Who was the Russian Empire's MAIN enemy
RBTH
04 Aug 2021, 16:54 GMT+10
Russia's most frequent opponent in wars were the Turks. And, almost always, Russia emerged victorious.
For four centuries, Russia and the Ottoman Empire were engaged in a bloody struggle for the Black Sea coast, the Balkans and the Caucasus. Between the mid-16th century and the end of World War I, the two countries had more than a dozen wars and major armed conflicts. On average, their soldiers met on the battlefield every 25 years.
"Victors".
Vasily Vereshchagin
The first recorded military clash between the Russians and the Turks dates back to 1541. At the time, Sahib I Giray, the khan of the Crimean Khanate, which was politically dependent on the Ottoman Empire, started a military campaign against Moscow and asked the Sultan for assistance in the form of a detachment of janissaries and artillery. The Russian troops won a decisive victory, "beating many of the Tatars and smashing many of the Turks' guns".