After the collapse of the USSR, Russia had permanent financial problems. Transition to a market economy after a planned one, external and internal debt, constant financial borrowing. The result is like this financial policy The government debt became unsustainable, which led to default on August 17, 1998.
Until 1998
In the 1990s, banks made money by lending to other banks and on “over-night” operations - that is, they bought currency in Vladivostok before the stock exchange opened, and sold it in Moscow in the morning. The profit was hundredths of a percent, but taking into account the volumes, the end result was very good. In the mid-90s, banks began to fight for industrial assets, and against the backdrop of this struggle, journalists, marketers and PR specialists made good money. There was a lot of money in the capital, there were no Soviet prohibitions, clubs, restaurants, and fashionable establishments in the Western style were opening. For the first time in for a long time I felt freedom of action and the opportunity to earn good money.
The specter of default
Despite the more or less stable situation, rumors began to circulate about a possible default. This was indirectly indicated by the Asian crisis of 1997, which led to a global decline in oil prices. At that moment, Russia was much more dependent on oil prices than it is now. In June 1998, an article appeared in Kommersant stating that the foreign exchange market has one big problem - non-payments. Transactions were concluded at the rate of 7 rubles 30 kopecks, although the Central Bank promised that the dollar exchange rate would not exceed 7 rubles. It turns out that the contracts concluded at a price of 7.30 were not intended to be fulfilled. Financial analysts and bank officials tried to remain optimistic, trusting that the government would not allow the worst-case scenario to happen. There was confidence that the state had money.
But on August 17, “Black” Monday, Sergei Kiriyenko declared a technical default. The country actually admitted that there was no money either to pay off external or internal debt.
But even after this, there were optimists who hoped that the economic crisis could be overcome in a short time - before the end of 1998. Georgy Maltsev, head of the strategic analysis department of Incom Bank, said: “the situation with the rush demand for the dollar will last another week or ten days, no more. Already now we are reaching a fixed rate of 7 rubles 20 kopecks per dollar.” YUKOS Vice-President Eduard Grushevenko argued that the panic would subside in 2 weeks, but the 1998 crisis would be protracted until the industry “gets back on its feet.”
But neither a week nor two weeks later the panic subsided and the ruble did not strengthen. The dollar began to cost not even 7 rubles, but 24. At one point, the lives of millions of Russians changed.
Victims
Ordinary Russian residents felt the crisis most acutely. Those who suffered most were those who had deposits in Russian rubles and dollar debts. Many remember the crisis as a catastrophic time. Kosets Olga, president of the interregional public organization, recalls: “when we were trading at the market, a neighbor borrowed 20 thousand dollars to buy goods. She shopped on Friday and expected to work and pay by Tuesday by exchanging it for dollars. There was no product left, but she lost money. They barely brought me to my senses.”
There were those who even turned out to be in the black. These were mainly employees of foreign companies. They received their salaries in foreign currency, in an envelope, so for them at first the prices seemed extremely low and the goods affordable. Such people did not notice the crisis, and there was no feeling of catastrophe.
Magic Crisis
Despite the “sense of catastrophe” and even stupor, life went on. They lowered prices, carried out reorganization, and creditors forgave debts. Firms changed their sphere of activity, others began to focus on Russian production. Gaining popularity new look business - debt. They offered assistance in closing foreign currency debts and in working with cash balances on bank deposits. The crisis even helped me buy an apartment. When Vadim Skovorodin saw an interview with Chubais in the newspaper, he realized that the collapse of the ruble was coming soon. He exchanged rubles for foreign currency in advance, and after the rapid rise of the dollar, he was finally able to buy an apartment.
While people panicked, lost interest, money, lost their real estate, the most patient and calm won. According to Olga Kosets, the crisis of 98 gave lung development industry in Russia, because buying goods abroad and selling them in Russia has become unprofitable. Therefore, many began to engage in their own production.
The economic crisis has become a kind of cleansing fire for business in Russia. The fly-by-night companies disappeared, and Russian production began to appear. Society became more tolerant of each other and helped each other in difficult times. So, to some extent, the crisis of 98 was a magical time - difficult, but not without miracles.
Great Britain was the most powerful colonial empire, occupying vast territories from Australia to North America. The sun never set on Britain. How did the British manage to conquer half the world?
Economic power
England was one of the first European countries to embark on the path of industrialization. By the middle of the 18th century, the system of protectionism protecting the domestic market from foreign competition provided the country with rapid economic growth.
At the end of the 19th century, when the world was actually divided between large metropolises, England had already become the main industrial monopolist: in the “workshop of the world,” as Britain was called, a third of the world's industrial output was produced. Such sectors of the British economy as metallurgy, mechanical engineering and shipbuilding led in production volume.
With high rates of economic growth, the domestic market was oversaturated and was looking for profitable applications outside not only the Kingdom, but also Europe. Products and capital from the British Isles actively flowed into the colonies.
An important role in the success of England as a colonial empire was played by the high level of technology, which the English economy always tried to follow. Various innovations - from the invention of spinning machines (1769) to the establishment of transatlantic telegraph communication (1858) - allowed Britain to stay one step ahead of its competitors.
Invincible fleet
England was constantly in anticipation of an invasion from the continent, which forced it to develop shipbuilding and create a combat-ready fleet. By defeating the “Invincible Armada” in 1588, Francis Drake seriously shook the Spanish-Portuguese dominance in the oceans. Since then, England, albeit with varying success, has strengthened its status as a maritime power.
In addition to Spain and Portugal, Holland was a serious competitor to England at sea. The rivalry between the two countries resulted in three Anglo-Dutch wars (1651-1674), which, revealing the relative equality of forces, led to a truce.
By the end of the 18th century, Britain had only one serious competitor at sea - France. The struggle for naval hegemony began during the period of revolutionary wars - from 1792. Then Admiral Nelson won a series of brilliant victories over the French fleet, effectively ensuring England control of the Mediterranean Sea.
In October 1805, Great Britain had the opportunity to assert the right to be called “mistress of the seas.” During the legendary Battle of Trafalgar british navy won a crushing victory over the combined French-Spanish squadron, convincingly demonstrating his tactical and strategic superiority. Britain became the absolute maritime hegemon.
Combat-ready army
To maintain order and maintain stability in the colonies, the British were forced to maintain a combat-ready army there. Using its military superiority, Great Britain by the end of the 1840s conquered almost all of India, whose population was almost 200 million people.
Moreover, the British military constantly had to sort things out with competitors - Germany, France, Holland. Indicative in this regard was the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), during which British troops, inferior in number to the forces of the Orange Republic, were able to turn the tide of the confrontation in their favor. However, this war was remembered for its unheard-of cruelty. British soldiers who used “scorched earth tactics.”
The colonial wars between England and France were especially fierce. During the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), England conquered almost all of its possessions in the East Indies and Canada from France. The French could only console themselves with the fact that Great Britain was soon forced to capitulate to the United States during the War of Independence.
The Art of Diplomacy
The British have always been skilled diplomats. Masters of political intrigue and behind-the-scenes games international arena they often got their way. So, having failed to defeat Holland in naval battles, they waited until the war between France and Holland reached its climax, and then made peace with the latter on terms favorable to themselves.
Using diplomatic methods, the British prevented France and Russia from reconquering India. At the very beginning of the Russian-French campaign, the British officer John Malcolm concluded two strategic alliances - with the Afghans and with the Persian Shah, which confused all the cards for Napoleon and Paul I. The first consul then abandoned the campaign, and the Russian army never reached India.
Often English diplomacy acted not only cunningly, but also threateningly persistently. During the Russian-Turkish War (1877-1878), she failed to acquire a “soldier on the continent” in the person of the Turks, and then she imposed a treaty on Turkey under which Great Britain acquired Cyprus. The island was occupied immediately and Britain began to establish a naval base in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Management talents
The area of Great Britain's overseas possessions by the end of the 19th century was 33 million square meters. km. To manage such a huge empire, a very competent and efficient administrative apparatus was needed. The British created it.
A well-thought-out system of colonial administration included three structures - the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Colonies and the Office of Dominion Affairs. The key link here was the Ministry of Colonies, which managed finances and recruited personnel for the colonial administration.
The effectiveness of the British management system demonstrated itself during the construction of the Suez Canal. Vitally interested in a sea canal that shortened the route to India and East Africa by 10,000 kilometers, the British spared no expense in investing in the Egyptian economy. However, the huge interest that investors received soon turned Egypt into a debtor. Ultimately, the Egyptian authorities were forced to sell their shares in the Suez Canal Company to Britain.
Often British methods of governance in the colonies brought great troubles. So, in 1769 - 1770. The colonial authorities created a famine in India by purchasing all the rice and then selling it at exorbitant prices. high prices. The famine claimed the lives of about 10 million people. The British also practically destroyed Indian industry by importing cotton fabrics of their own production to Hindustan.
