Russia's Conquest and Pacification of the Caucasus: Relocation Becomes a Pogrom in the Post-Crimean War Period

1995 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 675-686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willis Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Great Degree ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Russian History ◽  
Crimean War ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Fundamental Significance ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
The Many ◽  
Scholarly Attention

“The history of Russia is the history of a nation that colonized itself.”Russia's greatest historian has affirmed that the expansion of Russian rule, particularly its method, is of fundamental significance in understanding the course of Russian history, and the establishment of Russian power in the Caucasus has attracted as much scholarly attention as any other region where Russian imperialism spread in the last two centuries. Russia's finest literary figures, scholars of the most divergent bent, Russian participants in the conquest and, of course, native inhabitants themselves have examined geographic, political, military and economic, as well as cultural and other factors that would explain how the many non-Slavic peoples of this strategically critical region were incorporated into the tsarist empire. From such a literature a lengthy list of quite diverse tactics are testimony to the deep concern Russian leaders had about integrating its divergent societies in the Caucasus into the Russian empire. The tsarist ideal was stated in the simplest language when Nicholas I endorsed a report in 1833 that would force the native inhabitants of the Caucasus to “speak, think, and feel Russian.” Not surprisingly, one of the striking qualities of the tsarist, Soviet and, to a great degree, Western literature is that it often focuses, as does this essay, on the frustrations Great Russians experienced while attempting to conquer, pacify and assimilate the multi-ethnic peoples of the Caucasus within the Russian-dominated empire. In addition, while charting the demographic vagaries of the Caucasus most scholars have concentrated on the creeping in-migrations of Cossacks and others from the internal Russian provinces and on the relocation of mountain tribesmen (gortsy) from their inaccessible villages (auly) to valley floors where watchful Russians could “civilize” them. What is strikingly absent from such literature, part of what this essay attempts to provide, is an examination of the policy considerations that led to such decisions, particularly in the post-Crimean War period.

scholarly journals Muslim documents from the French archive of Alimardan Topchubashov

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Irina Leonidovna Babich
Keyword(s):  
Russian Empire ◽  
The State ◽  
October Revolution ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Russian History ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Revolution

This article analyzes the archival materials of France, which belonged to the Caucasian emigrants (after the October Revolution). Having immigrated to Europe, they took with them the archives, which contained the documents that covered various aspects of history of the Russian Empire. This is the first article in Russia that carries out an analysis of all the documents on the topic. The goal consists in examination of the documents from the archive of the prominent Azerbaijani figure Alimardan Topchubashov (Paris, France), which reflect life of the Russian Muslims prior to the 1917 Revolution. Before the Revolution, Topchubashov i (having a degree in Law) was one of the active supporters of modernization of Islamic life in the Caucasus; therefore, his archive contains the materials on this aspect of life of the citizens of the Russian Empire (deputy to the State Duma in 1906, initiator of creation of the Muslim faction in State Duma, initiator of the Muslim congresses in Russia). The aforementioned documents are analyzed in the Islamic context of the Russian history for the first time. The conclusion is made that the Muslim part of the archive of Alimardan Topchubashov is a unique compilation of primary sources, which give an general outlook on life of the Muslims in the Russian Empire, including Caucasus over the period from 1890 to 1917. The author unites these documents into three groups. The developed by Alimardan Topchubashov program of the fundamental changes in life of the Muslims is described in these documents.

scholarly journals “Most of Them are Honourable”. Luigi Villari and the Armenians during the 1905-1906 Armenian-Tatar War

2021 ◽  
pp. 257-273
Author(s):  
Aldo Ferrari
Keyword(s):  
Russian Empire ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
The First World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
Popular Language ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
First World

Luigi Villari’s book Fire and Sword in the Caucasus, published in London in 1906, is widely quoted by scholars working on the history of Transcaucasia, in particular in respect to the Armenian-Tatar war. Yet neither this text nor its author have been so far studied in detail. The Italian Luigi Villari (1876-1959) is a figure of considerable interest; he was a diplomat, traveler, and journalist. His father, Pasquale Villari (1827-1917), was an accomplished historian and politician who played an important role in nineteenth-century Italy; Villari’s mother was the British writer Linda White (1836-1915). It is remarkable that the author wrote a book an English at a time when this was not a popular language in Italy. He wrote extensively both in English and Italian about different topics, mainly related to history and international politics. It has been shown that, after the First World War, Villari joined Fascism and contributed actively to the regime’s propaganda in Great Britain. The present paper examines Luigi Villari’s book on the Caucasus, especially the author’s attitude towards the Armenians. I shall demonstrate that in his work, he handles negative stereotypes of the Armenians (“one of the most unpopular races of the East”), which were common in the Russian empire at the beginning of the twentieth century, in a rather interesting way.

