The Russians took Berlin. Russians in Berlin

Do you know that our troops took Berlin three times?! 1760 - 1813 - 1945.

Even without going back centuries, when the Prussians and Russians sang, prayed and cursed in the same (or very similar) language, we will find that in the campaign of 1760, during the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), the commander-in-chief, General Field Marshal Pyotr Semenovich Saltykov captured Berlin, at that time just the capital of Prussia.

Austria had just quarreled with its northern neighbor and called for help from its powerful eastern neighbor - Russia. When the Austrians were friends with the Prussians, they fought together with the Russians.

This was the time of gallant conquering kings, the heroic image of Charles XII had not yet been forgotten, and Frederick II was already trying to outdo him. And he, like Karl, was not always lucky... The march on Berlin required only 23 thousand people: the corps of General Zakhar Grigoryevich Chernyshev with the attached Don Cossacks of Krasnoshchekov, Totleben’s cavalry and the Austrian allies under the command of General Lassi.

The Berlin garrison, numbering 14 thousand bayonets, was protected by the natural border of the Spree River, Kopenick Castle, flushes and palisades. But, not counting on his charges, the city commandant decided to immediately “make his feet” and, if not for the warlike commanders Lewald, Seydlitz and Knobloch, the battle would not have happened at all.

Ours tried to cross the Spree, but the Prussians forced them to drink some water, and they were unable to seize a bridgehead for the assault on the move. But soon the tenacity of the attackers was rewarded: three hundred Russian grenadiers - renowned masters of bayonet fighting - burst into the Gali and Cottbus gates. But, not receiving reinforcements in time, they lost 92 people killed and were forced to retreat from the Berlin Wall. The second assault detachment, commanded by Major Patkul, retreated without any losses.

Troops from both sides flocked to the Berlin Wall: the regiments of Chernyshev and the Prince of Wirtenberg. The Prussian cuirassiers of General Gulsen - armored vehicles of the eighteenth century - wanted to set out from Potsdam and crush the Russians near the town of Lichtenberg. Ours met them with shrapnel volleys from horse artillery - the prototype of the Katyusha. Not expecting anything like this, the heavy cavalry wavered and was overturned by Russian hussars and cuirassiers.

The morale of the troops was very high. This factor was valued in those days when they fought exclusively in the fresh air. General Panin's division, having covered 75 versts in two days with only knapsacks on their backs and without ammunition or carts, was in full force, from generals to privates, full of the desire to “carry out this attack in the most perfect way.”

It is difficult to say what would have happened to the Berlin garrison, but even the most militant of the Prussian generals decided not to risk it and evacuate from the capital under cover of darkness. They chose Totleben, who was eager to fight less than others, and surrendered to him. Without consulting Chernyshev, Totleben accepted the surrender and let the Prussians pass through his positions. It is interesting that on the Russian side this surrender, not unconditional, but quite acceptable to the Germans, was accepted by Messrs. Totleben, Brink and Bachmann. With the German side, negotiations were conducted by Messrs. Wigner and Bachmann, our namesake.

One can imagine how Commander-in-Chief Chernyshev felt when he learned that the Prussians had “capitulated” and he had been deprived of his valiant victory. He rushed in pursuit of the slowly and culturally retreating enemy columns and began to crumble their orderly ranks into cabbage.

They established secret surveillance over Totleben and soon received irrefutable evidence that he was connected with the enemy. They wanted to shoot the high-ranking double-dealer, but Catherine took pity on Totleben, who had been lured by Friedrich. Our own people. The Totlebenov surname did not end in Rus'; during the Crimean War, the military engineer Totleben built beautiful fortifications around Sevastopol.

STORM NAMED AFTER BENKENDORFF

The next Berlin operation took place when the Russians were driving Napoleon’s army from under the walls of the Moscow fire. We did not call the Patriotic War of 1812 the Great, but the Russians nevertheless visited the capital of Prussia.

The commander of the Berlin direction in the campaign of 1813 was Lieutenant General Pyotr Christianovich Wittgenstein, but the surname Chernyshev could not be avoided here either: Cossack partisans under the command of Major General Prince Alexander Ivanovich Chernyshev on February 6 raided Berlin, defended by French troops under the command of Marshal Augereau.

A few words about the attackers. At one time, military historians made an average portrait of an officer who took part in the Battle of Borodino. He turned out to be: age - thirty-one, not married, since it is difficult to feed a family on one salary, in the army - more than ten years, participant in four battles, knows two European languages, cannot read and write.

At the forefront of the main troops was Alexander Benckendorff, the future gendarmerie chief and oppressor of free-thinking writers. He did not know then and hardly thought about it later, that only thanks to writers will pictures of peaceful life and battles be preserved in the memory of the people.

The unpretentious Russians drove the “cultured” enemy with an indecent speed for the latter. The Berlin garrison outnumbered the 1760 garrison by a thousand men, but the French were even less willing to defend the Prussian capital. They retreated to Leipzig, where Napoleon was gathering his troops for a decisive battle. The Berliners opened the gates, the townspeople welcomed the Russian liberator soldiers. http://vk.com/rus_improvisation Their actions contradicted the French convention they had concluded with the Berlin police, who were obliged to inform the Russians about the enemy’s retreat no earlier than ten o’clock in the morning the next day after the retreat.

