Russia: Difference between revisions

|common_name=Russia

|full_name=Russian National Republic

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|flag=RTL_Flag_Russia.png

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==History==

=== Imperial Russia ===

 

{{Main|Alyeska}}

Russia was the first European power to explore and settle the far northeast of North America. In 1788, the private Kurile Island Company, founded initially to explore the business opportunities in the Kurile Islands, was given by the Russian Tsar permission to explore the region of what is now modern-day [[Alyeska]]. A few years later, the tsar proclaimed the Ukase of 1790, which detailed the claims of Russia on the American continent. The Kurile Island Company was given a charter to the Aleutian Islands and eventually other parts of Alaska. Russians tried to settle Kolchak island in the south of their claimed land with the Port Alexander colony (1816 - 1832). However, the Russians eventually relinquished much of their claims in North America in the Russo-Dutch Treaty of 1832.

The part that they retained, Alyeska, was a mostly forgotten colony and a backwater for much of the 19th century, with a revolving door of colonization companies trying to find a way to profit from the region. Nevertheless, in the 1870s, after realizing the geopolitical importance of Alyeska to Russian interests, the Tsar founded and granted a monopolistic charter to the Russian Pacific Company to oversee the colonization and management of the territory. Since the company was state-funded, the Russian Pacific Company was able to pour more development into Alyeska than its private company predecessors. In the 1890s, gold was discovered in the Alyeskan territory. This resulted in an influx of immigrants from Russia and East Asia to Alyeska.

 

After the death of the Russian tsar Alexander III in 1867, the heir and eldest male dynast, Ivan, was expected to inherit the Russian throne. At the time of his father's death, Ivan had been bedridden for over a year. He was extremely sick and was expected to be an incompetent leader, with Russian newspapers mocking his appearance and perceived inability to rule. Before the death of the Tsar, Alexander III, to gain influence in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, appointed a Dutch prince of House Oranje, Henry-Williams, as his chief naval reformer (additionally the husband of the Tsar's niece). Over the 1860's Henry-Williams (the cousin of the current Dutch King) became wildly popular in Russia because of his success in modernizing the navy and his adaptation and promotion of Russian culture. He was a frequent subject of interest in the press, had strong ties to the Russian elites, and became a great patron of Russian literature. He studied the language and could speak fluent Russian (as well as Ukrainian and Polish) and even converted to orthodox Christianity and was baptized with a Slavic name.

 

Beginning in the 1840's Russia and Britain started to compete for influence in Central Asia, with the British believing that without countering Russian ambitions in the region, the Raj could eventually be at risk of invasion. This led to a military build-up and increased conflict over alliances with Afghanistan, Persia, and the Chinese nations. By 1893 tensions had simmered down. The great game ended with the creation of [[Serindia]] as a Buffer state between Russian and the British Raj, and the demilitarization of the border with the Kingdom of Afghanistan.

 

===The Russian Revolution & Republican Civil War===

In the 1920s, the European Economic Crisis and its lead-up hit Russia especially hard. In 1922, a series of crop failures and poor financial decisions by the Russian imperial authorities caused a financial crisis known as the Russian depression. During the depression, massive famines in Ukraine and the Don Kuban region sent thousands of refugees north towards urban centers such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Kiev, leading to food riots, strikes, and crackdowns by imperial authorities. Around every large city in Russia, large shantytowns, informally known as "Tsartowns," started popping up; these shantytowns were overcrowded, and disease outbreaks were common in them. During this period, anti-elite, anti-tsar, and pro-republican sentiments grew throughout the Russian empire. In 1923, the Russian Republican Congress (the largest republican organization in Russia at the time, also known as the R.R.C.) had over a million members in the Muscovite region alone. By the winter of 1925, the situation in Russia rapidly deteriorated, with most citizens believing that the Tsar mishandled the economic crisis and exacerbated the famines in the rural south through poor economic policy. Additionally, there was an outrage at the continued opulence of the Tzar, Tsarina, and nobilities lifestyles while so many lower classes starved.

 

By the winter of 1927, the Liberals realized their plight was doomed and so used their resources to provide an exodus route for the leaders, military, and businesspeople of the ill-fated republic. By February of 1928, there were only pockets of isolated fighting as the Vosstanists swept into Southern Russia and gained control. By March, the last battle of the Russian Civil War was over.

 

 

==== Reforming the State ====

Outside of the former Russian Empire's territories, the definition of a "Sister Republic" was loosely defined. Some states that describe themselves as Nationalist-Republican consider themselves as sister republics of Russia, while others refrained the use of the term as it implies Russian suzerainty.

 

{{Nations of the World}}