Place Name
The Siege of Plevna, or Siege of Pleven, was a major battle of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 – 1878, fought by the joint army of Russia and Romania against the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman defence, orchestrated by Field Marshal Osman Nuri Pasha, of this strategically important town held up the main Russian advance southwards into Bulgaria for five months, encouraging other great powers actively to support the Ottoman cause. The Turkish forces held off repeated attacks and, when ordered not to surrender, despite low supplies, the town attempted a counter-attack. Eventually, superior Russian and Romanian numbers forced the garrison to capitulate. The Russian-Romanian victory on December 10, 1877 was decisive for the outcome of the war and the Liberation of Bulgaria. While many developers used British victories across Europe and Empire as inspiration for road names, others took contemporary or at least near contemporary events. The developers of New Beckton housing estate, which was started between Beckton and North Woolwich in 1881, used events and people who had been in the news over the past decade.