The campaign of the thirteenth year had its own May 9th. Let us quote once again “Letters of a Russian Officer” by F.N. Glinka:

“On May 9 we had a common big battle, about which you will read a detailed description in the newspapers and then in the magazine about the actions of a large army, when it is written. I do not even go into detail in describing the excellent actions of the leftist who covered himself that day with the most brilliant glory flank, commanded by the commander Count Miloradovich... At the beginning of the case, Count Miloradovich, going around the regiments, told the soldiers: remember that you are fighting on St. Nicholas Day! This saint of God has always given the Russians victories and is now looking at you from heaven!.."

VICTORY BANNER IN WOMEN'S HANDS

It is unlikely that in the spring of 1945 many in the warring armies knew that the Russians had already been near Berlin. But since they acted there in a completely businesslike manner, the idea comes that the genetic memory of generations still exists.

The Allies hurried as best they could to the “Berlin pie”; against their powerful eighty German divisions there were only sixty German divisions on the Western Front. But the allies failed to participate in the capture of the “lair”; the Red Army surrounded it and took it on their own.

The operation began with thirty-two detachments being sent to the city for reconnaissance in force. Then, when the operational situation was more or less clarified, the guns thundered and 7 million shells rained down on the enemy. “In the first seconds, several machine-gun bursts crackled from the enemy’s side, and then everything became quiet. It seemed as if there was no living creature left on the enemy’s side,” wrote one of the participants in the battle.

But it only seemed so. Entrenched in a defense in depth, the Germans resisted stubbornly. The Seelow Heights were especially difficult for our units; Zhukov promised Stalin to capture them on April 17, but they took them only on the 18th. There were some mistakes; after the war, critics agreed that it would be better to storm the city with a narrower front, perhaps one reinforced Belorussian one.

But be that as it may, by April 20, long-range artillery began shelling the city. And four days later the Red Army broke into the suburbs. It was not so difficult to get through them; the Germans were not preparing to fight here, but in the old part of the city the enemy again came to his senses and began to desperately resist.

When the Red Army soldiers found themselves on the banks of the Spree, the Soviet command had already appointed a commandant of the dilapidated Reichstag, and the battle was still going on. We must pay tribute to the selected SS units who fought for real and to the last...

And soon the banner of the winner’s colors soared over the Reich Chancellery. Many people know about Egorov and Kantaria, but for some reason they have not previously written about the one who raised the banner over the last stronghold of resisting fascism - the imperial chancellery, and this person turned out to be a woman - an instructor in the political department of the 9th Rifle Corps, Anna Vladimirovna Nikulina.

The Seven Years' War became one of the first wars in history that could actually be called a world war. Almost all significant European powers were involved in the conflict, and fighting took place on several continents at once. The prelude to the conflict was a series of complex and intricate diplomatic combinations, resulting in two opposing alliances. Moreover, each of the allies had its own interests, which often contradicted the interests of the allies, so the relations between them were far from cloudless.

The immediate cause of the conflict was the sharp rise of Prussia under Frederick II. The once mediocre kingdom in the capable hands of Frederick sharply strengthened, which became a threat to other powers. In the middle of the 18th century, the main struggle for leadership in continental Europe was between Austria and France. However, as a result of the War of the Austrian Succession, Prussia managed to defeat Austria and take away a very tasty morsel from it - Silesia, a large and developed region. This led to a sharp strengthening of Prussia, which began to cause concern in the Russian Empire for the Baltic region and the Baltic Sea, which at that time was the main one for Russia (there was no access to the Black Sea yet).

The Austrians were eager for revenge for their failure in the recent war when they lost Silesia. Clashes between French and English colonists led to war breaking out between the two states. The British decided to use Prussia as a deterrent to the French on the continent. Frederick loved and knew how to fight, and the British had a weak ground army. They were ready to give Frederick money, and he was happy to field soldiers. England and Prussia entered into an alliance. France took this as an alliance against itself (and rightly so) and formed an alliance with its old rival, Austria, against Prussia. Frederick was confident that England would be able to keep Russia from entering the war, but in St. Petersburg they wanted to stop Prussia before it became too serious a threat, and the decision was made to join the alliance of Austria and France.

Frederick II jokingly called this coalition the union of three skirts, since Austria and Russia were then ruled by women - Maria Theresa and Elizaveta Petrovna. Although France was formally ruled by Louis XV, his official favorite, the Marquise de Pompadour, had a huge influence on all French politics, through whose efforts an unusual alliance was created, which Frederick, of course, knew about and did not fail to tease his opponent.

Progress of the war

Prussia had a very large and strong army, but the military forces of the Allies together were significantly superior to it, and Frederick's main ally, England, could not help militarily, limiting itself only to subsidies and naval support. However, the main battles took place on land, so Frederick had to rely on surprise and his skills.

At the very beginning of the war, he carried out a successful operation, capturing Saxony and replenishing his army with forcibly mobilized Saxon soldiers. Frederick hoped to defeat the Allies piecemeal, expecting that neither the Russian nor the French armies would be able to quickly advance to the main theater of war and he would have time to defeat Austria while she was fighting alone.

