On January 12, 1801, Emperor Paul I deigned to command: to gather the entire Don army. Where and why the campaign was planned - no one knew. The military ataman Vasily Petrovich Orlov ordered all officers, constables and Cossacks to prepare. Everyone, down to the last, had to be ready in six days to set out on two horses with a month and a half of provisions. Cossacks were required to carry guns and darts. And it happened before that the entire Don army rose up. The old people remembered such cases. In 1737 and 1741, the Don people rose without exception. But then there was danger from the Tatars, the Tatars were marching on the Don, there was a need to defend their native villages. Now only old people talked about Tatar raids. The Black Sea Army stood strong in the Kuban. Don was in no danger from anywhere. Where will it go the Don army - no one knew this. There were 800 sick people in the army, but they were also ordered to appear for inspection. They walked sick, swollen from wounds, crippled. Orphans and helpless poor people were preparing for the campaign; Many Cossacks did not have uniform hurkas and chekmens; they were dressed in old robes and homespun clothing. Nobody was respected. Although the house burned down, although everything was burned - go, all the same, at the expense of the village. Rich Cossacks equipped the poor. In the Cherkasy village, six Cossacks collected 2,000 rubles and gave money for uniforms and equipment for the foot Cossacks. Twenty souls of a family in one house were left without a master or food. They didn't look at the queue. The chieftain ordered to take it without a queue, and the last owner went, although his two brothers were already serving in the regiments. The regiments that had just arrived from the Caucasian line, from the Italian campaign, were again enlisted in service. Churches were left without sextons, village boards were left without clerks, they all were taken away. The militia was complete!
They also demanded Kalmyks to serve. The landowner officers were not allowed to go to their farms. Wives did not say goodbye to their husbands, children did not say goodbye to their fathers. Hastily, according to the royal decree, an army was assembled.
The following villages were designated as gathering places: Buzulutskaya, Medveditskaya, Ust-Medveditskaya and Kachalinskaya. In the winter cold, at the end of February, the Cossacks gathered to review the ataman. In total, the troops recruited 510 officers, 20,947 Cossack cavalry regiments, 500 artillerymen and 500 Kalmyks. These people made up the 41st cavalry regiment.
Orlov divided them into 4 parts. The 1st, out of 13 regiments, was led by Major General Platov; 2nd, from 8 regiments, Major General Buzin; 3rd, from 10 regiments, Major General Bokov and 4th, from 10 regiments, Major General Denisov, who had just returned from Italy. Ataman Orlov and with him two companies of Don horse artillery and military engineers walked with General Platov’s detachment. The artillery was commanded by Colonel Karpov.
No one else, except the ataman and the commanders of the columns, knew anything.
What happened and why was such a terrible effort demanded from the Donskoy army?
Emperor Paul I suddenly quarreled with his allies, the British, and, in alliance with the French Emperor Napoleon, decided to declare war on England. The main wealth of the English land lay in the vast, fertile India covered with forests of rare trees. Semi-precious stones are also mined from Indian soil, and precious silk fabrics are also prepared there. England trades in the products of India, its grain and materials, and is rich in it. Emperor Paul decided to take India from England, and instructed the Don Cossacks to do this. They had to travel thousands of miles across the deserted steppe, then across the sandy desert, cross the mountains and invade Indian lands.
“India,” the Emperor wrote to Orlov, “where you are appointed, is governed by one main owner and many small ones. The British have their own trading establishments, purchased either with money or weapons. You need to ruin all this, liberate the oppressed owners and bring the land into Russia into the same dependence as the British have it. Trade her to turn to us."
Ataman was also sent a map of India. Along the way, the Don Cossacks were to occupy Bukhara and free our prisoners in Khiva. All the wealth of India was promised to the Cossacks as a reward.
If Ataman Orlov and Don Cossacks If they managed to fulfill this order, they would have glorified themselves more than Ermak, the conqueror of Siberia... But the Lord did not decree that the sovereign’s great plan should be accomplished!
From the very first steps in the Trans-Don steppe, the Cossacks encountered terrible difficulties. The roads were covered with snow and the artillery was exhausted, pulling guns out of deep snowdrifts. There were no apartments for heating anywhere, and people and horses were cold and frozen in the cold wind in the steppe. There was no fuel, there was not enough food, there was no hay and oats. Unfed horses barely trudged towards the brutal cold snowstorms.