Great Britain's colonial hegemony ended only after the Second World War, when political arena a new leader emerged - the United States of America.
On the same topic:
Why has Britain been competing with Russia for 200 years? The Russian Empire and Britain: a history of rivalry War of Shadows: Why Britain has been at war with Russia for 200 years
The Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 ended the era of the formation of nation states in Western Europe; a relative political balance was established on the European continent - not a single power had a military, political or economic advantage that would allow it to establish its hegemony; For more than forty years, Europe (with the exception of its southeastern part) got rid of military conflicts. The political energy of European states turned beyond the continent; their efforts concentrated on dividing up undivided territories in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Along with the old colonial powers (Great Britain, France, Russia), new European states - Germany and Italy - took an active part in colonial expansion, as well as the USA and Japan, which made a decisive historical choice in favor of political, social and economic modernization in the 1860s (North-South War 1861–1865; Meiji Revolution 1867).
Among the reasons for the intensification of overseas expansion, political and military-strategic ones came first: the desire to create a world empire was dictated both by considerations of national prestige and by the desire to establish military-political control over strategically important regions of the world and prevent the expansion of rivals' possessions. Demographic factors also played a certain role: population growth in the metropolises and the presence of “human surplus” - those who were socially unclaimed in their homeland and were ready to seek success in distant colonies. There were also economic (especially commercial) motives - the search for markets and sources of raw materials; however in many cases economic development happened very slowly; often colonial powers, having established control over a particular territory, actually “forgot” about it; more often economic interests turned out to be leading in the subordination of the relatively developed and richest countries of the East (Persia, China). Cultural penetration also occurred rather slowly, although the “duty” of Europeans to “civilize” savage and unenlightened peoples acted as one of the main justifications for colonial expansion. Notions of the natural cultural superiority of the Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Latin, or Yellow (Japanese) races were used primarily to justify their right to politically subjugate other ethnic groups and to seize foreign lands.
The main objects of colonial expansion in the last quarter of the 19th century. Africa, Oceania and the not yet divided parts of Asia turned out to be.
Section of Africa.
By the mid-1870s, Europeans owned African continent part of the coastal strip. The largest colonies were Algeria (French), Senegal (French), Cape Colony (British), Angola (Port.) and Mozambique (Port.). In addition, the British controlled Sudan, which was dependent on Egypt, and in the south of the continent there were two sovereign states of the Boers (descendants of Dutch settlers) - the Republic of South Africa (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State.
North Africa.
North Africa, the part of the continent closest to Europe, attracted the attention of the leading colonial powers - France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain. Egypt was the subject of rivalry between Great Britain and France, Tunisia between France and Italy, Morocco between France, Spain and (later) Germany; Algeria was the primary object of interest for France, and Tripolitania and Cyrenaica for Italy.
The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 sharply intensified the Anglo-French struggle for Egypt. The weakening of France after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 forced it to cede a leading role in Egyptian affairs to Great Britain. In 1875, the British bought a controlling stake in the Suez Canal. True, in 1876 joint Anglo-French control over Egyptian finances was established. However, during the Egyptian crisis of 1881–1882, caused by the rise of the patriotic movement in Egypt (the Arabi Pasha movement), Great Britain managed to push France into the background. As a result military expedition in July-September 1882 Egypt found itself occupied by the British and actually became a British colony.
At the same time, France managed to win the fight for the western part of North Africa. In 1871, Italy attempted to annex Tunisia, but was forced to retreat under pressure from France and Great Britain. In 1878, the British government agreed not to interfere with the French seizure of Tunisia. Taking advantage of a minor conflict on the Algerian-Tunisian border in March 1881, France invaded Tunisia (April-May 1881) and forced the Bey of Tunisia to sign the Treaty of Bardos on May 12, 1881, effectively establishing a French protectorate (formally proclaimed June 8, 1883). Italy's plans to acquire Tripolitania and the Tunisian port of Bizerte failed. In 1896 it recognized the French protectorate over Tunisia.
In the 1880s and 1890s, France concentrated on expanding its Algerian possessions in the southern (Saharan) and western (Moroccan) directions. In November 1882, the French captured the Mzab region with the cities of Ghardaia, Guerrara and Berrian. During a military campaign from October 1899 to May 1900, they annexed the southern Moroccan oases of Insalah, Touat, Tidikelt and Gurara. In August-September 1900, control was established over Southwestern Algeria.
At the beginning of the 20th century. France began preparing to take over the Sultanate of Morocco. In exchange for recognizing Tripolitania as the sphere of interests of Italy, and Egypt as the sphere of interests of Great Britain, France was given free rein in Morocco (secret Italian-French agreement of January 1, 1901, Anglo-French treaty of April 8, 1904). On October 3, 1904, France and Spain reached an agreement on the division of the Sultanate. However, German opposition prevented the French from establishing a protectorate over Morocco in 1905–1906 (the first Moroccan crisis); however, the Algeciras Conference (January-April 1906), although it recognized the independence of the sultanate, at the same time sanctioned the establishment of French control over its finances, army and police. In 1907, the French occupied a number of areas on the Algerian-Moroccan border (primarily the Oujada district) and the most important Moroccan port of Casablanca. In May 1911 they occupied Fez, the capital of the sultanate. The new Franco-German conflict caused by this (the second Moroccan (Agadir) crisis) in June-October 1911 was resolved by a diplomatic compromise: according to the treaty of November 4, 1911, for the cession of part of the French Congo, Germany agreed to a French protectorate in Morocco. The official establishment of the protectorate occurred on March 30, 1912. According to the Franco-Spanish treaty, on November 27, 1912, Spain received north coast sultanate from the Atlantic to the lower reaches of Mului with the cities of Ceuta, Tetuan and Melilla, and also retained the southern Moroccan port of Ifni (Santa Cruz de Mar Pequeña), which had belonged to it since 1860. At the request of Great Britain, the Tangier district was turned into an international zone.
As a result of the Italo-Turkish War (September 1911 - October 1912), the Ottoman Empire ceded Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and Fezzan to Italy (Treaty of Lausanne October 18, 1912); from them the colony of Libya was formed.
West Africa.
Main role in colonization West Africa France played. The main object of her aspirations was the Niger Basin. French expansion went in two directions - eastern (from Senegal) and northern (from the Guinean coast).
The colonization campaign began in the late 1870s. Moving east, the French encountered two African states, located in the upper reaches of the Niger - Segou-Sikoro (Sultan Ahmadou) and Uasulu (Sultan Ture Samori). On March 21, 1881, Ahmad formally ceded to them the lands from the sources of the Niger to Timbuktu (French Sudan). During the war of 1882–1886, having defeated Samori, the French reached Niger in 1883 and built their first fort in Sudan here - Bamako. By agreement on March 28, 1886, Samori recognized the dependence of his empire on France. In 1886–1888, the French extended their power to the territory south of Senegal all the way to the English Gambia. In 1890–1891 they conquered the kingdom of Segu-Sikoro; in 1891 they entered into a final battle with Samori; in 1893–1894, having occupied Masina and Timbuktu, they established control over the middle reaches of the Niger; in 1898, having defeated the state of Uasulu, they finally established themselves in its upper reaches.
On the Guinea coast, the French strongholds were trading posts on the Ivory Coast and the Slave Coast; back in 1863–1864 they acquired the port of Cotona and the protectorate over Porto Novo. In this region, France faced competition from other European powers - Great Britain, which in the early 1880s launched expansion on the Gold Coast and in the Lower Niger basin (Lagos colony), and Germany, which established a protectorate over Togo in July 1884. In 1888, the British, having defeated the state of Great Benin, subjugated vast territories in the lower reaches of the Niger (Benin, Calabar, the kingdom of Sokoto, part of the Hausan principalities). However, the French managed to get ahead of their rivals. As a result of the victory in 1892–1894 over the powerful kingdom of Dahomey, which closed the French access to Niger from the south, western and south stream and French colonization united, while the British, encountering stubborn resistance from the Ashanti Federation, were unable to break through to the Niger from the Gold Coast region; the Ashantis were conquered only in 1896. The English and German colonies on the Guinean coast were surrounded on all sides French possessions. By 1895, France had completed the conquest of the lands between Senegal and the Ivory Coast, calling them French Guinea, and pressed small English (Gambia, Sierra Leone) and Portuguese (Guinea) colonies to the West African coast. On August 5, 1890, an Anglo-French agreement on delimitation in West Africa was concluded, which set a limit to English expansion to the north: the British protectorate of Nigeria was limited to the lower reaches of the Niger, the Benue region and the territory extending to the southwestern shore of Lake. Chad. The borders of Togo were established by the Anglo-German agreements of July 28, 1886 and November 14, 1899, and the Franco-German agreement of July 27, 1898.