However, the Prussian king was unable to defeat the Austrians, although the forces of the parties were approximately comparable. But he managed to crush one of the French armies, which caused a serious decline in the prestige of this country, because its army was then considered the strongest in Europe.

For Russia, the war developed very successfully. Troops led by Apraksin occupied East Prussia and defeated the enemy in the Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf. However, Apraksin not only did not build on his success, but also began to urgently retreat, which greatly surprised the Prussian opponents. For this he was removed from command and arrested. During the investigation, Apraksin stated that his rapid retreat was due to problems with forage and food, but it is now believed that it was part of a failed court intrigue. Empress Elizabeth Petrovna was very ill at that moment, it was expected that she was about to die, and the heir to the throne was Peter III, who was known as a passionate admirer of Frederick.

According to one version, in this regard, Chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin (famous for his complex and numerous intrigues) decided to carry out a palace coup (he and Peter mutually hated each other) and place his son, Pavel Petrovich, on the throne, and Apraksin’s army was needed for support coup. But in the end, the empress recovered from her illness, Apraksin died during the investigation, and Bestuzhev-Ryumin was sent into exile.

Miracle of the Brandenburg House

In 1759, the most important and most famous battle of the war took place - the Battle of Kunersdorf, in which Russian-Austrian troops under the leadership of Saltykov and Laudon defeated Frederick's army. Frederick lost all the artillery and almost all the troops, he himself was on the verge of death, the horse under him was killed, and he was saved only by the preparation (according to another version - a cigarette case) lying in his pocket. Fleeing with the remnants of the army, Frederick lost his hat, which was sent to St. Petersburg as a trophy (it is still kept in Russia).

Now the Allies could only continue the victorious march to Berlin, which Frederick actually could not defend, and force him to sign a peace treaty. But at the very last moment the allies quarreled and separated the armies, instead of pursuing the fleeing Frederick, who later called this situation a miracle of the House of Brandenburg. The contradictions between the allies were very great: the Austrians wanted the reconquest of Silesia and demanded that both armies move in that direction, while the Russians were afraid of stretching communications too far and proposed to wait until Dresden was captured and go to Berlin. As a result, inconsistency did not allow it to reach Berlin that time.

Capture of Berlin

The following year, Frederick, having lost a large number of soldiers, switched to the tactics of small battles and maneuvers, exhausting his opponents. As a result of such tactics, the Prussian capital again found itself unprotected, which both Russian and Austrian troops decided to take advantage of. Each side was in a hurry to be the first to arrive at Berlin, since this would allow them to take the laurels of the conqueror of Berlin for themselves. Large European cities were not captured in every war, and, of course, the capture of Berlin would have been an event on a pan-European scale and would have made the military leader who accomplished this a star of the continent.

Therefore, both Russian and Austrian troops almost ran towards Berlin in order to get ahead of each other. The Austrians were so eager to be the first to Berlin that they walked without rest for 10 days, covering more than 400 miles during this period (that is, on average they walked about 60 kilometers per day). The Austrian soldiers did not complain, although they had nothing to do with the glory of the winner, they simply realized that a huge indemnity could be exacted from Berlin, the thought of which drove them forward.

However, the very first to arrive in Berlin was a Russian detachment under the command of Gottlob Totleben. He was a famous European adventurer who managed to serve at many courts, leaving some of them with great scandal. Already during the Seven Years' War, Totleben (by the way, an ethnic German) found himself in the service of Russia and, having proven himself well on the battlefield, rose to the rank of general.

Berlin was very poorly fortified, but the garrison there was sufficient to defend against a small Russian detachment. Totleben attempted an assault, but eventually retreated and laid siege to the city. At the beginning of October, a detachment of the Prince of Württemberg approached the city and, with fighting, forced Totleben to retreat. But then the main Russian forces of Chernyshev (who exercised overall command), followed by the Austrians of Lassi, approached Berlin.

Now the numerical superiority was already on the side of the allies, and the defenders of the city did not believe in their strength. Not wanting unnecessary bloodshed, the Berlin leadership decided to surrender. The city was handed over to Totleben, which was a cunning calculation. Firstly, he arrived to the city first and was the first to begin the siege, which means that the honor of the conqueror belonged to him, secondly, he was an ethnic German, and the residents counted on him to show humanism towards his compatriots, thirdly, the city It would have been better to hand it over to the Russians and not to the Austrians, since the Russians had no personal accounts with the Prussians in this war, but the Austrians entered the war, guided by a thirst for revenge, and, of course, would have plundered the city completely.

One of the richest merchants of Prussia, Gochkovsky, who participated in the negotiations on the surrender, recalled: “There was nothing left to do but try to avoid disaster as much as possible through submission and agreement with the enemy. Then the question arose of who to give the city to, the Russians or the Austrians. They asked my opinion , and I said that, in my opinion, it is much better to come to an agreement with the Russians than with the Austrians; that the Austrians are real enemies, and the Russians are only helping them; that they first approached the city and formally demanded surrender; that, as heard, in number they are superior to the Austrians, who, being notorious enemies, will deal with the city much more harshly than the Russians, and with these it is possible to come to an agreement better. This opinion was respected. The governor, Lieutenant General Von Rochow, also joined him, and thus the garrison surrendered to the Russians." .

