Zhellotossiya. How Russia tried to become the “Great Eastern Empire”
At the turn of the XIX and XX centuries, trying to preempt the threat of Chinese and Japanese expansion, Russia decided to implement the project Zheltorossiya. The basis of the project was the Kvantunsk region with the port Far and the naval base Port Arthur (created in 1899 year), the alienation line of the CER, Cossack troopers and the settlement of land by Russian colonists. As a result, the struggle of the great powers for Manchuria-Zheltorossiya was one of the reasons for the Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905. The Japanese Empire, with the support of Britain and the United States, was able to take up and dominate in northeastern China and Korea. Russia also lost Port Arthur, the Kuriles and South Sakhalin. In 1945, the Soviet Army will take revenge for previous defeats, and the Soviet Union will temporarily restore its rights in China. However, soon, due to considerations of supporting the “younger brother” (communist China), Moscow will give up all territorial and infrastructural rights in Zheltorossiya. Because of the anti-national policy of Khrushchev, this concession will be in vain, as China will become a hostile power to Russia.
How Russia was dragged into Chinese affairs
In 1894, Japan, which needed sources of raw materials and markets, began to build its colonial empire and attacked China. The Japanese military-political leadership, with the help of Western advisers, modernized the country, paying particular attention to transport infrastructure, the army and the fleet. However, the Japanese islands had a minimum of resources. Therefore, the Japanese decided to create their sphere of influence and drew attention to the weakest neighbors - Korea and the degraded Chinese empire. In addition, the Japanese, with the support of the Anglo-Saxons, wanted to experience the Russian Empire, which had weak positions in the Far East (military infrastructure, undeveloped communications, and small population).
Russian devotees created all the prerequisites for creating a world Russian superpower. Russia went organically to the Pacific Ocean, Russian passionaries indomitably went forward, forced the Bering Strait, mastered the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, went into modern Canada, mastering the current Oregon and stopped only in Northern California. Located just north of San Francisco, Fort Ross became the extreme point of the advancement of the Russians in the region of the Great (Pacific) Ocean. Although it was possible to occupy the Hawaiian Islands, or a part of them. In the south of the Far East, the Russians reached the borders of the Chinese Empire. Russia has become a neighbor of the two greatest eastern empires and civilizations, the Chinese and the Japanese.
The best minds of the empire understood that Russia needed, while there was still time, to gain a foothold on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. N. Muravyov, appointed by the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, believed that the only way for Russia to remain among the great powers was a wide access to the Pacific Ocean, intensive development of the “Russian California”, and active substantiation of the Russians in the Far East. This had to be done immediately - until the great European powers and America were ahead of Russia. Ants took the initiative and created the Trans-Baikal Cossacks, attracting descendants of Don and Zaporozhye Cossacks there. He outlined the way to the Great Ocean and laid new cities. However, the sticks in the wheels were inserted by Petersburg diplomats, many of whom were Westerners and were guided by Austria, England and France. Like Karl Nesselrode, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire longer than anyone else. They were afraid of complications with the European powers and America. And they preferred to spend all the attention and forces of the empire on European affairs, which were often far from the true national interests of Russia, rather than mastering Siberia, the Far East and Russian America.
Strategists in Petersburg feared overstrain. While the Anglo-Saxons were building a global empire, capturing whole continents, subcontinents and regions with small forces, St. Petersburg politicians were afraid to even develop those lands that the Russian pioneers attached so as not to anger their neighbors. Although, taking into account the location of the lands of the Russian Empire, Petersburg could have become a leader in the Great Game ("the king of the mountain") and establish control over the northern part of the Great Ocean. As a result, fearing for the looseness of their possessions, for the vulnerability of the vast Russian Pacific borders, the government of Nicholas sold Fort Ross, and the government of Alexander II made a terrible geopolitical, strategic mistake, selling Alaska to the Americans. So, Russia has lost Russian America and lost enormous potential opportunities that promised these territories in the present and especially in the future.
However, the problem of the freezing port on the Pacific coast has not gone away. The Black Sea and the Baltic Sea provided limited access to the World Ocean, which, on occasion, could be blocked by neighbors. For many centuries, the aim of the Russian government was to search for a non-freezing port, for guaranteed communication and trade with the whole world. A big step in this direction was made on November 14 1860, when Beijing refused in favor of Russia from the eastern part of Manchuria - from the Amur River to the border of China with Korea. Russia received the Amur region, the lower reaches of the Amur - a powerful water giant, vast territories (larger in area than France along with Spain), up to the border with Korea. As a result, the headquarters of the Pacific Fleet of the Russian Empire first moved from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to Nikolaevsk-on-Amur. Then, studying the Pacific coast, the governor Muravyov founded the port with a very significant name - Vladivostok, which became the main base of the Russian fleet on the Great Ocean.
