Treaty of Constantinople

By the early eighteenth century the Safavid dynasty of Persia had fallen into disarray, beset by Afghan invasion and internal collapse. The resulting power vacuum tempted Persia's two great neighbors—the Ottoman Empire to the west and the expanding Russian Empire under Peter the Great to the north—each eager to seize Persian territory in the Caucasus and along the Caspian Sea.

Russia had already advanced into the Caspian provinces during the Russo-Persian War, while Ottoman armies pressed into Persia's western and Caucasian lands. To avoid open conflict between themselves over the spoils, the two empires negotiated a settlement. On 23 June 1724 they signed the Treaty of Constantinople, which partitioned the contested northwestern Persian territories between the Ottoman Empire and Russia.

The treaty delineated the respective gains of the two powers, with Russia confirmed in the Caspian coastlands and the Ottomans awarded extensive territories in the Caucasus and western Persia. The arrangement proved temporary, however, for the resurgence of Persia under the conqueror Nader Shah in the following years reversed these losses, driving out both Russian and Ottoman forces and restoring Persian control over the partitioned lands.