| Russo-Turkish wars | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theOttoman wars in Europe | |||||||||
 Left-to-right from top: Siege of Ochakov (1737),Siege of Izmail (1790),Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855),Siege of Plevna (1877),Battle of Sarikamish (1914–1915),Battle of Erzurum (1916) | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Tsardom of Russia (until 1721) Russian Empire (1721–1917) Russian Republic (1917) Russian SFSR (1917–1918) |  Ottoman EmpireVassals:  Crimea Egypt | ||||||||
TheRusso-Turkish wars[1] or theRusso-Ottoman wars[2] began in 1568 and continued intermittently until 1918. They consisted of twelve conflicts in total, making them one of the longest series of wars in thehistory of Europe.[3] All but four of these wars ended in losses for theOttoman Empire, which was undergoing a period ofstagnation anddecline. Conversely, they showcased the ascendancy of theRussian Empire as a significant European power afterPeter the Great oversaw extensive modernization efforts in the early 18th century.[4][5][6] Ultimately, however, the end of the Russo-Turkish wars came about with the dissolution of the two belligerents' respective states as a consequence ofWorld War I: theRussian Empire collapsed in 1917 and was ultimately succeeded by theUnion of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922; while theOttoman Empire was partitioned between 1918 and 1922 and succeeded by theRepublic of Turkey in 1923.
The firstRusso-Turkish War (1568–1570) occurred after theconquest of Kazan andAstrakhan by the Russian tsarIvan the Terrible. The Ottoman SultanSelim II tried to squeeze the Russians out of the lowerVolga by sending a military expedition to Astrakhan in 1569. The Turkish expedition ended in disaster for theOttoman army, which could not take Astrakhan and almost completely perished in the steppes, while theOttoman fleet was wrecked by a storm in theSea of Azov.[7] 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. TheCrimean Khanate, an Ottomanvassal, continued its expansion against theTsardom of Russia, burning downMoscow in 1571, but was defeated at theBattle 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 conqueredLeft-bank Ukraine after theRusso-Polish War (1654–1667), the Ottoman Empire, in the course of thePolish–Ottoman War (1672–1676), spread its rule over all ofright-bank Ukraine with the support of itsvassal,Petro Doroshenko (1665–1672).[8] The latter's pro-Ottoman policy caused disapproval among manyUkrainian Cossacks, who would electIvan Samoilovich as soleHetman of all Ukraine in 1674.[9] In 1676, Russian troops capturedChigirin and overthrew Doroshenko, who was exiled to Russia. In 1677, the Ottoman army tried to retake Chigirin, but was defeated. In 1678, the Ottoman army was finally able to take Chigirin after a bloody assault, but here the Ottoman expansion to the northeast was stopped.[10] In 1679–80, the Russians repelled the attacks of theCrimean Tatars and signed theTreaty of Bakhchisarai in 1681, which established the Russo-Turkish border on theDnieper River.[11]
Russia joined the EuropeanHoly League (Austria,Poland,Venice) in 1686.[12]: 14 During the war, the Russian army organized theCrimean campaigns of 1687 and 1689 and theAzov campaigns (1695–96).[13] In the light of Russia's preparations for the war withSweden and other countries' signing theTreaty of Karlowitz with Turkey in 1699, the Russian government signed theTreaty of Constantinople with the Ottoman Empire in 1700.[14] Following the results of peace, Russia managed to annexAzov and get access to the Sea of Azov.
After the Russians had defeated the Swedes and the pro-Swedish Empire Ukrainian Cossacks led byIvan Mazepa in theBattle of Poltava in 1709,Charles XII of Sweden managed to persuade the Ottoman SultanAhmed III to declare war on Russia on November 20, 1710. ThePrut 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.[15]
By the late 17th century,Safavid Iran, which neighbored both empires and had been one of the greatest rivals for Turkeyfor centuries (16th–19th centuries), had been heavily declining. Taking advantage of the situation, Russia and the Ottoman Empire conquered swaths of its territory comprising contemporaryDagestan,Azerbaijan, andNorthern Iran, which was taken byPeter I in theRusso-Persian War (1722–1723); the Ottomans took the territory to the west, comprising modern dayArmenia, parts of EasternAnatolia, as well as western Iran. The gains by both were confirmed in theTreaty 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 in1732 and1735. These returned all Iranian territories gained since 1722 in theNorth andSouth Caucasus and Northern Iran, and avoided war with the emerging leader of Persia,Nader Shah. The treaties had other diplomatically favourable aspects as they established a Russo-Iranian alliance against Turkey, as Persia wasat war with the Ottoman Empire. In the meantime Russia was also supporting the accession to the Polish throne ofAugustus III in theWar of the Polish Succession (1733–35), over theFrench-nominatedStanisław Leszczyński. Austria had been Russia's ally since 1726.
