The Great War (All 8 Volumes). Various Authors

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СКАЧАТЬ five great measures: the emancipation of the serfs; the institution of the zemstvos or county councils; trial by jury; regulation of the public press; and reorganization of the army. Some of these reforms were instituted by the government only after public opinion had made such a course inevitable, and of the history of this entire period it may well be said that it was written in the very lifeblood of the Russian people. Two forces continuously combated each other; on one side were the large masses of the people, on the other the ruling classes. The former it is true were not always in solid union and, indeed, more frequently left the burden of fighting their cause to a small group of intellectuals. Their demands in many instances were unreasonable, but the ruling classes were just as unreasonable in their attitude, and the result was a period of terrorism during which assassination of officials abounded and even the life of the emperor was threatened a number of times.

      During the war of 1866 between Prussia and Austria and in 1871 between France and Germany, Russia observed a friendly neutrality toward Prussia. This attitude was the outcome of the long-standing personal friendship between the Russian and Prussian dynasties, a condition which at that period counted much more than in more modern times. Although Russia kept out of any active participation in these two struggles it used the Franco-Prussian War, when all the other European powers were tied down by its possibilities, to declare, in October, 1870, that it refused to be bound further by the provisions of the treaty of Paris, made in 1856, establishing the neutrality of the Black Sea. As a result of this a conference was called to London the following year, 1871, which affirmed in the name of all powers represented their determination to respect the sanctity of treaties, but in spite of that rescinded the treaty of 1856 along the lines of Russia's demands, and the neutrality of the Black Sea was abolished. A few years later a separate arrangement between Russia and Turkey made it possible for both of these powers to create and maintain separate fleets in the Black Sea.

      In 1872, as we have already heard, the three European emperors of Russia, Austria, and Germany met at Berlin and possibly as a result of that meeting a treaty was signed in 1873 between Germany and Russia which, however, bearing as it did only the signatures of the two emperors and of the heads of their respective general staffs, had neither a real standing nor an important influence in the affairs of either country.

      Europe in 1648–1789, Historical Map.

       Two years later, in 1875, Russia once more acted in concert with Austria and Germany when the Governments of these three empires addressed a joint request to Turkey asking for the immediate institution of reforms in the Balkan dependencies of the Turkish Empire which were then the center of continuous upheavals and threatened to disrupt European peace.

      Before we continue the consideration of Russia's political history it will be well to emphasize the chief characteristics of Russian foreign policy. In western European politics Russia had no direct interest. In the Near East, however, it was more directly interested than any other European power with the possible exception of Austria-Hungary; for not only were most of the European dependencies of Turkey inhabited by Slavish people or else by races closely related to them, but it was there also that Russia hoped to gain its much-needed ice-free seaport. This strong interest of Russia in Balkan affairs which will be brought out in greater detail in another place, devoted exclusively to the Balkan question, naturally brought it continuously in contact with Austria-Hungary. For the latter's interest in these matters was as strong as was Russia's, although it was, as we have seen, based on different grounds. This condition then meant that there was nothing in the way of a strong friendship or even a possible alliance between Germany and Russia except Germany's friendship for and alliance with Austria-Hungary which made it impossible for Germany to support Russia's policy in the Balkans. As a secondary result of this obstacle to a Russo-German alliance may be considered the gradual approachment between France and Russia.

      In one other part of the world Russia's interest was very strong and that was in the Far East. Here it clashed with equally strong or even stronger interests which England and Japan had and it took many years before these three powers finally arrived at an understanding concerning their several spheres of interest in the Far East.

      Immediately following Russia's participation in asking reforms of Turkey for its Balkan dependencies Pan-Slavism increased rapidly and greatly in Russia. One of the most peculiar features of this movement is the fact that the Russian Government suppressed with all the power at its command and with all the severity within its knowledge this movement as far as it affected internal affairs, but supported it just as strongly as far as it affected the affairs of other countries. The growth of Pan-Slavism finally resulted in April, 1877, in Russia's declaration of war against Turkey.

      In this war Russia was victorious, but only through the support which it received from Rumania, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Montenegro. In spite of repeated appeals on the part of Turkey to the other European powers these did not step in until Turkey was almost threatened with entire elimination. Then a conference of the European powers was called at Berlin and resulted in July, 1878, in the Treaty of Berlin which took the place of a treaty previously arranged between Russia and Turkey in March, 1878, at San Stefano. The Treaty of Berlin gave to Russia certain small parts of Turkey, but successfully reduced the excessively strong influence over Balkan affairs which Russia had attempted to gain for itself in the Treaty of San Stefano.

      In spite of the difficulties between Austria and Russia, of which we have spoken, the two countries had arrived, previous to the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War, at an understanding according to which Austria maintained a friendly neutrality toward Russia during the war, in consideration of which Russia permitted Austria's occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

      The following years are again marked by internal difficulties resulting in a reign of terrorism and in a period of reactionary government which exceed almost anything in Russia's previous history. It found its culmination in the successful assassination of Czar Alexander II on March 13, 1881. He was succeeded by his son Alexander III under whose rule the gulf between Russia and its western neighbors, Germany and Austria, widened in the same proportion as the friendship between Russia on one side and France and England on the other increased. To a certain extent undoubtedly this may be traced back to the new czar's personal relations with the rulers of other nations; for the czarina was a sister of Alexandria of Denmark, then Princess of Wales and later Queen of England, and the daughter of that King of Denmark who in 1864 had lost to Germany and Austria Schleswig-Holstein.

      The beginning of Alexander III's reign was marked with the beginning of a series of terrible persecutions of the Jewish inhabitants of the Russian Empire which, though subsiding from time to time, have continued throughout the years until the present time. With the causes of these persecutions we are not concerned here, for they were undoubtedly much more of an economic than of a political nature. In one respect, however, the results had an important bearing, at least for a time, on Russian politics. For during many years both France and especially England found it difficult and almost next to impossible to enter into a close alliance with a country which apparently absolutely refused to acknowledge some of the most fundamental principles of modern government in which they themselves believed: religious and personal freedom.

      With Alexander III came also a return to a more reactionary form of government which in its turn brought about a revival of terrorism and Nihilism with all its horrors and bloodshed. In spite of the continuance of these conditions in Russian internal affairs Russia participated actively in the general movement for expansion which made itself felt in the latter decade of the nineteenth century. Its interest in Near Eastern affairs became deeper and more active and its advances in the Far East kept step. In the Near East, however, Russia found determined opposition and the gradual development of the independent states of Rumania, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Greece, most of which were formed, at least partly, out of what was once the Turkish Empire, made it clearer and clearer every day that Russia's hope for gaining a maritime outlet through the conquest of Constantinople would never be realized. Though never giving up entirely СКАЧАТЬ