Administrative-territorial division of the Russian Empire. Russian Empire Borders of the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 19th century

If in the initial period of its development (XVI-XVII centuries) the political elite of the Russian state demonstrated an almost ideal foreign policy course, and in the 18th century made only one serious mistake in Poland (the fruits of which we are reaping today, by the way), then in the 19th century the Russian Empire, Although he continues to basically adhere to the paradigm of justice in his relationships with the outside world, he still commits three completely unjustified actions. These mistakes, unfortunately, still come back to haunt Russians - we can observe them in interethnic conflicts and a high level of distrust of Russia on the part of neighboring peoples “offended” by us.

Russian army crossing the Danube at Zimnitsa

Nikolay Dmitriev-Orenburgsky

The 19th century begins with the Russian sovereign taking upon himself the responsibility to protect the Georgian people from complete extermination: on December 22, 1800, Paul I, fulfilling the request of the Georgian king George XII, signed the Manifesto on the annexation of Georgia (Kartli-Kakheti) to Russia. Further, in the hope of protection, Cuba, Dagestan and other small kingdoms beyond the southern borders of the country voluntarily joined Russia. In 1803, Mingrelia and the Imeretian kingdom joined, and in 1806, the Baku Khanate. In Russia itself, the working methods of British diplomacy were tested with might and main. On March 12, 1801, Emperor Paul was killed as a result of an aristocratic conspiracy. The conspirators associated with the English mission in St. Petersburg were unhappy with Paul's rapprochement with France, which threatened the interests of England. Therefore, the British “ordered” the Russian emperor. And they didn’t deceive - after the murder was completed, they in good faith paid the perpetrators an amount in foreign currency equivalent to 2 million rubles.

1806-1812: third Russian-Turkish war

Russian troops entered the Danube principalities in order to induce Turkey to stop the atrocities of Turkish troops in Serbia. The war was also fought in the Caucasus, where the attack of Turkish troops on long-suffering Georgia was repelled. In 1811, Kutuzov forced the army of Vizier Akhmetbey to retreat. According to the peace concluded in Bucharest in 1812, Russia received Bessarabia, and the Turkish Janissaries stopped systematically destroying the population of Serbia (which, by the way, they have been doing for the last 20 years). The previously planned trip to India as a continuation of the mission was wisely canceled, because it would have been too much.

Liberation from Napoleon

Another European maniac dreaming of taking over the world has appeared in France. He also turned out to be a very good commander and managed to conquer almost all of Europe. Guess who saved the European peoples from a cruel dictator again? After difficult battles on its territory with Napoleon’s army, which was superior in numbers and weapons, which relied on the combined military-industrial complex of almost all European powers, the Russian army went to liberate other peoples of Europe. In January 1813, Russian troops, pursuing Napoleon, crossed the Neman and entered Prussia. The liberation of Germany from the French occupation forces begins. On March 4, Russian troops liberated Berlin, on March 27 they occupied Dresden, and on March 18, with the assistance of Prussian partisans, they liberated Hamburg. On October 16-19, a general battle takes place near Leipzig, called the “Battle of the Nations,” the French troops are defeated by our army (with the participation of the pitiful remnants of the Austrian and Prussian armies). On March 31, 1814, Russian troops enter Paris.

Persia

July 1826 – January 1828: Russian-Persian War. On July 16, the Persian Shah, incited by England, without declaring war, sent troops across the Russian border to Karabakh and the Talysh Khanate. On September 13, near Ganja, Russian troops (8 thousand people) defeated the 35 thousand-strong army of Abbas Mirza and threw its remnants across the Araks River. In May, they launched an offensive in the Yerevan direction, occupied Etchmiadzin, blocked Yerevan, and then captured Nakhichevan and the Abbasabad fortress. Attempts by the Persian troops to push our troops away from Yerevan ended in failure, and on October 1 Yerevan was taken by storm. As a result of the Turkmanchay Peace Treaty, Northern Azerbaijan and Eastern Armenia were annexed to Russia, the population of which, hoping for salvation from complete destruction, actively supported Russian troops during military operations. The treaty, by the way, established for a year the right of free resettlement of Muslims to Persia, and Christians to Russia. For the Armenians, this meant the end of centuries-old religious and national oppression.

