Burkhard Christoph Graf von Münnich was a German-born army officer who became a field marshal and political figure in the Russian Empire. He carried out major reforms in the Russian Army and founded several elite military formations during the reign of Empress Anna of Russia. As a statesman, he is regarded as the founder of Russian philhellenism. Like his father, Münnich was an engineer and a specialist in hydrotechnology. He had the rank of count of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.

The Russo-Turkish War of 1735–1739 between Russia and the Ottoman Empire was caused by the Ottoman Empire's war with Persia and continuing raids by the Crimean Tatars. The war also represented Russia's ongoing struggle for access to the Black Sea. In 1737, the Habsburg monarchy joined the war on Russia's side, known in historiography as the Austro-Turkish War of 1737–1739.