Expansion of Russia (1500–1800)
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The steppe and forest-steppe of Ukraine and southern Russia is good agricultural land, but it was traditionally held by
"The history of Russia is the history of a country being colonized....migration and colonization of the country have been fundamental facts of our history.." Vasily Klyuchevsky, Kurs Russkoy Istorii, I, 20–21.
In this article, locations will be given as approximately so many kilometers directly south of
Pre-history
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The pre-history of Eurasia is characterized by a pattern of migration, invasion, melding of population and displacement and this is attributed to its location.[1] Its plains, which are nestled between the Baltic and Black seas, offer a wealth of natural resources and room for expansion, especially with easy access to river routes. This explains the consistent settlement of this region. On the other hand, the location did not offer natural barriers, making the settlements easy prey for invaders.
The
There are historical accounts that show how the
Around 1240 the whole area was
Through alliances and conquest, in competition with the
Peoples involved
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The steppe nomads lived on the steppe north of the Black and Caspian Seas and raided north into the forest-steppe. It was their constant raiding that kept the southern lands free of peasants. With the end of the Great Horde in 1502, they were organized as the independent Nogais north of the Caspian and those north of the Black Sea who were more or less subjects of the Crimean Khan.
The Cossacks: Cossacks were the name given to the Slavs who lived on the frontier. They had formed two military polities by around 1500: the Ukrainian Zaparozhian Sich on the Dnieper bend and the Russian Don Cossacks on the Don River bend. There was a reason why these two communities were so remote from the settled lands. Many of the Cossacks on the upper Don had recently fled settled lands and were still within the Russian government's reach. The majority of those on the lower Don had been on the steppe for generations, knew no other way of life, and were out of government reach. The same holds true for the Zaporozhians in Poland.
The
The Turks: This was a peripheral area for the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans had some control over Moldavia and Crimea, held a southern strip of the Crimean peninsula including the great slave port of Kaffa, and held a fort at Azov. Turkish armies entered the steppe only twice during our period, although janissaries would sometimes accompany the Crimean Khan. The Turks were important because of their partial control of Crimea, their wars with Poland in the west, their implied threat to Russia if it moved too far south, and because they were the ultimate destination of slaves captured in Russia and Poland.
The Poles: The Poles, who expanded from the west, had a number of disadvantages. The core of the Polish state was in the west and Poland was often distracted by wars with western powers, especially Sweden. Poland was almost an aristocratic republic. Its nobles sought to protect their liberty by weakening the king, which also weakened the Polish army and made a consistent frontier policy difficult. Their main problem was the alienation of the eastern population. The core of Poland was Catholic, but the eastern lands were mostly Orthodox. Society in the Polish core was based on serfdom, but there was greater freedom in the east. Lords with land grants in the east would offer easy terms to attract peasants. Many people in the Polish east were runaway serfs or adventurers who had reason to distrust a strong state. By the 16th century, Polish claims extended east of the Dnieper to a point south of Moscow, although the area was thinly settled and barely administered.
The Russians: In the early 15th century Tsardom of Russia gradually expanded, defeating various khanates in the process. Its autocracy gave it a fairly effective army. Russia also had a conflict between serfdom and frontier liberty, but its political consequences turned out to be less important. Also like Poland, Russia was frequently distracted by unprofitable wars in the west. Brian L. Davis [5] suggests that Moscow's ultimate advantage was the comparative absence of restraints on its ability to command resources for war.
A Raiding Economy: In addition, the wars recorded in history books, there was a massive amount of petty raiding which kept much of the area depopulated. Raiding and tribute were a major source of goods that could not be produced on the steppe. Crimeans and Nogais raided Russia and Poland. Crimean nobles launched private raids without regard to the Khan. Nogai and Kalmuck clans raided each other. Cossacks raided Crimeans and Nogais, rebelled against Poland and Russia, and hired out for various private and public wars. The Bashkirs were also involved. Capture by Tatar raiders was a constant threat. The market at Kaffa, with its cheap water transport to areas of demand, increased the value of captives. Some were ransomed back to Russia and some were sold east as far as Bukhara. By one estimate [6] some 150,000 to 200,000 captives were taken from Russia in 1600–1650, but of course there are no exact figures. The numbers for Poland would be comparable.
