During the eighteenth century, the Ottoman Empire was almost continuously at war with one or more of its enemies--Persia, Poland, Austria, and Russia. War with Russia, in fact, dominates the Ottoman scene from much of the eighteenth century; the two states clashed on 1711, between 1768 and 1774, and again between 1787 and 1792. In all these wars of the eighteenth century, there were no clear victors or losers. Under the humiliating terms of the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kaynarja that ended the Russo-Ottoman War of 1768-74, the Porte abandoned the Tartar khanate in the Crimea, granted autonomy to the Trans-Danubian provinces, allowed Russian ships free access to Ottoman waters, and agreed to pay a large war indemnity.

The Emergence of Peter the Great

Peter the Great created a new nation, no less expansionist in character than the Ottoman Empire. Since 1689 Tsar at Moscow, Peter the Great had embarked on a policy of seeking "access to the seas". In the north this meant the "cold seas": the Baltic and the Golf of Finland. On that coast he founded a city which was to become his new capital, St Petersburg. In the south this meant the "warm seas": the Sea of Asov and the Black Sea, with an eye to the Mediterranean. This of course meant taking Constantinople.

During his campaigns in the north, Peter the Great had incurred the enmity of the Swedes. The King of Sweden, Carl XII, invaded Russia but was defeated by the Russians at Poltava in 1709. To escape being taken prisoner Carl XII sought asylum in Turkey together with Mazeppa the Commander-in-Chief of the Cossacks, who had taken his side. Carl XII, whom the Turks called "Demirbachly" ('Iranhead'), and Mazeppa were granted asylum by Sultan Ahmed III (1703-1730). Through his ambassador, Tolstoy, Peter the Great demanded that they'd be extradited. Ahmed III refused and declared proudly that "such a notion was an infringement of the sacred right to hospitality, which had always been law in Islamic countries". Since the Russians insisted, Ahmed III had Ambassador Tolstoy thrown into the "Prison of the Seven Towers" ('Yedikule') at Constantinople. That meant war in 1711.

This war began auspiciously for Peter the Great. But very soon the Turks recovered their losses to defeat him decisively on the Pruth on 28th July 1711. For some unknown reason, Ahmed III was not able to take advantage of his victory. Instead of taking Peter the Great captive, which would have radically altered the course of history, he contented himself - greatly to the disgust of Carl XII - with a truce. Peter the Great was forced by the terms of the Treaty of Pruth to withdraw the permanent ambassador to Constantinople and to abandon his negotiators, Shafirov and Sheremetyev, to the Turks as hostages. In addition, he had to cede Asov, which had been Russian since 1700.

But for Peter the Great this humiliating treaty was only a chance to catch his breath. War flared up again that same year and did not end until the Peace of Adrianople in 1712. Since Peter the Great was reluctant to fulfil the terms of the treaty, and above all, unwilling to raze a number of fortresses which he had erected on the east coast of the Black Sea, hostilities continued. Peace was not declared until 1713, when the Treaty of Adrianople was confirmed by the intercession of the "maritime powers" (England and Holland with French support). The maritime powers thought it prudent to side with Turkey in order to block Russia's expansion towards the Mediterranean.

Turkey accepted this treaty of sorts because Austria had formed an offensive alliance with Venice, which the Sublime Porte (this was what the Ottoman Sultanate was called) regarded as an infringement of the Treaty of Carlovitz. War broke out again. Turkey was now able to count on Russia's remaining neutral. Despite this advantage fortune was not on Turkey's side. Turkey recaptured Belgrade, only to lose it again, and with it Albania,Dalmatia and Herzegovina. The intercession of England saved Turkey from disaster because it forced both sides to respect the Peace of Passarovitz. Russia had become a European power and the Austro-Hungarian monarchy had maintained its supremacy in Southeastern Europe.

At Constantinople Mahmud I (1730-1754) succeeded Ahmed III. At St Petersburg Catherine I succeeded her husband, Peter the Great (1725-172 7). The Russian government continued the policy of seeking access to the "warm seas" begun by Peter the Great. Allied with Austria, the Empress Anna (1730-1740) went to war against Turkey and, unlike Austria, won splendid victories: in 1737 Ochakov was taken and in 1739 Moldavia was occupied. For the first time the Russians began to entertain the notion of taking Constantinople and re-establishing the ancient Byzantine Empire. This time Mahmud was more successful against Austria.

He recaptured Belgrade and soon (1739) peace was declared there through the intercession of France. It was the most favourable treaty which the Porte had ever managed to obtain. The Turks kept Belgrade, the Russians lost the right of navigation on the Black Sea. They would henceforth be forced to carryon trade there with foreign ships flying the Turkish flag. However they regained the right to keep a permanent ambassador at Constantinople and the Tsarina was acknowledged by the Sultan.

But everything changed when Catherine II (1762-1796) was crowned. Under the sway of her favourite, Gregory Alexandrovich Potemkin, the 'Semiramis of the North' turned her attention to the southern regions of her Empire. By ukase on 15th December 1783, the Tsarina annexed all regions designated as "Ukraine", which means in Russian "border lands". With one stroke of her pen she abolished the office of the Hetman, the
Sultan Mustafa II (1757-1774) did not allow himself to be deceived by their intentions. After a long interval he declared war on Catherine II in 1768. It was a devastating war, lasting for six years and fought on both land and sea. It was all the more devastating because the Tsarina had declared the intention of "doing away with Turkey once and for all" and had refused to accept any foreign intercession.

