Russian-Turkish war of 1735-1739: causes, results

In the XVIII century the main apple of discord between Russia and Turkey was the Crimean Khanate. Tatars regularly appeared on the territories of the Cossacks, which caused inevitable conflicts. In May 1735 in St. Petersburg came the news that the army of the khan crossed the Russian border to get to Persia. This was sufficient reason to declare another war with Turkey (the Crimean Tatars were her vassals).

The Leontief campaign

At this time, Russia rules Anna Ioannovna (1730 - 1740). Shortly before the conflict with the Ottoman Empire erupted, its troops went to Poland to support the elector Augustus in the struggle for the local throne. The campaign was led by the favorite of Empress Minich. It was he who received a telegram from the capital, in which Anna asked the German to go with the army to the south. Thus began the Russian-Turkish war of 1735 - 1739 years.

Minich decided to wait until winter and, with the onset of the cold, to begin the blockade of Azov, an important fortress for which Peter the Great fought. In September, the favorite and his advisers got sick with a fever. Because of this, he changed his plans and sent General Leontyev to the Crimea.

In his army there were about 40 thousand people and dozens of guns. However, he did not achieve any success. Autumn rains and mudslides played a cruel joke with him. The army began the disease and the mass death of horses. Having lost 9 thousand people, Leontiev returned with nothing. The Russian-Turkish war of 1735 - 1739 years. Began with the usual bungling high ranks and failures.

Siege of Azov

In order to make it easier for the army to conduct military operations in the vicinity of Azov, a temporary base, the fortress of St. Anne, was built 30 kilometers from it. Minich arrived here in March 1736. At the end of the month, a siege began, which was designed to deplete the enemy. The Turks were poorly prepared for this turn of events and almost without a fight surrendered all surrounding fortifications.

However, there were a lot of stupidities on the part of Russian generals. For example, in April, Count Peter Lassi was ordered to go to Azov to participate in the leadership of the fighting. He was in such a hurry that he took with him only a tiny detachment of a dozen Cossacks. Next to Izyum (a city in the modern Kharkov region) he was attacked by a group of Tatars. The detachment was scattered, and the general himself barely carried his feet.

The surrender of Azov by the Turks

In May, a Russian squadron arrived down Azov, descending the Don. The ships brought new artillery. From that moment about 40 guns were constantly firing at the fortress. Once the shell landed in a gunpowder store, because of which a powerful explosion occurred in the city, which destroyed hundreds of houses and killed more than three hundred inhabitants.

Against the backdrop of these successes, the Turkish governor decided to hand over Azov, as his compatriots could not come to his aid. It happened on June 19. Terms of surrender were agreed upon. All the Muslim population of the city could freely leave its walls. About 40 thousand people left Azov. Russian troops liberated hundreds of Orthodox hostages from the local prison. Also, the winners got a lot of guns. Due to the regular fire mortar city buildings were for the most part destroyed or severely damaged. The Russian-Turkish war (1735 - 1739) was marked by the first serious success of our army.

Minich in the Crimea

In April 1736, Minich led a 54-thousand-strong army to the Crimea. On the 18th, it approached Perekop, an outpost standing on a single narrow isthmus that led to the peninsula. Around him was a deep ditch. This unpleasant surprise Minich, as he was assured on the eve that the infrastructure of the Turks in a bad state.

Before starting the assault, the Field Marshal decided to send a letter to the khan. In it, he suggested that the Tatars become citizens of the Russian Empress, and also accused neighbors in regular raids. Khan responded by sending Murza, who reported that there had been no attacks, and the place of robbers were the Nogais. The Russian-Turkish war (1735 - 1739) could have ended if parliamentarians had found a common language.

However, Minich could not agree with Murza. Then he sent the ambassador back, promising the khan that he would see his cities blazing and destroyed for not wanting to accept the favor of Anna Ioannovna.

Assault on Perekop

The Russians began the assault. The soldiers managed to quickly cross the ditch, as well as the parapet. A serious problem remained the towers, continuously bombarding the infantry. One of them managed to capture the company of the Preobrazhensky regiment, which consisted of 60 people. 160 Turks were hacked here. The remaining garrisons fled after the Tatars.

The last stronghold of the enemy remained a fortress. Pasha passed it on May 22 after he had agreed that the Turks would be allowed to leave the besieged fortification unhindered. So Perekop was captured.

The Russian-Turkish war of 1735 - 1739 years. Continued. Following the Perekop surrendered the fortress Kinburn. General Leontiev went to her, at the disposal of which there were about 10 thousand soldiers. It was an important fort that controlled the mouth of the Dnieper.

Trekking deep into the peninsula

After the first successes, a dispute arose at the military council. Minich offered to continue the offensive deep into the peninsula with all possible forces. He believed that thanks to this, the Russo-Turkish war (1735 - 1739 - its actual duration) would end sooner. Some other generals thought otherwise. They explained the danger of going to the land, where there is practically no water. As a rule, armies, torn from communications, under such conditions became easy prey for the Tatars. However, Minich's point of view was nevertheless supported, and on May 25 he went to the south.

The first town was Kozlov, or the modern Yevpatoriya. When the detachment of the Cossacks went on storming, it was discovered that the fortress was abandoned and set on fire, and its inhabitants fled to Bakhchisarai. June 17, the Russians approached the capital. To take it by direct assault was not easy, since the only passable road was under surveillance. Therefore Minich left all the sick and wounded with the wagons aside, under the protection of a small detachment, and himself with selective troops moved around the city. The maneuver was a success: the Tatars did not notice how, under the cover of night, the Cossacks were beside Bakhchisarai. The best regiment of Tatars and Janissaries was sent to meet them. At first they managed to crush the Russians and even select a few guns. However, as a result, the counterattack led to the defeat of the Turks. Bakhchisaray was taken, and the residents fled.

