History of the Russo-Turkish wars

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Russo-Ottoman wars
Erzurum Offensive
Date1568–1918 (350 years)
Location
Eastern Europe, Balkans, Caucasus, Anatolia
Result Both empires collapsed in World War I
Belligerents
Tsardom of Russia
Russian Empire Russian Empire
 Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Ivan the Terrible
Peter the Great
Russian Empire Burkhard Münnich
Russian Empire Catherine II
Russian Empire Alexander I
Russian Empire Nicholas I
Russian Empire Alexander II
Russian Empire Nicholas II		 Selim II
Kara Mustafa Pasha
Ivaz Mehmed Pasha
Mustafa III
Abdul Hamid I
Mahmud II
Abdulmejid I
Abdul Hamid II
Enver Pasha
Casualties and losses
1676–1681: 8,000
1735–1739: 100,000
1787–1792: 72,000
1853–1856: 450,000
1877–1878: 111,000
1914–1918: 140,000 [1]		 1676–1681: 20,000
1735–1739: Unknown
1787–1792: 130,000
1853–1856: 45,000
1877–1878: 120,000
1914–1918: 300,000 [1]

Russo-Turkish wars (

decline; conversely, they showcased the ascendancy of Russia as a European power after the modernization efforts of Peter the Great in the early 18th century.[3][4][5]

History

Conflict begins (1568–1739)

See also:
Ottoman ancien régime

Before Peter the Great

The Crimean Khanate in about 1600. Note that the areas marked Poland and Muscovy were claimed rather than administered.
See also: Crimean–Nogai slave raids in Eastern Europe

The first

conquest of Kazan and Astrakhan by the Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible. The Ottoman Sultan Selim II tried to squeeze the Russians out of the lower Volga by sending a military expedition to Astrakhan in 1569. The Turkish expedition ended in disaster for the Ottoman army, which could not take Astrakhan and almost completely perished in the steppes, while the Ottoman fleet was wrecked in the Sea of Azov.[6] The peace treaty between the two sides cemented Russia's rule on the Volga, but allowed the Ottoman Empire to obtain a number of commercial benefits. The Crimean Khanate, an Ottoman vassal, continued its expansion against the Tsardom of Russia, but was defeated at the Battle of Molodi
in 1572.

The next conflict between Russia and Turkey began 100 years later as part of the struggle for the territory of Ukraine. While Russia conquered

Dnieper River.[10]

Peter the Great and further

Russia joined the European

Azov campaigns (1695–96).[12] In the light of Russia's preparations for the war with Sweden and other countries' signing the Treaty of Karlowitz with Turkey in 1699, the Russian government signed the Treaty of Constantinople with the Ottoman Empire in 1700.[13] Following the results of peace, Russia managed to annex Azov
and get access to the Sea of Azov.

Capture of Azov by the troops of Peter the Great
in 1696

After the Russians had defeated the Swedes and the pro-Swedish Empire Ukrainian Cossacks led by Ivan Mazepa in the Battle of Poltava in 1709, Charles XII of Sweden managed to persuade the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed III to declare war on Russia on November 20, 1710. The Prut campaign of Peter the Great ended very unsuccessfully for Russia. The Russian army, led by the tsar, was surrounded by a superior Turkish-Tatar army and was forced to agree to unfavorable peace conditions, according to which it returned the previously captured Azov to the Ottoman Empire.[14]

By the late 17th century,

for centuries (16th–19th centuries), had been heavily declining. Taking advantage of the situation, Russia and the Ottoman Empire conquered swaths of its territory comprising contemporary Dagestan, Azerbaijan, and Northern Iran, which was taken by Peter I in the Russo-Persian War (1722–1723); the Ottomans took the territory to the west, comprising modern day Armenia, parts of Eastern Anatolia, as well as western Iran. The gains by both were confirmed in the Treaty of Constantinople (1724)
. For a few years, they bordered each other along a large territory in the Caucasus, which caused further frictions.

Russia managed to secure a favourable international situation by signing treaties with Persia in

at war with the Ottoman Empire. In the meantime Russia was also supporting the accession to the Polish throne of Augustus III in the War of the Polish Succession (1733–35), over the French-nominated Stanisław Leszczyński
. Austria had been Russia's ally since 1726.

