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44-793: The flotilla was first formed in 1768 for the Russo-Turkish War (1768-1774) under the command of vice-admiral Alexei Senyavin . It was disbanded in 1783 and its ships handed over to the Black Sea Fleet . During the Russian Civil War , the Bolsheviks formed the flotilla in April 1918 to fight the Germans and the White Guards. As early as the end of June, the flotilla was destroyed after the coastline of

88-579: A flight reconnaissance squadron with five Beriev MBR-2s. The flotilla supported various landing operations and participated in the liberation of Mariupol and the Taman Peninsula. During the Kerch–Eltigen Operation , ships of the flotilla landed troops of the 56th Army northeast of Kerch. In January 1944, three more tactical landings were made on the Crimean coast. From November 1943 to April 1944,

132-791: Is a steppe extending across Eastern Europe to Central Asia , formed by the Caspian and Pontic steppes. It stretches from the northern shores of the Black Sea (the Pontus Euxinus of antiquity) to the northern area around the Caspian Sea , where it ends at the Ural-Caspian narrowing, which joins it with the Kazakh Steppe in Central Asia, making it a part of the larger Eurasian Steppe . Geopolitically,

176-1055: The Eastern Question that would feature in European diplomacy until the Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I . The war followed internal tensions within Poland which indirectly challenged the security of the Ottoman Empire and its ally, the Crimean Khanate . The true power behind the Polish throne was the Russian ambassador Nicholas Repnin and the Imperial Russian Army , with King Stanisław August Poniatowski being elected due to his ties as former favourite to

220-741: The Northern Caucasus of southern Russia , and into the Lower Volga region of western Kazakhstan , to the east of the Ural Mountains . The steppe is bounded by the East European forest steppe to the north, a transitional zone of mixed grasslands and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests . To the south, the steppe extends to the Black Sea, except the Crimean and western Caucasus mountains' border with

264-573: The Seven Years' War . The Ottoman Navy capitalized on the inferiority of the Imperial Russian Navy , even though Russia employed British officers to resolve this weakness. The Ottomans dominated the Black Sea , giving it the advantage of shorter supply lines. The Ottomans were also able to levy troops from their vassal state, the Crimean Khanate , to fight the Russians, but their effectiveness

308-582: The Austrian equivalent of Minister of Foreign affairs, informed the Sublime Porte that Austria no longer considered the treaty of 1771 binding. A ceasefire between Russia and the Ottoman Empire commenced on May 30, 1772, but real negotiations did not begin until August 8. The peace talks broke down almost immediately over the Crimea, but the truce was extended until March 20, 1773. Both parties had reasons to expand

352-607: The Azov Sea was lost, and the crews were transferred to the Red Army. After Denikin 's defeat in March 1920, the Red Army recaptured the coast of the Sea of Azov, and the flotilla was formed again under the command of S.E. Markelov and based at Mariupol . All ships that were in the ports of the Sea of Azov were included in the fleet. Barges and tugs were converted into warships. From September to November

396-510: The Black Sea. In Ottoman Greece , Orlov's arrival sparked a Maniot revolt against the Ottoman authorities. However, the Ottoman vizier Muhsinzade Mehmed Pasha  [ tr ] called on the provincial notables ( ayans ) of Ottoman Albania to mobilize irregular troops, which he used to crush the revolt in 1771. Just outside the city of Chesma on June 24, 1770, twelve Russian ships engaged twenty-two Turkish vessels and destroyed them with

440-464: The Caucasus. In 1769, as a diversion, the Russians sent Gottlieb Heinrich Totleben with a small expeditionary force south into Georgia. The Georgians defeated an Ottoman army at Aspindza in 1770. The Siege of Poti on the Black Sea coast by a joint Russo-Georgian force in 1771 failed and Russian troops were withdrawn in the spring of 1772. It was the first time Russian troops had crossed the Caucasus. On

484-655: The Empress Catherine II of Russia . Repnin had forcefully passed the Perpetual Treaty of 1768 between Poland and Russia, which was disadvantageous to Poland geopolitically, challenged the political supremacy of Poland's Catholic faith, prevented reform of the liberum veto , and allowed Warsaw 's occupation by Russian troops. Rising unrest led to the massive revolt of the Bar Confederation , which became an alliance of noble, Roman Catholic, and peasant rebels. In

