To whom do we owe the accession of the Far East and why do liberals try to forget this person?
Not without pride, I would like to note that Artem Krivosheev, the author of this interesting article about a little-known Russian readership, is not only a graduate student of the public administration department of the RANEPA, but also my friend, soul mate and fellow party member of the Great Great Father. Artem - the head of the Khabarovsk branch of air defense.
The questions that an ordinary young postgraduate student considers and those that are interesting to a thoughtful researcher, a real patriot of his country are not the same thing, as we can see from the material presented by Artyom.
To whom does Russia owe the accession of the Far East and why do liberal historians try their best to forget this glorious page of the Russian state? You will find answers to these and other questions in this study of our party’s activist.
“We all know that Russia is the largest country on the planet. We used to be proud of it. Often we do not know to whom we owe such a huge territory. It is clear that the ancestors, but to whom personally? If a story the country in its European part is known in more detail, then with the eastern direction is not so simple. But the history of the accession of the Far East to Russia is very interesting. One can understand why liberal historians try not to cover these pages of Russian history, since these are pages of brilliant victories and great achievements ...
However, in the Far East, this person is legendary. Monuments to him stand in Khabarovsk, Blagoveshchensk and Vladivostok. We are talking about Count Nikolay Nikolaevich Muravyov-Amursky. Russia is obliged to him by joining the modern Amur Region, the Jewish Autonomous Region, and the southern part of the Khabarovsk and Primorsky Territories.
Let us turn to the biography of our hero:
“Coming from a well-known and old noble family, Muravyov was a direct descendant of Lieutenant Stepan Voinovich Muravyov, a member of the Second Kamchatka Expedition, headed by V.I. Bering. His father, Nikolai Nazarievich, was a captain of the first rank, and then became the vice-governor of the Novgorod province.
Upon his retirement, Nikolai Nazarevich made his home in the village of Pokrovsky on the left bank of the Neva along the Shlisselburg highway. Nikolai Nikolaevich was born 11 August 1809, in Pokrovsky, from the first wife of Ekaterina Nikolaevna Mordvinova’s father.
N.N. Muravyov received primary education in the private boarding house Godeniusa in St. Petersburg, after which he was given to the Page Corps. After completing the course, the 15-year-old youth was promoted to camera-pages and was included in the retinue of the sister of the tsar, Princess Elena Pavlovna.
Upon reaching the age of 18, Muravyov received an officer's rank and began serving in the Finnish Life Guards Regiment, in which he participated in the war with Turkey. The young officer took part in the capture of Varna and was promoted to second lieutenant for distinction in battles. Then, seconded to the fifth Black Sea naval brigade, was among the paratroopers who took Sisopol, fought against the walls of Shumla and Adrionopol. For his courage Muravyov received two military orders and the most honorable award for an officer - a golden sword with the inscription "For courage."
He quickly advanced in service, becoming a captain in 20 years. But, despite such a promising start, he soon had to resign due to illness - he fell ill with a special local fever, from which he could not get rid of in St. Petersburg. For several years I had to live on my father’s estate. But in the 1833 year, Muravyov was again in the active army, now in the Caucasus. Now he is adjutant to the commander of the Caucasian Corps, General E.A. Golovin, the former commander of his regiment.
The young adjutant did an excellent job with his duties, was clever, precise, executive, and repeatedly had the occasion to show his courage. In the battle of Ahulgo Muravyov wounded in the arm.
After healing, he became the head of the Black Sea coastline, and in 1841, thirty-two years old, became a major general. However, a new, even more serious outbreak of the disease forced Muravyov to leave military service. In 1844, he went abroad for treatment. There he met Mademoiselle de Rishmon, a representative of a noble French noble family. She, who became Orthodox and later became Muravyov's wife, was called Yekaterina Nikolaevna in Russia.
After returning to his homeland in 1846, Nikolai Nikolayevich was listed in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and soon, not without patronage, Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, who still favored him, was appointed governor of Tula "[1].