Europe before the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774

Russia entered into

Karasubazar. Lacy and his soldiers had to leave the Crimea, however, due to lack of supplies.[15]

Austria entered the war against Turkey in July 1737 but was defeated a number of times. In August, Russia, Austria and Turkey began negotiations in

Swedish invasion, forced Russia to sign the Treaty of Niš with Turkey on September 18, ending the war.[15]

Gradual defeat of the Ottoman Empire (1768–1878)

Main article:
Decline of the Ottoman Empire

Catherine the Great

Following a border incident at Balta, Sultan Mustafa III declared war on Russia on September 25, 1768. The Turks formed an alliance with the Polish opposition forces of the Bar Confederation, while Russia was supported by Great Britain, which offered naval advisers to the Imperial Russian Navy.[11][18]

The destruction of the Ottoman fleet in Battle of Chesma

The Polish opposition was defeated by

Alexander Suvorov, who was then transferred to the Ottoman theatre of operations, where in 1773 and 1774 he won several minor and major battles following the previous grand successes of the Russian Field-Marshal Pyotr Rumyantsev at Larga and Kagul.[19]

Naval operations of the

Egypt and Syria rebelled against Ottoman rule, while the Russian fleet totally destroyed the Ottoman Navy at the Battle of Chesma.[20]

On July 21, 1774, the Ottoman Empire signed the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, which formally granted independence to the Crimean Khanate, but in reality it became dependent on Russia. Russia received 4.5 million rubles and two key seaports allowing the direct access to the Black Sea. It also marked the first time that a foreign power directly interfered in the affairs of the Sublime Porte, as the treaty gave Russia protector status over Turkey's Orthodox Christian subjects.[21]

In 1783, Russia

Catherine II made a triumphant trip across the Crimea, accompanied by representatives of foreign courts and her ally, Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor. These events and the friction caused by mutual complaints of infringements of the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, which had closed the previous war, stirred up public opinion in Constantinople, and the British ambassador lent his support to the war party.[22]

In 1787 the Ottomans demanded that Russia vacate the Crimea. Russia declared war, but Ottoman preparations were inadequate and the moment was ill-chosen, now that Russia and Austria were in alliance, a fact that came to light only after events were already in motion. The Turks

Admiral Ushakov
, inflicted a series of defeats on the Turkish Fleet and seized the initiative in the Black Sea.

Sultan Selim III was nervous to restore his country's prestige by a victory before making peace, but the condition of his military rendered this hope unavailing. Turkey signed an assistance pact with Prussia on 31 January 1790, but received no help during the war.[25] Accordingly, the Treaty of Jassy was signed with Russia on 9 January 1792, by which the Crimea and Ochakov were left to Russia, the Dniester was made the frontier in Europe, and the Asiatic frontier remained unchanged.[26]

Conflicts in the 19th century

See also:
Eastern Question
Russian siege of Varna in Ottoman-ruled Bulgaria, July–September 1828

Gábor Ágoston attributes the decline of Ottoman power relative to Russia to the reactionary

Janissaries
:

Despite all these treatises and efforts at modernization, the Janissaries and their allies managed to derail Sultan Selim III's Western-style military, bureaucratic, and financial reforms through a coup, even killing the sultan himself. It was not until the 1830s that fundamental reforms could be started under Mahmud II, who destroyed the Janissaries in 1826, a century and a quarter after Peter the Great's liquidation of the strel'tsy.[27]

In 1806, the Ottoman Empire incited by

Napoleonic France started a new war. The long six-year war for Russia took place in parallel with the Russo-Persian War, the Russo-Swedish War and the War of the Fourth Coalition. Despite this, in the decisive campaign of 1811, the Russian army of Kutuzov defeated the Ottoman army on the Danube, which made it possible to conclude a peace treaty beneficial for Russia, according to which Russia get Bessarabia
.

The Ottoman Empire had maintained military parity with Russia until the second half of the eighteenth century,

Indian Subcontinent.[30]

The destruction of the Ottoman fleet in Battle of Sinop

When in 1853 Russia destroyed the entire Ottoman fleet at Sinop, Britain and France concluded that armed intervention on the side of the Ottomans was the only way to halt a massive Russian expansion. Even though the Ottomans and Russians were on opposing sides, the roots of the ensuing Crimean War lay in the rivalry between the British and the Russians. The war ended unfavorably for the Russians, with the Paris peace of 1856.[31]

The wars declined Ottoman morale and turned it helpless, illustrating that modern technology and superior weaponry were the most important part of a modern army, and a part that the Ottoman Empire was sorely lacking. While fighting alongside the British, French, and even the Piedmontese, the Ottomans could see how far they had fallen behind. Things began to change after the Crimean War.[32]

One of these changes arose as Europeans began to see commercial opportunity in the empire and the money entering via trade dramatically increased. The government also received a great deal of extra money from a uniform tax system with little corruption.

