Russia's most famous (and largest) territorial loss is Alaska. This is if you do not take into account the collapse of the Russian Empire and the collapse of the USSR. But our country also lost other territories. These losses are rarely remembered today.

Southern coast of the Caspian Sea (1723-1732)

Having cut a “window to Europe” as a result of the victory over the Swedes, Peter I began to cut a window to India. For this purpose, he undertook in 1722-1723. campaigns in Persia, torn apart by civil strife. As a result of these campaigns, the entire western and southern coast of the Caspian Sea came under Russian rule.

But Transcaucasia is not the Baltic states. Conquering these territories turned out to be much easier than the Baltic possessions of Sweden, but maintaining them was more difficult. Due to epidemics and constant attacks by mountaineers, Russian troops were reduced by half.

Russia, exhausted by the wars and reforms of Peter, could not hold onto such a costly acquisition and in 1732 these lands were returned to Persia.

East Prussia (1758-1762)

As a result of the Second World War, part of East Prussia and Koenigsberg went to the USSR - now it is Kaliningrad with the region of the same name. But once these lands were already under Russian citizenship.
During the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), Russian troops occupied Königsberg and all of East Prussia in 1758. By decree of Empress Elizabeth, the region was turned into a Russian governor-general, and the Prussian population was sworn to Russian citizenship. The famous German philosopher Kant also became a Russian subject. A letter has been preserved in which Immanuel Kant, a loyal subject of the Russian crown, asks Empress Elizaveta Petrovna for the position of ordinary professor.

The sudden death of Elizaveta Petrovna (1761) changed everything. The Russian throne was taken by Peter III, known for his sympathies for Prussia and King Frederick. He returned to Prussia all the Russian conquests in this war and turned his arms against his former allies. Catherine II, who overthrew Peter III and also sympathized with Frederick, confirmed peace and, in particular, the return of East Prussia.

Mediterranean: Malta (1798-1800) and Ionian Islands (1800-1807)

In 1798, Napoleon, on his way to Egypt, destroyed Malta, which was owned by the Knights of the Hospitaller Order, founded in the days of Crusades. Having recovered from the pogrom, the knights elected Russian Emperor Paul I as Grand Master of the Order of Malta. The emblem of the Order was included in the State Emblem of Russia. This, perhaps, was the extent of the visible signs that the island was under Russian rule. In 1800, Malta was captured by the British.

In contrast to the formal possession of Malta, Russia's control over the Ionian Islands off the coast of Greece was more real.
In 1800, a Russian-Turkish squadron under the command of the famous naval commander Ushakov captured the island of Corfu, heavily fortified by the French. The Republic of the Seven Islands was established, formally as a Turkish protectorate, but in fact, under Russian control. According to the Treaty of Tilsit (1807), Emperor Alexander I secretly ceded the islands to Napoleon.

Romania (1807-1812, 1828-1834)

The first time Romania, or rather then two more separate principalities - Moldavia and Wallachia - came under Russian rule in 1807, during the next Russian-Turkish war(1806-1812). The population of the principalities was sworn to allegiance to the Russian emperor, and direct Russian rule was introduced throughout the entire territory. But Napoleon's invasion in 1812 forced Russia to conclude a speedy peace with Turkey, instead of two principalities being content with only the eastern part of the Principality of Moldavia (Bessarabia, modern Moldova).

The second time Russia established its power in the principalities during the Russian-Turkish War of 1828-29. At the end of the war, Russian troops did not leave, the Russian administration continued to govern the principalities. Moreover, Nicholas I, who suppressed any sprouts of freedom within Russia, gives his new territories a Constitution! True, it was called “organic regulations”, since for Nicholas I the word “constitution” was too seditious.
Russia would have willingly turned Moldavia and Wallachia, which it actually owned, into its de jure possessions, but England, France and Austria intervened in the matter. As a result, in 1834 the Russian army was withdrawn from the principalities. Russia finally lost its influence in the principalities after its defeat in the Crimean War.

Kars (1877-1918)

In 1877, during the Russian-Turkish War (1877-1878), Kars was taken by Russian troops. According to the peace treaty, Kars, together with Batumi, went to Russia.
The Kara region began to be actively populated by Russian settlers. Kars was built according to a plan developed by Russian architects. Even now Kars, with its strictly parallel and perpendicular streets, typically Russian houses, built in con. XIX - early XX centuries, sharply contrasts with the chaotic development of other Turkish cities. But it is very reminiscent of old Russian cities.
After the revolution, the Bolsheviks gave the Kars region to Turkey.

Manchuria (1896-1920)

In 1896, it received the right to build from China railway through Manchuria to connect Siberia with Vladivostok - the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER). The Russians had the right to lease a narrow territory on both sides of the CER line. However, in fact, the construction of the road led to the transformation of Manchuria into a territory dependent on Russia, with a Russian administration, army, police and courts. Russian settlers poured there. The Russian government began to consider a project to incorporate Manchuria into the empire under the name "Zheltorossiya".
As a result of Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, the southern part of Manchuria fell into the Japanese sphere of influence. After the revolution, Russian influence in Manchuria began to wane. Finally, in 1920, Chinese troops occupied Russian targets, including Harbin and the Chinese Eastern Railway, finally closing the Zheltorossiya project.

Soviet Port Arthur (1945-1955)

Thanks to the heroic defense of Port Arthur, many know that this city belonged to the Russian Empire before its defeat in the Russo-Japanese War. But a lesser known fact is that at one time Port Arthur was part of the USSR.
After the defeat of the Japanese Kwantung Army in 1945, Port Arthur, under an agreement with China, was transferred to the Soviet Union for a period of 30 years as a naval base. Later, the USSR and China agreed to return the city in 1952. At the request of the Chinese side, due to the difficult international situation (Korean War), the Soviet armed forces stayed in Port Arthur until 1955.