At the beginning of March there was a sudden thaw. The streams began to play, the steppe became wet, the mud became impassable. Each beam became a terrible obstacle. Military foreman Papuzin barely crossed the usually empty Talovka River. He walked forty miles in knee-deep mud, and crossed Talovka itself on a bridge he had built from brushwood, farm fences, gates and roofs.
Finally, we approached the Volga. The ice swelled and turned brown. The horses fell through it. In some places it has already started moving. Denisov and his column approached him and saw that the crossing was dangerous. He placed men with ropes across the entire river and gave them several Cossacks to provide assistance. They began to lead the horses, but they fell through and went to the bottom. However, Denisov knew that big rivers the ice in the middle is always thicker, and so he ordered his tall and well-fed horses to be led forward. At first they failed, but then they moved on. The Cossacks followed them. Up to 700 horses failed, but the Cossacks pulled them all out. The crossing lasted five hours.
And they set off again, first along the Volga, then along the Irgiz River. The steppe became more and more deserted. Commissioner Terenin, who undertook to deliver bread and fodder, did not fulfill his obligation: this summer was a lean one on the Volga, and he could not collect food. When we arrived for the night, we didn’t find any oats, and the hay was mixed with garbage. The horses were dying from lack of food, and the path traversed by the Cossacks was marked by a long line of swollen horse corpses and black flocks of crows.
The Don people were drawn into the boundless steppes in a huge crowd and became lost in them, like a grain of sand. The distant songs fell silent. The Cossacks froze at night, and during the day they suffered in the mud and puddles into which the steppe turned spring sun. There were already many sick Cossacks. Scurvy appeared.
And ahead was the same steppe and there was no end to it. And the sun rose there in a golden fog and the plain stretched on all day, today, as it was yesterday, as it will be tomorrow.
It was hard for the Cossacks, but silently, without grumbling, they went to fight an unknown enemy, to conquer distant India for Russia.
From the Don we walked almost seven hundred miles through the desert. On March 23, on the eve of Easter Sunday, a Cossack detachment located in the village of Mechetnoye, Volsky district, Saratov province, was caught up by a courier from St. Petersburg. On the night of March 11-12, Emperor Paul I died and Emperor Alexander I Pavlovich ascended the throne. He ordered to return home. Now the order was to assemble the shelves. Ataman Orlov came out to them and said in an inspired voice trembling with joyful excitement:
Feels sorry for you guys. God and the Sovereign are parental homes!
On the first day of Easter, the ataman and some regiments listened to mass in the Old Believer Monastery not far from Mechetny. It was fun that day in the Cossack camp. Cannons were fired, guns were fired, songs were sung.
On the day of the Annunciation we set off on the return journey. The way back was easier. Spring was coming. It was getting warmer, but in some places the mud was still impassable. Between 9 and 17 April the regiments returned home. The Khopersky, Medveditsky, Buzulutsky, Upper Don and Donetsk Cossacks were released straight from the border, the rest with the officers on the left side of the Don went to Cherkassk.
After Suvorov's crossing of the Alps, the Orenburg campaign of the Don Cossacks is the most difficult of the marching movements. 1564 versts were made by a 20,000-strong cavalry detachment in two months across the deserted steppe during the spring thaw. Done without loss of people and without stragglers. And the horses endured this trip, despite the lack of food, well. The regiment had from 62 (in the Ataman regiment) to 12 (in the Mironov regiment) fallen horses.
Many years have passed since then, none of the participants in this campaign are alive, but the old people still remember the stories of their fathers about the mysterious campaign towards Orenburg, about the time when the Cossacks were swept away on the Don - there was no one left, and the women did all the work . They remember this terrible, difficult time of eternal campaigns.
And young people, talking about this campaign against India, often ask the question - could the Cossacks reach India, could they ruin it?..
The Cossacks performed many great feats. With only peaks, on foot, they took the Izmail strongholds, crossed the Black Sea in light boats, fought on their own, took Azov at their own peril, with Suvorov they crossed the sky-high heights of the Alpine mountains, but this command - to conquer distant India - was impossible to fulfill. Those who sent them did not know how far and difficult this path was and how many obstacles the Cossacks encountered on it. It was impossible to reach India through a deserted desert, without food and fodder. But the Don army set out to carry out the will of the sovereign without reasoning - all the Cossacks would have died in it. The campaign against India is remarkable because in it the Cossacks showed how great and excellent their discipline and devotion to the sovereign were, how hardened they were in the adversities of the campaign.
