Russo-Turkish wars

Russo-Turkish wars (1697–1878), conflicts resulting in Russian expansion into Ottoman territory. The first Russian success was the capture of Azov by Peter I (the Great) in 1696; it was subsequently recaptured (1711) by the Turks and lost again (1739). The 2 earliest major wars (1768–74, 1787–92), the first was declared by Sultan Mustafa III with France's encouragement, were against Catherine the Great. Allied with Austria, Russia gained the rest of the Ukraine, the Crimea, an outlet to the Black Sea, and the straits, and adopted the role of protector of Christians in the declining Ottoman Empire. Western concern over this major gain came to be known as the Western Question. Russia won Bessarabia in the war of 1806–12 and rose to the height of its power in the war of 1828–29. When Russia next pressured the Turks, France and Britain intervened, defeating Russia in the Crimean War (1853–56). The Congress of Paris, which ended that war, marked a major setback for Russia in the Middle East. The last war (1877–78), which began with an anti-Turkish uprising (1875), brought more territory to Russia in the Treaty of San Stefano. Alarmed Western powers revised the treaty in the Congress of Berlin (1878). Russia and Turkey were opponents again in World War I.

See also: Ottoman Empire.