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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 1914)
3 n N Peter the Great. Born at Moscow From th Sp'utr By Richard G. Conover. B Y WHAT battling values shall the soldier of the steppes be ap praised so that his performance in the present great war grapple may be reasonably foreshadowed? What is the rating and the victory-likelihood of the Czar's fighting millions, gauged by the triumphs, defeats, conquests and losses during turbulent centuries of Muscovite history? What does the past prestage for the armed hosts com ing from .the land of tit. Petersburg, Moscow and Siberia? Consider the Russian soldier'from the three key points of character to which he is reducible, and he will be better and quicker comprehended. First, he is Cossack in essence; second, he is con queror in mould; third, he is Tartar in. tendency. Centuries have accentuated each trait of the minglings. The Rus sian fighting man of today has a Cossack-Conqueror-Tartar ideal of war fare based upon and interwoven with &- national past, sanguinary and dark beyond compare. About the camp fire of the present day you may hear the tale of Cossack Intrepidity and Tartar destructiveness, both exercised through patriotic motive at some hour of Russian history, an cient or modern. And of the conqueror attribute, the story spinner of the bivouac dtes upon this; When the famous King went over the fighting zone the next day he was horror stricken at what he saw ana that is saying a great deal in the case of a calloused commander like Freder ick. Thousands of dead Russians and Prussians lay in frowning pairs, the hands of each clutching the other's throat, and mark this in most cases the teeth of the Russian sunk in the flesh of his enemy, where he had bitten and gouged up to the last moment of his death agony. The prize of victory won through strategy and tactics of a superior leader went to Prussia. The prize for individual field fighting, man to man. would have gone to Russia had such a recognition of valor been bestowed. Cleg, the cousin of Rurik. the foun der of Russia, was a royal freebooter. He started out in 882 and conquered, plundered and annexed until he came to a point on the Dneiper where the augurs, and portends urged that he em bark. He recruited first, and then sail ing down the river to the Black Sea finally arrived before Constantinople with SO, 000 troops, the transportation of which had necessitated the assem bling of 900 galleys. The teller of the tale describes with tense unction how Cleg fixed his shield to the pate of Constantinople as a trophy. He compelled the Greek Em peror to enter into an ignominious treaty with him and pay him an enor mous ransom before he would depart. He returned to Kiev in 11 laden with piunaer. uieg emDouies an aspiration for the Russian soldier even to this day. If the Czar's fighting man had his way his 2'th century shield would hang on the gate of Constantinople and there would be no ransom or re turn to Kiev. Oleg's soldiers' descend ants approve of their ancestors. As a preliminary certitude it should be noted that it was the Russian sol dier who gave two of the greatest captains of history the hardest fight of their conquering lives. In 1758 Fred erick the Great attacked a Russian army at Zorndorf. Furiously the bat tle raged all day. Neither side gave quarter. With darkness the Russians sullenly retired. Frederick remained; the prestige of victory was his. During the whole course of the Seven Years War no soldier of 'his many enemies ever gave Frederick such a tussie as tne Russians at zorndorf. The Prussian King met with defeat several times, but even in the battles where he was overthrown his troops never had to fight so desperately as when they encountered the battling men of the Czar. Again in the suc ceeding campaign it was the Russian soldier who bore the brunt of the bat- tie of Kunersdorf, where Frederick, QUALITIES U55IAN V strously flight divided the Russian and Austrian com manders at this critical time, Prussia would have had to succumb, as de clared subsequently by Frederick hlm eelt. This flxoa the status of the Russian fighting man pretty well, but once mora, In 1813, he proved his character istic battltne Qualities. Napoleon's Woeful Mosoow campaign of that year eest France nearly half a million sol diers. From the moment Bonaparte entered upon Russian soil he was doomed to defeat because of the meth ods pursued by Russian troops. Keep ing a scant mile ahead of Napoleon's van they fell back in great steadiness, grimly and doggedly, bothering their fjne Battle invaders every foot of the way. Not that the Russian soldier meant to con fine his resistance to retreat. In due time he received word from his dis tant Czar to make a stand at Smol ensk, which Bonaparte assaulted vig orously August 17. 