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528-562: The Ottoman Empire. In the summer of 1768, Mustafa III received reports that the town of Balta had been massacred by Russian paid Zaporozhian Cossacks . Russia denied the accusations, but it was reported that the Cossacks "certainly razed Balta and killed whomever they found". With the confederates of Poland and the French embassy pushing the sultan along, with many pro-war advisors, the sultan on October 6 imprisoned Aleksei Mikhailovich Obreskov and

572-511: The Ottoman army near Kozludzha . Russia used the victory to force the Ottoman Empire to acquiesce to Russia's preferences in the treaty. On July 21, 1774, the Ottoman Empire had to sign perforce the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca . The treaty did not overtly take away vast territories from the Ottomans – Poland had already paid the price of alienated territory. According to the treaty: As a consequence of

616-474: The Ottoman army was three times the size of its Russian counterpart. However, the new Grand Vizier Mehmed Emin Pasha would prove himself to be incompetent militarily. The Russian army massed along the borders with Poland and the Ottoman Empire, which made it difficult for Ottomans troops to make inroads into Russian territory. Not content to let the Polish enemy flee over the border, Cossacks followed them into

660-460: The Ottomans against Russia. Catherine II, wary of the proximity of the Austrian army to her own forces and fearing an all-out European war, accepted the loss of Poland and agreed to Frederick II 's plan to partition Poland . She secretly agreed to return the captured principalities back to the Ottomans, thereby removing Austria's fear of a powerful Russian Balkan neighbour. On April 8, 1772, Kaunitz ,

704-749: The Pontic-Caspian Steppe extends from northeastern Bulgaria and southeastern Romania through Moldova and eastern Ukraine , through the North Caucasus of southern Russia , and into the Lower Volga region where it straddles the border of southern Russia and western Kazakhstan . Biogeographically, it is a part of the Palearctic realm , and of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome . The area corresponds to Cimmeria , Scythia , and Sarmatia of classical antiquity . Across several millennia, numerous tribes of nomadic horsemen used

748-525: The Russian Army captured the fortress of Bar but when one band of surviving confederates fled over to the Turkish border, pursuing troops including Zaporozhian Cossacks, clashed with janissary garrison troops. Polish revolts would dog Russia throughout the war and make it impossible for Catherine II to keep control of Poland. In the Ottoman Empire, revolts were widespread. Many noble factions had risen against

792-454: The Russians began their initial campaign over the Dniester into Moldavia . The elite Ottoman Janissaries took heavy casualties from the Russians at Khotyn but managed to hold on; the remainder of the Ottoman army panicked and abandoned the field, and the Russians claimed the fortress. With the Ottomans in disarray the Russians took the capital of Moldavia ( Jassy ) on October 7. They continued

836-460: The Russians. The Russian squadron, under Captain Ivan Kozhukov, blockaded and bombarded Beirut while Zahir negotiated Jazzar's withdrawal. The latter then entered Zahir's service, only to rebel against him after a few months. In consequence, the Russians occupied Beirut for a second time, for four months, to force Yusuf to pay a ransom. Prussia , Austria , and Great Britain offered to mediate

880-546: The advance south into Wallachia , occupying its capital Bucharest on November 17. From the capital of Bucharest, the Russians fanned out through the principality, only later being challenged by Grand Vizier Mehmed Emin Pasha at Kagul on Aug 1, 1770. The Russians routed the Grand Vizier's forces and allegedly one-third of the Ottoman troops drowned in the Danube trying to escape. By now, Russia had some troops spread out north of

924-474: The area. In January 1769, a 70-thousand man Turkish-Tatar army led by Crimean Khan Qırım Giray invaded the lands of central Ukraine. Crimean Tatars , Turks and Nogais ravaged New Serbia , took a significant number of slaves . Their raid was repulsed by the garrison of the Fortress of St. Elizabeth , after which the movement to the Black Sea continued troops of General Rumyantsev . On September 17, 1769,

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968-555: The balance of power. In 1771, Ali Bey al-Kabir , the Mamluk usurper of Egypt , allied with Zahir al-Umar , the autonomous sheikh of Acre , against their Ottoman overlords. The Egyptian general Abu al-Dhahab marched on Damascus , but the Ottoman governor, Uthman Pasha al-Kurji , convinced him to turn on his erstwhile master. Abu al-Dhahab then marched on Egypt and forced Ali Bey to flee to Zahir. Now, Count Orlov, with Catherine's approval, intervened and established friendly relations with

