Analysis of Russia's Caucasus and Turkestan campaigns (18th-19th centuries)

The Golden Horde Khanate, which had dominated the Eurasian geography since the 13th century, lost its central authority during the second half of the 15th century, destabilizing the political situation of the region. After the collapse of the Golden Horde Khanate, the Moscow Principality took over the other principalities in Russia, constituted an compound Russian state. The state, which evolved into Tsarit Russia, was not content with this, it subordinated Astrakhan, Kazan and Bashkortostan in the 16th century, and the Nogai Khanate in the 17th century. Russia, which plans to reach strategic geographies through the Mediterranean or the Persian Gulf, thanks to the favorable situation of the geography close to it, aimed to reach its goals in a politically easier way. As a state policy outlined by Peter I and continued by later statesmen, Russia's goal of sailing to the great seas became evident during the reign of Peter I. Since the 18th century, due to the unstable conditions of Turkestan and the Caucasus, a policy towards these regions has been followed and these two geographies have been occupied. The main problem of the research carried out is the reasons for Russia's occupation of the Caucasus and Turkestan. Within the scope of the study, the geography of the Caucasus and Turkestan, the history of Russia between the 15th and 18th centuries, the processes of Russia's domination of Turkestan and the Caucasus were examined, and the economic, political, geopolitical and intellectual reasons of Russia's military operations were tried to be revealed. In order to reveal this general framework, a wide reading process has been passed. especially travel books that convey information about the period in social, political, economic, military and many fields, Archival documents of the Ottoman and British states, chronicles, reports of civil officers who took part in the period, and copyrighted works handled.