The Road to Kushka

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
А.С. Сенин
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Construction Cost ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
River Valley ◽  
General Staff ◽  
The Road ◽  
Russian Military ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Railroad System ◽  
The Military

После успешного похода М.Д. Скобелева в 1880-1881 гг. и присоединения Мерва Россия в 1885 г. заняла Пендинский оазис, который стал самой южной точкой государственной границы Российской империи. Для закрепления за собой этой территории Военное министерство и администрация Туркестанского края стали добиваться строительства железнодорожного пути вглубь Средней Азии. Закаспийская железная дорога в 1886 г. дошла до Мерва и прокладывалась далее на Самарканд. Однако долина р. Мургаб и Гератская провинция Афганистана рассматривались как наиболее сложный театр военных действий. В статье рассказывается о создании самой южной российской железной дороги от Мерва к крепости Кушка на афганской границе. Несмотря на тяжёлые природные и климатические условия, этот путь – Мургабская ветка – была спроектирована и построена усилиями российских военных инженеров в 1897–1898 гг; финансировалось строительство по смете Главного штаба Военного министерства; общая стоимость всех строительных работ составила 8 718 931 руб. After the 1880–1881 Campaign, carried out by General M.D. Skobelev, and the annexation of Merv, Russia occupied the Pendinsky oasis in 1885, which became the southernmost point on the borders of the Russian Empire. To secure this territory, the Military Ministry and the Administration of Turkestan called for a railroad system to be built, penetrating Central Asia. In 1886, the Transcaspian Railroad reached Merv and moved on to Samarkand. Yet the Murgab River valley and the Great Province of Afghanistan were seen as the most complicated potential theatre of war. The article examines the construction of the southernmost Russian railroad system – from Merv to the Kushka Fortress on the Afghan border. Despite the difficult natural obstacles and climate, the Murgab Railroad was successfully built by the Russian military engineers in 1897–1898, being financed by the General Staff of the Ministry of War. The construction cost 8 718 931 rubles.

scholarly journals The ‘Turkestan Generals’ and Russian Military History

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Morrison
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Military History ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Public Figures ◽  
History Of ◽  
Collective Biography ◽  
Russian Military ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
The Military

This article is a short collective biography of six so-called ‘Turkestan Generals’, all of whom played a prominent role in the Russian conquest and administration of Central Asia. These campaigns are usually seen as marginal to the military history of the Russian empire in the nineteenth century, but they were central to the reputations of three of the most prominent generals of the period, who became important public figures – Cherniaev, Skobelev, and Kuropatkin. The article shows that this was not accidental, but the product of a carefully constructed narrative in Russian military historiography.

scholarly journals The Russo-English Dispute over the Pamir Boundary: an Unfought War of 1902

2020 ◽  
pp. 67-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Б.О. Куценко
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
British Empire ◽  
Far East ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Military Conflict ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Strategic Balance ◽  
The Military

В статье анализируется военно-политическая ситуация, сложившаяся на территории Памира и в приграничных землях в период c 1885 по 1902 год. Проблемы, связанные с обострением англо-русского соперничества в Центральной Азии, как и с попытками держав установить свой контроль над пограничными территориями Туркестана, включая ханства Дарваз, Читрал, Рошан и другие, не потеряли своей актуальности в силу их недостаточной изученности. Наличие значительного числа белых пятен в освещении механизмов военно-политического давления на туземное население со стороны Российской и Британской империй, не позволяет в полной мере представить действительное состояние дел в Припамирье, без которого сложно оценить развитие международных отношений конца XIX — начала XX века в целом. На основе архивных документов, ряд из которых впервые вводится в научный оборот, предпринят анализ практических шагов британской и российской дипломатии в отношении пограничных азиатских ханств. Содержание архивных документов позволяет сделать вывод, что политика Великобритании и Российской империи в регионе Памира во многом была обусловлена стратегическими интересами держав как части глобальной политики по установлению своего влияния в регионе Центральной Азии. Автор приходит к выводу, что изменения в балансе военно-стратегического противостояния в регионе, произошедшие на рубеже XIX–XX веков, несли реальную угрозу прямого военного столкновения Российской и Британской империй, что могло стать прологом мировой войны. Несмотря на материальные потери, понесенные Великобританией в период решения памирского вопроса, британская дипломатия сумела извлечь выгоду из своего поражения, превратив памирский вопрос в инструмент давления на Петербург, что ограничило самостоятельность Российской империи при решении проблем в Юго-Восточной Азии и на Дальнем Востоке. The article analyzes the military and political situation in the Pamirs and adjacent regions in the period of 1885–1902. Anglo-Russian rivalry in Central Asia and the countriesʼ attempts to establish control over the territories adjacent to Turkestan (including the Darvaz Khanate, the Chitral Khanate, the Roshan Khanate and other territories) remain largely underinvestigated, and therefore, relevant. The mechanisms of military and political influence exerted by the Russian Empire and the British Empire on the indigenous population of the Pamir region have never been subjected to rigorous analysis. Hence, we cannot properly assess the real situation in the Pamirs, nor can we appreciate the development of international relations in the late 19th — early 20thcenturies. The analysis of previously unstudied archival materials enables the author to investigate practical measures adopted by British and Russian diplomats in relation to the Pamir and the adjoining khanates. The analysis of archival documents enables the author to conclude that the political strategies of both Britain and Russia were largely predetermined by the necessity to establish their dominance over Central Asia. The author concludes that the change in the military and strategic balance in the region at the turn of the 19th– 20th centuries threatened to trigger off an open confrontation between the British Empire and the Russian Empire and could eventually lead to the global military conflict. Despite military losses sustained by Great Britain in an attempt to resolve the Pamir dispute, British diplomats managed to achieve gains by transforming the Pamir dispute into a tool of exerting influence over Russia, which significantly limited the influence of the Russian Empire in Southeast Asia and in the Far East.

