Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774)
| date | 1768-1774 |
|---|---|
| place | Eastern Europe , Caucasus , Levant |
| output | Victory of Russia |
The Russo-Ottoman War from 1768 to 1774 (also the 5th Russian Turkish War ) was a decisive conflict, as a result of which the southern Ukraine , the North Caucasus and the Crimea came under Russian rule .
course
The war was triggered by civil unrest in Poland , where the Szlachta , the Polish nobility, rose against King Stanislaw August Poniatowski , favorite of Catherine the Great . The king was dependent on the support of the Russian troops. Russian influence in Poland had long been a thorn in the side of the Turks, and they wanted to support the insurgents. The reason for war arose when a regiment of Cossacks in Russian service entered the territory of the Ottoman Empire in Balta in pursuit of an opposition Polish regiment . The Ottomans accused the Cossacks of massacring the inhabitants.
As a result of the Balta incident, Sultan Mustafa III declared. on September 25, 1768 Russia waged war. The Turks forged an alliance with the opposition forces of the Confederation of Bar in Poland, while Russia was supported by the Kingdom of Great Britain , which offered advisers to the Imperial Russian Navy. Austria considered an alliance with the Confederation and the Ottomans, but was prevented from waging war against Russia by the Prussian-mediated First Partition of Poland .
Campaign year 1769
On September 17, 1769, the Russians crossed the Dniester and began their campaign in Moldova . The fortress of Chotin was surrounded after a victory, almost the entire Ottoman garrison refused armed service after a panic. On October 7, the Russians occupied the Moldovan capital, Jassy, and continued their advance south into Wallachia . Bucharest was occupied on November 17th .
At the same time, the troops of the Russian General Tottleben had started the war in the northern Caucasus. In the Kalmyk steppe north of the mountains a small Russian Cossack corps operated under Matvej Platov . The local ally Ubashi Khan took part in the war, but provided only half of the required troops. The Russians advanced to the south of Georgia . Tottleben took a number of Turkish fortresses and occupied the capital of the principality of Imereti , Kutaisi . After defeating an opposing corps of 12,000 men, he besieged the port city and fortress of Poti . Because of disputes with the Georgian rulers, the Tsarina was forced to replace Tottleben with Major General Suchotin.
Summer campaign 1770
In 1770, Peter von Gartenberg established the Sadagora mint in the Principality of Moldova to supply the Russian army with coins for the salary of the team. On June 28, 1770, the Russian field marshal Pyotr Rumjanzew-Sadunaiski put 20,000 Turks to flight on the Danube front not far from the Räbnia Mogila, then on July 18, his troops carried off a decisive victory over the 80,000-strong army of the Tatar Khan on the Larga river . On July 31 and August 1, a stronger army of the Grand Vizier Mehmed Emin Pasha was defeated near Kagul with only 17,000 men, a third of the Ottoman troops perished in the floods of the Danube or were captured. The troops of Prince Nikolai Repnin took Ismail and Kilija .
The sea operations of the Russian Baltic fleet in the Mediterranean were also successful. While the Russians managed to organize anti-Ottoman uprisings in Syria and Egypt , the Russian fleet under the admirals Alexei Orlov , Elphinstone and Spiridow destroyed most of the Ottoman Aegean fleet under Hosameddin Pasha between July 5 and July 7 1770 in the naval battle of Çeşme (also battle of Tschesme, near Izmir).
Campaign in 1771 in the Crimea
In 1771, Prince Vasily Dolgoruki, under the command of Field Marshal Pyotr Ivanovich Panin , as commander of the 2nd Field Army (38,000 men) managed to break into the Crimea through the paved line from Perekop on the night of June 13-14, 1771 . After that, the Russians forced the entrance to the Kerch peninsula and occupied Yenicals , Arabat and Evpatoria . On June 29th, Dolguruki's troops defeated the army of the Crimean Khan Selim Giray in the Battle of Kaffa and occupied Yalta , Balaklava and Sudak . Dolgoruki sent troops to Alushta and stormed the opposing capital Bakhchisarai , and by the end of July the Crimea had been completely conquered.
Unsuccessful negotiations
The outbreak of the Pugachev uprising in Western Siberia almost led to the conclusion of a favorable armistice for the Porte in the winter of 1773 . The Polish Confederation of Bar was quickly defeated by Alexander Suvorov , who then transferred to the Turkish front.
The war year 1773
After another attack by the Tatars on border posts, Catherine II decided in March 1773 to continue the war. On April 24th a Russian corps with 9,000 men under General Potemkin bridged the Danube at Tulcea and drove the Turks back against Babadagh . On April 17, 1773, on the left bank of the Danube near Bucharest , Suvorov took command of the right wing corps of the 1st Field Army under the command of Prince Ivan P. Saltykow .
Suvorov's successful attack on the Turkish camp at Tutrakan (May 9 and 10, 1773) on the other bank of the Danube led to his being given command of the only Russian bridgehead on the Turkish bank of the Danube at Hirsova . On May 29, the Ottomans under Ali Pasha succeeded in throwing a Russian corps under Prince Pyotr Repnin , which wanted to cross the Danube with 4,000 men at Rustschuk , back to the left bank.
At the beginning of June, Major General Weissmann's corps was able to cross the Danube at Ismail undisturbed and, because the Turks had withdrawn as far as Karassu , occupied Babadagh on June 4th and Karamurat on June 7th . On the night of 3 to 4 June, the main Russian army under Field Marshal Roumiantzev broke from Braila on, took the advance to the river Ialomita and met on 6 early in Slobozia one. On June 18, the troops under Weissmann and Prince Galitzyn reached the Danube at Gurobally, where the Ottomans under Osman Pascha had assumed a dominant position on the right bank. Being attacked from two sides caused the Turks to retreat early against Silistra .
The last year of the war and peace
In January 1774, the Russians saw themselves strong enough to continue the war on the Danube. Field Marshal Rumjanzow pushed the Ottomans back and enclosed the opposing army under the Grand Vizier at Shumla. In April 1774, Suvorov opened the attack in the Dobruja , on June 20, he struck almost 40,000 Ottomans near Coslugea (Kozludzha in Turkish).
On July 21, 1774, the Ottoman Empire signed the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca , after which the Crimean Khanate lost its vassal status of the gate and became formally independent. In truth, it came under Russian influence and was annexed soon after. Russia also received war compensation of 4.5 million rubles and two strategically important ports on the Black Sea .
The Russo-Turkish War from 1768 to 1774 was just one episode in the long process of expansion of the Russian Empire south and west during the 18th and 19th centuries. It was only one of eleven Russo-Turkish wars .
See also
literature
- Brian L. Davies: The Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774. Catherine II and the Ottoman Empire . Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, London a. a. 2016, ISBN 978-1-4725-1293-2 .
- Richard Ungermann: The Russo-Turkish War 1768–1774 . Wilhelm Braumüller Verlag , Vienna and Leipzig 1906. ( digitized version )
- Virginia H. Aksan: Whatever Happened to the Janissaries? Mobilization for the 1768–1774 Russo-Ottoman War. In: Was in History . Vol. 5, No. 1 (1998), pp. 23-36, doi: 10.1177 / 096834459800500102 ( online ).
- Catherine the Great and Voltaire: Monsieur - Madame. The correspondence between the tsarina and the philosopher. ISBN 3-7175-8186-4 .
Web links
- The war and its battles on the website Russkaja Zivilisazija9 ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Russian)
- The peace treaty between Russia and Turkey (Russian)