Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792) in the context of "Treaty of Jassy"

Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative centre of the Odesa Raion and Odesa Oblast, as well as a multiethnic cultural centre. As of January 2021, Odesa's population was approximately 1,010,537. On 25 January 2023, its historic city centre was declared a World Heritage Site and added to the List of World Heritage in Danger by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in recognition of its multiculturality and 19th-century urban planning. The declaration was made in response to the bombing of Odesa during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has damaged or destroyed buildings across the city.

In classical antiquity a large Greek settlement existed at its location no later than the middle of the 6th century BC. It has been researched as a possible site of the ancient Greek settlement of Histria. The first chronicle mention of the Slavic settlement-port of Kotsiubijiv, which was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, dates back to 1415, when a ship was sent from here to Constantinople by sea. After the Grand Duchy lost control, the port and its surroundings became part of the domain of the Ottoman Empire in 1529, under the name Hacibey, and remained in it until the Ottomans' defeat in the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792). In 1794, a decree of the Russian empress Catherine II was issued to establish a navy harbor and trading place in Khadjibey, which was named Odessa soon after. From 1819 to 1858, Odesa was a free port. During the Soviet period, it was an important trading port and a naval base. During the 19th century, Odesa was the fourth largest city of the Russian Empire, after Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Warsaw. Its historical architecture is more Mediterranean than Russian, having been heavily influenced by French and Italian styles. Some buildings are built in a mixture of different styles, including Art Nouveau, Renaissance and Classicist.

Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (11 October [O.S. 30 September] 1739 – 16 October [O.S. 5 October] 1791) was a Russian military leader, statesman, nobleman, and favourite of Catherine the Great. He died during negotiations over the Treaty of Iași, which ended a war with the Ottoman Empire that he had overseen.

Potemkin was born into a family of middle-income landowners of Russian nobility. He first attracted Catherine's favor for helping in her 1762 coup, then distinguished himself as a military commander in the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774). He became Catherine's lover, favorite and possibly her consort. After their passion cooled, he remained her lifelong friend and favored statesman. Catherine obtained for him the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire and gave him the title of Prince of the Russian Empire among many others: he was both a Grand Admiral and the head of all of Russia's land and irregular forces. Potemkin's achievements include the peaceful annexation of the Crimea (1783) and the successful second Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792), during which the armed forces under his command besieged Ochakov.

The term Nizam-i Djedid Army (Ottoman Turkish: نظام جديد, romanized: Niẓām-i Jedīd, lit. 'new order') refers to the new military establishment of the Nizam-i Cedid reform program which started in the Ottoman Empire c. 1789. The Nizam-i Djedid Army, largely a failure in its own time, nevertheless proved a much more effective infantry force than the Janissaries.

After Austria and Russia defeated the Ottoman Turkish forces in the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–92, the Ottoman Sultan Selim III (r. 1789–1807) concluded that Ottoman military required serious reform if the empire was to survive. As a result, he began implementing a series of reforms aimed at reorganizing the military after the model of European militaries. This included the usage of European training tactics, weapons, and even officers. These reforms troubled the Janissaries, who were suspicious and unreceptive towards the reforms. To this end, Selim III established the Nizam-i Djedid in 1797 in order to develop a replacement for the Janissaries. By 1806 this new army stood 26,000 men strong, equipped with French-style uniforms, European weapons, and a modern artillery corps. Due to their distinctly modern nature, the army was named Nizam-ı Cedid, which has the meaning of 'New Order' in Ottoman Turkish. English-speakers borrowed the Ottoman Turkish word niẓām as "nizam" and applied it generically in the 19th century to the Ottoman army or to any Ottoman soldier.

The Austro-Turkish War, also known as the Habsburg–Ottoman War, was fought from 1788 to 1791, between the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire. During the conflict, Habsburg armies succeeded in taking Belgrade (1789) and liberating much of central Serbia, also capturing several forts in central Croatia and in the Pounje region of the Ottoman Bosnia. Much of those gains were lost in the later stages of the war, that ended by the Treaty of Sistova (1791), with minor territorial changes in favor of the Habsburg side. The war was fought concomitantly with the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792).

The Russo-Swedish War of 1788–1790 was fought between Sweden and Russia from June 1788 to August 1790. The war was ended by the Treaty of Värälä on 14 August 1790 and took place concomitantly with both the Austro-Turkish War (1788–1791), Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792) and Theatre War. The war was, overall, mostly insignificant for the parties involved.

King Gustav III of Sweden initiated the war for domestic political reasons, hoping to gain support from the opposition. Despite forming an alliance with the Ottoman Empire, Sweden failed to secure support from Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, and Prussia. Sweden's initial plan to attack Saint Petersburg and instigate a coup to depose Empress Catherine II did not materialize. The war led to Denmark–Norway declaring war on Sweden, but peace was eventually signed on 9 July 1789 after diplomatic intervention by Great Britain and Prussia.

The siege of Ochakov (Russian: осада Очакова) or the siege of Özi (Turkish: Özi Kuşatması), now Ochakiv, Ukraine, was one of the major events of the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792). The Ochakov Fortress had the appearance of an irregular quadrangle, consisting of low bastions with a dry moat and glacis on the dry side, and a simple stone wall on the sea side. In addition, 10 advanced lunettes built later extended from the dry side. From the sea, fort Hasan Paşa reinforced the defense. By the time the Russians began the siege, the fortress was a strong fence, but was not able to withstand an active, energetic storming for long. Ochakov was not what it was in the old days, under Münnich in 1737, but it still did not represent an impregnable stronghold that required enormous preparations and expenditure of time. Besieging in summer and autumn, with the arrival of winter, the supreme commander Potemkin decided to stop the siege works and begin the storming of Ochakov (Russian: штурм Очакова) on 17 December [O.S. 6 December] 1788, which ended in Russian success and capture of Hüseyin Pasha, the chief of garrison.

In 1788, Russian forces led by the commander in chief Prince Grigory Potemkin, General Alexander Suvorov, who was called here from near Kinburn Spit with his Phanagorian Regiment and commanded the left wing (until injury and replacement), Prince Nikolai Repnin (the center) and Ivan Möller (the right wing) besieged the city, held by Ottoman troops massively assisted at sea by Hasan Pasha, whose knowledge exceeded the Turkish military level of that time, and commanded by Hüseyin Pasha. Despite Suvorov's urging to storm the city immediately, Potemkin had the Russian forces encircle Ochakov (Özi), bombarding the city and cutting off the defenders' supply of food and ammunition. By keeping his soldiers out of direct battle, Potemkin strove to minimize Russian combat-casualties, though he was accused by his generals, including Suvorov, of cowardice, and the Turks organized several sorties from the fortress and in everyway interfered with the siege at sea. The argument within the Russian headquarters about storming Ochakov continued during the entirety of the siege. The rowing flotilla was commanded by Prince Karl (Charles) Nassau-Siegen, the sailing fleet by Paul Jones, a fighter for American independence; the latter stood in subordination of the first. There was no great agreement between them. Nassau and Jones were subordinate to Potemkin.