On October 9, 1760, members of the city magistrate gave Totleben a symbolic key to Berlin, the city came under the jurisdiction of Commandant Bachmann, appointed by Totleben. This caused the indignation of Chernyshev, who was in general command of the troops and senior in rank, whom he did not notify about the acceptance of surrender. Because of Chernyshev’s complaints about such arbitrariness, Totleben was not awarded the order and was not promoted in rank, although he had already been nominated for the award.

Negotiations began on the indemnity that the conquered city would pay to the side that captured it and in exchange for which the army would refrain from destroying and plundering the city.

Totleben, at the insistence of General Fermor (commander-in-chief of the Russian troops), demanded 4 million thalers from Berlin. Russian generals knew about the wealth of Berlin, but such a sum was very large even for such a rich city. Gochkovsky recalled: “The mayor of Kircheisen fell into complete despair and almost lost his tongue from fear. The Russian generals thought that the head was faking or drunk, and indignantly ordered him to be taken to the guardhouse. It would have happened; but I swore to the Russian commandant “that the mayor has been suffering from attacks of dizziness for several years.”

As a result of tedious negotiations with members of the Berlin magistrate, the amount of spare money was reduced several times. Instead of 40 barrels of gold, only 15 plus 200 thousand thalers were taken. There was also a problem with the Austrians, who were late to share the pie, since the city had surrendered directly to the Russians. The Austrians were unhappy with this fact and now demanded their share, otherwise they were going to start looting. And the relations between the allies were far from ideal. Totleben, in his report on the capture of Berlin, wrote: “All the streets were full of Austrians, so to protect against robbery by these troops I had to appoint 800 people, and then an infantry regiment with brigadier Benckendorff, and place all the horse grenadiers in the city. Finally, since the Austrians attacked my guards and beat them, I ordered to shoot at them."

Part of the money received was promised to be transferred to the Austrians to stop them from looting. After receiving the indemnity, the city property remained intact, but all the royal (that is, owned by Frederick personally) factories, shops and manufactories were destroyed. Nevertheless, the magistrate managed to preserve the gold and silver manufactories, convincing Totleben that, although they belonged to the king, the income from them did not go to the royal treasury, but to the maintenance of the Potsdam Orphanage, and he ordered the factories to be deleted from the list of those subject to ruin.

After receiving the indemnity and the destruction of Frederick's factories, the Russian-Austrian troops left Berlin. At this time, Frederick and his army were moving towards the capital to liberate it, but there was no point in holding Berlin for the Allies, they had already received everything they wanted from him, so they left the city a few days later.

The presence of the Russian army in Berlin, although it caused understandable inconvenience to local residents, was nevertheless perceived by them as the lesser of two evils. Gochkovsky testified in his memoirs: “I and the whole city can testify that this general (Totleben) treated us more like a friend than an enemy. What would have happened under another military leader? What would he not have said and forced for himself personally? "What would have happened if we had fallen under the rule of the Austrians, to curb whom Count Totleben had to resort to shooting from robbery in the city?"

The Second Miracle of the Brandenburg House

By 1762, all parties to the conflict had exhausted their resources to continue the war and active hostilities had practically ceased. After the death of Elizabeth Petrovna, Peter III became the new emperor, who considered Frederick one of the greatest people of his time. His conviction was shared by many contemporaries and all descendants; Frederick was truly unique and known at the same time as a philosopher king, a musician king and a military leader king. Thanks to his efforts, Prussia turned from a provincial kingdom into the center of the unification of the German lands; all subsequent German regimes, starting from the German Empire and the Weimar Republic, continuing with the Third Reich and ending with modern democratic Germany, honored him as the father of the nation and German statehood. In Germany, since the birth of cinema, a separate genre of cinema has even emerged: films about Friedrich.

Therefore, Peter had reason to admire him and seek an alliance, but this was not done very thoughtfully. Peter concluded a separate peace treaty with Prussia and returned East Prussia, whose inhabitants had already sworn allegiance to Elizabeth Petrovna. In return, Prussia pledged to help in the war with Denmark for Schleswig, which was to be transferred to Russia. However, this war did not have time to begin due to the overthrow of the emperor by his wife, who, however, left the peace treaty in force without renewing the war.

It was this sudden and so happy for Prussia death of Elizabeth and the accession of Peter that was called the second miracle of the House of Brandenburg by the Prussian king. As a result, Prussia, which did not have the opportunity to continue the war, having withdrawn its most combat-ready enemy from the war, found itself among the victors.

The main loser of the war was France, which lost almost all of its North American possessions to Britain and suffered heavy casualties. Austria and Prussia, which also suffered huge losses, maintained the pre-war status quo, which was actually in Prussia's interests. Russia did not gain anything, but did not lose any pre-war territories. In addition, its military losses were the smallest among all participants in the war on the European continent, thanks to which it became the owner of the strongest army with rich military experience. It was this war that became the first baptism of fire for the young and unknown officer Alexander Suvorov, the future famous military leader.

The actions of Peter III laid the foundation for the reorientation of Russian diplomacy from Austria to Prussia and the creation of a Russian-Prussian alliance. Prussia became a Russian ally for the next century. The vector of Russian expansion gradually began to shift from the Baltic and Scandinavia to the south, to the Black Sea.

