By the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish war, Russia had managed to secure a favorable international situation by signing treaties with the Persian Empire in 1732-1735 (which was at war with Ottoman Empire in 1730-1735) and supporting the accession to the Polish throne of Augustus III in 1735 instead of the French protégé Stanislaw Leszczynski, nominated by pro-Turkish France. Austria had been Russia's ally since 1726.

The casus belli were the raids of the Crimean Tatars on Cossack Hetmanate (Ukraine) in the end of 1735 and the Crimean khan’s military campaign in the Caucasus. In 1736, the Russian commanders envisioned the seizure of Azov and the Crimea.

In 1735, on the eve of the war, the Russians made peace with Persia, giving back all the remaining territory conquered during the Russo-Persian War (Treaty of Ganja).

On 20 May 1736, the Russian Dnieper Army (62,000 men) under the command of Field Marshal Burkhard Christoph von Münnich took by storm the Crimean fortifications at Perekop and occupied Bakhchysarai on June 17. Crimean khans failed to defend their territory and repel the invasion, and in 1736, 1737 and 1738 Russian expeditionary armies broke through their defensive positions, pushing deep into the Crimean peninsula, driving the Tatar noblemen into the hills and forcing Khan Fet’ih Girey to take refuge at sea. They burned Gozlev, Karasubazar, the khan's palace in the Crimean capital, Bakhchysarai, and captured the Ottoman fortress at Azov. Khans Kaplan Girey and Fat’ih Girey were deposed by the Ottoman sultan for their incompetence. However, 1737 to 1739 were notable plague years and all sides of the conflict were crippled by disease and unsanitary conditions. Despite his success and a string of battlefield victories, the outbreak of an epidemic coupled with short supplies forced Münnich to retreat to Ukraine. On 19 June, the Russian Don Army (28,000 men) under the command of General Peter Lacy with the support from the Don Flotilla under the command of Vice Admiral Peter Bredahl seized the fortress of Azov. In July 1737, Münnich's army took by storm the Turkish fortress of Ochakov. Lacy's army (already 40,000 men strong) marched into the Crimea the same month and captured Karasubazar. However, Lacy and his troops had to leave the Crimea due to lack of supplies. The Crimean campaign of 1736 ended in Russian withdrawal into Ukraine, after an estimated 30,000 losses, only 2,000 of which were lost to war-related causes and the rest to disease, hunger and famine.

In July 1737, Austria entered the war against the Ottoman Empire, but was defeated a number of times, amongst others in the Battle of Banja Luka on 4 August 1737, Battle of Grocka at 18, 21-22 July 1739, and then lost Belgrade after an Ottoman siege from 18 July to September 1739. In August, Russia, Austria and Ottoman Empire began negotiations in Nemirov, which would turn out to be fruitless. There were no significant military operations in 1738. The Russian Army had to leave Ochakov and Kinburn due to the plague outbreak.

According to an Ottoman Muslim account of the war translated into English by C. Fraser, Bosnian Muslim women fought in battle since they "acquired the courage of heroes" against the Austrian Germans at the siege of Osterwitch-atyk (Östroviç-i âtık) fortress. Women also fought in the defense of the fortresses of Būzin (Büzin) and Chetin (Çetin). Yeni Pazar, Izvornik, Östroviç-i âtık, Çetin, Būzin, Gradişka, and Banaluka were also struck by the Austrians. A French account described the bravery in battle of Bosnian Muslim women who fought in the war.

In 1739, the Russian army, commanded by Field Marshal Münnich, crossed the Dnieper, defeated the Turks at Stavuchany and occupied the fortress of Khotin (August 19) and Iaşi. However, Austria was defeated by the Turks at Grocka and signed a separate treaty in Belgrade with the Ottoman Empire on 21 August, probably being alarmed at the prospect of Russian military success. This, coupled with the imminent threat of a Swedish invasion, and Ottoman alliances with Prussia, Poland and Sweden, forced Russia to sign the Treaty of Niš with Turkey on 29 September, which ended the war. The peace treaty granted Azov to Russia and consolidated Russia’s control over the Zaporizhia.

