The Crimean Khanate, Ottomans and The Rise of The Russian Empire
The Crimean Khanate, Ottomans and The Rise of The Russian Empire
The Crimean Khanate, Ottomans and The Rise of The Russian Empire
1700
The Crimean Khanate, Ottomans and the Rise of the
Russian Empire*
HALIL INALCIK
The empire of the Golden Horde, built by Batu, son of Djodji and the
grand son of Genghis Khan, around 1240, was an empire whicb united the
whole East-Europe under iLSdomination. The Golden Horde empire
comprised aıı of the remnanLSof the earHer nomadic peoples of Turldc
language in the steppe area which were then known under the common name
of Tatar within this new political framework. The Golden Horde ruled
directly over the Eurasian steppe from Khwarezm to the Danube and over the
Russian principalities in the forest zone indirectly as tribute-paying states.
AIready in the second half of the 13th century the westem part of the steppe
from the Don river to the Danube tended to become a separate political entity
under the powerful emir Noghay. In the second half of the 14th century riva!
branches of the Djodjid dynasty, each supported by a group of the dissident
clans, started a long struggle for the Ulugh.Yurd. the core of the empire in
the lower Itil (Volga) river, and for the title of Ulugb Khan which meant
the supreme ruler of the empire.
Toktarnish Khan restored, for a short period. the unily of the empire.
When defeated by Tamerlane, his sons and dependent clans resumed the
struggle for the U1ugh-Khan-ship in the westem steppe area. During all this
period, the Crimean peninsula, separated from the steppe by a narrow
isthmus, became a refuge area for the defeated in the steppe. Around 1440 one
of the grandsons of Toktarnish Hajji Gerey or Giray. entrenching himself in
this rich peninsula, succeeded in estabHshing an independent khanate. He
*Read at the international conrerence on l'he erimea: Past and Present", Kiev.
12-13 May 1994.
2 THE TURKISH YEARBOOK [VOL. XXI
minted silver eoins in his name which was an indication of independence and
assumed the title of Ulugb Kban. Deseending from Toktarnish Khan, he
and his successors never gaye up their right to the imperial patrimony on the
whole Golden Horde empire, ineluding suzerainty over the Russian
prineipalities. In aetual fact, by this time the Golden Horde was split into
three independent khanates, in the Crimea, Kazan, and the Saray region in the
lower Volga. The lauer, ruling over the Ulugb- Yurd, claimed to be the
only legitimate successor to the great khan-ship. Like the secessionist
khanates, the Grand Duke of Muscovy, once the Ulugh-Khan's deputyover
other Russian principalities, began to act independently, challenging the
Golden Horde overlordship. At the same time, in the westem part of the
region, Lithuania under Jagellons rose as a powerful state, claiming
sovereignty on the patrimony of the Golden Horde in the area and challenging
the rising Giray dynasty. Thus, by the middle of the lSth century, in Eastem
Europe instead of one dominant imperial power there were newly rising states
which eventually came to compete for supremacy over the whole region.
Because of their relation to once powerful Toktarnish Khan, Giray dynasty in
the Crimea seemed to have the best chance to reviye the Golden Horde empire
under their rule. The khans from another branch of Djodji, in control of the
Saray region, embarked upon a long struggle against the Girays. The former
made an allianee with the Jagellons while Girays in their tum allied
themselves with the Grand Duke of Muscovy to resist the powerful rival
coalition. At this juneture the Ottoman power eame to support the Crimea-
Muscovy axis against the powerful Lithuania-Golden Horde eoalition.
Firsl, the Crimean-Moscovite axis goı the upper hand in ilS struggle
against the Lithuanian-Goldeo Horde coalition, and prepared the way for the
final fall of the Golden Horde and the rise of the Moscovite power.
dissident Genghiskhanids and Tatar clans in its territory and later on used
them for its claim to the succession of the Ulugh Khans of the Golden
Horde.
Incidentally, starting from the reign of Ivan III in 1496 the Grand
Dukes succeeded in obtaining from the Oııoman sultans trade privileges in
the Ottoman territories including Azak (Azov) and Caffa. From 1496
onwards, with the exchange of embassies between Istanbul and Moscow, the
traffic between the two eounlries substantially increased, the main iıems of
exchange being Russian furs and Bursa silk brocades.