Mistake #1 – Circassians

In 1828-1829, during the fourth Russian-Turkish war, Greece was liberated from the Turkish yoke. At the same time, the Russian Empire received only moral satisfaction from the good deed performed and many thanks from the Greeks. However, despite the victorious triumph, the diplomats made a very serious mistake, which will come back to haunt us more than once in the future. When concluding a peace treaty, the Ottoman Empire transferred the lands of the Circassians (Circassia) to Russia, while the parties to this agreement did not take into account the fact that the lands of the Circassians were not owned or under the authority of the Ottoman Empire. Adygs (or Circassians) is the general name of a single people, divided into Kabardians, Circassians, Ubykhs, Adygeis and Shapsugs, who, together with resettled Azerbaijanis, lived on the territory of what is now Dagestan. They refused to submit to secret agreements made without their consent, refused to recognize both the power of the Ottoman Empire and Russia over themselves, put up desperate military resistance to Russian aggression and were subdued by Russian troops only 15 years later. At the end of the Caucasian War, some of the Circassians and Abazas were forcibly resettled from the mountains to the foothill valleys, where they were told that those who wished could remain there only by accepting Russian citizenship. The rest were offered to move to Turkey within two and a half months. However, it was the Adygs, along with the Chechens, Azerbaijanis and other small Islamic peoples of the Caucasus, who caused the most problems for the Russian army, fighting as mercenaries first on the side of the Crimean Khanate and then the Ottoman Empire. In addition, the mountain tribes - Chechens, Lezgins, Azerbaijanis and Adygs - constantly committed attacks and atrocities in Georgia and Armenia protected by the Russian Empire. Therefore, we can say that on a global scale, without taking into account the principles of human rights (and then this was not accepted at all), this foreign policy mistake can not be counted. And the conquest of Derbent (Dagestan) and Baku (Baku Khanate, and later Azerbaijan) was due to the requirements of ensuring the security of Russia itself. But the disproportionate use of military force on the part of Russia, it must be admitted, still took place.

Mistake #2 – Invading Hungary

In 1848, Hungary tried to get rid of Austrian rule. After the Hungarian State Assembly refused to recognize Franz Joseph as the King of Hungary, the Austrian army invaded the country and quickly captured Bratislava and Buda. In 1849, the famous “spring campaign” of the Hungarian army took place, as a result of which the Austrians were defeated in several battles, and most of the territory of Hungary was liberated. On April 14, the Declaration of Independence of Hungary was adopted, the Habsburgs were deposed, and the Hungarian Lajos Kossuth was elected ruler of the country. But on May 21, the Austrian Empire signed the Warsaw Pact with Russia, and soon the Russian troops of Field Marshal Paskevich invaded Hungary. On August 9, it was defeated by the Russians near Temesvár, and Kossuth resigned. On August 13, the Hungarian troops of General Görgei capitulated. Hungary was occupied, repressions began, on October 6 Lajos Battyany was shot in Pest, 13 generals of the revolutionary army were executed in Arad. The revolution in Hungary was suppressed by Russia, which essentially turned into a mercenary of cruel colonists.

middle Asia

Back in 1717, individual Kazakh leaders, taking into account the real threat from external opponents, turned to Peter I with a request for citizenship. The emperor at that time did not dare to intervene in “Kazakh affairs.” According to Chokan Valikhanov: “... the first decade of the 18th century was a terrible time in the life of the Kazakh people. Dzungars, Volga Kalmyks, Yaik Cossacks and Bashkirs from different sides destroyed their uluses, drove away their cattle and took entire families captive.” From the east, the Dzungar Khanate posed a serious danger. From the south, the Kazakh Khanate was threatened by Khiva and Bukhara. In 1723, the Dzungar tribes once again attacked the weakened and scattered Kazakh zhuzes. This year went down in the history of the Kazakhs as a “great disaster.”

On February 19, 1731, Empress Anna Ioannovna signed a document on the voluntary entry of the Younger Zhuz into the Russian Empire. On October 10, 1731, Abulkhair and the majority of the elders of the Junior Zhuz entered into an agreement and took an oath about the inviolability of the agreement. In 1740, the Middle Zhuz came under Russian protection (protectorate). In 1741-1742, Dzungar troops again invaded the Middle and Junior Zhuzes, but the intervention of Russian border authorities forced them to retreat. Khan Ablai himself was captured by the Dzungars, but a year later he was released through the mediation of the Orenburg governor Neplyuev. In 1787, in order to save the population of the Younger Zhuz, who were being pressed by the Khivans, they were allowed to cross the Urals and roam to the Volga region. This decision was officially consolidated by Emperor Paul I in 1801, when the vassal Bukey (Internal) Horde, led by Sultan Bukey, was formed from 7,500 Kazakh families.

In 1818, the elders of the Senior Zhuz announced their entry under the protection of Russia. In 1839, in connection with the constant attacks of the Kokand people on the Kazakhs, Russian subjects, Russian military operations began in Central Asia. In 1850, an expedition was undertaken across the Ili River with the aim of destroying the Toychubek fortification, which served as a stronghold for the Kokand Khan, but it was captured only in 1851, and in 1854, the Vernoye fortification was built on the Almaty River (today Almatinka) and the entire Trans-Ili region entered into Russia. Let us note that Dzungaria was then a colony of China, forcibly annexed in the 18th century. But China itself, during the period of Russian expansion into the region, was weakened by the Opium War with Great Britain, France and the United States, as a result of which almost the entire population of the Middle Kingdom was subjected to forced drug addiction and ruin, and the government, in order to prevent total genocide, then urgently needed support from Russia. Therefore, the Qing rulers made small territorial concessions in Central Asia. In 1851, Russia concluded the Kulja Treaty with China, which established equal trade relations between the countries. Under the terms of the agreement, duty-free barter trade was opened in Gulja and Chuguchak, unhindered passage of Russian merchants to the Chinese side was ensured, and trading posts for Russian merchants were created.

