alternatehistory.com

[How to get the Russian Navy into the Mediterranean without the passage from the Black Sea needed. 18th Century.]
In 1770, the Russian Navy bombarded Chesma and the victory convinced the Holy Roman Empire to declare war on the Ottoman Empire [pod] due to Russian diplomacy and news transmitted. Over the next few years, the Russian Navy and army stationed in Greece would cause the defeat of the Ottomans in the Balkans and the Ottomans would lose Crimea, the Caucasus and Ukraine to the Russians.
The Holy Roman Empire would rout the Ottomans in the Balkans and cause the empire to lose parts of Serbia. The decisive defeat of the Ottomans would lead to the annexation of Romania and anything northwards from the empire. This would lead to the Russians intervening in the Bavarian Succession War in alliance, causing the Prussian Kingdom's decisive defeat and resulting in the kingdom's diminishing to its previous size before expansion from Brandenburg to its 18th century glory.
In 1787, the next Austrian-Russian war against the Ottomans would see Serbia falling into Austrian hands. This, along with the Russian assistance from the Black Sea and Greece [using ships in the Baltic transferred there] would cause the Ottomans to lose Bulgaria and link up with several Greeks. Although the Swedes entered the war later, they barely regained Finland before a naval defeat by ships from the Arctic and returning from the Mediterranean with the Danish Fleet diverted attention until the war ended in 1790 with a treaty at Vyborg. The next peace treaty would see the Ottomans lose the Caucasus as Persia and Georgia took advantage of the Ottoman defeats to invade more territory and the defeats would spread the rise of revolts in the empire's Asian core, besides threatening the empire with easier Russian military passage through the Black Sea. However, Constantinople was the bigger problem and was ripe for the picking anytime. Also, the Russian Navy was permitted to enter the Black Sea and fro, threatening the balance of power in Europe. Even Prussian intervention was barely sufficient to defeat Austria and regain lost territories in 1777, retaking Silesia and East Prussia.

However, the French Revolution and Polish issues were bigger issues that needed to be solved. The Ottomans attempted to rectify the problems by relocating troops and declaring war on Russia, but events would prove otherwise as the Ottoman Empire had to reconstruct its navy and army without lost equipment and most Christians who deserted or surrendered, plus some Turks later persecuted. The Napoleonic invasion of Egypt would threaten the Ottomans, but the Ottoman defeats while fighting against its former enemies would deal further damage on the empire. After the defeats of 1777, Prussia lost Silesia, Pomerania and East Prussia to Russia and Austria. Although the provinces mentioned on the top paragraph were regained in 1792, Pomerania would be retaken only when Poland was partitioned later the same year.
Top