We were taught in school that the Soviet Union covered one-sixth of the land mass and was thus the largest state in the world by area. And even after its collapse Russian Federation still remains the most big country in the world. Only a few convinced Russian patriots can probably believe that Russia should thank the Lord God for its size. Given Russia's hitherto very obvious greed for the largest territory (controlled directly or indirectly), it is perhaps useful to recall how and under what circumstances Russia acquired its territory, and how it behaves in this regard today. Related to this may be the question of whether Russia has always been exclusively the object of external military aggression, as Russians and many of their friends believe.

The beginning of Russia dates back to the 7th-9th centuries, when the territory of Eastern Europe inhabited by the Slavs gradually formed Kievan Rus. She left a big mark on the history and culture of three East Slavic peoples: Russians (also called Great Russians), Ukrainians and Belarusians. Considering that at that time the Slavs did not know writing, and information from other sources is very modest, we know little about the origins of Russia. By the way, this also applies to our history, which for the same reason largely has a mythical basis. It seems certain that no later than the 9th century Eastern Europe inhabited by at least 12 Slavic tribes.

Given their habitat, these were probably tribal unions or even territorial communities with a specific political center. No later than the middle of the 7th century, Normans or the so-called Varangians appeared in this region: armed merchants who reached remote lands along waterways from Novgorod. Swedish colonists also appeared and settled south of the Gulf of Finland. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, in 862 Novgorod was ruled by a certain Varangian Rurik, the legendary founder of the first Russian Rurik dynasty. Basically, his descendants exacerbated the country's dependence on the collection of tribute from other areas. The conquest of Kyiv on the Dnieper was important because of its advantageous position on the trade route to Byzantium. All this is traditionally associated with the founding of the ancient Russian state - Kievan Rus.

Context

Ancient Rus' through the eyes of Moscow historians

Weekly 2000 09/10/2008

Rus' versus Russia, or How to overcome the historical paradox

Day 12/26/2008

Ancient Rus' - the creation of the Vikings

Die Welt 09.09.2015

Fortress Rus

Observer 02/26/2016 At the end of the 10th century, Kievan Rus was a significant and influential factor in the region, although it was probably not yet a state in the true sense. It had no clear boundaries and no clear political structure, depending on the central power of the ruler. For example, Novgorod lived its own political life. In terms of area, Kievan Rus was one of the largest European states, however, apparently, it was not densely populated. An important role was played by the general acceptance of Christianity, which occurred in 988 during the reign of Vladimir I. Thus, the Russian state became part of the Greek Orthodox East. This occurred during a period when the differences between the Latin West and the Greek East significantly increased during the church schism, which seriously influenced Russian history, and the consequences can still be seen today.

The country reached cultural and economic prosperity during the reign of Yaroslav I the Wise, son of Vladimir. After his death, Kievan Rus began to gradually disintegrate into more or less independent principalities. At first there were 12 of them, but in the 14th century there were 250 principalities, headed, as a rule, by princes from the Rurik family. The negative phenomenon was, first of all, the fairly widespread rivalry between related princes, who could not put aside their private interests. The symbolic end of the Kyiv state is considered to be 1169, when Kyiv was burned and plundered by the army of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. It was there that during that period the new settlement of Moscow began to grow, which later became the center of a new state - modern Russia.

Perhaps due to the consequences of internal contradictions, Rus' was unable to repel the pressure of the Tatar-Mongol expansion (1238), during which vast areas were captured and the Russian princes were forced to submit to domination. And although Rus' did not formally become part of the territory of the so-called Golden Horde, it was subordinated to the Mongols. If the Rurik princes wanted to rule in their lands, they needed to obtain consent to reign from the Mongol Khan in the form of a special charter (analogous to a European fief). But first they had to recognize the supremacy of his power, that is, their belonging to the empire.

The Golden Horde was founded after the completion of the campaign in Europe by the grandson of Genghis Khan Batu. The Horde extended over a vast territory from the Northern Black Sea region and the foot of the Caucasus through the Volga region all the way to Western Siberia. The capital was the city of Sarai Batu, located near modern Volgograd. There the Russian princes were subjected to humiliation and danger. The Tatars supported the discord between the quarreling Rurikovichs, and they quickly learned to intrigue against each other in Sarai. On the other hand, this allowed the khans to play the role of a kind of arbiters in Rus'. Heavy duties were imposed on the population of the Russian principalities: they had to supply the Mongols with recruits and pay a capitation tribute. But the political structure, with the exception of the confirmation of the reign, was preserved. Remained untouched Orthodox faith population of Russian principalities. Moreover, the priests received the advantage that, for example, they did not have to pay tribute. The Mongol expansion and subsequent yoke had far-reaching consequences for Rus' in the economic sphere, but also politically and culturally, the Russian lands still survived them for several centuries. The moral consequences are likely to be felt to this day.

The khans' tactics towards Russia increased the importance of the Moscow principality - the core of the future Russia. The khans of the Golden Horde supported the Moscow Khan Ivan I Kalita, who was a talented ruler and a deft diplomat. He managed to accumulate large financial resources - primarily due to the fact that the tribute that the Russian princes paid to the Golden Horde passed through his hands, because the Uzbek Khan gave him the privilege of collecting tribute for him on the territory of all Russian principalities (“kalit” meant “monetary bag").

However, internal contradictions gradually began to appear in the Golden Horde, and the power of the khans weakened significantly due to the tendency towards decentralization. Then the Russian princes, whose position, on the contrary, was strengthening, began to think about armed resistance. In 1380, the Tatars were defeated in the first major open battle with the Russians on the Kulikovo Field. But it took another hundred years for the Golden Horde to disintegrate forever.