On May 8, 1866, near Irjar, the first major clash between Russians and Bukharans took place, called the Battle of Irjar. This battle was won by Russian troops. Cut off from Bukhara, Khudoyar Khan accepted in 1868 a trade agreement proposed to him by Adjutant General von Kaufmann, according to which the Khivans pledged to stop raids and robberies of Russian villages, as well as to release captured Russian subjects. Also, under this agreement, Russians in the Kokand Khanate and Kokand residents in Russian possessions acquired the right to free stay and travel, establish caravanserais, and maintain trading agencies (caravan bashi). The terms of this agreement impressed me to the core - no seizure of resources, only the establishment of justice.

Finally, on January 25, 1884, a deputation of Mervians arrived in Askhabad and presented Governor-General Komarov with a petition addressed to the emperor to accept Merv as Russian citizenship and took the oath. The Turkestan campaigns completed the great mission of Rus', which first stopped the expansion of nomads into Europe, and with the completion of colonization, finally pacified the eastern lands. The arrival of Russian troops signaled the arrival of a better life. Russian general and topographer Ivan Blaramberg wrote: “The Kirghiz of Kuan Darya thanked me for liberating them from their enemies and destroying the robber nests.” Military historian Dmitry Fedorov put it more clearly: “Russian rule acquired enormous charm in Central Asia because it marked itself humane, peaceful attitude towards the natives and, having aroused the sympathy of the masses, was a desirable dominion for them.”

1853-1856: First Eastern War (or Crimean Campaign)

Here you can simply observe the quintessence of the cruelty and hypocrisy of our so-called “European partners.” Not only that, again we are seeing the painfully familiar to us from the history of the country friendly unification of almost all European countries in the hope of destroying more Russians and plundering Russian lands. We are already accustomed to this. But this time everything was done so openly, without even hiding behind false political reasons, that you are amazed. Russia had to wage the war against Turkey, England, France, Sardinia and Austria (which took a position of hostile neutrality). The Western powers, pursuing their economic and political interests in the Caucasus and the Balkans, persuaded Turkey to exterminate the southern peoples of Russia, assuring that, “if anything happens,” they will help. That “if anything” happened very quickly.

After the Turkish army invaded Russian Crimea and “slaughtered” 24 thousand innocent people, including more than 2 thousand small children (by the way, the children’s severed heads were then kindly given to their parents), the Russian army simply destroyed the Turkish , and the fleet was burned. In the Black Sea, near Sinop, Vice Admiral Nakhimov on December 18, 1853 destroyed the Turkish squadron of Osman Pasha. Following this, the united Anglo-French-Turkish squadron entered the Black Sea. In the Caucasus, the Russian army defeated the Turkish at Bayazet (July 17, 1854) and Kuryuk-Dar (July 24). In November 1855, Russian troops liberated Kars, inhabited by Armenians and Georgians (which we saved poor Armenians and Georgians over and over again at the cost of thousands of lives of our soldiers). On April 8, 1854, the allied Anglo-French fleet bombed the Odessa fortifications. On September 1, 1854, British, French and Turkish troops landed in Crimea. After a heroic 11-month defense, the Russians were forced to leave Sevastopol in August 1855. At the congress in Paris on March 18, 1856, peace was concluded. The conditions of this world are surprising in their idiocy: Russia lost the right to protect Christians in the Turkish Empire (let them slaughter, rape and dismember!) and pledged not to have either fortresses or a navy on the Black Sea. It doesn’t matter that the Turks massacred not only Russian Christians, but also French, English (for example, in Central Asia and the Middle East) and even German. The main thing is to weaken and kill the Russians.

1877-1878: another Russian-Turkish war (also known as the second Eastern War)