Having captured the territory from Senegal to Lake. Chad, French in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. launched an offensive north into areas populated mainly by Arabs. In 1898–1911 they subjugated a vast territory east of the Niger (Air plateau, Tenere region), in 1898–1902 - the lands north of its middle reaches (Azawad region, Iforas plateau), in 1898-1904 - the area north of Senegal (Auker and Al-Jouf regions). Came under French control most Western Sudan (modern Senegal, Guinea, Mauritania, Mali, Upper Volta, Cote d'Ivoire, Benin and Niger).
The Spaniards managed to gain a foothold in the northwestern part of West Africa (modern Western Sahara). In September 1881, they began the colonization of Rio de Oro (the coast between Cape Blanco and Cape Bojador), and in 1887 they declared it a zone of their interests. Under treaties with France on October 3, 1904 and November 27, 1912, they expanded their colony to the north, annexing the southern Moroccan region of Seguiet el-Hamra.
Central Africa.
Equatorial Africa turned out to be an area of struggle between Germany, France and Belgium. The strategic goal of these powers was to establish control over Central Sudan and penetrate the Nile Valley.
In 1875, the French (P. Savorgnan de Brazza) began to advance east from the mouth of Ogove (northwestern Gabon) to the lower reaches of the Congo; in September 1880 they declared a protectorate over the Congo Valley from Brazzaville to the confluence of the Ubangi. At the same time, expansion in the Congo basin was launched in 1879 by the International African Association, which was under the patronage of the Belgian King Leopold II (1865–1909); The expeditions she organized were headed by the English traveler G.-M. Stanley. The rapid advance of the Belgians in the Nile direction displeased Great Britain, which prompted Portugal, which owned Angola, to declare its “historical” rights to the mouth of the Congo; in February 1884, the British government officially recognized the Congolese coast as a sphere of Portuguese influence. In July 1884, Germany declared a protectorate over the coast from the northern border of Spanish Guinea to Calabar and began to expand its possessions in the eastern and northeastern directions (Cameroon). As a result of de Brazza's second expedition (April 1883 - May 1885), the French subjugated the entire right bank of the Congo (French Congo), which led to conflict with the Association. To solve the Congolese problem, the Berlin Conference was convened (November 1884 - February 1885), which made a division Central Africa: in the Congo Basin the “Congo Free State” was created, led by Leopold II; the right bank remained with the French; Portugal abandoned its claims. In the second half of the 1880s, the Belgians undertook a broad expansion to the south, east and north: in the south they conquered the lands in the upper Congo, including Katanga, in the east they reached Lake. Tanganyika, in the north approached the sources of the Nile. However, their expansion encountered strong opposition from France and Germany. In 1887, the Belgians tried to occupy the areas north of the Ubangi and Mbomou rivers, but in 1891 they were driven out of there by the French. According to the Anglo-Belgian Treaty on May 12, 1894, the “Free State” received the left bank of the Nile from Lake. Albert to Fashoda, but under pressure from France and Germany he had to limit his advance north to the Ubangi-Mbomou line (agreement with France of August 14, 1894).
The German advance from Cameroon into central Sudan was also stopped. The Germans managed to expand their possessions to the upper reaches of the Benue and even reach the lake. Chad is in the north, but western passage to Central Sudan (through the Adamawa Mountains and the Borno region) was closed by the British (Anglo-German Treaty on November 15, 1893), and the eastern route through the river. Shari was cut off by the French, who won the “race to Chad”; the Franco-German agreement of February 4, 1894 established eastern border th German Cameroon south coast Chad and the lower reaches of the Shari and its tributary Logone.
As a result of the expeditions of P. Krampel and I. Dybovsky in 1890–1891, the French reached the lake. Chad. By 1894, the area between the Ubangi and Shari rivers (the Upper Ubangi colony; modern Central African Republic) came under their control. By agreement with Great Britain on March 21, 1899, the Wadai region between Chad and Darfur fell into the French sphere of influence. In October 1899 - May 1900, the French defeated the Rabah Sultanate, occupying the regions of Bargimi (lower Shari) and Kanem (east of Lake Chad). In 1900–1904 they advanced even further north up to the Tibesti highlands, subjugating Borka, Bodele and Tibba (the northern part of modern Chad). As a result, the southern stream of French colonization merged with the western one, and West African possessions merged with Central African ones into a single massif.
South Africa.
In South Africa, the main force of European expansion was Great Britain. In their advance from the Cape Colony to the north, the British had to deal not only with native tribes, but also with the Boer republics.
In 1877 they occupied the Transvaal, but after the Boer uprising at the end of 1880 they were forced to recognize the independence of the Transvaal in exchange for its renunciation of an independent foreign policy and attempts to expand its territory to the east and west.
In the late 1870s, the British began fighting for control of the coast between the Cape Colony and Portuguese Mozambique. In 1880 they defeated the Zulus and turned Zululand into their colony. In April 1884, Germany entered into competition with Great Britain in southern Africa, which declared a protectorate over the territory from the Orange River to the border with Angola (German South-West Africa; modern Namibia); The British managed to retain only the port of Walvis Bay in the area. The threat of contact between German and Boer possessions and the prospect of a German-Boer alliance prompted Great Britain to intensify efforts to “encircle” the Boer republics. In 1885, the British subjugated the lands of the Bechuanas and the Kalahari Desert (Bechuanaland Protectorate; modern Botswana), driving a wedge between German South-West Africa and the Transvaal. German South-West Africa found itself squeezed between the British and Portuguese colonies (its borders were determined by the German-Portuguese agreement of December 30, 1886 and the Anglo-German agreement of July 1, 1890). In 1887, the British conquered the Tsonga lands located north of Zululand, thus reaching the southern border of Mozambique and cutting off the Boers' access to the sea from the east. With the annexation of Kaffraria (Pondoland) in 1894, the entire eastern coast of South Africa was in their hands.
Since the late 1880s the main weapon British expansion became the Privileged Company of S. Rhodes, who put forward a program for creating a continuous strip English possessions"from Cairo to Kapstadt (Cape Town)". In 1888–1893, the British subjugated the Mashona and Matabele lands located between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers (Southern Rhodesia; modern Zimbabwe). In 1889 they conquered the territory north of the Zambezi - Barotse Land, calling it Northern Rhodesia (modern Zambia). In 1889–1891, the British forced the Portuguese to withdraw from Manica (modern Southern Zambia) and abandon their plans to expand the territory of Mozambique into westward(agreement June 11, 1891). In 1891 they occupied the area west of the lake. Nyasa (Nyasaland; modern Malawi) - and reached the southern borders of the Congo Free State and German East Africa. They, however, failed to take Katanga from the Belgians and advance further north; S. Rhodes's plan failed.
From the mid-1890s, Britain's main goal in South Africa was to annex the Boer republics. But an attempt to annex the Transvaal through a coup d'etat (Jamson's Raid) at the end of 1895 failed. Only after the difficult and bloody Anglo-Boer War (October 1899 - May 1902) were the Transvaal and the Orange Republic included in the British possessions. Together with them, Swaziland (1903), which had been under the protectorate of the Transvaal since 1894, came under British control.
East Africa.
East Africa was destined to become the object of rivalry between Great Britain and Germany. In 1884–1885, the German East Africa Company, through treaties with local tribes, declared its protectorate over an 1,800-kilometer strip of the Somali coast from the mouth of the Tana River to Cape Guardafui, including over the rich Witu Sultanate (in the lower reaches of the Tana). At the initiative of Great Britain, who feared the possibility of German penetration into the Nile Valley, her dependent Sultan of Zanzibar, suzerain of the East African coast north of Mozambique, protested, but it was rejected. In contrast to the Germans, the British created the Imperial British East African Company, which hastily began to capture pieces of the coast. Territorial confusion prompted the rivals to conclude an agreement on disengagement: the mainland possessions of the Zanzibar Sultan were limited to a narrow (10-kilometer) coastal strip (Anglo-French-German declaration of July 7, 1886); the dividing line between the British and German zones of influence ran along a section of the modern Kenyan-Tanzanian border from the coast to lake. Victoria: the areas to the south of it went to Germany (German East Africa), the areas to the north (with the exception of Witu) - to Great Britain (treaty November 1, 1886). On April 28, 1888, the Zanzibar Sultan, under pressure from Germany, transferred to it the regions of Uzagara, Nguru, Uzegua and Ukami. In an effort to reach the source of the Nile, the Germans launched an offensive inland in the late 1880s; they attempted to bring Uganda and the southernmost Sudanese province of Equatoria under their control. However, in 1889 the British managed to subjugate the state of Buganda, which occupied the bulk of Ugandan territory, and thereby block the Germans’ path to the Nile. Under these conditions, the parties agreed to conclude a compromise agreement on July 1, 1890 on the delimitation of lands west of the lake. Victoria: Germany renounced its claims to the Nile basin, Uganda and Zanzibar, receiving in return the strategically important island of Heligoland (North Sea) in Europe; The western border of German East Africa became the lake. Tanganyika and lake Albert Edward (modern Lake Kivu); Great Britain established a protectorate over Witu, Zanzibar and Fr. Pemba, but abandoned attempts to obtain a passage between German possessions and the Congo Free State, which would connect its north and South African colonies. By 1894 the British had extended their power to all of Uganda.
