THE BREAKFAST WAR

Plevna, a town in Bulgaria, is sort of the Gettysburg of the Russo-Turkish Wars which occupied the attention of Russia and Turkey intermittently during the 19th century. Fever in Europe ran high over this long struggle because in it were the elements of a full-fledged religious war and of course all of the conflicting interests of rival European powers. Christian England backed Moslem Turkey because she was determined to keep Russia away from the Mediterranean. The long battle of Plevna itself, which is what this book is about, began in July 1877 with a formidable Turkish victory and dragged on until December when the Russians finally drove the Turks back. During those months the happenings at Plevna managed to capture the attention and imagination of all of Europe, particularly England, from whence came several excellent correspondents to report things on the spot. The opposing commanders who made headlines then, Osman Pasha and General Michael Skobeleff, have since become minor footnotes in history. But author Furneaux has managed to resurrect these men whose exploits, though somewhat remote from our present day preoccupations, nevertheless manage to be still fascinating today.