Annexation of the Crimean Khanate by the Russian Empire
Date | 19 April [O.S. 8 April] 1783 |
---|---|
Location | Crimea |
Outcome | Crimean Khanate annexed by Russian Empire |
The territory of
After changing hands several times during the Russian Civil War, Bolshevik rule was established in Crimea in 1921, with the peninsula becoming part of the Russian SFSR and then USSR a year later. In 1954, it was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR, which became the independent Ukraine in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Russian Federation annexed Crimea in March 2014, though that annexation is not recognised internationally.[3][4]
Prelude
Independent Crimea (1774–1776)
Before Russia defeated the Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774, the Khanate, populated largely by Crimean Tatars, had been part of the Ottoman Empire. In the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, which was the result of that war, the Ottoman Empire was forced to cede sovereignty over the Khanate, and allow it to become an independent state under Russian influence.[5] Tatars in Crimea had no desire for independence, and held a strong emotional attachment to the Ottoman Empire.[citation needed] Within two months of the signing of the treaty, the government of the Khanate sent envoys to the Ottomans, asking them to "destroy the conditions of independence". The envoys said that as Russian troops remained stationed in Crimea at Yeni-Kale and Kerch, the Khanate could not be considered independent. Nevertheless, the Ottomans ignored this request, not wishing to violate the agreement with Russia.[6][7] In the disorder that followed the Turkish defeat, Tatar leader Devlet Giray refused to accept the treaty at the time of its signing. Having been fighting Russians in the Kuban during the war, he crossed the Kerch Strait to Crimea and seized the city of Kaffa (modern Feodosia). Devlet subsequently seized the Crimean throne, usurping Sahib Giray. Despite his actions against the Russians, Russian Empress Catherine the Great recognised Devlet as Khan.[7]
At the same time, however, she was grooming her favourite
Crimean revolts (1777–1782)
At the behest of Empress Catherine, Şahin allowed Russians to settle in the peninsula, further infuriating Crimeans. A group of these settlers had been sent to
Over the following years, Şahin continued to try and reform the Khanate.
A new rebellion, sparked by the continuing marginalisation of Tatars within the Khanate government, started in 1781.
Annexation
In March 1783, Prince Potemkin made a rhetorical push to encourage Empress Catherine to annex Crimea. Having just returned from Crimea, he told her that many Crimeans would "happily" submit to Russian rule. Encouraged by this news, Empress Catherine issued a formal proclamation of annexation on 19 April [O.S. 8 April] 1783.[1][13] Tatars did not resist the annexation. After years of turmoil, the Crimeans lacked the resources and the will to continue fighting. Many fled the peninsula, leaving for Anatolia.[14] Count Alexander Bezborodko, then a close advisor to the Empress, wrote in his diary that Russia was forced to annex Crimea:
The Porte has not kept good faith from the very beginning. Their primary goal has been to deprive the Crimeans of independence. They banished the legal khan and replaced him with the thief Devlet Giray. They consistently refused to evacuate the Taman. They made numerous perfidious attempts to introduce rebellion in the Crimea against the legitimate Khan Şahin Giray. All of these efforts did not bring us to declare war…The Porte never ceased to drink in each drop of revolt among the Tatars…Our only wish has been to bring peace to Crimea…and we were finally forced by the Turks to annex the area.[15]
This view was far from reality. Crimean "independence" had been a
References
- ^ JSTOR 4205010.
- ^ Roşu, Felicia (2021). Slavery in the Black Sea Region, c.900–1900 – Forms of Unfreedom at the Intersection Between Christianity and Islam. Studies in Global Slavery, Volume: 11. Brill. p. 173-176
- ISBN 978-1136759680.
- ^ Casey Michel (4 March 2015). "The Crime of the Century". The New Republic. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
- ^ "When Catherine the Great Invaded the Crimea and Put the Rest of the World on Edge". Smithsonian.com. 4 March 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
- ISBN 1001341082.
- ^ ISBN 0817966633.
- ^ ISBN 0817966633.
- ^ ISBN 9004101160.
- ^ ISBN 0817966633.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8179-6663-8.
- ISBN 978-1-317-88219-0.
- ^ ISBN 1001341082.
- ISBN 90-04-10509-3.
- ^ Nikolai Ivanovich Grigorovich (1879). Сборник Императорского русского исторического общества: Канцлер князь Александр Андреевич Безбородко в связи с событиями его времени [Collection of the Imperial Russian Historical Society: Chancellor A. A. Bezborodko in Connection with the Events of His Time] (in Russian). Vol. 26. St. Petersburg: Imperial Russian Historical Society. pp. 530–532.
- ^ Sir H. A. R. Gibb (1954). The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Brill Archive. p. 288.
- ISBN 0312278152.
- ^ The First Annexation of Crimea 1784
Further reading
- Fisher, Alan W. "Şahin Girey, the reformer khan, and the Russian annexation of the Crimea." Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas 15#3 (1967): 341-364 online.