No GNW (or “Peter goes South”)
- Thread starter alexmilman
- Start date
That’s the general idea but it will need both quality and quantity: in OTL in the second half of the XVIII population of the empire grew considerably and with fewer big scale protracted wars and a lesser burden on the lower classes it could grow even faster.
This may sound a bit strange, but if after the Polish division Russia has pretty much reached the limit of its Western border, then I think in future western conflicts/crises (which should hopefully not be TOO many) it should seek to get greater population in addition to indemnities whenever possible. This could happen in a number of ways. One example would be in a French Revolution analogue, Russia invites the exiles to come settle in Russia. A similar and related example would be Russia fights on the side of a country, perhaps a German principality, that ends up getting annexed. As part of the peace deal, whoever wants to leave said principality may do so with all their wealth and move to Russia unmolested. More advanced examples would be treaties related to immigration, but that gets more complicated and could perhaps be a bit anachronistic. As has been discussed, developing Russia’s existing land is probably the best way to increase its strength.
Time for peace and relaxation
114. Time for peace and relaxation
This action wad followed by permission to open the privately-held “commercial” banks. As with everything, the results were had to be seen.
The most important thing, at least for a while, was to let the Russian Empire to absorb its new acquisitions and to start getting returns on the military “investments” and Bukhara proved to be the major bonus in this area. Russian exports into the emirate started growing in a fast rate. The most significant part of Russian goods here were cast iron kettles and jugs from the Urals, raw iron, brass, chintz-mitkal, small iron and copper products, lollipops, samovars, porcelain teapots and bowls, checkered wool, hemp and gauze turbans and the timber of which the emirate was short. The main item of Bukhara’s export to Russia was cotton: most of its production was going to Russia and, as a result, the area of its cultivation kept growing and so was consumption of the fabrics made in Russia from Bukhara’s cotton.
In addition, Bukhara was annually exporting 750 thousand Karakul skins to Russia, 320 tons of wool, raw silk, silk products, dried fruits, yarn, lamb guts, carpets and the dyes imported from India. Kashgar became a smaller but not insignificant additional cotton supplier.
For a while both Europe and Asia are going to be reasonably quiet.
The greatest potential source of trouble in Asia, Qianlong Emperor, was busy fighting his wars in the South, suppressing the rebellions, writing his literary works, introducing a fundamental censorship review of the whole Chinese literature, expanding the imperial residencies, including construction of the western-style palace Xiyang Lou.
One more war on the North was not in his plans and he even allowed to open one more trade outlet through Hama.
Persia, after Nader Shah was assassinated in 1747, quietened down and was open to the trade negotiations, which, unfortunately, had been handicapped by its internal turmoil: after a short rule of less than a year Adel Shah Afshar was overthrown, blinded and replaced by his brother Ebrahim Shah Afshar who, two months later was overthrown by his own troops and replaced by Shahrokh Shah who seemingly had a lot of trouble with various tribal chieftains.
The Ottomans were seemingly enjoying the peace and both Austria and Prussia had been exhausted enough by the War of Austrian Succession to somewhat relax and not too look for the new military adventures in a near future.
Relations with Frederick had been restored to the level of a superficial friendliness fitting for a big extended family. This “peace and tranquility” landscape allowed Alexey to return the Young Court to the capital: the end of the hostilities minimized a potential importance of the correspondence sent by the Grand Duchess to her brother and, both his Foreign Minister Bestuzev-Rumin and his new head of the Secret Chancellery general Andrey Ushakov
assured him that it will be much easier to watch over the Young Court (including perlustration of its correspondence) if it is located in Moscow. They were given a palace in Lefortovo (a new name for the former German Settlement)
and an “army” of the Grand Duke got itself an exercise area between the Sinichka River and the German Cemetery, just outside the Hospital rampart [3] .