scholarly journals Tracing Pan-Slavism in Official Documents of the Military Department of the Russian Empire in the Early 20th Century

2020 ◽  
pp. 25-36
Author(s):  
П.П. Рыхтик
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Great Influence ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Russian Military ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Military

Рассматривается проблема влияния идеологической концепции панславизма на систему отношений великих держав и малых акторов в Балканском регионе начала ХХ века. Дается взгляд на теорию панславизма как явления мировой общественно-политической мысли, зародившегося в XIX веке и представляющего собой многосоставное и неопределенное понятие, наполнявшееся различным смыслом отдельными теоретиками. Особое внимание уделяется чертам русского панславизма как одного из ответвлений данного течения, наиболее актуального в рамках общественно-политического дискурса поздней Российской империи. Указывается на влияние на русский панславистский дискурс следующих основных факторов: актуальных задач балканской политики России, образов «братьев-славян», формировавшихся в русском общественно-политическом сознании в XIX — начале ХХ века, и связанной с данным образом метафоры «славянской взаимности»; развитие и усиление популярности в России к рубежу XIX–XX веков идей славянофилов. Приводится анализ постепенного проникновения элементов панславистского дискурса из комплекса идей поздних славянофилов, в частности на основе работ и речей В. И. Ламанского, в тексты официального характера (планы, донесения, аналитические записки) Генерального штаба (Главного штаба) Российской империи в начале ХХ века, посвященные вопросам русского военного и политического влияния в системе международных отношений на Балканах начала ХХ века. Делается вывод об особенностях данного идеологического проникновения панславистской концепции в ее взаимодействии с образом «малых» южнославянских народов в сознание подданных Российской империи, с мифом о «братьях-славянах», об актуальной политической обстановке, в которой находилась Россия. The article traces the influence of the ideology of Pan-Slavism on the interaction of major and minor countries in the Balkans in the early 20th century. Pan-Slavism is treated as a social and political philosophy which originated in the 19th century to become a versatile and heterogeneous concept, which is differently interpreted by different theoreticians. The article focuses on Russian Pan-Slavism as a variety of this philosophy typical of social and political discourse of the late Russian Empire. The article highlights the great influence exerted upon Russian Pan-Slavism by the following factors: Russian objectives in the Balkans, the idea of Slavic fraternity, the popularity of Slavophilism in Russia at the turn of the 19th — 20th centuries. The article analyzes the process of gradual penetration of Pan-Slavic ideas shared by late Slavophiles, V. I. Lamansky in particular, into official texts (plans, reports, analytical notes) issued by the General Headquarters of the Russian Empire in the early 20th century and devoted to the discussion of Russian military and political influence on the system of international relations in the Balkans in the early 20th century. The author focuses on the peculiarities of the Pan-Slavic penetration and the image of Southern Slavs in the Russian Empire. The author also focuses on the idea of Slavic fraternity and the political situation in Russia.

scholarly journals The russian army in siberia in the 30–50 years of the XVIII century

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 84-95
Author(s):  
Vladimi D. Puzanov
Keyword(s):  
College Major ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Main Role ◽  
Xviii Century ◽  
Russian Army ◽  
Military Forces ◽  
Russian Military ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
The Military ◽  
Major General

