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The Paradox of Overseas Colonialism for a Continental Empire

Ilya Vinkovetsky

in Russian America: An Overseas Colony of a Continental Empire, 1804-1867

This chapter analyzes the place of Russian America, aka Alaska under Russian rule, in the context of nineteenth-century Russian Empire and colonialism around the world. Overseas colonialism was not ... More

This chapter analyzes the place of Russian America, aka Alaska under Russian rule, in the context of nineteenth-century Russian Empire and colonialism around the world. Overseas colonialism was not in the Russian imperial repertoire, so in their one and only overseas colony the Russians adopted colonizing strategies from West European colonialisms and blended them with conquest strategies that they carried over from Siberia. The result was a Russian overseas colonial system, a new hybrid form of colonial rule. This chapter analyzes the formation of Russian America as a colony, introduces its indigenous peoples, and analyzes their responses to being drawn into Russia's political sphere of influence and the international fur trade. It situates Russian America in the context of colonial studies, Russian imperial history, and Native American studies, and empire studies.Less

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and His Orient

Adalyat Issiyeva

in Rimsky-Korsakov and His World

This chapter discusses Rimsky-Korsakov's last opera, The Golden Cockerel, in the context of his Orientalism, looking at its musical sources and more generally at the complexity of influences at work ... More

This chapter discusses Rimsky-Korsakov's last opera, The Golden Cockerel, in the context of his Orientalism, looking at its musical sources and more generally at the complexity of influences at work on an artist working in the capital of a Russian Empire that directed much of its energy and ingenuity to the task of keeping its Asian territories under control. Despite being raised on nineteenth-century Orientalist musical conventions, Rimsky-Korsakov's view of the East underwent a profound transformation and departed from Orientalism; it developed from simple imitation and reliance on the Orientalist truisms to the critique of these very truisms. His last opera's two most fantastic and undeniably eastern characters help to reveal not only the absurdity of Russia's political system but Rimsky-Korsakov's own skepticism vis-à-vis Eurocentric legitimations of colonial conquest.Less

State Propaganda and Public Opinion during the Campaigns of 1828–1829

Alexander Bitis

in Russia and the Eastern Question: Army, Government and Society, 1815-1833

This chapter, on public opinion, charts the growth and spread of nationalist sentiment in educated society during the Turkish war. It reveals the tension between the popular demand for unilateral, ... More

This chapter, on public opinion, charts the growth and spread of nationalist sentiment in educated society during the Turkish war. It reveals the tension between the popular demand for unilateral, expansionist action and the conservative official tsarist policy which aimed at the conservation of the Ottoman Empire. It shows that official coverage of the 1828–9 war turned this conflict into the Russian Empire's first ‘media war’, and gave rise to the idea that popular nationalist sentiment might be harnessed as a means of ensuring the future stability of the regime. The discussion also considers the origins of the Third Section; the quest for social stability in 1826–9; the Cult of Nicholas; and public opinion during the 1829 campaign.Less

Introduction: Nature's Bulwark

Charles King

in The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus

The introduction describes the geographical setting of the Caucasus, highlighting the region's diversity, from high mountains peaks to arid steppe. It discusses the major ethnic, linguistic, and ... More

The introduction describes the geographical setting of the Caucasus, highlighting the region's diversity, from high mountains peaks to arid steppe. It discusses the major ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups, and emphasizes the multiple forms of identity that have been available to Caucasus peoples over the centuries, as they learned to thrive at the intersection of the Russian, Ottoman, and Persian empires. Major groups in the region include the Armenians, Georgians, Chechens, Dagestanis, and Circassians.Less

Introduction: in the Imperial State

Ekaterina Pravilova

in A Public Empire: Property and the Quest for the Common Good in Imperial Russia

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the book's main themes. The book explores the development of the public sphere in the Russian Empire. It examines the shifting boundaries—in terms of ... More