The Grand Duchess was back at the court and quite happy with a renewed access to the capital’s social life and the Grand Duke was, at least for a while, quite busy with organizing the new quarters of his troops. After visiting their parade ground exercise Munnich commented to the Emperor that, “with a good division commander His Imerial Highness may make a descent commander of a cavalry brigade” [4] which, of course, could be taken as some kind of a compliment even if it was not [5]. Alexey swallowed his unhappiness but the Grand Duke, to whom the comment was reported by the “good wishers” actually had been delighted by a compliment from the empire’s greatest military authority.
The military matters.
In the terms of “closeness” to the monarch’s person the convoy somewhat pushed aside other Life-Guards regiments leaving them with the posts in the imperial palaces and various ceremonial functions while the convoy had been following the emperor and guarding his private appartaments.
The light cavalry had been using smaller Don horses (the lucky or rich ones could get the Akhal-Teki ones).
____________
[1] In OTL the first banking institutions appeared in 1754 (the Noble Loan banks and the Merchant bank); needless to say that the Noble Loan banks was immediately abused by the high-ranking clientele, which had been forcing bank to borrow the huge amounts of money which the debtors had no intention to return (basically, the same schema as with getting the state mines and manufactures for free, squeeze them dry and return to the state which was paying off the incurred debts). Small wonder that this and some following state-sponsored financial institutions were going belly up until the much stricter rules had been enforced in the XIX century. IITL, these rules are in place from the very beginning.
[2] In OTL at the beginning of the XIX century, 5 percent of serfs were “mortgaged” to the state bank, by 1830 - 42 percent, and by 1859 - 65 percent and the total debt of landlords who mortgaged estates only in state credit institutions reached 425 million rubles. This amount was twice as much as the annual budget revenue. In 1833, out of 127,000 noble families, 18,000 no longer owned serfs, and by 1859 the number of nobles who had no peasants had increased to 27,000. The share of serfs in the population of the country as of 1858 was 37 percent (under Peter I, more than half of all Russians were serfs).
[3] A part of Kamer-Kollezhsky rampart which was defining Moscow’s border.
[4] As everybody knows, this was said about NII but who said that the family is limited to having a single idiot? 😂
[5] Munnich was a very experienced courtier and would never say something that could not be interpreted in more than one way.
“Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer”
the old wisdom
“Free cheese available only in a mousetrap.”
another old wisdom
“I begin by taking. I shall find scholars later to demonstrate my perfect right.”
Frederick the Great
“Iron hand in a velvet glove.”
Charles V
“A traitor is everyone who does not agree with me.”
George III of the United Kingdom
“If it is not broken, don’t fix it”
An old rule for software development
1748. The war of Austrian Succession was, finally, over, there was peace with China, and the wars in the CA were minor affairs. The domestic economic reforms had been introduced and now it was a time to slow down the administrative activities and to see how (and if) they will work. A relatively new area was creation of a state bank (to a great degree inspired by the Bank of England) that loaned money mainly to the state but to the nobility and merchants and was accepting deposits from the population. A set of the strict rules had been introduce to exclude (or at least minimize) a possibility of abuse by the powerful personages. Another state-held lending institution with the seemingly more lender friendly rules, the Land Bank was created to attend to the money needs of a landed nobility: getting loan in it was relatively easy with the lans as a collateral. [1] The borrowers could even get the second loan on the same estate (with the recomputed percentage payments) and all this at a reasonably low percentage of payments on a debt. Everybody was happy, including the emperor and his financial advisors: by accumulating their debts to the state the landed nobility was slowly but steadily making the state (aka, the emperor) a de jure owner of their estates because most of the noble borrowers would never be able to repay the loan itself (they usually needed cash to support their life style, not to make the profitable investments ) and as a result their power as a meaningful class was steadily diminishing being replaced by a growing power of a service nobility, which was completely dependent upon the state. [2] For all practical purposes, this was a “velvet glove” implementation of Peter’s plan to achieve a full imperial control over the Russian state: with a steadily diminishing economic independence, the landed nobility could be even allowed to talk freely in its Noble Assemblies: there will be no need in inventing the political cases when an excessively loud and inconvenient talker could have his estate sold on auction for the debts. An additional advantage of this “soft” solution was that, unlike the Peter’s times with their mandatory military service and resulting unhappiness, the new system was making the landed nobility quite ecstatic (it would take few decades for its full implementation and as of here and now the estate owners enjoyed an easy access to the free cash). the old wisdom
“Free cheese available only in a mousetrap.”
another old wisdom
“I begin by taking. I shall find scholars later to demonstrate my perfect right.”
