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This
war began auspiciously for Peter the Great. But very soon the Turks
recovered their losses to defeat him decisively on the Pruth on
28th July 1711. For some unknown reason, Ahmed III was not able
to take advantage of his victory. Instead of taking Peter the Great
captive, which would have radically altered the course of history,
he contented himself - greatly to the disgust of Carl XII - with
a truce. Peter the Great was forced by the terms of the Treaty of
Pruth to withdraw the permanent ambassador to Constantinople and
to abandon his negotiators, Shafirov and Sheremetyev, to the Turks
as hostages. In addition, he had to cede Asov, which had been Russian
since 1700.
But for Peter the Great this humiliating treaty
was only a chance to catch his breath. War flared up again that
same year and did not end until the Peace of Adrianople in 1712.
Since Peter the Great was reluctant to fulfil the terms of the treaty,
and above all, unwilling to raze a number of fortresses which he
had erected on the east coast of the Black Sea, hostilities continued.
Peace was not declared until 1713, when the Treaty of Adrianople
was confirmed by the intercession of the "maritime powers"
(England and Holland with French support). The maritime powers thought
it prudent to side with Turkey in order to block Russia's expansion
towards the Mediterranean.
Turkey
accepted this treaty of sorts because Austria had formed an offensive
alliance with Venice, which the Sublime Porte (this was what the
Ottoman Sultanate was called) regarded as an infringement of the
Treaty of Carlovitz. War broke out again. Turkey was now able to
count on Russia's remaining neutral. Despite this advantage fortune
was not on Turkey's side. Turkey recaptured Belgrade, only to lose
it again, and with it Albania,Dalmatia and Herzegovina. The intercession
of England saved Turkey from disaster because it forced both sides
to respect the Peace of Passarovitz. Russia had become a European
power and the Austro-Hungarian monarchy had maintained its supremacy
in Southeastern Europe.
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