The reforms of Peter I became the basis for the gradual restructuring of all the military forces of Siberia. The main role in the Russian military cavalry of the Peter's era was played by dragoons. Under Peter I, dragoon regiments were the only type of Russian regular cavalry. In the field army, Peter I ordered the formation of 34 dragoon regiments. In addition, garrison dragoon regiments were formed in the province in the strategically important cities of Azov, Astrakhan, Kazan, and Tobolsk. In the 3050s of the XVIII century, the number of field dragoon regiments of the Russian Empire decreased to 20. In 1744, 3 field dragoon regiments Olonetsky, Vologda and Lutsk, and 2 field infantry regiments Shirvan and Nasheburg were sent to Siberia to protect the region from the Dzungars. By the decree of the Senate of September 29, 1744, all the Russian troops of Siberia were subordinated to the chief commander of the Siberian Corps, who was subordinate to the Military College. Major-General Christian Kinderman was appointed the main commander in Siberia. In March 1756, the Russian army consisted of 3 cuirassiers, 29 dragoons, and 46 infantry regiments, totaling 78 army regiments, with 172,440 men. As a result, during the Seven Years ' War, the number of field dragoon units in Russia decreased by 3 times and by 1763 was only 7 regiments. As a result, if in 1754 the dragoons were 36,627 people (92.6 %), then by 1767 there were only 4,802 people (12.8%) from the Russian cavalry in their ranks.

European Experience in Organization of Military Libraries in the Russian Empire

2021 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 525-538
Author(s):  
Anatoly M. Panchenko
Keyword(s):  
Russian Empire ◽  
Periodical Press ◽  
Legal Documents ◽  
Military Literature ◽  
European Experience ◽  
History Of ◽  
Russian Military ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
The Military ◽  
First Time

Due to the lack of comprehensive research in the area of use of the experience of military libraries in Europe, the article for the first time examines the ways of studying it and the forms of implementation when establishing military libraries in the Russian Empire. The purpose of the study is to identify the influence of Europe on the military librarianship in Russia.The author collected data from dozens of pre-revolutionary publications, articles from the military periodical press and regulatory documents that allowed to characterize the source base of the study as representative.The article presents the history of military libraries of European states. The results of research show that the main ways to obtain information about them were: the study of foreign military literature and the military periodical press; analysis of regulatory and legal documents (statutes, rules, manuals, regulations, catalogues) regulating the activities of these libraries; foreign business trips of officers and generals in order to familiarize themselves with the structure and functioning of foreign armies and their libraries; reports of Russian military agents; participation in international exhibitions of books and textbooks.The author revealed dozens of articles indicating that the experience of creating and operating of military libraries abroad was widely covered in the Russian military periodical press. The military Department of Russia closely followed these processes, adopting and implementing the best and useful of them taking into account Russian realities. The study of the creation of military libraries in Europe became a prerequisite for their organization in Russia. The European experience was reflected in the ways of budgeting and acquisition, in the forms of management and supervision over them, the formation of regulatory framework and in the variety of their types.The conducted research expanded the understanding of the state of military librarianship in European countries, about the ways of studying their experience by the Russian military Department and the forms of its practical application in the structure of military libraries of the Russian Empire.

Estimates of the Armed Forces and war plans of Great Britain in Central and South Asia by officers of the Russian General Staff in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

2020 ◽  
pp. 173-184
Author(s):  
Oleg Ye. Alpeev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Military Intelligence ◽  
General Staff ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Russian Military ◽  
The Military

The essay is devoted to the intelligence assessment of planning for war against Great Britain in Central Asia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The systematic preparation for war against Great Britain began during the Pandjeh Incident of 1885 and continued until 1914. Russian war planning foresaw offensive operations against the British Indian Army in Central Asia. The development of the “Invasion of India” plan became a high-priority objective for the Russian General Staff during the lowest point of relations with Great Britain. After 1905, the development of this plan was abandoned. Study of the British Indian Army and possible enemy war plans in Central Asia by Russian military intelligence played an important role in the war planning. The Russian General Staff's preparation for a war against Afghanistan and British India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was carried out with a lack of information about the region and enemies. After the Russo-Japanese war, the War Ministry began paying more attention to the conduct of intelligence activities and the scientific analysis of information about the region. Since 1904, Russian military intelligence had observed the development of a large-scale reform of the British Indian Army, initiated by General H. Kitchener. The Russian General Staff came to the wrong conclusions about the threat to Turkestan. Therefore, exaggerated estimates of the military readiness and plans of Great Britain influenced Russian strategic planning and brought about the cancellation of the “Invasion of India” plan in 1905-1910.

