Welcome to Russian History Retold, Episode 280, Turning Points in Russian and Soviet

History, Part 2.

Last time, we began our review of the most influential Turning Points in Russian history.

Today, we complete our journey with both Russian and Soviet Nexus points.

We begin on May 28, 1812, with the signing of the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-1812.

As we heard in the series on Napoleon and Mikhail Kotuzov, the Treaty of Bucharest was a critical moment,

as there was a growing fear that the French Grand Armee was about to invade Russia and they needed to end the war with the Ottoman Empire.

Napoleon sent emissaries to the Ottoman capital to try to convince the Turks to continue fighting against Russia, but it was met with deaf ears.

There were a lot of good reasons for both sides to end this war.

The Ottoman Empire was getting beaten on all fronts.

The terms the Russians gave them at Bucharest were very generous.

Had the French not been knocking on the border of Russia, there's a distinct possibility that Zart Alexander the First Army could have made it all the way to Constantinople.

Even without that possibility, they could have lost a lot more territory than they did.

For the Russians, the benefits were obvious.

They knew that Napoleon was about to invade, so they needed to avoid a two-front war as well as freeing up about 100,000 troops.

Things were pretty dicey since Zart Alexander approved the Treaty of Bucharest on June 11, 1812, 13 days before the French invasion.

Had they not signed, it is entirely possible that Napoleon could have forced the Russians to sue for peace.

This would have completely changed the course of history, not just for Russia, but for the whole of Europe.

Of course, this leads to the next nexus point.

Actually, there are two dates that represent one turning point.

June 24 and December 14, 1812.

The first was the day that Napoleon crossed the Neiman River, invading Russia, and the second was when his army was forced out of the country.

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