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Rh an army of 80,000 men for at least three months to effect its reduction, while Widin and Silistria would each require as many more. On the other hand, the Russians were equally certain of success. They did not propose to sit down in siege-working, but, while leaving a small force sufficient to keep the Turkish garrisons from venturing too far from their walls, they would move to the rear of the fortresses and advance upon the Balkans. At the outset Russia miscalculated her powers. She thought she would be able to conduct the campaign with 200,000 men, and this was the force at hand when she made her first move. Turkey had at that time 250,000 men under arms, of whom fully 150,000 were available for service on the Danube at the time war was declared. Four months later Turkey had 220,000 men facing the Russians, and the latter were compelled to make a fresh levy and bring up their reserves. The "Army of the South," as the Russian invading force was called, was under the immediate command of the Grand Duke Nicholas, and consisted of seven army corps with two brigades of rifles. The field artillery amounted to about 800 guns, most of them breech-loaders, and there was a powerful siege train which was expected to be useful in the reduction of the works that barred the way to Constantinople. The infantry was armed with breech-loaders which had been made from muzzle-loaders, converted by the Krenk (Austrian) system, which had been declined by other governments. Against it the Turks brought the Peabody rifle, an American weapon of far greater range than the Russian one; the latter was only effective at 1,200 yards, while the Peabody could be relied upon for good work up to at least 2,000 yards. The infantry arms played an important part in the resistance which the Turks made to the Russian advance.

The Russian artillery was equally inferior to that of the Turks. The Turks had steel guns manufactured by Krupp,