But only when Martyn-Solsky arrived, the left-hander was already finished, because the back of his head was split on the paratha, and he could only pronounce one thing clearly:
— Tell the sovereign that the British don’t clean their guns with bricks: let them not clean ours either, otherwise, God forbid war, they’re not good for shooting.
And with this fidelity the left-hander crossed himself and died.
Lefty: The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea. Author Nikolai Semenovich Leskov.
To be honest, I already have about fifty of these bullets of different calibers. They are in a separate plastic container along with other lead from the finds, round musket bullets, lead from reed guns, mixed with lead fillings and spindle circles. The number of Minié bullets constantly varies depending on the number of finds and friends and distant relatives who come to visit me. Because these lead “buns” sell well as souvenirs and are especially admired by hunters. A bullet weighing thirty grams, when a person sees it for the first time, looks at it with interest, tosses it in his palm, checking the weight, and then gives it away with an enthusiastic intonation in his voice. “Yes, if you just throw one of these and hit it in the forehead, you can kill right away.”
We often come across these bullets in the fields; there are two places in the meadows where in an hour you can dig up a dozen for hunting. So this is incredible, I thought, and didn’t go too deep into studying the history of the subject. So only in general terms, they say this bullet was invented by Captain Minier in 1847. Oh well, I thought and just put the bullets in that same plastic container. However, a couple of months ago I was sitting in a car service station and watching TV out of boredom, and what else should a person who is waiting for his turn do in a car service station? And there, on Discovery, is a historical documentary about the American Civil War and about a revolutionary invention that played an important role in this war. It was about Captain Minier’s bullet. What passions? Photos of crippled people, characteristics of bullets, rate of fire of guns, accuracy of aimed shooting and, of course, about the fatal damage to manpower. And there in this American film, briefly, in one phrase, it was said that the real place for the full-scale combat use of the Minie bullet was the Crimean War of 1853-56.
Interesting, I need to read it, I thought, and so I came to quote the tale about the Tula oblique Lefty.
Well, what can I say? As usual in such cases, opinions on the topic of the Crimean War on the Internet are polar, from “the most shameful and mediocrely lost war in the history of Russia” to “The constant courage and heroism of the Russian soldier once again saved the fatherland.” In general, it was difficult to find neutral analytical notes, as usual on topics of Russian wars, so I will try to form my own average opinion.
As a result of the war itself, none of the warring parties achieved their goals. Although there is no particular information about these very goals. It seems like the European anti-Russian coalition wanted to defeat the RI army in Crimea, but ours didn’t seem to allow this. The topic itself is voluminous, maybe I’ll put it in a separate article, there’s a lot of interesting and colorful material, just the terms that have come into use, what are the “balaclava” in relation to the cap and the “thin red line” in relation to the perseverance and heroism of the British soldier. And also, of course, the treasures of the “Black Prince”.
As a result of three years of hostilities, Russia lost the war, and this fact, like a cold shower, washed over the entire Russian society, which had hitherto rested on the laurels of national pride after the victory over Napoleon.
In assessing the reasons for Russia’s defeat in the Crimean War, each researcher of this historical period has his own opinion. But, as a rule, almost everyone agrees that one of the main reasons was Russia’s colossal technical lag behind European countries. The main figurative symbols of this very lag were the Black Sea sailing fleet sunk in Kamyshovaya Bay and the bullet of Captain Minier.
“The British don’t clean their guns with bricks.” What did this phrase mean? And the fact that at that time the British soldiers had guns with a rifled bore, and the Russians were still armed with musket-type guns – smooth-bore with a bullet in the form of a lead ball. Accordingly, the sighting range of a British rifle was up to six hundred meters, while our troops could hit the enemy with salvo fire at a distance of up to three hundred meters. The special design of Captain Minier’s bullet made it possible to load a rifled gun as quickly as a smooth-bore gun, while the effectiveness of fire damage was much higher. There is an opinion that even Nakhimov was killed by a targeted shot from a gun with a bullet of the Minier design.
In fact, there were much more reasons for Russia’s defeat in the Crimean War than just technological backwardness. This is unprecedented corruption in military contracts, and the sluggishness of the state apparatus, and the lack of general experience in conducting real combat operations in mountainous areas, and, of course, the lack of coherence in the actions of various branches of the military. For example, in the Battle of Alma, the European coalition managed to win thanks to the infantry fire support of the naval artillery of the British fleet.
As a result, as a result of the Crimean War, Russian society demanded urgent changes from the authorities. The abolition of serfdom, the beginning of a large-scale rearmament of the army and a concession for the construction of a new steam fleet. And in Russian literature, the tale of Lefty, Sevastopol stories and soldiers’ songs were very popular.
And where do we get so many of these bullets from, in the Moscow region? Don’t worry, the British and French didn’t reach us. However, capsule guns with Captain Minier’s bullet could often be found among our hunters until the 60s of the last 20th century. As one respectable pensioner told me, he still remembered such a “rougeau” from his grandfather. We went to the fields to hunt wild boar at the end of summer. When the grain crops ripened, whole herds of wild boars came out into the fields, so the collective farm chairman attracted pensioners. On the one hand, to save crops, and on the other hand, they packed good stew in jars for the winter. Thanks to good combat accuracy and decent bullet weight, the boar fell on the spot with one shot. He also promised to look, maybe somewhere in his house there was a special machine for casting these bullets.