Northeast Africa.
The leading role in European expansion in Northeast Africa belonged to Great Britain and Italy. From the late 1860s, the British began to penetrate into the Upper Nile Valley: they gradually strengthened their positions in Sudan, which was located in vassalage from Egypt. However, in 1881 a Mahdist uprising broke out there. In January 1885, the rebels took the Sudanese capital of Khartoum and by the summer of 1885 they had completely expelled the British from the country. Only at the end of the 19th century. Great Britain was able to regain control over Sudan: as a result of the military expedition of G.-G. Kitchener of 1896–1898 and his victory over the Mahdists near Omdurman on September 2, 1898, Sudan became a joint Anglo-Egyptian possession.
In the second half of 1890, France tried to penetrate the Upper Nile Valley. Posted in 1896 South Sudan detachment J.-B. Marchana subjugated the Bar el-Ghazal region and on July 12, 1898 occupied Fashoda (modern Kodok) near the confluence of Sobat with the White Nile, but on September 19, 1898 he encountered the troops of G.-G. Kitchener there. The British government issued an ultimatum demanding that the French evacuate Fashoda. The threat of a large-scale military conflict with England forced France to retreat: in November 1898, J.-B. Marchand's detachment left Bar el-Ghazal, and on March 21, 1899, an Anglo-French agreement on territorial delimitation in Central Sudan was signed: France renounced its claims to the Nile Valley, and Great Britain recognized French rights to the lands west of the Nile basin.
With the opening of the Suez Canal and the growing importance of the Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden began to attract the attention of European powers. In 1876 Great Britain subjugated the strategically important island of Socotra, and in 1884 the coast between Djibouti and Somalia (British Somalia). In the 1880s, France significantly expanded its small Obock colony at the exit of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, annexing the port of Sagallo (July 1882), the coast between Cape Ali and the Gulf of Gubbet Kharab (October 1884), the Sultanate of Gobad (January 1885), Musha Island (1887) and Djibouti (1888); all these lands made up French Somalia (modern Djibouti). In the early 1880s, the Italians began expanding from Assab Bay north along west coast Red Sea; in 1885 they received from the British, who sought to block the Mahdists' access to the sea, the port of Massawa, and in 1890 they united these territories into the colony of Eritrea. In 1888 they established a protectorate over the Somali coast from the mouth of the Juba River to Cape Guardafui (Italian Somalia).
However, Italy's attempts to develop an offensive in a western direction failed. In 1890, the Italians occupied the Kassala district in eastern Sudan, but their further advance towards the Nile was stopped by the British; The Anglo-Italian agreements of 1895 established 35 meridians as the western border of Italian possessions. In 1897, Italy had to return Kassala to Sudan.
Since the late 1880s, the main goal of Italian policy was North Africa was the seizure of Ethiopia (Abyssinia). On May 2, 1889, Italy managed to conclude the Treaty of Ucchial with the Ethiopian Negus (Emperor) Menelik II, which assigned Eritrea to it and provided its subjects with significant trade benefits. In 1890 Italian government, citing this treaty, announced the establishment of a protectorate over Ethiopia and occupied the Ethiopian province of Tigray. In November 1890, Menelik II resolutely opposed the claims of Italy, and in February 1893 he denounced the Treaty of Ucchiale. In 1895, Italian troops invaded Ethiopia, but on March 1, 1896 they suffered a crushing defeat at Adua (modern Aduwa). According to the Treaty of Addis Ababa on October 26, 1896, Italy had to unconditionally recognize the independence of Ethiopia and abandon Tigray; The Ethiopian-Eritrean border was established along the rivers Mareb, Beles and Muna.
Madagascar.
During almost the entire 19th century. France and Great Britain competed with each other, trying to subjugate Madagascar, but encountered fierce resistance from the local population (1829, 1845, 1863). In the late 1870s and early 1880s, France intensified its policy of infiltrating the island. In 1883, following the refusal of Queen Ranavalona III to comply with the French government's ultimatum to cede the northern part of Madagascar and transfer control of foreign policy to it, the French launched a large-scale invasion of the island (May 1883 - December 1885). Having suffered defeat at Farafat on September 10, 1885, they were forced to confirm the independence of the island and liberate all occupied territories, with the exception of Diego Suarez Bay (Tamatawa Treaty December 17, 1885). In 1886, France established a protectorate over the Comorian archipelago (Grande Comore, Mohele, Anjouan islands), located northwest of Madagascar (finally subjugated by 1909), and in 1892 it strengthened itself on the Glorieuse Islands in the Mozambique Channel. In 1895 she started new war with Madagascar (January-September), as a result of which she imposed her protectorate on him (October 1, 1895). On August 6, 1896, the island was declared a French colony, and on February 28, 1897, with the abolition royalty lost the last remnants of his independence.
By the beginning of the First World War, only two independent states remained on the African continent - Ethiopia and Liberia.
Section of Asia.
Compared to Africa, the colonial penetration of the great powers into Asia before 1870 was more extensive. By the last third of the 19th century. under the control of a number of European states there were significant territories in various parts of the continent. The largest colonial possessions were India and Ceylon (British), the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia), the Philippine Islands (Spanish), South Vietnam and Cambodia (French).
Arabian Peninsula
In the 19th century Arabian Peninsula was a sphere of predominantly English interests. Great Britain sought to subjugate those areas that allowed it to control the exits from the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. From the early 1820s, after defeating the Eastern Arabian Emirates (War of 1808–1819), it came to dominate the region. In 1839 the British captured Aden, a key fortress on the route from the Red Sea to the Arabian Sea. In the second half of the 19th century. they continued to strengthen their positions in Southern and Eastern Arabia. By the end of the 19th century. Great Britain established a protectorate over the southern Yemeni sultanates (Lahedj, Qaati, Kathiri, etc.), and its power extended to the entire Hadhramaut. According to the Anglo-Muscat Treaty on March 19, 1891, Great Britain was granted special rights in Muscat (modern Oman). Bahrain (treaties of 1880 and 1892), Qatar (treaty of 1882), seven principalities of Treaty Oman (modern United States) came under British control. United Arab Emirates; treaty 1892) and Kuwait (treaties 1899, 1900 and 1904). According to the Anglo-Turkish agreement on July 29, 1913, the Ottoman Empire, which had formal sovereignty over the East Arabian coast, recognized the dependence of Treaty Oman and Kuwait on England (which, however, undertook not to declare its protectorate over the latter), and also renounced its rights to Bahrain and Qatar. In November 1914, following Turkey's entry into World War I, Kuwait was declared a British protectorate.
Persia.
Becoming in the last quarter of the 19th century. the object of fierce rivalry between Russia and Great Britain, Persia by the end of the century fell into complete economic dependence on these two powers: the British controlled its southern regions, the Russians controlled the northern and central regions. The threat of German penetration into Persia at the beginning of the 20th century. prompted the former rivals to come to an agreement on the division of spheres of influence in Persia: according to the agreement on August 31, 1907, the South-Eastern (Sistan, the eastern part of Hormozgan and Kerman and the south-eastern regions of Khorasan) was recognized as the zone of British interests, and Northern Iran (Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Zanjan, Gilan, Kermanshah, Hamadan, Mazandaran, Capital Province, Semnan, part of Isfahan and Khorasan). In 1910–1911, the United States attempted to assert its influence in Persia, taking advantage of the rise of patriotic sentiment during the Iranian Revolution of 1905–1911, but Russia and Great Britain jointly suppressed the revolution and drove the Americans out of the country.
Afghanistan.
Central Asia was the scene of intense struggle between Russia and Great Britain. At the turn of 1872–1873, these powers entered into an agreement on its division: the zone of English influence was recognized as the lands south of the Amu Darya River (Afghanistan, Punjab), and the Russian zone - the territories to the north. From the mid-1870s, the British began expanding westward from the British East Indies. After Balochistan recognized its vassalage to british crown(1876) they reached the eastern border of Persia and the southern border of Afghanistan. In November 1878, Great Britain began a second war with the Afghan Emirate, which ended with its complete surrender: according to the Treaty of Gandamak on May 26, 1879, Emir Yakub Khan agreed to transfer control of foreign policy to England and to station British garrisons in Kabul, and also ceded Kandahar and the Pishin district to it. , Sibi and Kuram with the strategically important Khyber, Kojak and Paivar passes. Although the all-Afghan uprising that broke out in September 1879 forced the British to revise the Gandamak Agreement (refusal to interfere in internal affairs, the return of Pishin, Sibi and Kuram), from that time Afghanistan, having lost the right to independent foreign policy, fell into the sphere of English influence.