Frederick the Great
“Iron hand in a velvet glove.”
Charles V
“A traitor is everyone who does not agree with me.”
George III of the United Kingdom
“If it is not broken, don’t fix it”
An old rule for software development
This action wad followed by permission to open the privately-held “commercial” banks. As with everything, the results were had to be seen.
The most important thing, at least for a while, was to let the Russian Empire to absorb its new acquisitions and to start getting returns on the military “investments” and Bukhara proved to be the major bonus in this area. Russian exports into the emirate started growing in a fast rate. The most significant part of Russian goods here were cast iron kettles and jugs from the Urals, raw iron, brass, chintz-mitkal, small iron and copper products, lollipops, samovars, porcelain teapots and bowls, checkered wool, hemp and gauze turbans and the timber of which the emirate was short. The main item of Bukhara’s export to Russia was cotton: most of its production was going to Russia and, as a result, the area of its cultivation kept growing and so was consumption of the fabrics made in Russia from Bukhara’s cotton.
In addition, Bukhara was annually exporting 750 thousand Karakul skins to Russia, 320 tons of wool, raw silk, silk products, dried fruits, yarn, lamb guts, carpets and the dyes imported from India. Kashgar became a smaller but not insignificant additional cotton supplier.
For a while both Europe and Asia are going to be reasonably quiet.
The greatest potential source of trouble in Asia, Qianlong Emperor, was busy fighting his wars in the South, suppressing the rebellions, writing his literary works, introducing a fundamental censorship review of the whole Chinese literature, expanding the imperial residencies, including construction of the western-style palace Xiyang Lou.
One more war on the North was not in his plans and he even allowed to open one more trade outlet through Hama.
Persia, after Nader Shah was assassinated in 1747, quietened down and was open to the trade negotiations, which, unfortunately, had been handicapped by its internal turmoil: after a short rule of less than a year Adel Shah Afshar was overthrown, blinded and replaced by his brother Ebrahim Shah Afshar who, two months later was overthrown by his own troops and replaced by Shahrokh Shah who seemingly had a lot of trouble with various tribal chieftains.
The Ottomans were seemingly enjoying the peace and both Austria and Prussia had been exhausted enough by the War of Austrian Succession to somewhat relax and not too look for the new military adventures in a near future.
Relations with Frederick had been restored to the level of a superficial friendliness fitting for a big extended family. This “peace and tranquility” landscape allowed Alexey to return the Young Court to the capital: the end of the hostilities minimized a potential importance of the correspondence sent by the Grand Duchess to her brother and, both his Foreign Minister Bestuzev-Rumin and his new head of the Secret Chancellery general Andrey Ushakov
assured him that it will be much easier to watch over the Young Court (including perlustration of its correspondence) if it is located in Moscow. They were given a palace in Lefortovo (a new name for the former German Settlement)
and an “army” of the Grand Duke got itself an exercise area between the Sinichka River and the German Cemetery, just outside the Hospital rampart [3] .
The Grand Duchess was back at the court and quite happy with a renewed access to the capital’s social life and the Grand Duke was, at least for a while, quite busy with organizing the new quarters of his troops. After visiting their parade ground exercise Munnich commented to the Emperor that, “with a good division commander His Imerial Highness may make a descent commander of a cavalry brigade” [4] which, of course, could be taken as some kind of a compliment even if it was not [5]. Alexey swallowed his unhappiness but the Grand Duke, to whom the comment was reported by the “good wishers” actually had been delighted by a compliment from the empire’s greatest military authority.
The military matters.