Forest and steppe conditions
There was no clear line between steppe and forest, but rather a broad transition zone of forest-steppe. Zones ran from southwest to northeast. The steppe proper began as a narrow band near the Danube. In the east, there were patches of grassland almost as far north as Kazan. Fingers of forest extended south down the river valleys. Slavic settlers preferred the river valleys because of better protection, transportation, firewood, game, and soil (steppe grass can be quite difficult to plow).
1450–1550
The Breakup of the Golden Horde: As the
Consolidation North of the Oka By 1450 the
The Bank or Oka Line: The main line of Muscovite defense had always been the crossings of the
The Abatis Line or (1552,200s,250e). The Abatis Line underwent a major reconstruction in 1638 and again in 1659–60. (Note that this account of the course of the Line may not be exact since Davies (see references), who seems to be the only good source, appears to contradict himself in a few places).
From the 1550s there was a line of sorts from Shatsk to
1550–1618: Down the Volga
Down the Volga: There were numerous
The Nogai Horde: The independent Nogais on the lower Volga were happy to support whatever regional power suited their immediate interests. Moscow managed them with a mixture of bribes and threats. From the 1530s, some Nogais would ally with Russia, apparently finding more profit in trading than raiding (In 1555 Ismail sent 20,000 horses to Moscow.). Nogai help or indifference was an important factor in the conquest of Kazan. Ismail assisted Russia in the first Astrakhan campaign. This provoked the hostility of Yosuf on the Yaik. Friends of Ismael murdered Yosuf in 1555 and Ismail declared himself Beg of all the Nogais. Yosuf's sons went after him and reduced him to near poverty. This mutual raiding was made worse by a famine. In 1557 Kazy Mirza broke off and established the Lesser Nogai Horde on the Kuban as a Crimean vassal. In 1600 Russia 'appointed' a Nogai Beg for the first time. The Begship disappears from the English sources in 1618. Around 1630 the Kalmyks migrated from Dzungaria and took over most of the Nogai lands on the lower Volga. The remaining Nogais were then nominally Crimean vassals, either north of the Black Sea, or in the Small Nogai Horde on the Kuban.
To Siberia: There was a slow and steady expansion east and north from Kazan into the Kama River lands toward the Urals. In 1582 the Urals were crossed and the conquest of Siberia began. See Siberian River Routes, History of Siberia.
1550–1618: Center
The Livonian War and Time of Troubles: Instead of consolidating his gains in the southeast, Ivan the Terrible turned west (Livonian War 1558–1583). After some initial successes, the war degenerated into a free-for-all among all the Baltic powers. At war's end, Russia returned, exhausted, to its original frontiers. The strain of this war, Ivan's erratic behavior, and other factors led to the Time of Troubles (1598–1613). This confusion led to a fair number of people to flee south of the Oka, but, as usual, we have no numbers.
Crimea: In 1556 Moscow, in alliance with
South of the Abatis Line:With the end of the Livonian War in 1583 attention could be turned to the east and south. New forts were built along and east of Volga (Samara, Saratov, and Tsaritsyn and Ufa). The conquest of Siberia began in 1582. To the south, forts were built along the main Tatar raiding trail at
(1593:490s). These were used as refuges for peasants and livestock during Tatar raids. Sorties from these forts could sometimes deal with smaller war parties and rescue captives. In the far south, Tsarev Borisov(750s) was founded in 1599 and abandoned after 1618.Rangers: The practice of sending out long-range patrols appears to have started in the early 16th century at
Colonization: Peasants in the settled lands were generally serfs who could not legally leave their lords, but, given the weakness of police and record-keeping at this time, once a peasant ran away, it was quite difficult to find him and bring him back. Frontier landowners and garrison commanders who needed peasants would often protect any runaways that showed up. Runaways blended into the general class of adventurers, drifters, discharged soldiers, and other unclassifiable who lived along the frontier. Many peasants went only a short way south and remained connected to the economic and political system of the settled lands, while a few went further south into the truly wild lands and became full Cossacks. Moscow vacillated between protecting the interests of its landowners and encouraging frontier settlement. Growing military presence in the south reduced the Tatar threat and increased the number of peasants who were willing to try their luck on the frontier. A proper history of Russia's southward expansion would need a table showing population by region and decade, but such numbers do not seem to be available.