Return to the winter apartments

The Tatars hid in the mountains, and the Turks were evacuated to Cafu. First, Minich wanted to go to this city to also destroy it. However, the Russian army was extremely exhausted. Especially severe was the heat - the regiments were performing after dawn and all day they walked at the scorching heat. It was a European strategy of war, which was not suitable for campaigns in the steppes with such a climate. Due to the numerous human losses, Minichi turned back. In Perekop he also stayed for a little while. Having collected all his troops, the Field Marshal counted the losses - about 30 thousand people, most of whom died from diseases or heat.

The ruined peninsula was abandoned, and Minich went to Petersburg to explain to the empress. Thus ended the campaign, which marked the Russian-Turkish war (1735 - 1739). The reasons for the large losses were the inability of Minich to adapt to local southern conditions.

Austria joins the war

The victory of Russian arms convinced Austria that Turkey is defenseless. The Habsburg monarchy wanted to continue its expansion in the Balkans. However, the armies of Emperor Charles VI suffered a number of sensitive defeats on their front, which only strengthened the position of the Ottoman Empire. Failures have been associated with poor organization and shakkozakidatelstvom in the Austrian headquarters.

Battles for Ochakov

Meanwhile Minich arrived in Kiev, where he was waiting for an army, consisting of 70 thousand fresh soldiers. His goal was an important fortress Ochakov. In the garrison Minich was about 20 thousand people. The Russian army came to the walls of the city all at once. Her artillery was far behind the infantry. Minich decided not to wait for the delivery of guns, but to begin the assault with the forces that he had at that time. The situation was rather shaky, as the Turks assembled an auxiliary army near Bender.

On the first day, unexpectedly, almost the entire garrison went out the gate and attacked the besiegers. However, the courage of the Turks did not help, and they had to retreat. Their army suffered heavy losses. The situation of the besieged became critical when a powder storehouse exploded in the city and a serious fire began. Confusion in the garrison took advantage of the Russian fleet. The Cossacks descended from the ships and seized the fortress from the sea. After that the commandant gave the order to raise the white flag.

However, the success of the siege of Ochakov was soon brought to naught. A few months later, an epidemic broke out in the city, due to which the soldiers died en masse. In September 1739 the military council decided to leave the fortress. The same fate awaited the soldiers in Kinburn. Thus ended another campaign, which remembered the Russian-Turkish war (1735 - 1739). The table below shows the aspect ratio during the Ochakov siege.

The campaign to Bender in 1738

The new goal of the main army of Minich was Bender. The farther the Russians moved west along the Black Sea coast, the more chances were that the Russo-Turkish war would soon end (1735-1739). The results of the trip, however, were disappointing. Minihu failed to capture at least one important fortress and gain a foothold in the region.

The last river was the Dniester River. When the Field Marshal came here, he met on the opposite shore a huge 60,000-strong army of Turks, with whom it was very difficult to fight because of the lack of a normal crossing. Engineers could not bridge the temporary bridges due to the fact that they were constantly opened fire. Standing on the Dniester led to the fact that the army began to run out of supplies.

The Russian-Turkish war of 1735 - 1739, briefly, was a mixed success. Therefore, Minich did not dare to give a general battle and again retreated to winter apartments.

Campaign of 1739

Already in the following year the army managed to cross the Dniester. This was done due to the fact that the way to this river was significantly reduced. Minich persuaded the empress to give him permission to go south through Poland, which was noticeably easier than in the wild steppe.

The main success of Russian weapons this year was the capture of the fortress Khotyn, which opened the way to Bender. General Levendal became the commandant of this important city. At the same time, Minikh went to Yassam, where the Moldovan ethnic majority resided.

Belgrade World

Meanwhile, amazing news came to Petersburg. In September 1739, Austria signed peace with Turkey, bypassing its agreements with Russia. In addition, the Swedish government negotiated with the Ottoman Empire on allied actions. An additional corps of 10,000 soldiers was sent to the Finnish border. It became clear that Russia faces the threat of war on two fronts. In St. Petersburg, this clearly did not want, and therefore they began negotiations with the Turks about the end of the armed conflict.

On September 29, 1739, an agreement was signed between the two countries. The parliamentarians met in Belgrade. The main theses of the document were as follows. Russia got Azov, but all fortifications had to be torn down, which made the city defenseless. In addition, Russia could not have its own fleet on the Black Sea. Trade in the region was to be conducted only with the help of Turkish courts. This meant that Russia received virtually nothing after a bloody four-year campaign that cost the lives of 100,000 soldiers. The Russian-Turkish war (1735 - 1739), in short, did not meet the expectations of St. Petersburg. Nevertheless, Anna Ioannovna tried to maintain her reputation and arranged endless maneuvers and holidays in the capital on the occasion of the signing of the treaty.

Causes of small successes

This remained in the history of the Russo-Turkish War of 1735 - 1739 gg. The reasons for the failure of Russia were also in the fact that all European powers opposed it. This concerned the Austrians, as well as the French, who were the official mediators between the parties to the conflict, but did nothing to support the Romanovs. Paris was important to ensure its interests in the region, after the Russian-Turkish war ended 1735 - 1739 gg. The table below shows the main commanders of this conflict.

It should be noted and the strategic mistakes of the main generals - Minich and Lassi. They did not spare the soldiers. In addition, the field marshals used a fighting squad, which was extremely inefficient against the attacks of mobile and fast cavalry. This was shown by the results of the Russian-Turkish war of 1735-1739. The soldiers fired back from the cavalry, while the bayonet battle was almost not used, which was a blunder of command.