The Letter of Tsar Peter I to Sultan Ahmed III on the Occasion of the End of the Northern War. Introduction, Translation from Ottoman-Turkish and Commentary

Abstract

The Treaty of Nystad signed between Russia and Sweden put an end to the prolonged Northern War (17001721). Russia gained an access to the Baltic Sea, acquired new territories and strengthened its international prestige. In a letter written on September 30 (October 11), 1721, Tsar Peter I informs the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed III about Russian military and diplomatic success. Till nowadays, there is no information about the original letter, but its text has been preserved in translation into Ottoman-Turkish. The contents of the letter reflect the desire of the Russian Tsar, who had just finished a long war, to maintain good-neighborly relations with the Ottoman Empire. Being a source on the history of Russian-Turkish diplomatic relations, the letter is also an example of the Ottoman-Turkish language of the first half of the 18th c.