The Turks' oppression of Christian Slavs in Bosnia and Herzegovina sparked an uprising there in 1875. In 1876, the uprising in Bulgaria was pacified by the Turks with extreme cruelty, massacres of civilians were committed, and tens of thousands of Bulgarians were slaughtered. The Russian public was outraged by the massacre. On April 12, 1877, Russia declared war on Turkey. As a result, Sofia was liberated on December 23, and Adrianople was occupied on January 8. The path to Constantinople was open. However, in January, the English squadron entered the Dardanelles, threatening Russian troops, and in England a general mobilization was scheduled for the invasion of Russia. In Moscow, in order not to expose its soldiers and population to obvious masochism in a useless confrontation against almost the whole of Europe, they decided not to continue the offensive. But she still achieved protection for the innocent. On February 19, a peace treaty was signed in San Stefano, according to which Serbia, Montenegro and Romania were recognized as independent; Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina received autonomy. Russia received Ardahan, Lars, Batum (regions inhabited by Georgians and Armenians who had long been asking for Russian citizenship). The conditions of the Peace of San Stefano caused a protest from England and Austria-Hungary (an empire that we had recently saved from collapse at the cost of the lives of our soldiers), who began preparations for war against Russia. Through the mediation of Emperor Wilhelm, a congress was convened in Berlin to revise the San Stefano Peace Treaty, which reduced Russia's successes to a minimum. It was decided to divide Bulgaria into two parts: a vassal principality and the Turkish province of Eastern Rumelia. Bosnia and Herzegovina was given over to Austria-Hungary.

Far Eastern expansion and mistake No. 3

In 1849, Grigory Nevelskoy began to explore the mouth of the Amur. Later, he establishes a winter quarters on the shores of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk to trade with the local population. In 1855, the period of economic development of the uninhabited region began. In 1858, the Treaty of Aigun was concluded between the Russian Empire and Qing China, and in 1860, the Treaty of Beijing, which recognized Russian power over the Ussuri region, and in return the Russian government provided military assistance to China in the fight against Western invaders - diplomatic support and supplies weapons. If China at that time had not been so greatly weakened by the Opium War with the West, it would, of course, have competed with St. Petersburg and would not have allowed border territories to be developed so easily. But the foreign policy situation favored the peaceful and bloodless expansion of the Russian Empire in an eastern direction.

The rivalry between the Qing Empire and Japan for control of Korea in the 19th century came at great cost to the entire Korean people. But the saddest episode occurred in 1794-1795, when Japan invaded Korea and began real atrocities in order to intimidate the population and elite of the country and force them to accept Japanese citizenship. The Chinese army stood up to defend its colony and a bloody meat grinder began, in which, in addition to 70 thousand military personnel on both sides, a huge number of Korean civilians died. As a result, Japan won, transferred hostilities to Chinese territory, reached Beijing and forced the Qing rulers to sign the humiliating Treaty of Shimonoseki, according to which the Qing Empire ceded Taiwan, Korea and the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan, and also established trade preferences for Japanese merchants.

On April 23, 1895, Russia, Germany and France simultaneously appealed to the Japanese government demanding a refusal to annex the Liaodong Peninsula, which could lead to the establishment of Japanese control over Port Arthur and further aggressive expansion of the Japanese colonialists deeper into the continent. Japan was forced to agree. On May 5, 1895, Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi announced the withdrawal of Japanese troops from the Liaodong Peninsula. The last Japanese soldiers left for their homeland in December. Here Russia showed nobility - it forced the brutal aggressor to leave the occupied territory and helped prevent the spread of mass violence to new territories. A few months later, in 1896, Russia concluded an alliance treaty with China, according to which it received the right to build a railway through the territory of Manchuria; the treaty also established Russia’s protection of the Chinese population from possible Japanese aggression in the future. However, under the influence of the trade lobby, the government could not resist the temptation to exploit the weakness of its neighbor, exhausted by an unequal war, and “profit from it.”

In November 1897, German troops occupied Chinese Qingdao, and Germany forced China to give this region a long-term (99 years) lease. Opinions in the Russian government about the reaction to the capture of Qingdao were divided: Foreign Minister Muravyov and War Minister Vannovsky advocated taking advantage of the favorable moment to occupy the Chinese ports on the Yellow Sea of ​​Port Arthur or Dalian Van. He argued this by the desirability for Russia of obtaining an ice-free port in the Pacific Ocean in the Far East. Finance Minister Witte spoke out against this, pointing out that “... from this fact (Germany’s seizure of Qingdao) ... in no way can one draw the conclusion that we must do exactly the same as Germany and also make a seizure from China. Moreover, such a conclusion cannot be drawn because China is not in an alliance with Germany, but we are in an alliance with China; we promised to defend China, and suddenly, instead of defending, we ourselves begin to seize its territory.”

Nicholas II supported Muravyov’s proposal, and on December 3 (15), 1897, Russian military ships stood in the Port Arthur roadstead. On March 15 (27), 1898, Russia and China signed the Russian-Chinese Convention in Beijing, according to which Russia was given the ports of Port Arthur (Luishun) and Dalniy (Dalian) with adjacent territories and water space for lease use for 25 years and the construction of to these ports by railway (South Manchurian Railway) from one of the points of the Chinese Eastern Railway.