Ottoman nationalism
was appearing. It seemed as though it might be possible for the empire to turn its decline around.

Adrianople

The monetary and governmental collapse combined with a new threat from Russia began the final stages of the Empire's collapse. Russia had been forced by the Crimean War to give up its ambitions of conquering the Ottoman capital of

revolt in Herzegovina in 1875. The revolt in Herzegovina quickly spread to Bosnia and then Bulgaria. Soon Serbia also entered the war against the Turks. These revolts were the first test of the new Modern Ottoman Army. Even though they were not up to Western European standards, the army fought effectively and brutally; during the war, the Ottomans carried out the Batak massacre in 1876. Januarius MacGahan, a journalist of the New York Herald and the London The Daily News wrote of the terrible happenings after his visit to Batak with Eugene Schuyler. According to most sources, around 5,000 people were massacred in Batak alone.[35] The total number of victims in the April uprising according to most estimates around 15,000,[36][37] which is supported by Eugene Schuyler's report, published in The Daily News, according to which at least 15,000 persons were killed during the April Uprising in addition to 36 villages in three districts being buried.[38] According to Donald Quataert around 1,000 Muslims were killed by Christian Bulgarians and consequently 3,700 Christians were killed by Muslims.[39][40]

independence of Bulgaria
.

Soon the Balkan rebellions were beginning to falter. In Europe, papers were filled with reports of Ottoman soldiers killing thousands of Slavs. Even in Great Britain William Ewart Gladstone published his account of Ottoman atrocities in his Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East.[41] The uprisings raised a chance for Russia, and (Prince Gorchakov) and Austria-Hungary (Count Andrássy), who made the secret Reichstadt Agreement on July 8 1876, on partitioning the Balkan peninsula depending on the outcome.

The following year a

new Russo-Turkish war had begun. Despite fighting better than they ever had before, the modernised Ottoman armies still were not equal to the Imperial Russian Army. This time there was no help from abroad; in truth, many European nations supported the Russian war, as long as it did not get too close to Constantinople. Ten and a half months later when the war had ended, the age of Ottoman domination over the Balkans was over. In the Balkans, the Russian army, having crossed the Danube, captured the Shipka Pass. The Turkish army of Osman Nuri Pasha, after a stubborn struggle, surrendered to Plevna. After that, the Russian army crossed the Balkan Mountains, defeated the remaining Turkish troops and reached the approaches to Constantinople. In the Caucasus, the Turkish army held back the Russian offensive, but after a defeat at the Battle of Aladzha, retreated to Erzurum, after which the Russians took Kars. On the Black Sea, the Ottoman fleet had a colossal advantage, since the Russian Black Sea Fleet
fleet had not recovered from the Crimean War. Despite this, the hostilities on the Black Sea in this war were not important.

Negotiations for San Stefano Agreement

In response to the Russian proximity to the straits the British, against the wishes of the new Sultan Abdul Hamid II, intervened in the war. A large task force representing British naval supremacy entered the straits of Marmara and anchored in view of both the Dolmabahçe Palace and the Russian army. Looking at the prospect of a British entry into the war the Russians decided to settle the dispute. The Treaty of San Stefano gave Romania and Montenegro their independence, Serbia and Russia each received extra territory, Austria-Hungary was given control over Bosnia, and Bulgaria was given almost complete autonomy. The hope of the Sultan was that the other great powers would oppose such a one-sided resolution and a conference would be held to revise it. His hope became reality and in 1878 the Congress of Berlin was held where Germany promised to be an "honest broker" in the treaty's revision. In the new treaty Bulgarian territory was decreased and the war indemnities were cancelled. The conference also again hurt Anglo-Ottoman relations by giving the British the island of Cyprus. While annoyed at British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, the Sultan had nothing but praise for Otto von Bismarck who forced many of the major concessions upon Russia. These close Germano-Ottoman relations would persist until both empires' very end.

The Russian extension in this century developed with the main theme of supporting independence of Ottomans' former provinces and then bringing all of the Slav peoples of the Balkans under Bulgaria or using Armenians in the east sets the stage. At the end of the century from Russian perspective;

Great Powers. After the Congress of Berlin
the Russian expansion was controlled through stopping the expansion of Bulgaria. The Russian public felt that at the end of Congress of Berlin thousands of Russian soldiers had died for nothing.