How the Russian army first took Berlin

The capture of Berlin by Soviet troops in 1945 marked the victory point in the Great Patriotic War. The red flag over the Reichstag, even decades later, remains the most striking symbol of Victory. But the Soviet soldiers marching on Berlin were not pioneers. Their ancestors first entered the streets of the capitulated German capital two centuries earlier...

The Seven Years' War, which began in 1756, became the first full-scale European conflict in which Russia was drawn into.

The rapid strengthening of Prussia under the rule of the warlike King Frederick II worried the Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna and forced her to join the anti-Prussian coalition of Austria and France.

Frederick II, not inclined to diplomacy, called this coalition “the alliance of three women,” referring to Elizabeth, the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa and the favorite of the French king, the Marquise de Pompadour.

War with caution

Russia's entry into the war in 1757 was quite cautious and hesitant.

The second reason The reason why Russian military leaders did not seek to force events was the deteriorating health of the empress. It was known that the heir to the throne, Pyotr Fedorovich, was an ardent admirer of the Prussian king and a categorical opponent of the war with him.

Frederick II the Great

The first major battle between the Russians and the Prussians, which took place at Gross-Jägersdorf in 1757, to the great surprise of Frederick II, it ended in victory for the Russian army. This success, however, was offset by the fact that the commander of the Russian army, Field Marshal General Stepan Apraksin, ordered a retreat after the victorious battle.

This step was explained by the news about the serious illness of the empress, and Apraksin was afraid of angering the new emperor, who was about to take the throne.

But Elizaveta Petrovna recovered, Apraksin was removed from his post and sent to prison, where he soon died.

Miracle for the King

The war continued, increasingly turning into a struggle of attrition, which was disadvantageous to Prussia - The country's resources were significantly inferior to those of the enemy, and even the financial support of the allied England could not compensate for this difference.

In August 1759, at the Battle of Kunersdorf, the allied Russian-Austrian forces utterly defeated the army of Frederick II.

Alexander Kotzebue. "Battle of Kunersdorf" (1848)

The king's condition was close to despair.“The truth is, I believe that all is lost. I will not survive the death of my Fatherland. Goodbye forever",- Frederick wrote to his minister.

The road to Berlin was open, but a conflict arose between the Russians and the Austrians, as a result of which the moment to capture the Prussian capital and end the war was missed. Frederick II, taking advantage of the sudden respite, managed to gather a new army and continue the war. He called the Allied delay, which saved him, “the miracle of the House of Brandenburg.”

Throughout 1760, Frederick II managed to resist the superior forces of the Allies, which were hampered by inconsistency. At the Battle of Liegnitz, the Prussians defeated the Austrians.

Failed assault

The French and Austrians, concerned about the situation, called on the Russian army to step up its actions. Berlin was proposed as a target.

The capital of Prussia was not a powerful fortress. Weak walls, turning into a wooden palisade - the Prussian kings did not expect that they would have to fight in their own capital.

Frederick himself was distracted by the fight against Austrian troops in Silesia, where he had excellent chances of success. Under these conditions, at the request of the allies, the Russian army was given a directive to conduct a raid on Berlin.

The 20,000-strong Russian corps of Lieutenant General Zakhar Chernyshev advanced to the Prussian capital with the support of the 17,000-strong Austrian corps of Franz von Lassi.

Count Gottlob Kurt Heinrich von Totleben

The Russian vanguard was commanded by Gottlob Totleben, a born German who lived in Berlin for a long time and dreamed of the sole glory of the conqueror of the Prussian capital.

Totleben's troops arrived to Berlin before the main forces. In Berlin they hesitated as to whether to hold the line, but under the influence of Friedrich Seydlitz, the commander of Friedrich's cavalry, who was undergoing treatment in the city after being wounded, they decided to give battle.

The first assault attempt ended in failure. The fires that started in the city after the shelling by the Russian army were quickly extinguished; of the three attacking columns, only one managed to break through directly to the city, but they also had to retreat due to the desperate resistance of the defenders.

Victory with scandal

Following this, the Prussian corps of Prince Eugene of Württemberg came to the aid of Berlin, which forced Totleben to retreat.

The capital of Prussia rejoiced early - the main forces of the Allies approached Berlin. General Chernyshev began to prepare a decisive assault.

On the evening of September 27, a military council met in Berlin, at which it was decided to surrender the city due to the complete superiority of the enemy. At the same time, the envoys were sent to the ambitious Totleben, believing that it would be easier to come to an agreement with a German than with a Russian or Austrian.

Totleben really went towards the besieged, allowing the capitulated Prussian garrison to leave the city.

At the moment when Totleben entered the city, he met with Lieutenant Colonel Rzhevsky, who arrived to negotiate with the Berliners on the terms of surrender on behalf of General Chernyshev. Totleben told the lieutenant colonel to tell him: he had already taken the city and received symbolic keys from it.

Chernyshev arrived in the city beside himself with rage - Totleben’s initiative, supported, as it later turned out, by a bribe from the Berlin authorities, categorically did not suit him. The general gave the order to begin the pursuit of the departing Prussian troops. The Russian cavalry overtook the units retreating to Spandau and defeated them.

