nicopolis, was one of the early battles of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). As the Russian army crossed the Danube River, they approached the fortified city of Nikopol (Nicopolis). The Turkish high command sent Osman Pasha with the troops from Vidin to oppose the Russians' crossing of the Danube. Osman's intentions were to reinforce and defend Nikopol. However, the Russian IX Corps under General Nikolai Kridener reached the city and bombarded the garrison into submission before Osman could arrive. He instead fell back to Plevna. With the Nikopol garrison eliminated, the Russians were free to march on to Plevna.
The Battle of Gorni Dubnik took place during the Russo-Turkish War on 24 October 1877. In an effort to reduce the fortress of Pleven quicker, Russian forces began targeting garrisons along the Ottoman supply and communications route. A significant garrison had been reduced at the Battle of Lovcha in September. General Joseph Vladimirovich Gourko was called up from the Shipka Pass area to deal with more of the garrisons protecting Pleven.
Osman Nuri Pasha, also known as Gazi Osman Pasha, was an Ottoman Turkish field marshal. Being one of the most respected and decorated Ottoman pashas of all time, many songs have been written for him, and many places named after him. This is mainly because he held the Bulgarian town of Plevna for five months against superior Russo-Romanian forces in 1877 during the Russo-Turkish War, though the city eventually fell.
Opalchentsi were Bulgarian voluntary army units, who took part in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. The people in these units were called opalchenets-pobornik (опълченец-поборник) roughly meaning "folk-" or "regiment-combatant".
Alexander Konstantinovich Bagration-Imeretinsky was a Georgian royal prince (batonishvili) and a General of the Russian Imperial Army. A hero of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, he served as Governor-General of Warsaw in Poland, where he was known for his liberal policies that ultimately led to his replacement by the Russian authorities. As a general he has also been described as calm, morally balanced, and relatively humble in the success of his duties.
Nikolai Dmitrievich Dmitriev-Orenburgsky was a battle and genre painter from the Russian Empire who added to his surname, to distinguish him from other artists Dmitrievs, epithet: Orenburgsky. He spent 1875–1885 living and working in Paris.
Nikola Ivanov Ivanov was a Bulgarian general and a minister of defence of the Principality of Bulgaria.
Park Lavrov is a memorial park in Pleven Province, Bulgaria, dedicated to the Russian and Finnish soldiers who died in the Siege of Plevna and the Battle of Gorni Dabnik during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. The park, which lies some 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of Pleven in the vicinity of the village of Gorni Dabnik, was organized in 1950–1954. The park was named in honour of Imperial Russian General Vasily Nikolayevich Lavrov who perished in the Battle of Gorni Dabnik.
The Second Battle of Cobadin took place from 19 to 25 October 1916 between the Central Powers, chiefly the Bulgarian Third Army, and the Entente, represented by the Russo–Romanian Dobruja Army. The battle ended in a decisive victory for the Central Powers; it resulted in the occupation of the strategic port of Constanța and the capture of the railway between that city and Cernavodă.
The Battle of Sofia was the culmination of Russian General Iosif Gurko's Western Squad for the defeat of the Orhaniye army in the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). It led to the Liberation of Sofia from Turkish rule.
Vladimir Mikhailovich Dobrovolsky was a Russian major general who was most notable for his service in the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878).
The Stara Zagora massacre was the mass murder of approx. 14,000 civilian Bulgarians, accompanied by the burning and complete destruction of the City of Stara Zagora on 31 July–2 August [O.S. 19–21 July] 1877, committed by regular Ottoman troops commanded by Süleyman Hüsnü Pasha, during the eponymous battle of the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878).
Russian Empire 
Ottoman Empire 