1812. Calmly he halted. The French failed to carry the Rus sian defences, although 12,000 men were sacrificed in the attempt. They got ready to try again next day. This is : . -'.5- .- . xi June 9. l672.:r . 1 was disastrously put to flight with , rwjj H -I H a loss of 17,000 men. Had Jealousy not .1 Y8f Jl I g where the Russian twist began. That which in the Spring he would issue night the Czar's soldiers set fire to forth against the Emperor Alexander Smolensk and withdrew as the French and subjugate the Czar's mighty entered. They did the same thing at dominion. Dorogobourg, Viazina and Gjatsk. They But no sooner had Bonaparte estab were not afraid to utterly sacrifice lished his headquarters In the Kremlin, their own towns and villages, follow- ing out their burning and abandoning policy to the limit. Their generals, Michael, Prince Barclay de Tolly and city were with great difficulty extin- war. As a rule he has no life ultimate tacked the redoubts again and again. Michael Kutusoff, Prince of Smolensk, guished. Napoleon had been astonished to shape his views and purposes be- only to fail. Finally, his supplies ex conducted the retiring and burninng in to find the place deserted when he en- yond what the army in activity may hausted, Osman Pacha made a general a most masterly fashion. tered; he was alarmed to find it the bring. His horizon is bound by the sortie. It was futile and after per On September 7, in obedience to the prey of Incendiaries. The following army entirely. Hence, when the army forming prodigies of valor the Turkish Czar's orders, his generals made an- night the city was set afire again in acts he feels best. He has been in commander was forced to surrender other stand at Borodino, and there tbe French army, eager to fight a foe that was slipping away to destroy provi sions and burn towns, made a desperate attack. Napoleon lost 12,000 killed and 20.000 wounded; the Russians. 15,000 killed, 30.000 wounded and 2000 pris With these tremendous casual- oners. ties it might be thought the French victory had gained them some tremen dous and final advantage. Instead only the Russian intrenchments had been carried. The Russian soldier again re tired, in excellent order and with no material loss of enthusiasm. He has tened on to the interior, burning and destroying, so that the French soldier had a torch to guide him every league of the way, and no obstacles to re move that the war blaze had not done for him. The Russian army finally fell back' on Moscow, and every Russian soldier entered heart and soul into the awful sacrifice called for in the Czar's tragic Kj SOLI L m of Narva. From "Peter the Great" by Eugene plan of campaign. Instead of attempt ing to defend Moscow, Kutusoff with drew the inhabitants and removed from it everything of value that could be carried away. He waited until the van guard of the French appeared in the near distance, September 14, and then marched his army out of the city and its vicinity, followed by the inhabitants, Napoleon entered the ancient capital with a rush and a flourish. Comfortable Winter quarters he had planned, from the ancient palace of the Czars, when the cry of fire rang through the city. A dozen blazes in various quarters of the many quarters. .Nine-tenths of Mos- cow was destroyed. It was the deiib- erate work of the Russian soldier, delegated to ruin and raze rather than afford shelter to his French enemies, The great Bonaparte was conquered by the Russian twist the Czar's soldiers nad given to war methods. The Winter faced him without the means of pro- tecting his troops. October 19 he 2 I ' fcs started his retreat, the most terrible the end. The Russian soldier, has known in history. Every step of the fought hundreds of thousands of way the Russian soldier harassed him. square miles of territory into the Mus- The French had now 108,000 men and covite Empire all compact territory, 569 guns. Kutusoff barred and fought no distant colonies to defend or worry, his foe at Taroslevetz. at Kaluga, and Even Alaska was sold because It gave when Napoleon reached Wiazma he had bother. no more than 49,000 men, with the full Peter the Great may be considered horror of a Russian Winter on him. the epitome of the Russian soldier. De Back to Smolensk the French retreat- feat never dimmed his energy nor ed. expecting food and warm clothinK. cooled his determination for retalia- The organization had broke down and they found neither. On November 17 Kutusoff permitted im-.WTv wjjiiw.' jjijwwiwiiitf .isjijiffii h MdggftSfl ill iiniigig' 1 Ole? Schuyler. 