The Caucasus

During the Greek uprising, the Russian Empire reached the Ottoman borders in the Caucasus, which were located in the southwest of the region, as well as northeastern Anatolia. Under the terms of the Treaty of Adrianople, the Ottoman Empire recognized Russian sovereignty over western Georgia, which was formerly under Ottoman suzerainty, and recognized Russian domination of present-day Armenia, which had been conquered a year earlier (1828) by the Russians from Qajar Iran through the Treaty of Turkmenchay.[30] After the war of 1877-78, Russia also received Kars and Ardahan.

End of the Ottoman and Russian Empires (1914–23)

Main articles: Caucasus campaign, Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, and Russian Revolution
occupation of northwest Turkey and the Caucasus (Western Armenia
) in summer 1916.

During the early months of

Battle of Erzurum in 1916, after which the Russian army captured the whole of Western Armenia. After the 1916 campaign, the front remained stable until the Russian Revolution
.

The collapse of the Russian army after the 1917 revolution left only thinly spread Armenian units to resist the inevitable Ottoman counter-attack. The newly declared

Baku Commune was established in the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. The commune later became the Centrocaspian Dictatorship, in turn conquered by the Ottoman Islamic Army of the Caucasus, then shortly by the Triple Entente and finally the Bolsheviks. Defeat on other fronts caused the Ottoman Empire to surrender and withdraw forces. Both the Armenian and Azerbaijani Republics ended up being part of the Soviet Union in 1920.[30] The Soviet-Turkish border was established under the Treaty of Moscow (1921)
.

List of conflicts

Name Date Result
1
First Russo-Turkish War
 1568–1570 Russian victory[42]
2
Second Russo-Turkish War
 1676–1681 Disputed[a]
Treaty of Bakhchisarai[48]
3 Third Russo-Turkish War
(subset of the Great Turkish War) 		1686–1700 Habsburg, Polish-Lithuanian, Russian, and Venetian victory[49]
Treaty of Karlowitz and Treaty of Constantinople: Russia gains possession of Azov and the fortresses of Taganrog, Pavlovsk, and Mius[49]
4
Fourth Russo-Turkish War
(subset of the Great Northern War
) 		1710–1711 Ottoman victory
Treaty of Pruth and Treaty of Adrianople (1713): Russia cedes Azov to the Ottoman Empire and demolishes the fortresses of Taganrog, Kodak, Novobogoroditskaya, and Kamenny Zaton
Russia agrees to stop meddling in the affairs of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
5
Austro-Russian-Turkish War
) 		1735–1739

Sava and Danube
Treaty of Niš (3 October 1739):[50][51] Russia gives up territorial claims to Ottoman Moldova and Bessarabia; Ottomans cede the demilitarized Azov to Russia, as well as the Zaporozhye region[50]

6 Sixth Russo-Turkish War 1768–1774 Russian victory
Enikale, Kabardia and part of Yedisan to Russia; Crimean Khanate becomes a Russian client state
7
Seventh Russo-Turkish War
 1787–1792 Russian victory[53][2]: 745 [52]: 393–426 
Treaty of Jassy: Russia annexes Ozi, Ottomans recognize Russian annexation of the Crimean Khanate
8
Eighth Russo-Turkish War
 1806–1812 Russian victory[54]
Treaty of Bucharest (1812): Russia annexes Bessarabia
9
Ninth Russo-Turkish War
 1828–1829 Russian victory[55]
Treaty of Adrianople (1829): Russia occupies the Danubian Principalities, Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire
10 Crimean War 1853–1856 Ottoman, British, French and Piedmontese victory[56]
Treaty of Paris (1856): mutual demilitarization of the Black Sea, Russia cedes Southern Bessarabia and recognizes de jure Ottoman suzerainty over Danubian Principalities
11
Tenth Russo-Turkish War
 1877–1878 Russian and allied victory
Batum Oblast
ceded to Russia
12 World War I:[58] 1914–1918 Indecisive[59]

Treaty of Batum

  • Return to the pre-war borders in 1918

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The result of the war, which was ended by the Treaty of Bakhchisarai, is disputed. Some historians say it was an Ottoman victory,[43][44] yet another historian contends it was a Russian victory.[45] While some historians state the war was indecisive (stalemate).[46][47][44]

