Silistra in the context of "Paristrion"

The siege of Silistria, or siege of Silistra, was a key engagement in the Crimean War, fought from 11 May to 23 June 1854 between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire in present-day Bulgaria. The Russian army, numbering up to 90,000 men with 266 guns, attempted to capture the Danubian fortress of Silistria as part of a broader strategy to outflank Ottoman defences and pre-empt an expected Allied landing at Varna. The garrison, 12,000 to 18,000 Ottoman troops and Egyptian auxiliaries, was bolstered by British military advisers and successfully withstood a six-week siege.

The operation was shaped by diplomatic and regional tensions. Russia hoped for a general Balkan uprising and misjudged the likelihood of Austrian or Serbian neutrality. Austria, concerned that a Russian advance might provoke unrest among its own Serb population, mobilised 280,000 troops along the Danube and warned Russia against crossing the river. At the same time, Anglo-French troops began arriving in Varna, and a joint Austrian–Ottoman convention granted Austria the right to occupy the Danubian Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia.

Legio XI Claudia ("Claudius' Eleventh Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. The legion was levied by Julius Caesar for his campaign against the Nervii. XI Claudia dates back to the two legions (the other was the XIIth) recruited by Julius Caesar to invade Gallia in 58 BC, and it existed at least until the early 5th century, guarding lower Danube in Durostorum (modern Silistra, Bulgaria).

Dulovo (Bulgarian: Дулово [ˈduɫovo], Turkish: Akkadınlar, lit. "White women"; Romanian: Accadânlar) is a town in Silistra Province in northeastern Bulgaria, in the Ludogorie region. As the administrative centre of the homonymous Dulovo Municipality, it is the third largest town in the province after Silistra and Tutrakan. As of December 2009, the town had a population of 6,621.

Dulovo, then a village, was first mentioned in an Ottoman document of 1573 as "Akkadınlar", meaning "White Women". Even before the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878, it had a mixed population of Bulgarians (settlers from the region of Preslav) and Turks, which is still reflected in the ethnic composition today. Following the Second Balkan War, Bulgaria was forced to cede it to Romania along with all of Southern Dobruja. It was also a district centre of Durostor County under Romanian rule. The village was given back to Bulgaria according to the Treaty of Craiova of 1940. In 1942, it acquired its present name (in honour of the early medieval Bulgarian Dulo clan, with the Bulgarian placename suffix –ovo). On 30 January 1960, Dulovo was granted town status.

43°55′N 27°10′E / 43.917°N 27.167°E / 43.917; 27.167

Silistra Province (Bulgarian: Област Силистра, Oblast Silistra) is a province of Bulgaria. Formerly known as the Silistra okrug, it is located on the northeast corner of Bulgaria. The province is part of the Southern Dobrudja region, with its largest and major city being Silistra. As of 2021, the province had a population of 97,770 inhabitants, making it the second least populated in the country. It is divided into seven municipalities for administrative purposes.

The Bulgaria–Romania border (Bulgarian: Граница между България и Румъния, romanized: Granitsa mezhdu Bŭlgariya i Rumŭniya, Romanian: Frontiera între Bulgaria și România) is the state border between Bulgaria and Romania.

For most of its length, the border follows the course of the lower Danube, up until the town of Silistra. From Silistra, the river continues north into the Romanian territory. East of that point, the land border passes through the historical region of Dobruja, dividing it into Northern Dobruja in Romania and Southern Dobruja in Bulgaria. The land border was first set in Article XLVI of the Treaty of San Stefano (signed in Berlin on July 13, 1878), as "a line starting from the east of Silistra and terminating on the Black Sea, south of Mangalia." It was subsequently revised in several treaties, and eventually confirmed at the Paris Peace Treaties on February 10, 1947.

The Roman Tomb of Silistra (Bulgarian: Римска гробница в Силистра, Rimska grobnitsa v Silistra) is an Ancient Roman burial tomb in the town of Silistra in northeastern Bulgaria. Dating to the mid-4th century AD, the Roman Tomb is the best-preserved architectural monument of the Ancient Roman city of Durostorum. The tomb is considered "one of the most investigated and most discussed monuments of the late antique art in Bulgaria" and the Balkans, owing in large part to the quality and extent of its interior frescoes.

44°3′N 26°37′E / 44.050°N 26.617°E / 44.050; 26.617

Tutrakan (Bulgarian: Тутракан [ˈtutrɐkan], Romanian: Тurtucaia, Turkish: Turtukaya) is a town in northeastern Bulgaria, an administrative centre of the homonymous municipality, part of Silistra Province. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube opposite the Romanian town of Oltenița (to which it was linked through a ferry but the ferry does not work anymore), in the very west of Southern Dobruja, 58 km east of Rousse and 62 km west of Silistra.

Kaspichan (Bulgarian: Каспичан, pronounced [ˈkaspit͡ʃɐn]) is a town in central northeastern Bulgaria, part of Shumen Province. It is located in the eastern Danubian Plain, some 70 km (43 mi) from the major Black Sea port Varna and around 120 km (75 mi) from the key Danube ports of Ruse and Silistra. As of December 2009, the town had a population of 3,260.

Kaspichan is an important railway junction linking Varna with Sofia and Russe, Sofia both through a railway line and the Hemus motorway.