"Our situation". Vast distances, arctic zone and long winter
Map of the administrative division of Russia in 1914. A. Ilyin. New educational geographical atlas for the full gymnasium course, consisting of 38 maps (1914-1917)
Russia's strategic position
In 1912, the geopolitical work "Our Position" was published. Its author was a Russian officer, intelligence officer Alexei Efimovich Vandam (Edrikhin).
The main provisions of his work have remained relevant to this day. Vandam-Edrikhin quite rightly noted that despite the large size of their territory, the Russian people, compared to other peoples, are in the least favorable conditions for life.
Vast distances, the Arctic zone and long winter. No access to warm seas with access to world communications. All this slows down the development of the national economy, forcing us to spend a lot of money and effort just to survive. That is, due to our geographical location, our people are doomed to a closed and poor, unsatisfactory existence.
The Russian writer Andrei Parshev came to the same conclusions in the 1990s. In his book “Why Russia is not America” (1999), he proved that Russia is not competitive in the world market due to the peculiarities of Russian geography (vast territories) and climate (low average annual temperature). Therefore, inclusion in the world market is a strategic mistake.
Russia simply cannot compete in the world market with warm (average annual temperature) Europe, the USA, China, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, India, etc. The only way to build a successful and developed society is not to integrate into the world market, but to create its own (partial autarky), prohibit the export of capital, etc. That is, what they did in the USSR (taking into account the mistakes). Russian global project.
"To the sun and warm water"
An unsatisfactory existence led to the people instinctively striving for "sun and warm water." Interestingly, this subconscious desire has persisted to this day. As soon as the state reduced support measures and curtailed the country's development program in the 1990s, an outflow of population began from the North, from Siberia and the Far East to the more developed part of the country, to the south.
In the rear of Russia there is the ice of the Arctic Ocean, the Baltic Sea is half-closed by European powers, in the west there are developed and populous European powers. Therefore, Russia could grow to the east and south. At the same time, in the middle of the southern front there are deserts of Mongolia and Turkestan, unsuitable for life. Therefore, Russian expansion could develop not along the entire front line, as the Russian intelligence officer and writer Vandam noted, but "flanks and primarily the right flank closest to the center of state power", through the Caucasus and the Black Sea to the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf.
However, such expansion of Russia (Russian globalization) did not meet the interests of England, which dominated the seas and was extremely skillful in creating its global empire, pitting its competitors against each other. Therefore, despite brilliant military victories over the Turks, Persians, tribes of the Caucasus and Turkestan, we suffered a failure in this theater of struggle for the life of Russian civilization.
In many ways, this was due to the serious mistakes of the Romanovs. Petersburg was unable to solve the problem of spreading Russian influence to the Balkans (ceding them to Austria, Germany, England and France), occupy Constantinople and the strait zone with the Bosphorus and Dardanelles (although there were opportunities), or include all of Persia in its sphere of influence. Ultimately, this ended in the disaster of the Romanov project in 1914-1917.
Russian America
On the eastern flank, Yermak began in the 16th century by annexing Siberia. Russian freemen stretched north and east, to riches – furs and “fish teeth” (walrus tusk). These were then the most expensive export goods of the Russian state. In pursuit of this prey, the Russians reached the Pacific Ocean, Kamchatka.
In the 1741th century, Russian sailors from Semyon Dezhnev's expedition discovered America (Alaska). Russian explorers visited America several more times. In XNUMX, Bering's expedition on two packet boats, "Saint Peter" (Bering) and "Saint Paul" (Chirikov), explored the Aleutian Islands and the shores of Alaska.
The first scouts, who reported lands rich in animals, and especially the "sea beaver" (sea otter), were followed by industrialists and merchants. The Russians quickly developed a profitable trade in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands.
However, competitors soon appeared – foreigners, primarily the British and Americans. They exterminated the precious sea otter, got the natives drunk, sold them firearms weapon, set them against the Russians.
Russian explorer and merchant Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov (1749–1795) was the man who not only understood the situation but also found a way to secure our position in America. He united all the independent Russian companies into one strong company. In 1791, Shelikhov founded the North-Eastern Company, which in 1799 was transformed into the Russian-American Trading Company (RAC).