Af ter the final blow to the Golden Horde by Mengli Giray in 1502 the
Girays twice established their control in Kazan and Astrakhan, fırst under the
Ulugh Khan Mehmed Giray (1512-1524) and then under Sahib Giray (1532-
1551). Mehmed Giray had even sueceeded in re-imposing lribuıe on Muscovy
as in the time of Toktamish Khan. In both cases, the Crimeans did not
receive full approval of the Oltomans although the laner expressed at the
same time iıs concem against Moscow's aggressive policy. When by 1551
1982-1991] STRUGGLE FOR EAST-EUROPEAN EMPIRE: 1~1700 S
Sahib Giray achieved his imperial ambilion in the Volga basin, the Ottoman
Sultan became suspicious. Süleyman took action against him when Sahib
Giray then put forth his claims also on the Ottoman province of Caffa.
Ouoman viziers then forged a plan to get rid of the ambitious Khan, not
forgetting, however, the Czar's claims on the Khanate of Kazan. The Sultan
then ostensibly appointed Devlet Giray, the Khan of Kazan, actually as Khan
of the Crimea in lieu of Sahib Giray. Devlet Giray would first eliminate
Sahib and then move immediately to aid Kazan against the Russians. Ivan
IV, who had declared himself Czar or U1ugb Kban (the Golden Horde titIe
used by Ivan IV in his letlers to the Tatars), in 1547 watehing the
developments in Kazan, Crimea and Istanbul, saw that the right moment had
come to invade the Ulugh Yurd. the Golden Horde's imperial domain in the
Volga basin. Devlet Giray succeeded in eliminating Sahib Giray in the
Crimea but was too Iate to march to Kazan before Ivan IV, moving with his
huge army, strengthened with powerful artillery, captured Kazan (1552).
Taking a strategically masterful decision, the Czar had profited from the
disorders in the Crimea. Devlet Girayıs subsequent campaigns against
Moscow did not change the state of affairs and two years later Ivan IV,
always supported by the Noghay clans put an end to the Khanate of
Astrakhan, invading the Ulugh- Yurd. Assuming the titIes of Tsar
Kazanskii and Tsar Astrakhanskii, or U1ugb Kban of Kazan and
Astrakhan, Ivan IV asserted his ambition to inherit the Golden Horde empire.
The Crimean Khan and the Otloman Sultan were caught by arait.
accompli although they would never accept Moscow's invasion of the
Ulugh-Yurd. Then, the Crimean Khan started a series of campaigns against
the Russians. Already in 1563 Devlet Giray wamed Russia, saying LO the
Czar's ambassador Nagoy: "The Sultan has mobilized all Muslims against
the Czar who invaded the land of the Muslims; he will conquer Astrakhan and
enthrone me as khan there. it is betler if you would give Astrakhan to me
now so that there will be no war" (Solovyev, IV, 219). However, the
Ottoman-erimean campaign to reeover Astrakhan had to be postponed for six
years. The Khanate and the Otloman govemment neither reeognized nor used
liüe of "Çar" (Tsar') or Vlugh Khan for the Russian ruler as Iate as the year
1643. The strategic goal of the campaign of 1569 was to expel the
Moscovites from the lower ltil (Volga) basin where Sarayand Astrakhan
stood. An Otloman army and fleet went up the Don River, reaching the
Perevolok (later Stalingrad, now Volgagrad) area near the ruined city of Yeni-
Sarayand began to dig out a canal in order to lake the ships to the llil and go
against the Russians in Astrakhan. In Astrakhan the Russians had built a
strong fortress on an island threatening the caravan road from Central Asia
and the traffic from the Caspian Sea. Czar Ivan had aıready begun
negotiations with the Shah of Iran, sending him a much needed artiUery unit
to be used against the Otlomans. The Shah was wamed that once Astrakhan
carne under Ottoman control, iran was to be exposed to auacks from the rear.
which in fact was one of the Ottoman goals in this campaign.
6 THE TURKISH YEARBOOK [VOL. XXI
situation of the Crimea in the face of the fıre power of the Russian armies.