In tender admiration you listen to the stories of old people about crossing the Volga. One horse and a Cossack with it are drowning in the cold water, but another and a third are walking through the same terrible place. For hours, in chest-deep water, the Cossacks save horses and each other, and then the hungry go, not knowing where, across the cold deserted steppe.
Our grandfathers, with all their valiant service, taught us to perform feats, and the campaign against India is an example of high courage, desperate determination, holy submission to the sovereign's will!..
“Hindustan is ours!” and “a Russian soldier washing his boots in the Indian Ocean” - this could have become a reality back in 1801, when Paul I, together with Napoleon, attempted to conquer India.
Impenetrable Asia
As successful as Russia's exploration of the east was, it was just as unsuccessful in the south. In this direction, our state was constantly haunted by some kind of fate. The harsh steppes and ridges of the Pamirs always turned out to be an insurmountable obstacle for him. But it was probably not a matter of geographical obstacles, but a lack of clear goals.
By the end of the 18th century, Russia was firmly entrenched in the southern borders of the Ural range, but raids by nomads and intractable khanates hindered the empire’s advance to the south. Nevertheless, Russia looked not only at the still unconquered Emirate of Bukhara and the Khanate of Khiva, but also further - towards the unknown and mysterious India.
At the same time, Britain, whose American colony had fallen away like ripe fruit, concentrated its efforts on India, which occupied the most important strategic position in the Asian region. While Russia was stalling on its approach to Central Asia, England, moving further north, was seriously considering plans to conquer and populate the mountainous regions of India, favorable for farming. The interests of the two powers were about to collide.
"Napoleonic plans"
France also had its own plans for India. However, it was not so much interested in the territories as in the hated British, who were strengthening their rule there. The time was right to knock them out of India. Britain, torn by wars with the principalities of Hindustan, noticeably weakened its army in this region. Napoleon Bonaparte had only to find a suitable ally.
The First Consul turned his attention to Russia. “With your master, we will change the face of the world!” Napoleon flattered the Russian envoy. And he was right. Paul I, known for his grandiose plans to annex Malta to Russia or send a military expedition to Brazil, willingly agreed to a rapprochement with Bonaparte. The Russian Tsar was no less interested in French support. They had a common goal - to weaken England.
However, it was Paul I who first proposed the idea of a joint campaign against India, and Napoleon only supported this initiative. Paul, according to historian A. Katsura, was well aware “that the keys to mastery of the world are hidden somewhere in the center of the Eurasian space.” The eastern dreams of the rulers of two strong powers had every chance of coming true.
Indian blitzkrieg
Preparations for the campaign were carried out in secret, all information was mostly transmitted orally through couriers. The joint push to India was allotted a record time of 50 days. The Allies relied on the support of the Maharaja of Punjab, Tipu Said, who would speed up the expedition's progress. From the French side, a 35,000-strong corps was to march, led by the famous General Andre Massena, and from the Russian side, the same number of Cossacks led by the ataman of the Don Army, Vasily Orlov. In support of the already middle-aged ataman, Pavel ordered the appointment of officer Matvey Platov, the future ataman of the Don Army and a hero of the War of 1812. In a short time, 41 cavalry regiments and two companies of horse artillery were prepared for the campaign, which amounted to 27,500 people and 55,000 horses.
There were no signs of trouble, but the grandiose undertaking was still in jeopardy. The fault lies with the British officer John Malcolm, who, in the midst of preparations for the Russian-French campaign, first entered into an alliance with the Afghans, and then with the Persian Shah, who had recently sworn allegiance to France. Napoleon was clearly not happy with this turn of events and he temporarily “frozen” the project.
But the ambitious Pavel was accustomed to completing his undertakings and on February 28, 1801, he sent the Don Army to conquer India. He outlined his grandiose and bold plan to Orlov in a parting letter, noting that where you are assigned, the British have “their own trading establishments, acquired either with money or with weapons. You need to ruin all this, liberate the oppressed owners and bring the land into Russia into the same dependence as the British have it.”
