Russian-Ottoman Political Relations During the Period of Sultan Mahmud the First

Abstract

Since its establishment, the Ottoman Empire has met with many states and has entered military, political, commercial and diplomatic relations with these. One of the major competitors of this state which had defined its conquest policy in the Western direction was Russia. The Ottoman, which was experiencing the rise of the Ottoman Empire in the XV Century when first relations between the two states started, The Ottoman were took precedence of Russia in every respect. The Ottoman, protecting this domination in the XVI. and XVII. centuries and reflecting this success with wars and treaties it entered to, started to lose its old power and authority in the XVIII. century. With this study, we analyzed the relation of these two states in the Sultan I. Mahmud (1730-1754) period within the framework of the 1736-1739 Ottoman- Russian wars. Compared to the previous periods, the Ottoman Empire had started to undergo a significant recovery process during this period. At the beginning of the sovereignty of Sultan I Mahmud, the war which at the beginning was continuing with the Iran, turned into a triple war with the Ottoman- Russian wars in which Russia was attacking the Azov and Crimea and the Alliance of Austria with the Russians. In these wars starting in 1736, the Ottoman Empire could prevail against these two states thanks to the successful policies of Sultan I Mahmud and has succeed to make both countries separately sign the Treaty of Belgrade which has been the last lucrative convention of the Ottoman history. Significant benefits and dominance had been obtained with this treaty against the Russians and this was also the foundation of a long period of peace between both sides which lasted 29 years.