Anyhow, in the end, Gad did not help the Crimeans. It may be said that until
1654 Russia had been an eastem power (Maşrak Padişahı) and onlyafter
that date it became a dominant power allaver East-Europe, prepared to play a
signüicant role in European politics. For Russia two areas were left to be
penetrated, the Baltic and the Black Sea regions, to make Russia full member
of the European state system. As far as the Ouomans were concemed, the
Russian empire now became a neighbor to the Ouoman empire in the
Ukraine and the immediate threat to the Crirnea and the Black Sea. The Porte
and the Crimean Khanate did not recognize the subjection of the Cossacks to
the Czar and always claimed suzerainty rights over the Ukraine. Becoming
aware of the vital threat to its northem Black Sea possessions and the Crimea
represented by the union of the Dnieper Cossacks with Russia, the Ouoman
government, which was now steered by the energetic Köprülü viziers, decided
to drive the Russians out of Ukraine. in 1678 Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa and
Crimean Khan Murad Giray invaded Ukraine and laid siege to the strategic
city of Çihrin.
The Russian army came to the aid of the besieged city, and fierce
battIes were fought in front of the fortress. This was the first full-fledged
confrontation beıween the armies of the two empires. Now, the issue of
Russian dominatian of East-Europe was to be decided by the result of this
struggle in the heart of Ukraine. Despite the Ouoman-Crimean temporary
success (Murad Giray Khan's driving back four Russian auacks to relieve the
besieged city and the capture of Çihrin), the Ouornan invasion of the Ukraine
did not have lasting results. Then, concemed with the developments in
Hungary, the Porte realized that it could not sustain a long war againsı
Russia for Ukraine.
The Holy League, concluded between dıe Holy Roman Emperor, dıe
King ofPoland, and Venice widı dıe Pope's conseeralian in 1684, made great
efforts to inejude Russia in the alliance from dıe beginning. Tsarist
diplomacy tried to exploit its pasition to elicit maximum profits from bodı
dıe Ottomans and dıe Holy League, particularly at the expense of Poland.
Hoping to prevent the opening of a new front in dıe nonh, the Ouomans and
the Crimeans were ready to negatiate Russian proposals. These included trade
privileges, and the delivery of the salt beds on the Crimean border which were
badly needed by dıe Cossacks. Interestingly, a special request for the prayers
for the Czar at the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul was arnong the
Russian demands. The sensitiye issue of the Cossacks was never brought up
by the Ottomans in dıe course of these negotiations, which meant Ottoman
recognition of the state of aifairs in the Ukraine.
In this game Poland was one of the principal losers. The Polish
government now abandoned all hopes of recovering the Ukraine only with the
antieipation that to compensate its lass it would lake back Karniniec, and
annex Moldavia and the Ottoman Black Sea port of Akkerman. In a message
to the Voyvode of Moldavia, John Sobieski could say: "While the Czar was
going to invade the Crimea, the Polish army would join that of dıe Holy
Roman Emperor in Adrianople and then they would march togerher to capture
Constantinople. "
The fırst result of Russia's joining the League was that the Crimean
Khan, awaiting a Russian invasion, could not leave dıe Crimea to join
Otloman forces in Hungary. In 1687 an army of one-hundred-thousand
10 THE TURKISH YEARBOOK [VOL. XXI
In the following year it was the Tatars' tum to attaek. They raided as
far as Lw6w and foreed Sobieski to retreat from Kaminiee onee more.
Russians would eome back only in the spring 1689 after long preparations.
This time the Russian army, including fifty-thousand Cossaeks under
Mazeppa, was reinforeed with a formidable artillery of 350 eannons. The
Crimean intelligence reported to the Sultan that Russian plans were to invade
the Crimea and march against IstanbuL. During the four days' baule in front
of the isthmus of Or-Kapı, the Tatars blocked the way into the peninsula and
their light cavalry at large harassed the enemy. They eould not penetrate the
Russian defenses reinforeed by the rows of war ehariolS and heavy artillery. In
the end the Russian army, suffering from laek of water and provisions, had to
,retreat again. Although the Russian plan for the invasion of the Crimea was
a Cailure, the Tatars were shocked and found their position hopeless before the
Russian armies, all the more so because the Ouomans, engaged in a diffieult
war against Austrian-German armies in Hungary, were totally ineapable of
sending aid.
In the years 1686- 1689 the northern borders of the empire were
successfully defended whereas on the Hungarian front the Austrian-German
armies invaded the whole of Hungary, took Belgrade, and penetcated as far as
Üsküp (Skopje) in the heart of the Balkans. The Crimean forces under Selim
Giray (1670-1677, 1684-1691 and 1691-1698) joined the Ouoman forces
there, and the Ouoman-Crimean forces won their fırst significant victory
against the Austrian armies at the strategic Balkan pass of Kachanack near
Üsküp, and the enemy was driven back to the other side of the Sava River
(1689). Selim Giray was greeted in Istanbul as the savior of the "state and
religion."