1012-464: The base of theflotilla was relocated to Taganrog and after a short time back to Mariupol. In July 1920 the flotilla included: A division of 4,600 men was deployed for landing operations. The tasks of the flotilla were, for example, fire support for the troops or the creation of mine barriers in the Kerch Strait. She also played an important role in defeating General Wrangel 's forces. In April 1921

1056-474: The coast. After being chased away from its base at Yeysk by Romanian Cavalry on 8 August 1942, the Flotilla regrouped at Temryuk . In late August, as Romanian forces seized the ports of Anapa and Temryuk , most of the Flotilla was scuttled at Temryuk on 23 August, including its main warships: three gunboats ( Bug , Don and Dniester ), each displacing 840 tons and armed with two 130 mm guns. The Flotilla

1100-717: The construction and maintenance of its Navy ; Russia could provide all these. When the tide of the conflict turned in Russia's favour, Britain limited its support, now seeing Russia as a rising competitor in Far Eastern trade, rather than merely as a counterbalance to the French Navy in the Mediterranean . While Russia remained in a superior position in the Black Sea , the withdrawal of British support left Russia unable to do more than shorten its own supply lines and disrupt Turkish trade in

1144-673: The continent's primary military powers. The war left the Russian Empire in a strengthened position to expand its territory and maintain hegemony over the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , eventually leading to the First Partition of Poland . Turkish losses included diplomatic defeats that saw its decline as a threat to Europe, loss over its exclusive control over the Orthodox millet , and the beginning of European bickering over

1188-450: The dispute between Russia and the Ottomans to halt Russia's expansion. Austria managed to turn the situation to its advantage by gaining Bukovina District from the Ottomans with a treaty on July 6, 1771. The Austrians maintained their increased military presence on their border with Moldavia and Wallachia, and they increased a subsidy to the cash-starved Ottomans, who had been dabbling in tax farming ) and offered unsubstantiated support to

1232-436: The entire Russian embassy's staff, marking the Ottoman's declaration of war on Russia. After her victories in the war, Catherine II was depicted in portraits dressed in the military uniforms of Great Britain , initially a willing ally because of the trade between the two countries. Great Britain needed bar iron to fuel its nascent Industrial Revolution , as well as other products such as sailcloth , hemp , and timber for

1276-747: The flotilla performed supply tasks for the Separate Coastal Army in the Kerch area. In the Battle of the Crimea , they transported troops to the Crimea and dropped landing forces on the flanks of the German enemy. In April 1944, the Danube Flotilla was formed from the Azov flotilla, which was disbanded. Russo-Turkish War (1768-1774) 1770 1771 1772 1773 1774 The Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774

1320-527: The flotilla was disbanded and crews and ships were taken over by the Black Sea Fleet . In November 1920, Commander Mikhail Frunze took Crimea, pushing White general Pyotr Wrangel and his troops out of Russia. Frunze considered using the Azov flotilla to aid him, but the ships were stuck in Taganrog Bay by an early frost and took no part in the final campaign. During World War II , the Flotilla fought against German and Romanian forces as they advanced along

1364-518: The fortified town called Bar , near the Ottoman border, the Bar Confederation was created on 29 February 1768, led by a landed Polish noble named Casimir Pulaski . While the Russian army heavily outnumbered the confederates and defeated them several times in direct battle in Podolia Ukraine, bands of rebels waged low scale guerrilla war throughout Ukraine and southern Poland. On 20 June 1768,

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1408-863: The most prevalent theory in Indo-European studies , speculates that the Pontic–Caspian steppe was the homeland of the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language . With the scientific advances in DNA genome mapping and the introduction of bioarchaeology , the Kurgan hypothesis is today widely considered to have been validated. The Pontic–Caspian steppe covers an area of 994,000 km (384,000 sq mi) of Central and Eastern Europe , that extends from northeastern Bulgaria and southeastern Romania , through Moldova , and southern and eastern Ukraine , through

1452-406: The negotiations, primarily to do with both sides wanting to keep fighting on a single front. The Ottomans were now quelling rebellions from Egypt and Syria and also faced incursions from Persia . The Russians were facing a revival of a centralized Sweden , which had undergone a coup from King Gustav III . On June 20, 1774, the Russian army, under the command of Alexander Suvorov , managed to rout

