The Russian Civil War, what really happened, (1761-1766)
Before the Russian Empire ended in a civil war, the state was focussed on war with Prussia, the Ottoman Empire and Sweden. As far as the Russian military was concerned, the Russians did not lose. And the desire to retreat from war was minimal. Empress Elisabeth of Russia was focussed on eliminating Frederick II of Prussia, together with Maria Theresa of Austria and the French. The war later expanded with the Russians intervening against the Ottomans. What the Russians were expecting but no so soon was the Swedish intervention against the Russians, with the Russians caught on three fronts. The Empress of Russia, Elisabeth was confident on defeating all of their three enemies. And this was what gave Austria confidence to continue against their struggle with the Prussians. But the sudden stroke of Empress Elisabeth in 1760 and her death a few months afterwards in 1761, made things more complicated. Peter III ascended the throne. Peter, a Pro-Prussian Czar, ended the war with Prussia and sent his Army in Brandenburg against the Danes in order to reconquer Holstein. During the preparation of war against Denmark, Peter III had trouble with his wife. According to court members, he hated his wife. This became worse when he attempted to send her to a monastery. Failing, some say Peter III poisoned all of Catherine’s clothes, her drinking water and even her bed. As Catherine died in 1761, the raised anger among her supporters in court. To some, it was even worse that they attempted and succeeded in releasing Ivan VI from his captivity. Ivan, although mentally unstable, was merely a puppet. The conflict about Catherines faith changed to outright Civil War when Peter fled Saint Petersburg to Poland to meet with his Army from Holstein. Ivan was put on the throne and Peter III was no longer recognised. This, however was not well received by Peters supporter immediately rebelling against Ivans supporters. Peter III ordered his Army back from Holstein decided to fight for his throne. Immediately afterwards, Peter III made peace with the Ottomans and Swedish and ordered all armies back to Smolensk where they would organise a counter attack.
Peter III was not loved by most court members or military figures. His attempt to get rid of his wife Catherine made his position unstable. Fearing to be deposed, it was said that he poisoned Catherine. This would make sense considering his attempts to get rid of her. But this was not taken lightly and was justified by his opposition to support the mentally unstable Ivan VI. The existence of another ‘czar’ made it more desirable to oppose Peter III.
Treaty of Galati (1762)
With the peace of Galati, the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire ended all hostilities with each other. Peter III envoy offered the Porte enough to end all hostilities. Peter III was not in a position to continue this war nor were the Ottomans motivated to risky adventures in the Ukraine. According to Grand Vizier Mehmed Pasha, peace was the best solution for both parties. The peace terms were:
- Azov fortress and Azov town are Ottoman territory
- Russia will pay 400,000 rubles over 10 years
- The Ottoman Sultan will guarantee that the Crimean Tatars do not raid the Russian lands
- Freedom of navigation on the rivers from Russia to the Black Sea for Russian merchants sailing under a Russian flag
- The Ottoman Sultan and the Crimean Khan do not have to send Cossack refugees to Peter III but are required to hold them under control within their own border
- The Ottomans do not intervene in Russian affairs other than pointed out in the treaty
- The Russian government will guarantee freedom of religion to all Muslims in the Russian empire
- Russia will not intervene in affairs of the Danube Principalities
- The Ottoman Sultan is the sole protector of all Muslims in Russia
- The Ottoman Sultan promises to protect all Eastern Orthodox Christians within the empire from all that threatens their life and property
- The Russians are allowed to settle permanent ambassadors in Constantinople and they will not be harmed
- The Ottomans are allowed to settle permanent ambassadors in St. Petersburg and they will not be harmed
- The Russians will not allow Heraclius II and other Georgian nobles to go outside St. Petersburg
As far as Peter was concerned, he secured the Southern border of the Empire and can now concentrate on the rebellious nobles supporting Ivan VI. He wasn’t enthousiast in giving up his access to the Black Sea but it was necessary. Peter III has to think about his future as Czar first.Mehmed Pasha had once again secured peace with the rivals of the state. In the eyes of Sultan Mustafa III, he had secured a long during peace for the state. Mustafa had now the time to put things together and start some needy reforms. The enemies are defeated.