1618–1686: The Belgorod Line
Time of Troubles and Reconstruction: During the Time of Troubles (1598–1613) Moscow lost control of much of the southern area. Various towns were sacked by the Poles, Tatars, and Zaporozhian Cossacks. The
Smolensk War (1632–34): During this war, Russia tried and failed to retake Smolensk. Westward diversion of troops led to two major Crimean raids. The one in 1633 was apparently the last to cross the Oka. The war also saw the first use of foreign- formation troops (European mercenary officers and paid soldiers using Dutch-style drill) that were to be important for the next 75 years. At the start of the war, Russia could field about 100,000 men: 27,000 traditional servicemen, 33,000 musketeers, 4,000 artillerymen, 11,000 Cossacks, and about 20,000 Tatar irregulars (up from 35,000 in 1500).
Belgorod Line: After the Smolensk War ended in 1634 and the Tatar raid in 1633, Moscow turned its attention south. The number of frontier troops was more than tripled, to 17,500. The Abatis Line was extensively rebuilt in 1638. Forts located south of the Abatis Line were linked. In 1635-37, eleven new garrison towns were established. Tatar raids in 1644 revealed that fortification was lacking, and eighteen new forts were established by 1653. Frontier deployment was moved south to the Belgorod line beginning in 1646. From 1650, command was based in Belgorod. To attract settlers, standards were relaxed, and many people were granted lands as 'odnodvortsy' (roughly yeomen).
The completed Belgorod Line was shaped like a reversed 'L'. It ran south down the
The Don and Voronezh Rivers run down the eastern side, the Donets penetrates at Belgorod and, in the west, the Vorskla River flows south from Okhtyrka through Poltava to the Dnieper. The Belgorod Line encloses a rectangle of about 400 by 300 kilometers. This area contains the central part of the
and Polish territory. The population inside the line must have grown, but there seem to be no figures.East of the Belgorod Line: According to the sources, the Belgorod line did not run east-west. Its shape left a 450-kilometer stretch between the Belgorod Line and the Volga forts, and a 600-kilometer stretch from the eastern end of the Abatis Line to the Don Cossacks in the south. This area had a lot of open steppe and roughly corresponded to the 'Nogai Road,' the raiding trail from the lower Volga. Apart from the northern fortifications, there is little information about this area in English secondary sources.
The northern part of this area was fortified at the same time as the Belgorod Line. In 1636 a wall was built east from Kozlov at the north end of the Belgorod Line that effectively blocked the Nogai Road. It was later extended to Tambov (1636:333s,333e). In 1647 work started on a line from Tambov north up the Tsna to Shatsk at the eastern end of the Abatis Line. In 1648–54, the Simbirsk Line was built, which ran from
The Stenka Razin rebellion was mostly confined to the area east of the Belgorod Line and south of Simbirsk.
1648–1709: Ukraine
Polish-Lithuanian Background: By about 1362 (Battle of Blue Waters) most of northwest Ukraine (including Kiev) had fallen to Lithuania. In 1385 (Union of Krewo) the crowns of Poland and Lithuania were joined into the Polish–Lithuanian union and Lithuania became Christian, the last European country to do so. In 1569 (Union of Lublin), during the Livonian War, a closer union was made and most of Ukraine was transferred from Lithuania to Poland. In 1596 (Union of Brest) an attempt was made at church union. The Orthodox would retain their rites and married clergy while accepting the doctrinal supremacy of the Pope. Since some Orthodox rejected this, the effect was to create three churches instead of two. From about 1610 the Orthodox and Zaporozhian Cossacks became more closely allied, thereby increasing the alienation of both from Poland. From about 1637 there were rebellions in the eastern lands which led to a movement of population into Russian territory south of the Belgorod Line (Sloboda Ukraine).
Khmelnytsky: In 1648
The Ruin: After Khmelnytsky's death in 1657, it proved impossible to maintain a Cossack state. The area was effectively divided at the Dnieper from 1660. The partition of Andrusovo was done without Cossack consent. See The Ruin (Ukrainian history). During this period, Doroshenko allied with the Turks, bringing Ottoman armies onto the steppe for the second and last time (Russo-Turkish War (1676–1681)).