References

  1. ^ a b #List of conflicts
  2. ^ a b c d Dowling T. C. Russia at War: From the Mongol Conquest to Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Beyond. ABC-CLIO. 2014.
  3. S2CID 19755686
    .
  4. ^ Kafadar, C. (1999). "The Question of Ottoman Decline". Harvard Middle East and Islamic Review. 4 (1–2).
  5. ^ Howard, D. A. (1988). "Ottoman Historiography and the Literature of Decline of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries". Journal of Asian History. 22 (1). Harrassowitz Verlag: 52–77.
  6. ^ Martin, Janet (1996). Medieval Russia:980-1584. Cambridge University Press.
  7. ISBN 978-0-521-57455-6
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  8. ISBN 978-90-04-25440-4
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  9. ^ Флоря Б. Н. Россия, Речь Посполитая и Правобережная Украина в последние годы гетманства П. Дорошенко (1673—1677 гг.) // Древняя Русь. Вопросы медиевистики. — 2016. — Т. 65, № 3. — С. 90.
  10. ISBN 978-3-642-55227-4
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  11. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4411-6238-0
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  12. ISBN 978-0-521-47033-9
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  13. ISBN 978-0-313-29520-1
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  14. ISBN 978-0-313-35920-0
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  15. ^
    ISBN 978-1-55753-594-8
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  16. ^ "Nemirov Congress of 1737". The Free Dictionary. Farlex, Inc. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  17. ISBN 978-1-85109-672-5
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  18. ^ a b Brian L. Davies, The Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774: Catherine II and the Ottoman Empire (Bloomsbury, 2016).
  19. ISBN 978-1-85109-672-5
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  20. ^ "Battle of Çeşme". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  21. ^ "Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  22. ISBN 978-1-4728-2227-7
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  23. ISBN 978-1-317-88793-5
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  24. ISBN 978-1-317-88793-5
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  25. ISBN 978-1-60426-684-9
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  26. ISBN 978-1-4381-1025-7
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  27. ^ Gábor Ágoston, "Military transformation in the Ottoman Empire and Russia, 1500–1800." Kritika 12.2 (2011) p. 319.
  28. ISBN 978-0-582-30807-7
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  29. ^ Woodhead, Christine (2008). "New Views on Ottoman History, 1453–1839". The English Historical Review. 123. Oxford University Press: 983. the Ottomans were able largely to maintain military parity until taken by surprise both on land and at sea in the Russian war from 1768 to 1774.
  30. ^ a b c d David R. Stone, A Military History of Russia: From Ivan the Terrible to the War in Chechnya (Greenwood Publishing, 2006)
  31. ^ "Crimean War". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  32. ISBN 978-1-4008-7876-5
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  33. ISBN 978-1-351-94219-5
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  34. ISBN 978-0-571-27908-1
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  35. ^ Crampton, R.J. (2007). Bulgaria. OUP Oxford. p. 92.
    ISBN 978-0-19-820514-2
    .
  36. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bulgaria: History: The Revolt of 1876" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 782.
  37. ^ Genocide and gross human rights violations: in comparative perspective, Kurt Jonassohn, 1999, p.210
  38. ^ "Schuyler's Preliminary Report on the Moslem Atrocities", published with the letters by Januarius MacGahan, London, 1876.
  39. ^ a b Quataert, Donald. The Ottoman Empire 1700–1922, Cambridge University Press 2005, pp.69
  40. ^ Millman, Richard. The Bulgarian Massacres Reconsidered. pp. 218–231
  41. ^ Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East, 5 September 1876
  42. ^ Janet Martin, Medieval Russia: 980-1584, (Cambridge University Press, 1996), 356.
  43. ^ Murphey 1999, p. 9.
  44. ^ a b Davies 2006, p. 512.
  45. ^ Davies 2007, p. 172.
  46. ^ Kollmann 2017, p. 14.
  47. ^ Stone 2006, p. 41.
  48. ^ "Treaty of Bakhchisarai", Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. I, ed. Alexander Mikaberidze, (ABC-CLIO, 2011), 180.
  49. ^ a b "Treaty of Constantinople (1700)", Alexander Mikaberidze, Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. I, 250.
  50. ^ a b "Treaty of Nis (1739)", Alexander Mikaberidze, Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. I, 647.
  51. ^ Russo-Turkish wars // Encyclopædia Britannica
  52. ^ a b Isabel De Madariaga, Russia in the Age of Catherine the Great (1981)
  53. ^ Black J. European Warfare, 1660-1815. Taylor & Francis, 1994. P. 25
  54. ^ Ziegler C. E. The History of Russia. ABC-CLIO, 2009. P. 46.
  55. ^ John Frederick Baddeley, The Russian conquest of the Caucasus (Routledge, 2013. ch 12)
  56. ^ Orlando Figes, The Crimean War: A History (2010)
  57. ^ Ian Drury, The Russo-Turkish War 1877 (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012).
  58. ^ Also extended into the Russian Civil War.
  59. ^ Price, M. P. (1918). War & Revolution in Asiatic Russia. United Kingdom: Macmillan

Sources

Further reading

See also: Bibliography of Russian history (1613–1917)
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