The second Tulip era (1757-1814)
Mustafa III was a Sultan known for one of surprising habit. He loved to plant flowers and especially one of his favorite: the tulip. Because of this, he was referred as the Tulip Sultan by foreign ambassadors. But it wasn’t because of this why the second Tulip era was named for the period of 1757-1814. Especially because Mustafa III was dead for a long time by 1814. The name originated from the regrowing interest in Tulips by the high ranking elites in Constantinople. Like the first era under Ahmed III and his Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha, the elite was the backbone of the reforms within the empire. And this time it was under the son of Ahmed III, Mustafa and his Grand Viziers. The reform era was not taken lightly by the Janissaries. Although the Janissaries did not openly act against it, they made sure their opinion was heard of.
The second Tulip era was marked with renewed interest in the West and their innovations, Military and Naval doctrines. It was also the era with the attempt to advance on the medical part. Mustafa III encountered a serious problem during his stay in Sofia. He had heard and seen many funerals for recently born children. Most of them died due to lack of obstetricians. It already bothered him but things became more of a problem in the villages he passed. In his notitions, he wrote about how he felt about what the people endured in the smaller towns and villages without care for recent born children. Something his ambassadors told but got mostly ignored was about how the population of in West was growing, especially in France while some parts of Anatolia and Western Balkans were almost depopulated. Sultan Mustafa ordered that more women have to be trained and sent to various parts of the empire. Ideally were wives of the soldiers wherever they would be stationed. The Sultan offered to fund it and ordered the existing obstetrician to train women.
The Most important of all were the Naval and Land forces to be reorganised to European style. The Navy was already experienced some reformation by Dutch Naval officers. But the time was short and not enough. Mustafa III feared that in case a bigger Naval power attacks the Ottomans, the Navy won’t survive the attack. An already planned Naval school to train officers was finished in 1757 during the first months of Mustafa’s reign.
Bahriye Nezareti (Naval School and the seat of the Vizier of the Navy), finished in 1757
The Armed forces were already existing during Mustafa III reign. But it was merely 4 brigades (12,000) and all of them were stationed in Eastern Anatolia or the Caucasus. Mustafa ideally wanted to raise the Armed forces from 4 brigades to 10 brigades. The forces would be recruited from young Turkmen, Circassian and Egyptian Peasants as a beginner. The force, independent from the Janissary Corps would also integrate some of the younger Janissaries from time to time. Not only would it replace the Janissary Corps and the Sipahis as the main Army, it would also be a counter weight for the former. The Janissary Corps had risen to 100,000 men by 1756 and the bigger their number the bigger their threat. The first recruits has to be outside the Janissary sight from the Balkans and Aleppo.
The Seven Years war around the globe
Europe
- Saxony, Bohemia, Silesia and Prussia: There were several fronts within the Holy Roman Empire. The most notable was Eastern Germany. The attack started with the Prussians invading Saxony. The Saxons were defeated within a year and the remaining Saxon forces were incorporated in the Prussian Army. By the end of 1756, the Prussians were advancing on Prague. The Prussians made several attempts to take over Prague but failed due to Austrian reinforcements arriving. In 1757 and 1758 the Prussians made several more attacks on Moravia to cut the help from Vienna to Prague. The invasion failed and the Prussians retreated back to Silesia and Saxony. The Austrians and Russians took the initiative with the Russians sending 75,000 men to East Prussia. The Russians conquered half of East Prussia but failed to take over Koningsberg. By 1759, the Austrians had reached as far as Leipzig and by 1760 the Russo-Austrian Armies were in Pankow and Berlin. The Prussians had now 80,000 men, half of them trained soldiers, the other half recruits with no real experience while the Russo-Austrian Army had around 130,000 men combined. The sudden death of Elisabeth meant that Russia retreated 80,000 of the 130,000 men from Berlin again and restored East Prussia to Frederick. Austria now alone, had to face the Prussians and lost both Saxony and Silesia to the Prussians. The war between the two factions ended in a Status Quo.