Manchuria on the map of the Qing Empire 1851 g, before the accession of the Amur region and Primorye to Russia
But the main "window" of the Russian Empire in the Pacific also had drawbacks. First, for three months of the year, this port froze, and the ships stood ice-bound, plus the north wind, which interfered with navigation. Secondly, Vladivostok did not go directly into the ocean, but into the Sea of Japan. And in the long term, the booming island Japanese Empire with its network of islands could isolate the Russian port from the open ocean. Thus, access to the Pacific Ocean depended on relations with Japan. The Japanese could control the Laperuz Strait (near Hokkaido) north of Vladivostok, the Tsugaru Strait (between Hokkaido and Honshu) in the east, and the Tsushima Strait (between Korea and Japan) in the south.
Russia was looking for a way out of this natural isolation. Russian navigators immediately noticed the island Tsushima standing in the middle of the Tsushima Strait. In 1861, the Russians occupied this island. However, the British immediately responded - they sent a military squadron to the region. After the Crimean War, only a few years passed, and Russia did not bring the matter to the confrontation. Under pressure from the leading Western powers, Russia was forced to give up. Later, the British seized the port of Hamilton - a small island on the southern approach to Tsushima, in order to control the maritime communications going to Russian Vladivostok. The Japanese were closely following this conflict. Seeing the weakness of Russia in the Far East, Japan immediately began to challenge Sakhalin’s belonging to Russia. However, the forces of the Asiatic Empire had not yet reached the Russian level, and in 1875, the Japanese temporarily abandoned encroachment on South Sakhalin.
Though slowly, but Russia strengthened its position in the Far East. New cities appear, old ones grow. The population of Siberia and the Far East grew to 4,3 million in 1885. By 1897, the population of the eastern part of Russia grew to 6 million people. The Russians established control over Sakhalin, forts Nikolaevsk and Mariinsk were built at the mouth of the Amur River.
An “Eastern” party is being formed in St. Petersburg, which saw the future of Russia in the creation of the Great Eastern Empire, which could become a new center of the world. FM Dostoevsky already felt this promising colossal opportunity: “With the turn to Asia, with our new look at it, we may have something like this that happened to Europe when they discovered America. For truly Asia is the same America that we had not yet discovered for us. With striving to Asia, we will revive the uplift of spirit and strength ... In Europe, we were hangers and slaves, and in Asia we will be masters. In Europe we were Tatars, and in Asia we were Europeans. Our civilizing mission in Asia will captivate our spirit and enthrall us there. ”
The poet and geopolitician V. Bryusov considered the Western liberal democratic ideal of a political system unsuitable for vast Russia if it hopes to defend its identity, its special place on Earth, both in the West and in the East. Bryusov singled out two world antagonists, the two main forces of the foreign policy evolution of the world - Britain and Russia, the first as the mistress of the sea, and the second - land. The strength of his poetic (deep) and geopolitical vision posed a “non-Western” task for Russia: “Her (Russia )’s world position, at the same time, the fate of our national ideals, and with them their native art and native language depends on whether it in the XX century mistress of Asia and the Pacific. ” Not a merger with the West, but a concentration of forces for turning the Pacific Ocean into “our lake” - this was Bruce’s view historical perspective for Russia.
It was obvious that in Europe Russia looked like a backward state as an importer of capital and technology, a supplier of raw materials (grain), calling on Western capitalists and managers. In Asia, Russia was an advanced power that could bring progress and modernization to Korea, China and Japan.
The idea of one of the main builders of the "Eastern Empire" - Minister of Finance S. Yu. Witte, set forth by Tsar Alexander III in the 1893 year, was very tempting: "On the Mongol-Tibet-China border, major changes are inevitable, and these changes can harm Russia, if European politics prevails here, but these changes can be infinitely blessed for Russia, if it manages to enter into Eastern European affairs earlier than the West European countries ... From the shores of the Pacific Ocean, from the heights of the Himalayas, Russia will dominate not only Asia development, but also over Europe. Located on the borders of two such different worlds, East Asian and West European, having strong contacts with both, Russia, in fact, is a special world. Its independent place in the family of nations and its special role in world history are determined by its geographical position and, in particular, by the nature of its political and cultural development, which was carried out through lively interaction and a harmonious combination of three creative forces that have shown themselves so only in Russia. The first is Orthodoxy, which has preserved the true spirit of Christianity as a basis for upbringing and education; secondly, autocracy as the basis of state life; thirdly, the Russian national spirit, which serves as the basis for the internal unity of the state, but free from the assertion of nationalist exclusivity, is extremely capable of friendly fellowship and cooperation of various races and peoples. It is on this basis that the entire building of Russian power is being built, which is why Russia cannot simply join the West ... Russia appears before the Asian peoples as the bearer of the Christian ideal and Christian enlightenment, not under the banner of Europeanization, but under its own banner. ”
With many here you can agree and even subscribe. The problem was that Russia was already late with the mission of the cultural and material enlightenment and progress of the East. This needed to be concerned about a few decades ago, when it was possible to build friendly, mutually beneficial relations with Japan, before its “discovery” by the West and westernization under the influence of the Anglo-Saxons; when they still did not sell Russian America, when they joined the Amur region and could expand the sphere of influence in China without the resistance of competitors. However, in the 1890-s - the beginning of the 20th century, the West already conceptually controlled the Japanese empire and sent a “samurai ram” against China to enslave it even more. And against Russia, to slay two great Asian powers and knock out the Russians from the Far East, once again sending their energy to the West, where the Anglo-Saxons were gradually preparing the great war between the Russians and the Germans. He beat the celestial West in the “opium wars”, turned it into its semi-colony, and it could not independently choose the course of strategic rapprochement with the Russians. Russia could not rely on China. Thus, Petersburg was late with the project of active development of Asia. Intensive penetration into China and Korea led to a war with Japan, behind which stood the mighty British Empire and America. It was a “trap” in order to divert Russian resources from domestic development, “bury” them in China and “donate” Japan, as well as pit Russia and Japan. The conflict led to the destabilization of the Russian Empire, a revolution that was supported by backstage world centers, Western intelligence services and Japan. De facto, it was the dress rehearsal of the First World War, whose main goal was the destruction of the Russian Empire and civilization, the seizure and looting by Western predators of the resources of vast Russia.
