Siege of Kars

January Suchodolski: Siege of Kars, 1839

Date	June - November 1855
Location	Kars, Ottoman Empire
Result	Russian victory

Belligerents

Ottoman Empire

British Empire

Russian Empire

Commanders and leaders

William Fenwick Williams

Vasıf Pasha

Omar Pasha

Nikolay Muravyov-Karsky

Strength

17,000 soldiers

40,000 infantry

10,000 cavalry

40,000 infantry

The Siege of Kars was the last major operation of the Crimean War. In June 1855, attempting to alleviate pressure on the defence of Sevastopol, Emperor Alexander II ordered General Nikolay Muravyov to lead his troops against areas of Ottoman 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 Anatolia.

Late in 1854, British general William Fenwick Williams had been sent to Kars to assess the situation and report directly to Lord Raglan (FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan), supreme commander-in-chief of the British expeditionary forces in the Crimea. Williams found the city in a deplorable state. The Turkish forces included many newly conscripted recruits, the men had not been paid in months, and many possessed obsolete weapons. Support services such as hospitals were non-existent. Many of the senior Turkish officers were absent, residing in Constantinople. Morale was low and desertion high. Appalled by the situation, Williams took command along with several other foreign officers. He quickly set to work to institute discipline, train the troops, and reinforce the city's defences. By the spring of 1855, 17,000 troops in high spirits stood ready to defend Kars.

The first attack was repulsed by the Ottoman garrison under Williams. Muravyov's second assault pushed the Turks back, and he was able to take the main road and the heights over the city, but the renewed vigour of the Turkish troops took the Russians by surprise. Due to the ferocious fighting that had ensued, they changed tactics and started a siege that would last until late November. Upon hearing news of the attack, the Ottoman Commander Omar Pasha asked for Ottoman troops to be moved from the line at the Siege of Sevastopol and redeployed to Asia Minor mainly with the idea of relieving Kars. After many delays, primarily put in place by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (Napoleon III), Omar Pasha left the Crimea for Sukhumi with 45,000 soldiers on 6 September.

...
Wikipedia