Struggle in Russia

As the cold winter arrived, the number of desertions among the coalition soldiers who besieged Sevastopol increased sharply, and hundreds of British and French soldiers voluntarily surrendered to the Russian army.

But for the Russian army, the failure of Menshikov's reckless attack was a heavy blow. The old eunuch went from one extreme to another in an instant. Before, he was confident that the coalition forces could be annihilated, but now he believed that the fall of Sevastopol was inevitable.

In a letter to War Minister Prince Dolgorukov on November 9, he recommended abandoning Sevastopol to allow the Russian army to concentrate on defending other parts of Crimea.

This directly angered Nicholas I. He roared at the Imperial Council: "Where is the heroism of our troops? After paying such a heavy price, he actually asked me to accept defeat!"

He later wrote in a letter to Menshikov: "Our enemies must also have suffered heavy losses, right? I don't agree with your point of view, don't bow your head, and don't encourage others to think so... God is on our side! "

However, despite his reluctance in words, Menshikov's failure caused Nicholas I to fall into a deep melancholy. Everyone in the court could see his annoyance. In the past, this was simply not the case. impossible. Because he is the best at hiding his emotions.

"Gatchina Palace is gloomy and silent," Tyucheva wrote in her diary: "There is a melancholy mood everywhere, people almost dare not speak, and the sight of the monarch is enough to break the heart. Recently he He is getting more and more depressed, and his face is haggard and lifeless.”

Compared with the gloomy Gatchina, Tolstoy's life was not bad. Because of his noble status, he served in the Russian Army Command, where he lived a comfortable life, dancing and playing cards every day, but soon he Just tired of it.

In a letter to his family, he was very angry about Menshikov's failure: "The 10th and 11th divisions attacked the enemy's left flank... The enemy had about six thousand men, and we had 30,000 - but the result was We were routed and lost more than 10,000 brave warriors... We had to retreat because half the army had no artillery cover - because the roads were not good and the artillery could not be transported, and - God knows why - we Not equipped with new rifles like the naval infantry.”

"A terrible massacre. This mistake will weigh heavily on many souls! God, forgive them. The news of the defeat made people lose their temper. I saw the old man crying loudly, and the young man vowed to kill Dannen. Berg…”

Out of the idea of ​​doing something for the soldiers in the army, Tolstoy and a group of officers planned to publish a journal, which he called the "Army Gazette", with the purpose of educating soldiers to boost their morale and showing their patriotism and humanity to the public. All walks of life in Russia.

To provide funds, Tolstoy misappropriated money from the sale of a house in Yasnaya Polya that his family had used to pay off gambling debts.

Some of Tolstoy's earliest novels were written for this publication. Among them, he revealed that officers brutally beat soldiers not because the soldiers had done anything wrong, but because he was just a big-headed soldier, and the big-headed soldier deserved to be beaten.

However, Tolstoy was not a novice. He knew that such writing would definitely not pass the review, so he removed similar articles when he submitted the publication plan for review. However, this plan was eventually rejected by Nicholas I. He rejected it because he was unwilling to have an unofficial soldier's newspaper to challenge the "Russian Wounded Soldiers" led by his own government.

In desperation, the great writer could only request to leave the headquarters and serve on the front line, but his superiors only promoted him to a second-class lieutenant and assigned him to the third light artillery battery of the 14th Artillery Brigade.

At this time, winter arrives in the second week of November!

For three days and three nights, icy wind and rain swept through the area around Sevastopol, blowing into the tents of the British and French forces. In the freezing rain, the soldiers sitting in the mud could only hug each other to keep warm.

They were soaked and shivering, and the only things they could use to protect themselves from the wind and rain were thin military blankets and soaked coats.

Then the Crimean coast was hit by a storm, and tents began to fly into the sky like pieces of paper, and boxes, barrels, boxes and caravans were blown everywhere.

Tent poles, blankets, hats and coats, tables and chairs were spinning in the air, and frightened horses broke free and stampeded wildly through the camp.

Trees were uprooted, windows smashed, and soldiers ran here and there chasing their clothes and belongings, or anxiously looking for any shelter.

Roofless barns and stables, behind mounds or in caves on the ground became their hiding places.

The wind blew all morning and did not stop until two o'clock in the afternoon. The soldiers were finally able to get out of their hiding places and search for their blown things.

The dirt floor was covered with soaked, dirty clothes and blankets. Pieces of furniture were broken, as well as pots, pans, and various other miscellaneous items.

By evening, the temperature began to drop and the rain turned to heavy snow. The soldiers tried to put up tents again, but their fingers were frozen and few of the tents were in good condition. So some simply stayed in barns and stables for the night, huddled together in a futile search for warmth.

In fact, the blow suffered by the coalition ground forces was not a big deal. The storm caused a heavy blow to the coalition ships in the port.

The water in Balaclava Harbor was filled with white foam, as if the sea was boiling. The ship was shaking violently, and the waves splashed over the cliff and fell hundreds of feet to the port, just like heavy rain.

Fearing that the Russian army would continue to attack Balaclava Port, a large number of coalition supply ships were anchored together. More than twenty British ships were destroyed when they hit the rocks on the shore, resulting in hundreds of lives.

The biggest loss was the steamship Prince. The entire ship was torn into pieces. Only six of the 150 crew members survived. By the way, they also lost 40,000 sets of winter clothes that had just arrived.

In addition, the Kokang was also destroyed, losing 10 million Miner rifle bullets.

The French fleet lost the battleship Henry IV and the steamship Pluto.

This caused even greater trouble for the coalition forces, which already had supply difficulties, so that the British army never recovered and spent the whole winter worrying about shortages of food, accommodation and medicine.

On the contrary, the French army performed slightly better, but it could only be regarded as passing.

However, this storm did bring unexpected benefits to the Russians. The cans floating from the sunken British and French ships were carried to the port of Sevastopol by the waves, allowing the Russian army to buy a lot of British corned beef in vain. The soldiers were overjoyed...