Acting as a defender of Afghan interests, the British government tried to prevent Russian expansion in Central Asia. In March 1884, Russian troops occupied the Merv oasis and began to develop an offensive to the south upstream of the Murghab river; in March 1885 they defeated the Afghans at Tash-Kepri and occupied Pende. However, the British ultimatum forced Russia to stop further advance in the Herat direction and agree to establish a border between Russian Turkmenistan and Afghanistan from the Amu Darya River to the Harirud River; the Russians held Pende, but Maruchak remained with the emirate (protocol dated July 22, 1887). At the same time, the British encouraged the Afghans' attempts to expand their territory in the northeast, in the Pamir region. In 1895, the long struggle for the Pamirs (1883–1895) ended with an agreement on its division on March 11, 1895: the area between the Murghab and Pyanj rivers was assigned to Russia; The area between the Panj and Kokchi rivers (the western part of the principalities of Darvaz, Rushan and Shugnan), as well as the Wakhan corridor, which divided Russian possessions in Central Asia and British possessions in India, went to Afghanistan.
From the mid-1880s, the British began to conquer the independent Afghan (Pashtun) tribes living between Punjab and the Afghan Emirate: in 1887 they annexed Gilgit, in 1892-1893 - Kanjut, Chitral, Dir and Waziristan. According to the Treaty of Kabul on November 12, 1893, Emir Abdurrahman recognized the British seizures; the southeastern border of Afghanistan became the so-called. “Durand Line” (modern Afghan-Pakistani border). The Pashtun lands were divided between the Afghan Emirate and British India; This is how the Pashtun question arose (still not resolved).
Indochina.
Great Britain and France laid claim to dominance in Indochina. The British attacked from the west (from India) and from the south (from the Strait of Malacca). By the 1870s, on the Malacca Peninsula they owned the Straits Settlements colony (Singapore from 1819, Malacca from 1826), in Burma - the entire coast, or Lower Burma (Arakan and Tenasserim from 1826, Pegu from 1852). In 1873–1888, Great Britain subjugated the southern part of the Malacca Peninsula, establishing a protectorate over the sultanates of Selangor, Sungei Uyong, Perak, Johor, Negri Sembilan, Pahang and Yelebu (in 1896 they formed the British Malayan Protectorate). As a result of the Third Burma War of 1885, the British conquered Upper Burma and reached the upper reaches of the Mekong. According to the treaty of March 10, 1909, they received from Siam (Thailand) central part Malacca Peninsula (sultanates of Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Trengganu).
The base of French expansion was the areas captured in the lower Mekong in the 1860s: Cochin China (1862–1867) and Cambodia (1864). In 1873, the French carried out a military expedition to Tonkin (Northern Vietnam) and achieved the conclusion of the Treaty of Saigon on March 15, 1874, according to which the state of Annam, which owned most of Eastern Indochina, recognized the French protectorate. However, in the late 1870s, with the support of China, Annam's supreme overlord, the Annamese government denounced the treaty. But as a result of the Tonkin Expedition of 1883, Annam had to cede Tonkin to France (August 25, 1883) and agree to the establishment of a French protectorate (June 6, 1884); after the Franco-Chinese War of 1883–1885, China renounced suzerainty over Tonkin and Annam (9 June 1895). In 1893, France forced Siam to give it Laos and the entire left bank of the Mekong (Treaty of Bangkok October 3, 1893). Wanting to make Siam a buffer between their Indo-Chinese colonies, Great Britain and France, by the London Agreement of January 15, 1896, guaranteed its independence within the borders of the river basin. Menam. In 1907, Siam ceded to France the two southern provinces of Battambang and Siem Reap to the west of the lake. Tonle Sap (modern Western Kampuchea).
Malay Archipelago.
In the last third of the 19th century. there was a final colonial section Malay Archipelago. The Netherlands, which by that time owned most of the archipelago (Java, Celebes (Sulawesi), Moluccas Islands, Central and South Sumatra, Central and South Borneo (Kalimantan), western New Guinea), concluded an agreement with Great Britain in 1871, granting them freedom hands in Sumatra. In 1874, the Dutch completed their conquest of the island with the capture of the Ache Sultanate. In the late 1870s–1880s, the British established control over the northern part of Kalimantan: in 1877–1885 they subjugated the northern tip of the peninsula (North Borneo), and in 1888 they turned the sultanates of Sarawak and Brunei into protectorates. Spain, which had ruled over the Philippine Islands since the mid-16th century, was forced, having been defeated in the Spanish-American War of 1898, to cede them to the United States (Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898).
China.
From the beginning of the 1870s, the struggle between the great powers for influence in China intensified: economic expansion was complemented by military-political expansion; Japan acted especially aggressively. In 1872–1879, the Japanese captured the Ryukyu Islands. In March-April 1874 they invaded the island. Taiwan, but under pressure from Great Britain they were forced to withdraw their troops from there. Portugal in 1887 achieved from Chinese government rights to “perpetual management” of the port of Macao, which it had leased since 1553. In 1890, China agreed to the establishment of a British protectorate over the Himalayan principality of Sikkim on the border with India (Treaty of Calcutta March 17, 1890). In 1894–1895, Japan won the war with China and, through the Peace of Shimonoseki on April 17, 1895, forced it to cede Taiwan and the Penghuledao (Pescadores) Islands to it; However, Japan, under pressure from France, Germany and Russia, had to abandon the annexation of the Liaodong Peninsula.
In November 1897, the great powers intensified their policies territorial division Chinese Empire(“battle for concessions”). In 1898, China leased Jiaozhou Bay and the port of Qingdao in the south of the Shandong Peninsula to Germany (March 6), Russia - the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula with the ports of Lushun (Port Arthur) and Dalian (Dalniy) (March 27), France – Guangzhouwan Bay in the northeast of the Leizhou Peninsula (April 5), Great Britain – part of the Kowloon (Kowloon) Peninsula (Hong Kong colony) in South China(June 9) and the port of Weihaiwei in the north of the Shandong Peninsula (July). Northeast China (Manchuria and the Shengjing Province) was recognized as the sphere of influence of Russia, and the province of Germany. Shandong, Great Britain - Yangtze basin (Anhou, Hubei, Hunan provinces, southern Jiangxi and eastern Sichuan), Japan - province. Fujian, France - bordering the French Indochina province. Yunnan, Guangxi and southern Guangdong. Having jointly suppressed the anti-European movement of the Yihetuan (“Boxers”) in August-September 1900, the great powers imposed on China on September 7, 1901 the Final Protocol, according to which they received the right to keep troops on its territory and control its tax system; China thus effectively became a semi-colony.
As a result of the military expedition of 1903–1904, the British subjugated Tibet, which was formally dependent on China (Treaty of Lhasa, September 7, 1904).
After the defeat of the Yihetuan, the struggle between Russia and Japan for Northeast China came to the fore. Having won in Russian-Japanese war 1904–1905, Japan greatly expanded its influence in the region; According to the Treaty of Portsmouth on September 5, 1905, Russian possessions on the Liaodong Peninsula (Lüshun and Dalian) were transferred to it. However, it failed to completely oust Russia from China. In 1907, Tokyo had to reach an agreement with St. Petersburg on the division of spheres of influence in Northeast China: Southern Manchuria became a zone of Japanese, and Northern Manchuria - a zone of Russian interests (Petersburg Treaty of July 30, 1907). On July 8, 1912, the parties signed an additional convention on Mongolia: Japan was recognized with special rights to eastern part Inner Mongolia, beyond Russia - to its western part and to the entire Outer Mongolia.
Korea.
Since the mid-1870s. Competition between the great powers developed for control over Korea (the Kingdom of Koryo), which was in vassal relations with China. The policy of Japan was the most active. By the Treaty of Shimonoseki, she forced China to give up suzerainty over the kingdom. However, in the mid-1890s, Japanese penetration encountered strong opposition from Russia. In 1896, Japan had to agree to grant Russia equal rights in Korea. But Japan's victory in the war of 1904–1905 dramatically changed the situation in its favor. According to the Treaty of Portsmouth, Russia recognized Korea as a zone of Japanese interests. In November 1905, Japan established control over Korean foreign policy, and on August 22, 1910, it annexed the kingdom of Goryeo.