Back home
It was clear from the outset that the expedition to India had not been properly planned. Orlov failed to collect the necessary information about the route through Central Asia; he had to lead the army using the maps of the traveler F. Efremov, compiled in the 1770s - 1780s. The ataman failed to gather an army of 35 thousand - at most 22 thousand people set out on the campaign.
Winter travel on horseback across the Kalmyk steppes was a severe test even for seasoned Cossacks. Their movement was hampered by burkas wet from melted snow, rivers that had just begun to become free of ice, and sandstorms. There was a shortage of bread and fodder. But the troops were ready to go further.
Everything changed with the assassination of Paul I on the night of March 11-12, 1801. “Where are the Cossacks?” was one of the first questions of the newly-crowned Emperor Alexander I to Count Lieven, who participated in the development of the route. The sent courier with the order personally written by Alexander to stop the campaign overtook Orlov’s expedition only on March 23 in the village of Machetny, Saratov province. The Cossacks were ordered to return to their homes.
It is curious that the story of five years ago repeated itself, when after the death of Catherine II the Dagestan expedition of Zubov-Tsitsianov, sent to the Caspian lands, was returned.
English trace
Back on October 24, 1800, an unsuccessful attempt was made on Napoleon's life, in which the British were involved. Most likely, this is how English officials reacted to Bonaparte’s plans, afraid of losing their millions that the East India Company brought them. But with the refusal to participate in Napoleon’s campaign, the activities of English agents were redirected to Russian Emperor. Many researchers, in particular the historian Kirill Serebrenitsky, see precisely English reasons in the death of Paul.
This is indirectly confirmed by facts. For example, one of the developers of the Indian campaign and the main conspirator, Count Palen, was noticed in connections with the British. In addition, with British Isles generously supplied the St. Petersburg mistress of the English ambassador Charles Whitward with money so that, according to researchers, she would prepare the ground for a conspiracy against Paul I. It is also interesting that Paul’s correspondence with Napoleon in 1800-1801 was bought in 1816 by a private individual from Great Britain and subsequently burned.
New perspectives
After the death of Paul, Alexander I, to the surprise of many, continued to improve relations with Napoleon, but tried to build them from positions more advantageous for Russia. The young king was disgusted by the arrogance and gluttony of the French ruler.
In 1807, during a meeting in Tilsit, Napoleon tried to persuade Alexander to sign a partition agreement. Ottoman Empire and a new campaign against India. Later, on February 2, 1808, in a letter to him, Bonaparte outlined his plans as follows: “If an army of 50 thousand Russians, French, and perhaps even a few Austrians headed through Constantinople to Asia and appeared on the Euphrates, it would make England and would have brought the continent to its feet.”
It is not known for certain how the Russian emperor reacted to this idea, but he preferred that any initiative come not from France, but from Russia. In subsequent years, already without France, Russia begins to actively explore Central Asia and establish trade relations with India, eliminating any adventures in this matter.
It is generally accepted (and among historians too) that the short reign of Emperor Paul I (1796−1801) is associated with complete madness in all spheres of the state. And the ruler himself is portrayed as a tyrant, a martinet, anything but a sovereign.
Government reforms
But in a very short period of reign, Paul I managed to put the country on the path of modernization. He personally brought order to the system of succession to the throne, thereby eliminating the possibility of “leftist” people getting to the throne, as was the case after the death of Peter I. Then Paul quite seriously “curtailed” the rights of landowners to peasants. He prohibited their sale without the accompanying land plot, and also signed a law according to which the peasant had to work for the landowner no more than three days a week. By the way, after the death of the emperor, these innovations were instantly “forgotten.”
In a short period, Paul I put Russia on the path of modernization
In general, Paul I managed to do a lot for the peasants. It was under him that they swore allegiance to the king for the first time, which is very significant. After all, for the first time, ordinary people felt like real citizens of Russia.
Pavel Petrovich strenuously fought against the overly developed and strengthened system of favoritism. He sent several thousand officials into exile for bribery and other violations.
He did not ignore the military sphere. First, he reduced the role of the guard, leaving it a secondary role (for which, by the way, he later paid with his life). Then a system of keeping military personnel in barracks was introduced, and not in billets as before.
