Russia's Strategic Interests in the South Caucasus at the End of the 18th Century

Abstract

In the second half of the eighteenth century, the South Caucasus emerged as a key geopolitical arena of imperial competition, where the confrontation between the Russian and Ottoman Empires evolved beyond episodic military conflicts into a process of structural redistribution of power. This transformation was driven by a strategic objective to establish control over the Black Sea region, combining military expansion, the domination of trade and transit routes, and the systematic integration of the Caucasus as a buffer and transit space within imperial policy. The Russo-Turkish wars of 1768–1774 and 1787–1791 created the conceptual and institutional framework within which military success was transformed into legally formalized and ideologically legitimized influence.

The study demonstrates that during this period the South Caucasus gradually shifted from a multipolar balance of power toward a model of asymmetric hegemony, in which the Russian Empire deliberately consolidated a dominant position. This transformation was achieved through the expansion of military infrastructure, the systematic use of diplomatic instruments, and the strategic interpretation of international law. Particular attention is paid to the Treaties of Küçük Kaynarca (1774) and Jassy (1791), which are analyzed not merely as formal acts concluding conflicts, but as normative mechanisms through which military superiority was consolidated and converted into long-term political influence. In this context, law functioned not only as a regulatory framework but also as an instrument of power, ensuring the stabilization of hegemonic dominance.

The article places special emphasis on the function of diplomatic language, which is interpreted not as a neutral communicative medium but as a mechanism of legitimizing power. Within this framework, the concept of “protection” is examined as an ideological and legal instrument through which the idea of confessional defense was transformed into a justification for political intervention. As a result, the synthesis of military, legal, and ideological components produced a multilayered structure in which power was not only acquired but also institutionally consolidated and normatively legitimized.

Such an analytical approach reveals that Russian imperial expansion cannot be reduced to territorial conquest alone. It was based on a mechanism of power transformation whereby military success was converted into legally entrenched and ideologically justified dominance. The principle of “protection” played a central role in this process by creating a legitimate basis for intervention while simultaneously constructing a discourse that presented imperial actions not as aggression, but as the maintenance of order and pro­tec­tion. Consequently, Russian policy in the South Caucasus assumed a systemic character, in which expansion was carried out through the combined use of military force, legal argumentation, and ideological formulation.

Within this process, Georgia occupied a strategic position as a geopolitical bridge linking the Black Sea region with the internal spaces of the South Caucasus and eastern directions. In this context, the transfor­mation of Georgia’s political status must be understood as part of Russian imperial expansion, which resulted in the dismantling of centuries-old state institutions and the elimination of its political sovereignty.

It is essential to emphasize that the legal constructions employed in diplomatic texts did not reflect a system of equality or justice. Rather, they functioned as instruments for legitimizing imperial aggression, through which military achievements were translated into formally justified political control. Legal language thus performed a masking function, creating the appearance of normative order, while in reality the process amounted to conquest.

In the case of Georgia, this process culminated in the destruction of its state system. The overthrow of the Bagrationi dynasty and the abolition of royal authority represented not an administrative adjustment, but a deliberate political act that led to the complete elimination of Georgia as an independent state.

The study argues that the formation of hegemonic order in the South Caucasus was based on the interaction of military power, legal formulations, and ideological justification. In this context, the concept of legal hegemony describes a mechanism through which imperial dominance assumes a normative form while preserving structural inequality in the distribution of power.

Thus, the transformation of the region should be interpreted as a shift from open military confrontation to a system in which conquest was formally embedded within a legal framework, while in practice resulting in the consolidation of imperial control and the ultimate abolition of Georgian statehood.