Geographical location of Russia. Features of the geographical location of Russia. Geographical position of Russia, territory, area, extreme points Features of the territorial and geographical position of the Russian Empire
Peace. What territory does it occupy? What are the main features of the geopolitical and economic-geographical position of Russia?
Basic information about Russia
The modern state of Russia appeared on the world map only in 1991. Although the beginnings of its statehood arose much earlier - about eleven centuries ago.
Modern Russia is a republic of a federal type. It consists of 85 entities, different in area and population. Russia is a multinational state, in which representatives of more than two hundred ethnic groups.
The country is the world's largest exporter of oil, gas, diamonds, platinum and titanium. It is also one of the world leaders in the production of ammonia, mineral fertilizers and weapons. The Russian Federation is one of the leading space and nuclear powers of the planet.
Geographical location area, extreme points and population
The country occupies a huge area of 17.1 million square meters. km (first place in the world in terms of territory). It stretches for ten thousand kilometers, from the shores of the Black and Baltic Seas in the west to the Bering Strait in the east. The length of the country from north to east is 4000 km.
The extreme points of the territory of Russia are as follows (they are all displayed by red conventional icons on the map below):
- northern - Cape Fligeli (within the Franz Josef Land);
- southern - near Mount Kichensuv (in Dagestan);
- western - on the Baltic spit (in the Kaliningrad region);
- east - Ratmanov Island (in the Bering Strait).
Russia directly borders on 14 independent states, as well as on two partially recognized countries (Abkhazia and South Ossetia). An interesting fact: about 75% of the country's territory is located in Asia, but almost 80% of Russians live in its European part. Total population of Russia: about 147 million people (as of January 1, 2017).
Physical and geographical position of Russia
The entire territory of Russia is located within the Northern and almost all (with the exception of a small part of the Chukotka autonomous region) - within the Eastern Hemisphere. The state is located in the northern and central part of Eurasia and occupies almost 30% of Asia.
From the north, the shores of Russia are washed by the seas of the Arctic Ocean, and in the east - by the Pacific. In the western part, it has access to the Black Sea, which belongs to the Atlantic Ocean basin. The country has the longest coastline among all countries in the world - over 37 thousand kilometers. These are the main features of the physical and geographical position of Russia.
The country has a colossal natural resource potential in terms of wealth and diversity. Its vastness contains the richest deposits of oil and gas, iron ores, titanium, tin, nickel, copper, uranium, gold and diamonds. Russia also possesses enormous water and forest resources. In particular, about 45% of its area is covered with forest.
It is worth highlighting other important features of the physical and geographical position of Russia. Thus, most of the country is located north of 60 degrees north latitude, in the permafrost zone. And in these difficult natural and climatic conditions millions of people are forced to live. All this, of course, left its mark on the life, culture and traditions of the Russian people.
Russia is in the area of so-called risky farming. This means that the successful development of agriculture in most of it is difficult or impossible. So, if there is not enough heat in the northern regions of the country, then in the southern regions, on the contrary, there is a moisture deficit. These features of the geographic location of Russia noticeably affect the agro-industrial sector of its economy, which is in dire need of government subsidies.
Components and levels of the country's economic and geographical location
By or region is meant the totality of connections and relations of individual enterprises, settlements and regions with facilities that are located outside the country and have a strong influence on it.
Scientists distinguish the following components of EGP:
- transport;
- industrial;
- agrogeographic;
- demographic;
- recreational;
- market (position relative to sales markets).
EGP assessment of a country or region is carried out on three different levels: at the micro, meso and macro levels. Next, we will assess the macro position of Russia in relation to the surrounding world as a whole.
Features, changes in the economic and geographical position of Russia
The size of the territory is the most important feature and benefit of the economic and geographical location of the Russian Federation, with which there are many prospects. It allows the country to ensure a competent division of labor, rationally allocate its production forces, etc. Russia borders on fourteen countries of Eurasia, among which are powerful raw material bases of China, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. Numerous transport corridors ensure close cooperation with the states of Western and Central Europe.
These are, perhaps, the main features of the geographic location of Russia of an economic nature. How has it changed in recent decades? And has it changed?
After the collapse of the USSR, the country deteriorated markedly. And above all transport. After all, Russia's access to the strategically important waters of the Black and Baltic Seas in the early 1990s was significantly limited, and the country itself was several hundred kilometers away from the highly developed states of Europe. In addition, Russia has lost many of its traditional sales markets.
Geopolitical position of Russia
Geopolitical position is the place of the country in the world political arena, its relations with other states. In general, Russia has ample opportunities for economic, political, military, scientific and cultural cooperation with many countries of Eurasia and the planet.
However, these relations are not developing in the best way with all states. So, in last years Russia's relations with a number of NATO countries - the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland, which were once close allies of the Soviet Union, worsened significantly. This fact, by the way, is called the largest geopolitical defeat of the Russian Federation in the new century.
Russia's relations with a number of post-Soviet states remain complex and rather tense: Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and the countries of the Baltic region. The geopolitical position of the country changed significantly in 2014 with the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula (in particular, in the Black Sea region).
Changes in the geopolitical position of Russia in the twentieth century
If we look at the twentieth century, then the most tangible reshuffle of forces in the European and world political arena took place in 1991. The collapse of the powerful state of the USSR entailed a number of fundamental changes in the geopolitical position of Russia:
- more than a dozen young and independent states arose along the perimeter of Russia, with which it was necessary to establish a new type of relationship;
- the Soviet military presence was finally eliminated in a number of countries in Eastern and Central Europe;
- Russia received a rather problematic and vulnerable enclave - the Kaliningrad region;
- The NATO military bloc gradually approached directly to the borders of the Russian Federation.
At the same time, over the past decades, quite strong and mutually beneficial ties have been established between Russia and Germany, China, Japan, and India.
As a conclusion: Russia in the modern world
Russia occupies a huge territory, possessing colossal human and natural resource potential. Today it is the largest state on the planet and an important player in the global arena. The most important features of the geographical location of Russia can be identified, here they are:
- The vastness of the occupied space and the huge length of the borders.
- Stunning variety natural conditions and resources.
- Mosaicity (unevenness) of settlement and economic development of the territory.
- Wide opportunities for trade, military and political cooperation with various neighboring states, including the leading economies of the modern world.
- The volatility and instability of the country's geopolitical position over the past decades.
The peculiarities of the geographic location of Russia are extremely advantageous. But it is important to learn how to use these benefits (natural, economic, strategic and geopolitical) correctly and rationally, directing them to increase the power of the country and the well-being of its citizens.
CHAPTER II^ FEATURES OF THE GEOPOLITICAL SITUATION IN TIME
2. 1. Features of the situation in Russia
in the period IX - XVII centuries.
The combination of favorable natural conditions, the development of crafts, trade and transport, military affairs, the establishment of stable trade routes on the territory of the East European Plain and the Black Sea region from ancient and early medieval times contributed to the emergence and development of statehood here. Scythia, the Bosporus kingdom, Sarmatia, Alania, the Turkic kaganate, Great Bulgaria, the Khazar kaganate, the Volga Bulgaria and a number of other state formations existed on the lands of the European part of Russia at different times. In more detail and more voluminous than other historians, the process of the formation of the main features of the Russian people was shown by L. Gumilyov, who, following the Russian Eurasians, emphasized the radical difference of Muscovite Rus in ethical, ethnic, cultural and social terms both from other Slavic formations and from Kievan Rus, which remained an ordinary provincial Eastern European state without any special Eurasian geopolitical features.