Yes, our country did not undertake any violence to solve its economic and geopolitical problems. But this episode of Russian foreign policy was unfair to China, an ally whom we actually betrayed and, with our behavior, became like Western colonial elites who would stop at nothing to make money. In addition, by these actions the tsarist government created an evil and vengeful enemy for its country. After all, the realization that Russia had actually taken the Liaodong Peninsula from Japan, captured during the war, led to a new wave of militarization of Japan, this time directed against Russia, under the slogan “Gashin-shotan” (Japanese: “sleeping on a board with nails”), calling on the nation to endure tax increases for the sake of military revenge in the future. As we remember, this revenge would be undertaken by Japan quite soon - in 1904.

Conclusion

Continuing its global mission to protect oppressed small peoples from enslavement and destruction, as well as defending its own sovereignty, in the 19th century Russia nevertheless made gross foreign policy mistakes, which will certainly affect the image of its perception among a number of neighboring ethnic groups for many years. The savage and completely inexplicable invasion of Hungary in 1849 would in the future become the cause of distrust and hostile wariness of that nation towards Russian identity. As a result, it became the second European nation “offended” by the Russian Empire (after Poland). And the brutal conquest of the Circassians in the 20-40s, despite the fact that it was provoked, is also difficult to justify. Largely thanks to this, the North Caucasus today is the largest and most complex region in the federal structure of interethnic relations. Although bloodless, but still an unpleasant fact of history, it was the hypocritical and treacherous behavior of the St. Petersburg imperial court towards allied China during the Second Opium War. At that time, the Qing Empire was fighting against an entire Western civilization that had actually turned into a huge drug cartel. It is also worth noting that the Russian establishment, naturally “attracted” to enlightened Europe, in the 19th century continues to try to integrate the country into the halo of influence of Western civilization, strives to become “one of its own” for it, but receives even more cruel lessons of European hypocrisy than before.

In the 19th century, Russia was one of the strongest world powers, but as before, it lagged significantly behind advanced Western countries in development. This, among other things, served as a source of multiple internal Russian contradictions caused by the successes of France under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte, as well as the expansion of the ideas of the great French revolution.

The most important event of the 19th century in Russia, without a doubt, is considered one of the most difficult wars - the war with Napoleonic France as part of the anti-Napoleonic coalition, as a result of which the French army, at the cost of burning Moscow after the Battle of Borodino, was turned back by Russian troops. Also, during the reign of Alexander I, in addition to the war with France, the Russian Empire also fought successful battles with Turkey and Sweden.

One of the largest events of the century is the Decembrist Uprising, which occurred in December 1825. The uprising was indirectly related to the public abdication of the direct heir to the throne of Alexander I, Constantine, in favor of his brother, Nicholas. Over the course of two days - December 13 and 14, on the square near the Senate building, a group of conspirators (northern, southern society) gathered several thousand soldiers. The conspirators were going to read out the revolutionary “Manifesto to the Russian People,” which, in their plans, personified the destruction of absolutist political institutions in Russia, the proclamation of civil democratic freedoms, and the transfer of power to a provisional government.

However, the leaders of the uprising did not have the fortitude to begin military operations against the imperial army, and the leader of the uprising, Prince Trubetskoy, did not appear on the square at all, so the revolutionary forces were soon dispersed, and Nicholas took the imperial title.

The next ruler, after Alexander, is Nicholas I. Russia at this moment is in a difficult economic and social situation, so the emperor is forced to wage numerous wars of conquest - this leads to a number of serious conflicts with world powers, especially with Turkey, which ultimately culminates in the Crimean War of 1853, as a result of which Russia was defeated by a coalition of the Ottoman, British and French empires.

In 1855, Alexander II came to power. He reduces the length of military service from 20 years to 6, reforms the judicial and zemstvo systems, and also abolishes serfdom, thanks to which he is popularly called the “tsar liberator.”
After the murder of Alexander 2 as a result of another assassination attempt, his heir, Alexander III, sits on the throne. He decides that the murder of his father occurred due to dissatisfaction with his reform activities, so he relies on reducing the number of reforms being carried out, as well as military conflicts (during the 13 years of his reign, Russia did not participate in a single military conflict, for which Alexander III was nicknamed the peacemaker). Alexander III reduces taxes and tries to develop industry in the country as much as possible. Also, this ruler

signs a peace treaty with France and includes the territories of Central Asia into the empire.
Alexander 3 appoints Sergei Witte to the post of Minister of Finance, as a result of which the previously implemented policy of exporting bread as the basis for boosting the economy was canceled. The national currency was backed by gold, which increased the volume of foreign investment in the country and became the key to a sharp rise in the economy and the gradual industrialization of the country.
During the period of economic growth, Emperor Nicholas II came to power, remembered in history as the “rag tsar”, who made a number of failed decisions, including the notorious Russo-Japanese War, the defeat of which indirectly led to the emergence of the seeds of revolution in the country.

Along with the collapse of the Russian Empire, the majority of the population chose to create independent national states. Many of them were never destined to remain sovereign, and they became part of the USSR. Others were incorporated into the Soviet state later. What was the Russian Empire like at the beginning? XXcenturies?

