Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792)

In May and June 1787, Catherine II of Russia made a triumphal procession through Novorossiya and the annexed Crimea in company with her ally, Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor.{{sfn|Stone|1994|page=134}} These events, the rumors about Catherine's Greek Plan,{{sfn|Dowling|2015|page=744}} and the friction caused by the mutual complaints of infringements of the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, which had ended the previous war, stirred up public opinion in the Ottoman capital Constantinople, while the British and French ambassadors lent their unconditional support to the Ottoman war party.

File:Russian-Turkish-war 1787-1791.jpg

In 1787, the Ottomans demanded that the Russians evacuate the Crimea and give up their holdings near the Black Sea,{{sfn|Dowling|2014|page=841}} which Russia saw as a casus belli.{{sfn|Dowling|2014|page=841}} Russia declared war on 19 August 1787, and the Ottomans imprisoned the Russian ambassador, Yakov Bulgakov.{{sfn|Cunningham|1993|page=2}} Ottoman preparations were inadequate and the moment was ill-chosen, as Russia and Austria were now in alliance. The Ottomans mustered forces throughout their domain, and Süleyman Bey from Anatolia went himself to the front at the head of 4000 soldiers.{{cite book|author=Yonca Köksal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IBaGDwAAQBAJ|title=The Ottoman Empire in the Tanzimat Era Provincial Perspectives from Ankara to Edirne|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2019|isbn=978-0-429-81251-4}} {{cite web|title=ÇAPANOĞULLARI|author=ÖZCAN MERT|url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/capanogullari|work=İslâm Ansiklopedisi|access-date=28 August 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210830215351/https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/capanogullari|archive-date=30 August 2021|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author=Suraiya Faroqhi |author2=Bruce McGowan |author3=Sevket Pamuk |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c00jmTrjzAoC|title=An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire|page=671|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0-521-57455-6}}

The Ottoman Empire opened their offensive with an attack on two fortresses near Kinburn, in southern Ukraine.{{sfn|Tucker|2011|page=959}} Russian General Alexander Suvorov held off these two Ottoman sea-borne attacks in September and October 1787, thus securing the Crimea.{{sfn|Tucker|2011|page=863}}{{sfn|Dowling|2014|page=841}} In Moldavia, Russian troops captured the cities of Chocim and Jassy.{{sfn|Tucker|2011|page=959}} Ochakov, at the mouth of the Dnieper, fell on 6 December 1788 after a six-month siege by Prince Grigory Potemkin and Suvorov.{{sfn|Tucker|2011|page=959}}{{sfn|Dowling|2014|page=841}} All civilians in the captured cities were massacred by order of Potemkin.{{sfn|Tucker|2011|pages=959-960}}

Although suffering a series of defeats against the Russians, the Ottoman Empire found some success against the Austrians, led by Emperor Joseph II, in Serbia and Transylvania.{{sfn|Tucker|2011|pages=959-960}}

By 1789, the Ottoman Empire was being pressed back in Moldavia by Russian and Austrian forces.{{sfn|Tucker|2011|page=963}} To make matters worse, on 1 August the Russians under Suvorov attained a victory against the Ottomans led by Osman Pasha at Focsani,{{sfn|Dowling|2014|page=841}} followed by a Russian victory at Rymnik (or Rimnik) on 22 September, and drove them away from near the Râmnicul Sărat river.{{sfn|Tucker|2011|page=963}} Suvorov was given the title Count Rymniksky following the battle.{{sfn|Dowling|2014|page=841}} The Ottomans suffered more losses when the Austrians, under General Ernst Gideon von Laudon repelled an Ottoman invasion of Croatia, while an Austrian counterattack took Belgrade.{{sfn|Tucker|2011|page=964}}

