The victory of the Russians in the Battle of Poltava determined the end of the Northern War. The Russian army has shown all its power, some European countries have voluntarily taken its side. However, the euphoria after the victories of the Russian fleet in the Baltic did not last as long as desired. Soon she was replaced by the threat of a new war already in the south of the country. The Crimean Khan and the ruling circles of Turkey did not forget about the defeats in the Azov campaigns and wanted to take revenge. Charles XII, who was in Turkey, also had a hand in this, and such European countries as Austria, France, England, and Venice also tried. Nobody needed a strong Russia. In 1710, her ambassador, P. A. Tolstoy, the Turks put in a local prison, and Russia immediately declared war.
In the winter of 1711, the Prut campaign entered an active stage. The Crimean Khan quickly headed for Kharkov, but his raid was immediately repelled. The forces of the Tatars, Poles and some Cossacks from the territory of Right-Bank Ukraine were also defeated.
The Russian army continued the Prut campaign, moving south. This direction was chosen in connection with the expectation of the assistance that Dmitry Kantemir promised, the Moldavian ruler, Brankovan, the Wallachian ruler, as well as August II and the Austrian Serbs. In total, an eighty-thousand army was to gather on the Russian side. In addition, regiments of B.P. Sheremetev were supposed to come from Dniester near Riga on May 15.
However, these plans were not destined to come true. Firstly, Sheremetev was late for more than 10 days. And by this time, the Turkish army, which totaled one hundred twenty thousand people, had already built bridges across the Danube. Brankovan forbade the Serbs from passing through his lands and issued the plans of the Russians to the Turkish vizier. Dmitry Kantemir nevertheless joined the Sheremetev detachment, but with an extremely small detachment. And Augustus didn’t send anyone at all. The situation was compounded by the disobedience of Sheremetev. He, contrary to the emperor’s order, did not leave the main forces at the Dniester, but sent a fifteen-thousandth army to the Danube to prevent the Turks from appearing there. Having discovered that the Turks had already settled down on the Danube, Sheremetev directed the Prut campaign down along the river Prut. Peter 1 sent another horse corps to the Danube. But only at the beginning of June did the main Russian troops concentrate on the Dniester and surround the bridge around it.
Thus, the forces of the empire lost both time and the ability to freely maneuver. Nevertheless, the Prut campaign continued even along the bare, scorched steppes, in terrible conditions. Peter 1 himself recalled how blood was running from the lack of water among soldiers with nose, mouth and ears.
In late June, bridges were built across the Prut, and exhausted troops entered Iasi. Cantemir promised to supply them with bread (which had already ended near the Dniester), but due to crop failure he could only send oxen and rams. Not to get to the Danube for the Russians meant to remain without the support of the Slavic peoples. There was no intelligence at the proper level. As a result, Russian troops were surrounded by three times the strength of the enemy. The battle itself began on July 9th. Enemies also did not have a consensus on how to wage war. The Swedes offered to starve the opponents, and the vizier preferred to start the battle. After the Ottomans suffered heavy losses during the battle, their soldiers refused to fight on July 10. The negotiations went on for two days. To Peter I on July 11 P.P. Shafirov left the Turks and reported on the conditions of the signed peace. According to him, the Russians pledged to return the Azov to the Turks and destroy Taganrog. Also, Russia was supposed to let Charles II go to Sweden and not touch on Polish issues.
On the whole, the Prut campaign of Peter the Great suffered a tragic failure, but it cost little losses and the surrender of Turkey to P.P. Shafirov and Mikhail, the son of Sheremetev, as hostages. Since then, Peter I significantly limited the number of foreigners in his regiments.