Hans Karl von Diebitsch
German-born soldier serving as Russian Field Marshal
1785 CE to 1831 CE
Count Hans Karl Friedrich Anton von Diebitsch und Narden or Graf Ivan Ivanovich Diebitsch-Zabalkansky (May 13, 1785, in Groß Leipe in Lower Silesia, Prussia – June 10, 1831 near Pułtusk) is a German-born soldier serving as Russian Field Marshal.
World
The Great Crossroads
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As a soldier his duty was to break through, but as a Prussian patriot his position was more difficult.
He had had to judge whether the moment was favorable for starting a war of liberation; and, whatever might be the enthusiasm of his junior staff-officers, Yorck had no illusions as to the safety of his own head, and negotiated with Clausewitz.
While negotiations were ongoing at Tauroggen (now Tauragė, Lithuania) on December 26, Yorck had sent the king's adjutant, Major Wilhelm Henckel von Donnersmarck, back to Berlin via Königsberg, there to inform General Friedrich Wilhelm von Bülow about the impending Russian truce.
On December 29, Donnersmarck had told Bülow that Yorck had separated his forces from the French and that an agreement with Russia was at hand; the French should be treated as enemies.
In fact, the French headquarters are at Königsberg.
The Convention of Tauroggen, an armistice signed December 30, 1812 at Tauroggen between General Yorck on behalf of his Prussian troops and General Diebitsch, will be considered a turning point of Prussian history, triggering an insurgency against Napoleon in the Rheinbund.
At the time of the armistice, Tauroggen is situated in Russia, forty kilometers (twenty-five miles) east of the Prussian border.
Prussia's mandatory support of Napoleon's invasion of Russia according to the Treaty of Paris had resulted in some Prussians leaving their army to avoid serving the French, among them Carl von Clausewitz, who has joined Russian service.
Between October and December, Yorck had received numerous Russian requests to switch sides.
He had forwarded these to Berlin, but had received no instructions.
Later that day a letter arrived by messenger from Yorck himself.
The Convention of Tauroggen, signed by Diebitsch and Yorck, had "neutralized" the Prussian corps without consent of their king.
It also left the East Prussian border completely undefended.
The news had been received with the wildest enthusiasm in Prussia, but the Prussian court dared not yet throw off the mask, and an order had been dispatched suspending Yorck from his command pending a court-martial
On January 9, Bülow retreats west across the Vistula, ceding East Prussia to the retreating French and advancing Russians.
On January 5, Yorck had sent his last messenger to Berlin.
On January 8, he had arrived at Königsberg with the Russian general Ludwig Adolf von Wittgenstein.
Yorck had reaffirmed his commitment to the armistice, but had refused Wittgenstein's demand that he fight the French.
That day, however, the king's messengers had arrived to dismiss Yorck from his command and repudiate his armistice.
Yorck refuses and in a letter to Bülow on January 13, he questions if he had "sunk so deep that he fears to break the chains of slavery, the chains that we have meekly carried for five years?"
He declares it "the time to regain our freedom and honor" and protests that he is "a true Prussian".
Diebitsch had refused to let the bearer pass through his lines, and the general will finally be absolved when the Treaty of Kalisz on February 28 will definitely range Prussia on the side of the Allies.
According to the Treaty of Tilsit, Prussia had to support Napoleon's invasion of Russia.
This had resulted in some Prussians leaving their army to avoid serving the French, like Carl von Clausewitz, who had joined Russian service.
When Yorck's immediate French superior Marshal MacDonald had retreated before the corps of Diebitsch, Yorck had found himself isolated.
As a soldier, his duty was to break through, but as a Prussian patriot his position was more difficult.
He had to judge whether the moment was favorable for starting a war of liberation; and, whatever might be the enthusiasm of his junior staff-officers, Yorck had no illusions as to the safety of his own head, and had negotiated with Clausewitz.
The Convention of Tauroggen armistice, signed by Diebitsch and Yorck, had "neutralized" the Prussian corps without consent of their king.
The news had been received with the wildest enthusiasm in Prussia, but the Prussian Court dared not yet throw off the mask, and an order had been dispatched suspending Yorck from his command pending a court-martial.
Diebitsch had refused to let the bearer pass through his lines, and the general is finally absolved when the Treaty of Kalisch (February 28, 1813) definitely ranges Prussia on the side of the Allies.
The Turks lose Silistra in 1829, and ...
...the Russians under General Hans Karl von Diebitsch (1785-1831) win battles at Tcherkovna on June 11 over Grand Vizier Mustafa Reshid Pasha (1802-58) and ...
...at Sliven on August 12.
The Trans-Balkan Offensive launched by Diebitsch will bring the Russian army within sixty-eight kilometer of Istanbul.
Diebitsch and his army, greatly depleted and suffering from plague, march into Adrianople eight days later.
The Ottoman Empire signs the Treaty of Adrianople with Russia, thus ending the Russo-Turkish War, on September 14, 1829.
Russia gains some territory at the mouth of the Danube, and and the fortresses of Akhaltsikhe and Akhalkalaki in Georgia.
The Sultan recognizes Russia's possession of Georgia (with Imeretia, Mingrelia, Guria) and of the Khanates of Erivan and Nakhichevan which had been ceded to the tsar by Persia in the Treaty of Turkmenchay a year earlier.
The treaty opens the Dardanelles to all commercial vessels, thus liberating commerce for cereals, livestock and wood.
However, it will take the Treaty of Hünkâr İskelesi (1833) to finally settle the Straits Question between the signatories.
Reshid Mehmed Pasha, a distinguished general, had fought in the Russo-Turkish War, where he had been defeated by General Diebitsch at the Battle of Kulevicha.
Subsequently, he had been appointed Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, a post he has held from January 1829.
The sultan sends Reşid Mehmed to Monastir (present Bitola, in Macedonia), where he invites a thousand Muslim Albanian leaders to meet him, and in August 1830, has about half of them killed.
He now turns on Mustafa Pasha Bushati, the ruling dynast of Shkodër, who surrenders; he will spend the rest of his life as an official in Constantinople.