Russia entered intoanother war with the Ottoman Empire in 1736, prompted by raids onUkraine by Crimean Tatars and the military campaign of theCrimean khan in theCaucasus. In May 1736, the Russian army launched an invasion of the Crimean peninsula and burned the capital of the Crimean Khanate,Bakhchysarai. On June 19, the Russian Don army under the command of GeneralPeter Lacy captured Azov.[16] In July 1737, theMünnich army took by storm the Ottoman fortress ofOchakov. The Lacy army (now 40,000 strong) marched into the Crimea the same month, inflicting some defeats on the army of the Crimean Khan and capturingKarasubazar. Lacy and his soldiers had to leave the Crimea, however, due to lack of supplies.[16]
Austria entered the war against Turkey in July 1737 but was defeated a number of times. In August, Russia, Austria and Turkey began negotiations inNemirov, which would turn out to be fruitless.[17] There were no significant military operations in 1738. The Russian army had to leave Ochakov andKinburn due to a plague outbreak. In 1739, theMünnich army crossed theDnieper, defeated the Ottoman Empire atStavuchany,[18] and occupied the fortress ofKhotin andIaşi. However, Austria was defeated by the Ottoman Empire once again and signed aseparate peace treaty on August 21. This, coupled with the imminent threat ofSwedish invasion, forced Russia to sign theTreaty of Niš with Turkey on September 18, ending the war.[16]
Following a border incident at Balta, SultanMustafa IIIdeclared war on Russia on September 25, 1768. The Turks formed an alliance with the Polish opposition forces of theBar Confederation, while Russia was supported byGreat Britain, which offered naval advisers to theImperial Russian Navy.[12][19]
In January 1769, a 70-thousand Turkish-Tatar army led by Crimean KhanQırım Girayinvaded the lands of central Ukraine. Crimean Tatars, Turks andNogais ravagedNew Serbia, took a significant number ofslaves. Their raid was repulsed by the garrison of theFortress of St. Elizabeth, after which the movement to the Black Sea continued troops of GeneralRumyantsev.[20][21]
The Polish opposition was defeated byAlexander 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-MarshalPyotr Rumyantsev atLarga andKagul.[22]
Naval operations of theRussian Baltic Fleet in the Mediterranean yielded victories under the command ofAleksei Orlov. In 1771,Egypt andSyria rebelled against Ottoman rule, while the Russian fleet totally destroyed theOttoman Navy at theBattle of Chesma.[23]
On July 21, 1774, the Ottoman Empire signed theTreaty of Küçük Kaynarca, which formally granted independence to theCrimean Khanate, but in reality it became dependent on Russia. Russia received 4.5 million rubles and two key seaports allowing direct access to theBlack Sea. It also marked the first time that a foreign power directly interfered in the affairs of theSublime Porte, as the treaty gave Russia protector status over Turkey's Orthodox Christian subjects.[24]
In 1783, Russiaannexed the Crimean Khanate. In the same year, Russia established its protectorate over theKingdom of Kartli-Kakheti according to theTreaty of Georgievsk. In 1787, EmpressCatherine II made a triumphanttrip 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 inConstantinople, and the British ambassador lent his support to the war party.[25]
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 Turksdrove back the Austrians fromMehadia and overran theBanat (1789); but in Moldavia Field-Marshal Pyotr Rumyantsev was successful and capturedIaşi andKhotyn.[26] Ottoman generals were incompetent, and the army mutinous; expeditions for the relief ofBender andAkkerman failed,Belgrade was taken by the Austrians,[27] The Russian army under the command ofAlexander Suvorov defeated the Turks in theBattle of Rymnik andcaptured Izmail. The fall ofAnapa completed the series of Ottoman disasters.[3] The RussianBlack Sea Fleet, created just a few years earlier, under the command ofAdmiral Ushakov, inflicted a series of defeats on the Turkish Fleet and seized the initiative in the Black Sea.
SultanSelim 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 withPrussia on 31 January 1790, but received no help during the war.[28] Accordingly, theTreaty of Jassy was signed with Russia on 9 January 1792, by which the Crimea and Ochakov were left to Russia, theDniester was made the frontier in Europe, and the Asiatic frontier remained unchanged.[29]
Gábor Ágoston attributes the decline of Ottoman power relative to Russia to the reactionaryJanissaries:
In 1806, the Ottoman Empire incited byNapoleonic France started anew war. The long six-year war for Russia took place in parallel with theRusso-Persian War, theRusso-Swedish War and theWar of the Fourth Coalition. Despite this, in the decisive campaign of 1811, the Russian army ofKutuzov defeated the Ottoman army on theDanube, which made it possible to conclude a peace treaty beneficial for Russia, according to which Russia gainedBessarabia.