The Russian state was founded in the 9th century, when the lucrative Volga trade of Khazaria attracted the attention of the Varangians, who founded a number of fortresses along the Gulf of Riga, around Ladoga and in the Volga-Oka interfluve, on the way "from the Varangians to the Greeks." In 882, the Varangian prince Oleg gathered under his command two terminal points of the Greco-Varangian route - Kholmgard (Novgorod) and Konugard (Kiev). But at the end of the 10th century, in the heat of a dispute over control over the only group of Slavs that still paid tribute to the Khazars, the Kiev prince Svyatoslav destroyed the capital of the Khazar Kaganate in the Volga delta and opened the way to the Black Sea steppes for hostile Turkic tribes. The Pechenegs and Polovtsians, who attacked trade caravans going along the Volga, gradually brought to nothing the trade between Kiev and Tsargrad (Constantinople). The importance of Kiev fell, and its ruin by the Tatar-Mongols in 1240 only emphasized this crisis.
The Russian state emerged in a very complex region. The difficulties that awaited Russia were twofold, natural-geographical and historical-political. Nowhere, with the exception of the northern polar regions, did the country have natural boundaries that could serve as its natural borders and at the same time as obstacles to external threats. Moreover, in the west and in the south, the Baltic and Black Sea were excellent springboards for foreign aggression, while in the east the Great Steppe continued to be a source of constant military danger. In different periods, Kievan Rus faced various geopolitical tasks. During the period of centralization, the main geostrategic directions of Russia's foreign policy were:
● South Byzantine with the task of achieving the most profitable trade agreement with Byzantium and at the same time raising its political weight;
● Western European with the task of keeping the border with Hungary and Poland and wrestling Galician Rus from the influence of the latter;
● Eastern European with the task of crushing the Volga Bulgaria and the Khazar Khaganate and seizing the Volga route to the East (Persia, Arab Caliphate);
● Northern in order to restrain the onslaught of the Normans (Varangians);
● Northeast for the development of new territories and control over the peoples living there (Perm, Samoyeds).
After their first devastating foray into Russia, the Mongols began to rule the Russian lands from their capital Sarai on the Volga. To avoid Mongol domination, the Western Russian princes entered into an alliance with Lithuania and recognized the authority of the Catholic Church. Eastern princes, on the other hand, saw loyalty Mongol khans the only way to protect Russian lands and Orthodox faith... The Moscow princes were able to gradually win the special favor of the Great Khan. They faithfully served him as collectors of tribute, simultaneously interfering in the affairs of neighboring Russian principalities. While the wealth and political prestige of the Moscow principality increased, the Golden Horde was increasingly weakened due to internal turmoil. Prince Vasily I of Moscow received the Grand Duke of Vladimir according to his father's will, as "his fatherland", and after that the Horde khans stopped issuing labels to any other (non-Moscow) princes. During the reign of Ivan III, dependence on the Horde (city) was eliminated and the unification of the Russian lands around Moscow was completed. After the overthrow of the Horde yoke, Russia faced the following geopolitical problems:
● Strengthening the eastern border and advance to the Volga region, to the Urals, and then to Siberia;
● Expansion of the outlet to the Baltic Sea (from the Stolbovski Peace Treaty of 1617 - recapture of the lost outlet to the Baltic);
● Struggle with Poland and Lithuania for Western Russian lands and the reunification of Ukraine and Belarus with Russia;
● Defense of the southern borders and subsequent advance to the Black Sea.
In 1480, under Ivan III, Moscow became an independent state. Ivan III laid claim to the former lands of Kievan Rus, which Lithuania received, achieved control over the strategic Smolensk passage to the lands of the Commonwealth and conquered the wealthy commercial Novgorod with its huge colonial Heatherland, providing access to the Baltic coast and Siberia.
Since the time of Ivan IV, our state has found itself in the face of three major geopolitical problems, without the solution of which the very existence of Russia turned out to be impossible. This is:
● The need to provide the Russian state with free access to the Baltic. Breakthrough of the "cordon sanitaire" around Russia in a westerly direction;
● The need to have a convenient military and commercial access to the Black Sea. Breakthrough of the "cordon sanitaire" around Russia in a southerly direction;
● The need to ensure the security of the Caucasian-Central Asian strategic direction, the boundaries of which coincide with the civilizational rift between the Slavic-Orthodox and Turkic-Muslim civilizations.
The primary importance of these particular tasks was dictated by the fact that Moscow's geopolitical opponents initially sought to lock it in the continental expanses of Eurasia, depriving it of access to the seas. Therefore, the main task of Russian geopolitics, the task set before us by nature itself, was to achieve the Russian state its natural borders, which made it possible to ensure the security and vitality of the country.
In the first half of the 17th century, after the conquest of the Astrakhan and Kazan Khanates, the colonization of Siberia, begun by the campaign of Yermak Timofeevich in 1584, was facilitated. In 1649 the Russians reached the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. The Russian zone of influence in the Far East, officially recognized by the Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689, was limited to a forest belt, since its expansion in the south was restrained by China and its Buryat vassals. The Stanovoy Ridge became the border between the Russian and Chinese zones of influence. This "leap" to Siberia, which took only 75 years, was a decisive step for Russia towards the status of a great power.
^ 2. 3. External priorities of the Russian Empire.
The history of the Russian Empire is another stage in the history of Russia. This is a three-hundred-year history of a country that has passed a difficult historical path. Russia can rightfully be considered a great power, because never in the world has there been such a huge, majestic country that could unite the countless diversity of cultures, traditions and peoples that are completely different from each other. The Russian Empire was formed on the basis of the Russian centralized state, which in 1721 Peter I declared an empire. The Russian Empire included the Baltic States, Right-Bank Ukraine, Belarus, part of Poland, Bessarabia, and the North Caucasus. From the 19th century, the empire also included Finland, Transcaucasia, Kazakhstan, Central Asia and the Pamirs. The Bukhara and Khiva Khanates were the official vassals of the Russian Empire. In 1914, the Uryankhai Territory was adopted under the protectorate of the Russian Empire (see Appendix IV, VI).
This "Petersburg" period, when the Romanovs, starting with Peter, formally anathematized the "old way" and "old faith", turned to the West, renounced the fulfillment of the Eurasian mission proper and doomed the people to a veiled, but no less serious "Romano-Germanic yoke "(in the words of Prince N.S. Trubetskoy), nevertheless carried within itself the tendencies laid down in Moscow. Let it be on a different level, but the connection with the cradle of national statehood has never been broken. If St. Petersburg was the embodiment of Russian "Westernism", the capital as close as possible to the West, then Moscow remained a symbol of the Eurasian, traditional beginning, embodying a heroic holy past, loyalty to the roots, the pure source of state history.
Russia's territorial growth was wary of many European powers. These fears are embodied in a forged document " Testament of Peter the Great", In which Peter I allegedly sets out to his successors the program of seizing world domination. British Prime Minister Disraeli warned about "A huge, gigantic, colossal, growing Russia, sliding like a glacier towards Persia, the borders of Afghanistan and India, as against the greatest danger that the British Empire could ever face".
