The Sultan declares war on Russia!


On September 25, 1768 of our era, the angry Ottoman Sultan Mustapha III.



... declares war on the Russian Empire - it is the fifth major conflict between the two states.

The declaration of war is the reaction to a targeted Russian provocation - a few days earlier a Cossack regiment had intentionally violated Ottoman territory near the city of Balka (Балта) 200 kilometers north of Odessa in today's Ukraine and killed several Ottoman officials and civilians...:



The Russians are standing "rifle at foot" so to speak and have only been waiting for the declaration of war (Tsarina Catherine II shied away from the odium of the aggressor) and are beginning to advance in Modavia and the Caucasus under the supreme command of Catherine's favorite Prince Potemkin.





From the Kalmyk steppe, a small Cossack patrol corps operated behind the Ottoman lines under Don Ataman Matvey Platov (who later conquered Napoleon).



The most important victory is the conquest of the strong Ottoman fortress of Azov on the lower Don, which has so far blocked the way to the Black Sea for the Russians with two meter thick chain locks across the river...:



The Russians were victorious on all fronts in the first three years of the war, and in 1771 they were able to invade the Crimean peninsula.



On June 29, 1771, the troops under Field Marshal Dolgurukij...



... in the Battle of Kaffa over the army of Crimean Khan Selim Giray...





...and occupied Yalta, Balaklava and Sudak.

Dolgoruky sends troops to Alushta and stormed the enemy capital Bakhchisarai, by the end of July Crimea is completely conquered.

The Russians are also successful at sea: between July 5 and July 7, 1770, the Ottoman fleet of the naval commander Kapudan Pasha Hosameddin near the port of Çeşme is captured by the Russians under the command of Admiral Count Aleksej Orlow. .



... and totally destroyed...:



Then came the setback – the Pugachev uprising broke out in the tsarist empire, tying down considerable numbers of Russian troops.






In the winter of 1773, the Ottomans gratefully accepted a Russian offer to negotiate a ceasefire – military defeats had severely shaken the morale of their troops.

During the siege of the Ottoman fortress of Chotin (on the Dniester, today Ukraine), for example, the entire Ottoman garrison, after a panic, refused to take up arms and “went on strike”, so that the Russians could take the place without resistance.





**continued next post**

Part II:


After Field Marshals Potemkin, Suvorov...



...and Dolgorukij are done with Pugachev's rebellious peasants and Cossacks...



... in 1774 the Russians feel strong enough to continue the war.

Field Marshal Rumyantsev...



...repels the Ottomans and encloses the opposing army under the Grand Vizier at Schumla.

In April 1774, Suvorov launched an attack in the Dobruja, on June 20, with 12,000 men, he defeated almost 40,000 Ottomans at Coslugea (Turkish: Kozludzha, today's Romania)....:



On July 21, 1774, the Ottoman Empire, defeated on all fronts, had to conclude the Peace of Küçük Kaynarca - here is a corresponding allegory of the victorious Russian tsarina....:



The Crimean Khanate (which the Russians are mainly keen on!) loses its vassal status to the Porte and becomes formally independent.

In truth, it falls under Russian influence and will soon be annexed, leading to the founding of the city and fortress of Sebastopol, among other things.

Furthermore, Tsarina Catherine can add southern Ukraine and northern Caucasus to her lands...:



This in turn leads to the founding of the city of Odessa by order of the tsarina...:



... of which a memorial still commemorates today...:



The future of this monument is highly uncertain today as Odessa is considering removing it due to the current Russian aggression - Russian is not that popular in Ukraine today...



Incidentally, the name of the city is said to go back to the problems with the drinking water supply during its formation. After that, the Tsarina ordered the French expression "assez d'eau" (= enough water) to be read backwards and to name the city that way.

Incidentally, the seizure of southern Ukraine also means the final end of the previously free Zaporozhian Cossacks...



...which will soon be resettled in the North Caucasus; they become the Kuban and Terek Cossacks...:



Russia also received war indemnities of 4.5 million rubles from the Ottoman Empire, two strategically important ports on the Black Sea and the Russian commander-in-chief Potoyomkin a magnificent palace in Saint Petersburg, the "Taurian Palace" that still exists today...



... and the official name "Knjas Potjomkin Tawrichewskij" (Prince Potjomkin of Tauria), where "Taurien" is the old name of Crimea.