Oceania section.
By 1870, most of the islands in the Pacific remained outside the control of the great powers. Colonial possessions limited to Micronesia (the Caroline, Mariana and Marshall Islands, which belonged to the Spaniards since the 17th century), the southern Melanesian island of New Caledonia (French since 1853) and a number of islands in Eastern Polynesia (Marquesas Islands, the eastern part of the Society Islands and the western part the Tuamotu archipelago, captured by France in 1840–1845; the Line Islands, occupied by the British in the late 1860s).
From the mid-1870s, the great powers launched an offensive in Oceania. In 1874, the British established a protectorate over the Fiji Islands in Southern Melanesia, and in 1877 over the Tokelau Islands in Western Polynesia. In 1876–1877, Great Britain, Germany and the United States entered into a struggle for the Western Polynesian archipelago of Samoa. From the beginning of the 1880s, the French began to actively expand their possessions in Eastern Polynesia: in 1880-1889 they subjugated Fr. Tahiti, Tubuai Islands, Gambier Islands, eastern Tuamotu Archipelago and western Society Islands. In 1882, the French tried to occupy the New Hebrides (modern Vanuatu) islands in Southern Melanesia, but in 1887, under pressure from Great Britain, they were forced to recognize the independence of the archipelago. In 1884–1885, Germany and Great Britain partitioned Western Melanesia: the northeastern part of New Guinea (Kaiser Wilhelm Land), the Bismarck Archipelago and the northern part of the Solomon Islands (Choiseul Island, Santa Isabel Island, Bougainville, Buka Island), to the British - the southeast of New Guinea and the southern part of the Solomon Islands (Guadalcanal Island, Savo Island, Malaita Island, San Cristobal Island). In 1885, Germany took the Marshall Islands from Spain, but its attempt to capture the Mariana Islands failed. In Western Polynesia in 1886, France established itself on the Wallis and Futuna Islands, and Great Britain, Germany and the United States concluded a treaty on neutral status strategically important islands Tonga. In 1886–1887 English colony New Zealand, with the consent of the British government, annexed the Karmadec Islands. In 1888, the Germans captured the eastern Micronesian island of Nauru, and the British established a protectorate over the western Polynesian Cook Archipelago (transferred to New Zealand in 1901). In 1892, the Gilbert Islands (modern Kiribati) in Eastern Micronesia and the Ellis Islands (modern Tuvalu) in Western Polynesia also came under British control.
At the end of the 19th century. the struggle for the division of Oceania entered its final stage. In August 1898, the British occupied the Melanesian archipelago of Santa Cruz, and the United States occupied the Hawaiian Islands. As a result Spanish-American War Americans acquired about. Guam (Treaty of Paris December 10, 1898). According to the Spanish-German agreement on February 12, 1899, Spain sold the Caroline, Mariana and Palau islands to Germany. On December 2, 1899, Great Britain, Germany and the USA agreed on controversial territorial issues in the Pacific Ocean: the western part (Savai Island and Upolu Island) went to Germany, and the eastern part of the island (Tutuila Island, Manua Islands) went to the USA. wow Samoa; for renouncing claims to Samoa, the British received the Tonga Islands and the northern part of the Solomon Islands, except for Bougainville and Buk. The division of Oceania ended in 1906 with the establishment of a Franco-British condominium over the New Hebrides.
As a result, Germany controlled the western part, Great Britain controlled the central part, the USA controlled the north-eastern part, and France controlled the south-western and south-eastern part Oceania.
Results.
By 1914, the entire world was divided between colonial powers. The largest colonial empires were created by Great Britain (27,621 thousand sq. km; about 340 million people) and France (10,634 thousand sq. km; more than 59 million people); The Netherlands (2,109 thousand sq. km; more than 32 million people), Germany (2,593 thousand sq. km; more than 13 million people), Belgium (2,253 thousand sq. km; 14 million people) also had extensive possessions. , Portugal (2,146 thousand sq. km; more than 14 million people) and the USA (566 thousand sq. km; more than 11 million people). Having completed the division of the “free” territories of Africa, Asia and Oceania, the great powers moved on to the struggle for the redivision of the world. The period of world wars has begun.
As a result of active colonial expansion in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The “unification” of the world under the auspices of the West was completed. The process of globalization and the creation of a single world political, economic and cultural space has intensified. For the conquered countries, this era, on the one hand, brought gradual destruction or transformation traditional forms existence, one or another degree of political, economic and ideological subordination; on the other, slow familiarization with the technological, cultural and political achievements of the West.
Ivan Krivushin
Literature:
Cherkasov P.P. The fate of the empire. M., 1983
Foreign and colonial policy of Great Britain in the 18th–20th centuries. Yaroslavl, 1993
Davidson A.B. Cecil Rhodes is an empire builder. M., 1998
Kiselev K.A. British colonial policy in the Sudanese-Egyptian subregion(second half of the 19th – first half of the 20th century): Author's abstract. ...cand. ist. Sci. M., 1998
Buyko O.L. French Parliament, Jules Ferry and the Colonial Question: 80s years XIX century– From the history of European parliamentarism: France. M., 1999
Lashkova L.T. The colonial question in the German Reichstag at the beginning of the 20th century. – History and historiography: foreign countries. Vol. 10, Bryansk, 2001
Voevodsky A.V. British colonial policy and the transformation of traditional South African societies into late XVIII- early twentieth century. M., 2003
Ermolyev V. N. US colonial policy in the Philippines late XIX– beginning of the 20th century. M., 2003
Glushchenko E.A. Empire builders. Portraits of colonial figures. M., 2003
Fokin S.V. German colonial policy in 1871–1914. M., 2004
FROM THE SERIES OF HISTORICAL MINIATURES “LIVING ANTIQUE”
In my journalistic work “Russia in Captivity” (or “Dependent Russia”), which was published in the media and in the book “Living Antiquity” (M., VT, 2011), I advanced the idea, which was not conclusively disputed by critics, that Russia has never was a colonial empire, like Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, and other countries, which, as a “superior race,” pumped out to the last drop the life-giving juices from the lands and their inhabitants captured overseas.
Expanding from the center in all directions to its natural borders, Russia since the 15th century has transformed from a mononational Slavic principality (with minor inclusions of Finnish and Turkic tribes) into a social, multilingual and multiracial empire. Precisely social, not colonial, because the tax-paying classes of the annexed territories were involved, often with greater rights than the Russian common people, in the general economic life of the country. And the ruling classes of peacefully annexed or conquered nationalities replenished those of Russia itself, the metropolis. Whether in the close interfluve of the Volga and Oka or in the vastness between three oceans, a single power named Russia created its history.
But there was a period in the history of our Fatherland, not long by its 1000-year standard (68 years long), when it almost followed in the footsteps of the Western colonial powers, acquiring Alaska overseas with the Aleutian Islands and the Alexander Archipelago. Also part of California, placing Fort Ross here, now Fort Ross USA. All of the above was called Russian America. Its management was initially taken over by the Russian-American company, with the Main Board in Irkutsk (Siberian Government General) and a practical manager in the capital of American acquisitions, Novo-Arkhangelsk, in southern Alaska, on the islands (now Sitka, USA) .
Our most well-read reader in the world has more or less heard about these possessions of the Romanovs. But (I bet) not many people have heard about the amateur attempt to colonize the Hawaiian Islands by our ancestors. I'll share my knowledge.
1. Last Supper
It is assumed with a high degree of certainty that in the current Russia, “cut down” in 1991, slyly called the USSR for 70 years, there are about 180 languages. There were more of them in the empire (“white” and “red”, i.e. the Romanovs and the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee). On more than 20 million square meters. km of Eurasia, almost all creatures on planet Earth were represented language families and many groups. There were no Polynesians, which apparently made some minds of the most extensive empire in the world, which had already crossed the Bering Strait, thoughtful. One of these minds was possessed by a doctor in the Russian service, Georg Anton Schaeffer, who introduced himself with a German accent as Yegor Nikolaich and was by nature an adventurer of a romantic, noble plan.
One day, in the summer of 1816, he invited Messrs. Platov and Vorontsov and a certain person nicknamed “King” to the banks of the Don for an intimate conversation. The heat was, without exaggeration, tropical. The Russian German and his interlocutors sat in the shade of a tree, by the fire, at dinner, in what their mother gave birth to, except for the semblance of skirts made from local plants that covered the private parts of high-ranking persons.
