Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792) | |||||||||
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Siege of Ochakov 1788, by Polish painter January Suchodolski |
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Russian Empire | Ottoman Empire | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Catherine II Grigory Potemkin Alexander Suvorov Pyotr Rumyantsev Nicholas Repnin Fyodor Ushakov José de Ribas John Paul Jones |
Abdul Hamid I Koca Yusuf Pasha Hasan Pasha Husayn Pasha |
The Russo–Turkish War of 1787–1792 involved an unsuccessful attempt by the Ottoman Empire to regain lands lost to Russian Empire in the course of the previous Russo-Turkish War (1768–74). It took place concomitantly with the Austro-Turkish War of 1787–91.
In May and June 1787, Catherine II of Russia made a triumphal procession through New Russia and the annexed Crimea in company with her ally, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. These events, the rumors about Catherine's Greek Plan and the friction caused by the mutual complaints of infringements of the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, which had ended the previous war, stirred up public opinion in Constantinople, while the British and French ambassadors lent their unconditional support to the Ottoman war party.
In 1787, the Ottomans demanded the Russians to evacuate the Crimea and give up its holdings near the Black Sea. This was the casus belli as for why the Russians would declare war soon after. On 19 August 1787, war was declared by Russia, and the Russian ambassador to the Ottomans, Yakov Bulgakov, was thrown into prison, consequently, Ottoman preparations were inadequate and the moment was ill-chosen, now that Russia and Austria were in alliance.
The Ottoman Empire opened their offensive with an attack on the two fortresses near Kinburn, in southern Ukraine. Russian General Alexander Suvorov held off these two Ottoman sea-borne attacks in September and October 1787, thus securing the Crimea. In Moldavia, Russian troops captured the Ottoman cities of Chocim and Jassy.Ochakov, at the mouth of the Dnieper, fell on 6 Dec 1788 after a six-month siege by Prince Grigori Potemkin and Suvorov. All civilians in the captured cities were massacred by order of Potemkin.