Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1877-78 war was fought in two main theaters:
the Balkans and the Caucasus. In the Caucasus,
the Russians gained several victories, capturing
the fortress of Kars and threatening to take the
eastern stronghold of Erzerum. The war effort in
the Balkans was far bloodier for both sides. On
July 19, 1877, the Russian army won a crucial
victory at Shipka Pass in the Balkans. After a five-
month siege, the Russians captured the city of
Plevna, and led by General Mikhail
SKOBELEV
, the
army began to advance toward Istanbul (Con-
stantinople), reaching the city's outskirts in Jan-
uary 1878, at which point the Ottoman Empire
called for peace negotiations.
Perhaps more than the war itself, the peace
was highly controversial. The initial Treaty of
SAN STEFANO
concluded by Russia and Turkey in
March 1878 aroused the opposition of other
European nations, most notably Great Britain
and Austria-Hungary, who feared that Russia
had decisively tilted the balance of power in the
Balkans in its favor. Under great diplomatic pres-
sure, Russia agreed to participate in the Congress
of
BERLIN
, which met in June-July 1878 and
substantially revised the terms of the Treaty of
San Stefano. The major change from San Ste-
fano to Berlin involved the boundaries of the
new state of Bulgaria and the extent to which it
would be influenced by Russia. The war led to
the creation of fully independent states in Ser-
bia, Bulgaria, and Romania but did not remove
the issues that contributed to the overall insta-
bility of the Balkans, as revealed by the Balkan
Wars of 1912-13 and the outbreak of World War
I in 1914.
means of a canal designed to link the Don River
with the
VOLGA RIVER
. With a third of the canal
completed, the Turks laid siege to
ASTRAKHAN
but
abandoned the project when they failed to seize
the city. In 1678 the two empires first went to war
following a Turkish invasion of Ukraine. By the
Treaty of Radzin of 1681, the Ottoman Empire
surrendered to Russia all claims to Ukrainian ter-
ritories east of the Dnieper River. In 1695-96
PETER I
attacked the Turkish fortress of Azov, on
the Sea of Azov, an arm of the Black Sea. The ini-
tial failure of the campaign compelled Peter to
order the construction of Russia's first navy,
which helped him conquer Azov in 1696,
although at the cost of more than 30,000 soldiers.
It was in the context of this war that Peter orga-
nized his
GRAND EMBASSY
to western Europe, with
the goal of gaining allies in his war against the
Ottomans while learning about Western techno-
logical advances. The war ended with a truce in
1700, which allowed Russia to retain Azov in
exchange for dismantling its Black Sea fleet.
The third war took place in 1710-11, as part
of the Great Northern War fought between Rus-
sia and Sweden, as a result of the Ottoman sul-
tan's refusal to hand over the Swedish king
Charles XII, who had sought asylum at the
Ottoman court after the disaster at the Battle of
POLTAVA
. After invading Moldavia with 60,000
soldiers in 1711, Peter did not receive expected
aid from his secret allies among the Moldavians
and Wallachians and was forced to negotiate
peace terms. At the Treaty of Pruth (1711), Rus-
sia surrendered Azov and agreed to grant free
passage to Charles XII. Turkey and Russia fought
again briefly in 1722-23 in the context of a
broader war between Russia and Persia. The fifth
and final war of this first stage took place in
1736-39 and found Russia in alliance with Aus-
tria over control of the Turkish-controlled parts
of Ukraine, while the Austrians pursued their
goals in the Balkans. Control of various Ukrain-
ian cities changed from side to side, while the
Russian army invaded Moldavia. The Turks were
successful against Austria and at the Treaty of
Belgrade (1739); they gained Belgrade, northern
Serbia, and parts of Bosnia and Wallachia from
Russo-Turkish Wars
Between 1678 and 1878, Russia and Turkey
(Ottoman Empire) fought 10 major wars over
control of the Ukrainian steppes, control of the
northern shores of the Black Sea, and—as
Ottoman power declined in the 19th century—
the fate of Turkey's European possessions in the
Balkans. An earlier conflict took place in 1568-69
when the Ottoman Empire tried to extend its
reach to the Caspian Sea from the Black Sea by
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