Letter to Karl Marx, August 25, 1877

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 25 August 1877


First published in MEGA, Abt. III, Bd. 4, Berlin, 1931
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 45
Printed according to the original


ENGELS TO MARX

IN NEUENAHR

Ramsgate, 25 August 1877 2 Adelaide Gardens

Dear Moor,

Through Schorlemmer you will already have received news of the Longuets, Lafargues and ourselves[1] either the day before yesterday or yesterday at the latest; since then you will have heard from Jenny direct about the little chap's illness which has caused her somewhat excessive alarm; according to a letter from her today, the boy is out of danger, fortunately.

We leave here on Tuesday[2] after a seven-week stay[3] which has done me a great deal of good but fallen far short of our expectations so far as Lizzie is concerned. WEATHER PERMITTING, I shall probably have to subject her to an even more drastic change of air.[4]

I congratulate you on your liver's restoration to health. You must certainly make for the hills of the Black Forest. I asked Schorlemmer to bring you the map of Baden I used in 1849 and trust he has done so. You may find it of use; considering the scale, the high ground in particular is very well drawn.

No doubt you are at last having better weather. We have done splendidly here. When it was raining everywhere else, it was merely overcast here. Two rainy afternoons in seven weeks, and today the first really wet day—and even then with longish breaks—so one can hardly complain of that. The rain, such as it was, fell mostly at night.

The immobility of the Turks may be largely attributed to the want of a train. To enable an army, not merely to fight, but to move about freely, seems to be beyond the ability of all barbarians and semi-barbarians; their army, organised with great difficulty along something approaching modern lines (for fighting), is expected to move about with the APPLIANCES of an old barbarian army. They have introduced modern weapons, but the ammunition pertaining thereto must tag along of its own accord. They organise and concentrate brigades, divisions and army corps in accordance with the rules of modern strategy, but forget that, unlike a band of janissaries, spahis or nomads, these cannot fend for themselves. This is already evident in the case of the Russians, and even more so in that of the Turks; hence, where armies of this kind are concerned, any calculation will err that ascribes to such military formations the mobility of the Western Europeans.

The blunders now being perpetrated by the Turks are all due to the anxiety which Gurko's advance has aroused in Constantinople.[5] Instead of being ordered to link up immediately—via the passes unoccupied by the Russians—either with Osman or Mehemet Ali, Suleiman is to make an immediate stand against the Russians and provide immediate protection for Constantinople. Hence the useless carnage on the Shipka Pass,[6] part of a combined operation which had been agreed with the other two armies and, being as usual unsynchronised, had miscarried. None of this, however, has made any difference, and once again everything will be the same as it was before.

The COLLAPSE of the Russians' military organisation is complete. They admit to losses of 15,000 men during the fighting (in Europe); their losses from sickness must amount to twice that or more. Transport completely BROKEN DOWN. Not one road under construction anywhere. Camp police non-existent. Even without the climate, the filth and the putrefying corpses would be enough to cause mass epidemics. Six Russian army corps, now eight, are in Bulgaria and, as a result of one battle, have been thrown back onto the defensive—of the most passive kind. Out of 50 Russian infantry divisions, 16 are on the Danube, 9 in the Caucasus and Asia, at least 5 are moving up, 6 are guarding the Black Sea and Baltic coasts, total 36; there remain 14, of which 2 are indispensable to the Baltic provinces, hence 12 infantry divisions = at most 120,000 men or, counting cavalry and artillery, 150,000 combatants available for all eventualities! And this against the 'sick man'[7] ! Moreover, owing to a shortage of officers, new formations are either impracticable or worthless. In short, it's worse than during the Crimean War.[8] And the same stupidity into the bargain: impelled by rage at the defeat at Plevna they at once set colossal reinforcements in motion, although these will be able to operate for a month at most, during which time they will be useless and hard put to it to keep themselves in grub. And by the end of October at the latest it will be time to turn back—back, proud Cid[9] —to the bare larders of Wallachia, not one bridge will remain across the Danube and at the end of May 1878 they will, if all goes well, begin again exactly where they began at the end of May 1877.[10]

Best wishes to you all,

Your

F. E.

By the way, the Turks may take a few more severe beatings before the winter but that's of no consequence provided Constantinople doesn't let this intimidate it.

  1. ↑ jean Longuet
  2. ↑ 28 August
  3. ↑ Engels and his sick wife stayed in Ramsgate between 11 July and 28 August 1877.
  4. ↑ Engels was in Ramsgate at the time (see Note 289), and between 5 and 21 September 1877, he and his wife were on holiday in Scotland.
  5. ↑ In late July 1877, an advance unit of the Russian army led by General Gurko moved through the Balkans towards Adrianople, but was later forced to retreat.
  6. ↑ On 21-26 (9-14) August 1877, bloody battles were fought for the Shipka Pass. The Turkish army's attempt to capture it failed completely. Having sustained enormous losses, Suleiman-Pasha's army was forced to retreat.
  7. ↑ A sick man—an expression used by Nicholas I with reference to Turkey in the talks of 9 January 1853 and in subsequent negotiations with George Hamilton Seymour, the British envoy.
  8. ↑ The Crimean War (1853-56), or the Eastern war, was waged by Russia against the allied forces of Britain, France, the Kingdom of Piedmont and Turkey for supremacy in the Levant. It ended in Russia's defeat and the signing of the Paris Peace Treaty in 1856. In accordance with this treaty, Russia renounced its claims to the 'protection' of the Christian subjects of the Turkish Empire, agreed to the neutralisation of the Black Sea and was forbidden to have military bases and warships there, and recognised the collective protectorate of the great powers over Serbia, Moldavia and Wallachia, which remained under the Sultan's sovereignty. Russia also pledged not to erect fortifications on the Aland Islands.
  9. ↑ J. G. von Herder, Cid, Canto 28.
  10. ↑ The Russo-Turkish war began on 24 (12) April 1877, and the Russians were preparing to cross the Danube in May. On 11 May (29 April) and the early morning of 26 (14) May, they sank the two largest Turkish vessels and crossed the Danube in late June.