Astronomers and Surveyors in the Struggle for Central Asia. Notes on the Epistemology of Colonization

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-40
Author(s):  
Konstantin Ivanov
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Gain Control ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Imperial Russia ◽  
Public Money ◽  
Russian Military ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Blank Spot

Central Asia was mainly desert land that contained just a few small, densely populated oases when it was forcibly occupied by Imperial Russia between 1865 and 1885. What reason was there to gain control of it? It did not serve any military purpose because the Russian Empire was already well protected on its southern frontier by Central Asia’s notorious deserts and dry steppes. Nor was there much economic advantage to be gained. To present it merely as an opportunity for the thievish embezzlement of public money — and theft there was — is somewhat beside the point. The advance of Great Britain into the same region from the opposite side reflected the same trend. What kind of reasoning was behind these incursions? The counterintuitive answer is that the only rational reason to move into the region was a scientific one. At that time the Central Asia was still a blank spot on European maps and it was the only region on Earth in which the great empires had not yet confronted each other. The frontier lines of both empires were bound to move in on each other, although neither empire gained much advantage from the expansion. The article analyzes the way in which the struggle for the territory eventually turned into a symposium about the territory. The main agents in that war — and also its beneficiaries — were the British and Russian military geodesists and surveyors who used the latest astronomical methods. Systematic mapping of the desert region was important not only for the geographical knowledge it produced, but also for advancing the surveyors’ careers and improving their social status and personal prosperity. The so-called Afghan Demarcation between the Russian Empire and Great Britain in 1885 seemed to them more like an enjoyable conference for sharing topographical and geographical information than a hostile confrontation. After the outer and inner demarcations had been fixed, the result was that this region — “Created by the Lord in Anger” — was surveyed and studied not only in terms of geography, but also geologically, ethnically and historically.

scholarly journals ATTACKS OF THE CENTRAL ASIAN NOMADS ON RUSSIAN TRADING CARAVANS IN THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY

2021 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-153
Author(s):  
Konstantin A. Abdrakhmanov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Russian Government ◽  
Early 19Th Century ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Slow Moving ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
The Military

Based on archival materials (reports of the Orenburg border and customs departments, orders of the military governors of the Orenburg region, letters from the injured merchants, etc.), the article considers cases of attacks of the Central Asian nomads on the merchant caravans in the early 19th century. The main means of trade and transport communication between the Russian Empire, Bukhara, Khiva and Kokand were caravans, their size sometimes reached several thousand loaded camels. At that time, the steppes that separated the Russian border from the main trading cities of Central Asia were insufficiently explored, difficult to traverse, and very unsafe. Armed nomadic groups moving along the imperial border and deep in the Kazakh steppe were a direct threat to slow-moving and poorly guarded caravans. Steppe raiders were attracted by a diverse range of valuable goods and a large number of working animals, so valued by nomadic cultures. Merchants, their clerks, and hired workers were often killed in clashes with raiders. Those Russian merchants who were robbed of their money and property sought support from the leadership of the Orenburg province and even sent messages to the central Russian government.

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.

Constructing Colonial Legality in Russian Central Asia: On Guardianship

2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 419-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Sartori
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
The State ◽  
Institutional History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Legal Subjects ◽  
The Military

AbstractThe history of Islamic law in Russian Central Asia defies many of the categorizations offered by both global and Russian imperial history. Recent studies of law in the age of colonialism have concluded that the attainment of legal hegemony in the colonies was consequent upon the initiative of indigenes that strategically manipulated jurisdictions; as colonial subjects increasingly involved the state in their private conflicts, they effectively pushed their masters to consolidate the institutional arrangements through which the state dispensed justice. Historians of the Russian Empire have reached a diametrically different conclusion: under tsarist rule, they argue, Muslims continued to access the services of the “native courts,” which remained mostly untouched following Russia's southeastward expansion. As the empire promoted a policy of differentiated jurisprudence, Russians effectively safeguarded the integrity of Islamic law. I argue that both of the aforementioned approaches are confined to the level of institutional history, and thus fail to consider that the creation of colonial hegemony rested on ways in which colonial subjects understood law and viewed themselves as legal subjects. I show that Russians, from the outset of their rule in Central Asia, initiated Muslims into colonial forms of legality by overcoming the jurisdictional separation they had themselves put in place. In allowing the local population to file their grievances with the military bureaucracy, the Russians effectively pushed Central Asians to reify colonial notions of justice, and thereby distance themselves from the tradition of Islamic legal practices.

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