The first major cause of the epic collapse of the Ottoman Empire was the tremendous loss of territories and land through multiple military campaigns by European countries. Russia, in particular, had a growing desire to capture Constantinople and gain control over the Black Sea after its embarrassing defeat in the Crimean War. Although Russia did not capture Constantinople, during a time of uncertainty and instability in the Ottoman Empire, Peter the Great came to power and strengthened Russia’s military greatly (Cook). Because of this, Russia was able to capture the Ottoman port of Azov and achieve its long-standing goal of gaining naval and trade access to a warm-water port on the Black Sea (Cook). In addition, the Russian military’s capture
