Struggle in Russia

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Russia was caught in a situation of internal and external difficulties, which finally awakened Nicholas I a little bit. He began to realize that he had made a huge mistake and should not have started this war so recklessly.

It's just that it's too late to regret it at this time. As a face-saving person, Nicholas I can't openly admit that he was wrong and then put down his posture and ask for peace between Britain and France.

Doing this was even more uncomfortable than killing him, so every day he suffocated in his study, his spirit plummeted, and in just a few days he felt like he was 10 or 20 years older.

It's just that he still has one last bit of insistence, which is to hope that the front-line generals will win the battle. As long as they can show some color in Britain and France, let them know that Russia is not easy to mess with, let him have a step down, and then have peace talks. He is. No objection.

Even, he can make certain concessions in the peace talks, whether it is to give up part of the interests of the Balkans or to pay indemnities.

But the problem is that the front-line generals have no confidence at all. The two archdukes Mikhail and Nikolai consulted many generals, but almost everyone, including Kornilov and Nakhimov, refused to continue. attack.

This made Nicholas I very embarrassed. He really just wanted to go down the stairs. Why can't you help him realize such a humble wish?

In a fit of rage, he dismissed Menshkov from all his posts, and ordered Duke Mikhail Gorchakov, who was far away in Bucharest, to act as temporary commander.

Of course, everyone knows that this is nonsense, because Duke Mikhail can't take care of the other side of the Danube River, and he has to deal with the more and more frequent provocations from Austria during this time. It is impossible to go to Crimea to command the battle.

Nicholas I also knew that this was impossible. The reason for this appointment was to punish Menshkov who was disobedient. Who made you an obedient old man to take the initiative to attack! Disobedient, of course to be repaired!

As for why Duke Mikhail was appointed as the commander-in-chief instead of Kornilov, the deputy commander-in-chief, it was because Kornilov refused to continue the attack. This is also disobedient, right!

Nicholas I certainly couldn't let a person who disagreed with him be the commander-in-chief in front of Crimea. Even if Duke Mikhail was in charge of the actual war in Crimea, Kornilov would have to be in charge, which was still the case. But for the sake of face, he just has to stick to it.

Of course, Nicholas I did not forget to give orders to Duke Mikhail. He asked Duke Mikhail to organize another attack as soon as possible, targeting the few coalition troops entrenched north of the Alma River.

According to the reconnaissance findings, there are only less than 20,000 coalition troops here, and there are only fifty cannons. If they can concentrate their forces and make a sudden attack, it is entirely possible to defeat or even destroy them.

From this, it can also be seen that Nicholas I actually lost his confidence. He knew that the coalition forces were very difficult to deal with and had no hope of defeating the main force of the coalition forces.

However, his order made Duke Mikhail very embarrassed, because it was impossible for him to go to Crimea to command the battle, and Kornilov and Nakhimov were strongly opposed and did not accept the task at all.

Then who could he send to command the battle?

After thinking about it, he could only write to his brother, asking Lieutenant General Peter Gorchakov to take over this hot potato.

Because first of all, this is a pro-eldest brother, so he will help his brother to solve problems. Second, there are not many generals that Duke Mikhail can trust. Although Peter Gorchakov is of average ability, at least he is not trustworthy. The third thing is that Peter Gorchakov has been stationed at the Telegraph Hill defense line, he is more familiar with the situation there, and it is more suitable for him to play.

But Peter Gorchakov didn't know whether to laugh or cry about the task that his brother suddenly explained. Because only if you have personally fought against the coalition forces will you know how powerful they are. When he faced the enemy in the Alma River before, he found that the Russian army wanted to defeat the coalition army, either by taking advantage of favorable terrain and having a solid defensive position, or at least having to concentrate ten times the force to be possible.

But the problem is that this time, if he wants to take the initiative to attack, he naturally has no solid position to rely on, and the troops that Duke Mikhail can hand over to him are no more than 30,000 people.

What is this force enough for?

But he couldn't refuse, he could only bite the bullet. In other words, before the battle started, Peter Gorchakov, the commander, was not confident enough.

This naturally greatly affected his combat deployment. On the front of the attack, he only arranged 5,000 people, including 3,000 light infantry and 2,000 Cossacks. After crossing the Alma River, these people were responsible for building bridgeheads to cover the main force crossing the river. .

What are these people enough for? On the other side of the Alma River, after two months of operation, the coalition had built a relatively solid line of defense. These 5,000 people rushing over may only be able to tickle the coalition forces. UU reading www. uukanshu.com

But this is also the cleverness of Peter Gorchakov. He had no confidence and was really reluctant to take on this task, so the only thing he could do was to pretend.

Just send some people to rush over to make a point. If you are frustrated, you will quickly retreat, and then tell Nicholas I that he cannot defeat him, and he has fulfilled his responsibility.

Such an extremely perfunctory battle plan will definitely not have a good result. The three thousand light infantrymen responsible for the first batch of forced crossing of the Alma River were violently attacked by the coalition forces before they stepped onto the river bank. After the collapse, the Cossack cavalry in the back was preparing to cross the river, and the two groups of men and horses collided into a ball, and it was in chaos.

Two hours later, Peter Gorchakov, who was watching the battle on Telegraph Hill, received a battle report that made him laugh and cry. One hundred and twenty light infantrymen crossing the river were killed and four hundred and fifty wounded, most of whom were killed. It was trampled by the Cossacks.

As for the Cossacks, they ran so fast that they escaped without a shadow, and even Peter Gorchakov didn't know how much they lost.

Looking at this mess, he could only sigh, and ordered heavy artillery to bombard the other side of the Alma River. The reason was to cover the retreat of his own troops and to attack the possible enemy pursuers.

Why is there a possible chaser? Because the coalition forces did not chase at all, who would want to rush to the cold weather in this cold weather, not to mention that crossing the river to pursue is not looking for guilt, it is enough to repel the Russians. As for the pursuit, who is willing to go, anyway, they are Don't go!

As for Peter Gorchakov, he knew that he had to fire artillery when there were no pursuers, but he was just pretending, so he could make a difference with Nicholas I at that time!