In 1462, Ivan III became the Prince of Moscow, uniting the scattered Russian principalities into a single state. In 1480, he won the war with the Tatars, and Russia finally got rid of the yoke of the Golden Horde. Gradually, Ivan III annexed new territories directly or as vassals and reached the Trans-Urals and the lower reaches of the Ob. He expanded the country at the expense of the Russian principalities, which were under Lithuanian and Polish influence. This is how a state appeared, which continued to develop under Ivan IV. He stopped using the title of Grand Duke of Moscow and All Rus' and began using the title of Tsar. Ivan IV, nicknamed the Terrible, carried out reforms that modernized the Russian state. In 1552-1556 he conquered the Kazan and Astrakhan Khanates and continued his expansion into Siberia. Ivan the Terrible tried to gain access to the Baltic Sea and waged war with Livonia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden.

In 1598, the Rurik dynasty came to an end, and Russia plunged into a period of struggle for the royal crown. After the Zemsky Sobor (1613), the Romanov dynasty came to power, which ruled until the Bolshevik Revolution of 1918. (...)

There are no areas of so-called Russian America, that is, Alaska. It was colonized by Russian Cossacks, hunters and merchants since 1732. In 1868, during the reign of Alexander II, the United States bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million (about $100 million today).

During this period, not only Russia, but also some other European countries expanded their influence and power wherever and whenever possible. Therefore, no one can point fingers only at Russians. The only difference, probably, was that while the rest of the imperial states conquered their colonies overseas (they had no other option), the Russian Empire expanded to the detriment of its neighbors, whose territory it directly included in its own. So Russia, in fact, was not a colonial power, and the Russians never felt like that. The UK is often called the country where the sun never sets. But to a greater extent this applied to the Russian Empire, and in the summer it still applies to the Russian Federation. As a result, all imperial powers (with some exceptions) lost their colonies. Russia still considers its largest pseudo-colonies - Siberia, the Far East, the Caucasus, and until recently Central Asia - to be its God-given territory. Even from a modern point of view, it is difficult to imagine that a huge and sparsely populated “sleeping earth” (this literal meaning words Siberia) did not attract the attention of neighboring states for a long time. In addition to Russia, it could also be of interest to China and Japan. What would the world be like today if, for example, Japan had once been quicker in conquering Far East, one can only guess. The world would definitely be different. This also applies to the same extent to the Caucasus and Central Asia region, whose confirmed history is several thousand years longer than Russia’s.

After the so-called Great October Revolution (which did not happen in October and was not a revolution), the country was engulfed Civil war. The country ceased to be called an empire, and received the name Soviet Union. But in reality it remained the Russian Empire, and the Bolsheviks successfully reconquered the vast majority of the territory. Russia lost only Finland, the Baltic states, Bessarabia, part of Ukraine and Belarus. As a result of the Soviet-Polish War of 1919, Russia had to cede to Poland some regions that it received during the division of Poland at the end of the 18th century. But Stalin compensated them at the expense of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and to this he also added the previously lost Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Bessarabia. Before that, during the so-called Winter War, Stalin tried to take away part of Finland, which, however, after heavy losses he managed to do only later. Historians argue about the extent to which all these were “defensive” steps. This did not help the subsequent defense much. It is also doubtful by what right someone makes claims against neighboring states, citing their own security. While London was being bombed by German aircraft, Stalin sent Hitler congratulatory telegrams and strategic materials. Finally, Nazi Germany attacked its ally, the Soviet Union. He paid for it with 26 million lives and the destruction of a large part of the country and economy.

The USSR earned enormous prestige for its victory over Germany. Probably the same thing happened after the victory over Napoleon, and Stalin in Potsdam could feel the same way as Alexander I did at the Congress of Vienna, although, fortunately, Stalin did not go as far as Paris like his predecessor. At a certain point, communists were perceived as the saviors of humanity from Nazism. However, excitement soon turned to disappointment as the Soviet Union subjugated the liberated countries and turned many of them into merely nominally independent satellites under communist rule. First of all, the USSR again took part of Finland, the Baltic states, the former Bessarabia, and East Prussia. He simply moved Poland to the west. Despite the fact that the Soviet-Czechoslovak Treaty of December 1943 still recognized Czechoslovakia within its borders before the Munich Agreement, after the liberation of Subcarpathian Ruthenia, Soviet authorities organized the forced mobilization of Czechoslovak citizens into the Red Army. According to traditional communist propaganda, people joined the Red Army “voluntarily and with enthusiasm.” In November 1944, “public” meetings were held in Subcarpathian Ruthenia, at which the decision was made to join the Soviet Union. On June 29, 1945, the entire region with a strip of territory unilaterally seized by the USSR in Eastern Slovakia, Czechoslovakia ceded to the Soviet Union. The Ministry of Internal Affairs prohibited the use of the name Subcarpathian Rus' in the press. After the war they said that Slovakia, given its military history, could become a Soviet republic.

Eyewitnesses from among the older generation may remember that in the post-war period, the “most dangerous imperialist instigators” included American general Douglas MacArthur. This is probably because he actually prevented the participation of the Soviet Union in the post-occupation division of defeated Japan. Because of this, Japan was not divided into a “socialist north” and a “capitalist south,” for which, perhaps, the Japanese should still be grateful to MacArthur and two atomic bombs. The Soviet Union “appropriated” only a few Kuril Islands and Sakhalin. That is, the USSR was the only victorious power that received considerable territorial spoils after the war. The world was probably very lucky that Tsar Alexander II sold Alaska cheaply. It is probably unlikely that the United States and Canada would have come to terms with the fact that the Bolsheviks ruled on the American continent, and what consequences could this have had during the period? cold war, it’s even hard to imagine. Fortunately, the USSR never disputed the validity of this sale, and, perhaps, only ardent Russian patriots still sigh for Russian America.

