During her long reign, Empress Catherine II
(r. 1762–96)
undertook to resolve the foreign policy problems in the south
that had bedeviled her predecessors. At first, she focused
her attention on the western scene, especially Poland, which
had increasingly became a bone of contention among several
European powers.
The Ottoman sultan declared war on Russia in 1768, and Catherine’s
army proceeded to defeat Ottoman Turkey on land. Her war fleet,
sailing from the Baltic, entered the Mediterranean and, in
the Aegean port of Chesme, annihilated the Ottoman fleet. The
terms of the peace treaty of 1774 allowed the construction
of a Russian Orthodox church in Istanbul, a provision the Russians
would gradually expand into a right to protect the sultan’s
Orthodox subjects throughout the Ottoman Empire, gaining thereby
potentially significant political leverage. The treaty also
declared the independence of the Crimean Khanate from the Ottomans – in
fact, it was now already dominated by Russia. Catherine’s
troops were stationed at strategic points on the Crimean peninsula,
and ten years later the empress formally abolished the khanate
by turning the peninsula and its adjacent littoral into a new
Russian province, the Tauride (from Tauris, one of the classical
names for Crimea). With great pride, in 1787, Catherine – accompanied
by the Austrian ruler, Emperor Joseph II (r. 1780–90) – undertook
a cruise down the Dniepr River to show off her new province.
Field Marshal Grigorii Potemkin (1739–1791), wanting
to demonstrate his success in populating the region, allegedly
constructed theater sets of villages along the route to impress
the monarchs.
The annexation of the Crimea realized a double
dream the tsars had cherished for several centuries. The once
dangerous Tatar
hosts were now fully subdued; and Russian ships had unhindered
access to the Black Sea. Above all, the war demonstrated Russia’s
unquestionable military and naval superiority over the rival
Ottoman Empire. In addition, Catherine dreamed of resurrecting Constantinople
as an Orthodox Christian metropolis, the center of a new kingdom
ruled by her second grandson, who, in anticipation, had been
christened Konstantin Pavlovich (Constantine) (1779–1831).
Her personal aim seemed to go beyond acquiring lands, to the
collection of souvenirs. She reveled in imitating Turkish architecture
and style in her capital, erecting whole complexes to commemorate
victories and other structures resembling Ottoman buildings.
On land, Russian armies were strong enough to undertake a march
through the Balkans toward Istanbul. Engineers and architects
had built the great naval base of Sevastopol, only a few days’ sailing
distance from the Bosphorus and the Ottoman capital. However,
Catherine’s romantic dream was transformed, in the minds
of more realistic European statesmen, into the nightmare of
a dismembered Ottoman Empire with the most crucial segment
appropriated by an expansionist Russia. “The Eastern
Question” was born.
Relations between Russia and West Asia deteriorated into attack
and response. No longer did Russians look to that great region
with an eye to peaceable exchange of aesthetic, cultural, or
economic values. Like Peter the Great (r. 1682–1725)
before her, Catherine II concentrated on seizing valuable natural
resources, sites rich in precious metals, and historical artifacts.
A line of new fortress towns spread across Russia's southern
frontier and evidenced the further projection of tsarist power
to the southwest toward Persia and Central Asia.
© 2003-2004
The New York Public Library
are
specific to Muscovy/Russia's internal development.
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important world historical or cultural events.
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Muscovy/Russia and foreign powers or individuals. 