The Ottoman Empire had maintained military parity with Russia until the second half of the eighteenth century,[31][32] but by the 1820s the Ottoman armies were unable to put down theGreek War of Independence insouthern Greece. The great powers of Europe intervened, and assistedGreece with its independence. After theBattle of Navarino and theRusso-Turkish War (1828–29), in which the Russian army first crossed theBalkan Mountains and tookAdrianople, Turkey recognized the independence of Greece and the transition of theBlack Sea coast of the Caucasus to Russia. Thus Greece became the first independent country created out of a section of the Ottoman Empire. Russian Empire aspirations for a section of the empire and bases on Russia's southern flank provokedBritish fears over naval domination of the Mediterranean and control of the land route to theIndian subcontinent.[33]
When in 1853 Russia destroyed the entire Ottoman fleet atSinop, Britain andFrance 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 ensuingCrimean War lay in the rivalry between the British and the Russians. The war ended unfavorably for the Russians, with the Parispeace of 1856.[34]
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 theSardinians, the Ottomans could see how far they had fallen behind. Things began to change after the Crimean War.[35]
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.[36] The Sultan got a tighter grip on the provincialbeys and increased the tribute they had to pay. However, SultanAbdülaziz, used much of this money on furnishing and creating great palaces to rival the ones in England and France, which he had visited.[37] The empire was undergoing a revolution, and throughout Anatolia a newOttoman nationalism was appearing. It seemed as though it might be possible for the empire to turn its decline around.
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 ofConstantinople and taking control of theBosphorus. Instead it decided to focus on gaining power in theBalkans. The population of much of the Balkans wereSlavs, as were the Russians. They also mainly followed theEastern Orthodox Church, as did the Russians. When new movements in Russia, such as that of theSlavophiles, started to enter the region, it became agitated and prone to revolution. When the government in Constantinople tried to initiate measures to prevent an economic collapse throughout the empire, it touched off arevolt in Herzegovina in 1875. The revolt inHerzegovina quickly spread toBosnia and thenBulgaria. SoonSerbia also entered the war against the Turks. These revolts were the first test of the newModern 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 theBatak massacre in 1876.Januarius MacGahan, a journalist of theNew York Herald and the LondonThe Daily News wrote of the terrible happenings after his visit to Batak withEugene Schuyler. According to most sources, around 5,000 people were massacred in Batak alone.[38] The total number of victims in the April uprising according to most estimates around 15,000,[39][40] which is supported byEugene Schuyler's report, published inThe 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.[41] According toDonald Quataert around 1,000 Muslims were killed by Christian Bulgarians and consequently 3,700 Christians were killed by Muslims.[42][43]
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 BritainWilliam Ewart Gladstone published his account of Ottoman atrocities in hisBulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East.[44] The uprisings raised a chance for Russia, and (Prince Gorchakov) andAustria-Hungary (Count Andrássy), who made the secretReichstadt Agreement on July 8, 1876, on partitioning the Balkan peninsula depending on the outcome.
The following year anew Russo-Turkish war had begun. Despite fighting better than they ever had before, the modernised Ottoman armies still were not equal to theImperial 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 theShipka Pass. The Turkish army ofOsman 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 theBattle of Aladzha, retreated toErzurum, after which the Russians tookKars. On the Black Sea, the Ottoman fleet had a colossal advantage, since the RussianBlack Sea Fleet fleet had not recovered from the Crimean War. Despite this, the hostilities on the Black Sea in this war were not important.
In response to the Russian proximity to the straits the British, against the wishes of the new SultanAbdul Hamid II, intervened in the war. A large task force representing British naval supremacy entered the straits ofMarmara and anchored in view of both theDolmabahçe Palace and the Russian army. Looking at the prospect of a British entry into the war the Russians decided to settle the dispute. TheTreaty of San Stefano gaveRomania andMontenegro their independence, Serbia and Russia each received extra territory,Austria-Hungary was given control overBosnia, andBulgaria 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 theCongress of Berlin was held whereGermany 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 ofCyprus. While annoyed atBritish Prime MinisterBenjamin Disraeli, the Sultan had nothing but praise forOtto 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;Romania,Serbia and Montenegro and the autonomy of Bulgaria was achieved. That alarmed theGreat Powers. After theCongress 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.
During the Greek uprising, the Russian Empire reached the Ottoman borders in theCaucasus, which were located in the southwest of the region, as well as northeasternAnatolia. Under the terms of theTreaty of Adrianople, the Ottoman Empire recognized Russian sovereignty over westernGeorgia, which was formerly under Ottoman suzerainty, and recognized Russian domination of present-dayArmenia, which had been conquered a year earlier (1828) by the Russians fromQajar Iran through theTreaty of Turkmenchay.[33] After the war of 1877–78, Russia also receivedKars andArdahan.