3SM 1 V'Mt I Bonaparte and the main army to pass pultowa, on July 8. 1709, he was again him at KrasnoL Then he fell upon its attacked by Charles XII., who corn rear and took 16.000 prisoners. As the manded from a litter, owing to a wound French crossed the Dnieper they, were received several weeks before. Peter raked with a deadly fire by the Rus- was conspicuous among his troops. He sian artillerymen. They passed over the Niemen December 13, hardly a handful left, and the ' Napoleonic scheme completely collapsed Only a Russian soldier could or would have fought the greatest military command- er of any age to a finish in this sort of way. It was no fighting innovation with the Cossack. He deliberately de pended upon it, the same as he would plan a gain from fighting a pitched battle. Stoically brave, ponderously quick. laconically modest, the 'Russian sol dier's blend make him the never wholly comprehensible fighting factor of any conflict with the Ottoman hmpire lor centuries. Most of the intervals be- tween battlings have been in the way of armed truces. While one treaty of peace was being signed the phraseology of the next one due was being thought out. Piece by piece the fighting man of Russia has helped his Czar bite off Turkey in Europe, and Constantinople seems destined for certain swallow in tion on those who overthrew him. He was the harassing Russian soldier at Moscow over a century before the burning- of Moscow occurred. On Nov- I uttfmtmtnrmp Modern Russian Cavalry ill Nailing His Shield to the Gate oM 3 taonsUfltinople. From "Peter the Great," by Eugene SchuyJer. Cow richt f Cb-jrtoi 8cri1in?r' Sons. ckY ember 30, 1700, at Narva, east of the Gulf of Finland, a Russian army of nearly 30,000 men was utterly defeated by the famous Charles XII. of Sweden with only 9000 troops. Peter was at Novgorod arranging for ammunition. The Russians were surprised, out generalled and forced to retreat. They behaved well, but were so poorly hand led they were constantly in confusion. When Peter got news of the defeat he said coolly: "These Swedes, I knew would beat us for a time, but they will soon teach us how to beat them." And immediate ly he sent 20,000 of his best troops to serve under the King of Poland, who was the next object of the great Swed ish captain's attack. "To learn more about how he does it," he told the com mander of this force. It was nine years before Peter had a chance to prove that his soldiers had been learning the art of war. At Pol tava or, as it is more generally known. received a bullet through his hat, an other in his saddle and another struck the. ancient cross he wore around his neck. The Russian soldier had steadied ud and had beaten the Swede at his war game, The last 'war of the nineteenth cen- tury between Russia and Turkey began in April, 1877. It was the outcome of Balkan trouble. The event of the war was the siege of Plevna, so ably de fended by Osman Pacha that the opera tions of the Russian soldier against such an antagonist brought glory to tne besieged as well as the besieger. jje Czar's fighting man heroically at With all that was left of his gallant army after being penned up and as- sauited for six months. This surrender was made uncondi- tionally and' specifically to the "Emper- or of Russia" after a desperate battle following the last sortie The Turks were driven back in their assault on the Russian lines in a hand to hand fight until Osman Pacha found him self hemmed in on all sides with no chance of escape. He was severely wounded, having displayed great per sonal gallantry. By the surrender the Russian soldier gained for his Czar more than fifty thousand prisoners and a vast amount of artillery, arms and military stores. The Russian army fol lowed up its success, beating the Turks at Tashesan and occupying Sophia. Early in January, 187S, the entire Turkish force defending the southern outlet of the Shlpka pass, numbering forty-one battalions, ten batteries and "tea and ArWIery, 