“If Berlin is destined to be busy, then let it be the Russians”

The population of Berlin was horrified by the appearance of the Russians, who were described as absolute savages, but, to the surprise of the townspeople, the soldiers of the Russian army behaved with dignity, without committing atrocities against civilians. But the Austrians, who had personal scores to settle with the Prussians, did not restrain themselves - they robbed houses, passers-by on the streets, and destroyed everything they could reach. It got to the point that Russian patrols had to use weapons to reason with their allies.

The stay of the Russian army in Berlin lasted six days. Frederick II, having learned about the fall of the capital, immediately moved an army from Silesia to help the main city of the country. Chernyshev’s plans did not include a battle with the main forces of the Prussian army - he completed his task of distracting Friedrich. Having collected trophies, the Russian army left the city.

Russians in Berlin. Engraving by Daniel Chodowiecki.

The King of Prussia, having received a report of minimal destruction in the capital, remarked: “Thank you to the Russians, they saved Berlin from the horrors with which the Austrians threatened my capital.” But these words of Friedrich were intended only for his immediate circle. The monarch, who highly valued the power of propaganda, ordered that his subjects be informed about the monstrous atrocities of the Russians in Berlin.

However, not everyone wanted to support this myth. The German scientist Leonid Euler wrote this in a letter to a friend about the Russian raid on the Prussian capital: “We had a visit here which in other circumstances would have been extremely pleasant. However, I always wished that if Berlin were ever destined to be occupied by foreign troops, then let it be the Russians ... "

What is salvation for Frederick is death for Peter

The departure of the Russians from Berlin was a pleasant event for Frederick, but it was not of key importance for the outcome of the war. By the end of 1760, he completely lost the opportunity to qualitatively replenish the army, driving prisoners of war into its ranks, who very often defected to the enemy. The army could not conduct offensive operations, and the king increasingly thought about abdicating the throne.

The Russian army took full control of East Prussia, whose population had already sworn allegiance to Empress Elizabeth Petrovna.

At this very moment, Frederick II was helped by the “second miracle of the House of Brandenburg” - the death of the Russian Empress. Peter III, who replaced her on the throne, not only immediately made peace with his idol and returned to him all the territories conquered by Russia, but also provided troops for the war with yesterday’s allies.

Peter III

What turned out to be happiness for Frederick cost Peter III himself dearly. The Russian army and, first of all, the guard did not appreciate the broad gesture, considering it offensive. As a result, the coup, soon organized by the emperor’s wife Ekaterina Alekseevna, went off like clockwork. Following this, the deposed emperor died under circumstances that were not fully clarified.

But the Russian army firmly remembered the road to Berlin, laid in 1760, so that it could return whenever necessary.

IT'S ALWAYS POSSIBLE

The capture of Berlin was not particularly successful militarily, but had great political resonance. A phrase uttered by the favorite of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, Count I.I., quickly spread throughout all European capitals. Shuvalov: “You can’t reach St. Petersburg from Berlin, but you can always get from St. Petersburg to Berlin.”

COURSE OF EVENTS

The dynastic contradictions of European courts in the 18th century resulted in a bloody and long war “for the Austrian succession” of 1740-1748. Military fortune was on the side of the Prussian king Frederick II, who managed not only to expand his possessions, taking away the rich province of Silesia from Austria, but also to increase the foreign policy weight of Prussia, turning it into the most powerful Central European power. However, this state of affairs could not suit other European countries, and especially Austria, which was then the leader of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. Frederick II that the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa and the Viennese court would strive to restore not only the integrity of their state, but also the prestige of the state.

The confrontation between the two German states in Central Europe led to the emergence of two powerful blocs: Austria and France opposed the coalition of England and Prussia. In 1756, the Seven Years' War began. The decision to join Russia in the anti-Prussian coalition was made by Empress Elizaveta Petrovna in 1757, since due to numerous defeats of the Austrians there was a threat of taking Vienna, and the excessive strengthening of Prussia was in conflict with the foreign policy course of the Russian court. Russia also feared for the position of its newly annexed Baltic possessions.

Russia acted successfully in the Seven Years' War, more successfully than all other parties, and won brilliant victories in key battles. But they did not take advantage of their fruits - in any case, Russia did not receive territorial acquisitions. The latter arose from internal court circumstances.

At the end of the 1750s. Empress Elizabeth was often ill. They feared for her life. Elizabeth's heir was her nephew, the son of Anna's eldest daughter - Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich. Before converting to Orthodoxy, his name was Karl Peter Ulrich. Almost immediately after birth, he lost his mother, was left without a father at a young age and took over his father’s Holstein throne. Prince Karl Peter Ulrich was the grandson of Peter I and the great-nephew of the Swedish king Charles XII. At one time he was being prepared to become the heir to the Swedish throne.

They raised the young Holstein Duke in an extremely mediocre manner. The main pedagogical tool was the rod. This had a negative impact on the boy, whose abilities were believed to be naturally limited. When the 13-year-old Holstein prince was sent to St. Petersburg in 1742, he made a depressing impression on everyone with his backwardness, bad manners and contempt for Russia. The ideal of Grand Duke Peter was Frederick II. As Duke of Holstein, Peter was a vassal of Frederick II. Many feared that he would become a "vassal" of the Prussian king, taking the Russian throne.

