2-587-673 - © Fine Art Images/Heritage Images

'Taking of Azov on 18 May 1696', late 18th or 19th century. Tsar Peter the Great led a Russian military assault on the city of Azov near the mouth of the Don River as part of his campaign to secure naval access to the Black Sea, then controlled by the Ottoman Empire. Azov's harbour turned out to be unsuitable as a base for the Russian navy and Peter ordered the construction of a naval base at Taganrog instead. Found in the collection of the State Central Navy Museum, St Petersburg.