The desire for political independence
But most importantly, he tried to return the country's foreign policy independence. Although Pavel Petrovich was an ardent Prussophile, he understood that he was very for a long time Russia was just a pawn in someone else's games. In his opinion, the country needed a break from hostilities in order to become a leading state in Europe. And the emperor initially adhered to this line in every possible way. It was under him that for the first time in a hundred years the country “calmed down” and stopped expanding its territory through military operations. "Sprouting" of Alaska and voluntary accession Eastern Georgia does not count, since all this happened without a single shot being fired.
Paul I wanted to achieve for Russia the status of a leading state in Europe
True, later he still dared to get involved in a confrontation with a great European power. The emperor paid for this with his own life, and the country had to endure a bloody test by Napoleonic army. Paul I decided to declare war on England, and the battlefield was not Foggy Albion, but India.
Surprisingly, even now many historians consider this idea to be another extravagance of the sovereign. But Pavel Petrovich reasoned quite sensibly. He believed that the root of all European troubles was an aggressive, scheming England. And while it is strong, countries will not see peace. Events taking place over the course of two hundred years only confirm that the emperor was right.
But first, Pavel Petrovich found himself drawn into a confrontation not with England, but with France. In 1798, relations between the countries deteriorated sharply, and Russia (thanks to the machinations of British diplomacy) found itself in the ranks of the anti-French coalition. This resulted in the famous Italian and Swiss campaigns, led by Suvorov. And Ushakov “went” on an equally brilliant Mediterranean campaign.
But soon the Russian sovereign realized that the country was once again simply used to achieve the interests of others. So he made a drastic change in diplomacy. And since 1800, Russia and France began to get closer.
The main achievement of this alliance can be considered the idea of a joint Russian-French campaign in British India. After all, it was precisely that state that was considered the bottomless “wallet” of England. And Paul I himself spoke about the upcoming campaign like this: “To hit England in its very heart - to India.”
Features of the Indian trek
The plan to strike India was developed personally by Napoleon. He spoke about it back in 1797, before his trip to Egypt. Napoleon understood that neither his fleet, nor the Russian fleet, nor even the combined forces were capable of resisting the English ships. Therefore, landing on Foggy Albion was out of the question. So there was only one option left - an invasion of India. Napoleon also realized that it was possible to get there only through Russia, since Turkey would not agree to let his army pass through its territory.
Paul I: “Strike England to its very heart - to India”
In short, Napoleon's plan was as follows: the 35,000-strong French army reaches the Black Sea, where it is met Russian fleet and forwards to Taganrog. From there they travel along the Volga to Astrakhan, where they join the 35,000-strong Russian army. The combined army is transported across the Caspian Sea to the Persian city of Astrabad. There, according to Napoleon's plan, the military had to build warehouses for various needs. According to calculations, the trip to Astrabad would take eighty days. Another fifty were allocated for the transition to the banks of the Indus. In general, Napoleon allocated one hundred and thirty days for everything.
The Frenchman Andre Massena was to lead the united army. By the way, it was thought that these forces would support Russian ships, who set off from Kamchatka, as well as the Cossacks, who had to get to India on their own.
The question of whether this campaign could have been successful is a matter of much debate. It is clear that to conquer India would require much more manpower than Massena had at his disposal. But the French commander was confident that the tribes inhabiting the territory of modern Pakistan would come over to his side. Namely Pashtuns, Balochis, Turkmens and others. In general, all those who were afraid of the excessive influence of Britain. Massena also thought that the “offended” Indian Muslims would join him. In total - about one hundred thousand “recruits”. So the Frenchman expected to conquer India in a year.
If the campaign had ended in victory, then the northern part of the country would have come under Russian protectorate. Everything else would go to the French, of course.
France and Russia planned to conquer India within a year
Already in January 1801, Ataman Orlov received an imperial order. In the shortest possible time, he managed to assemble an army of two tens of thousands of Cossacks. Their campaign was led by Major General Platov. They had to first get to Orenburg, and then go to Khiva and Bukhara.
But just eleven days after the start of the campaign, on the night of March 12, 1801, the Russian emperor was killed. According to official data, the St. Petersburg Governor General Palen is considered the “soul” of the conspiracy. But the English ambassador Whitworth also played a significant role in the assassination of the emperor. And Paul’s son Alexander came to power. Almost with his very first order, he returned the Cossacks, and then broke the agreement with France on the campaign against India. So, thanks to the death of Paul I, the British involved in the conspiracy were able to turn history around.