FOUNDER OF BESLAN CITY – BESLAN TULATOV

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
И.Т. Марзоев
Keyword(s):  
Land Ownership ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Russian Government ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Xixth Century ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Privileged Class ◽  
North Ossetia

The process of integration of the Caucasian peoples into a single Russian judicial-administrative and socio-economic system of statehood was one of the most relevant in the Russian Empire in the first half and middle of the XIXth century. For its implementation, the government of the state was undertaking both administrative, socio-cultural and economic measures. An importantcomponent of this process was the sphere of economical and rational land use. Mountain feudal lords were endowed with land ownership on the foothill plain. In the first half of the XIXth century, many Ossetian feudal lords with their relatives and subservient peasants began to move from the mountains to the flat lands allocated to them by the Russian administration in the Caucasus. The formation of one of the large Ossetian villages on the plain is associated with the name of the Tagaur Aldar, Lieutenant Beslan-Hadji Surkhaovich Tulatov (17931864).This study examines the pedigree of Beslan Tulatov, who came from the privileged class of the Tagaur Society of North Ossetia - the Tagaur Aldar. His fate is inextricably linked with the Russian army. For his courage, zeal and participation in various kinds of expeditions, he was awarded several orders and medals, and in 1834 promoted to ensign, which gave him the rights of a hereditary nobleman. The data on the service and merits to the Russian government of other representatives of this branch of the Tulatovs family is also given. Particular attention is paid to marriages concluded by the Tulatovs with the Ossetian and Kabardian aristocracy.The materials of the article significantly supplement the history of North Ossetia in the first half of the XIXth century, and also contribute to deeper and more updated study of the genealogy of the privileged stratum of the Tagaur Society of North Ossetia of the Tagaur Aldars.

scholarly journals New Approach to the Imperial History of Russia in the 18th Century. Review of: Vulpius, R. (2020). Die Geburt des Russlдndischen Imperiums. Herrschaftskonzepte und -praktiken im 18. Jahrhundert. Beitrдge zur Geschichte Osteuropas. Kцln: Böhlau Verlag GmbH. 610 S.

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 318-325
Author(s):  
Elena V. Borodina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Indigenous Population ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Far East ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
New Approach ◽  
The Far East ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Russian Empire

The review analyses Die Geburt des Russländischen Imperiums. Herrschaftskonzepte und -praktiken im 18. Jahrhundert. Beiträge zur Geschichte Osteuropas (The Birth of the Russian Empire: Concepts and Practices of Domination in the 18th Century) by Ricarda Vulpius. The author of the monograph focuses on the question of when Russia became an empire. Vulpius pays special attention to the discussion around this problem in relation to the eighteenth century and offers her own solution to the problem using the Begriffsgeschichte methodology. The historian connects such concepts as imperial discourse and colonialism. In her opinion, a major role in the formation of the imperial idea in Russia was played by the development of the territories of Siberia and the Far East, the Caucasus and the lands inhabited by Bashkirs, Kalmyks, and Kazakhs. Despite the thoroughness of the work carried out, the book is not without drawbacks. They are due to the narrowness of the source base of the study and the impossibility of using the Begriffsgeschichte approach in analysing the structures created for the management of the indigenous population of the Russian Empire.

scholarly journals “To Prevent the Destruction of Precious Archives”: The Draft of the Instruction on the Caucasus Military Historical Department Activities (1900)

2020 ◽  
pp. 1020-1033
Author(s):  
Tatiana A. Kolosovskaya ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Military History ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Military Studies ◽  
Caucasus Region ◽  
History Of ◽  
Russian Military ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
The Military