The courtiers and ministers knew that if Peter III came to the throne, Russia would immediately end the war as part of the anti-Prussian coalition. But the reigning Elizabeth demanded victories over Frederick. As a result, the military leaders sought to inflict defeats on the Prussians, but “not fatally.”

In the first major battle between Prussian and Russian troops, which took place on August 19, 1757 near the village of Gross-Jägersdorf, our army was commanded by S.F. Apraksin. He defeated the Prussians, but did not pursue them. On the contrary, he withdrew himself, which allowed Frederick II to put his army in order and move it against the French.

Elizabeth, having recovered from another illness, removed Apraksin. His place was taken by V.V. Fermor. In 1758, the Russians captured the capital of East Prussia, Königsberg. Then followed a bloody battle near the village of Zorndorf, both sides suffered heavy losses, but did not defeat each other, although each side declared its “victory”.

In 1759, P.S. stood at the head of the Russian troops in Prussia. Saltykov. On August 12, 1759, the Battle of Kunersdorf took place, which became the crown of Russian victories in the Seven Years' War. Under Saltykov, 41,000 Russian soldiers, 5,200 Kalmyk cavalry and 18,500 Austrians fought. The Prussian troops were commanded by Frederick II himself, with 48,000 men in the ranks.

The battle began at 9 o'clock in the morning, when Prussian artillery dealt a crushing blow to the batteries of Russian artillerymen. Most of the artillerymen died under grapeshot, some did not even have time to fire a single volley. By 11 o'clock in the afternoon, Frederick realized that the left flank of the Russian-Austrian troops was extremely weakly fortified, and attacked it with superior forces. Saltykov decides to retreat, and the army, maintaining battle order, retreats. At 6 o'clock in the evening, the Prussians captured all the Allied artillery - 180 guns, of which 16 were immediately sent to Berlin as war trophies. Frederick celebrated his victory.

However, Russian troops continued to hold two strategic heights: Spitzberg and Judenberg. An attempt to capture these points with the help of cavalry failed: the inconvenient terrain of the area did not allow Frederick's cavalry to turn around, and it all died under a hail of grapeshot and bullets. A horse was killed near Frederick, but the commander himself miraculously escaped. Frederick's last reserve, the life cuirassiers, was thrown into the Russian positions, but the Chuguev Kalmyks not only stopped this attack, but also captured the cuirassier commander.

Realizing that Frederick's reserves were depleted, Saltykov gave the order for a general offensive, which plunged the Prussians into panic. Trying to escape, the soldiers crowded onto the bridge over the Oder River, many drowned. Frederick himself admitted that the defeat of his army was complete: out of 48 thousand Prussians after the battle, only 3 thousand were in the ranks, and the guns captured at the first stage of the battle were recaptured. Frederick’s despair is best shown in one of his letters: “From an army of 48,000, at this moment I don’t have even 3,000 left. Everything is running, and I no longer have power over the army. In Berlin they will do well if they think about their safety. A cruel misfortune, I will not survive it. The consequences of the battle will be even worse than the battle itself: I have no more means, and to tell the truth, I consider everything lost. I will not survive the loss of my fatherland."

One of the trophies of Saltykov’s army was the famous cocked hat of Frederick II, which is still kept in the museum in St. Petersburg. Frederick II himself almost became a prisoner of the Cossacks.

The victory at Kunersdorf allowed Russian troops to occupy Berlin. Prussia's forces were so weakened that Frederick could continue the war only with the support of his allies. In the campaign of 1760, Saltykov expected to capture Danzig, Kolberg and Pomerania, and from there proceed to capture Berlin. The commander’s plans were realized only partly due to inconsistency in actions with the Austrians. In addition, the commander-in-chief himself fell dangerously ill at the end of August and was forced to surrender command to Fermor, who was replaced by Elizabeth Petrovna’s favorite A.B., who arrived at the beginning of October. Buturlin.

In turn, the building Z.G. Chernyshev with the cavalry of G. Totleben and the Cossacks made a campaign to the capital of Prussia. On September 28, 1760, advancing Russian troops entered capitulated Berlin. (It is curious that when in February 1813, pursuing the remnants of Napoleon’s army, the Russians occupied Berlin for the second time, Chernyshev was again at the head of the army - but not Zakhar Grigorievich, but Alexander Ivanovich). The trophies of the Russian army were one and a half hundred guns, 18 thousand firearms, and almost two million thalers of indemnity were received. 4.5 thousand Austrians, Germans and Swedes who were in German captivity gained freedom.

After staying in the city for four days, the Russian troops abandoned it. Frederick II and his Great Prussia stood on the brink of destruction. Building P.A. Rumyantsev took the Kolberg fortress... At this decisive moment, the Russian Empress Elizabeth died. Peter III, who ascended the throne, stopped the war with Frederick, began to offer help to Prussia and, of course, broke the anti-Prussian alliance with Austria.

Has any of those born in the light heard,
So that the triumphant people
Surrendered into the hands of the vanquished?
Oh, shame! Oh, strange turn!