But politically divided countries, in addition to Germany, also appeared in Korea and then in Vietnam. They still talk about “American aggression” in these countries. However, the aggressors were precisely those northern communist zones that, with the participation of China and very active support and with the blessing of the USSR, were the first to attack their “southern brothers.” Perhaps it is only with the passage of time that history best allows us to assess the appropriateness of a particular political step. If it weren't for the Korean War and its consequences (despite all its cruelty), the world probably wouldn't be driving Korean cars today. Moreover, after the end of the Korean War South Korea for ten years it was one of the poorest countries in the world, and North Korea is still one of them today. Vietnam is also not an “Asian tiger”, although it probably could be. Today he is looking for contracts, rather, in the “capitalist world”, in particular in the USA, and not from his former patrons of the arts - Russia and China. And the difficulties in Afghanistan also began not in 2001 with Operation Enduring Freedom, but after the coup communist party(under the patronage of the USSR), the expulsion of the family of Muhammad Daoud Khan and the invasion of the USSR. Russia just wanted to realize its old dream from the times of the so-called Big game. Today Afghanistan is a hotbed of terrorism. And this should be perceived as a historical experience that it is worth assessing only what happened, and not what could have happened if something different had happened.

By the way, it was Khrushchev and his heirs who traveled around Asia, Arab countries, Africa and South America, campaigning for the construction of socialism. And what is left of this? The impact of these processes on the current situation is impossible to assess. The historical truth is that the building of socialism always begins with great excitement and ends with a shortage of toilet paper and disaster. The most obvious modern examples, with the exception of North Korea, are Cuba and oil-rich Venezuela. The glorious socialist bloc of the world, including the Soviet Union, also collapsed. Few other national anthems were as deceitful as the Soviet one, which we often heard at the same time as ours. “The indestructible union of free republics was united forever by the great Rus'.” This union was neither “indestructible” nor forever, and the republics in it were not free. Today everyone already knows this. “To unite” means to unite, to bind, but in fact it was about military “enslavement”, and more than once. Also, the allocation of someone in an equal federation raises doubts. Even in the Protectorate, the Germans did not force us to sing that we were “united” by the Third Reich. So only “Great Rus'” corresponded to reality.

There is still a prevailing belief in Russian society that Gorbachev “destroyed” the Soviet Union. But in fact, the existence of the USSR was put to an end by the so-called Belovezhskaya Agreement of 1991, signed at a meeting of the presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. For the first time in history, the Russian Empire suffered significant territorial losses. For all post-Soviet republics, the collapse of the USSR brought extreme economic difficulties and an economic recession that was worse than after Black Thursday in 1929. The republics that had oil and natural gas reserves began to recover the fastest—primarily the gigantic Russian Federation, with the natural resources of Siberia behind it. As petrodollars poured in, Great Russian chauvinism grew, and this continues to this day. The concept of “Bolshevik” received a negative connotation, but the White Guards and tsarism were rehabilitated, the excavated remains of the royal family were solemnly buried, and communist ideology was replaced by literally sanctimonious piety and patriotism. And the concept of “Russian Empire” gained great popularity. This is perhaps best seen in Putin's public appearances in pompous Kremlin halls, to the great pride of even the poorest Russians. After the German attack on the Soviet Union, talk of communism suddenly ceased, and the emphasis was placed on previously suppressed Russian patriotism and religion. That's why Russians remember the Great Patriotic War, while others fought the "imperialist" World War II. Some parallels can still be drawn today.

The emergence of new republics was accompanied by problems, and for patriotic Russians it was a shock. The first major conflict arose in Chechnya, which declared independence in 1991. For someone to break away from the federation was too much for Russia. A certain independence lasted less than four years, and then there was no talk about Chechen-Muslim terrorists. Then there were two wars with known results: Chechen terrorists in the ranks of Islam around the world and Kadyrov’s killers for dirty work in Russia.

It didn’t take long for Moldova to arrive either. In the early 60s, I wanted to find out what Moldova, strictly speaking, was. One of the sources was the Soviet Encyclopedia. They wrote there (I quote from memory) that after the Second World War, the population of Moldova, that is, actually, the so-called Bessarabia, in “free elections” the population (like the Rusyns) decided to join their brothers in Soviet Transnistria. From the attached map it was clear that Transnistria was only a narrow strip of land along the Dniester - about 10% of the total area. In 1990, the population of Transnistria (mostly Russian-speaking) renounced belonging to Moldova and declared independence, wanting to join Russia, which, however, is not a neighbor.

The “birth complications” of the post-Soviet period did not end there. Georgia had traditional problems with its autonomous Abkhazia and vice versa. After the declaration of independence of Georgia, Abkhazia refused to become an ordinary region within Georgia. Then a long military conflict began. With Russian support, tens of thousands of Georgians died and hundreds of thousands of Georgians were forced to leave the country. To a certain extent, a similar situation arose later in South Ossetia. What the Chechens were not allowed to do, the Abkhazians and Ossetians have every right to do.

