The Russian army found itself involved in a number of military operations during the reign of Tsar Nicolas I.  This was due in no small part to the Tsar's desire to use his army to crush what he termed 'the spirit of revolution' that gripped Europe during the period.  This willingness to use military force to preserve the existing order earned him the title 'The Gendarme of Europe'.

Early conflicts of this period with the Ottoman and Persian empires were the legacy of his predecessor's involvement in affairs regarding the Greek War of Independence and Russian territorial gains in Central Asia.  Later military campaigns were usually to suppress a rebellion of one sort or another.  It should be noted that there were several hundred small peasant rebellions during this era, but they are both too numerous and too minor to be covered here.