ABSTRACT
In 1774, Turkey suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of Catharine of Russia, and had to sign the humiliating peace of Kutchuk Kainardji. For Turkish society had been democratic in a primitive and tribal sense in the days of the Seljuks and of the early Osmanlis, and had only been overlaid by the authoritarian rule of the Sultans and by the rigid legal system that came with Islam. The Russo-Turkish war of 1806 had created difficulties for reform, though it had caused the crisis that had led to the dissolution of the Janissaries. The internal weaknesses of Russia began to show themselves, the despotism of one man being built on a social system the main feature of which was serfdom. Russia used the right of protection of the Christian subjects of Turkey to go farther.