For Austria, the war proved a stunning defeat. The Russian forces were much more successful on the field, but they lost tens of thousands to disease. The loss and desertion figures for the Ottomans are impossible to estimate.

Russo-Turkish wars, series of wars between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in the 17th-19th century. The wars reflected the decline of the Ottoman Empire and resulted in the gradual southward extension of Russia’s frontier and influence into Ottoman territory. The wars took place in 1676-81, 1687, 1689, 1695-96, 1710-12 (part of the Great Northern War), 1735-39, 1768-74, 1787-91, 1806-12, 1828-29, 1853-56 (the Crimean War), and 1877-78. As a result of these wars, Russia was able to extend its European frontiers southward to the Black Sea, southwestward to the Prut River, and south of the Caucasus Mountains in Asia.

The early Russo-Turkish Wars were mostly sparked by Russia’s attempts to establish a warm-water port on the Black Sea, which lay in Turkish hands. The first war (1676-81) was fought without success in Ukraine west of the Dnieper River by Russia, which renewed the war with failed invasions of Crimea in 1687 and 1689. In the war of 1695-96, the Russian tsar Peter I the Great’s forces succeeded in capturing the fortress of Azov. In 1710 Turkey entered the Northern War against Russia, and after Peter the Great’s attempt to liberate the Balkans from Ottoman rule ended in defeat at the Prut River (1711), he was forced to return Azov to Turkey. War again broke out in 1735, with Russia and Austria in alliance against Turkey. The Russians successfully invaded Turkish-held Moldavia, but their Austrian allies were defeated in the field, and as a result the Russians obtained almost nothing in the Treaty of Belgrade (September 18, 1739).

The first major Russo-Turkish War (1768-74) began after Turkey demanded that Russia’s ruler, Catherine II the Great, abstain from interfering in Poland’s internal affairs. The Russians went on to win impressive victories over the Turks. They captured Azov, Crimea, and Bessarabia, and under Field Marshal P.A. Rumyantsev they overran Moldavia and also defeated the Turks in Bulgaria. The Turks were compelled to seek peace, which was concluded in the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (July 21, 1774). This treaty made the Crimean khanate independent of the Turkish sultan; advanced the Russian frontier southward to the Southern (Pivdennyy) Buh River; gave Russia the right to maintain a fleet on the Black Sea; and assigned Russia vague rights of protection over the Ottoman sultan’s Christian subjects throughout the Balkans.

Russia was now in a much stronger position to expand, and in 1783 Catherine annexed the Crimean Peninsula outright. War broke out in 1787, with Austria again on the side of Russia (until 1791). Under General A.V. Suvorov, the Russians won several victories that gave them control of the lower Dniester and Danube rivers, and further Russian successes compelled the Turks to sign the Treaty of Jassy (Iaşi) on January 9, 1792. By this treaty Turkey ceded the entire western Ukrainian Black Sea coast (from the Kerch Strait westward to the mouth of the Dniester) to Russia.

When Turkey deposed the Russophile governors of Moldavia and Walachia in 1806, war broke out again, though in a desultory fashion, since Russia was reluctant to concentrate large forces against Turkey while its relations with Napoleonic France were so uncertain. But in 1811, with the prospect of a Franco-Russian war in sight, Russia sought a quick decision on its southern frontier. The Russian field marshal M.I. Kutuzov’s victorious campaign of 1811-12 forced the Turks to cede Bessarabia to Russia by the Treaty of Bucharest (May 28, 1812).

