Empire and Military Revolution in Eastern Europe : Russia's Turkish Wars in the Eighteenth Century

Explores Russia's military and demographic competition with the Crimean Khanate and Ottoman Empire for control of the Black Sea steppe in the eighteenth century.In terms of resource mobilization and devastation the wars between Russia, the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire were some of the largest of the eighteenth century, and had enormous consequences for the balance of power in Eastern Europe.Davies examines how these conflicts characterized the course of Russian military development in response to Ottoman and Crimean Tatar threats and to determine under what circumstances and in what ways Russian military power experienced a revolution awarding it clear preponderance over the Ottoman-Crimean system.A central part of this Davies' argument is that identifying and explaining a Military Revolution must involve examining the role of factors not purely military. One must look not only at new military technology, new force and command structure, new tactical thinking, and new recruitment and military finance practices but also consider the impact of larger demographic, economic, and sociopolitical changes. Annotation In terms of resource mobilization and devastation the wars between Russia, the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire were some of the largest of the eighteenth century, and had enormous consequences for the balance of power in Eastern Europe.Brian Davies examines how these conflicts characterized the course of Russian military development in response to Ottoman and Crimean Tatar threats and to determine under what circumstances and in what ways Russian military power experienced a "revolution" awarding it clear preponderance over the Ottoman-Crimean system.A central part of Davies' argument is that identifying and explaining a Military Revolution must involve examining the role of factors not purely military. One must look not only at new military technology, new force and command structure, new tactical thinking, and new recruitment and military finance practices but also consider the impact of larger demographic, economic, and sociopolitical changes In terms of resource mobilization and devastation the wars between Russia, the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire were some of the largest of the 18th century, and had enormous consequences for the balance of power in Eastern Europe. Brian Davies examines how these conflicts characterized the course of Russian military development in response to Ottoman and Crimean Tatar threats and to determine under what circumstances and in what ways Russian military power experienced a "revolution" awarding it clear preponderance over the Ottoman-Crimean system. A central part of Davies' argument is that identifying and explaining a Military Revolution must involve examining the role of factors not purely military. One must look not only at new military technology, new force and command structure, new tactical thinking, and new recruitment and military finance practices but also consider the impact of larger demographic, economic, and sociopolitical changes. Preface Map Chapter One The Trampled Lands Chapter Two The Northern War and the New Russian Army Chapter Three The Prut and Caspian Wars Chapter Four War, Peace and Taxes, 1710–1735 Chapter Five The Russo-Turkish War, 1736–1739 Chapter Six Empire and Military Revolution, 1740–1774 Notes Select Bibliography Index