11 days after the start of the Indian campaign, Paul I was killed
After the change of power, the people in Russia were again divided into “mere mortals” and the elite. So, they killed not just the sovereign, but the policy of modernization and change.
It is clear that Paul I is an ambiguous person and one can treat him differently. Yes, he played soldier, executed a rat, sent Suvorov “retired” (although he later changed his attitude towards him). But at the same time, he tried to make the country better, change it, return it to the status of a great power.
If it were not for the death of Paul I, then perhaps there would not have been a confrontation with Napoleon, the bloody Battle of Borodino and the burning of Moscow. But history does not know the subjunctive mood.
Greek shield
Alexander the Great considered the construction of new cities, most of which were called Alexandria, to be an important matter for bringing the conquered peoples closer together. Ancient historians numbered about 70 Alexandrias. The most famous of them - Egyptian - was founded in 331 BC. The construction order itself is sufficient large city and the choice of a site for it in the Nile delta ensured future prosperity for this Alexandria.
ARISTOTLE - ALEXANDER'S TEACHER
The Greek philosopher and encyclopedist Aristotle (384-322 BC) was not a military man. However, when Philip II's son grew up, Aristotle was invited to be his teacher. Philip thought about new campaigns of conquest, in which Alexander would command the army. Already in those distant times they knew that only a person with a good education could successfully lead an army.
Aristotle taught his pupil mathematics, history, logic, pedagogy, natural sciences, music, medicine, and philosophy.
From the age of seventeen, Alexander's education was interrupted more than once, as he and his father participated in campaigns and battles. However, even after his accession to the throne, the young king continued to improve in science for another three years under the guidance of Aristotle, who, apparently, accompanied Alexander on his first campaigns.
The commander who never knew defeat
The military campaigns of Alexander the Great, which lasted about 10 years, demonstrated the flowering of military art Ancient Greece. He conquered a huge territory - from the Danube in the west to the Indus in the east, from the Nile in the south to the Amu Darya in the north. The commander Alexander the Great did not suffer a single defeat. The personality of the Macedonian conqueror and his brilliant military successes made a huge impression on both his contemporaries and subsequent generations. In ancient times, numerous legends were told about Alexander; an entire mythological epic was created, the hero of which was the famous Macedonian.
After a long and difficult campaign against the rebels, Alexander subjugated Sogdiana, Spitamenes was killed by his own followers. Alexander married Roxana, daughter of Oxyartes, one of the Sogdian leaders who fought most valiantly against him, and then became viceroy to the Macedonian emperor. Then Alexander began his campaign to India. His army fought its way through the passes north of the Kabul Valley, where it suppressed fierce resistance from local tribes, and reached the Indus River in 327 BC. And in the spring of 326, his army invaded Central India until it was stopped by the Hydaspes River, fast and swollen with rain. On the other bank stood the army of the Indian ruler Porus, numbering about 35 thousand people. About 20,000 troops came here with Alexander. Crossing a flooded river in full view of the enemy was out of the question. Alexander set up camp on the shore and tried to convince Porus that he would not attempt to cross until the water subsided. Trying to further confuse the Indians, he launched a series of feints up and downstream. Tired of being constantly on the lookout for this incessant activity, the Indians eventually began to react casually to the Macedonian manoeuvres.
Noticing this loss of vigilance, Alexander quickly scouted out a crossing point 26 kilometers upstream from his camp. With about half the army, he made a rush to the chosen place on a rainy night, leaving the other half to continue maneuvers on the shore in sight of the Porus camp. The boats were already ready, and the crossing was completed shortly after dawn. Stunned by the news that Alexander was on his shore, Porus lined up an army near the camp, placing about 100 elephants in a line in front of the front: he believed that the horses of Alexander’s cavalry would not be able to resist them. Alexander appeared before this formidable army with approximately 6 thousand cavalry and 5 thousand infantry. He sent half his cavalry under the command of General Kena around the Indian right flank. He lined up the rest of his small army near the river. His light infantry began to attack the elephants from the front. A fair portion of the enraged animals turned and rushed through their own formations, confusing Porus' ranks. Just as the Indian right wing began to advance to encircle the exposed Macedonian flank, it was attacked from the rear by Quena's force, which then rushed along the rear of the entire Indian line, contributing to the general confusion.