A Greek revolt, which further drained the Ottoman war effort, brought about a truce between the Ottoman Empire and Austria.{{sfn|Tucker|2011|page=965}} Meanwhile, the Russians continued their advance when Suvorov captured the reportedly "impenetrable" Ottoman fortress of Izmail at the entrance of the Danube, in December 1790;{{sfn|Tucker|2011|page=965}} this became possible also due to Fyodor Ushakov's victory at Tendra.{{section link|Battle of Tendra|Battle}} A final Ottoman defeat at Machin (9 July 1791),{{sfn|Sicker|2001|page=82}}{{sfn|Dowling|2014|page=841}} coupled with Russian concerns about Prussia entering the war,{{sfn|Tucker|2011|page=966}} led to a truce agreed upon on 31 July 1791.{{sfn|Sicker|2001|page=82}} After the capture of the fortress, Suvorov marched upon Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), where the Russians hoped they could establish a Christian empire.{{sfn|Dowling|2014|page=841}} However, as Prof. Timothy C. Dowling states, the slaughters that were committed in the ensuing period somewhat defiled Suvorov's reputation in many eyes, and there were allegations at the time that he was drunk at the Siege of Ochakov.{{sfn|Dowling|2014|page=841}} Persistent rumors about his actions were spread and circulated, and in 1791 he was relocated to Finland.{{sfn|Dowling|2014|page=841}}

Accordingly, the Treaty of Jassy was signed on 9 January 1792, recognizing Russia's 1783 annexation of the Crimean Khanate. Yedisan (Odessa and Ochakov) was also ceded to Russia,{{sfn|Tucker|2011|page=965}} and the Dniester was made the Russian frontier in Europe, while the Russian Asiatic frontier—the Kuban River—remained unchanged.{{sfn|Sicker|2001|page=82}} The Ottoman war goal to reclaim the Crimea had failed, and if not for the French Revolution, the Ottoman Empire's situation could have been much worse.{{sfn|Sicker|2001|page=82}}

• Anapa campaign (1787) – first Russian campaign against the Anapa fortress
• Anapa campaign (1788) – second Russian campaign against the Anapa fortress
• Anapa campaign (1790) – third Russian campaign against the Anapa fortress
• Siege of Anapa (1791) – successful Russian siege and capture of the Anapa fortress

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

{{See also|Bibliography of Russian history (1613–1917)}}

{{refbegin|2}}

• {{Cite book|last=Bronza|first=Boro|chapter=The Habsburg Monarchy and the Projects for Division of the Ottoman Balkans, 1771–1788|title=Empires and Peninsulas: Southeastern Europe between Karlowitz and the Peace of Adrianople, 1699–1829|year=2010|location=Berlin|publisher=LIT Verlag|pages=51–62|isbn=978-3-643-10611-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cz7pbGvCqhwC}}
• {{cite book|last1=Cunningham|first1=Allan|editor1-last=Ingram|editor1-first=Edward|title=Anglo-Ottoman Encounters in the Age of Revolution: Collected Essays|date=1993|publisher=Frank Cass & Co. Ltd|isbn=978-0-7146-3494-4}}
• {{cite book|editor-last1=Dowling|editor-first1=Timothy C.|title=Russia at War: From the Mongol Conquest to Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Beyond [2 volumes]|date=2014|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-948-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KTq2BQAAQBAJ&q=Russo-Turkish+War+(1787%E2%80%9392)+dowling}}
• {{cite book|editor-last1=Dowling|editor-first1=Timothy C.|title=Russia at War: From the Mongol Conquest to Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Beyond|date=2015|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-947-9}}
• {{cite book|last1=Sicker|first1=Martin|title=The Islamic World in Decline: From the Treaty of Karlowitz to the Disintegration of the Ottoman Empire|date=2001|publisher=Praeger Publishers|isbn=978-0-275-96891-5}}
• {{cite book|last1=Stone|first1=Bailey|title=The Genesis of the French Revolution: A Global Historical Interpretation|url=https://archive.org/details/genesisoffrenchr0000ston|url-access=registration|date=1994|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-44570-2}}
• {{cite book|last1=Tucker|first1=Spencer C.|author-link=Spencer C. Tucker|title=A Global Chronology Of Conflict|date=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-667-1}}

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• {{cite journal |last1=Mayer |first1=Matthew Z. |title=The Price for Austria's Security: Part I – Joseph II, the Russian Alliance, and the Ottoman War, 1787–1789 |journal=The International History Review |date=2004 |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=257–299 |doi=10.1080/07075332.2004.9641031}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Russo-Turkish War (1787-92)}}

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