- To start from the top, Alexey ordered creation of “His Majesty’s Own Escort” which at the time of its creation included 200 hundred Cossacks from the Terek and Kuban hosts, 100 Tekinsky (Turkmen) horsemen, 100 Kalmuks and 100 Oirats. The unit became a part of the Guards and special instructions had been issued forbidding the nobles serving in the Guards regiments to show any disrespect or to interrupt prayers of the Muslims and Buddhists serving in the convoy. The members of convoy had been exempt from the physical punishment and a need to learn a standard parade ground marching routine.
In the terms of “closeness” to the monarch’s person the convoy somewhat pushed aside other Life-Guards regiments leaving them with the posts in the imperial palaces and various ceremonial functions while the convoy had been following the emperor and guarding his private appartaments.
- Based upon the experience of the previous and especially “Asiatic wars”, it was decided to fully incorporate the Kalmyk and Oirat (Dzungar) cavalry into the imperial army on the same base as the Cossack hosts. The traditional armor was gone but they retained traditional very long lances.
- Based upon the same experience, Russian regular cavalry had to pass through the rigorous training in an individual and group horsemanship. For the heavy cavalry a big number of the Mecklenburger horses had been bough both for the immediate service and for the horse breeding farms.
The light cavalry had been using smaller Don horses (the lucky or rich ones could get the Akhal-Teki ones).
____________
[1] In OTL the first banking institutions appeared in 1754 (the Noble Loan banks and the Merchant bank); needless to say that the Noble Loan banks was immediately abused by the high-ranking clientele, which had been forcing bank to borrow the huge amounts of money which the debtors had no intention to return (basically, the same schema as with getting the state mines and manufactures for free, squeeze them dry and return to the state which was paying off the incurred debts). Small wonder that this and some following state-sponsored financial institutions were going belly up until the much stricter rules had been enforced in the XIX century. IITL, these rules are in place from the very beginning.
[2] In OTL at the beginning of the XIX century, 5 percent of serfs were “mortgaged” to the state bank, by 1830 - 42 percent, and by 1859 - 65 percent and the total debt of landlords who mortgaged estates only in state credit institutions reached 425 million rubles. This amount was twice as much as the annual budget revenue. In 1833, out of 127,000 noble families, 18,000 no longer owned serfs, and by 1859 the number of nobles who had no peasants had increased to 27,000. The share of serfs in the population of the country as of 1858 was 37 percent (under Peter I, more than half of all Russians were serfs).
[3] A part of Kamer-Kollezhsky rampart which was defining Moscow’s border.
[4] As everybody knows, this was said about NII but who said that the family is limited to having a single idiot? 😂
[5] Munnich was a very experienced courtier and would never say something that could not be interpreted in more than one way.
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Will the russian be more respectfull of other religions in their empire or will they attempt conversion ? and also will they incorage russian immigration to the new their new conquests ?
Actually, in OTL they were quite tolerant to other religions in the terms of them not being prohibited and enforced conversions not being encouraged. As far as the rights are involved, on a legal level they were restricted only for the Jews and even then the Pale of Settlement was officially established only in 1799 as a byproduct of the Partitions. IIRC, the first official acts restricting the Jewish commercial activities belong to the reign of Empress Elizabeth who was petitioned by the Russian merchants scared of the Jewish competition.
I’m not sure what the Tsarist government was doing with the Uniats but IITL these areas are mostly remaining within the PLC.
Of course, migration to the new territories was always encouraged. The main OTL problem was a shortage of people free to migrate. But IITL a pool of the state peasants is bigger and there are no laws converting the factory workers into the de facto serfs so a number of the potential migrants is bigger.
With the bigger pool of migrants they shou achieve majority russian in some places in central
The key word is “some”: they are definitely not going to replace the native nomads in the areas ill-suited for agriculture. The process are going to be essentially the same as in OTL Kazakhstan and the CA. The main goal is to increase Russian population of the Eastern Siberia and Southern part of the Russian Pacific coast.
Estern siberia and the pacific coast shouldnt be a problem in this tl , i dont know a lot about this places but siberia has tons of natural resources and its land is surely better for agriculture than central asia .