This is the first publication of the draft of the instruction on Military Historical Department of the Caucasus Military District Stuff activities. It was worked out by the Head of the District Headquarters Major General N.N. Belyavsky in 1900. The document helps to establish the area of responsibility of the institution that was a party in the foundation of the archival fund in the Caucasus region of the Russian Empire. It shows that the main concern of the Military Historical Department was research. Its members collected materials on military history, thus providing the source base for writing academic papers on the history of the Caucasus integration in the Russian Empire. Its areas of work included archiving, museum activities, and publishing. The published document provides valuable data on the problem of perished materials of regional military archives on the example of the Caucasus Military District. It is important that all Caucasus regional military archives were given into the management of the Military Historical Department. According to the instruction its stuff oversaw documents storage, compiling scientific reference apparatus, and destruction of the expired papers. Thus, the Military Historical Department was the institution that was directly responsible for the destruction of old files in the archives of regimens, directorates, and headquarters in the Caucasus Military District. The document may interest those who study the history of military institutions of the Russian Empire or preservation of cultural heritage. The instruction secured to the department such activities as sorting out, description, and control of safekeeping of documents kept in Caucasus military archives, as well as their publication and acquisition, which helped to set the scientific base for Caucasus military history studies. In its functions, the Military Historical Department was the predecessor of the Russian Military Historical Society. The published document is stored in Russian Archive for Military History (Moscow) in the fond of the Imperial Committee for Military Studies.

scholarly journals “Troops without Banners”: History of 5th Infantry Corps of Russian Army during Reign of Nicholas I

2021 ◽  
pp. 249-271
Author(s):  
S. V. Andriainen
Keyword(s):  
Russian Empire ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Crimean War ◽  
The Crimea ◽  
History Of ◽  
Entire History ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
The Moment ◽  
First Time

The history of the 5th Infantry Corps of the Russian Imperial Army in 1831—1853 is considered in the article. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time a comprehensive analysis of the entire history of the 5th Corps, from the moment of its formation to the beginning of the Crimean War, was carried out. The author notes that the 5th corps solved the widest range of problems. The question is raised that the 5th corps carried out the tasks of the strategic reserve of the Russian Empire on the southern borders. The role of corps units in construction work in the Crimea, participation in the landing forces on the Bosporus, military operations in the Caucasus and Transylvania are analyzed. The author notes that in the early 1830s the corps had a dubious reputation. In particular, the infantry regiments of the fifth corps were accused of “Polish spirit” and cowardice in the battles of the Russian-Polish war of 1830—1831. It is emphasized that the reputation of the corps in the eyes of Emperor Nicholas I was gradually improving. The author claims that since the 1840s, the 5th Corps was already a reliable army unit in the eyes of the emperor. The author argues that the involvement of the “bad reputation” corps in solving strategic problems demonstrates the limited resources of the Russian Empire in the 1830s and 1840s.

Theodosian Town Governor Semen Mikhailovich Bronevsky: New Documents for the Biography

Istoriya ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11 (109)) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Irina Tunkina
Keyword(s):  
Civil Service ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Taman Peninsula ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Eastern Crimea ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
The City ◽  
The Town

According to archival documents, the biography of the Theodosian town governor (1810—1816), state councilor Semen Bronevsky, in whose house Pushkin and Raevsky stayed in 1820, was reconstructed. The stages of his military and civil service, the circumstances of disgrace and resignation were traced. Bronevsky is the author of books and notes on the history of Russian-Caucasian relations of the 16th — 19th centuries, which had a significant impact on the works of A. S. Pushkin and M. Yu. Lermontov devoted to the Caucasus and all subsequent historiography of Caucasian studies. As the town governor of Theodosia, Bronevsky did a lot for the improvement of the city, initiated the creation of the first municipal archaeological museum in the Russian Empire — the Theodosia Museum of Antiquities (1811) and the first excavations by the «father of Bosporan archeology» Paul Dubrux in the Eastern Crimea and on the Taman Peninsula.

The Russian Empire’s Changing Views of the Caucasus (1801–1864)

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 142-162
Author(s):  
Mikail Mamedov
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
The Political ◽  
Crimean War ◽  
Civilizing Mission ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Almost All

The Russian empire annexed Georgia and moved further into the Caucasus for reasons that were typical for the period; that is, the European idea of a civilizing mission. Later, toward the mid-1820s, Russia attempted to use the region as its colony. The Russian advance towards the borders of Iran and Turkey alarmed the British and aggravated Russia’s relations with the European powers. Meanwhile, Russia’s defeat in the Crimean War gave rise to the idea of the Caucasus as a bulwark against a hostile Europe. None of the previous ideas disappeared completely: they co-existed during almost all of the nineteenth century. Thus, the image of the Caucasus in the Russian imperial consciousness was dynamic and flexible, reflecting Russia’s changing history, the political situation in the empire, and threats to the country from outside.

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