Yes, we must clarify: the event was not celebrated on our Don, as you thought. And Dr. Schaeffer’s interlocutors were the famous Cossack ataman Platov and Count Vorontsov, a lord and philanthropist (according to Pushkin’s definition), unknown in Russian history. This is how the tribal leaders of the islands of Niihau and Kauai in the Hawaiian archipelago of the Pacific Ocean have recently proudly called themselves. These names were given to the Polynesian aristocrats by a visiting representative of a great power that had recently defeated Napoleon himself, the Lord of the World. And the third of Schaeffer’s guests, nicknamed “The King,” was really the king of those two islands. The doctor and other Russians addressed him with respect, Your Majesty Tomari. As for the Don, our German, a great Russian patriot, gave this glorious name to the mountain stream he loved. Succumbing to a little weakness, he renamed it after himself mountain valley, marking it on a homemade map with the word “Scheffertal”. What did it sound like in Polynesian? Don't ask.
2. The story is almost detective - Russian fortresses in Hawaii
The conversation around the fire was about the voluntary joining of Fr. Kauai and o. Niihau to the Russian Empire. True, Emperor Alexander I did not yet know about this. I guess I’ve never even heard of the existence of such islands. Desire e.k.v. Tomari had a simple explanation for giving up sovereignty in favor of the “Northern Sphinx.” The owner of the two named islands was by no means an all-powerful monarch, but a vassal of the owner of the entire huge Hawaiian archipelago. The powerful king's name was Kamehameha the First. The cunning Tomari calculated: St. Petersburg is far away, but Kamehameha’s residence, in the capital of the archipelago, Honolulu, is just a stone’s throw away. Consequently, being a vassal of the victorious Napoleon is both honorable and profitable, and then, you see, you can get the entire archipelago under your hand for loyalty to Russia. There was a basis for hope: a crack had recently appeared in the relationship between the “monarch of all Hawaii” and the Russians. True, Tomari’s subjects were to blame for this.
A year ago, they plundered a merchant ship of the Russian-American company Bering, which was wrecked near the island. Kauai. A.A. Baranov, the manager of the company in those years, turned from Novo-Arkhangelsk to Kamehameha himself with a request to compensate for the damage through his messenger Dr. Schaeffer. He proved himself to be a skilled healer in the eyes of the ruler of the archipelago, for which he was granted cattle, fishing grounds and land for a trading post on the main island of the archipelago. At first the doctor was successful in negotiations, but then, I’ll say in clear language, “skidded” and the matter was upset. As the people say, “greed ruined the fraer.” Apparently, the Russian German was in a hurry with his proud plan to annex the entire Hawaiian archipelago to the Russian Empire. Then this incorrigible projector, having waited for two schooners sent to him by Baranov to “strengthen diplomatic means,” headed for the possessions of the vassal king Tomari, who dreams of independence from his close half-neighbor.
Soon after that memorable dinner over the Polynesian Don, Tomari and his white-skinned adviser sprang into action. Under the palm trees, from a dais in the capital's village, in the presence of the colorful court of His Two-Island Majesty and naked people, colorful with exotic outfits and tattoos, the request of Tomari's subjects addressed to Alexander I was announced. written statement German entertainer, translated into Russian, the islanders asked the All-Russian Emperor for protection. The Polynesians swore allegiance to the crown and scepter of the white monarch. An agreement was drawn up between the king and the doctor in two languages, written in Cyrillic. And in order to make the future acquisition of the empire more significant, the rebellious kinglet decided to round off his possessions with a couple of neighboring islands. The warlike doctor, to strengthen the guns on the Russian schooners, received 500 naked kids armed with clubs. Tomari did not forget about the debt for the plundered ship. He promised the Russian-American Company a monopoly on the sandalwood trade. Schaeffer and his companions received several villages and plots of land for the construction of strongholds and trading posts. The doctor did not remain in debt: he bought for the king from the Yankees snooping in the royal waters the schooner “Lydia” (this is the beginning of the sovereign fleet!), and agreed with them to purchase the warship “Avon”, which was currently on lease. I was sure that A. Baranov would pay for the transactions. And, probably, he dreamed of the title of governor of Alexander I in the newly acquired territories.
Let's give Schaeffer his due: in a matter of months, he and his people, with the help of the islanders, erected the structures of a trading post and laid out a garden. The stone and earthen bastions of three fortresses - named after Barclay de Tolly, Alexander and Elizavetinskaya (in honor of the Empress) rose at commanding heights. A small church was consecrated in the latter (the first Orthodox church in Hawaii!). The remains of the stone foundation of the fortress can still be seen today. “Stop, passerby!”
3. Features of the Russian colonial policy
In September 1816, busy with settlement on the islands in the Pacific Ocean, Schaeffer sent the Avon to Novo-Arkhangelsk with the original agreements between him, as a representative of the company (read - Russia), and King Tomari; as well as financial reporting and other documents. I sent copies of the agreements to St. Petersburg as soon as possible. And he began to wait for orders. Actively. Without stopping. He was confident in the owner of “his islands” Tomari. But in the end, news of the betrayal of the vassal and the dangerous actions of the Russians in Hawaii reached the august ears of Kamehameha the First. He decisively deprived the doctor of the possessions granted to him on the main island and gave the green light to merchants from the USA. They began to outbid the Polynesian goods promised to the Russians and quickly ruined the conspirator's trading post on the main island. Schaeffer's people had to leave her. The Yankees were so upset that already under the nose of their competitor, in the domain of Tomari, they made an attempt to tear down the Russian flag over the Elizabethan fort. But the Tomari warriors, faithful to their oath to Tsar Alexander, defended the shrine.
Alas, heroic defense the fort made the opposite impression on the company manager. Baranov gave his zealous messenger an epistolary reprimand. Like, sir, I forbid you to “enter into any speculation”! And in general, any trade actions of him, Scheffer, must be approved in Irkutsk, and in the sphere of international politics - by the sovereign himself, in St. Petersburg, because they could lead to a big war with the young American power.
Meanwhile, military operations (such as reconnaissance battles) against the Russians have already begun on the islands. The Yankees whispered in Tomari's ear that the United States was at war with Russia and threatened to send a combat squadron into the waters of the vassal kingdom. He, frightened, believed the fiction and stepped aside from those from whom he had recently asked for protection. At the same time, Schaeffer was abandoned by all the Americans and British who had been in his service, and by most of the frightened natives. The Russians and the islanders loyal to them remained in the minority. In a bloody skirmish with the Yankees, three of them and several Hawaiians were killed. Those who remained were divided: some of them went to Novo-Arkhangelsk on the ship “Ilmen” for help, others, under the command of the doctor himself, barely made it to Honolulu on the dilapidated “Myrtle-Kodiak”, from where they took a roundabout route to their homeland on foreign ships.
4. Colony verdict
Irkutsk learned about the affairs in Hawaii only in August 1817. Although Schaeffer ruined the company for 200,000 rubles with his adventures, the directors of the “trading empire,” convinced of the benefits of colonizing the islands, took his side, with some reservations. However, the Main Board did not dare to act independently in the domains of the “great king” Kamehameha the First and his vassals. And a message to Emperor Alexander floated along the waterways and galloped in a wagon to distant St. Petersburg. Only six months later, a response signed by Foreign Minister Karl Nesselrode was delivered to Irkutsk:
“The Emperor deigns to believe that the acquisition of these islands and their voluntary entry into his patronage not only cannot bring Russia any significant benefit, but, on the contrary, in many respects is associated with very important inconveniences. And therefore His Majesty desires that King Tomari, having expressed all possible friendliness and the desire to maintain friendly relations with him, not accept the aforementioned act from him (emphasis added. - S.S.), but only limit himself to decreeing the above-mentioned favorable relations with him and act to the spread of trade with the Sandwich Islands American company, as long as they are consistent with this order of affairs.”
This was the general direction of the policy of the Russian Empire at that time. But, you see, these peace-loving political methods aimed at restraining the Anglo-Saxons from making acquisitions in the Pacific Ocean, primarily at the expense of the breakaway parts of the Spanish Empire, were naive. You can understand the desire Winter Palace don't irritate White House, who seemed to be a Russian counterweight to Whitehall, a natural ally of Russia. But the main thing, it seems to me, is that the idea of the severity of the “territorial burden” of the country, whose land growth has outpaced population growth, has already begun to ripen in the minds of the highest authorities in Russia. The eastern, Asian outskirts of the empire were inaccessible, deserted, and difficult to manage. And here all sorts of Sheffers tempt you with new territories, even more remote, in the Pacific Ocean, in the middle of nowhere... By the way, finally, about the handsome doctor and his followers.