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the book's main themes. The book explores the development of the public sphere in the Russian Empire. It examines the shifting boundaries—in terms of concepts and actual legal practices—of property in Russia from the time of Catherine the Great to World War I and the Revolutions of 1917 to show the emergence of a new vision of society and new practices of treating “public things”—rivers, forests, historical monuments, art objects, and literary masterpieces. The main object of the present inquiry is a phenomenon that was never institutionalized in Russian laws but nevertheless existed in people's imagination, rhetoric, and politics—the concept of “public property,” the res publica—a world of things to be owned by the public yet managed by the state on the public's behalf. This vision in its general contours resembled the ideas of neo-liberals in Britain, the social philosophy of French solidaristes, and the legal concepts of late-nineteenth-century German and Austrian jurisprudence and sociology.Less

St Petersburg Exchange: On the Road to Maturity. Industrial Stock Index, 1897–1914

Leonid I. Borodkin and Gregory Perelman

in Financial Centres and International Capital Flows in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

The first section of the chapter describes the role of St. Petersburg as a financial centre of Russian Empire. Major “continental” style banks, presence of a stock exchange, and proximity of ... More

The first section of the chapter describes the role of St. Petersburg as a financial centre of Russian Empire. Major “continental” style banks, presence of a stock exchange, and proximity of all-powerful Russian government provided the necessary conditions for the city to become the focal point of Russian finance. Second section describes the history of St. Petersburg Stock Exchange from its founding in the early 18th century as commodities exchange through to the early 20th century when it became the main stock exchange of the Empire. The last section of the chapter fills a gap in the study of Russian financial markets by constructing a stock index of leading industrial companies traded on the St. Petersburg Exchange in 1897–1914. One of the surprising findings is an intermediate peak, which the index reached in 1905, a period generally considered to be one of crisis and stagnation in Russia.Less

The University as Melting Pot?

Benjamin Nathans

in Beyond the Pale: The Jewish Encounter with Late Imperial Russia

This chapter traces the experience of Jewish students (women as well as men) who enrolled in Russia's institutions of higher education, moving figuratively beyond the Pale regardless of their place ... More

This chapter traces the experience of Jewish students (women as well as men) who enrolled in Russia's institutions of higher education, moving figuratively beyond the Pale regardless of their place of study. It notes that in no other arena did selective integration, spurred by new forms of Jewish philanthropy, produce such dramatic results. It observers that unlike their counterparts in Central Europe, Jewish students in the Russian Empire typically found themselves in a remarkably open, egalitarian student milieu. It notes that by the 1880s, the rising number of secularly educated Jews had begun to recast the hierarchy of learning with the Jewish world, planting there the quintessentially, East European divide between “intelligentsia” and “folk”. Jewish students also became a lightning rod for anxieties over the growing presence of non-Russians in the empire's intelligentsia, leading in 1887 to official restrictions on the admission of Jews to secondary and postsecondary institutions.Less

The Geography of Culture: The Expansion of Musical Life in the Provinces

Lynn M. Sargeant

in Harmony and Discord: Music and the Transformation of Russian Cultural Life

This chapter examines the role of the Russian Musical Society in fostering the expansion of musical institutions into the provinces. The expansion of musical life is tied to broader processes of ... More

This chapter examines the role of the Russian Musical Society in fostering the expansion of musical institutions into the provinces. The expansion of musical life is tied to broader processes of socioeconomic development and rapid urbanization in the Russian Empire after the Great Reforms. The enthusiasm for the piano and piano instruction was as strong in the provinces as it was in the capitals, a fact that was both resented and exploited by the Russian Musical Society's provincial leadership. The chapter also examines the importance attached to the symphony orchestra, the perception of a shortage of orchestral musicians, and consequent efforts by provincial branches to develop strong orchestral training programs. A wise variety of archival sources are used to outline the educational and concert activities of a significant number of the Society's provincial branches, including those in Kiev, Odessa, Kharkov, Saratov, Poltava, Tiflis, Kazan, Tomsk, and Ivanovo‐Vosnesensk.Less

The Russian–Jewish Encounter

Benjamin Nathans

in Beyond the Pale: The Jewish Encounter with Late Imperial Russia

This chapter deals with the crossing of visible and invisible boundaries in the Russian Empire during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. It notes that its subject is the encounter between ... More