- Rhineland, Lower Saxony and Flanders: The fight in Europe was mostly in the Northern part of the Holy Roman Empire. The French immediately advanced on the Rhine and wanted to take over Hannover to give the British the biggest hit on the Mainland. But the Dutch Intervention prevented such attack and changed the French attention to Flanders as well. The British sendt 10,000 men to fight next to 40,000 Dutch soldiers and another 12,000 from the Holy Roman Empire. The French had 55,000 men in Flanders. The French had initiative up until 1759 with their conquest as far as Nijmegen supported with 8,000 Austrians from Flanders. In 1759, the Allied forces beat the French near Turnhout, Austrian Netherlands and ended the French Threat on the Rhine. Afterwards, the allied forces had taken Turnhout, Antwerpen and even Brussels but were prevented from taking Ghent and Brugge. The French reorganised and had taken Brussels back by 1762 and were marching to Antwerp. The French made some small attempt to take Hannover but they ended the campaign after the disastrous battle of Turnhout to spare more men. The small French military support for the Austrians were taken back and used for the counter attack in Flanders
- Iberia: The Spanish joined France in 1758 after the Dutch joined the British. The French and Spanish wanted to divert attention of the British by invading Portugal. The idea was well planned but it underestimated the Portuguese Army and the British expeditionary forces. By 1762, the Spanish gained nothing but small border towns and the biggest gain was Braga near Porto. But due to the failure to capture Lisabon the campaign was seen as a failure. The Spanish also attempted to take Menorca and Gibraltar from the British. The Spanish had taken Menorca by 1759 but failed to take Gibraltar after the loss during the battle of Algeciras. The Royal Navy also helped the Moroccan King in taking Melilla in 1760 and Ceuta in 1762. The King of Morocco offered to send his Army to defend Portugal against the Spanish but the idea was not looked well upon by the Portuguese who did not want ‘the Moor’ to return to Iberia. Regardless, the Portuguese offered Mazagao (El Jadida) to the King of Morocco as their sign of gratitude during the war and also housing the Portuguese Navy in Moroccan ports whenever needed.
- North America: The conflict in North America started well before 1756. The French and British were struggling in the Ohio valley. The war started in 1754 along the Ohio valley with the British trying to drive out the French from contested areas and destroy their forts. The series of skirmishers turned into a full scale war in North America. Between 1754 and 1758, the French had success in repelling the British until in 1758 when the French lost several forts in the Ohio valley like Fort duquesne. The British attempted to take Canada as well but failed in Quebec. Regardless, the British were victorious in the Ohio valley and by 1762 most of the conflict was over. The French gave up their claims on the Eastern bank of the Mississippi river as well as Ohio valley on the continent.
- Caribbean: The war was also spread to the Caribbean in 1756. The British attempted to drive the French out of the Windward Islands while the French were more ambitious with planning to conquer Jamaica. The Spanish intervention made it more difficult for the British but they withheld and defeated the Spanish navy in the battle of the Bay of Matanzas, Cuba, in 1759. The Spanish Navy was crippled in the Caribbean and all of its defence relied on the French Navy. Several attempts were made to conquer Florida but by then the hostilities were over. The British and Dutch conquered, Grenada, St. Vincent, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tobago, Anguilla, French St Martin and French Guyana from the French. The French in return took Barbados.
- East Indies: The British and French East India companies ended up in conflict after the anti-British Nawab ascended the throne. The war started with the Nawab taking British ruled towns in Bengal with the French supporting him. The British quickly sent a force to Bengal and regained the lost part in bengal. An attempt to convince Mir Jafar to betray the Nawab was prevented when Mir Jafar was killed for treason. Regardless, the EIC managed to secure Southern Bengal from the Nawab forces. Forced to retreat to counter the French in Carnatica, the British abandoned the Bengal campaign for the time being. The French were attempted to be driven from Pondicherry but failed. There was however a successful defence of Madras against the French. By 1760, the British started a new campaign in Bengal, defeated the Nawab forces. Another front was in Malaysia against the weakend Dutch East India Company. The Sultan of Johore stormed Dutch possessions on the Mainland of the Malay peninsula and took over Malacca. The VOC was, however given a compensation by the EIC, Bengkulu in Sumatra. The EIC later got Singapore island from the Sultan of Johore in order not to face attack on Malacca.
- Baltic: The Swedes intervened against Russia in 1758 when the Russians entered war with the Ottoman Empire. The Swedes send an Army of 30,000 to Courland in an attempt to conquer Riga. At the same time, the Swedes had 40,000 men Finland to hold off a Russian Attack and spared 10,000 men during an assault on kronstadt. The most successful was the occupation of Courland with the Swedes having no casualties up until the siege of Riga. The Russian Army at the time was besieging Konigsberg and the command of the Army had received no order what to do and continued the siege. Elisabeth had spare troops to use an attempted to drive the Swedes away from Riga. In the First battle of Riga, the Swedes prevented the Russians from lifting the siege and conquered Riga in 1759. The Swedish Army marched through Livonia up to Tartu. The Swedes found the town abandoned and took it. And then the Swedes marched to Parnu and besieged it until a relief force lifted the siege and drove the Swedes back to Riga. With this, the Swedish attempt to restore rule over the lost Baltic provinces were as good as gone. But by 1761, Peter III immediately made peace with Sweden and offered them Courland as a vassal for Sweden, taking it from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Swedes, not interested in continuing the war, abandoned Riga and returned to Sweden.