However, this did not embarrass the representatives of the "eastern" party. Russia followed the path of the capitalist countries, but was somewhat late. Russian capitalists needed markets, sources of cheap raw materials and labor. Russia could teach all this only in the East, since the Russian Empire could not compete on an equal footing with the Western powers in Europe. Proponents of the expansion of Russia in the East believed that trade with China would be one of the cornerstones of Russian power: the link between the West and a large part of Asia would depend on Russia, and this would raise its strategic importance. With the help of economic and diplomatic ties, Russia will become an actual protectorate of China. Ahead saw bright prospects for guardianship over Asia. In St. Petersburg, they forgot that England and France have already placed the Celestial Empire under their control, that America, Germany and Japan are bursting into China. They did not intend to let Russia go to China, except perhaps as a “junior partner” to whom the Japanese, and indeed the Chinese, could be set upon.
Relations with Japan did not develop. The Japanese empire was “discovered” by Westernizers at gunpoint and followed the path of Westernization, its policy was in line with the global policy of the Anglo-Saxons. Russia's early attempts to improve relations with Japan did not lead to success. Last chance missed Nicholas II. He had a personal reason to dislike the Japanese. Tsarevich Nikolay made a world tour, and 1891, a small squadron of the heir to the throne, arrived in Japan. The unexpected happened in one of the Japanese cities. Tsuda Sanzo attacked Nikolai with his sword and wounded him. As a result, the impression of Japan as an irrational hostile force was laid down in the memory of the future king. Even in official documents, Nikolai, who was a very polite man, called the Japanese "macaques". Japan, on the other hand, copied not only Western technologies, but also its policies. The Japanese began to create their colonial empire, claiming to be the main predator in the Asia-Pacific region. To begin with, the Japanese decided to knock out the "weak links": the main Asian rival - decrepit and located in the bondage of the West Heavenly Empire, and Russia, whose main economic centers and military forces were in the west of the empire. China, Korea and Russia should have provided the Japanese predator with the necessary resources for further growth and expansion.
Japanese skillfully adopted western experience. The fleet was modernized under the guidance of the British. The ideas of Admiral Nelson - suddenly beating the fleets of the enemy in their own ports, were revived by the Japanese. The army was improved by the Prussian-German instructors, from whom the Japanese adopted the idea of Cannes - maneuvers to reach and surround the enemy’s army (this concept was skillfully applied by the Japanese generals against the Russian army, forcing it to consistently retreat with its workaround maneuvers). Thus, the West created the "Japanese ram", which should stop the movement of Russians in the Pacific.
In Russia, almost everyone except the most far-sighted (Admiral Makarov) missed the phenomenal growth of Japan. In St. Petersburg, they did not notice how Japan, after a period of explosive and successful Westernization in the sphere of economics and military affairs, became our main opponent in the Far East. The Anglo-Saxons did not intend to fight with the Russians in the Pacific, but they prepared and used the Japanese as their “cannon fodder”. The transformative role of the Meiji Revolution in Petersburg was underestimated. The ease of conquering feudal slave-holding Turkestan, the victory in the last Russian-Turkish war, the looseness and weakness of China played a cruel joke with the Russian imperial machine. Plus, the traditional calculation on the "chance", "hats". They say that huge Russia can easily cope with small Japan, which did not see a serious threat. Even the quick and easy victory of Japan over China (1895) did not lead to an overestimation of the capabilities of the island empire. This underestimation of the enemy and even contempt for him (“macaques”) cost Russia dearly.
To be continued ...
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