It is known that in Russia there was no division, typical of multinational Western empires, into a metropolis (nation state) and a colonial periphery as a donor. On the contrary, the colonial nature of the expansion of the Russian Empire contributed to the formation of the "center - province - borderland" system. As a rule, passionate people were concentrated not in overseas colonies, but in capitals and on the dynamic border of the state (frondir, "serif" and other fortified lines). There was a redistribution of material and spiritual (passionary) forces from the center and the province to the borderlands.
XVIII century. A distinctive feature of Russia in the 18th century was its high geopolitical activity. The almost continuous wars waged by Peter I in the first quarter of the century were aimed at solving the main national task - gaining Russia the right to access to the sea. The geopolitical component of Peter's reforms looked like a transition from a state of economic autarchy and socio-ethnic self-development to a state of active interaction with developed European countries, borrowing from them the highest achievements of culture (primarily in the field of science, technology, education).
The first independent foreign policy action of Peter I was an attempt to achieve Russia's access to the southern seas - the so-called. Azov passages.
The Baltic direction of Russia's foreign policy took shape. However, a war with a military power like Sweden alone was as unrealistic as with Turkey. Diplomatic probing allowed Peter I to identify possible allies. The primary goal of the tsar in the Northern War (1700-1721) with Sweden was to seize the lands once lost by Russia in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland (the so-called Ingria) with Noteburg (Nut) and Narva ( Rugodiv). Following the war, Ingria, Karelia, Estonia, Livonia and the southern part of Finland (up to Vyborg) were annexed, St. Petersburg.
Russia also sought to establish closer ties with Central Asia and India. However, the expedition against Khiva was destroyed by the Khan's troops, after which the Central Asian direction was abandoned for 150 years.
Under Catherine II, Russia's international influence increased even more, and its main opponents grew weaker and weaker. In Poland, the internal crisis intensified, Sweden lost its former power and was thoroughly exhausted in endless wars its modest resources, the Ottoman Empire suffered from conservatism and economic stagnation.The main goal of the Russian-Turkish war (1768 - 1774) from Russia was to gain access to the Black Sea, Turkey hoped to expand its possessions in the Black Sea region and the Caucasus and capture Astrakhan ... The war was preceded by a complex European diplomatic game, which was waged against each other by Russia and France, political crisis in Poland... Following the war Crimean Khanate formally gained independence under the protectorate of Russia, and Turkey paid an indemnity to Russia and ceded the northern coast of the Black Sea. Russia received Big and Small Kabarda, Azov, Kerch, Yenikale and Kinburn, the adjacent steppe between the Dnieper and Bug.
Geopolitical competition between Russia and Lithuania and Poland began long before the formation of the Russian Empire; back in the XIV-XV centuries, these powers captured a number of western principalities of the disintegrated Kievan Rus. By the XVIII Rzeczpospolita was heading towards decline caused by ethnic strife and unsuccessful wars. The steadily growing pressure on the Rzeczpospolita from Russia and Prussia ends in three partitions of 1772-1795. During the partitions, the vassal Duchy of the Commonwealth also became part of the Russian Empire. Courland and Semigalia... As a result of the partitions, the structure of Russia includes Belarus, part of Lithuania, part of Ukraine and part of the Baltic lands.
Russia began to play an active role in Georgia only during the reign of Catherine II, with the beginning of the Russian-Turkish wars. IN that time the king of the largest Georgian state signs Georgievsky treatise about a Russian protectorate in exchange for military protection.
Back in the second half of the 17th century, official relations were established between Russia and China, according to which the Russian Empire was recognized as subordinate (barbarous) in relation to the Celestial Empire. There were “unoccupied blank spots” between the states (according to both Russian and Chinese historians), which were later “peacefully” annexed by the Chinese. According to the Nerchinsk Treaty, all adjacent territories and rivers flowing into the Amur are recognized as Chinese. Under this agreement, Russia lost not only the main territories of the Amur region suitable for agriculture in the Far East, but also the most convenient means of communication with its eastern lands. This concession is explained by the fact that in those years Russia had a different vector - Europe. It took money to build a relationship with her and benefit from her culture at the time. The economic benefits from the agreement exceeded the loss of land, the real ownership of which was not yet felt in the country.
In the Far East, the influence of the Russians spread to Alaska, where the Russian-American company founded small fortified settlements (Novoarkhangelsk, Sitka, Fort Ross, etc.), whose inhabitants were mainly engaged in the lucrative fishing of sea animals.
XIX century. Early XIX century, under Alexander I , Russia reached its highest point of development when it was an empire. The process of increasing the territory continues due to settlement in the east and conquests in the west. Empire restored a good relationship with Britain and Austria. The new Anglo-French war of 1803 and the announcement of Napoleon as emperor forced Alexander to support the third coalition, the core of which was an alliance with the "sea" power, England. At least two geopolitical competitors were completely defeated with the decisive participation of Russia: Sweden and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. At the beginning of the nineteenth century. clearly defined two geopolitical directions of Russia: the Middle East (struggle for strengthening their positions in the Transcaucasia, the Black Sea and the Balkans) and European (Russia's participation in the coalition wars against Napoleonic France).
Georgia's voluntary annexation to Russia in 1801 aggravated Russian-Iranian relations. In 1804 Iran began military operations against Russia. The war, which turned out to be protracted, ended successfully for Russia, to which Northern Azerbaijan and Dagestan retreated. In 1806, Ottoman Turkey, supported by France, unleashed a war against Russia. In 1812, following the results of the war, Bessarabia ceded to Russia and the right of merchant shipping along the entire Danube was consolidated. Russia has also secured the granting of internal self-government to Serbia.
At the beginning of 1808 (by this time Russia joined the continental blockade of England) Napoleon proposed a joint campaign in India, similar to the one planned under Paul I. At the same time, the question of dividing the Ottoman Empire was discussed. Russia was promised the Danube provinces and northern Bulgaria, France claimed Albania and Greece. However, the fate of Constantinople and the Black Sea straits became a stumbling block, and it was not possible to reach an agreement on this issue. Russia's accession to the "continental blockade" led to enmity with England. Almost the only ally of England on the continent was Sweden. The threat of an attack by the Swedes and, most importantly, pressure from Napoleon forced Alexander I to declare war on Sweden (1808 - 1809). The desire of Russia to inflict a final defeat on the old enemy and to secure Petersburg forever was also important. After the victory, Russia forced Sweden to give up all of Finland and the Aland Islands. Thus, as a result of the war, the entire Gulf of Finland became Russian. Alexander I granted autonomy to Finland (it did not use it before), and Vyborg was included in Finland.
It would be wrong to imagine that the role of Russia was reduced to the policy of containing the aggressive plans of Napoleon. Her own foreign policy attitudes at the time were of a similar nature. The "Greek project" and the related plans to seize Constantinople and create a kind of "Slavic empire" in the Balkans under the patronage of Russia were not forgotten. The existence of an independent Polish state did not suit Russia in any way, in connection with which the annexation of the Duchy of Warsaw to Russia became an important foreign policy goal. But in all these directions, Napoleon had his own interests, including views of Constantinople; he was not going to give up the independence of Poland and hoped to use the alliance with Russia primarily to fight England. Thus, France and Russia became rivals in the struggle for world domination. In early 1811, in response to the deterioration of Russian-French relations, Napoleon annexed Oldenburg, whose sovereign was Alexander's brother-in-law, and in June 1812 invaded Russia. The Russian campaign of 1812 (in the western name) received the name of the Patriotic campaign in Russia. At the Congress of Vienna, Alexander took possession of most of the Duchy of Warsaw as the constitutional Kingdom of Poland.