Already in the 1847 year, he received an appointment as governor of Eastern Siberia. All his affairs, as it were now said “projects”, are not possible to be listed in a small article, many books have been written about them, unfortunately not known to the wide Russian reader. It should be noted only that the researchers of the transformational activity of Muravyov as governor-general will invariably marvel at its scope: it has covered almost all areas of government and social life in a vast region. It was not for nothing that contemporaries of Muravyov said that this man was worth a whole Committee of Ministers, and they called him “Peter the Great of Eastern Siberia”. With the only difference that Peter was an autocrat, his own head, Muravyov, all the years old, was between the hammer and the anvil. In too many ways, he had to act within the framework of prescriptions and agreements with Petersburg, on the one hand, and on the other, to break the resistance of the local opposition, those uncrowned Siberian kings who were not going to surrender without financial or any other power [14] .
Let us try to assess the scale of Russia's geopolitical successes in the eastern direction, which were made possible only thanks to Count Muraviev. By the time Nikolai Nikolayevich was appointed to the post, the situation in the Far East began to worsen. In the summer of 1840, the English fleet captured Hong Kong. Then, rising to the mouth of the Yantsekiang, and seizing Woosung and Shanghai, the British, under the 1842 agreement, forced China to open its ports for European trade; moreover, Russia’s next door neighbor, China, was deliberately not included in the list of powers that received the right to visit open ports [3].
The activity of the British and off the coast of modern Primorye, Sakhalin, the Khabarovsk Territory increased. Since the signing of the Nerchinsk treatise [1689] in 4 between Russia and China, the Amur region and the Ussuri region have remained unbounded. NN Muravyov-Amursky understood perfectly well the growing danger from the British and French. If they occupied the Amur region, the powers of the sea would receive an excellent base for exerting pressure on the continental empire, which Russia was.
It was necessary, by all means, to convince Emperor Nicholas I of the need for the Amur region for Russia. What repeatedly and tried to make ants. And here began the difficulties of internal political nature, about which General Vandam writes: “Puzzled by the friendly pressure of the Anglo-Saxons, our official spheres tried to reassure society by the fact that, due to the inaccessibility of Amur from the sea, the Anglo-Saxon ships never penetrate deep into Siberia. But similar calm acted weakly. Many strong articles appeared in magazines and newspapers of that time, the most remarkable of which was Polevoy’s article in “Northern Bee”. Listing all the gains and losses of Russia in the reign of the House of Romanov, the author suggested that one of the most serious losses in its consequences was the loss of Cupid by us. This article attracted the attention of Emperor Nicholas I, and His Majesty, despite all the concerns of Foreign Minister Count Nesselrode about the possibility of a break with China, about Europe’s displeasure, especially the British, in case of any vigorous actions on our part, etc. He ordered the expedition outfitted from the Menelaus corvette and one transport and sent it from the Black Sea under the command of Putyatin to China and Japan to establish trade relations with these states and to inspect the estuary and the estuary. Amur, considered inaccessible from the sea.
But since 250000 rubles were required for the equipment of this expedition, the Minister of Finance spoke out in support of Count Nesselrode, and the Putyatin expedition was canceled. Instead, with unusual precautions and with the most secret instructions, she was sent to the mouth of the Amur Tiny brig "Konstantin" under the command of Lieutenant Gavrilov. Although the latter clearly stated in his report that, under the conditions in which he was put, he could not carry out the instructions, nevertheless, the Foreign Minister reported to the Sovereign that His Majesty’s order had been executed exactly, that research by Lieutenant Gavrilov had proved once again that Sakhalin is a peninsula, the Amur River is inaccessible from the sea, and, consequently, this river does not matter for Russia either.
