Abstract:

On the eve of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, British officer Frederick Burnaby, who wanted to see what is happening in Anatolia in person, had covered more than 3200 kilometres in five months travelling around Anatolia on horseback. Burnaby reported that during his travel he saw Turkish battalion and regiments while training. The commanders personally showed him most of the barracks, forts, position of the cannons, and the fortified emplacements with the information of how many there were. Burnaby, in his travel book, mentioned the geographical location of Erzurum, and the link roads from this city to Kars, Ardahan, Van and Erzincan. In his travel book he not only mentioned the fortified positions that should be done in the passages of Erzurum and its surroundings and referred to the elements of current defences but he also gave information about the city. Besides, he gave detailed information about conditions in bastions of Kars including the amount of soldiers, weapons and ammunition after visiting many of them, like Kanlı Bastion, Karadağ Bastion, Veli Paşa Bastion, etc. Moving from Kars to Ardahan, Burnaby stated that Ardahan was a bad place in terms of defense purposes; an enemy who seize the Ramadan Hill would easily dominate the Manusa Castle, the most powerful defensive position of the city, and so, would capture Ardahan city.

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