By the end of the 19th century, the territory of the Russian Empire was 22.4 million km 2. According to the 1897 census, the population was 128.2 million people, including the population of European Russia - 93.4 million people; Kingdom of Poland - 9.5 million, - 2.6 million, Caucasus Territory - 9.3 million, Siberia - 5.8 million, Central Asia - 7.7 million people. Over 100 peoples lived; 57% of the population were non-Russian peoples. The territory of the Russian Empire in 1914 was divided into 81 provinces and 20 regions; there were 931 cities. Some provinces and regions were united into governorates-general (Warsaw, Irkutsk, Kiev, Moscow, Amur, Stepnoe, Turkestan and Finland).

By 1914, the length of the territory of the Russian Empire was 4383.2 versts (4675.9 km) from north to south and 10,060 versts (10,732.3 km) from east to west. The total length of the land and sea borders is 64,909.5 versts (69,245 km), of which the land borders accounted for 18,639.5 versts (19,941.5 km), and the sea borders accounted for about 46,270 versts (49,360 .4 km).

The entire population was considered subjects of the Russian Empire, the male population (from 20 years old) swore allegiance to the emperor. The subjects of the Russian Empire were divided into four estates (“states”): nobility, clergy, urban and rural inhabitants. The local population of Kazakhstan, Siberia and a number of other regions were distinguished into an independent “state” (foreigners). The coat of arms of the Russian Empire was a double-headed eagle with royal regalia; the state flag is a cloth with white, blue and red horizontal stripes; The national anthem is “God Save the Tsar.” National language - Russian.

Administratively, the Russian Empire by 1914 was divided into 78 provinces, 21 regions and 2 independent districts. The provinces and regions were divided into 777 counties and districts and in Finland - into 51 parishes. Counties, districts and parishes, in turn, were divided into camps, departments and sections (2523 in total), as well as 274 landmanships in Finland.

Territories that were important in military-political terms (metropolitan and border) were united into viceroyalties and general governorships. Some cities were allocated into special administrative units - city governments.

Even before the transformation of the Grand Duchy of Moscow into the Russian Kingdom in 1547, at the beginning of the 16th century, Russian expansion began to expand beyond its ethnic territory and began to absorb the following territories (the table does not include lands lost before the beginning of the 19th century):

To the question: Please tell me which territories were annexed to the Russian Empire in the 19th century. given by the author Evgenia Semchina the best answer is At the beginning of the 19th century. The territory of Russia was 16 million km2.
During the first half of the 19th century. were included in Russia
Finland (1809),
Kingdom of Poland (1815),
Bessarabia (1812),
almost all of Transcaucasia (1801-1829),
Black Sea coast of the Caucasus (from the mouth of the Kuban River to Poti - 1829).
In the 60s The Ussuri region (Primorye) was assigned to Russia, and the process of incorporating most of the Kazakh lands into Russia, which began back 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 Russia's rights to the island of Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands were transferred to Japan.
In 1878, small lands in Transcaucasia were annexed to Russia.
Russia's only territorial loss was the sale to the United States in 1867 of Alaska along with the Aleutian Islands (1.5 million km2), as a result of which it “left” the American continent.
In the 19th century The process of forming the territory of the Russian Empire was completed and the geopolitical balance of its borders was achieved.
By the end of the 19th century. its territory was 22.4 million km2

Answer from sleepy[guru]
Finland, Transcaucasia, Central Asia, Bessarabia.

Answer from Throw[newbie]
yeah

Answer from Lobster[guru]
Please tell me which territories were annexed to the Russian Empire in the 19th century.
answer:
THEY WERE CONQUERED

Answer from European[active]
CONQUEST and ACCESSION are not always the same thing. So, for example, following the results of the Spanish-American War of 1898, the territories conquered (conquered) by the United States from Spain were arranged as follows:
1. Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines - ANNEXED to the US as colonies/possessions.
2. Cuba - came under the temporary CONTROL of the USA, since 1902 - transformed into a formally “sovereign” state.
3. Caroline and Northern Mariana Islands - sold to Germany.
Louisiana, Alaska, etc. - annexed to the USA, but not CONQUERED, but PURCHASED.
Hawaiian Islands - annexed to the USA, but not CONQUERED, but ANNEXED. There was no war AT ALL.
Egypt was conquered and occupied by Britain in 1882-1953, but did not join the British Empire, remaining formally independent. Only in 1914-22 Egypt was given the status of a temporary protectorate of Great Britain.
As for the Russian Empire, there are also a couple of examples:
1. Manchuria and Outer Mongolia were CONQUERED by Russia, but not annexed, formally remaining part of China.
2. The Kwantung Peninsula (with Port Arthur) was annexed to Russia as a POSSESSION, but not conquered, but PURCHASED (rented).