Divide and conquer, carrot and stick politics. The Russians also master these methods. With the exception of the Russian Federation, no other Soviet Union republic was economically independent (intentionally?). Perhaps, this situation was used most advantageously in Ukraine in the issue of energy sources and military memory. Whatever Crimea's history, it marked the only time in Europe since World War II that one country stole part of the territory of another country whose territorial integrity it had previously guaranteed by treaty. And the well-known situation around the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic is extremely reminiscent of our Sudetenland issue of 1938. It's just that the ending is different. So in the last 25 years, the world could observe the emergence of as many as four practically unrecognized mini-states, Russian protectorates, completely dependent on Russian military, economic and financial assistance. If we remember that the Baltic republics are home to a 30% Russian integrated minority, is it any wonder that there is local interest in EU membership and, most importantly, NATO? After all, the strategically important Kaliningrad enclave (former East Prussia between Lithuania and Poland) is completely isolated, so some events similar to the Donetsk model cannot be completely ruled out. Let us just remember the fierce battles in the Mariupol area over the Crimean enclave. And, probably, it is only a matter of time when Belarus will “snuggle up” to its eastern brother. Any state, which is completely understandable, is interested in good relations with its neighbors. True, this is always a two-sided issue. But does something give the strong the right to dictate terms to the weaker, or even to simply “rip off” them? Whatever the claims against the Ukrainians, Balts, Tatars, Chechens and anyone else, the fact remains that these peoples, given their history, have little reason to love the Russian state. Let us think, for example, about the fact that even 70 years after the war, at the slightest provocation, even the Czech Internet is flooded with anti-German statements. And after all, we have been visiting each other for decades, trading and living together in one community without borders or conflicts.

If today the Russian Federation is so afraid for its security, then the question arises why it was not afraid for it then, when petrodollars were not yet available, the country and the army were collapsed, and the generals were ready to sell anything from the military arsenal for next to nothing. Never before had there been a better opportunity for military attack.

Abolition of serfdom. The history of the emergence of the popular expression. Ilya Efimovich Repin. Reforms. Foreign policy. Engelhardt. Bakunin M.A. Battle of Borodino. Savva Ivanovich Mamontov. Berlin Congress. A reminder of the times of serfdom. Petr Yakovlevich Chaadaev. Kazan Cathedral. Personalities. Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. The theory of official nationality. Excerpt from the work of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. Mikhail Semenovich Shchepkin.

"History Quiz Questions" - The title of captain-scorer clearly did not correspond to its significance in Russian history. Unicorn. Kozhedub, Pokryshkin, Zhukov. Quadriga. Berlinskaya. Sevastopol. “Whoever comes to us with a sword will die by the sword!” “About the one I loved...” Where did the Battle of the Ice take place? “You, my love, I know you’re not sleeping...” How to determine whether a Russian serviceman belongs to a guards unit. “Or maybe it starts with that song...”

“History lesson-game” - What parties existed in England starting from the 17th century? Monopoly. Name the place where transactions for the purchase and sale of goods in bulk are concluded. What was Cromwell's religious affiliation? What were the names of the participants in the partisan movement during the Dutch Revolution? Bourbons. Heinrich Bourbon (Navarsky). Which state managed to capture Berlin during the Seven Years' War? What name did Cromwell's detachment receive?

“History quiz games” - Section “Historical”. Religion of a new era. Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army Kutuzov. Bagration. Preparation of assignments. Organization of educational quizzes as part of project activities. The fate of post-war Germany. Konrad Adenauer. Popular Chancellor of Germany. Alexandra Fedorovna, wife of Nicholas II. Yalta conference. Romanov dynasty. Chancellor of Germany. Telephone. Mad cadet. Who is shown in this photo?

“Crosswords on history” - Kazakhstan in the early iron age. Canguy. A piece of metal. Neolithic site. An item that protected the nomad from difficulties. Religion and culture. The main occupation of people of the Neolithic era. Chalcolithic. Huns. Saki. Monuments of Andronovo culture. Life ancient people. Sarmatians. Mesolithic. History of ancient Kazakhstan. A man whose remains were discovered in Cro-Magnon Cave. A tool that made it possible to hunt small animals.

“History Game” - December 16. Find out a historical figure. When is Independence Day of the Republic of Kazakhstan celebrated? Arystanbab. In 1925 he began to draw for the first time. Open class hour Quiz game "history experts". From 1912 to 1927 he worked as a shepherd and in his spare time was engaged in stone carving. Abylkhan Kasteev. homework "In search of the unknown." December 16, 1991 At the origins of modern Kazakh painting. He was the first in the republic to be awarded the title of People's Artist of the Kazakh SSR.

, “the cruelty of the occupation regime was such that, according to the most conservative estimates, one in five of the seventy million Soviet citizens who found themselves under occupation did not live to see Victory.”

The inscription on the school board: “The Russian must die so that we can live.” Occupied territory of the USSR, October 10, 1941

According to Taylor, the representative of the US prosecution at the Nuremberg trials, “the atrocities committed by the armed forces and other organizations of the Third Reich in the East were so stunningly monstrous that the human mind can hardly comprehend them ... I think analysis will show that they were not just madness and bloodlust. On the contrary, there was a method and a goal. These atrocities occurred as a result of carefully calculated orders and directives issued before or during the attack on the Soviet Union and representing a consistent logical system."

As the Russian historian G. A. Bordyugov points out, in the affairs of the Extraordinary State Commission “to establish and investigate the atrocities of the Nazi invaders and their accomplices” (June 1941 - December 1944), 54,784 acts of atrocities against civilians in the occupied Soviet territories were recorded . Among them are crimes such as “the use of civilians during hostilities, the forced mobilization of civilians, the shooting of civilians and the destruction of their homes, rape, the hunt for people - slaves for German industry.”

Additional images online
	On the occupied territory, a thematic catalog of photographic documents of the Russian Archive.

The Nazi occupation of the USSR and its initiators were publicly condemned by an international tribunal during the Nuremberg trials.

Goals of war

As the German historian Dr. Wolfrem Werte noted in 1999, “The Third Reich's war against the Soviet Union was aimed from the very beginning at the seizure of territory up to the Urals, the exploitation of the natural resources of the USSR and the long-term subordination of Russia to German domination. Not only Jews, but also the Slavs who inhabited the Soviet territories captured by Germany in 1941-1944 faced a direct threat of systematic physical destruction... The Slavic population of the USSR... along with the Jews was proclaimed a “lower race” and was also subject to destruction.”

