Confrontation between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century: An institutional approach

We analyze confrontation between Russia and Ottoman Empire in the XVIII century. Our focus is on the institutional factors affecting military organization and the principles of state economic policy, in their relation to the success and failure during confrontation between Russia and Ottoman Empire. We argue that Turkey did not lag behind Russia economically until the middle of the XVIII century. In terms of naval armaments, the Ottoman Empire was also ahead of Russia until the middle of the XVIII century, since Turkey possessed more ships. Economic difficulties led the Ottoman Empire to a military and political crisis at the end of the XVIII century. We believe that the main reason for this crisis is not the economy, but the wrong strategy and the return of the Ottoman political elite to armed expansion in Eastern Europe. We link Russian foreign policy continuity in the Black Sea Region not only with the liberation of Orthodox Christian peoples of the Balkans from oppressive Turkish yoke. The influence of the alliance with Austria on the development of Russia's military situation during the latter's wars with the Ottoman Empire. The influence of the Russian Austrian alliance on the military position of Russia during the Russian-Turkish wars also played an important role. Before reforms implemented by Catherine the Great, the alliance with the Habsburgs was very important for Russia, since Turkey had a powerful army and navy. Fortunately for Russia, the reforms of Selim III were not of a complex character, which did not allow the Ottomans to take revenge for previous defeats.