This chapter deals with the crossing of visible and invisible boundaries in the Russian Empire during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. It notes that its subject is the encounter between Jews and Russians, the dynamics of Jewish integration into Russian society, and the various roles played in this process by individuals, social groups, and the imperial state. It further notes that the Russian-Jewish encounter is an essential part of the story of how and why the largest Jewish community in the world began its complex passage to modernity not in any of the various new worlds—the Soviet Union, the United States, or the Jewish settlements in Palestine—but in the old, under an old regime, and in the peculiar circumstances of a relatively backward dynamic empire.Less

Conclusion: The Meaning of 1867

Ilya Vinkovetsky

in Russian America: An Overseas Colony of a Continental Empire, 1804-1867

Why did Russia sell Alaska? The conclusion examines Russia's decision to quit New World colonization, and how it was related to the themes of this book, including the weakness of Russia's overseas ... More

Why did Russia sell Alaska? The conclusion examines Russia's decision to quit New World colonization, and how it was related to the themes of this book, including the weakness of Russia's overseas colonial system and the resistance to Russian rule by the Alaska Natives. The conclusion argues that the sale of Alaska was part of the Great Reforms policies of imperial retrenchment pursued by the cabinet of Emperor Alexander II. The conclusion contextualizes the sale of Alaska to the United States in the histories of the Russian Empire, the United States, and the North Pacific Rim, and briefly rehearses the different themes treated in the book.Less

5. From Exile: Memories of Revolutionary Russia, 1903–1912

Francis Wcislo

in Tales of Imperial Russia: The Life and Times of Sergei Witte, 1849-1915

This chapter tells of a senior statesman in the Age of Empire, confronting in Russia what perhaps was the first of a series of 20th-century national and social revolutions. Following Russian military ... More

This chapter tells of a senior statesman in the Age of Empire, confronting in Russia what perhaps was the first of a series of 20th-century national and social revolutions. Following Russian military defeat in the Russo–Japanese War, and confronted by explosions of political and social protests as its aftermath, Witte sought to salvage, reform, and thus preserve the Russian Empire for the 20th century. It also examines the story of an aged memoirist, in his last years before he died during World War I, pondering, occasionally, the loss of his Victorian faith in the empire's longevity, even legitimacy in a 20th century where ethnicity, ideology, social movements, the nation-state, and the modern diversity of cultural experience challenged the imperial narrative that his life had constructed and his memoirs conveyed. He died suddenly in February 1915, a half-year after the outbreak of what was becoming the Great War.Less

The Return to Empire

Agnia Grigas

in Beyond Crimea: The New Russian Empire

This chapter sets out the argument that contemporary Russian foreign policy vis-à-vis the post-Soviet space is neoimperial in nature, driven by efforts to rebuild its former empire, regaining ... More

This chapter sets out the argument that contemporary Russian foreign policy vis-à-vis the post-Soviet space is neoimperial in nature, driven by efforts to rebuild its former empire, regaining influence and territories of the Soviet Union. The historical, ideological, structural, economic, and political drivers of this imperialism are examined. The chapter and the book focuses on the seemingly innocuous Russian “compatriot policies” that had been in use for more than a decade and are part of Moscow’s policy paradigm that seeks territorial gains in the former Soviet Republics, particularly where three factors are present: 1) a large and concentrated population of Russian speakers who 2) reside in territories bordering Russia and 3) are receptive to Russia’s influence. When these three factors have been present, Russia has pursued a consistent policy that starts with soft power influence and proceeds from humanitarian policies toward its compatriots to passportization, creating Russian citizens. The conditions are ripe then for information warfare to create the need for “protection” of Russian speakers and citizens. The final stage is either outright or de facto annexation of territory.Less

Conclusion

Hassan Malik

in Bankers and Bolsheviks

This concluding chapter explains that both the Bolshevik Revolution and the subsequent default were intertwined and historically contingent. They emerged from a particular set of historical ... More

This concluding chapter explains that both the Bolshevik Revolution and the subsequent default were intertwined and historically contingent. They emerged from a particular set of historical circumstances, processes, and turning points. The events and the processes that produced them were linked by the explicitly financial character of the war the Bolsheviks waged against their opponents—be they the ancien régime, the Provisional Government, domestic class enemies, or foreign powers. Indeed, by 1917 and well before the Bolshevik takeover, a default in Russia—whether in the form of an outright cancellation of debts or a “restructuring”—had become inevitable. Three years of war had seen the Russian Empire lose critical parts of its economy to the enemy, while the strategy of relying on domestic debt markets had seen diminishing returns, forcing the government to resort to the printing press. Even by employing the latter method, the government could not keep up. Under such circumstances, even counterfeiters could not keep pace with the rate at which currency was being issued.Less