Ukraine Partitioned: After 1667 eastern Ukraine was divided into four areas. The Right Bank of the Dnieper gradually returned to Polish control. On the Left Bank was the Cossack Hetmanate under Russian suzerainty. Over the next hundred years, it was slowly converted into a group of normal Russian provinces. To the east of this and south of the Belgorod Line was the Sloboda Ukraine. This area, newly settled by immigrants from further west, retained a Cossack way of life, but Russia never permitted a Cossack political organization. South of the Hetmanate on the Dnieper bend, Zaporizhia was nominally subject to the Hetmanate but was practically self-governing. Over the next century, these areas shared the fate of the Hetmanate.
The Izium Line: From 1680 a triangular area south of the Belgorod Line in the
1686–1783: To the Black Sea
The
The
Crimean campaigns of 1687 and 1689: Two attempts were made to reach Perekop and bottle up the Crimeans inside their peninsula. They failed because of the difficulty of moving large numbers of men and horses across the steppe.
The Lower Dnieper Forts (1695): From 1694 Peter the Great planned two campaigns using river transport. In 1695 the main Dnieper fort at Kazy-Kermen was taken when a Russian mine accidentally set off its powder magazine. The lesser forts quickly surrendered, but Kazy-Kermen was too damaged to hold and the main Russian force withdrew up the Dnieper to protect the Left Bank. By the Treaty of Constantinople (1700) the remaining Russian forces were withdrawn and the area south of Zaporizhia became a demilitarized zone.
The Oleshky Cossacks (1711–1734): Following the battle of Poltava about 20,000 Cossack fled to Ottoman territory and established a Sich at Oleshky across the Dnieper from modern Kherson. Although Turkish subjects, they represented a further southward expansion. By the agreement of Lubni(1744), they returned to Russia and established the New Sich. Oleshky is 100 km north-west of Perekop.
For the push southeast to the area between the Black and Caspian Seas, which began in 1772, see Russian conquest of the Caucasus.
(1778). Crimea was to be independent of the Turks, but in fact, became a Russian vassal.
Crimea Annexed: Russia installed Şahin Giray as Khan. His overly firm rule provoked rebellion and he had to be propped up by Russian troops. Crimea was finally annexed in 1783.
Later: Russian expansion to the area north of the Caucasus is not covered in this article. In 1792 the Russian frontier reached the Dniester (
Comparative history
In 1978
See also
- Foreign policy of the Russian Empire
- List of Russian explorers
- Territorial evolution of Russia
- Russian conquest of Siberia
Footnotes
- ISBN 9780816071128.
- ISBN 9780253350336.
- ISBN 9781504987974.
- ISBN 0-06-097468-0
- ^ Brian L. Davies 'Warfare, State and Society on the Black Sea Steppe, 1500–1700', 2007, page 206
- ^ Michael Khodarkovsky, 'Russia's Steppe Frontier', 2002, page 22,
- ^ William H McNeill, 'The Global condition',1992
Further reading
- Davies, Brian (2014-04-04). Warfare, State and Society on the Black Sea Steppe, 1500–1700. Warfare and History. Routledge (published 2007). ISBN 9781134552832. Retrieved 2014-03-30. - which the article mostly summarizes.
- Khodarkovsky, Michael (2004). Russia's Steppe Frontier: The Making of a Colonial Empire, 1500–1800. Indiana-Michigan series in Russian and East European studies. Indiana University Press (published 2002). ISBN 9780253217707. Retrieved 2013-03-30. - same thing seen from the nomad side.
- ISBN 9780226051031. Retrieved 2013-03-30.- compares the expansion of Russia, Poland, Austria and Turkey.
Geography, topical maps
- Barnes, Ian. Restless Empire: A Historical Atlas of Russia (2015), copies of historic maps
- Catchpole, Brian. A Map History of Russia (Heinemann Educational Publishers, 1974), new topical maps.
- Channon, John, and Robert Hudson. The Penguin historical atlas of Russia (Viking, 1995), new topical maps.
- Chew, Allen F. An atlas of Russian history: eleven centuries of changing borders (Yale UP, 1970), new topical maps.
- Gilbert, Martin. Routledge Atlas of Russian History (4th ed. 2007) excerpt and text search
- Parker, William Henry. An historical geography of Russia (Aldine, 1968).