1496-551: The power of Sultan Mustafa III and would proceed to break away from the Ottoman Empire. In addition to this decentralization of the Empire the Ottomans were also faced with the revival of a unified Persia , which rose to oppose the Turks in Iraq . Upon the outbreak of the war the Ottomans seemed to have the upper hand as Russia was suffering from financial strain as a consequence of involvement in

1540-580: The sea, where the Crimean Submediterranean forest complex defines the southern edge of the steppes. The steppe extends to the western shore of the Caspian Sea in the Dagestan region of Russia, but the drier Caspian lowland desert lies between the steppe and the northwestern and northern shores of the Caspian. The Kazakh Steppe bounds the steppe to the east. The Ponto-Caspian seas are the remains of

1584-497: The steppe; many of them went on to conquer lands in the settled regions of Central and Eastern Europe , West Asia , and South Asia . The term Ponto-Caspian region is used in biogeography with reference to the flora and fauna of these steppes, including animals from the Black, Caspian, and Azov Seas . Genetic research has identified this region as the most probable place where horses were first domesticated . The Kurgan hypothesis ,

1628-536: The steppes north of the mountains, the later-famous Matvei Platov and 2,000 men fought 25,000 Turks and Crimeans. The Cossack village of Naur was defended against 8,000 Turks and tribesmen. During the war, a Russian fleet, under Count Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov , entered the Mediterranean Sea for the first time in history. It was drawn from the Baltic Fleet and was intended to draw Ottoman naval forces out from

1672-533: The treaty, the Ottomans ceded the northwestern part of Moldavia (later known as Bukovina ) to the Habsburg Empire . Russia quickly exploited Küçük Kaynarca for an easy excuse to go to war and take more territory from the Ottoman Empire. This war comprised but a small part of the continuous process of expansion of the Russian Empire southwards and westwards during the 18th and 19th centuries. Pontic%E2%80%93Caspian steppe The Pontic–Caspian Steppe

1716-493: The two anti-Ottoman rebels. The Russian fleet provided critical aid in the Battle of Sidon and it bombarded and occupied Beirut . The Russians surrendered Beirut to the pro-Ottoman emir of Mount Lebanon , Yusuf Shihab , only after being paid a large ransom. In 1773, Yusuf Shihab entrusted the strengthening of Beirut's defences to Ahmad al-Jazzar . When the latter began to act independently, Yusuf got into contact with Zahir al-Umar to remove him. Zahir suggested that they enlist

1760-421: The use of fire ships . The defeat at Chesma demoralized the Ottomans, and bolstered Russian morale. Catherine II used this and other victories over the Turks to consolidate her power domestically, commissioning medals in honour of the battle. Despite their naval success, though, the Russians were unable to capture Constantinople because of Ottoman fortifications, as well as European concerns that it would upset

1804-529: Was a major armed conflict that saw Russian arms largely victorious against the Ottoman Empire . Russia's victory brought the Yedisan between the rivers Bug and Dnieper , and Crimea into the Russian sphere of influence . Through a series of victories accrued by the Russian Empire led to substantial territorial conquests, including direct conquest over much of the Pontic–Caspian steppe , less Ottoman territory

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1848-449: Was directly annexed than might otherwise be expected due to a complex struggle within the European diplomatic system to maintain a balance of power that was acceptable to other European states and avoided direct Russian hegemony over Eastern Europe. Nonetheless, Russia was able to take advantage of the weakened Ottoman Empire, the end of the Seven Years' War , and the withdrawal of France from Polish affairs to assert itself as one of

1892-420: Was re-established on 3 February 1943, and the headquarters of the flotilla became Yeisk . At that time the flotilla consisted of : The Akhtarsk Combat Division was established as part of the flotilla, which included a battalion of marine infantry, an infantry battalion and four anti-aircraft batteries. The flotilla was also assigned 20 Neman R-10s, 12 Ilyushin Il-2s, a fighter squadron with seven Il-2s and

1936-426: Was undermined by constant Russian destabilization of the area. In the years preceding the war the Ottoman Empire had enjoyed the longest period of peace with Europe in its history (1739–1768). Nevertheless, the Ottoman Empire faced internal division, rebellion and corruption compounded by the re-emergence of a unified Persian leadership, under Nader Shah . One clear advantage for the Ottomans was its superior numbers as

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