Welcome to Russian History Retold, Episode 243, the Russo-Turkish Wars, Part 1.

Last time, we covered the life of Maxim Gorky, finishing up our discussion of some of the

great Russian and Soviet writers of the 20th century and late 19th. Today, we go in a different

direction where we begin a two-part series on the 12 wars fought between Russia and the Ottoman

Empire from 1568 until 1918. These wars marked the gradual decline of the Turks and showcased

the rise of Russia as a great power. Some of the wars fought between these two empires had

a substantial effect on their histories, while others had only a minimal impact. The Russo-Turkish

wars would shape their combined histories in ways that no other wars they would engage in would.

I will lead towards emphasizing the Russian side, but will not short-change the goings on concerning

the Ottomans. To understand why the Russians and the Turks engaged in the most extended set of wars

in European history, you have to look at their geographical relationship. Both countries, early on

in their hostilities, were expanding. Moreover, Russia had just come out of the shadow of the Mongol

invasion, with many of its remnants still threatening them. Between 1500 and 1800, the Ottoman Empire

had grown to approximately 1 million square miles. While immense in its own right, it was dwarfed

by the size of the Russian Empire, which maxed out at 14 million square miles. It is the border

conflicts between these two eastern behemoths that we will be discussing today.

The Ottomans had finally conquered the last of the Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine

Empire, when they captured Constantinople in 1453. However, they were threatening Europe with hopes

of spreading Islam westward. This religious factor bound the Turks with the cognates of Kazan,

Astrahan, and Crimea. The siege of Kazan would be the focal point of the first Russo-Turkish war

of 1568 to 1570. Previous to this first clash, the Turks, along with the remnants of the Mongol

invasion, had raided the lands to the north, mainly in what is now Ukraine, for centuries. Their

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