Peter's warm-water ambitions and the later forged testament

A forged testament associated with Napoleon's 1812 invasion attributed ambitions involving Constantinople, Afghanistan, India and world conquest to Peter. Russia's search for a warm-water port is a more limited proposition, and the term needs to be understood in its eighteenth-century setting. Constantinople offered religious significance and the prospect of making the Black Sea secure for Russia. Access to the Mediterranean would still leave the route through Gibraltar, while the later Suez route did not yet exist. Expansion through Afghanistan towards India exceeded the logistical capability available to Peter's state. A later understanding of global maritime access therefore cannot simply be applied to his plans.