Russia's Turkish Wars: The Tsarist Army and the Balkan Peoples in the Nineteenth Century

Russia's Turkish Wars examines the changing place of the Balkan population in Russian military thought, strategic planning, and occupation policies. It reveals that choices made by the tsarist strategists and commanders during the Russian-Ottoman wars reflect a general reconceptualization of the role of "the people" in modern warfare that took place during the nineteenth century.

The book explores the tsarist military's engagement with the population of the Balkans in the wake of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. It draws on previously unpublished materials from Russian archives as well as a broad range of published primary sources. Victor Taki relates the discussions among Russian military men to the international relations of the nineteenth century. Russia's Turkish Wars ultimately provides a new perspective on both Imperial Russia's Balkan entanglements and military change in the nineteenth century.