In 1821, Greek patriots revolted against Turkey. The support that Russia gave them led to a new Russian-Turkish war. It proceeded successfully for Russia, which received the mouth of the Danube, territories along the eastern coast of the Black Sea and in the Caucasus, and also increased its influence in Moldova and Wallachia. The capture of Mingrelia and Imereti led in 1804-1813 to a new war with Iran, which brought Russia a large part of the Eastern Transcaucasia along the Kura and Araks rivers, as well as the right to strengthen its Caspian fleet. A little later, Iran denounced the peace treaty, but was again defeated and also lost the Nakhichevan Khanate and Persian Armenia with its center in Erivan. Although the annexation of the Caucasus was formally completed, the war with the highlanders of Chechnya and Dagestan continued for another 30 years. In 1877, after a new defeat for Turkey, Russia received its last conquests in the Transcaucasus - the cities of Kars, Ardahan and Batum.
The policy of the Holy Alliance, pursued with such stubbornness by the Russian government, led to the fact that the "gendarme of Europe", as Russia was christened, was hated by the entire civilized world, and not only liberal Great Britain or France, but even very reactionary Prussia and Austria. In the meantime, Britain has stepped up its diplomatic efforts, seeking to seize the favorable moment for the final ousting of Russia from the Balkans and the Middle East. The so-called Eastern question has become aggravated again. Russian influence in Europe, which reached its climax in 1848, after the suppression of the revolutions in Hungary and Romania, sharply declined after the Crimean War (1854 - 1856). The dispute with France and Turkey over control of the holy places of Jerusalem was accompanied by Nicholas I's demands for guarantees not only for Orthodox Church, but also for the entire Orthodox population of Turkey. Nikolai hoped for a peaceful outcome of the dispute and did not expect an outbreak of Russophobic sentiments in France and Britain. The West sought to end our domination in the Black Sea and with the possibility of our fleet passing through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles to the Mediterranean. For the first time in Russian history, the geographic factor worked against Russia. She hardly repulsed the numerous blows delivered even from the Far East coast. What geopolitical goals did the anti-Russian bloc of powers set for itself? There are two documents, one is ours, the other is English. Their comparison allows one to fully understand the goals of the all-European campaign against Russia. The first document is the manifesto of Nicholas on April 11, 1854 on the declaration of war between England and France: “Finally, discarding any guise, England and France announced that our disagreement with Turkey was a matter of secondary importance in their eyes; but that their common goal is to weaken Russia, to tear away part of its Regions from it and to bring down our Fatherland from the degree of power to which it was erected by the Most High Hand ... " The second document is a letter from long-term British Prime Minister Henry Palmerston to the British politician John Russell. So Palmerston sketched what he called "the perfect ideal of war." “The Åland Islands and Finland are returning to Sweden. Part of the German provinces of Russia in the Baltic is ceded to Prussia. The independent Kingdom of Poland is being restored as a barrier between Germany and Russia. Moldavia and Wallachia and the mouth of the Danube are transferred to Austria ... Crimea, Circassia and Georgia are expelled from Russia and transferred to Turkey, and Circassia is either independent or associated with the Sultan as a suzerain. " It is easy to understand that it was about dismemberment historical Russia and about its "reorganization" on a basis completely alien to us. For example, the ancient Russian lands on the shores of the Baltic Sea were declared "Germanic", and Crimea, where for centuries there was a nest of Crimean Tatars, who devastated the entire south of Russia with their raids, they intended to transfer again to the Turks. By "Circassia" the British understood the eastern coast of the Black Sea approximately from Anapa to Sukhumi. The war, which ended with the defeat of Russia, entailed the cession of Bessarabia, the neutralization of the Black Sea and Russian guarantees of the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire. However, the West was dissatisfied with the outcome of the war.
Among the main reasons for the rapid expansion of the possessions of the Russian Empire in Central Asia in the second half of the 19th century were the occupation of the "natural borders" of Russia, the pacification of civil strife and the cessation of "robber raids" to the benefits of world civilization. The further advance of the Russians into the desert and semi-desert regions between the Caspian and the Aral began in the 1820s. In 1853, the Ak-Mechet fortress on the Syr Darya was captured, along which a chain of forts was built. Faithful (Alma-Ata) was founded in the east. Russia's next step was to attack the Kokand and Khiva Khanates and the Bukhara Emirate, with which there were already trade relations. The Turkestan campaigns, as it were, completed the task of Russia, which first stopped the expansion of nomads into Europe, and with the completion of colonization, finally pacified the eastern lands. The confrontation between the Russian and British empires for control over India and Central Asia in the 19th century was named in history as the "Great Game". Another of its active participants was China, while other states were only bargaining chips in this battle. In 1881, Russia captured the Turkmen capital Geok-Tepe. This step, together with the capture of Merv, aroused concern in Britain, and she insisted on a joint delimitation of the Russian-Afghan border with Russia. As a result, a long, but very narrow strip of the territory of Afghanistan remained between Russia and British India, which was called the Zulfikar Pass (Vakhsh). The establishment of control over the high-mountainous Pamir in 1895 completed the expansion of the Russians in a southern direction.
In 1850 and 1854, the cities of Khabarovsk and Nikolaevsk were founded on the Amur. Russia annexed the northern bank of the Amur and laid claim to the Ussuri basin, while China ceded both of these territories to it. Vladivostok, founded the same year, has become a symbol of Russian power in the Pacific. In 1852 - 1853, the Russians occupied northern Sakhalin and ruled the island together with Japan until 1875, when, in exchange for the recognition of Japanese sovereignty over the Kuriles, all of Sakhalin went to Russia. At the end of the 19th century, in connection with the beginning of the construction of the Transsib by the peasant colonization of Siberia and the ambitious plans of the Minister of Finance S. Yu. Witte ( 1849 - 1915) on economic penetration into China, Russia's interest in the Far East increased. Under the Russian-Chinese agreement of 1896, Russia gained control over the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER), which significantly shortened the route to Vladivostok. In 1899, Russia acquired in a 25-year concession the Liao Dun Peninsula with Port Arthur, its first ice-free port in the Pacific Ocean and a railway with access to the Chinese Eastern Railway in Harbin, founded by the Russians and later becoming the largest city in Asia with a Russian population. Since 1808, the capital of Russian America becomes Novoarkhangelsk... In fact, the management of the American territories is carried out Russian-American company with headquarters in Irkutsk. The most southern point in America, where the Russian colonists settled, was Fort Ross, 80 km north of San Francisco in California. Further advancement to the south was prevented by the Spanish, and then the Mexican colonists. In 1816, a protectorate was established over Hawaii, but a year later the company left the island due to the aggressive actions of American entrepreneurs and sailors, whose side was also taken by the local royal government. Hudson's Bay Companies. Since Russia has developed a relationship of intense geopolitical rivalry, and sometimes open enmity with British Empire, the border required constant care and protection in the event of a military clash between the two great powers. In 1867, Alaska was sold to the United States for $ 7.2 million. This sale, at 0.0004 cents per square meter, is the cheapest land sale of all time. Nevertheless, the US Senate expressed doubts about the advisability of such a burdensome acquisition, especially in a situation when the country had just ended Civil War... The feasibility of acquiring Alaska became apparent thirty years later, when the gold.