During the early months ofWorld War I,Kars was a key military objective for the Ottoman army.Enver Pasha who pushed the Ottoman Empire into World War I, needed a victory against the Russians to defend his position. He collected an army on the eastern border. The army was badly defeated under Enver's command at theBattle of Sarikamish January 2, 1915, againstNikolai Yudenich. This defeat was more due to the winter weather and bad planning, given the fact that Russians were actually preparing to evacuate Kars. With the loss of the eastern army, Ottoman defenses crumbled with further small battles and the Russian army succeeded in advancing as far west asErzincan.[33] The Ottoman army suffered the next heavy defeat in theBattle of Erzurum in 1916, after which the Russian army captured the whole ofWestern Armenia. After the 1916 campaign, the front remained stable until theRussian 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 declaredFirst Republic of Armenia took over Kars in April 1918. That same year in March, theBaku Commune was established in theAzerbaijan Democratic Republic. The commune later became theCentrocaspian Dictatorship, in turn conquered by the OttomanIslamic Army of the Caucasus, then shortly by theTriple Entente and finally theBolsheviks. Defeat on other fronts caused the Ottoman Empire tosurrender and withdraw forces. Both theArmenian andAzerbaijani Republics ended up being part of theSoviet Union in 1920.[33] The Soviet-Turkish border was established under theTreaty of Moscow (1921).
| Name | Date | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | First Russo-Turkish War | 1568–1570 | Russian victory[45] |
| 2 | Russo-Crimean wars | 1571–1572 | 1571: Crimean-Ottoman victory:Moscow is burned down 1572: Russo-Cossack victory: a second Crimean-Ottoman invasion is repelled at theBattle of Molodi |
| 3 | Second Russo-Turkish War[a] | 1676–1681 | Disputed[b] Treaty of Bakhchisarai[52] |
| 4 | Third Russo-Turkish War (subset of theGreat Turkish War) | 1686–1700 | Habsburg, Polish-Lithuanian, Russian, and Venetian victory[53] Treaty of Karlowitz andTreaty of Constantinople: Russia gains possession ofAzov and the fortresses of Taganrog, Pavlovsk, and Mius[53] |
| 5 | Fourth Russo-Turkish War (subset of theGreat Northern War) | 1710–1713 | Ottoman victory[42]: 41 Treaty of Pruth andTreaty of Adrianople (1713): Russia cedesAzov to the Ottoman Empire and demolishes the fortresses of Taganrog, Kodak, Novobogoroditskaya, and Kamenny Zaton Russia agrees to stop meddling in the affairs of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth |
| 6 | Fifth Russo-Turkish War (also known as theAustro-Russian-Turkish War) | 1735–1739 | Treaty of Belgrade: Habsburgs cede theKingdom of Serbia withBelgrade, the southern part of theBanat of Temeswar and northernBosnia to the Ottomans, and theBanat of Craiova (Oltenia), gained by theTreaty of Passarowitz in 1718, toWallachia (an Ottoman subject), and set the demarcation line to the riversSava andDanube |
| 7 | Sixth Russo-Turkish War | 1768–1774 | Russian victory[19][3]: 744 [56]: 205–214 Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca: Ottoman Empire cedesKerch,Enikale,Kabardia and part ofYedisan to Russia;Crimean Khanate becomes a Russianclient state |
| 8 | Seventh Russo-Turkish War | 1787–1792 | Russian victory[57][3]: 745 [56]: 393–426 Treaty of Jassy: Russia annexes Ozi, Ottomans recognize Russian annexation of theCrimean Khanate |
| 9 | Eighth Russo-Turkish War | 1806–1812 | Disputed Treaty of Bucharest (1812): Russia annexesBessarabia |
| 10 | Ninth Russo-Turkish War | 1828–1829 | Russian victory[58] Treaty of Adrianople (1829): Russia occupies theDanubian Principalities, Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire |
| 11 | Crimean War | 1853–1856 | Ottoman, British, French and Sardinian victory[59] Treaty of Paris (1856): mutual demilitarization of theBlack Sea, Russia cedesSouthern Bessarabia and recognizesde jure Ottoman suzerainty overDanubian Principalities |
| 12 | Eleventh Russo-Turkish War | 1877–1878 | Russian and allied victory[60] De jure independence of Romania, Serbia and Montenegro andde facto independence of Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire Territory ofKars Oblast andBatum Oblast ceded to Russia |
| 13 | World War I:[61] | 1914–1918 | Indecisive[62]
|
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.