The military-political and ideological goals of the “war in the East” are evidenced, in particular, by the following documents:

The chief of staff of the operational leadership of the OKW, after appropriate corrections, returned the draft document “Instructions regarding the special problems of Directive No. 21 (variant of the Barbarossa plan)” presented to him on December 18, 1940 by the National Defense department, making a note that this draft could be reported to the Fuhrer after revision in accordance with the following provisions:

“The upcoming war will be not only an armed struggle, but also at the same time a struggle between two worldviews. To win this war in conditions where the enemy has a huge territory, it is not enough to defeat his armed forces, this territory should be divided into several states, headed by their own governments, with which we could conclude peace treaties.

The creation of such governments requires great political skill and the development of well-thought-out general principles.

Every large-scale revolution brings to life phenomena that cannot simply be cast aside. It is no longer possible to eradicate socialist ideas in today's Russia. These ideas can serve as an internal political basis for the creation of new states and governments. The Jewish-Bolshevik intelligentsia, which represents the oppressor of the people, must be removed from the scene. The former bourgeois-aristocratic intelligentsia, if it still exists, primarily among emigrants, should also not be allowed to come to power. It will not be accepted by the Russian people and, moreover, it is hostile towards the German nation. This is especially noticeable in the former Baltic states. Moreover, we must under no circumstances allow the Bolshevik state to be replaced by a nationalist Russia, which ultimately (as history shows) will again oppose Germany.

Our task is to create these socialist states dependent on us as quickly as possible with the least amount of military effort.

This task is so difficult that the army alone cannot solve it.”

30.3.1941 ... 11.00. Big meeting with the Fuhrer. Almost 2.5 hour speech...

The struggle of two ideologies... The huge danger of communism for the future. We must proceed from the principle of soldierly camaraderie. The communist has never been and will never be our comrade. We are talking about a fight of destruction. If we don't look at it this way, then even though we defeat the enemy, in 30 years the communist danger will arise again. We are not waging war in order to mothball our enemy.

Future political map Russia: Northern Russia belongs to Finland, protectorates in the Baltic states, Ukraine, Belarus.

The fight against Russia: the destruction of the Bolshevik commissars and communist intelligentsia. The new states must be socialist, but without their own intelligentsia. A new intelligentsia should not be allowed to form. Here only the primitive socialist intelligentsia will be sufficient. The fight must be waged against the poison of demoralization. This is far from a military judicial issue. Commanders of units and units are required to know the goals of the war. They must lead in the struggle..., keep the troops firmly in their hands. The commander must give his orders taking into account the mood of the troops.

The war will be very different from the war in the West. In the East, cruelty is a blessing for the future. Commanders must make sacrifices and overcome their hesitations...

Diary of the Chief of the General Staff of the Ground Forces F. Halder

The economic goals are formulated in the directive of Reichsmarschall Goering (written no later than June 16, 1941):

I. According to the orders of the Fuhrer, all measures must be taken for the immediate and fullest possible use of the occupied areas in the interests of Germany. All activities that could interfere with the achievement of this goal should be postponed or abandoned altogether.

II. The use of areas subject to occupation should be carried out primarily in the food and oil sectors of the economy. Getting as much food and oil as possible for Germany is the main economic goal of the campaign. Along with this, German industry must be provided with other raw materials from the occupied areas, as far as technically possible and taking into account the preservation of industry in these areas. As for the type and volume of industrial production of the occupied areas that should be preserved, restored or reorganized, this should also be determined first and foremost in accordance with the requirements posed by the use agriculture And oil industry for the German war economy.

German propaganda poster "Hitler's Warriors - Friends of the People."

This clearly expresses the guidelines for managing the economy in the occupied areas. This applies to both main goals and individual tasks that help achieve them. In addition, this also suggests that tasks that are not consistent with the main goal or interfere with maintaining it should be abandoned, even if their implementation in certain cases seems desirable. The point of view that the occupied regions should be put in order as soon as possible and their economy restored is completely inappropriate. On the contrary, the attitude towards individual parts of the country should be differentiated. Economic development and maintenance of order should be carried out only in those areas where we can extract significant reserves of agricultural products and oil. And in other parts of the country that cannot feed themselves, that is, in Central and Northern Russia, economic activity should be limited to the use of discovered reserves.

Main economic tasks

Baltic region

Caucasus

In the Caucasus it was planned to create an autonomous region (Reichskommissariat) within the Third Reich. The capital is Tbilisi. The territory would cover the entire Soviet Caucasus from Turkey and Iran to the Don and Volga. It was planned to create national entities within the Reichskommissariat. The basis of the economy of this region was to be oil production and agriculture.

Preparation for war and the initial period of hostilities

As Russian historian Gennady Bordyugov writes, “from the very beginning, the political and military leadership of Germany... demanded that soldiers be prepared for unlawful, essentially criminal, actions. Hitler’s ideas on this matter were a consistent development of the political principles that he outlined in his books written back in the 1920s... As mentioned above, on March 30, 1941, at a secret meeting, Hitler, speaking to 250 generals whose troops were to participate in Operation Barbarossa, called Bolshevism a manifestation of " social crime“. He stated that " we're talking about about the fight for destruction“».

According to the order of the head of the Wehrmacht High Command, Field Marshal Keitel, dated May 13, 1941, “On military jurisdiction in the Barbarossa area and on special powers of troops,” signed by him on the basis of Hitler’s orders, a regime of unlimited terror was actually declared on the territory of the USSR occupied by German troops . The order contained a clause that actually exempted the occupiers from liability for crimes against the civilian population: “ Prosecution of acts committed by military personnel and service personnel against hostile civilians is not mandatory even where those acts also constitute a military crime or misdemeanor».