So, we can assume that the Russian expansion was a search for a way out to warm ports, but we can also say that there was a need for the empire to reach strategic lines to control all of Eurasia. By the end of the 19th century, the two largest empires in the world - British and Russian - had created a mutually acceptable system of dividing spheres of influence in Asia - although trying to avoid direct confrontation, but nevertheless exerting a strong indirect influence on each other. This mutual containment is today called the Victorian Cold War. It should be noted that most of the Russian conquests were remote, poorly accessible and economically unattractive territories. In fact, Russia was seizing what others did not claim. Where there was a sharp colonial rivalry, Russia's chances would not have been very high. But be that as it may, by the beginning of the 20th century in the west, Russia owned Poland and Finland, in the south the Lesser Caucasus and the Pamirs separated its territory from Turkey, Persia and British India, in the east it bordered China along the Amur and Ussuri with possessions in Manchuria , and in the north - with the Arctic Ocean.
XX century. The main directions of Russian geopolitics took shape long before the accession to the throne of Nicholas II. In the European direction, Nicholas inherited from Alexander III the Franco-Russian alliance, which Alexander considered the cornerstone of the security system in Europe. In the first decade of the reign of Nicholas II, Russia, although it did not move away from the alliance with France, but, largely under the influence of the personal views of the emperor, began to draw closer to Germany. With the latter, Russia had no territorial or other disputes, and the emperors of Russia and Germany were cousins. Germany acted during this period as the main troublemaker in Europe. Seriously deciding to take part in the redistribution of the world, Germany began to build a huge fleet, comparable in power to the British. In London, this almost caused panic. Great Britain assessed the extent of the danger and decided to get out of the "brilliant isolation" that has already become traditional for British diplomacy. The southern direction (the Ottoman Empire, the Balkans and the Straits), which was a priority under Alexander III, receded into the background under Nicholas II. The "status quo" in the south and southwest gave Russia the opportunity to virtually curtail the efforts of Russian diplomacy in this direction for 10 years and shift all efforts to the third - the Far East, which is recognized as the main one. The beginning of Russia's active intervention in Far Eastern affairs is associated with the events of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. This war was prompted by the desire of Japan, which claimed the status of a regional superpower, to establish a protectorate over Korea, which was under Chinese control. China, however, was completely defeated in 1895 and recognized the independence of Korea (which, of course, fell under the Japanese protectorate), ceded the Kwantung Peninsula with Port Arthur, Taiwan to Japan, and paid a huge indemnity. Russia was faced with a dilemma - whether to agree with Japan on the division of spheres of influence in North China, or to oppose any attempts to penetrate Japanese influence into the mainland. The Foreign Ministry insisted on a cautious line with regard to Japan and believed that the main thing was not to harm Russian-Japanese relations. However, Witte considered it necessary to play the role of the defender of China and in return knock out a number of concessions from him. Seeing the intransigence of Russia, and realizing that delay would only lead to the final loss of positions in Korea, Japan, pushed by Great Britain and, in part, the United States, made a choice in favor of war. For Japan, it was fundamentally important to seize supremacy at sea for the unhindered landing of its troops on the mainland. Therefore, hostilities began with a surprise attack by the Japanese fleet on the Pacific squadron of Port Arthur. Russo-Japanese war(1904 - 1095) was unsuccessful for Russia, costing it the loss of southern Sakhalin and all Chinese concessions. This defeat, which seemed to many to be unexpected and accidental, in fact meant something much more - the end of Russian territorial expansion and the beginning of the reduction of the empire's territory.
The First World War, which broke out in August 1914, meant a test of strength that the empire could no longer endure. Although its military successes alternated with setbacks, Russia remained loyal to the anti-German coalition and with its struggle weakened Germany's onslaught on the western front. Russia's military goals were the annexation of East Prussia and the reunification of ethnic Poland under the Russian scepter. Turkey's entry into the war on the side of the Middle Powers made it possible for Russia to demand the annexation of Constantinople and the Straits, with which Britain and France, despite their traditional policies, were forced to agree.
Analyzing the strategic expediency of Russia's war in a bloc with Britain against Germany, Russian geopoliticians studied in detail the experience of their Western colleagues (the works of Ratzel, Kjellen, Mahan, etc.). They were well aware of the strategy of the Anglo-Saxons: not to allow the predominance of any power on the European continent. Russian geostrategists were aware of the "anaconda rings" policy. The "directive" of the British General Staff was also known, according to which three-quarters of the entire burden of the war on land against Germany was assigned to Russia. As A.E. Vandam, “As soon as it was over, our Pacific tragedy, as with the speed of a magician, putting on a mask of friendliness and friendliness, England immediately grabbed us by the arm and drew us from Portsmouth to Alcheziras, so that, starting from this point, by joint efforts to push Germany out of the Atlantic ocean and gradually throw it to the east, into the sphere of interests of Russia "... Military tension was one of the reasons for the February 1917 revolution. After the abdication of Nicholas II from the throne, the Provisional Government confirmed its allied obligations within the framework of the new concept without annexations and indemnities. But political and military problems multiplied, and Prime Minister AF Kerensky's attempt to continue the war became one of the main reasons for the October coup.
The First World War radically changed the geopolitical balance of power. The German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Turkish empires, formerly powerful political centers, collapsed. On the ruins of these powerful states, several small states appeared, which the authors of the Versailles system (Entente) believed to include in their sphere of influence. The war, accompanied by large territorial and human losses and economic degradation for the Russian Empire, caused a general crisis of power in Russia, which led to a revolution, the abolition of the monarchy and the temporary collapse of the Russian statehood. The latter led to a series of coups, the intensification of separatism in a number of territories, Civil war and outside intervention. The period ended with the reformatting of the empire into the Soviet Union, the expulsion of the invaders, the gradual international recognition of the USSR and the renegotiation of international treaties, taking into account the new realities.
By the beginning of the 19th century, the borders of the Russian Empire included the Baltic States, Belarus, most of Ukraine, the wall strip, including the Black Sea region and the Crimea, the mountainous regions of the North Caucasus, the northern part of Kazakhstan, the entire immense space of Siberia and the entire polar zone of the Far North.
IN early XIX in. the territory of Russia was 16 million km2. During the first half of the XIX century. Finland (1809), the Kingdom of Poland (1815), Bessarabia (1812), almost all of the Transcaucasia (1801-1829), the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus (from the mouth of the Kuban River to Poti - 1829) were included in Russia.
In the 60s. the Ussuriysk Territory (Primorye) was assigned to Russia, the process of joining Russia with most of the Kazakh lands, which began in the 30s, was completed. XVIII century By 1864, the mountainous regions of the North Caucasus were finally conquered.
