History Of Russia And Its Empire

Front 1

Russo-Turkish War

Back 1

° 1877

° Russian victory over Ottoman Turkey

° Treaty of San Stefano (early 1878) and Treaty of Berlin (late 1878)

° Humiliating outcome for Russians, despite military victory

Front 2

Treaty of San Stefano

Back 2

° Concluded Russo-Turkish conflict in 1878

° Russia gains territories in the Caucasus (Armenia and Georgia)

° Autonomous Bulgaria (Russian occupied, still tributary state to Ottoman Empire)

° Autonomous Serbia, Montenegro, Romania, and Bosnia-Herzegovina

Front 3

Congress of Berlin

Back 3

° Revision of San Stefano Treaty in 1878

° Prompted by "Great Powers" Great Britain, France, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Italy due to San Stefano's disturbance to the balance of power

° Bulgaria is returned to the Ottoman Empire

° Bosnia-Herzegovina occupied/administered by Austria-Hungary for the subsequent 30 years (remains a de facto territory of the Ottoman Empire)
° Pan-Slavic resentment in Serbia and Russia

Front 4

Aleksander Gorchakov

Back 4

° Foreign Minister under Tsar Aleksander II

° Key figure in negotiating the terms of the treaty at Congress of Berlin (1878), ensuring some territorial gain along the Black Sea coast and avoiding war with Britain and Austria-Hungary

° Blamed by Plan-Slavists for unfavorable concession of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Hapsburg Austria-Hungary

Front 5

Pan-Slavism

Back 5

° Political movement in support of the unification of all Slavic peoples under a single state, often under the administration of the Russian Tsar

° Critical of concessions made at the Congress of Berlin and humiliated by the military embarrassment of the Crimean War, resented the Hapsburgs

° Pseudo-science and racist ideology merge at the turn of the century to prop up notions of biological and cultural Slavic superiority within the movement

° Some influence over the Tsar

° Supporter: Nikolai Danilevskii

Front 6

Nikolai Danilevskii

Back 6

° Author of Russia and Europe (1869)

° Strong supporter of Pan-Slavism

° Idealized a Pan-Slavic state administered by the Tsar from Constantinople as the restored center of the Orthodox world

Front 7

Treaty of Nerchinsk

Back 7

° 1689

° Regulated borders, trade and communication between Romanov Russia and Qing China

° Characterized diplomatic relations between the two nations until Russian expansion into East Asia in the late 1800's

Front 8

Second Opium War

Back 8

° Britain and France vs. China (1856-1860)

° Russia joins Western nations for territorial spoils in China, threatens military action

° Russia gains territory at the Pacific coast

° Vladivostok becomes the first substantial Russian port at the Pacific, although inoperable during the winter

Front 9

Sakhalin

Back 9

° Japanese island, placed under joint rule with Russia in 1855

° Part of larger diplomatic negotiation that conceded the northern islands in the Kurile archipelago to Russia and opened Japanese harbors to Russian trade

° In 1875, Russia acquires all of Sakhalin and Japan all the Kuriles

Front 10

Trans-Siberian Railroad

Back 10

° Ambitious plan announced by Aleksander III in 1891

° Goal of transporting raw materials from the Siberian territories to the urban masses and facilitate potential Russian advances in East Asia

Front 11

Russian occupation of Manchuria

Back 11

° After Sino-Japanese War, Japan is forced by France, Germany and Russia to concede Manchuria to the latter empire

° Port Arthur (Lushun), in the Chinese Liaodong Peninsula, is also conceded to Russia

° Allowed Russia to continue its intervention in Korea

° Prelude to the Russo-Japanese War

Front 12

Russo-Japanese War

Back 12

° Early 1894, Japan (backed by an alliance with the United Kingdom) launches a surprise attack against Russia at Port Arthur

° City is sieged by Japanese forces in June; it surrenders in January 1895

° Military losses continue well beyond the fall of Port Arthur; Battle of Mudken and Battle of the Tsushima Straits

Front 13

Battle of Mudken

Back 13

° Feb-Mar 1895

° Russo-Japanese War

° Total of 600,000 men, largest land battle in recorded history

° Russians offensive on land, troops forced to retreat

Front 14

Battle of the Tsushima Straits

Back 14

° May 1895

° Russo-Japanese War

° Russian Baltic fleet is blocked from passing through the British Suez Canal and journey takes 8 months

° Squadron destroyed by the Japanese before reaching Vladivostok

° Event incites wave of protests at the homefront

Front 15

Treaty of Portsmouth

Back 15

° Concluded the Russo-Japanese War in August 1895

° Mediated by U.S. Pres. Theodore Roosevelt

° Compromise prompted by the erosion of Japanese government finances during war and the political unrest in Russia caused by military defeats

Front 16

Conquest of Asia

Back 16

° 1860's

° Aleksander Gorchakov (Foreign Minister) promoted it as a civilizing mission, promising an end to border raiding and the establishment of sedentary order to the benefit of local "uncivilized nomads"

° Tensions with Great Britain emerge after conquest of Turkmenistan brings Russia to the borders of Afghanistan

° Little economic gain for Russia at the time, with the exception of cotton crops

° Little Russian interference with local traditions and Muslim culture (exemption from army conscription)

Front 17

Kazakhs

Back 17

° Nomadic people in Central Asia, divided into 3 loosely-organized "Hordes"

° Slow incorporation into the Russian Empire: first Hordes were sworn to the Tsar in 1730s (Kazakhs saw it as an alliance); Russian de facto acquisition achieved between 1922-1948

° Serf abolition and Slavic migration: Kazakhs become displace from ancestral land as Slavic settlers are favored by Russian authorities in distributing territory

Front 18

Golden Age of Russian Literature

Back 18

°AKA Age of Pushkin; first half of 19th century

° Works of poetry and prose that compare to Western masterpieces

° Pushkin and Gogol

° Mikhail Lermontov (Hero of Our Time) and Lev Tostoi ("Hadji Murat") on the Caucasus

° Subtle criticism by writers instigated a challenge to the Tsarist order, more so than subversive radicals (ex: Herzen and Bakunin)

° Increase in literacy rates allowed for popularization of these works and ideas; though illiteracy still low and widespread in outside European Russian

Front 19

Nikolai Gogol

Back 19

° Key literary figure in the Golden Age of Russian Literature

° Author of "Revizor" and "Dead Souls"

° Satirist view of Tsarist Russia; the corruption of bureaucratic institutions and the abject contempt of the nobility

° Stirred significant controversy in Russian society with his criticism

Front 20

Aleksander Pushkin

Back 20

° Most respectable figure in Russian literature, producing works in both prose and poetry

° Author of Eugene Onegin

° Novel depicted the idle aristocracy, living off their serfs' labor

° Works promoted a critical look Tsarist Russia and its institutions, though not closely associated with the more subversive intelligentsia

Front 21

Nicholas I

Back 21

° Table of Ranks and the duty of the people of Russia to the Tsar (serving the needs of the military)

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