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 .