Following this, the Special Committee [on the Amur issue - approx. Krivosheev A. Ya.] Chaired by Count Nesselrode and with the participation of the War Minister Count Chernyshev, Quartermaster General Berg, and others. Decided to recognize the Amur Basin as belonging to China and abandon it forever. ”
Like this. Just think about it. The emperor ordered the expedition to be equipped, and the gentlemen’s ministers canceled it, and with special measures of secrecy sent another ship that could not complete the task. In conclusion, the Foreign Minister Nesselrode actually deceived the king, reported on the execution of the commission, knowing that the mission could not be carried out, and indicated that Amur does not matter to Russia. Minister Nesselrode was generally very sensitive to the opinion of Europe and especially of England. How would such a thing be called, to put it mildly, the will of the ministers? None other than conscious sabotage in the interests of anyone. And today we are told that under Stalin only innocent people were shot.
Gentlemen ministers and their overseas patrons prevented decisive governor. He was looking for like-minded among the military. Such like-minded person was a talented young officer Gennady Ivanovich Nevelskoy. Nevelskoy was eager to prove that such a deep river like Amur cannot be lost in the sands and that Sakhalin is an island separated from the mainland by a strait. Enlisting the support of N.N. Muravyov, however, without having the direct permission of his immediate superiors, at his own risk he began hydrographic studies of this white spot on a geographical map and received all the evidence that he was right. In July, 1849, the discovery was made, immediately overturned all geopolitical calculations, both Russian and foreign statesmen [5]. The advantage of Russia was that until the end of the Crimean War, the British, French and Americans did not know that Sakhalin was an island, and Amur was navigable.
1, August 1850, on Cape Kuegda on the left bank of the Amur River, G. I. Nevelskoy raised the Russian naval flag and founded the Nicholas post, the future city of Nikolayevsk in the Amur estuary, than actually locked the entrance of the English, French and American ships to the Amur. This caused a flurry of discontent with the Amur Special Committee. Officials insisted on degrading of Nevelskoy to sailors. The anger of the English agents of influence was completely understandable. The very meaning of the founding of a military post at the mouth of the Amur well showed Muravyov-Amursky in his letter to Nicholas I 25 February 1849 of the year [6]: “There was not a baseless assumption that the British would occupy the mouth of the Amur. What kind of manpower and resources will then be required from the government so that Eastern Siberia will not become English when the English fortress becomes in the mouth of the Amur, and English steamers will go along the Amur to Nerchinsk and even to Chita? ... If instead of an English fortress, a Russian fortress became in the mouth of the Amur, as well as in the Petropavlovsk port in Kamchatka, and the flotilla between them, and for great precaution that in the fortresses and on the flotilla garrisons, crew and bosses were delivered from inside Russia , Then with these small means for all time, possession of Siberia and all its inexhaustible wealth would be provided for Russia. ”
The Crimean war showed the Count’s correctness. Cupid was the only river in the region that flowed from west to east. In fact, at that time, it was the only and natural path connecting the Pacific Ocean with Siberia. It was for Amur that Russian troops were supplied in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Famous Amur rafts of ships with troops and weapons to the mouth of the Amur began, from where they were brought to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky through the Sea of Okhotsk. At the same time, places of possible construction of military posts along the river were noted. That was how the place where the city of Khabarovsk later grew was marked. At the mouth of the Amur Russian warships left, so as not to be destroyed in the harbor of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Tellingly, the famous defense of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky would not have been possible without the intervention of Nikolai Nikolayevich. Visiting Kamchatka in 1849, Muravyov immediately noted the excellent location of the port of Petropavlovsk, and with its weak security, its particular attractiveness for foreign intervention. By order of Nikolai Nikolaevich, the port was reinforced with several additional batteries [7].
After the end of the Crimean War and the resignation of Nesselrode, the post of chancellor was taken by the talented and far-sighted diplomat A. M. Gorchakov, who fully shared Muraviev’s views on the Amur issue. The result of the longstanding struggle of Count Muravyev was the signing of the Aigunsky agreement with China in 1858 and its amendment to the Beijing Agreement in 1860.