When the Crimean troops were away in the Balkans and Transylvania
Moscow was ardering Cossacks to capture the Tatar defenses on the border.
In 1695 the Cossacks under Pani made a daring raid to the region between
Akkerman and Özü on the Black Sea coast. However, all the Polish attempts
to capture Kaminiec and to in vade Moldavia were unsuccessfuI. Now with
French support, the Porte made attempts to achieve a separate peace with
Poland. In 1692 the new Khan Safa Giray told the King that Kaminiec could
be evacuated and the Crimean sovereignty rights over the Ukraine given up if
the King agreed to a separate peace. The Khan and the Ouomans said they
would even join the Poles in their fight against Russia to recover the
Ukraine, Smolensk, and Chernigov. Later, during the negotiations at
Karlovetz in 1699, Sobieski would say in aletter to his people that
acquisition of a few places in Moldavia could never be considered a
compensalion for the lasses to Russia.
During all along the long war, Crimeans and Ouamans had the luck
to have in Selim Giraya wise and brave leader. In 1695 his intelligence
showed the biuer reality that Azak and Crimea were under the imminent
danger of a Russian invasion and Otlaman military aid was now absolutely
necessary on this front. Instead, totally unaware of the Russian plans and
ignoring the Khan's wamings, the Parle was insisling that the Khan should
immediately leave the Crimea to join the Sultan's army on the Hungarian
front In July 1695 while the Czar came to besiege the fortress of Azak, the
Cossacks under the Russian commander Sheremetiev attacked the Crimean
defenses on the border in the west. Af ter taking Gazi-Kerman, these forees
12 THE TURKISH YEARBOOK [VOL. XXI
Ukraine. They had lost the contention in the east already in rnid- 16th century.
In the following century, Ukraine became the principal scene of rivalry now
involving the attornan Ernpire directly. It was to ensure the autonorny of the
area that the attomans fought their first rnajor war against the Russian
Empire in Ukraine in 1678. However, the Long War (1683-1699) against the
Holy League which the Czar joined in 1686 gaye him the golden opportunity
to descend to the Black Sea by capturing Azak as well as to consolidate its
grip on the territories laken from Poland, Smolensk, and Ukraine. In the
treaty of Istanbul of 1700, both the Khanate and the aııaman Empire had to
recognize the full control of Eası-Europe by the Czar. Aı the same time,
Russia became a full member of the European state sysıem while the
Ouoman Empire was now considered an area for furıher conquests by Russia
and Austria. By capıuring Azak, Russia had gained a position to invade the
Crimean Khanate, the last remnant of the Golden Horde Empire.
The danger became imminent when during the Long War Russian
arrnies carne to in vade the Crimea twice and occupied Azak. In the 18th
century the peninsula was. in fact, invaded three times and becarne the scene
of massacres and deliberate destruction by Russian armies. During the
disastrous war of 1768-1774 the mirzas. seeing the Onomans totaly
incapable of defending the Crimea, sought to compromise with the Czar. The
Russians [jrst appeared to support Crimean independence against the
Ouomans in 1774 which proved to be only a stratagem to invade the Crimca
and all the territories belonging to the Khanate from Dniester to Circassia in
1783. The Russian govemments adopted a systemalic policy to drive out and
annihilate the Tatar-Turkish Muslim population in the Crirnea in order to
transform the peninsula into a Russian base for further expansion in the
south. Russian rule over the Crimea saw the sharneless plunder of the lands
1982-19911 STRUGGLE FOR EAST-EUROPEAN EMPIRE: 1400-1700 15
Bibliography
"The Question of the Closing of the Black Sea under the Ouomans,"
Symposium on the Black Sea, Birmingham, March 18-20, 1978.
Arkheion Pontu, 35 (Athens, 1979),74-110.
"The Khan and Tribal Arisıoccacy: the Crimean Khanaıe under Sahib Giray i
(1532-1551)," Essays Presented LO Omeljan Pritsak, Harvard
Ukrainian Studies, X (1981),445-446.
16 THE TURKISH YEARBOOK [VOL. XXI
"Ghazi Giray, I, II, III," Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed., II (1965), 1046-
lQ47.