The History of Russia Podcast · Damon Boar

Episode 93 - Three slices of Polish Pie

·30 min

Damon picks up the story in 1770. He briefly pulls together the earlier thread of Potemkin, the opening moves of the latest Russo-Turkish war, and the Russian victories that have already given Catherine plenty to celebrate. The episode then shifts to the sea. Chesmey becomes the major turning point, as the Ottoman fleet is destroyed and Russia's influence in the region grows sharply. British and Prussian observers start to worry that Russia is getting too strong. The host treats that nervousness as part of the story, not a side note. Chesmey also sets off unrest beyond the battlefield. Orthodox Christians in the Balkans, mainland Greece, and the Peloponnese rise up, while Muslim groups in Egypt and the Levant also become part of the wider fallout of 1771. The Ottoman response is harsh. Husamuddin Pasha is recalled and dismissed, and Greeks in Smyrna suffer a massacre after the defeat at sea. Russia's own celebration is more ceremonial. Alexei Orlov returns home in triumph and receives the Order of St. George from Catherine. The empress also marks the victory with monuments in St. Petersburg, Tsarskoye Selo, and Gachina. The episode pauses for a small research detour. Damon notes several British captains who served on the Russian side and cannot resist a dry aside about their names. The second half widens the frame again. Russia's success, and the insecurity it created in Prussia and Austria, helps set the stage for the first partition of Poland. The episode explains how the great powers carve up territory while calling the whole thing something more respectable. Russia takes a large share. Frederick links East Prussia to the rest of his holdings, and Austria takes its own territory and population. Polish nobles resist, but they cannot stop the process. France, Spain, Great Britain, and Sweden condemn the partition without acting, and the Commonwealth is effectively dismantled. The episode closes by pointing forward to the next stage of the Russo-Turkic War and the other business still unfolding in Russia.

As heard by us

Chesme sets off a wider imperial chain, from Balkan unrest to the first partition of Poland.

Chesme stays at the center here, but the episode does not leave the battle there. It moves outward to the defeat of the Ottoman fleet, then to the rebellions that followed among Orthodox Christians in the Balkans, mainland Greece, and the Peloponnese, and finally to the first…

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Why you'd press play

Russia wins at sea, and the Polish pie gets sliced into a wider power struggle.

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