The 1736-39 War with Russia and Austria: a study in diplomacy and changing perceptions of the Ottoman Empire

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the diplomatic relations and perceptions of power, taking the war of 1736 – 1739 between the Ottoman Empire and the Russo – Austrian alliance as the pivotal point. The war in question is generally passed over within general Ottoman histories or those that focus on particularly the eighteenth century. In the secondary literature, the most featured aspect of this conflict is the vision of an Ottoman Empire saved and its life prolonged by French mediation which led to the Peace of Belgrade. In order to examine the actuality of the criticisms that were directed against this approach, it was found useful to get a grasp of how the contemporaries of the war perceived the situation and the relative powers of the belligerents. For this purpose, the Ottoman chronicles, contemporary histories and reports were used in order to draw the picture from the eyes of the contemporaries. The correspondences, policies and the motivations of the Ottoman and certain European governments are analyzed in order to reach conclusions on how the Ottomans perceived themselves and were perceived by their rivals between 1730 and 1750. This picture is supported by the western academic output on the subject. It was found that the Ottoman Empire, perceived as weak before 1737, regained its international prestige after 1739 and the European states approached the Porte with caution. This change is also true in terms of the Ottomans’ self-perceptions, such that controversy over war and peace gave way to two different political factions.