Russo-Turkish War 1828-1829

The Ottoman Empire, retaliating against Russian participation in the 1827 Battle of Navarino, repudiated the Akkerman Convention of 1826 risking a military response by the Russian Empire. Seeing an opportunity for territorial expansion, Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire on April 28, 1828, on the pretext of coming to the aid of Greeks in their war of independence against the Turks. The armies of Tsar Nicholas I crossed the Danube River into the Ottoman territories of the Balkans and across the mountains of the Caucasus into Anatolia.

In the Balkans one Russian army successfully besieged Braila in Wallachia and secured the fortress at Ruschuk (Ruse) and Widdin (Vidin); another Russian army captured Varna after a three-month siege on October 12, 1828. Russian offensives continued. A siege of Silistria ended in a Turkish surrender on June 25, 1829. The Russian captured Adrianople (Edirne) on August 20th and then threatened Constantinople. Meanwhile, in the Caucasus, the Russian army conducted a brilliant campaign which involved marching 350 miles in 4 months; Russian forces conquered Kars in July 1828 and Akhaltsikhe in August. During 1929, the Russian army in the Caucasus won Erivan (Yerevan) before learning the Treaty of Adrianople had been signed.

Russia, victorious on the Balkan and Caucasus fronts, preferred a weakened Ottoman Empire to one that was dismembered by other powers. The resulting Treaty of Adrianople, also called the Treaty of Edirne (September 14, 1829), allowed Russia to annex the islands controlling the mouth of the Danube River and the Caucasus coastal strip of the Black Sea, including the fortresses of Anapa and Poti. The Ottomans recognized Russian title to Georgia and other Caucasian principalities and opened the Straits of the Dardanelles and Bosporus to Russian shipping. Furthermore, in the Balkans, the Ottomans acknowledged Greece as an autonomous but tributary state, reaffirmed the Convention of Akkerman (1826), granting autonomy to Serbia, and recognized the autonomy of the Danubian principalities of Moldavia and Walachia under Russian sponsorship. The Turks were also assessed war reparations and confirmed the rights of Orthodox Christians in Ottoman territory. This treaty foreshadowed the future dependence of the Ottoman Empire on the European balance of power and also presaged the eventual dismemberment of its Balkan possessions.

Related Events

Greek War of Independence 1821-1828

References

Clodfelter, 324-5; COW4; Kohn, 422.

Category

Inter-State War

Region

Eastern Europe, Central Asia

Belligerents

Russia, Ottoman Empire

Dispute

Territory

Initiation Date

April 28, 1828

Termination Date

September 14, 1829

Duration

1 year, 4 months, 18 days
(505 days)

Outcome

Imposed Settlement
(Russian victory)

Fatalities

Total: 130,000
Russia: 50,000
Ottoman Empire: 80,000

Magnitude

5.1