Time of Peace 1747-1768

The Ottomans were successful in staying out of the War of Austrian Succession and the Seven Years War. They almost allied themselves with Prussia, but there were many internal problems in the empire that were a higher priority than foreign adventure and intrigue.

Russian War of 1768-1774

Russia, always concerned about Poland, placed a puppet king, Stanislas Poniatowski, on the Polish throne in 1764. Stanislas could not protect the non-Catholics and other dissidents in Poland, who appealed to the Sultan for protection. At the same time, France and the Tartars were appealing to the Sultan to go to war. The Sultan declared war on October 4, 1768. The Russians had the Kirim Giray (ruler of the Tartars) assassinated in January 1769.

Devlet Giray IV took control of the Crimea Tartar, but he was a poor leader and this created a lot of internal problems. Accordingly, the Tartars were unable to supply the Ottomans with the usual amount of support, while the Ottomans were unable to form an army to stop the Russians. Only the ineptness of the Russian commanders or interference from the Russian court could stop the Russian advance. Russian spies were sent to the Balkans to foment uprisings.

From 1769 to 1770, the Russians advanced through the Balkans. Bucharest was captured on February 2, 1770. At the same time, the Caucasus and Azov were also attacked. No quarter was given to soldiers or civilians since they were Moslem.

At Kartal, the Grand Vizier finally brought the Ottoman Army together to give battle on August 1, 1770. The Ottomans lost a third of their army in battle when they tried to retreat across the Danube. Bulgaria now laid open to the Russians and there was nothing between the Russian army and Istanbul.

Russia also received assistance from England in moving a part of its Baltic fleet into the Mediterranean Sea. The Russians supplied arms to the rebels on the islands of Morea, Cephalonia and Zanta. The rebels managed to mainly massacre Moslem civilians, but without direct Russian military support the Ottomans were able to put down the rebellions. The Ottoman fleet encountered the Russian fleet, realized that they were overmatched, and refused combat. However, the entire Ottoman fleet was destroyed by fire ships in the Strait of Cestne on the night of July 6, 1770.

The British advisors with the Russian fleet advised Orlov, the Russian fleet commander, to attack Istanbul immediately. Orlov did not heed their advise and this gave the Ottomans time to reorganize and rebuild their fleet, under the direction of a Frenchman, Francis de Tott. What chance the Russians had for an attack on Istanbul had now passed. The Russians were unable to follow this up and mainly interfeffed with Ottoman rule in Syria and Egypt.

Crimea

In the Crimea, the Russians once again used the local inhabitants to assist them. This time, they invaded in 1771 with a large army while most of the Tartar army was out on raiding parties. Most of the local princes in Crimea went over to the Russians since it looked as if they would win the war. By 1772 all of the Crimea was occuppied by Russia. Prussia and Austria began to put the diplomatic screws to Russia. Both countries began to fear the growing Russian power in Eastern Europe. This led to the First Partition of Poland in 1772 as Russia yielded its gains along the Danube in exchange for a portion of Poland. Austria and Prussia, as peace mediators, also helped themselves to some Polish territory. In 1773 the Pugachev Rebellion (a Cossack uprising) took place in the area between the Volga and Ural rivers and denied the Russians access to their traditional Cossack allies.

The Russian Empress, Catherine the Great, was prepared to make peace with the Sultan, due to the on-going Pugechev Rebellion. However, the Sultan still desired to maintain control over the Crimea, so this left Catherine with no alternative but to continue the conflict. General Rumyantsev was to lead an invasion force into the Balkans, but with scarcely 35,000 men, he could do nothing more than make a few tentative forays across the Danube in 1773.

In 1774, Rumyantsev's army was increased to 55,000 and he was given a greater degree of military and political freedom to conduct his operations against the Turks.

Battle of Kozluca

One of his subordinates, General Suvarov, was sent on a reconnaisance mission with a division of 8,000 men. On July 21, 1774 Suvarov encountered a scouting party of the main Ottoman army. He was an aggressive general who believed that his superiors would avoid a major engagement, so he needed to force the issue.

Suvarov cleared a woodline filled with Albanian skirmishers as well as a ravine defended by a Janissary orta. After clearing the forward Ottoman defense line, the Russians entered open ground in front of a ridge line, defended by the Ottomans, with their artillery in position. Suvarov immediately formed several brigade squares with his infantry and commenced an advance on the Ottoman position. The Turks bombarded the Russian squares, but this failed to slow their advance. Just then, a rain shower began. It refreshed the Russians, but it rendered the Ottoman muskets useless since the Turks lacked leather cartridge boxes to protect the cartridges (the Turks stored their cartridges in their pockets).

The Ottomans realized that their artillery wasn't going to stop the Russians, so they decided to launch a series of infantry counterattacks. Each time it appeared that a square would break, but the Russians managed to repel the Turks. Finally, Suvarov's cuirassier and hussar regiments arrived on the scene and broke up the Ottoman attack. The battle turned into a rout with Suvarov's 10,000 men defeating an Ottoman force of 50,000. The battle casualties were approximately 75 Russians and over 3,000 Ottomans at the battle called Kozluca.

This defeat compelled the Grand Vizier to sign the Treaty of Kucuk Kaymarca (or Kuchuk Kainarji) on July 21, 1774. Russia received Azov and was recognized as the protector of Orthodox Christians in the Balkans. In addition, the Ottomans recognized the independence of the Crimea,yielding their influence over the area. The Crimea was eventually annexed by Russia in 1783. Russia would gain additional territory at Ottoman expense during the Second Russo-Turk War of 1787-92.

Map of Russo-Turkish War of 1768-74

Also known as 'Rumyantsev's War' after the Russian commander-in-chief. Map courtesy of Christopher Duffy's Russia's Military Way to the West.

More Ottoman Empire in the 18th Century

War With Persia 1723-1736
War With Austria and Russia 1736-1739
Resumption of the war with Persia 1742-1746
Russian War of 1768-1774