After the signing of the Treaty of Aigun, Muravyov was given the title of count and a prefix to the family name - Amur. According to the Aigun Treaty, the left bank of the Amur River (from the Argun River to the mouth) was assigned to Russia, the right bank (up to the confluence of the Ussuri River) - to China. Manchu settlements on the left bank of the Amur remained under the jurisdiction of the Chinese authorities. Navigation along the Amuru, Ussuri and Sungari Rivers was allowed only by Russian and Chinese ships. Mutual free trade of the Russian and Chinese population was permitted. And the most important point (especially for the future of Primorye) - the area between the Ussuri River and the sea remained unbounded and was recognized as being temporarily “in common use” of both states [8].
Another confirmation of the foresight and state thinking of Nikolai Nikolaevich is the history of the preparation and signing of the Beijing Treaty. There was no doubt about the need to definitively distinguish “from the Ussuri River to the sea” Russia and China. The problem was that both sides very vaguely represented the territory of modern Primorye. She needed to be investigated. This is what Count Muravyov-Amursky took up. A number of expeditions were sent out. Such a streamlined formulation made it difficult to define the boundary. It could be carried out from the headwaters of the Ussuri River, and then the border would reach the sea in the area of the Olga Bay. Which is far north of the current state of the border. On the other hand, China would get access to the Sea of Japan, which the British would certainly take advantage of and take a comfortable position near the Russian border. The governor-general of Eastern Siberia understood this perfectly and wrote about his plans to the researcher Egor Kovalevsky, who is famous for his travels to China [9]: “I will write to Perovsky officially regarding the definition of our border from Ussuri to the sea, because I consider it necessary to make it as possible hasty in the performance of the 9-item of the Tianjin Treaty; the pretext between us and the Chinese will be the same, so that the Anglo-French will not capture some bay between Korea and our possessions, and therefore it is better that the whole coast to Korea be ours! I, as I already wrote to you, intend to send a mezhevoi commission on the Ussuri with the opening of ice, that is, on April 1, and I will ask Perovsky for the Chinese commission to arrive at the Ussuri peaks around the same time ... ”
Nikolai Nikolayevich did his best to prevent China from reaching the sea. The mouth of the Sui-Fun River [now the Razdolnaya River in Primorye Territory], which was precisely identified and mapped by an expedition of astronomer Ludwig Schwartz back in the year 1855, was considered the extreme southern limit of the spread of Russian influence. It was about Sui-Fune as the future border with China that was at first discussed. In a report to Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich from 16 in November 1858, Muravyov-Amursky wrote [10]: “On defining our border I received an attitude ... from Aygunsky Amban, who reports that their officials will be sent to the Ussuri estuary and the mouth of the Sui River - Funa flowing into the sea; but it would be desirable for us to have a border to Posiet Bay, which is about a hundred versts south of the Sui-Fun confluence; then we would have owned the whole coastal coast to Korea, and I hope that Perovsky’s convictions in Beijing and our local commissars will lead to this result. ”
However, China did his best to delay negotiations and did not send its representatives to the Ussuri region. To speed up the process, a new envoy Nikolai Ignatiev was sent from Petersburg to Beijing. Muravyov-Amursky, not relying on the Russian Foreign Ministry, sends a personal message to Beijing, notifying him that “he shouldn’t delay all these cases ... unreasonable correspondence shouldn’t, and it’s necessary to finish as quickly as possible and for my execution Colonel Budogossky and official Shishmarev were sent to the common ground between Ussuri and the sea to carry out the boundary line ... and I myself went with the military courts to the same places without delay "[11].
