have fallen, without waiting
for the fall of Shumla. On the other side of the Balkans the Russian fleet
made a diversion so as to prepare the way for joining forces on the banks
of the Black Sea. In accordance with these plans Diebitsch sent a strong
force against Silistria. Before anything had been effected in front of
Silistria, Reshid Pasha, the Turkish Grand Vizier, moved eastward from
Shumla and took the field against the weak Russian forces at Varna. He lost
time, however, and suffered himself to be held at bay by the Russians.
Diebitsch hurried across Bulgaria in forced marches. Coming up in Reshid's
rear he could either fall upon Shumla or force the Turks to open battle. He
chose the latter course. The Turks, harried in their rear, attempted to
regain the roads to Shumla. On June 10, the two forces met in a pitched
battle at Kulevtcha. Reshid was badly defeated, losing 5,000 men and
forty-three guns, but made good his retreat to Shumla. Diebitsch had to lay
siege to Shumla. Soon after this, Silistria fell into the hands of the
Russians. Turning Varna over to the Bulgarians, and leaving a blockading
force before Shumla, Diebitsch boldly crossed the Balkans. The resistance
of the Turks was weak. On August 19, the Russians appeared before
Adrianople. In the Black Sea the Russian frigate "Mercury" defeated two
Turkish men-of-war. The Turks were seized with terror. Adrianople
surrendered without a blow. In the Morea the Turks evacuated Tripolitza and
Missolonghi and acknowledged the independence of Greece. The ports of the
Black Sea, almost as far south as the Bosphorus, fell into Russian hands.
Flying columns of the Russian army penetrated down to the AEgean coast and
as far as the Euxine. Yet the Russians were so weak in numbers that
anything like determined resistance could easily have checked them. As it
was, all Turkish resistance collapsed before the Russian onward march
toward Constantinople. The Sultan appealed to the Powers for help. England
and Austria intervened, and peace was forced upon Russia. The treaty of
Adrianople, signed on September 14, confirmed to Russia its protectorate
over the Danubian principalities. No Mussulman was to be permitted to stay
within the principalities, and all Turkish lands were to be sold within
eighteen months. No fortified point on the left bank of the Danube was left
to Turkey. Territory in Asia was ceded to Russia, as well as the ports of
Poti and Anapa on the Black Sea. Th