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Russo-Turkish war

The first major Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) began after Turkey demanded that Russia's ruler, Catherine II the Great, abstain from interfering in Poland's internal affairs. The Russians went on to win impressive victories over the Turks. They captured Azov, the Crimea, and Bessarabia, and under Field Marshal Pyotr Rumyantsev, they overran Moldavia and also defeated the Turks in Bulgaria. The Turks were compelled to seek peace, concluding in the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca. This treaty made the Crimean khanate independent of the Turkish sultan and advanced the Russian frontier. Russia was now in a much stronger position to expand, and in 1783 Catherine annexed the Crimean Peninsula outright.

War broke out in 1787, with Austria again on the side of Russia. Under General Alexander Suvorov, the Russians won several victories that gave them control of the lower Dniester and Danube rivers, and further Russian successes compelled the Turks to sign the Treaty of Jassy on 9 January 1792. Turkey ceded the entire western Ukrainian Black Sea coast to Russia by this treaty. When Turkey deposed the Russophile governors of Moldavia and Walachia in 1806, war broke out again, though in a desultory fashion since Russia was reluctant to concentrate large forces against Turkey while its relations with Napoleonic France were so uncertain. But in 1811, with the prospect of a war between France and Russia in sight, the latter sought a quick decision on its southern frontier. The Russian field marshal Mikhail Kutuzov ’s victorious campaign of 1811–12 forced the Turks to sign the Treaty of Bucharest on 18 May 1812. Ending the war that had begun in 1806, this peace agreement established the Ottoman cession of Bessarabia to Russia.

The Russians also secured amnesty and a promise of autonomy for the Serbs, who had rebelled against Turkish rule, but Turkish garrisons were given control of the Serbian fortresses. Several disputes forestalled the treaty's implementation, and Turkish troops invaded Serbia again the following year.