“Independent Part of the Universe”: Russia's Borders

in Romantic Nationalism in Eastern Europe: Russian, Polish, and Ukrainian Political Imaginations

This chapter analyzes the Russian, Polish, and Ukrainian visions of Russia's boundaries, examining several main models of the imperial–national divide as it impinged on the mental maps of Russians. ... More

This chapter analyzes the Russian, Polish, and Ukrainian visions of Russia's boundaries, examining several main models of the imperial–national divide as it impinged on the mental maps of Russians. It discusses Polish émigrés' decisively anti-imperial look at Russia's geography; and the Ukrainian vision, which emphasized an ethnically split empire rather than a national space dominated by Great Russians.Less

The Key to the World’S Treasures: “Russian Science,” Local Knowledge, and the Civilizing Mission on the Siberian Steppe

Ian W. Campbell

in Knowledge and the Ends of Empire: Kazak Intermediaries and Russian Rule on the Steppe, 1731-1917

This chapter examines the Kazaks' engagement with the Russian Empire's civilizing mission and its application of scientific knowledge to modernize the Siberian steppe. Drawing on the work of Abai ... More

This chapter examines the Kazaks' engagement with the Russian Empire's civilizing mission and its application of scientific knowledge to modernize the Siberian steppe. Drawing on the work of Abai Kunanbaev and on the pages of Kirgizskaia stepnaia gazeta (KSG), it considers how local knowledge, some of it collected and developed by Russian scholars, appeared both as a means of seeking the adaptations that would permit a move to agriculture and as a defense of pastoralism on the steppe. It shows that, even as some Kazak intermediaries accepted the empire's civilizing claims, local experiences and experimentation were vital to their articulation in practice. The chapter also discusses the legal and institutional issues arising from peasants' colonization and resettlement to the steppe.Less

Challenges of nationalist foreign policy

Ayla Göl

in Turkey facing east: Islam, modernity and foreign policy

Chapter 4, first, explores the goals of Turkish nationalist foreign policy; and then explains how the Wilsonian principal of ‘self-determination’ was interpreted in Eastern affairs at the end of ... More

Chapter 4, first, explores the goals of Turkish nationalist foreign policy; and then explains how the Wilsonian principal of ‘self-determination’ was interpreted in Eastern affairs at the end of Ottoman and Russian Empires as non-European powers. It highlights why other social movements – i.e. the rise of local congresses in Anatolia as a reaction to the Allied and the Bab-i Ali’s (Sublime Porte) plans – were crucial in applying the principle of self-determination to the emergence of the Turkish nation that is generally ignored in the Western literature on Turkey. The last section focuses particularly on the formulation of a nationalist foreign policy towards the Bolsheviks in the expectation of resolving the territorial clashes between Turkish and Armenian nationalist claims over their perceived historic homelands, and establishing an area of security in Turkey’s eastern borders.Less

A Double Failure: Epistemology and the Crisis of a Settler Colonial Empire

Ian W. Campbell

in Knowledge and the Ends of Empire: Kazak Intermediaries and Russian Rule on the Steppe, 1731-1917

This chapter examines the ideas behind Kazaks' economic and political estrangement from the Russian Empire as well as their attempts to claim a role for themselves—and defend their interests—within ... More

This chapter examines the ideas behind Kazaks' economic and political estrangement from the Russian Empire as well as their attempts to claim a role for themselves—and defend their interests—within the space of discussion and debate in which they had previously operated. It discusses the failure of the Russian Empire's peasant resettlement program from the perspective of Kazaks and other Central Asians whose lands were subject to estrangement and reallocation to Slavic settlers. The chapter also explains why violence erupted in Central Asia at the end of 1916, and why local intellectuals sided against the rebels, by analyzing a series of political decisions taken by the tsarist state over the previous decade. Finally, it considers the response of Kazak intellectuals to the shocks of resettlement and disenfranchisement, along with the impact of World War I and the February Revolution on the Kazak steppe and on the Russian Empire more generally.Less