The Colorado statesman., 1921-04-02
BATTLE-GROUND AND
PLAYGROUND

of the latest anti-BolsheVlk military
efforts from outside Russia to win
back part of that old empire. This
expedition, under General Wrangel
met disaster as had similar forces
launched against the soviets farther
north, and the Crimea was overrun
by the Bolsheviki.
The Crimean peninsula in which
this encounter took place is land
which has aspects known to every
school child. 1t is the land of the Cim-
merians about whom Homer sang in the
"Odyssey" and from whom the penin-
sula takes its name; the land of the
Crimean war, the siege of Sevastopol,
and the "Charge of the Light Bri-
gade"; the land in which Florence
Nightingale first caused efficient, or
dered mercy to have part in war.
The Crimea is known as "The Little
Paradise" to the Tatars, last of the
many races to overrun the peninsula
before the land fell under the sway
of the Muscovite. A traveller jour
neying from the North is likely to
accept this appellation, if at all, with
a strong mental reservation as he
crosses the almost desert-like plains
of northern Crimea; but once over the
mountains that rim the southern shore
he will approve the description with
enthusiasm. There, nature has mace
wonderful garden spot, the Riviera
of Russia, a combination of sea, noun
tains and riotous verdure that really
We'd with its famed Italian counter
part in the days when Czarhood was
in flower.
Though part of what has come to
be looked upon as "cold Russia, the
southern shore of the Crimea brought
TO the old empire a touch OF the
tropics. On the mountain slopes ana
in the sheltered valleys grow grapes
figs olives, and all the tender fruits;
magnolias bays, and myrtles; ana
profusion of wild flowers and grasses.
That the delights of its mild climate
were discovered early is testified by
the ruins of Greek, Byzantine, and
Italian architecture which are to be
found among the mosques of the later
Tatars, the palaces of the Russian I'M
perial family and nobility, and the
magnificent modern hotels OF the
pleasure towns to which the prosper
ous classes of Russia flocked before
the World war. Yalta, In those care
free days, was Russia's Nice, New
port, and Miami rolled into one lts
cafe and casino life was as bectlc,
gay, and expensive as that to be fouhu
in any of the worlds pre-war play
grounds.
The Crimea is peninsula that
barely escaped heing an island. IL
hangs from the mainland of South
Russia down into the Black sea. like
a gigantic watch fob shaped like
founder. 1t is attached by the mar
row ribbon of the Isthmus of Pere-
kop. a strip of land only three-quar-
ters of a mile wide and only few
feet above sea level. On one side Is
the Black sea and on the other the
stagnant, shallow, malodorous waters
of the Swatch, or Putrid sea, Ia
coon of the Sea of Azov. This is the
only unbroken natural land connec-
tion between the mainland and the
Crimea, but few miles to the east
a narrow part of the Putrid sea has
been bridged by the railroad whlcn
enters the peninsula.
The greatest width of the Crimea
north and south is 115 miles, and its
greatest length from head" to tail
is 225 miles. 1t contains about 9,IOo
square miles, and is thus approximate
ly the size of the state of Vermont or
the island of Sicily. Before the World
war its population was 100000
The Crimea was conquered by Cath
arine the Great of Russia in 1771, and
remained d part of the Russian en-
pire until that political entity's col
lapse in 1917. The bulk of the popu-
lation remains Tatar, though there Is
an admixture of both Greek and 1tal-
ian blood In the nominally Tatar
DpoDle