Hello. Hello and welcome to a History of Europe Key Battles podcast.

This is the Aruso-Turkish War of 1768 to 74, the second and concluding part.

Yeah. to 74. The second and concluding part. Last week I gave some background to the Russo-Turkish War.

The Ottoman Sultan Mustafa III, concerned about growing Russian ambition, declared war on St Petersburg after a clash on their common frontier.

The Russian Zarina, Catherine the Great, responded quickly and formed an alliance with a nomadic tribe

called the Yiddison Nogais, who lived in a zone between the two empires in the steppe lands north of the Black Sea.

The war which ensued took place on several different fronts on the northern and eastern littorals of the Black Sea.

From west to east they fought on the River Danu, around the River Dinistra in Moldavia,

at the Perakop Ismus, which led into the Crimean Peninsula,

in the territory between the River Don and the Caucasus, and also as far down as Georgia in the Caucasus Mountains.

The Crimean Khanate was poorly defended, with many of their troops stationed in Romania,

so the Russians were able to quickly capture the forts of Azov and Tagonrog

in the spring of 1759, and so gained access to the Sea of Azov, a northern extension of the Black Sea,

separated from the main body of the sea by a narrow strait.

A major Russian army also descended into the Kuban region of the Northern Caucasus Mountains,

where they fought the local Tatar tribe and reached as far as Georgia.

Meanwhile to the west, a Russian army led by General Golitsyn crossed the river Danista into Moldavia,

and in early July besieged the Ottoman-held Fortress of Khatine, a site of several previous battles,

most notably the Battle of Khartin, 1621, described in an earlier podcast.

The fortress had a garrison of about 10,000 men, including an elite contingent of genoceries.

The Russian army were short of supplies, and after 27 days, desperate for food, retreated back

across the Dineshra.

...