Battle of Rymnik

The Battle of Râmnic (Turkish: Boze Savaşı) on September 22, 1789 took place in Wallachia, near Râmnicu Sărat, during the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1792. The Russian general Alexander Suvorov, acting together with the Habsburg general Prince Josias of Coburg, attacked the main Ottoman army under Grand Vizier Cenaze Hasan Pasha. The result was a crushing Russo-Austrian victory.

Background

In September 1789, the Ottoman vizier Cenaze Hasan Pasha, vowing revenge for their forces' defeat at Focșani, raised an army of more than 100,000 soldiers, consisting mostly of Janissaries, to defeat the combined Austro-Russian armies under generals Alexander Suvorov of Russia and Prince Josias of Coburg. Sending his troops into a grueling night march, Pasha then launched an offensive against the 18,000-strong Austrian detachment. Taking into account Josias' numbers and their poor performance in the war, specifically after the Battle of Karánsebes, Pasha was convinced that he could defeat this force easily. However, once he heard of this, Suvorov and his 7,000-strong force marched to their aid, covering about 100 kilometers in two and a half days, arriving on the eve of the battle. As the commander-in-chief of all Russo-Austrian forces in the front, he quickly took command of the combined Austro-Russian army.

Battle

Suvorov effectively divided his combined army into two columns to advance towards the Ottoman formations on 2300 hours. and the next morning, after crossing the river Rymna, staged an attack. As they advance they crippled the enemy artillery and adopted infantry square formations to repel massive enemy cavalry counterattacks which actually tried to split his army in two. This done, the army stormed an enemy camp and routed them completely.

1500 hours, after storming the Ottoman fortifications near the village Bogsa and reunited with the Austrian army, the combined army then advanced onto a general offensive towards the main Ottoman camp located in the forest nearby. While the Austrians advanced and are pinning down enemy troops, the rest of Suvorov's army outflanked the entire enemy army and attacked them with his cavalry, causing panic amongst the Ottomans who had almost nowhere to retreat but across the Rymnik river, where most of them drowned while attempting to cross it.

Casualties

At the cost of a mere 700 casualties, Suvorov inflicted about 20-50,000 casualties against the Turks, who are now in full retreat from the Danubian Principalities. Aside from very heavy losses, the Turks lost all of their artillery and their baggage train.

Aftermath

For this victory, Suvorov was awarded the title of "Count of Rymnik" (граф Рымникский, Graf Rimniksky) by the Russian Empress Catherine the Great. On the other hand, the Ottoman vizier Cenaze Hasan Pasha was dismissed on December 2, 1789, after his defeat. Meanwhile, the Habsburgs occupied all of Wallachia until the war.

Gallery

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  The battlefield

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  Suvorov's monument (detail)

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