Answer from Daniil Zenikov[newbie]
Antony and Octavian divided the empire between themselves: the first took the eastern provinces, married the Egyptian queen Cleopatra and began to live in Alexandria, the second remained in Rome. There was never friendship between them; each of them sought autocracy. Octavian, more prudent, forced the Senate to declare Antony an enemy of the fatherland, defeated Antony's fleet off the coast of Greece and followed him to Egypt. Anthony and Cleopatra committed suicide, and the Ptolemaic kingdom was annexed to the Roman Empire in 30 BC.
Octavian achieved the same goal as Caesar. He seemed less talented, was homely, shy, secretive, he did not have military talent like Caesar. The state of affairs itself helped him a lot.
The long war in all areas around the Mediterranean Sea tired most people: many were looking for peace and crowded around a strong man, hoping for his protection. Thus, the poet Horace, who fought for the last time for the republic under the command of Brutus and Cassius, joined Octavian. In one poem, Horace later recalled that he “threw his shield badly,” that is, he fled from the battlefield; but he warmly advised his friends to leave the war and participation in unrest in order to get away from all dangers. At the same time, most of the people who died in the struggle were independent, proud nobles who did not want to see any master over them. The inhabitants of the provinces were accustomed to submit to Rome; they did not care whether the Roman Senate or the military ruler from Rome sent them a commander. The population of Rome itself put up with the ruler who was ready to give him the most.
But Octavian also achieved power through his patience and skill. He did not accept the title of dictator, which recalled the triumph of Sulla and Caesar; he did not want anything in the title or in the setting that would resemble a king, so as not to irritate the old habits and concepts of the Romans. By the way, he accepted the title of tribune. At the same time, Octavian constantly repeated that his main concern was to restore the ancient order in Rome. He tried to surround himself with the remnants of ancient aristocratic families. In his palace, the historian Titus Livia was well received, who in his huge work exalted the republic, depicting its fate from ancient times in a sublime oratorical style.
Octavian called himself princeps, that is, the first person in the state. This meant that he was, as it were, considered authorized to exercise his power by the people. He decided not to frighten the population of Italy with military forces: the soldiers were taken away and placed along the borders. Finally, Octavian shared with the old gentlemen, the nobles. On important occasions, the princeps consulted with the senate, as consuls had previously done.
It was decided that, as before, the Senate would dispose of the ancient provinces: the Senate would send there governors from its midst. The newly annexed border regions remained with Octavian: Gaul, the former possession of Caesar, and rich Egypt, which Octavian himself captured. In these areas the entire Roman army, about 250,000, was stationed to keep the recently conquered inhabitants in line and to guard the border. The troops were subordinate to Octavian, the soldiers swore an oath only to him. He appropriated the old title of military emperor to himself alone; it now meant the power of the supreme commander-in-chief. They called him Emperor in the provinces. Octavian sent his officers and clerks to his regions to govern.
Princeps and people
They stopped calling people to meetings. However, the new ruler also had to please the capital's population, as the popular leaders or the Senate had previously done. He only took into his own account all the expenses, as had previously been done for the benefit of the people by various individuals. The princeps took upon himself the feeding of the capital's proletarians with bread: his officials prepared, brought by sea the required amount of grain, stored it in huge stores that occupied an entire city.

Answer from Mikhail Basmanov[expert]
In 1867, according to documents, under Tsar Alexander 2, Russia sold Alaska to the United States. In fact, documents on the sale of Alaska covered payment for the services of Russian military sailors (military assistance) to the US government. Russia sold Alaska in 1867 because it was territory captured by Russia from Great Tartary. Great Tartaria previously occupied, on the Eurasian continent, a territory larger than the territory of the USSR. It was difficult for Russia to control such remote territories and Tartaria could return them back. After all, Tartary existed, according to maps, in 1867, but already as the remnants of Great Tartary in Central Asia. And with the help of the United States, there was no need to worry about Russian America. And it was then that the Russian government was more important than the people and natural resources of Alaska.

Answer from DimaMister13[expert]
Territories of Georgia, Abkhazia, Armenia, Moldova.

Russian Empire on Wikipedia
Russian empire

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Look at the Wikipedia article about Rowan roundifolia

Formation of the territory of the Russian Empire on Wikipedia
Look at the Wikipedia article about Formation of the territory of the Russian Empire

Class system. During the reign of Alexander I, the nobles had rights and privileges that were legally established under Catherine II in the “Charter of Grant to the Nobility” of 1785. (Its full title is “Certificate of the rights, liberties and advantages of the noble Russian nobility.”)

The noble class was free from military service and from state taxes. Nobles could not be subjected to corporal punishment. Only a noble court could judge them. The nobles received the preferential right to own land and serfs. They owned the mineral wealth on their estates. They had the right to engage in trade, open factories and factories. Their estates were not subject to confiscation.

The nobility united into societies, the affairs of which were in charge of the noble assembly, which elected district and provincial leaders of the nobility.

