Russian Military History, 1762-1825

Abstract

The sixty-three years between the accession of Catherine II and the death of Alexander I mark a key moment in Russian history. The Russian state enjoyed a long streak of successful wars and territorial acquisitions and fully established itself as a great European power. The reigns of Catherine II and Alexander I saw Russian conquest and annexation of Poland, Finland, Bessarabia, Moldavia, Georgia, and territories on both sides of the Great Caucasian Gorge. Russia also successfully projected its power well beyond its traditional boundary. In 1799, the Russian troops appeared for the first time on the plains of Italy and the mountain valleys of Switzerland while, in 1814, they marched triumphantly along the Champs-Élysées in Paris. Warfare was an almost constant feature of this period as Russia fought three wars against the Ottoman Turks (1768–1774, 1787–1792, 1806–1812), two wars against Sweden (1788–1790, 1808–1809), four campaigns against the Poles (1768–1772, 1793–1795), five campaigns against France (1799–1800, 1805–1814), and one prolonged conflict with Iran (1804–1813). The strain of the Napoleonic Wars, when Russia was almost continually at war between 1805 and 1815, surpassed the impact of all other conflicts that had preceded them.