In the mid 70s - early 80s. a significant part of Central Asia became part of the territory of the Russian Empire, and a protectorate was established over the rest of its territory. In 1875, Japan recognized the rights of Russia to the island of Sakhalin, and went to Japan Kurile Islands... In 1878, Russia was annexed small lands in the Caucasus. The only territorial loss to Russia was the sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867, together with the Aleutian Islands (1.5 million km2), as a result of which it “left” the American continent.
In the XIX century. the process of formation of the territory of the Russian Empire was completed and the geopolitical balance of its borders was achieved. By the end of the XIX century. its territory was 22.4 million km2. (The territory of the European part of Russia has remained unchanged compared to the middle of the century, and the Asian part has increased to 18 million km2.)
The territory of the Russian Empire included lands with an amazing variety of landscape and climate. In the temperate zone alone, there were 12 climatic regions. Natural-climatic and physical-geographical conditions, the presence of river basins and waterways, mountains, forests and steppe areas influenced the settlement of the population, determined the organization of the economy and the way of life.
In the European part of the country and in southern Siberia, where more than 90% of the population lived, the conditions for farming were much worse than in the countries of Western Europe. The warm period during which agricultural work was carried out was shorter (4.5-5.5 months versus 8-9 months), severe frosts were frequent in winter, which had a bad effect on winter crops. The precipitation was one and a half to two times less. In Russia, droughts and spring frosts often happened, which almost did not happen in the West. The average annual precipitation in Russia was about 450 mm, in France and Germany - 800, Great Britain - 900, in the USA - 1000 mm. As a result, the natural yield of biomass from one site in Russia was two times less. The natural conditions were better in the newly developed areas of the steppe zone, Novorossia, in the Ciscaucasia and even in Siberia, where virgin forest-steppe areas were plowed up or deforestation was carried out.
Poland, which received a constitution in 1815, lost its internal autonomy after the suppression of the national liberation uprisings of 1830-1831 and 1863-1864.
The main administrative-territorial units of Russia before the reforms of the 60-70s. XIX century. there were provinces and counties (in the Ukraine and Belarus - poviets). In the first half of the 19th century. there were 48 provinces in Russia. On average, there were 10-12 counties per province. Each county consisted of two camps, headed by police officers. Some of the newly annexed territories on the outskirts of the empire were divided into regions. Regional division also spread to the territory of some Cossack troops. The number of regions was constantly changing, and some regions were transformed into provinces.
Some groups of provinces were combined into governorships-generals and governorships. In the European part of Russia, three Baltic provinces (Estland, Livland, Kurland), Lithuanian (Vilna, Kovno and Grodno) provinces with a center in Vilno and three Right-bank Ukraine (Kiev, Podolsk and Volyn) with a center in Kiev were united into general-governorships. The general-governorships of Siberia in 1822 were divided into two - East Siberian with the center in Irkutsk and West Siberian with the center in Tobolsk. The governors exercised power in the Kingdom of Poland (from 1815 to 1874) and in the Caucasus (from 1844 to 1883). In total, in the first half of the 19th century. there were 7 general governorships (5 on the outskirts and 2 capital ones - Petersburg and Moscow) and 2 governorships.
Since 1801, the governor-generals were subordinate to the Minister of the Interior. From the second half of the XIX century. it was widely practiced to appoint military governors instead of ordinary civilian governors, to whom, in addition to the local administration and the police, military institutions and troops stationed on the territory of the province were subordinated.
In Siberia, the management of non-Russian peoples was carried out on the basis of the "Charter of foreigners" (1822), developed by M.M. Speransky. This legislation took into account the peculiarities of the social structure of local peoples. They enjoyed the right of government and court according to their customs, their elected clan elders and ancestors, and general courts were judged only for serious crimes.
At the beginning of the XIX century. A number of principalities in the Western part of Transcaucasia had a kind of autonomy, where former feudal rulers - princes ruled under the supervision of commandants from Russian officers. In 1816, Tiflis and Kutaisi provinces were formed on the territory of Georgia.
In the middle of the XIX century. the entire Russian Empire consisted of 69 provinces. After the reforms of the 60-70s. mainly the old administrative-territorial division continued to exist. By the beginning of the XX century. in Russia there were 78 provinces, 18 regions, 4 city governments, 10 general governorships (Moscow and 9 on the outskirts of the country). In 1882, the West Siberian General Governorship was abolished, and the East Siberian Governorship General was renamed in 1887 into Irkutsk, from which the Amur General Governorship was separated in 1894, which consisted of the Transbaikal, Primorsk and Amur Regions and Sakhalin Island. The status of governors-general remained with the capital provinces - Petersburg and Moscow. After the abolition of the post of governor in the Kingdom of Poland (1874), the Warsaw General Government was created, which included 10 Polish provinces.
On the territory of Central Asia, included in Russia, the Steppe (with the center in Omsk) and the Turkestan general-governorship (with the center in Verny) were created. The latter in 1886 was transformed into the Turkestan Territory. The Khiva Khanate and the Bukhara Emirate were the protectorates of Russia. They retained internal autonomy, but did not have the right to conduct an independent foreign policy.
In the Caucasus and Central Asia, the Muslim clergy enjoyed great real power, which, being guided in their daily life by the Sharia, retained traditional forms of government, elected elders (aksakals), etc.
Population Population of the entire Russian Empire At the end of the 18th century. was 36 million people (1795), and at the beginning of the XIX century. - 41 million people (1811). Thereafter, until the end of the century, it grew steadily. In 1826, the number of inhabitants of the empire was 53 million, and by 1856 it had increased to 71.6 million. This accounted for almost 25% of the population of all of Europe, where by the mid-50s. there were about 275 million inhabitants.
By 1897, the population of Russia reached 128.2 million people (in European Russia - 105.5 million, including in Poland - 9.5 million and in Finland - 2.6 million). This was more than in England, Germany and France (without the colonies of these countries) combined and one and a half times more than in the United States. For the whole century specific gravity the population of Russia to the total population of the whole world increased by 2.5% (from 5.3 to 7.8).
The increase in the population of Russia during the entire century was only partially due to the annexation of new territories. The main reason for the demographic growth was the high birth rate - 1.5 times higher than in Western Europe. As a result, despite the rather high mortality rate, the natural increase in the population of the empire was very significant. In absolute terms, this increase in the first half of the century ranged from 400 to 800 thousand people annually (on average 1% per year), and by the end of the century - 1.6% per year. Average life expectancy in the first half of the 19th century. was 27.3 years, and at the end of the century - 33.0 years. Low indicators of life expectancy were caused by high infant mortality and recurrent epidemics.
At the beginning of the century, the most densely populated areas were the central agricultural and industrial provinces. In 1800, the population density in these areas was about 8 people per 1 km2. Compared to Western Europe, where at that time the population density was 40-49 people per 1 km2, central part European Russia was "sparsely populated". Behind the Ural ridge, the population density did not exceed 1 person per 1 km2, and many regions of Eastern Siberia and the Far East were generally deserted.
