The View through the Russian Prism, 1760–1805

Author(s):  
David Abulafia

The increasing debility of the Ottoman Empire brought the Mediterranean to the attention of the Russian tsars. From the end of the seventeenth century Russian power spread southwards towards the Sea of Azov and the Caucasus. Peter the Great sliced away at the Persian empire, and the Ottomans, who ruled the Crimea, felt threatened. For the moment, the Russians were distracted by conflict with the Swedes for dominion over the Baltic, but Peter sought free access to the Black Sea as well. These schemes had the flavour of the old Russia Peter had sought to reform, just as much as they had the flavour of the new technocratic Russia he had sought to create. The idea that the tsar was the religious and even political heir to the Byzantine emperor – that Muscovy was the ‘Third Rome’ – had not been swept aside when Peter established his new capital on the Baltic, at St Petersburg. Equally, the Russians could now boast hundreds of vessels capable of challenging Turkish pretensions in the Black Sea, even if they were far from capable of mounting a full naval war, and the ships themselves were badly constructed, notwithstanding Peter the Great’s famous journey to inspect the shipyards of western Europe, under the alias Pyotr Mikhailovich. In sum, this was a fleet that was ‘poor in discipline, training, and morale, unskilful in manoeuvre, and badly administered and equipped’; a contemporary remarked that ‘nothing has been under worse management than the Russian navy’, for the imperial naval stores had run out of hemp, tar and nails. The Russians began to hire Scottish admirals in an attempt to create a modern command structure, and they turned to Britain for naval stores; this relationship was further bolstered by the intense trading relationship between Britain and Russia, which had continued to flourish throughout the eighteenth century while England’s Levant trade withered: in the last third of the eighteenth century a maximum of twenty-seven British ships sailed to the Levant in any one year, while as many as 700 headed for Russia.

1923 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-60
Author(s):  
Ellis H. Minns

The archaeology of the Black Sea coast quickly attracted attention when the Russians conquered the Crimea at the end of the eighteenth century, and the Scythic barrows of the Steppes began to be carefully excavated almost as soon; but it was not till the fifties and sixties that the less imposing antiquities of northern Russia found any one to study them even among Russians. West European interest naturally came later, the pioneers were first the Finn Aspelin in the seventies and next the Baron de Baye, who about 1890 sought to throw light from the East upon the Merovingian and other Teutonic styles which were his special province.


Author(s):  
Alexandr S. Levchenkov ◽  

The article analyzes the influence of the concepts of the Intermarium and the Baltic-Black Sea Arc on the formation of Ukraine’s foreign policy in 1990 – early 2000. The use of these concepts in American, European and Ukrainian geopolitical thought, which historically included the idea of opposing Russian influence in the region, contributed to the increase in tension and was aimed at further disintegration of the Western flank of the post-Soviet space. The article proves that the design of the Euro-Atlantic vector of Ukraine’s foreign policy was already active under the first two Ukrainian presidents – Leonid Kravchuk (1991–1994) and Leonid Kuchma (1994–2005). One of the concrete attempts to implement the idea of forming a common political, economic, transport and logistics space of the Black Sea-Caspian region with a promising expansion of the cooperation zone to the whole of Eastern Europe and the Eastern Baltic during the presidency of Leonid Kuchma was the foundation and launch of a new regional organization, Organization for Democracy and Economic Development, better known as GUAM (composed by the initial letters of names of member states – Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova; when Uzbekistan was also a member of Organization for Democracy and Economic Development, the name of the organization was GUUAM), which is an alternative to Eurasian projects with the participation of Russia.


2018 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milenko Lončar ◽  
Teuta Serreqi Jurić
Keyword(s):  

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-35
Author(s):  
G. V. Zuyev ◽  
V. A. Bondarev ◽  
Yu. V. Samotoi

Investigations of the Black Sea sprat intraspecific differentiation are the basis for the scientific substantiation of rational exploitation of its resource potential. This work is devoted to the study of spatial variability of length and age structure of sprat as specific population parameter reflecting its intraspecific differentiation. Our own data and materials of Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) of the European Commission have been used. The first time long-term dynamics (2007–2012) and interannual variability of length and age structure of sprat in different geographical regions of the Black Sea (coastal waters of Bulgaria – Romania, Turkey and the Crimea) have been investigated. Differences of the long-term dynamics and interannual variability of length and age structure in these regions have been found. Sprat population from Bulgaria – Romania region is in better conditions (mean length 8.59 ± 0.01 cm; mean age 1.79  year), sprat population from Crimea region is in worse conditions (mean length 7.64 ± 0.01 cm; mean age 1.38 year). It has been shown that the main factor determining the interregional biological heterogeneity of sprat is the different fishery regulations. This fact disagrees with concept of united commercial sprat stock in the Black Sea.


2018 ◽  
Vol 931 ◽  
pp. 790-796
Author(s):  
Viktoria V. Pishchulina

A one-apsidal hall church is always a reflection of so-called “vulgar” Christianity, thus revealing the important peculiarities of the spatial culture of the region where it is erected. In this region we can mark two periods when such temples were built: VI-VII c. and X-XII c. The first period is associated with the missionary activity by Byzantine Empire, Antioch, Caucasian Albania which was conditioned by both geopolitical interests (Byzantian Empire, Antioch) and the shift of The Great Silk Way to the north (Caucasian Albania). The second, as the research has shown, is connected with the migration of the peoples of Abkhazia, the abzakhs to this territory in the XII-XIII c. and the development of contacts with the Crimea. In the North Black Sea Region the one-apsidal hall church appears as early as in the VI c. – in the territory of Abkhazia we know about ten such temples. The temples of this type in the area of Big Sochi are dated back to the VII-VIII c. In the first Abhzaian temples we can reveal the influence of denominational centers – Byzantian Empire, Antioch, Caucasian Albania. In the temples of the Black Sea coast of both periods – introduction of the samples from Abkhazia.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 889-897 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacek Pawlyta ◽  
Algirdas Gaigalas ◽  
Adam Michczyński ◽  
Anna Pazdur ◽  
Aleksander Sanko

Oxbow lake deposits of the Neris River at the Valakupiai site in Vilnius (Lithuania) have been studied by different methods including radiocarbon dating. A timescale was attained for the development of the oxbow lake and climatic events recorded in the sediments. 14C dates obtained for 24 samples cover the range 990–6500 BP (AD 580 to 5600 BC). Medieval human activity was found in the upper part of the sediments. Mollusk fauna found in the basal part of the terrace indicate contact between people living in the Baltic and the Black Sea basins. Mean rates were calculated for erosion of the river and for accumulation during the formation of the first terrace.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document