5. Russian traces on the alleys of an American park
The ardent Yegor Nikolaich never cooled down on his long journey to his homeland through Canton. On the eve of 1819, he appears in the capital of the empire and immediately writes a loyal note to the tsar. It thoroughly and convincingly substantiates the need for the direct capture of the entire Hawaiian archipelago. He is not alone. The Russian-American company is trying to revive in the soul of the inconsistent King Tomari a feeling of friendship for the Russians, asking for his permission to settle on the island of Niihau, the least populated of the two pieces of ocean land, promising big profits. Irkutsk is even ready to buy this island. At the same time, the Russian consul in Manila P. Dobell (another very Russian German) makes a voyage to Honolulu, where the late Kamehameha First, a firm and domineering husband, was replaced by his namesake son number 2, a weak, inept ruler. Kamehameha the Second, frightened by the activity of the Yankees, himself asks the consul for help and protection of the great northern country. Dobell does not hesitate to contact St. Petersburg. But from there there was silence. After all, the final answer was already given two years ago. However, after a thorough analysis of Scheffner’s note by various specialists, a repeated response was signed with the same By the highest decision. A year later, the Russian-American company is forced to recognize the archipelago as a Yankee sphere of influence and switch to California. The end of the Hawaiian venture of the Russian German...
The government of the Hawaiian Kingdom maintained the Elizabethan fortress in order for almost half a century. Then it was abandoned due to uselessness. Another 100 years later, the Yankees, having become the owners of the archipelago, awarded the ruins the status of a US National Historical Park and Monument. It was comforting to think that the former colony of Great Britain had defeated a great world power in a short skirmish in the Pacific Ocean. In memory of the defeated competitors, they generously left the name of the fortification in the park - “Russian Fort Elizabeth”.
Colonialism is the enslavement of a weak state, usually by a more stable state. Colonialism is of great importance in the history of Europe. Colonialism, as a result of the Great Geographical Discoveries, the beginning of which was influenced by the voyages of Vasco da Gamma and Christopher Columbus. Colonialism was not the result of the invention of developmental capitalism. Even in previous centuries, there were large colonial empires (Iranian, Egyptian, Roman, etc.). The main difference between ancient and medieval colonies was high level organization, in clear coherence, in the technological basis of European colonization.
At that time, Europe was economically unstable than Asia and Africa. Europe was attracted to the resources of these countries as the need for gold grew. Significant means of exchange were required. The colonial expansion of these countries responded to these needs.
Great geographical discoveries of the mid-15th century -- mid-17th century V. were associated with the process of primitive capital accumulation in Europe. The development of new trade routes and countries, the robbery of newly discovered lands contributed to the development of this process, marking the beginning of the creation of the colonial system of capitalism and the formation of the world market. The history of colonialism is closely connected with two European countries: Spain and Portugal. It is worth noting that during this period, the pioneers of colonialism, Spain and Portugal, remained feudal states. They paved the way for European colonial expansion, but over time they had rivals in the Netherlands and England. It was the Netherlands and England that passed the baton of the main role in European colonial expansion. This period of time marked the beginning of the development of early forms of capitalist colonialism. At the beginning of the 17th century. Holland became the main colonial power. In 1602, the establishment of the Dutch East India Company.
In the same year, the chambers of six Dutch cities - Amsterdam, Delft, Middleburg, Rotterdam, Hoorn, Enkhuisen - invested their capital in the East India Company. It was the first monopoly company to receive in its country the right to trade and navigate virtually the entire Afro-Asian region. Further, following the pattern, the East India Companies of Denmark, Sweden, Kurilland, etc. arose. Colonialism in England began to develop along with Holland. As in Holland, the East Indian, West Indian, and Levantine colonies were created in England. The British created pirate expeditions with the aim of attacking Spanish ships. During that period, the British began to create their first colonies on the territory of modern North America (Newfoundland, Virginia, British Honduras, Bermuda). From the second half XVII century England pays great attention to the colonization of the East. The East India Company of England first gained a foothold by creating separate factories in the Moluccas, Sulawesi, Java, Sumatra, India, and Xian. Very soon, competition between Holland and England for Southeast Asia led to war. The initial advantage was on the side of the Netherlands. In 1619, the British were defeated by the Dutch fleet in the Gulf of Thailand, and in 1620 England was completely driven out of the Moluccas. The situation began to change in the second half of the 17th century, with the beginning of trade wars. England managed to take away from Holland its treasure in Asia - Indonesia. In the 3 Anglo-Dutch wars, the naval power of Holland was broken by its worst enemy - England. And the fourth war between England and Holland determined the primacy of England. Despite this, the Netherlands still defended their colonies, but irrevocably lost leadership to the British and the new stars of colonial politics - the French.
Indonesia remained the main Dutch colony in Asia. 1664 in the history of colonialism was associated with the founding of the French East India Company. During the same period, France had its points in India - Chandranagore and Pondicherry. By the middle of the 18th century. France established itself in South India. But seven years war caused damage to France from England, and at the same time undermined the colonial power of its ally, Spain. France loses Canada, some West Indian islands and devastating losses in India. 1763 - conclusion of the Peace of Paris, according to which France renounced its territories in India. This had a positive effect on England, since England now has ways to establish itself in Hindustan. The French period of colonial conquest also had many advantages. For example, under Napoleon III, France achieved its power in Algeria, and they also managed to penetrate Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon. These countries became possessions of both France and England. In alliance with England, France took part in the war against China, also participated in the penetration of Japan, and they also enslaved South Vietnam. In 1857, the expansion of France's possessions in Africa began. There was an unsuccessful attempt to seize Korea in 1866, and in 1867 a French protectorate was established over Cambodia. Defeat in Franco-Prussian War weakened the influence of France, and as a result it had to cede a controlling stake in the Suez Canal to England. This weakened France's position in Egypt, but despite this, in 1879 France resumed the expansion of its colonies in Africa and the countries of Indochina. Be that as it may, France secured a number of African territories. A little earlier, having defeated China in the war of 1884-1885, France took power over Tonkin and established its protectorate over Vietnam.
In the 18th century, as earlier in the 17th century, the history of the peoples of the East was inextricably linked with the colonial policies of the European powers. During this period, the foundations of the colonial system were laid, meeting the interests of the large trading bourgeoisie. If in the 17th century. first steps of colonial policy East India Companies were associated with the Netherlands, then in the 18th century. The Dutch company was no longer able to maintain its monopoly position and lost its position to England. Having overtaken Holland in its development, England inflicted serious blows on it in a number of trade wars. Anglo-Dutch War 1780-1784 led to Holland losing a number colonial territories and granting English ships the right to pass through Indonesian waters. By this time, England had achieved significant success in India and expanded its ties with the Middle East and China. Most of the peoples of the countries of Asia and Africa at the time of their transformation into colonies and semi-colonies of industrial powers lived under conditions of a feudal or tribal system. The results of their conquest by industrial countries were extremely ambiguous. Colonialism was especially destructive, using the methods of the pre-capitalist era in the exploitation of colonies. They included the robbery of colonies, the export of gold, silver, and cultural monuments to the metropolis, and the creation of a slave trading system, from which the population of Equatorial Africa especially suffered in the 16th-19th centuries.
More serious preconditions for modernization existed in Latin American countries. Colonial dependence on Spain and Portugal was eliminated there at the beginning of the 19th century. After the War of Independence (1816), Argentina was liberated, Mexico in 1821, Peru in 1824, Brazil also gained independence in 1822, although until 1889 it remained a monarchy under the rule of its son, and then grandson of the King of Portugal.
In 1823, the United States adopted the Monroe Doctrine, which declared the inadmissibility of interference by European powers in the affairs of American states. Thanks to this, the danger of a second colonial conquest of Latin America disappeared. The United States, which had a vast and not yet fully developed territory, limited itself to annexing part of the territory of Mexico and establishing control over the Panama Canal zone, which previously belonged to Colombia.
|
Colonizer |
|
|
Philippines, . Luzon, Palawan, Mindoro, north. part of Mindanao and Visayas. IN South America Spain occupied the entire territory except Brazil. In the West Indies - Cuba and the eastern part of San Domingo. IN Central America- Honduras. IN North America territories of Mexico, Florida and West Louisiana |
|
|
Portugal |
El Ksar Essegir, Anfu, Arcila and Tangier, Agadir and Safi. In South America - Brazil. Diu, Daman, Goa, Mamao |
|
Holland |
Trade and strongholds on the eastern coast of Hindustan and South Africa. In Siam, the islands of Ceylon and Malacca, Jakarta. |
|
In North America: Newfoundland, Virginia, British Honduras, Bermuda. Bengal, in South India - Mysore, Punjab. Penang and Mal archipelago. |
|
|
In North America, Canada and Antilles. In African territories from Senegal in the west to Darfur in the east and from Congo to the Mediterranean Sea, Somalia on the Red Sea coast. |
In conclusion, I would like to note that the era colonial Europe are a special period. New achievements in navigation, curiosity, as well as the desire to get rich and convert new peoples to Christianity pushed Europeans to distant places. sea travel. They became possible thanks to the support of the Portuguese and Spanish kings.