1 Tartars Burning Steppes m Advance ol Russian Army. From "Pefer the Great, by Eugene Schuyler. ity between members, contempt of all one regiment of calvary, was brilliantly -privileges of rank and birth and mu captured by the Russian fighting man. tual defense against external enemies. Adrianople was occupied. Only a British fleet prevented the Czar's army from taking possession of Constanti nople. Aside from his wonderful method of ' resistance successfully put In operation during the Moscow invasion, the Rus sian soldier fought many desperately contested battles during the Napoleonic period. In 1798 the Czar sent an army into Italy, as a member of the anti France coalition, to expel the enemy there in force. Had not its commander. Suwarof, been hampered by the orders of the Aulic Council at Vienna he would have crushed Moreau. Again at the bat tle of Austerlitz the Russian soldier, magnificently battling, was sacrificed to the ignorant rashness of his Czar, who insisted on his Generals following a certain plan denounced by the Aus trian:. Whenever the Russian soldier is con sidered It is impossible to ignore the percentage of Cossack in his caliber. It is that element that marks his fighting characteristics beyond all mistake. Not every Russian soldier is a Cossack, of course, but it has often been said that every Russian soldier of the "proper temperament" wishes that he was. How he endures, fights, thinks, wishes and acts is Cossack in its essence. The Cossacks as a class date back, in the matter of authentic recording, to the sixteenth century. Fact and fic tion in equal percentage cluster around Ivan Stepanovitch Mazeppa, a rene gade nobleman of the Orthodox faith, as the first strong Cossack character. He is the hero of Bryon's famous poem of the same name. He was stripped and bound to a horse just as the poem ODD TITLES HELD BY KINGS HEN Theodore Roosevelt and the King of Spain recently met a striking contrast was afforded those who happened to think of the titles which the two men bore. It was a contrast arising from the opposition of democracy and monarchy and de pendent upon the great claims which royalty levies upon a. grandeur-loving people. The American, who had been the Chief Executive of a land beside which Spain was a fraction, was known as plain "Colonel." Perhaps some of the more dignified nobles presented him as the "ex-President of the United States," but usually he went by the title of Colonel. King Alfonso, on the other hand, is the proud possessor of 42 independent and separate titles. His list of suffixes would form the major part of almost any letter which he might write. Whatever his predeces sors might have been, whatever claims they made in their dignities, he has preserved them as trailers to his indi- vldual name of Alfonso. Quite amusing is his claim to terri tories which have long since passed from under the Spanish domination. For instance, he is, along toward the last of his fictitious title. ."King of the East Indies,' "King of the West Indies," "King of Gibraltar," "King of India," and with a bombast and sweep ing magnificence, "King of Oceania." Such pretensions lend an lmost opera -bouffe flavor to the resonant terms such sus "King of " Castile," " "King of Arragon," "King of Navarre" and "King of Galicia." To the Spanish don this pomp and show appeals with unction. Nor is it peculiar to the romance nations, this worship of grandeur. The Emperor of Austria boasts of 61 extra titles, and the Sultan of Turkey 82. The Sultan has by far the most laughable list of names. He starts out by being High Prince and Lord of Lords. Then he .specifies in great de tail practically all of the states and cities and even districts of the Orient, and explaining after each of the various names that he is ruler of "all the forts, citidals, purlieus and neigh borhood thereof." Nothing is presumed to belong to anyone else. A land may have never belonged to Turkey, except in some transient raid or invasion, but that matters not to the Sultan; he adds it to his string, calm and Indifferent to the progress of other nations. He loves to proclaim his religious proml- . it states because of having; betrayed tho hospitality of a neighbor. Shame made him a wanderer. He became one of the principal leaders of the Cossacks and in 1764 was intrusted with a mission to arrange for the annexation of that body to Russia. He finally got to the Russian court inner circle through his ingratiating manner