Russia and the Ottoman Empire clashed often from the 16th century through World War I. This rivalry from the past is the stuff of legends.
Turks and Russians have had a long history of interaction dating back to the early Middle Ages. Turkic people have roamed the steppe for millennia; their origins may be traced back to the time of the ancient Göktürk Khanates that controlled Eastern Siberia. The biggest chapter in their history, however, would take place during the Ottoman Empire.
With the Seljuks, Turks came to Anatolia in the 11th century and battled ferociously against the waning Eastern Roman Empire. In the late 13th century, the region's Turkish tribes banded together under the Ottoman flag and conquered Constantinople in 1453, putting an end to more than two millennia of Roman history. From that moment on, the Ottoman Empire controlled the passages connecting the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.
This corresponded with the end of Mongol control in Russia. Russian kingdoms, united under the banner of the Princes of Moscow, put a stop to the Mongol Golden Horde's centuries of dominance. In order to secure additional natural borders and access to the sea, an age of conquest in every direction began. As the interests of both empires converged, the stage was set for one of history's biggest rivalries.