Russia had by now secured the entire northern coast of the Black Sea. Its subsequent wars with Turkey were fought to gain influence in the Ottoman Balkans, win control of the Dardanelles and Bosporus straits, and expand into the Caucasus. The Greeks’ struggle for independence sparked the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-29, in which Russian forces advanced into Bulgaria, the Caucasus, and northeastern Anatolia itself before the Turks sued for peace. The resulting Treaty of Edirne (September 14, 1829) gave Russia most of the eastern shore of the Black Sea, and Turkey recognized Russian sovereignty over Georgia and parts of present-day Armenia.

The war of 1853-56, known as the Crimean War, began after the Russian emperor Nicholas I tried to obtain further concessions from Turkey. Great Britain and France entered the conflict on Turkey’s side in 1854, however, and the Treaty of Paris (March 30, 1856) that ended the war was a serious diplomatic setback for Russia, though involving few territorial concessions.

The last Russo-Turkish War (1877-78) was also the most important one. In 1877 Russia and its ally Serbia came to the aid of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bulgaria in their rebellions against Turkish rule. The Russians attacked through Bulgaria, and after successfully concluding the Siege of Pleven they advanced into Thrace, taking Adrianople (now Edirne, Tur.) in January 1878. In March of that year Russia concluded the Treaty of San Stefano with Turkey. This treaty freed Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro from Turkish rule, gave autonomy to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and created a huge autonomous Bulgaria under Russian protection. Britain and Austria-Hungary, alarmed by the Russian gains contained in the treaty, compelled Russia to accept the Treaty of Berlin (July 1878), whereby Russia’s military-political gains from the war were severely restricted.

Persia attempted to ratify the Treaty of Constantinople (1736), by demanding that the Ja'fari, also known as the Imamiyyah was to be accepted as a fifth legal sect of Islam.

In 1743, Nader Shah declared war on the Ottoman Empire. He demanded the surrender of Baghdad. The Persians had captured Baghdad in 1623 and Mosul in 1624, but the Ottomans had recaptured Mosul in 1625 and Bagdad in 1638. The Treaty of Zuhab in 1639 between the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid Empire had resulted in peace for 85 years. After the fall of the Safavid Dynasty. Russia and the Ottoman Empire agreed to divide the northwest and the Caspian region of Persia, but with the advent of Nader Shah, the Russians and the Turks withdrew from the region. Nader Shah waged war against the Ottomans from 1730 to 1736 but it ended with a stalemate. Nader Shah afterwards turned east and declared war on the Moghul Empire and invaded India. in order to refund his wars against the Ottomans.

City Gate, Tabriz. Tabriz was the centre of political and military might of the Persian empire in the southern Caucasus.

Nader Shah dreamed of an empire which would stretch from the Indus to the Bosphorus. Therefore he raised an army of 200,000, which consisted largely of rebellious Central Asian tribesmen, and he planned to march towards Constantinople, but after he learned that the Ottoman ulema was preparing for a holy war against Persia, he turned eastward. He captured Kirkuk, Arbil and besieged Mosul on 14 September 1743. The siege lasted for 40 days. The Pasha of Mosul, Hajji Hossein Al Jalili, successfully defended Mosul and Nader Shah was forced to retreat. The offensive was halted due to revolts in Persia (1743-44) over high taxes. Hostilities also spilled into Georgia, where Prince Givi Amilakhvari employed an Ottoman force in a futile attempt to undermine the Persian influence and dislodge Nader's Georgian allies, Princes Teimuraz and Erekle.

In early 1744 Nader Shah resumed his offensive and besieged Kars, but returned to Daghestan to suppress a revolt. He returned afterwards and routed an Ottoman army at the battle of Kars in August 1745. The war disintegrated. Nader Shah grew insane and started to punish his own subjects, which led to a revolt from early 1745 to June 1746. In 1746 peace was made. The boundaries were unchanged and Baghdad remained in Ottoman hands. Nader Shah dropped his demand for Ja’fari recognition. The Porte was pleased and dispatched an ambassador but before he could arrive, Nader Shah was assassinated by his own officers.