fast-paced maneuver warfare of the 1812 campaign. The Schilling fuse, patented in 1813, contained two pointed carbon electrodes that produced an electric arc. The electrode assembly was placed in a sealed box filled with fine-grained gunpowder, which was ignited by the arc. In 1822 Schilling demonstrated the land version of his fuse to Alexander I at Krasnoye Selo; in 1827 another Schilling mine was shown to Nicholas I. This time the test was supervised by military engineer Karl Schilder, an influential Imperial Guard officer and an inventor in his own right. Schilder pushed the proposal through the bureaucracy, and in April 1828 the Inspector general of military engineers authorised development of electrically-fired mines for series production. Russia had just entered the war with the Ottoman Empire, which frequently involved sieges of Turkish defenses in the Caucasus. The main problem that Schilling faced was the lack of batteries fit for field service, an issue not resolved until after the end of hostilities. According to Russian biographers of both Schilling and Schilder, reports of electrically-fired mines being used during the siege of Silistra are almost certainly incorrect. Immediately after his return from Siberia Schilling resumed work on mines and fuses. In September 1832 a series of electrically-fired land mines, imitating both defensive and offensive operations, were successfully tested by Schilder's battalion. This time the technology was ready for deployment and was issued to the Army; Schilling was awarded the Order of Saint Vladimir, 2nd class. Schilling continued improving land mines until the end of his life. In March 1834 Schilder test-fired the first naval mine employing insulated wires invented by Schilling; in 1835 the military performed the first test demolition of a bridge with an electrically-fired underwater charge. These demolition sets were produced and issued to military engineers' units from 1836 onwards. On the other hand, the Russian Navy resisted the novelty until the invention of a reliable contact fuse by Moritz von Jacobi in 1840. Legacy Schilling maintained regular correspondence with many scientists, writers and politicians, and was well known to Western European academic communities. He arranged publications of historical manuscripts and provided oriental sorts and matrices to European print shops; however, during his lifetime he never attempted to publish a book in his own name or to submit an article to a journal. The only known publication, the preface to the Index of the Narthang Kangyur, was printed posthumously and