Already in the first half of the 19th century. the outflow of the population from the central regions of Russia to the Lower Volga region and Novorossiya began. In the second half of the century (60-90-ies), along with them, the Ciscaucasia became the arena of colonization. As a result, the rate of population growth in the provinces located here has become much higher than in the central ones. So, over the course of a century, the population in the Yaroslavl province increased by 17%, in Vladimir and Kaluga - by 30%, in Kostroma, Tver, Smolensk, Pskov and even in the chernozem Tula provinces - by hardly 50-60%, and in Astrakhan - 175%, Ufa - 120%, Samara - 100%, Kherson - 700%, Bessarabian - 900%, Tauride - 400%, Ekaterinoslavskaya - 350%, etc. Among the provinces of European Russia, only the capital provinces were distinguished by high rates of population growth. In the Moscow province during this time the population increased by 150%, and in St. Petersburg by as much as 500%.
Despite the significant outflow of the population to the southern and southeastern provinces, the center of European Russia and by the end of the 19th century. remained the most populous. Ukraine and Belarus caught up with him. The population density in all these regions ranged from 55 to 83 people per 1 km2. In general, the uneven distribution of the population throughout the country and at the end of the century was very significant.
The northern part of European Russia remained sparsely populated, while the Asian part of the country is still almost deserted. In 1897, only 22.7 million people lived in the vast expanses beyond the Urals - 17.7% of the population of the Russian Empire (of which 5.8 million were in Siberia). Only from the end of the 90s. Siberia and the Steppe Territory (Northern Kazakhstan), as well as partly Turkestan, became the main areas of resettlement.
The vast majority of residents of Russia lived in countryside... At the beginning of the century - 93.5%, in the middle - 92.0%, and at the end - 87.5%. An important characteristic of the demographic process is the ever-accelerating process of the outstripping growth of the urban population. For the first half of XIX in. the urban population increased from 2.8 million to 5.7 million, i.e. more than doubled (while the total population grew by 75%). In the second half of the XIX century. the entire population grew by 52.1%, the rural population by 50%, and the urban population by 100.6%. The absolute number of the urban population increased to 12 million people and amounted to 13.3% of the total population of Russia. For comparison, the proportion of the urban population at that time in England was 72%, in France 37.4%, in Germany 48.5%, in Italy 25%. These data indicate a low level of urban processes in Russia at the end of the 19th century.
A territorial-administrative structure and a system of cities were formed - capital, provincial, uyezd and so-called provincial (not being the center of a province or county) - which existed throughout the 19th century. In 1825, there were 496, in the 60s. - 595 cities. Cities in terms of the number of inhabitants were divided into small (up to 10 thousand people), medium (10-50 thousand) and large (over 50 thousand). The middle town was the most widespread throughout the century. With the quantitative predominance of small towns, the number of towns with a population of over 50 thousand people increased. In the middle of the XIX century. 462 thousand people lived in Moscow; in St. Petersburg - 540 thousand people. According to the 1897 census, 865 cities and 1600 urban-type settlements were registered in the empire. In cities with a population of over 100 thousand inhabitants (there were 17 registered after the census), 40% of the townspeople lived. The population of Moscow was 1,038,591, and of St. Petersburg - 1,264,920. At the same time, many cities were large villages, the majority of whose inhabitants were engaged in agriculture on the lands assigned to the cities.
Ethnic Ethnic composition of the population of Russia was extremely diverse and confessional. It was inhabited by more than 200 national fishery and ethnic groups. The multinational go-composition of the population has developed as a result of a complex irony of the process, which cannot be unambiguously reduced to “voluntary reunification” or “forcible annexation”. A number of peoples ended up in Russia due to geographic proximity, common economic interests, and long-standing cultural ties. For other peoples involved in ethnic and religious conflicts, this path was the only chance of salvation. At the same time, part of the territory became part of Russia as a result of conquests or agreements with other countries.
The peoples of Russia had a different past. Some had their own statehood before, others were part of other states and cultural and historical regions for quite a long time, and still others were at the pre-state stage. They belonged to different races and language families, differed from each other in religion, national psychology, cultural traditions, forms of management. The ethno-confessional factor, like the geographical one, largely determined the originality of the Roeian history. The most numerous peoples were Russians (Great Russians), Ukrainians (Little Russians) and Belarusians. Until 1917, the common name for these three peoples was the term "Russians". According to the information collected in 1870, the "tribal composition of the population" (as demographers expressed it then) in European Russia was as follows: Russians - 72.5%, Finns - 6.6%, Poles - 6.3%, Lithuanians - 3.9%, Jews - 3.4%, Tatars - 1.9%, Bashkirs - 1.5%, other nationalities - 0.45%.
At the end of the XIX century. (filed from the 1897 census) more than 200 nationalities lived in Russia. Great Russians were 55.4 million people (47.8%), Little Russians - 22.0 million (19%), Belarusians - 5.9 million (6.1%). Together they constituted the majority of the population - 83.3 million people (72.9%), i.e. their demographic situation for the last third of the 19th century, despite the annexation of new territories, practically did not change. Of the Slavs, Poles, Serbs, Bulgarians, Czechs lived in Russia. In second place in terms of numbers were the Turkic peoples: Kazakhs (4 million people) and Tatars (3.7 million). The Jewish diaspora was numerous - 5.8 million (of which 2 million lived in Poland). Six peoples had a population of 1.0 to 1.4 million people each: Latvians, Germans, Moldovans, Armenians, Mordovians, Estonians. 12 peoples with more than 1 million people made up the bulk of the empire's population (90%).
In addition, a large number of small nationalities lived in Russia, numbering only a few thousand or even several hundred people. Most of these peoples settled in Siberia and the Caucasus. Living in remote closed areas, family marriages, lack of medical assistance did not contribute to an increase in their number, but the extinction of these ethnic groups did not occur.
Ethnic diversity was complemented by confessional differences. Christianity in the Russian Empire was represented by Orthodoxy (including its Old Believer interpretations), Uniatism, Catholicism, Protestantism, as well as numerous sects. Part of the population professed Islam, Judaism, Buddhism (Lamaism) and other religions. According to information collected in 1870 (for an earlier period, there are no data on religion), 70.8% of Orthodox Christians, 8.9% of Catholics, 8.7% of Muslims, 5.2% of Protestants, 3.2% of Jews lived in the country. 1.4% of Old Believers, 0.7% of "idolaters", 0.3% of Uniates, 0.3% of Armenians are Gregorians.
For the Orthodox majority of the population - "Russians" - was characterized by maximum contact with representatives of other confessions, which was of tremendous importance in the practice of large-scale migration movements and peaceful colonization of new territories.
The Orthodox Church had state status and enjoyed all the support of the state. With regard to other confessions in the policy of the state and the Orthodox Church, religious tolerance (the law on religious tolerance was adopted only in 1905) was combined with an infringement of the rights of certain religions or religious groups.
Sects were persecuted - Khlysty, eunuchs, Dukhobors, Molokans, Baptists. At the beginning of the XIX century. these sects were able to move from the inner provinces to the outskirts of the empire. Until 1905, the rights of Old Believers were limited. Special rules, starting from 1804, determined the rights of persons of the Jewish faith ("Pale of Settlement", etc.). After the Polish uprising in 1863, the Spiritual College was created to govern the Catholic Church, and most of the Catholic monasteries were closed, and the unification (“reverse union” of 1876) of the Uniate and Orthodox churches was carried out.
