Descriptive summary | ||
| Creator: | Russia. Armiia. Voenno-uchenyĭ arkhiv | |
| Title: | Russian military intelligence on Turkey | |
| Dates (inclusive): | 1700-1917 | |
| Abstract: | Collection contains textual and cartographic materials | |
| Languages: | Predominantly in Russian and French, also materials in German and English, a few items in Turkish, Italian, Greek, Arabic, Latin and Dutch | |
| Extent: | 917 [i.e. 919] archival files ; 41 microfilm reels ; digital images available in the IDC Digital Library (www.idc-digilib.nl) | |
| Order no.: | RIA-4 | |
Location of Originals
Rossiĭskiĭ gosudarstvennyĭ voenno-istoricheskiĭ arkhiv (RGVIA), Moscow. Fond 450.
Scope and Content
Documents containing general intelligence on the Turkish army, and on the domestic and foreign policy of the country ; This group consists of dispatches and memorandums from Russian military agents and diplomatic representatives on the domestic political situation in Turkey, Russo-Turkish relations, the strengthening of British influence in Turkey, the organization and state of the Turkish army, fortifications in the Bosporus and Dardanelles, the suppression by Turkish forces of the Druze uprising in Syria in 1852, unrest in Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey’s preparations for wars, and the construction of highways and railways in the country with the involvement of foreign capital. There are some documents of French origin: a plan of the Turkish defensive system in the Black Sea, Bosnia, Albania and Epirus that was submitted by General Vodoncour to Napoleon in 1810; a memorandum from General Guillaume from 1811 on the possibility of invading Turkey via Epirus. Water colors from the late 19th century illustrate the various different uniforms and shoulder-straps worn by the Turkish army. There are also a few photographs of Turkish soldiers from the 1860s to the 1880s, and from the early 20th century.
Documents containing geographical, topographical, statistical, ethnographical and hydrographical intelligence on Turkey
Geographical and topographical intelligence ; This set of documents consists mostly of maps, plans, and a few atlases and descriptions, of Russian, Western European and (to a lesser extent) Turkish origin, including maps of European and Asiatic Turkey, the Turkish Empire, Asia Minor and Syria. There are maps of Anatolia, Albania, Turkish Armenia, the Turkish provinces of Karaman and Kurdistan, the Pashaliks of Baghdad, Baiazet, Kars, Akhaltsikhe and Erzerum, the Sanjak of Zabah (disputed with Persia), and other districts and provinces of Turkey. There are quite a few city maps, in some cases accompanied by descriptions and drawings, and in particular several maps of Constantinople and its environs. ; Some examples of the documents in this group are: a late-19th-century French album of engravings and descriptions of the Büyük-Dere valley, the Princes Islands, and the Bosporus, including the fortifications in the Bosporus; a map of Turkish territories in Asia showing the borders between Russia and Persia, published in London in 1833; a mid-19th-century Turkish map of the Vilayets of Erzerum and Van showing the mountain chains and peaks; a map of Constantinople with views of the city and the Dardanelles, published in Nuremburg in the early 18th century; a drawing of the palace occupied by Russian envoys in Constantinople, executed in 1783; and a military historical description of the fortress walls of Constantinople written in the early 19th century by the Russian army colonel Perevanov.
Statistical and ethnographical intelligence ; This consists mostly of statistical, topographical and ethnographical descriptions of the country and its individual regions. The section also includes some maps and statistical tables on towns, the population, and the number of mules in Turkey.
Intelligence on communications ; This section of the collection consists of maps and descriptions of highways, post roads, dirt roads and railways. It also contains a fairly large number of route maps and descriptions of routes across European and Asiatic Turkey.
Hydrographical intelligence ; This takes the form of maps and descriptions of the seas, bays, roadsteads, rivers and lakes of Turkey.
Intelligence on the straits of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles ; This takes the form of maps and descriptions of the straits of the Bosporus, the Dardanelles and Constantinople, and plans of fortresses and fortifications. There are also some drawings and engravings of straits, fortresses and fortifications.
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