At this moment, Alexander led his “comrades” in an attack along the coast, and the small phalanx struck the left wing of the Indians. They fought staunchly for some time, and the losses on both sides were great. But, pressed from the front, flank and rear, Porus' people finally weakened and fled. Porus, seriously wounded, was captured.
Alexander now decided to continue his journey to the northern part of Central India, intending to reach the Ganges River. He reached the Hyphasis River (a tributary of the Indus) when his exhausted, homesick Macedonians simply refused to go any further. “Only a few Macedonians remained alive, and even those who remained were close to complete despair. The horses' hooves were worn out from long journeys, and numerous battles dulled the warriors' weapons. No one had Greek dress; rags of barbarian and Indian booty, somehow fastened together, covered the scarred bodies of the conquerors... for 70 days terrible rains had been pouring from the sky, accompanied by whirlwinds and storms.” This is how ancient authors described the state of the Macedonian army at the moment when it refused to go deep into India.
Alexander was forced to give in to the army's demands. He led his troops down the Indus, subjugating Indian cities along the way. At the mouth of the river, Alexander divided the army into three parts. Some, under the command of Nearchus, sailed on ships to the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates. Others returned the old way - through Northern India and Central Asia. Alexander and the rest of his army moved west along the coast Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf.
On the way, Alexander's army found itself in sultry semi-deserts. Thousands of soldiers died from hunger, thirst, poisonous snake bites, and unbearable heat. With heavy losses, the Macedonian army finally reached fertile Western Persia. The soldiers sent on ships suffered no less suffering. Headwinds hampered rapid progress. The ships ran out of food and fresh water, and on the deserted shores near which the fleet was sailing, it was impossible to replenish them. Many soldiers died, and those who reached the Persian Gulf alive were impossible to recognize.
The first open manifestations of discontent among the command staff of the Macedonian army date back to the time of the conquest of Eastern Persia and Central Asia. When Alexander was in Egypt, a conspiracy arose between Philotas, the commander of the Geitars, the son of one of the oldest and most experienced commanders of the Macedonian army - Parmenion. In Eastern Persia, Philotas was arrested, tortured and put on trial, which took place in the assembly of the Macedonian army. Philotas was awarded death penalty and shot with arrows. Following the execution of the sentence, Alexander ordered Parmenion to be killed. In the fall of 328 BC, at a royal feast, in a fit of anger, Alexander killed one of his most loyal commanders, Cleitus.
Soon a conspiracy of pages is organized against Alexander. These were noble Macedonian youth who carried out personal service to protect the king’s person. The pages, having constant access to the king, intended to kill him in bed. The plot was discovered, the Macedonian court sentenced the conspirators to death, and they were stoned.
After the end of hostilities, the subject of special concern of Alexander the Great was the further strengthening of the army - the main support of Macedonian rule. By this time, major changes had taken place in the army: 30 thousand Persian youths (epigons), equipped with Macedonian weapons and trained in Macedonian, were included in it. The cavalry included the best Persian, Sogdian and Bactrian horsemen. Then Alexander gathered the Macedonian soldiers and gave the order to reward the sick and those who had served and to release them to their homeland. This order caused a storm of indignation: the soldiers demanded the dissolution of the entire army, generous rewards and shouted to Alexander that he could continue to fight alone. The protest took sharp forms and embraced the entire mass of Greek-Macedonian warriors. Alexander resorted to extreme measures: the instigators were immediately captured and executed. However, at the same time, Alexander was forced to meet the demands of the army: a few days later, each soldier was given payment not only for past service, but also in advance - for the time required to return home. Ten thousand Macedonians were sent home.
Returning to Mesopotamia in 325 BC, Alexander declared Babylon his capital. Dreaming of new campaigns and conquests, he built a fleet and planned to use it to circumnavigate Arabia and then conquer the countries of the West.
But in the summer of 323 BC, Alexander fell ill and died. Soon after Alexander's death, his huge power, united only military force, broke up. Uprisings of the population of the conquered countries of Asia began, discord broke out between the Macedonian military leaders, who, having split into groups, began to fight among themselves, trying to take possession of Alexander's legacy. None of them succeeded completely. But some (Ptolemy, Seleucus and others) captured large parts of the Macedonian conqueror’s empire and became their rulers. Relying on Macedonian and Greek warriors, they enslaved the local population. The states formed in this way are known in history as Hellenistic states. They existed for about 300 years, after which they were conquered by Rome.
