y the middle of the 18th century Russia’s imperial expansion was unstoppable and events along its southernmost frontier, or everything found west of the Don River, would reverberate for centuries to come. What brought Crimea and the Black Sea into the empire’s fold can be summarised as the strenuous work of four men, Russia’s equivalent to the Spanish conquistadores: Prince Grigory Potemkin, the tireless sailor Fyodor Ushakov (who climbed the ranks of a fledgling navy), General Vasily Dolgorukov and the centurion