In June, Muravyov-Amursky, 1859, was already inspecting the coast from Cape Povorotny to the Tyumen-Ula (Tumangan) river from board the “America” steamboat-ship “America” ... Meanwhile, in a special instruction from the Russian Foreign Ministry, delivered here by courier , it is said that the border should be “finished by the sea, not deviating to the south”, in order not to capture the Posiet harbor and the mouth of the Tyumen-Upa. The Governor-General, as you know, had a different opinion and practically acted contrary to the advice of the diplomats. 25 July 1859 reports from Majority Korsakov from Posyet Bay to Irkutsk in a private letter [12]: “We dissociate the Posyet Bay to the mouths of Tyumen-Uly, which forms the border between Korea and China. I would not like to seize the superfluous, but it turns out that it is necessary: there is such a beautiful harbor in Posiet Bay, that the British would certainly capture it at the first break with China. I am sure that this conviction will also work in Beijing. At the mouth of the Sui-Funa River, a little northeast of Posiet Bay, there are many beautiful bays. In general, all this space of the sea coast, from Posyet to Pivoting Cape, northwest of 200, is replete with beautiful bays and harbors so attractive to the maritime power that the British (if it were still Chinese) would capture everything, especially in 1855, they all these places are seen, described and even maps from afar. "
As a result, in view of the real threat of an English invasion and the justification on the coast of the British, China ceded Russia the south of Primorye. The boundary line eventually moved away from the Ussuri River along the Sungach River, crossed Lake Khanka, passed through the mountains, and rested in the territory of Korea above the confluence of the Tyumen-Ula (Tumangan) River into the sea. The map with the designation of the line of this border has become part of the Beijing Treaty, signed in November 1860 of the year and finally consolidating all previously unsolved issues of Russian-Chinese relations.
The foresight of the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia now, after more than 150 years, is obvious. Thanks to his activities at his post, Russia without a single shot attached a strategically important territory, which was the key to the possession of Siberia, equal to several large European countries. Nikolai Nikolayevich was one of the first to propose the construction of the Trans-Siberian railway, the founding of the Pacific Fleet and much more, which was brought to life half a century later.
By his strong-willed decision, he attached a long stretch of coast down to the Korean border, did not let China go to sea, and saved Russia from the danger of the capture of this strategically important area (a long stretch of coast on a map south of Vladivostok) by the British. Thanks to his personal initiative, the count presented Russia with Khassansky and part of the Nadezhda district of the Primorsky Territory. Again. Thanks to the personal initiative of the count, Russia can now build the Trans-Eurasian railway connecting Korea with Europe. China, which did not receive access to the Sea of Japan, is forced to send part of its cargoes through our ports. The famous battles on Lake Hassan took place here. Had Nikolai Nikolaevich been in the place of another person, less determined, and, most likely, Russia would not have gained access to the Korean border.
And in general Khasansky district is now a resort area with incredibly beautiful nature. It is here in the second half of July and August that many Far Easterners go to rest. Here is the only marine reserve in Russia, the Kedrovaya Pad Reserve. Here remains the only habitat of the Far Eastern leopard, destroyed, both in China and in Korea.
In the Far East, the name of Count Nikolai Nikolaevich Muravyov-Amursky is widely known. I wanted to convey to our compatriots living in the European part of the country in a panoramic form, what our great ancestor did, not being afraid to go in defiance of the pro-Western part of the ruling elite. Show your respect for the person thanks to whom I have my hometown Khabarovsk and Primorye no less dear to me. ”
[1] http://lemur59.ru/node/8899
[2] L. Tretyakova. The legacy of the Amursky graph // Around the World Magazine. URL: http://www.vokrugsveta.ru/vs/article/242/
[3] A. Vandam, Geopolitics and Geostrategy, M: Kuchkovo Pole, 2002. Ss xnumx.
[4]http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%87%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%B
E%D0%B2%D0%BE%D1%80
[5] Salin Yu.S. History of the Economy of the Far East. URL: http://salin.al.ru/study/iedv07.htm
[6] Barsukov I. P. Graf Nikolai Nikolaevich Muravyov-Amursky. Khabarovsk, 1999. C. 206-207.
[7] Ponomareva T. The Road to the Great Ocean. To the 150 anniversary of the signing of the Aigun treatise.URL: http://www.pravoslavie.ru/arhiv/080529121623.htm
[8] The royal gift from the graph: [N. Muravyev-Amursky] / I. Egorchev // Vladivostok. - 2009. - 19 Aug - S. 10.
[9] Quoted from: Royal gift from the graph: [N. Muravyev-Amursky] / I. Egorchev // Vladivostok. - 2009. - 19 Aug - S. 10.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
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