The British of Malta angered Paul I, the Russian Emperor, who at the time held the title of Grand Master of the Order of Malta. He hastily broke the alliance with Britain and entered into an alliance with Napoleon, who proposed a plan for a joint expedition to capture India.
The secret plan for the expedition called for joint operations of two infantry corps - one French (with artillery support) and one Russian. Each infantry corps consisted of 35,000 men, the total number of men was to reach 70,000, not counting artillery and Cossack cavalry. Napoleon insisted that the command of the French corps be given to General Masséna. According to plan French army had to cross the Danube and the Black Sea, pass through Southern Russia, stopping in Taganrog, Tsaritsyn and Astrakhan.
Team up with Russian army The French were at the mouth of the Volga. After this, both corps crossed the Caspian Sea and landed at the Persian port of Astrabad. The entire journey from France to Astrabad took eighty days, according to estimates. The next fifty days were spent marching through Kandahar and Herat, and the plan was to reach India by September of that year.
According to plans, the Indian campaign was supposed to be similar to Bonaparte’s Egyptian campaign - engineers, artists, and scientists went along with the soldiers.
- During the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. in 1878, to put pressure on Great Britain, a regiment of infantry and sappers and a regiment of Orenburg Cossacks set out from Samarkand towards India. However, a peace treaty was soon concluded, and a limited contingent of Russian troops stopped in the village of Jam (64 versts from Samarkand), where all the military personnel died from cholera.
Sources
- Mitrofanov A. A. Russian-French relations in the mirror of Bonapartist propaganda of 1800-1801. // French Yearbook 2006. M., 2006.
- Military Encyclopedia / Ed. V. F. Novitsky and others. - St. Petersburg. : company of I.V. Sytin, 1911-1915. - T. 10.
- M. A. Terentyev, History of the conquest of Central Asia, St. Petersburg, 1906;
- Krasnov, March to India, “Russian Invalid” 1900, No. 22 and 23).
Links
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
See what "Indian Campaign (1801)" is in other dictionaries:
The Indian campaign of the Donskoy army is a secret project of the Russian-French coalition to seize British India, not fully implemented due to the assassination of Paul I. Russia withdrew from the Second Anti-French Coalition due to contradictions with its... ... Wikipedia
The Indian campaign of the Donskoy army is a secret project of the Russian-French coalition to seize British India, not fully implemented due to the assassination of Paul I. Russia withdrew from the Second Anti-French Coalition due to contradictions with its... ... Wikipedia
The Don Troops is a secret project of the Russian-French coalition to capture British India, which was not fully implemented due to the assassination of Paul I. Russia withdrew from the Second Anti-French Coalition due to contradictions with its allies. Failure... ... Wikipedia
Indian campaign of Russia and France in 1801- IN early XIX century, under the influence of Napoleon Bonaparte, who at that time maintained allied relations with Russia, the Russian Emperor Paul I (1754 1801) had a plan for a campaign in India, the most important English colony, the source of income for Britain.... ... Encyclopedia of Newsmakers
Indian campaign under Emperor Paul I- INDIAN CAMPAIGN UNDER EMPEROR PAUL I, a failed enterprise to equip Russian expeditions. ordered for the invasion of India. The idea of going to India arose in Russia at the same time as our first successes in Transcaucasia and Middle East. Asia in… … Military encyclopedia
The Indian campaign of the Donskoy army is a secret project of the Russian-French coalition to seize British India, not fully implemented due to the assassination of Paul I. Russia withdrew from the Second Anti-French Coalition due to contradictions with its... ... Wikipedia
Anti-French coalitions were temporary military-political alliances of European states that sought to restore in France the monarchical Bourbon dynasty, which had fallen during the French Revolution 1789 1799 years. A total of 7 were created... ... Wikipedia
Vasily Petrovich Orlov cavalry general V.P. Orlov Date of birth ... Wikipedia
Appendix to the article Trotsky, Lev Davidovich In 1918, Trotsky L.D. actually heads the Red Army as a people's commissar (people's commissar of military affairs, pre-revolutionary military council), maintaining this post for almost the entire Civil War. Until 1923... ... Wikipedia