By the end of the XIX century. (1897) 87.1 million people professed Orthodoxy (76% of the population), Catholics accounted for 1.5 million people (1.2%), Protestants 2.4 million (2.0%). Persons of non-Christian religions were officially called "foreigners". These included 13.9 million Muslims (11.9%), 3.6 million Jews (3.1%). The rest professed Buddhism, shamanism, Confucianism, Old Belief, etc.
The multinational and multiconfessional population of the Russian Empire was united by a common historical destiny, ethnic, cultural and economic ties. Constant population movements, which intensified in the last decades of the 19th century, led to a wide territorial mixing of ethnic groups, to the erosion of ethnic boundaries, and numerous interethnic marriages. The policy of the Russian Empire in the national question was as variegated and varied as the population of the empire was variegated and varied. But the main goal of politics was always the same - the elimination of political separatism and the establishment of state unity throughout the empire.
2. 1.What are character traits social structure Russian society at the beginning of the XX century. (several answers are possible):
a) preservation of the class division of society;
b) the simultaneous existence of the main classes of traditional and industrial society;
c) a significant proportion of small bourgeois owners;
d) "crystallization" of the population on the basis of class?
2. Group the following social groups according to their affiliation with either traditional or industrial societies:
a) the peasantry; b) nobility; c) the bourgeoisie; d) the proletariat; e) philistinism; f) merchants; g) farming; h) the intelligentsia.
Traditional Society: ______
Industrial Society: ______
3. 1. Who at the beginning of the century in Russia was called kulaks: (underline)
a) rural usurers;
b) wealthy peasants;
c) peasants who separated from the community?
2. What processes were characteristic of the Russian peasantry at the beginning of the XX century. (several answers are possible):
a) strong community influence;
b) the predominance of wealthy peasants;
c) social stratification;
d) land shortage;
e) high literacy;
f) the existence of corporal punishment?
4. Which of the following characterizes the position of the Russian proletariat at the beginning of the 20th century:
a) high concentration of workers in industrial enterprises;
b) low working hours;
c) a well thought-out system of social benefits and guarantees;
d) lack of elementary civil rights;
e) draconian penalty system?
5. What was the legally established length of the working day for an adult man in factories and plants in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century:
a) 8 hours; b) 11.5 hours; c) 10 h
6. Form from the following provisions logical pairs connected as cause and effect:
a) lack of labor legislation;
b) high concentration of labor force;
c) poor technical equipment of enterprises;
d) mass discontent of the workers.
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7. 1. Which of the following was a feature economic development Russia at the beginning of the XX century. (several answers are possible):
a) the leading role of the state and state regulation in the economic life of the country;
b) widespread attraction of foreign capital to the country;
c) a significant scale of the export of capital from the country;
d) a high level of concentration of production and labor;
e) the predominance of industrial production over agriculture;
f) multi-structured economy?
2. What explains Russia's special interest in attracting foreign capital:
a) excessive amount of unproductive expenses;
b) the predominance of the agricultural sector in the economy;
c) striving for integration into the world economy ?
3. In which industries did foreign investors invest:
a) in Agriculture;
b) in the lung and food industry;
c) heavy industry;
d) in railway transport;
e) to arms factories?
Question 01. Describe the features of the territory and population of the Russian Empire. How did they influence the development of the country?
Answer. Peculiarities:
1) Russia was the second largest state in the world after Great Britain with its colonies, but Londok was connected with the colonies by sea routes, and St. economic ties between regions;
2) a significant part of the territory of Russia was in zones of an unfavorable (extremely cold or desert) climate, which hindered the development of the country;
3) Russia was a multi-confessional state under the dominance and state support of Orthodoxy, because of this territory with great economic potential (the Baltic states, the territory of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) and economically active peoples (for example, the Jews) were discriminated against on religious grounds, which hindered the development of the country generally;
4) Russia was a multinational state with an unresolved national issue, interethnic conflicts also hampered the development of the economy;
5) Russia was rich in minerals, for example, oil;
6) Russia had access to both the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean(across the Baltic Sea);
7) in addition to lands that were not suitable for life, in Russia there were also many sown areas with good yields.
Question 02. Based on the materials in the paragraph, compose the theses of the answer on the topic "Ethnic and religious composition of the population of Russia."
Answer. Theses:
1) Characteristics of the ideological triad "Orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality";
2) the war in the Caucasus;
3) annexation of the territories of Central Asia to Russia;
4) attitude towards Muslims in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century;
5) the relationship of the center with Catholic and Protestant outskirts;
6) the special position of Finland and the change in this position at the beginning of the twentieth century;
7) attitude towards Jews in the Russian Empire.
Question 03. What role did foreign capital play in the development of the Russian economy during the period of industrialization?
Answer. Foreign capital has provided great support to the development of Russian industry (accounting for 40% of all capital investments in the country). However, the Russian economy did not become dependent on him, nor did it lead to the creation of special economic zones with foreign influence. Coming to Russia, foreign capital merged with local capital. However, precisely because of this, the imperial government did not look for reserves for the development of the economy within the country. And precisely because of this, part of the profits went abroad.
Question 04. Based on the text of the paragraph, prove that Russia at the beginning of the XX century. entered the phase of transition to an agrarian-industrial society.
Answer. By 1914, the townspeople were already almost 18% of the population of the empire - not the majority, but the figure is already significant. At the same time, in terms of the absolute size of iron ore mining, iron and steel smelting, the volume of mechanical engineering products, industrial consumption of cotton and sugar production, Russia came to the fourth or fifth place in the world, and in oil production at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries it even became a world leader thanks to the creation of the Baku oil industry region. But with all this, the main product produced in Russia remained agricultural. For example, the empire was the world's leading exporter of grain. As before, 54-56% of the national income came from agriculture.
Question 05. Define the main features of the state policy of Russia in the field of industry. Describe the reforms of S.Yu. Witte.
Answer. Traits:
1) the state expanded the railway network, thereby improving the interconnection of regions;
2) the state has consistently promoted the development of heavy industry, which served as the basis for the production of weapons;
3) the government did not obstruct the penetration of foreign capital into the Russian economy, which had a beneficial effect on the latter;
4) state control over the economy was constantly strengthened in order to protect the economic interests of the nobility and the government by limiting the freedom of entrepreneurship and the natural development of the economy.
Reforms of the Minister of Finance S.Yu. Witte were aimed at accelerated industrialization, for which he, first of all, stabilized the ruble by carrying out a monetary reform. However, he did not implement the ideals of liberalism and give more freedom to entrepreneurship, instead he increased treasury revenues, for example, due to the wine monopoly and the growth of indirect taxes.
Question 06. What are the features of the development of the agricultural sector of the economy. What problems did the village face?
Answer. Peculiarities:
1) agriculture became commodity, thanks to which Russia was one of the leading countries in the world in grain export, besides, it imported timber, etc .;
2) farms (as well as agricultural lands) were clearly divided into landowners and peasants;
3) in the Russian Empire, there was the largest concentration of land in the world (in landlord households);
4) in Russia, the rural community continued to exist and to operate actively with mutual responsibility.
Problems:
1) in Central Russia, semi-middle and poor farms prevailed, which did not produce marketable products;
2) most agricultural products were produced using old methods;
3) the landlord's land was used economically extremely ineffectively;
4) overpopulation of Central Russia, which led to the fact that "extra hands" were not used in agricultural production;
5) the constant redistribution of land in the peasant community.