Gennady Bordyugov also points to the existence of other documentary evidence of the attitude of German military leaders towards the civilian population caught in the combat zone - for example, the commander of the 6th Army von Reichenau demands (July 10, 1941) to shoot “ soldiers in civilian clothes, easily recognizable by their short haircut", And " civilians whose manners and behavior appear to be hostile", General G. Hot (November 1941) - " immediately and ruthlessly stop every step of active or passive resistance", commander of the 254th division, Lieutenant General von Weschnitta (December 2, 1941) - " shoot without warning any civilian of any age or gender who approaches the front line" And " immediately shoot anyone suspected of spying».

Administration of occupied territories

There was no supply of food to the population from the occupation authorities; urban residents found themselves in especially difficult conditions. In the occupied territories, fines, corporal punishment, natural and cash taxes, the sizes of which were mostly set arbitrarily by the occupation authorities. The invaders applied various repressions to tax evaders, including execution and large-scale punitive operations.

Nazi demonstration on Freedom Square in Minsk, 1943.

Repression

The operation proceeded smoothly, excluding shifts in some of its stages over time. Their main reason was the following. On the map the settlement of Borki is shown as a compactly located village. In fact, it turned out that this village extends 6 - 7 km in length and width. When I established this at dawn, I expanded the cordon on the eastern side and organized the envelopment of the village in the form of pincers while simultaneously increasing the distance between the posts. As a result, I managed to capture and deliver to the gathering place all the village residents, without exception. It turned out to be favorable that the purpose for which the population was rounded up was unknown to him until the last moment. Calm reigned at the gathering place, the number of posts was reduced to a minimum, and the released forces could be used in the further course of the operation. The team of gravediggers received shovels only at the scene of the execution, thanks to which the population remained in the dark about what was coming. Discreetly installed light machine guns quelled the panic that arose from the very beginning when the first shots were fired from the execution site, located 700 m from the village. The two men tried to run, but fell after a few steps, hit by machine-gun fire. The shooting began at 9 o'clock. 00 min. and ended at 18:00. 00 min. Of the 809 rounded up, 104 people (politically reliable families) were released, among them were workers from the Mokrana estates. The execution took place without any complications, the preparatory measures turned out to be very expedient.

The confiscation of grain and equipment occurred, apart from the shift in time, systematically. The number of deliveries turned out to be sufficient, since the amount of grain was not large and the points for pouring unthreshed grain were not very far away...

Household utensils and agricultural implements were taken away with carts of bread.

I give the numerical result of the execution. 705 people were shot, of which 203 were men, 372 women, 130 children.

The number of collected livestock can only be determined approximately, since at the collection point the following were not recorded: horses - 45, cattle - 250, calves - 65, pigs and piglets - 450 and sheep - 300. Poultry could only be found in separate cases. What was found was handed over to the released residents.

The inventory collected included: 70 carts, 200 plows and harrows, 5 winnowing machines, 25 straw cutters and other small equipment.

All confiscated grain, equipment and livestock were transferred to the manager of the state estate of Mokrany...

During the operation in Borki, the following were consumed: rifle cartridges - 786, machine gun cartridges - 2496 pieces. There were no losses in the company. One watchman with suspected jaundice was sent to a hospital in Brest.

Deputy company commander, chief lieutenant of the security police Müller

On the occupied territory of the USSR, the destruction of Soviet prisoners of war who fell into the hands of the advancing German troops took place.

Exposure and punishment

In art

• “Come and See” (1985) - Soviet feature film directed by Elem Klimov, which recreates the eerie atmosphere of the occupation, the “everyday life” of the Ost plan, which envisioned the cultural devastation of Belarus and the physical destruction of most of its population.
• Road check of Alexey German.

In the section

Recent events have prompted many to turn to historical chronicles, remembering the lands over which the Russian flag once flew. And now more and more often there are conversations: they say, Alaska was once overshadowed by the tricolor, and Russia owned part of what is now California back in the days when there was no smell of the United States in those places.

And if history had turned out a little differently, today the territory of the Russian Federation could well include overseas colonies. In fact, there could be many more. And among them are the Hawaiian Islands, New Guinea and even Kuwait.

Surely, when looking at world maps of the 18th-19th centuries, many people had a question: how did it happen that almost a good half of the globe was divided between three or four European states, while Russia was only able to annex part of Central Asia? Are there really no skilled sailors in the empire? Obviously not so - back in 1728, Vitus Bering discovered the strait between the Arctic and Pacific oceans, and in 1803, Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky made the first trip around the world. Maybe they were late for the division? And this is unlikely - although there are almost no blank spots left on the map, a significant part of the land in the Pacific Ocean still remained unoccupied. Alas, the explanation turns out to be simple - the reasons that Russia refused to establish overseas colonies were simple laziness in entering into new projects and the sluggishness of domestic diplomacy.

The Russian province is close to the United States

It was Krusenstern and Lisyansky who became the first Russians to visit the Hawaiian Islands. And it was they who first heard the proposal to transfer the native inhabitants to Russian citizenship. This idea was voiced by King Kaumualii, who headed one of the two tribes. By that time, he had already despaired of fighting the king of the second tribe, Kamehameha, and therefore decided that in exchange for loyalty, the “big white chief” would protect him. Kaumualiya's trick, however, went unheeded at the time - first, he was advised to establish trade in food products with Russian America.

Kaumualii swore allegiance to Emperor Alexander I and asked him to take Hawaii under his protection.

