article General Ilia Makarashvili's Records on the Russo-Ottoman War of 1877-1878

Abstract

The records document the formation of the artillery brigade over the years 1864 to 1878. The handwritten diaries by Ilia Makarashvili, dated November 23, 1885, comprise 243 pages. The contents are indicated in the introductory part of the diary under the heading Materials for the Compilation of the History of the 39th Artillery Brigade, yet the scope of the text extends well beyond this stated purpose. The detailed notes address not only the brigade’s history but a range of related issues. The diaries describe military operations and offer a military-political analysis of the circumstances that led to them. Particularly interesting is the author’s assessment of the conflict between Russian and Ottoman Empires on Serbian soil.

The diaries contain a letter from the Minister of War to the Russian Emperor outlining a general program of action, as well as a decree by the head of the main artillery division, specifying concrete operational plan. They describe the period of deployment of artillery units in various regions of Georgia—Svaneti, Kutaisi, and Akhaltsikhe, among others—and discuss participation in preparations for the military operation in the Erzurum direction. The diaries present Ilia Makarashvili’s observations on the modernization and rearmament of artillery equipment, along with his commentary on the emperor’s decree, and discussions on the movement and deployment of brigade batteries and the staffing of military units during both the pre-war and wartime periods. A list of officers who served with Ilia Makarashvili between 1892 and 1902 is also provided. The diaries further address the brigade’s internal regulations, issues of the divisional management, and provide an analysis of artillery weaponry. Furthermore, they include military-economic reports, tables, cost estimates, and barrack drawings—all of which testify to Ilia Makarashvili’s high level of military and engineering expertise.

One entry in Ilia Makarashvili’s diary describes the orchard belonging to his wife, Nino, the daughter of Durmishkhan Zhuruli, in the village of Arbo (as of March 1911). The records of Lieutenant General Ilia Makarashvili, preserved in the Art Palace of Georgia - Museum of Cultural History, are kept in the form of a leather-bound notebook. The records, along with other documentary and photographic materials concerning the Zhuruli and Makarashvili families—both well known to the public—were donated to the museum by the late Merab Makarashvili, grandson of Ilia Makarashvili’s brother, to whom Ilia’s daughter, Irina Makarashvili, had bequeathed the ancestral palace and property in Arbo. We believe that the writings by a prominent military figure in the service of the Russian Empire contain a wealth of valuable information and constitute an important source for military historians.