Russo-Turkish War (1568–1570)

Russo-Turkish War (1568–1570)
Part of the Russo-Turkish Wars
Date 1568–1570 Location Astrakhan and Azov Result Inconclusive Russian Military Victory Ottoman Diplomatic Victory Fire of Moscow (1571)
Belligerents
Russia	Ottoman Empire Crimea
Commanders and leaders
Ivan the Terrible Pyotr Serebrianyi	Selim II Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mustafa Pasha Devlet I Giray
Strength
30,000 troops	20,000 troops 30,000–50,000 troops
Casualties and losses
unknown	Heavy. Over two-thirds of the forces perished. Ottoman fleet scattered.

The Russo-Turkish War (1568–1570) or Don-Volga-Astrakhan campaign of 1569 (referred to in Ottoman sources as the Astrakhan Expedition) was a war between the Tsardom of Russia and the Ottoman Empire over the Astrakhan Khanate. It was the first of twelve Russo-Turkish wars ending with World War I in 1914-18.

In 1556, the Astrakhan Khanate was conquered by Ivan the Terrible, who had a new fortress built on a steep hill overlooking the Volga.

In 1568, the Ottoman Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, who was the real power in the administration of the Ottoman Empire under Selim II, initiated the first encounter between the Ottoman Empire and her future northern arch-rival Russia. The results presaged the many disasters to come. A plan to unite the Volga and Don by a canal was detailed in Constantinople.

In the summer of 1569 in response to Russia's interference in Ottoman commercial and religious pilgrimages, the Ottoman Empire sent a large force under Mustafa Pasha of 20,000 Turks and 50,000 Tatars to lay siege to Astrakhan. Meanwhile an Ottoman fleet besieged Azov. However, a sortie from the garrison under Knyaz (prince) Serebrianyi-Obolenskiy, the military governor of Astrakhan, drove back the besiegers. A Russian relief army of 30,000 attacked and scattered the workmen and the Tatar force sent for their protection. On their way home up to 70% of the remaining soldiers and workers froze to death in the steppes or became victims of attacks by Circassians. The Ottoman fleet was destroyed by a storm. The Ottoman Empire, though militarily defeated, achieved safe passage for Muslim pilgrims and traders from Central Asia and the destruction of the Russian fort on the Terek River.

In 1572 was the battle of Molodi in which the Ottomans dispatched another large force to support the Crimean Khanate however they were defeated.

Sources

• Attila Weiszhár and Balázs Weiszhár: Lexicon of Wars, Atheneaum publisher, Budapest 2004.
• Martin, Janet (1996). Medieval Russia:980-1584. Cambridge University Press.