So, M.V. responded bitterly. Lomonosov about the events of the Seven Years' War. Such an illogical end to the Prussian campaign and the brilliant victories of the Russian army did not bring Russia any territorial gains. But the victories of Russian soldiers were not in vain - Russia’s authority as a powerful military power increased.

Note that this war became a combat school for the outstanding Russian commander Rumyantsev. He first showed himself at Gross-Jägersdorf, when, leading the vanguard infantry, he fought his way through the thicket of the forest and hit the discouraged Prussians with bayonets, which decided the outcome of the battle.

The capture of the German capital is an old Russian tradition, dating back more than a quarter of a millennium.

They die but don't give up

At the beginning of October 1760, the Russian army approached Berlin. The war with Prussia, which lasted for seven years, came to its logical end. Frederick the Great, the formidable emperor, who until recently was considered the foremost European commander, understood perfectly well that the old fortifications of Berlin were not capable of withstanding either a long siege or a serious assault. The dilapidated medieval walls and wooden palisade were weak protection for the garrison, which at that moment numbered only one and a half thousand bayonets.

However, in response to the first demand for surrender sent by the commander of the Russian advanced units, the international adventurer General Gottlob Kurt Heinrich von Totleben, the Prussians responded with a decisive refusal. Then he deployed an assault battery and struck the center of the city, making it clear that he was able to shoot right through it. However, the garrison still did not lower the flag. The valor of the Germans was appreciated - the old Berliner Totleben set up another battery, this time at the city gates. A dense fire opened the way into the city and led to fires along Friedrichstrasse. By midnight, in the light of the fires, Russian grenadiers attacked the breach in three detachments. But it was not possible to take the city “by spear” on the move.

Participant in the assault prince Prozorovsky, who commanded the Russian troops here, wrote in his memoirs that one detachment lost its way in the dark, the second came under fire from fortress artillery and retreated. And only the detachment that he personally led, despite huge losses, managed to break through to the ditch filled with water. However, it was impossible to cross the ditch itself under fire. The first assault ended in failure, but the worst thing was that the leading corps was running out of fire supplies. In addition, many guns were out of order: to increase the range of the shot, they were loaded with excessive amounts of gunpowder. The fortress, which seemed almost defenseless, survived and was ready to continue its defense.

The Russians are fighting - the Germans are trembling

Soon the main Russian forces under the command of General Zakhara Chernysheva. This is where the main battle began - in which the unfortunate Germans did not take part, awaiting the decision of their fate. Chernyshev and Totleben located their camps on the right and left banks of the Spree, respectively. At the same time, Chernyshev tried to achieve obedience from Totleben, wanting to take overall leadership of the assault. In turn, Totleben, with fortitude worthy of better use, ignored all Chernyshev’s orders. He responded to demands to cross to the right bank with a categorical refusal. Half a century later, retreating before Napoleon, in the same way they will pull the blanket over themselves Bagration And Barclay de Tolly..

The Berliners, perked up, did not stop the besiegers from engaging in their quarrels, especially since they had enough of their own to do - fresh reinforcements were arriving from Saxony and Pomerania. So by the time the Russians turned their attention back to Berlin, the balance of forces was already quite decent. Berliners hoped that the miracle of three years ago would repeat itself when Stepan Apraksin for reasons only known to him. Moreover, now the battle, which only yesterday had seemed like a simple undertaking, threatened to turn into a real massacre.

Force majeure circumstance

However, unlike the generals who were concerned only with personal glory, the Almighty was on the side of the Russian battalions - on October 8, a hurricane of unprecedented force swept over Berlin. And if the burgomaster could still do something with the hundred-year-old oak trees uprooted, then it was already difficult to repair the fallen sections of the palisade under the fire of Russian troops. And then, to the misfortune of the Prussians, their sworn friends, the Austrians, allies of the Russians, approached the city two days earlier than planned. Of course, it was possible to wait to see if the Russian generals would clash with the Austrian ones, finding out who was in charge now, but the Prussians decided not to risk it. On the night of October 9, they began to retreat to Spandau. On the morning of the same day, the Berlin authorities took out the keys and capitulated to their fellow countryman, General Totleben, who of the three military leaders seemed to be the least evil.

In Berlin, Russian troops captured 4.5 thousand soldiers, captured 143 guns, 18 thousand rifles and pistols, and almost 2 million indemnity thalers as payment for travel expenses. But at the same time, the pogroms and reprisals expected by the Berliners did not follow - the ferocious Russians behaved surprisingly peacefully and calmly.

Gifted Victory

The fall of Berlin plunged Emperor Frederick the Great into extreme despondency, but the fruits of Russian victories in this war were soon wiped out. January 5, 1762 Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna died and her nephew ascended the throne PeterIII. The new sovereign idolized Frederick the Great and therefore immediately ended the war without any benefits for Russia, returning to his idol all the lands conquered from him.

Contrary to established opinion, there was a certain logic in the actions of the new sovereign. Peter III, born Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, wanted to involve Frederick in the war with Denmark, which at that time had chopped off a large piece of his Holstein possessions, and he succeeded. True, our emperor did not live to see the triumph of such dubious diplomacy: he was eliminated in the interests of Ekaterina Alekseevna, which would later be called the Great. But that's a completely different story...

And the keys to Berlin, presented to General Totleben on October 9, are still kept in the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg.