scholarly journals The visits of the rulers of Russia’s Central Asian protectorates to St. Petersburg at the turn of the 20th century: communicative practice

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 411-425
Author(s):  
Svetlana N. Brezhneva
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
World War ◽  
Russian Government ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Communicative Practice ◽  
Psychological Pressure ◽  
The Russian Empire

This article considers the visits of the rulers of Russias Central Asian protectorates to St. Petersburg as a means for the imperial authorities to communicate with the Muslim elite. It argues out that gifts, decorations and lavish receptions were all means to exert psychological pressure on the Emir of Bukhara and the Khan of Khiva. Together with other practices, these were meant integrate the Muslim elite into Russian society. As relations with the protectorates evolved, the Russian government developed a plan to annex them. However, the ministry of foreign affairs effectively blocked the move. At the same time, St Petersburg accorded extensive powers to the protectorates rulers that even exceeded those of Turkestans governor-general, encouraging them to consider themselves to be independent rulers. At the same time, differences in outlook, faith, and ways to communicate led the protectorates to separate themselves from the Russian Empire and drove them into the arms its enemies during World War I.

Enemies within, Enemies without: the Ideology of a Conservative West-Russianist Newspaper During World War I (1914–1915)

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-103
Author(s):  
Aliaksandr Bystryk
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
World War ◽  
The West ◽  
The North ◽  
National Solidarity ◽  
North Western

Abstract This paper deals with the topic of conservative West-Russianist ideology and propaganda during World War I. The author analyzes the most prominent newspaper of the movement at the time – Severo-Zapadnaia Zhizn (The North-Western Life). The discourse of the newspaper is analyzed from the perspective of Belarusian nation-building, as well as from the perspective of Russian nationalism in the borderlands. The author explores the ways in which the creators of the periodical tried to use the rise of the Russian patriotic feelings to their advantage. Appealing to the heightened sense of national solidarity which took over parts of Russian society, the periodical tried to attack, delegitimize and discredit its ideological and political opponents. Besides the obvious external enemy – Germans, Severo-Zapadnaia Zhizn condemned socialists, pacifists, Jews, borderland Poles, Belarusian and Ukrainian national activists, Russian progressives and others, accusing them of disloyalty, lack of patriotism and sometimes even treason. Using nationalist loyalist rhetoric, the West-Russianist newspaper urged the imperial government to act more decisively in its campaign to end ‘alien domination’ in Russian Empire, and specifically to create conditions for domination of ‘native Russian element’ – meaning Belarusian peasantry, in the Belarusian provinces of the empire.

Transition of the Rusins of Austria-Hungary to the bosom of Orthodoxy in the end of 19th - beginning of 20th century: Lost perspective for Russia

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (10-4) ◽  
pp. 196-205
Author(s):  
Vadim Mikhailov ◽  
Konstantin Losev
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
World War ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Military ◽  
Church Policy

The article is devoted to the issue of Church policy in relation to the Rusyn population of Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire. In the second half of the 19th century, the policy of the Austro-Hungarian administration towards the Rusyn Uniate population of the Empire underwent changes. Russia’s victories in the wars of 1849 and 1877-1878 aroused the desire of the educated part of the Rusyns to return to the bosom of the Orthodox Church. Nevertheless, even during the World War I, when the Russian army captured part of the territories inhabited by Rusyns, the military and officials of the Russian Empire were too cautious about the issue of converting Uniates to Orthodoxy, which had obvious negative consequences both for the Rusyns, who were forced to choose a Ukrainophile orientation to protect their national and cultural identity, and for the future of Russia as the leader of the Slavic and Orthodox world.

Two Tolstoys and a Lenin—Temperance and Prohibition in Russia

2021 ◽  
pp. 25-52
Author(s):  
Mark Lawrence Schrad
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Leo Tolstoy ◽  
World War ◽  
Joseph Stalin ◽  
State Revenue ◽  
State Finance ◽  
Leon Trotsky ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
The Way

Part I of the book—covering Europe’s continental empires—begins with Chapter 2 on the Russian Empire. The state’s overreliance on revenues from the imperial vodka monopoly is laid bare beginning with the temperance revolts of the 1850s, when the empire was almost bankrupted when peasants refused to drink. The understanding of temperance as opposition to imperial autocracy is traced through the antistatist teachings of Leo Tolstoy and early Bolsheviks, including the prohibitionists Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky. Despite official opposition to “subversive” temperance activism, at the outbreak of World War I in 1914 Tsar Nicholas II made Russia the first prohibitionist state, though the loss of state revenue paved the way for the revolutions of 1917. Lenin maintained a prohibition against the vodka trade, which was only undone after Lenin’s death by Joseph Stalin, who reintroduced the tsarist-era vodka monopoly in the interests of state finance.

National Minority Problems in Romania: Continuity or Change?

1994 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-81
Author(s):  
Stephen Fischer-Galati
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War I ◽  
Interwar Period ◽  
Body Politic ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
National Minority ◽  
World War ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The Russian Empire

The national minorities question in Romania has been one of crises and polemics. This is due, in part, to the fact that Greater Romania, established at the end of World War I, brought the Old Romanian Kingdom into a body politic (a kingdom itself relatively free of minority problems), with territories inhabited largely by national minorities. Thus, the population of Transylvania and the Banat, both of which had been constituent provinces of the defunct Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, included large numbers of Hungarians and Germans, while Bessarabia, a province of the Russian empire, included large numbers of Jews. While the Hungarian (Szeklers and Magyars), Germans (Saxons and Swabians), and Jewish minorities were the largest and most difficult to integrate into Greater Romania, other sizeable national minorities such as the Bulgarians, Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, Serbians, Turks, and Gypsies also posed problems to the rulers of Greater Romania during the interwar period and, in some cases, even after World War II.

scholarly journals Ethnic Cleansing and Its Alternatives in Wartime: A Comparison of the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian Empires

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 169-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Zeynep Bulutgil
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Ethnic Violence ◽  
Ethnic Cleansing ◽  
Political Organizations ◽  
World War ◽  
South Caucasus ◽  
The Russian Empire

According to the extant literature, state leaders pursue mass ethnic violence against minority groups in wartime if they believe that those groups are collaborating with an enemy. Treating the wartime leadership of a combatant state as a coherent unit, however, is misleading. Even in war, leaders differ in the degree to which they prioritize goals such as maintaining or expanding the territory of the state, and on whether they believe that minority collaboration with the enemy influences their ability to achieve those goals. Also, how leaders react to wartime threats from minority groups depends largely on the role that political organizations based on non-ethnic cleavages play in society. Depending on those cleavages, wartime minority collaboration may result in limited deportations and killings, ethnic cleansing, or minimal violence. A comparison of the policies of three multinational empires toward ethnic minority collaborators during World War I—the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italians, the Ottoman Empire and Armenians, and the Russian Empire and Muslims in the South Caucasus—illustrates this finding.

scholarly journals The Revolt of 1916 and its Influence on the Formation of Kazakh Nation Identity

2019 ◽  
pp. 55-66
Author(s):  
O. Demenko
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Direct Consequence ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
World War ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Colonial Policy ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Colonial Police

The article explores the revolt of Kazakh people against the Russian colonial policy which took place during World War I in 1916. There are analyzed the main reasons of the revolt, amongst whichsocio-economic factors as well as political factors are determined. In spite of the fact that the revolt of 1916, which had taken the form of National Liberation Revolution, generally was defeated, it causedthe growth of national self-determination, the increase in political participation and also formed certain experience of independent Kazakh people’s state-building. The revolt swept almost the whole territory of modern Kazakhstan and took an unprecedented scale and cruelty within the Russian empire. In consequence, the significant losses were incurred and hundreds of thousands of people were forced to leave their homelands. These events are considered to be the direct consequence of the colonial police of the Russian Empire towards the subdue peoples.

scholarly journals Social-political activity of O. Bobrinsky in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

10.33287/1196 ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 58-70
Author(s):  
І. С. Карпань ◽  
Н. С. Чернікова
Keyword(s):  
Russian Empire ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Russian Government ◽  
Dominant Position ◽  
Russian State ◽  
The Russian Empire

The article deals with problems of the noble class in post-reform period in Russia (70–90-ies XIXth cent.) through A. Bobrinsky’s activity as the Leader of the St. Petersburg nobility. The study analyzed his activities towards the Nobility consolidation and involvement their representatives into development of Russian state policy. A. Bobrinsky belonged to the family of large landowners and successful sugar-growers of the Russian Empire. It greatly influenced to the formation of his political worldview and contributed to the growth of the young Count’s authority among the Nobility and Gentry. In the last quarter of the XIXth cent. A. Bobrinsky defended the dominant position of the Nobility as the provincial Governor (the Leader) of the St. Petersburg nobility. A. Bobrinsky’s main efforts were aimed to the consolidation of the Gentry to defend their own rights and privileges and their involvement to the Russian state authorities. He promoted the idea of founding a representative institution – the Duma or Zemsky Sobor – in Russian Empire. However, the purpose of its creation he was seen in the count in the redistribution of executive, judicial and punitive powers between government representatives and elected people from the Nobility. He was convinced that only the Gentry was worthy to represent the interests of Russian society in the state authorities. During this period, the young Bobrinsky attempted to unite the St. Petersburg nobility into the organization of «Svyataya Druzhyna». It was a semi-secret organization which established to protect of the Russian Tsar from possible terrorist acts. The purpose of the organization was rather limited and local, so it disintegrated soon. However, it contributed to the growth of A. Bobrysky’s authority as a loyal to the Tsar and autocracy personality. It had a great importance in the conditions of the economic and political crisis of the noble class. In the 90’s of the XIX cent. A. Bobrinsky took an active part in nobility meetings devoted to problems of the privileged class. Here he defended an idea of preserving the privileges and dominant position of the estate Nobility. He opposed the provision of political rights and state support to the estateless nobles-homeowners and representatives of the bourgeoisie. A. Bobrinsky didn’t reject an idea to create conditions for the nobility replenishment by the new social classes, but he saw it possibility only in the distant future. However, even government support didn’t contribute to consolidation processes and politicization among the nobility class. A. Bobrinsky with sadness stated that the meetings of the noble leaders continued to be only like private talks about preserving the nobility former positions in the social structure. So he had to change strategy and initiated the founding in 1906 a new organization – the United Nobility. During the next decade its existence largely predetermined the main directions of Russian government policy and as a whole.

scholarly journals Everyday Life of German Prisoners of War in the Russian Empire during World War I (on the basis of personal documents)

2020 ◽  
pp. 67-75
Author(s):  
С.Р. Повалишникова ◽  
О.В. Захарова
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Eastern Siberia ◽  
World War ◽  
Prisoner Of War ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Russian Research

Основной массив современных отечественных исследований направлен на изучение положения русских военнопленных в годы Первой мировой войны. В настоящей статье сделана попытка проанализировать бытовые условия содержания военнопленных, находившихся на территории Российской империи. Эти условия во многом зависели от звания и национальности пленных. В статье делается акцент на источники личного происхождения. Особое внимание уделяется воспоминаниям немецкого генерала Э. Людендорфа, немецкого журналиста А. Курта и находившегося в Восточной Сибири немецкого военнопленного Э. Двингера. The vast majority of modern Russian research is aimed at the investigation of the position of Russian prisoners of war during World War I. The present article attempts to analyze the conditions of everyday life of German prisoners of war who lived in the Russian Empire during World War I. The conditions largely depended on the rank and nationality of prisoners of war. The article analyzes personal documents. It focuses on memoirs written by E. Ludensdorff (German general), A. Kurt (German journalist), who lived in Eastern Siberia, and E. Dwinger (German prisoner of war).

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