All other classes did not have such rights.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the population of the empire reached almost 44 million people. The peasantry made up more than 80% of the total population, 15 million peasants were serfs.

Serfdom remained unchanged. According to the decree on free cultivators (1803), only about 0.5% of the peasantry was freed from serfdom.

The rest of the peasants were considered state peasants, that is, they belonged to the state. In northern Russia and Siberia they made up the bulk of the population. A type of peasantry was the Cossacks, settled mainly in the Don, Kuban, lower Volga, the Urals, Siberia and the Far East.

Alexander I abandoned the practice widespread under his father and grandmother. He stopped distributing state peasants as a reward or gift to his entourage.

At the beginning of the 19th century, less than 7% of the population of the Russian Empire lived in cities. The largest of them was St. Petersburg, whose population in 1811 was 335 thousand people. The population of Moscow was 270 thousand people.

Cities remained the main points of trade and industry. Trade was concentrated in the hands of the merchants, divided into three guilds. The most significant business was conducted by the merchants of the first guild. They were both subjects of the Russian Empire and foreigners.

Economic development. Large centers of trade operations were fairs, the most important of which, Makaryevskaya, was located near the Makaryev Monastery near Nizhny Novgorod.

The favorable geographical location and convenient routes of communication attracted a large number of traders here every year from all parts of Russia and from abroad. At the beginning of the 19th century, there were more than three thousand public and private shops and warehouses at the Makaryevskaya Fair.

In 1816, the trade was moved to Nizhny Novgorod. Until 1917, the Nizhny Novgorod Fair remained the largest in Russia. It determined trading prices for the whole year in advance.

At the beginning of the 19th century, more than 60% of serfs paid rent to their master in money. The quitrent system contributed to the spread of crafts. After finishing agricultural work, peasants either went to work in the cities or worked at home.

Gradually, territorial specialization in the production of industrial goods took shape. In one place yarn was produced, in another - wooden or earthenware, in a third - fur products, in a fourth - wheels. Those who were especially enterprising and capable were able to pay off the master, get out of serfdom, and get their freedom. Families of handicraftsmen and artisans have produced many large entrepreneurs - founders and owners of well-known Russian factories and factories.

The needs of economic development led to the expansion of the industrial sector of the economy. Although the preservation of serfdom and strict administrative control over public activities restrained private initiative, the number of manufactories, factories and factories multiplied. Large landowners created workshops and enterprises on their estates for processing agricultural products and extracting minerals. For the most part, these were small establishments where serfs worked.

Sculpture "Waterbearer"

The largest industrial enterprises belonged to the state (treasury). Either state peasants (assigned) or civilian workers worked for them.

The textile industry developed most intensively at the beginning of the 19th century, primarily cotton production, which produced inexpensive products designed for wide demand. Various mechanisms were widely used in this industry.

Thus, in the state-owned Alexander Manufactory located near St. Petersburg, three steam engines operated. Product production increased annually by 10-15%. In the 1810s, the manufactory produced more than half of all yarn in Russia. Civilian workers worked there.

In 1801, a foundry and a mechanical plant were established in St. Petersburg. It was the largest engineering production in Russia before the 1917 revolution, producing steam boilers and equipment for domestic factories and factories.

Provisions have appeared in Russian legislation that regulate new forms of entrepreneurial activity. On January 1, 1807, the royal manifesto “On the new benefits, differences, advantages and new ways to spread and strengthen trade enterprises granted to the merchants” was published.

It made it possible to establish companies and firms based on the merger of capital of individuals. These companies could arise only with the permission of the supreme power (all charters of joint-stock companies were necessarily approved by the tsar). Their participants now had to avoid acquiring merchant certificates and not being “assigned to the guild.”

In 1807, there were 5 joint-stock companies operating in Russia. The first, Diving Company, specialized in transporting passengers and cargo across the Gulf of Finland.

In the first quarter of the 19th century, 17 more companies engaged in trade, insurance, and transportation began operating. The joint stock form of organizing capital and entrepreneurial activity was very promising, allowing one to collect significant total capital. Subsequently, with the development of industry and trade, the joint-stock company became the most important element of the Russian economy. After a few decades, the number of operating companies was already measured in the hundreds.

Questions and tasks

1. The nobility was called the noble class. Explain why. By whom and when were the class rights and privileges of the nobles confirmed? What were they?
2. What new did the decree on free cultivators introduce into the life of Russia?
3. Analyze the following facts:
   • in the southern steppes and in the Volga region, areas for the production of marketable bread were formed;
   • the use of machines on landowner farms began;
   • in 1818, Alexander I adopted a decree allowing all peasants, including serfs, to establish factories and factories;
   • in 1815 steamships appeared in Russia.

   Draw all possible conclusions.

4. What new forms of entrepreneurship appeared in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century?
5. What is territorial specialization? How did its appearance indicate the development of the economy?