In 1816, Kaumualii, in a solemn ceremony, through a representative of the Russian-American Company, Schaeffer, swore allegiance to Emperor Alexander I and asked him to take Hawaii under his protection. At the same time, the king transferred 500 soldiers to the Russians to conquer the islands of Oahu, Lanai and Moloka, as well as workers to build fortresses. Local leaders received Russian surnames: one of them became Platov, and the second Vorontsov. The local river Hanapepe was renamed Don by Schaeffer.

The news that a new territorial entity had appeared within the Russian Empire reached St. Petersburg only a year later. There they were horrified by her. As it turned out, no one gave Sheffer permission to negotiate, much less to make such decisions. Alexander I was generally firmly convinced that an attempt to annex Hawaii could push England to seize the Spanish colonies. In addition, the emperor was afraid of ruining relations with the United States.

Kaumualiya waited in vain for several years for the promised help. Finally his patience ran out, and he hinted to Schaeffer that he had nothing to do on the island. In 1818, the Russians were forced to leave Hawaii.

The land of Miklouho-Maclay went to the Germans

However, if the situation with Hawaii can still be considered a misunderstanding, then in another case the imperial government deliberately chose to do nothing.

On September 20, 1871, the Russian traveler Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay set foot on the soil of New Guinea. The island itself had been discovered by Europeans for 250 years already, but during this time they had not created any settlements there and its territory was considered no one’s. Therefore, in accordance with the existing rules, the Russian explorer named the territory the Maclay Coast.

It is noteworthy that the wild Papuans, who initially shunned the guest, soon changed their attitude towards the stranger. Which was not surprising - unlike the British and Dutch, the “man from the moon,” as the natives called him, did not shoot at them with a “fire stick,” but treated them and taught them agriculture. As a result, they proclaimed the guest Tamo-boro-boro - that is, the highest boss, recognizing his right to dispose of the land. And the thought occurred to the traveler: the territory of New Guinea he had explored should come under Russian protectorate.

Maclay literally bombarded St. Petersburg with letters describing his idea. In a message to Grand Duke Alexei, the traveler described that England, France and Germany were dividing up territories in the Pacific Ocean. “Will Russia really not want to participate in this general undertaking? Will she really not retain a single island for a sea station in the Pacific Ocean? - he asked. And why Russian government does not recognize his rights to the plots he acquired on the Maclay Coast and the Palau Islands? Since there is no money in the treasury for the organization of a sea station yet, then we must at least stake out the land for ourselves.

Alas, in St. Petersburg the traveler’s zeal was assessed differently. The head of the Naval Ministry, Admiral Shestakov, openly said: they say, Maclay simply decided to become king on the island! The commission sent to New Guinea also considered that the island did not present any prospects for trade and navigation, on the basis of which Emperor Alexander II decided to close the issue. True, Britain and Germany, apparently, had a different opinion, since they immediately divided the territory between themselves. According to this agreement, the Maclay coast went to the Kaiser.

Nicholas II “leaked” oil to the British crown

And yet, the loss of New Guinea looks completely trivial compared to another failure, as a result of which Kuwait, one of the main oil reserves in the world, was lost to Russia.

At the end of the 19th century, Kuwait became a point of intersection of the interests of Britain, Germany and Russia. Berlin and St. Petersburg cherished plans for a railway that would help them gain a foothold in the Middle East. London, in turn, on the contrary, jealously ensured that its dominance in Persian Gulf remained unshakable. However, maintaining the status quo was not easy - the situation in Arab countries has traditionally not been stable. So in Kuwait, the younger prince Mubarak killed his older brother, proclaiming himself a sheikh.

This situation forced the Foreign Ministries of the three countries to take a fresh look at the Kuwait issue. In St. Petersburg, it was decided to send agents to the sheikh, and at the same time Russian warships were sent to Kuwait. The British traditionally preferred to use gold instead of steel - in exchange for an annual salary, Mubarak promised that he would not conduct policy without taking into account the opinion of London. But the East, as we know, is a delicate matter. After being in the pay of the Foreign Office for two years, the Kuwaiti sheikh decided that the British began to feel too at ease in his country. As a result, in April 1901, Mubarak secretly handed over to the Russian consul Kruglov - he was ready to become a Russian protectorate. Well, if not, then no - let the British continue to command everything.

Over the course of a month, the Winter Palace decided what to do. On the one hand, it was extremely tempting to gain a foothold in the Persian Gulf. On the other hand, there was a fear: what if Türkiye gets offended and goes to war? In the end, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lamzdorf, wrote off the dispatch: “Please convey to Kruglov that any intervention in the Kuwaiti matter is undesirable due to the uncertainty of the situation on the ground, which threatens complications.”

Having received the answer, Sheikh Mubarak believed that everything was the will of Allah, and remained faithful to the British. The war, which was so feared in St. Petersburg, never began - the British conveyed to Istanbul that Kuwait was now their territory, and the Sultan immediately recalled the troops. In return, London received from Mubarak the right to open a postal service, build a railway and conduct oil exploration. For the transfer of rights to develop the richest deposits, the sheikh asked only 4 thousand pounds sterling.

During the 18th–19th centuries, the Russian Empire, as they say, “fought across the globe,” not stopping at occupying the territories it needed. Thus, during the next Russian-Turkish war in 1770, Russian troops captured the Cyclades Islands, and in 1773 they recaptured Beirut from the Turks - for almost a year it was officially under the jurisdiction of Russia.

During the war with France in 1798–1799, the Ionian Islands and the Greek city of Parga were captured.

Attempts to establish colonies were also made privately. In 1889, an adventurer

Nikolai Ashinov established a settlement on the territory of present-day Djibouti, calling it New Moscow. However, since the territory formally belonged to France, Paris sent a squadron to the settlement, which bombarded New Moscow and forced the Russians to surrender.