North Africa: Although the Spanish won in Menorca, they were unable to penetrate the Royal Navy in the Gulf of Malaga. In this era, the Dey of Algiers attempted to corporate with the Royal Navy to drive the Spanish out of Oran. For the British this would be beneficial. The Dey of Algiers would be out of the peace treaty and thus letting the Spanish focus on somewhere else instead of the British after the war. The same happened with Morocco, when the Moroccans got Naval support during the bombardment on Ceuta and Melilla. The local leaders took the towns and it would take a long time until the Spanish would attempt to retake some of them. In the end Spain lost their last North African possessions.
Treaties of Peace (1761/1762/1763)
- France will give up all claims on the Eastern Bank of the Mississippi River, the Ohio Valley and Fort St. Sault Marie in favor of the British Empire
- France will cede St. Vincent, Grenada, Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands and Anguilla to the British Empire
- France will cede St. Martin and Guyana to the Dutch Republic
- France will cede all their territory in India but Cuttack and Pondicherry
- The British Empire will cede Barbados to France
- The British Empire will cede Menorca to Spain
- Austria and Saxony will renounce all claims on Silesia
- Russia will recognise Swedish protection over Courland
- Russia will give up their claim on Holstein
- The VOC will exchange their rights in Johore for Bengkulu with the EIC
- Austria will cede Milan to Savoy as an exchange for their neutrality
- Austria will cede Roermond and Turnhout to the Dutch Republic and will allow a Dutch Garrison to settle in the Antwerp citadel as well as in the Defencive towns in the Southern Netherlands
- Britain will cede Mosquito Coast to Spain
The results of peace was sort of, more satisfying for the most nations than the peace after the Austrian War of Succession. The British enforced domination on the American continent, India and gained the upper hand in the Caribbean. Yet, defeated and accepted that the nation could not beat their enemies, the kings wanted more, revenge and especially: destroy their rival. And this mentality led to another war in merely a decade.
The Rise of Maratha Confederacy(1707-1761)
Since the death of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, the vacuum was attempted to be filled by several successors. One of them were the Marathas.
The Marathas were several warlords and martially skilled people in the Maharashtra region in Western India. During the conquest of Aurangzeb of the Deccan the Marathas ended up in conflict with the Mughal Emperors and with the death of Aurangzeb, the Marathas have expanded all the way to Central India and by 1740s up to Northern India. Their biggest range was in 1757, ranging from Sialkot in the North to Goa in the South. The Marathas had used the the weakness of the Portuguese to drive them away from their Indian possessions. The first target were Daman and Diu in Gujarat. The towns weren’t too difficult to take as the garrison in the towns were low. The real challenge was Goa. The Portuguese fortified Goa during more than 200 years rule. The Portuguese had to defend Goa with 1,200 Portuguese soldiers and 8,000 Indian volunteers fearing the Marathas would pillage the entire town. The Portuguese hold off the the Maratha forces for 2 years. At the end, Madhav Rao conquered the town but at the cost of 10,000 of his own men. The Portuguese were offered to retreat to Mocambique. The Portuguese never forgot their loss and continued raiding and blockading Maratha ruled ports. At the end, they fully gave up Goa when the Maratha Peshwa offered it to the French in 1779.
In the North, the Marathas were more successful. The Mughal Armies collapsed after facing numerous defeats. The Marathas basically ruled Delhi but left it for the Mughal Emperor and continued to recognise him as the emperor of India, although to the Marathas it was meaningless. The Maratha expansion in Northern India not only brought conflict with the Rajput lords, it also attracted the Afghan King Ahmad Shah Abdali. Ahmad Shah already expanded his realm all the way to Lahore but lost his lands in the 1750s to the all expanding Marathas. It was however in 1761, during the
Battle of Panipat that the Marathas were halted and prevented from consolidating their new conquest in Northern India. Although defeated, the Marathas were not weakened. By the 1770s their authority over Northern India was restored. And it was after this battle, that the Marathas decided to consolidate their power in India.
