Russo-Turkish Wars(1711–1821)

Peter the Great led 38,000 Russians into Moldavia, hoping to trigger a Christian uprising, but was encircled by a vast Ottoman-Tatar army on the Prut river near Stănilești. Forced to negotiate, Peter signed the Treaty of the Prut, ceding Azov and agreeing to withdraw.

Through the Treaty of Passarowitz (1718), Austria formally received Oltenia (Western Wallachia) following a military campaign. Austria administered Oltenia until 1739, when the Treaty of Belgrade returned it to Ottoman suzerainty.

Münnich led a large Russian army through Moldavia toward Ochakov, engaging Ottoman-Tatar forces in several clashes. Russian forces temporarily occupied parts of Moldavia during the campaign, but did not retain the territory.

Austria attempted to expand from Oltenia into western Wallachia and the Vidin area during the 1737–1739 war, but suffered repeated defeats. After Grocka (1739), Austria was forced to abandon all its gains.

Russian forces under Rumyantsev occupied the Moldavian capital Iași in September 1769, inaugurating a Russian military administration that lasted throughout the 1768–1774 War.

At the outbreak of the 1768–1774 war, Ottoman forces occupied Bucharest and installed a new Phanariot ruler. Russia responded by sending forces under Rumyantsev across the Prut into Moldavia in 1769.

Rumyantsev's Russian army repelled the combined Ottoman-Tatar forces at the Larga river in Moldavia through a brilliant attack in divisional squares. Russian losses were minimal; Ottoman losses were heavy. The new divisional square tactics proved decisive.

Rumyantsev with only 17,000 men attacked and routed a grand Ottoman army of 150,000 on the Cahul river in southern Moldavia. One of the most lopsided victories of the war, it opened the road to the Danube.

Following the victory at Cahul, Russian forces under Repnin besieged and captured the important Danubian fortress of Brăila, which served as a major Ottoman supply base for operations in Wallachia.

Suvorov forced a 65 km march in 27 hours to unite with Coburg's Austrians, then immediately attacked the numerically superior Ottoman force at Focșani. The combined allied army crushed the Ottomans in an exemplary offensive action.

Suvorov with 7,000 Russians united with Coburg's 18,000 Austrians to attack a grand Ottoman army of 100,000 near the Râmna and Rymnik rivers. Through a coordinated multi-column assault on a 12 km front, the allies achieved a total victory. Suvorov personally led repeated attacks.

Following the victory at Râmnic, Austrian forces under Coburg occupied Bucharest and much of Wallachia, expelling the Ottoman garrison. The city remained under Austrian occupation until the peace negotiations of 1791.

Russian forces under the young Kutuzov conducted operations along the Siret river in Moldavia, securing the Russian left flank during the Ismail campaign. Several small engagements eliminated Ottoman forces from the region.

At the opening of the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–1812, Russian forces under Michelson crossed the Danube and besieged the fortress of Giurgiu, a key crossing point opposite Ruschuk (Ruse). The fortress fell after several weeks of siege operations.

A significant engagement at the village of Obilești in Wallachia where Miloradovich's Russian forces defeated a larger Ottoman army that was attempting to relieve pressure on Ottoman positions north of the Danube. The battle consolidated Russian control over most of Wallachia.

Following Tilsit (where Napoleon and Alexander I made peace), Russia and the Ottoman Empire signed an armistice at Slobozia (near Fetești) in Wallachia. This is not a battle, but a military-political event on Romanian soil that temporarily halted the war.

After the resumption of hostilities in 1809, Russian forces under Bagration (later famous from Borodino) engaged Ottoman forces at Rasova in the Dobrudja/Lower Wallachia area, securing the Russian Danubian line as part of the resumed offensive operations.

Russian forces recaptured the fortress of Giurgiu from Ottoman forces that had retaken it during the armistice period. The battle secured the key Danubian crossing point for Russian operations south of the river.

Russian forces under Kamensky defeated the great Ottoman army near Batin (Batyn) in Bulgaria, south of the Danube opposite Wallachia. A decisive Russian victory that broke organized Ottoman resistance north of the Balkan mountains.

Kutuzov deliberately maintained a defensive position at Ruschuk (Ruse) with a smaller Russian force, inflicting heavy losses on the attacking Ottoman army, then voluntarily withdrew across the Danube into Wallachia. This calculated tactical retreat was a masterstroke of strategy.

After drawing the great Ottoman army across the Danube into Wallachia, Kutuzov encircled it near Slobozia with a flanking force under Markov that crossed lower down from Ruschuk. The encircled Ottoman army, cut off from supplies, capitulated by November — one of the most complete encirclements in pre-Napoleonic history.

Signed in Bucharest, the treaty ended the 1806–1812 War. Russia gained Bessarabia (Eastern Moldavia east of the Prut river) but returned the Danubian Principalities to Ottoman suzerainty.