and became a great favorite with Peter the Great. The Czar stuck to him deaite many accusations of treachery, and It was only when Mazeppa went over to the Swedish camp at a perilous momer.t that Peter was forced to acknowledge the powerful Cossack guilty. At first the Cossack was nothing but a vagabond. The word Cossack or Kazak means, first, a free, homeless fellow, and second, one of the partisans of guerilla warriors formed out of such a class. The name in popular parlance has almost always been applied to rob ber bands. The Cossack in the past has been a characteristic manifestation of the time a National protest against the government forma which did not satisfy the Russian ideal. The ideal of the Cossack was full personal freedom, unconditional possession of the soil, an elective government, popular justice ad ministered by himself, complete equal In Poland the Cossacks were regis tered. They had the freehold of their lands, paid no taxes, were 6000 in num ber and the government refused to rec ognize any others. This did not suit the popular view, because all the com mon people sought to be Cossacks. One method of obtaining this object was to run away to Sitcha. Stenka Razin. a Cossack chief, of 1648. is still sung as the Russian Robin Hood. The Cossack was always a daredevil rider and an amalgamation of the cow boy and the gypsy. He never expected to be domestic, and to die with his boots on was his ordained lot he en thusiastically believed. Careering over the steppes he felt himself to be the very incarnation of freedom, his allegi ance always hanging by a thread. To be steadfast was to cramp Els ideas of liberty. Mazeppa told Charles XII he could turn over 30,000 Cossacks to him. But when Charles received Mazeppa and asked for his men, the Cossack leader had to confess that they had even been fickle to him, and that he had come to the Swedish camp to save his own life. Scratch a Russian and you find a Tartar, has proved a fatal truism to al most every enemy of the Muscovite. The Russian soldier is the scion of the Scythian. He is, therefore, a fighter of deadly surprises and uncertainties. His next move may rot be predicted on any known or limbed method of warfare. He is apt to dfevelop a fight ing science of his own in a five-minute emergency. Depend upon the Russian battler to behave well. His manner and method of proving his mettle are not predictable. nence. "Head of the Faithful," "Su preme Lord of All the Followers of the Prophet," "Direct and Only Lieutenant on Earth f Mohammed" are some of his most extravagant phrases. His more nearly valid title of "King of Je rusalem" is also claimed by his more civilized brother rulers. The Emperor of Austria, the Pope and the Kings of Spain and Portugal all announce In, their titles that they have under their thumbs the Holy Land. The Kaiser, with his love of pub licity, has 72. Most of the states of Ger many are Included in the list of the Prussian King, and have been ever since the union of the states. King George has a very modest out lay in comparison. It merely reads: "George V, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions Beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India." Some of the lesser nobles in Britain boast of long lists, the Duke of Argyll leading with 27 titles. Stale Bread Saves Teeth. New York Press. "The jaws were designed for use," said Dr. Horace L. Howe in a discus sion at the recent meeting o'f a dental association. "Recently a strong, handsome, splen didly developed Swedish gentleman came to me for treatment. Every tooth was perfect. The Jaws were large ajvd well developed. Only four or five small fillings were present. I remarked that he must have used his teeth when young. "In reply he told me that hia people in Sweden considered bread unfit for food if less than three weeks old. There is no doubt that the use of the jaws in vigorous mastication is the source of stimulation toward their develop ment and the source of the preserva tion of the teeth after they erupt. "The Jaws will not develop without the blood supply, which is, in turn, de pendent on the stimulation of exer cise. "One of the most pitiful objects I ever beheld was a boy of perhaps 15, whose lower Jaw was of the size of that of a child of 6. What caused this condition? I know It was due to lack of use. Of this I am positive, because the boy had ankylosis of the Jaw from childhood. His Jaw lacked the stimula tion of use." " " "'