Russo-Turkish War (1768–74) in the context of Ottoman decline thesis

⭐ Core Definition: Russo-Turkish War (1768–74)

The Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774 was a major armed conflict that saw Russian arms victorious against the Ottoman Empire. Russia's victory brought the Yedisan between the rivers Bug and Dnieper, and Crimea into the Russian sphere of influence. Though a series of victories accrued by the Russian Empire led to substantial territorial conquests, including direct conquest over much of the Pontic–Caspian steppe, less Ottoman territory was directly annexed than might otherwise be expected due to a complex struggle within the European diplomatic system to maintain a balance of power that was acceptable to other European states and avoided direct Russian hegemony over Eastern Europe.

Nonetheless, Russia took advantage of the weakened Ottoman Empire, the end of the Seven Years' War, and the withdrawal of France from Polish affairs to assert itself as one of the continent's primary military powers. The war left the Russian Empire in a strengthened position to expand its territory and maintain hegemony over the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, eventually leading to the First Partition of Poland. Turkish losses included diplomatic defeats which led to its decline as a threat to Europe, the loss of its exclusive control over the Orthodox millet, and the beginning of European bickering over the Eastern Question that would feature in European diplomacy until the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I.

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Russo-Turkish War (1768–74) in the context of Stagnation of the Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire was founded in 1299 by Osman Gazi also known as Osman I. The history of the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century has classically been described as one of stagnation and reform. In analogy with 18th-century France, it is also known as the Ancien Régime or Old Regime, contrasting with the "New Regime" of the Nizam-i Cedid and Tanzimat in the 19th century. At the Ottoman Empire's peak it covered parts of North Africa, The Arabian Peninsula, all of modern-day Türkiye (Turkey), parts of Greece, and almost all of the Balkans.

The period characterized as one of decentralization in the Ottoman political system. Political and economic reforms enacted during the preceding War of the Holy League (1683-1699), particularly the sale of life-term tax farms (Ottoman Turkish: malikāne) instituted in 1695, enabled provincial figures to achieve an unprecedented degree of influence in Ottoman politics. This decentralization had once led historians to believe that the Ottoman Empire was in decline during this period, part of the larger and now debunked Ottoman Decline Thesis, but it is now recognized that the Ottomans were successfully able to tie emerging provincial elites politically and financially to the central government. The empire likewise experienced significant economic growth during much of the eighteenth century and was, until the disastrous war with Russia in 1768-74, also able to match its rivals in military strength. In light of this, the empire's history during this period is now generally viewed in more neutral terms, eschewing concepts such as 'decline' and 'stagnation'. The Old Regime was brought to an end not by a single dramatic event, but by the gradual process of reform begun by Sultan Selim III (r. 1789-1807), known as the Nizam-ı Cedid (New Order). Although Selim himself was deposed, his reforms were continued by his successors into the nineteenth century and utterly transformed the nature of the Ottoman Empire.

View the full Wikipedia page for Stagnation of the Ottoman Empire

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