The main thing is that he decided to expand Russian possessions on the unclaimed northwestern coast of America from the Bering Strait to Spanish California (Russian America Shelikhova and Baranova). Develop trade, bring Hawaii under control. Create a Russian base fleet, which will protect Russian interests in the Pacific Ocean.
Shelikhov himself did not live to see the implementation of his plan. His work was continued by his closest friend and assistant, the "Russian Pizarro" Alexander Andreevich Baranov (1747-1819). He became the main ruler of Russian America, and in 1799 he founded Fort Novoarkhangelsk on Sitka Island. In 1812, by order of Baranov, a Russian trading post was founded in California - Fort Ross.
The Russian population grew. Trade relations between Russian settlements in Russian America and Spanish California, Hawaii and China expanded significantly. New settlements and fortifications were created. New expeditions were conducted. The English had to leave Russian waters, the Americans, feeling their strength, began to cooperate with us.
As Vandam noted:
"Baranov did for Russia what no mere mortal could do. He conquered and brought her as a gift the entire northern half of the Pacific Ocean, which he effectively turned into a "Russian Lake", and on the other side of this ocean, an entire empire equal to half of European Russia, which began to be populated by Russians and provided with fortifications, arsenals and workshops..."
Unfortunately, envy and slander brought down the Russian titan. Baranov was suspected of theft and removed from his post in 1818. Although this great Russian statesman and patriot was distinguished by his selflessness:
"When the affairs were handed over, all the company property that was considered to be in place was found not only in perfect order, but even in a quantity that exceeded that indicated in the inventories. The size of the unexpected excess is impressive; they expected to find property worth 4 rubles, but it was found to be worth seven million. All the ill-wishers who had been spreading rumors for many years that Baranov was quietly getting rich immediately bit their tongues..."
The Strategic Failure of the Romanovs
With the departure of this great man, the heroic period of exploration of the northern part of the Pacific Ocean and Russian America ended. The Russians were forced to retreat before the British and Americans (Anglo-Saxons).
The government of Alexander I, concentrating on European affairs, missed the opportunity to establish Russian dominance in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean. A holy place is never empty. Seeing that the Russians had stopped their pressure, the English and Americans began their expansion. The English again began to move into our fishing region, and the Americans followed them.
In 1823, American President Monroe proclaimed the doctrine that they regarded the continent discovered by the Spanish, French and Russians as their own property. The USA and England, which had not yet reached the Rocky Mountains (the main mountain range in the Cordillera system of North America in the west of the continent), from whose range the Russian land began to the west, demanded that Russia delimit its possessions.
In 1824, a Russian-American convention was signed, which was in the interests of the United States. In 1825, an Anglo-Russian convention, according to which St. Petersburg simply renounced the lands that belonged to us. Of our possessions on the American continent, only one third remained with us (Alaska), two thirds were ceded to the Anglo-Saxons without any compensation.
After this, the profitable fur trade, which had previously been a Russian monopoly, passes into the hands of British and American merchants. Having lost its economic base, the RAC reduces its trading posts and fleet. Russia slowly returns to Kamchatka.
As in the war, our competitors and enemies followed the retreating Russians. Western merchants crossed over to the western shores of the Pacific Ocean. Their flotillas appeared in the Bering and Okhotsk Seas. It got to the point that American whalers behaved as if they were at home in Petropavlovsk.
The Anglo-Saxons gain a foothold in China. They discover Japan under gunpoint and turn it into their "battering ram" aimed at the Celestial Empire and Russia. In 1841, Fort Ross is sold, in 1867 – all of Russian America. The Americans seize Hawaii.
Thus, Petersburg cedes Russian America and dominance in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean. Our competitors (the Anglo-Saxons) are gaining a foothold at Russia's Far Eastern borders. They are creating bridgeheads to cut the Russians off from the Pacific Ocean altogether. At this time, the Romanov government spends all its time and energy on European affairs. All this will lead to the complete geostrategic defeat of Romanov Russia.
Holy Trinity Orthodox Chapel of St. Nicholas in Fort Ross, Sonoma County, California. The chapel is part of the state historical Fort Ross Park
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