While hostilities commenced simultaneously in the Balkans, the Crimea and on the Caucasian-Georgian border, a Russian fleet, which came from the Sea of Asov, ravaged the Turkish Black Sea coast and even showed signs of forcing an opening through the straits. At the same time a second Russian fleet sailed from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, where it was supported by a British fleet under Admiral Elphinstone. After attempting a landing in Greece, the Russians and British clashed with the Turks on 5th July 1770 at Chesme (C;:e_me), near the island of Chios. The Turkish Mediterranean fleet perished. Elphinstone then attempted to force a passage through the Dardanelles in order to appear before Constantinople and join forces with the Russian Black Sea fleet. But he had to give up this plan because the Russians, for some unknown reason, did not co-operate.

This series of setbacks made the Turks urge peace negotiations but the Russians dawdled. The war dragged on and the Turks were able to drive the Russians back across the Danube (1773), albeit not for long. Soon afterwards they attacked again in Dobruja but failed to capture Silestre and Warna. During this streak of bad luck, Mustafa III died on 24th December 1773 and was succeeded by his brother, Abdul-Hamid I, who reigned from 1774 to 1789.
The Peace of Kaynarca

Abdul-Hamid I did everything in his power to save what he could. He began negotiations with the Russians, who went to negotiate the Peace of Ki.i_iil Kaynarca on 21st July 1774. The negotiations only lasted for seven hours. As usual, when peace must be made at any cost, the Russian conditions were draconian in their harshness. The Russians secured the right of free navigation on the Black Sea, unobstructed passage into the Mediterranean, respectful treatment of their ambassadors, free access to the Holy Sepulchre for Russian pilgrims to Jerusalem and protection for all Christians on Ottoman soil. This last was a concession which later generated severe conflicts since this privilege had already been granted to the French by Suleiman the Magnificent.

Moreover, Abdul-Hamid I lost the Sea of Asov and the Crimea and had to renounce all claim to Moldavia and Wallachia.

The Triumph of Catherine II

At the end of this victorious campaign the 'Semiramis of the North', whose head had been turned by passion and by fame, started on a triumphal progress through the five provinces of the Ukraine which she had gained for the crown. She journeyed round the Black Sea coast in a calash and visited the former seat of the Crime an Khans. Then she was present at the founding of Odessa. "The entire journey was an enchantment", writes Brian-Chaninov. "It was a whirl of triumphal arches, salutes, ringing of bells, of light and sound and fireworks, of plays and banquets." As a crowning touch she gave her friend Potemkin the title of Duke of Tauris as a sign of her favour.

In the meantime Abdul-Hamid I was languishing in his palace on the Bosporus. He sought for ways of expunging the disgrace of the Treaty of Kaynarca. He had to wait for twelve years. In 1786, on England's intercession, he gained the support of Sweden and even Poland, which Russia, Austria and Prussia had considerably weakened when Poland was first partitioned in 1772. He attacked Russia again. An attempt to take back the Crimea failed and the campaign was generally unsuccessful. But his adversaries were also exhausted and indifferent. The Treaty of Yassy (Ya<;) in 1792 relieved Turkey of some of the burden imposed by the Treaty of Kaynarca. Nevertheless the Ottomans had to renounce their claim to the Crimea and Bessarabia. Abdul-Hamid died in 1789 and his successor, Selim III (1789 - 1807), signed the treaty.

Yet at this time the Great Powers had more pressing problems than paying heed to Turkey. Their interests no longer lay in the east but in the west. At Paris the Revolution had triumphed.

The Turn of the Century: Bonaparte's Expedition to Egypt (1798 - 1801)

Bonaparte's policies in Egypt had three objectives: First, to free Egypt from the arbitrary rule of the Mamelukes, who had plundered the land; second, to set up a purely Egyptian regime at Cairo; and finally, to effect these changes without arousing the ire of the Porte. These were contradictory, almost irreconcilable goals. Talleyrand had for a while entertained the notion of travelling to Constantinople himself in order to ensure that Selim III would continue to favour France. Ultimately he decided against this since he did not want to jeopardize his career by fostering foolish projects.

After he had defeated the Mamelukes near the Pyramids on 21st July 1798 and their Generals Ibrahim and Murad had fled respectively to the Sinai Peninsula and Upper Egypt, Bonaparte entered Cairo. Here he was wildly acclaimed by a bewildered populace, which soon gave him the title of "Sultan Kebir", meaning "Great Sultan". From Cairo he was able to gain control of the Nile Delta.

But he was unable to break the resistance of the Mamelukes, who were supported by the Beduins of the Nile valley, although he made several thrusts as far as Aswan. Nor was he able to establish himself on the west coast of the Red Sea.

Consequently he was soon "encircled in his own conquests". The attempt to secure his flank against the newly arrived Turkish troops, who were supported by the English Navy, by waging war against Syria failed at Akko (March - May 1799). In the meantime Nelson had destroyed the French fleet, which was anchored at Abukir, in a battle at sea on 1st August 1798. The Mamelukes had appealed for help to the Sultan at Constantinople. Selim III sent an army of 40,000 men under the command of Mustafa Pasha to the Nile delta but it was decisively defeated by Murat's cavalry (land battle on 25th July 1799). Mustafa Pasha and half of the Janissaries were taken prisoners. Bonaparte, however, who was becoming increasingly convinced of the futility of the whole undertaking without reinforcements and accompanied by alarming news from Paris, decided to return clandestinely to France.

On 25th August 1799 he left Egypt and reached Paris on 16th October in time to execute the coup d'etat of 18th Brumaire. Unwittingly Napoleon had left behind in Egypt a man, who was to continue and complete the liberation of Egypt, Mehmed Ali. He was an Ottoman officer, born on 15th August 1769 in the Macedonian city of Karola.
In the meantime Selim III had been deposed by a conspiracy of the Jannissaries and was murdered in prison on 29th May 1807. He was succeeded as Sultan-Caliph by Mahmud II.