“UNTIL THE LAST DROP OF BLOOD”: THE EARLY BALKAN ADVANCES OF THE MUSCOVITE STATE AT THE AGE OF PETER I

Güney-Doğu Avrupa Araştırmaları Dergisi Yıl: 2015-2 Sayı: 28 S. 1-29 “UNTIL THE LAST DROP OF BLOOD”: THE EARLY BALKAN ADVANCES OF THE MUSCOVITE STATE AT THE AGE OF PETER I Valeriy Morkva* Abstract The tsardom of Muscovy, which throughout the reign of Peter I had been transforming into what later came to be known as the Russian Empire, since late 17th century began to take an increasing interest in the Balkan region. Drawing upon the original documentary sources of the epoch, this article attempts to look at the circumstances of the early Balkan advances of Muscovy and to shed light on the strategies elaborated and applied by the tsarist government to win the Balkan Christians over to its side. The analysis of the documents allows the author to conclude that the common Orthodox religion and the widespread pro-Muscovite sympathies on the part of the Balkan population objectively served as the most reliable and effective tool for the tsar to promote his interests in the area. It is worthy of note that at the age of Peter I the Balkan Orthodox peoples, despite the eventual failure of the tsar on the banks of Prut, for the first time appear to be directly involved in the strategic war planning of the tsarist authorities. Once discovered, the Balkan card would be kept in the sleeve and used by the Muscovite/Russian state over the course of the next two centuries. Keywords: Russian-Ottoman wars, Balkan Orthodox, Danube principalities, Peter I, Prut campaign, Muscovy, Russian Empire, Ottoman Empire, Eastern question Since the second half of the 15th century, when on the one hand the millennium-old Byzantine Empire ceased to exist, and on the other hand Ivan III by gradually seizing the nearby territories began to gather the new Orthodox empire of his own, Moscow becomes a site for periodic visits of the Balkan peoples of all kinds. It stands to mention the frequent exchanges of ambassadors between Muscovy and Moldova that were taking place in late 15th century1; Sophia Paleologue and Elena Voloshanka, Ivan III’s Greek wife2 and Moldavian daughter-in-law3 bringing their retinues with them to Moscow; A. L. Ordin-Nashchokin’s secret mission in Moldavia in mid-17th century4; the Balkan Orthodox Assist. Prof. Dr., Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Department of International Relations, morkva@gmail. com 1 N. A. Mokhov, Ocherki istorii moldavsko-russko-ukrainskikh sviazei [The sketches in history of the Moldavian-Ukrainian-Russian contacts] Chişinău: Ştiinţa 1961, p. 25. 2 Zoe Paleologue (d.1503), niece of the last two Byzantine emperors and since 1472 the second wife of Grand Prince Ivan III of Moscow. After the marriage took the name Sophia. See: Isolde Thyrêt, ‘Sophia Paleologue’. In: James R. Millar, (ed.) Encyclopedia of Russian History. N.Y.: Macmillan Reference 2004. Vol.3, pp. 11311132; T. A. Matasova, Sofia Paleolog. Moscow: Molodaia gvardia 2016; T. D. Panova, Velikaia kniaginia Sofia Paleolog [Great Princess Sophia Paleologue], Moscow: Moskovskii Kreml’ 2005; L. Ye. Morozova, Znamenityie zhenshchiny Moskovskoi Rusi XV-XVI veka [Famous women of the Muscovite Rus’ of the XV-XVI century]. Moscow: Veche 2014, pp. 26-142. 3 Elena Stepanovna (Voloshanka), daughter of the Hospodar of Moldavia Stephen the Great. Since 1483 wife of Ivan III’s son, Ivan the Young. See: Morozova, op. cit., pp. 142-167. 4 L. Ye. Semenova, Politicheskiie kontakty mezhdu Rossiiei i Dunaiskimi kniazhestvami v pervoi polovine XVII veka [Political contacts between Russia and the Danube Principalities in the furst half of the XVII century]. In: * 2 Untıl The Last Drop Of Blood”: The Early Balkan Advances Of The Muscovıte State At The Age Of Peter I monks and clergymen that used to seek out support and financial assistance of the Muscovite rulers; people from Balkans settling in Muscovy as mercenaries, individual migrants, merchants, teachers, translators, and various adventurers or people with an unusual past. Sometimes they did not stay only in Moscow, but for various crimes could be even exiled and end up exploring the depths of Siberia.5 However for Moscow, even though since the times of Ivan III positioning itself as the successor of the Byzantine imperial legacy and claiming the role of the sole protector of the Orthodox Christian world, the Balkan issues for a long time throughout the 15-17th centuries were not on the immediate political agenda. Such a situation begins to change with the reign of Peter I, when the steady expansion of the Muscovites to the South brought them eventually into conflict with the Ottoman Empire. Peter’s capture of the Ottoman fortress of Azov at the mouth of the Don River in 1696 marked only the initial stage in the forthcoming Muscovite-Ottoman rivalry. As a result, the strategic importance of the Balkan Peninsula increased in the eyes of the tsar and his officials. From now on, it perfectly made sense to look on the Orthodox Christian peoples living in the Balkans as a potentially useful ally in the struggle with ‘infidel enemies of the Christian name’. The increased Muscovite interest in the South Slavic lands Famously, since late 17th century Peter makes efforts to improve fighting capabilities of his army and introduces wide-scale modernizing reforms, which were to change unrecognizably the entire Muscovite society. Moreover, another ambitious task was to learn from scratch the modern art of shipbuilding, which was completely new thing for a heretofore virtually landlocked Muscovy (not to count the cold White Sea in the Arctic area). In 1697-1698 Peter sends and himself incognito participates in the so-called Grand Embassy to Europe, a huge diplomatic mission that visited Berlin, Amsterdam, London B. N. Floria, (ed.) Sviazi Rossii s narodami Balkanskogo poluostrova. Pervaia polovina XVII veka. [Russia’s connections with the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula. First half of the XVII c.], Moscow: Nauka 1990, pp. 79-81. 5 T. Oparina, “Sibirskaia ssylka grecheskikh pereselentsev XVII v.: puti i sud’by” [The Deportation of Greek Settlers to Siberia in the 17th Century: Routes and Destinies]. Quaestio Rossica. 5, no 1 (2017): 171–197. Also, for earlier connections between Muscovy and the Balkan peoples, see: N. P. Chesnokova, Khristianskii Vostok i Rossiia. Politicheskoie i kul’turnoie vzaimodeistviie v seredine XVII veka. [The Christian East and Russia. Political and cultural contacts in the middle of the 17th century] Moscow: Indrik 2011; B. N. Floria (ed.) Sviazi Rossii s narodami Balkanskogo poluostrova. Pervaia polovina XVII veka. [Russia’s connections with the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula. First half of the XVII c.], Moscow: Nauka 1990; B. L. Fonkich (ed.) Rossia i Khristianskii Vostok. Vypusk IV-V. [Russia and the Christian East. Issue IV-V], Moscow: Yazyki slavianskoi kul’tury: Znak 2014; L. Ye. Semenova, Kniazhestva Valakhiia i Moldaviia. Konets XIV- nachalo XIX v. (Ocherki vneshnepoliticheskoi istorii) [Principalities of Walachia and Moldavia in late XIV-ear (...truncated)