Yeah, Siberia has a lot of potential farmland, but it is not really economically viable pre-railroad. The population was maybe 400,000 in 1700, reaching slightly over 1 million by 1800. The native share is thought to have stayed fairly flat at roughly 30% of Siberia's population over this time, suggesting that it was all natural growth with little or no net migration: https://www.loc.gov/rr/european/mofc/bolkhov.html. By 1897, this had increased to 5.6 million or a 5-fold increase. However, even after adjusting for territorial changes, the Russian Empire's population more than tripled during this period. Given natural growth rates tended to be higher among ethnic Russians and away from the old North Russia core, the overwhelming majority of this growth almost certainly was still natural growth rather than migration from European Russia. Of course the trickle of migrants who came included a large share of involuntary arrivals. Grain export didn't really start even from western Siberia until the 1860s. Then came the Transiberian Railroad and a population boom. Siberia's population would double in just 17 years to over 10 million. Right before WWI, 500,000 people were moving to Siberia every year! Large-scale settlement in Central Asia started at basically the same time.
Basically, there is little reason for large-scale settlement in Siberia even with a more competent rule until the mid-1800s. Russia has no shortage of good farmland. The valleys of the Volga, Don, and Dnieper Rivers are much better places to direct settlers. For one thing, it is actually economically viable to export excess grain production! This can be done much faster than in OTL, where a lot of new settlements were being build clear into the late 1800s in Southern Russia. Basically, large-scale settlement in Siberia/Central Asia can be pushed forward maybe 30 years at absolute max. Now, with the floodgates that opened once the infrastructure was present, that will make a big difference. However, that is good management and economic development primarily. Conquest in the 1700s versus the 1800s by itself isn't really going to do much in Central Asia in terms of large-scale colonization, though. Actually, it will likely make it harder for Russians to become an ethnic majority in Central Asia. By bringing greater stability, there will be more growth of the local population. The Turkic minorities in the Volga region and the Siberian natives saw pretty rapid population growth during that timeframe, after all.
Basically, there is little reason for large-scale settlement in Siberia even with a more competent rule until the mid-1800s. Russia has no shortage of good farmland. The valleys of the Volga, Don, and Dnieper Rivers are much better places to direct settlers. For one thing, it is actually economically viable to export excess grain production! This can be done much faster than in OTL, where a lot of new settlements were being build clear into the late 1800s in Southern Russia. Basically, large-scale settlement in Siberia/Central Asia can be pushed forward maybe 30 years at absolute max. Now, with the floodgates that opened once the infrastructure was present, that will make a big difference. However, that is good management and economic development primarily. Conquest in the 1700s versus the 1800s by itself isn't really going to do much in Central Asia in terms of large-scale colonization, though. Actually, it will likely make it harder for Russians to become an ethnic majority in Central Asia. By bringing greater stability, there will be more growth of the local population. The Turkic minorities in the Volga region and the Siberian natives saw pretty rapid population growth during that timeframe, after all.
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The practical Steam engine and the locomotive are some ways off though 1745 is not 1804. Plus the TSE needs more tech & industrial power than 1804 Britain had. I once played with a story idea to have a Russian monarch fall for the railways around that day and industrialize and track it way sooner than OTL. But even ITL you are still talking about almost 60 years. That is a huge gap.
Ps: I hate then/than
Ps: I hate then/than
But surely , it will develop faster in this tl , that could make a big diference
It is not that I disagree but we need to keep in mind that the population numbers for Russia circa 1700 are essentially very rough estimates with the huge gaps. To start with, we can’t rely upon the taxation data because the taxes at that time had been household- and not head-based. Later, when Peter introduced a head-based tax the process had been quite sloppy and imprecise, especially for the far-away provinces, and I’m not sure if it included non-taxable groups of a population and it definitely did mot include various types of the escapees. Then, there is an issue of the Old Believers who were at that time severely persecuted and obviously tried to escape administration’s attention and quite a few of them went to Siberia. Later, when the attitude somewhat relaxed they got out of the “closet”.
But I agree with your main premise: migration to Siberia was limited prior to the age of the railroads due to the overwhelming logistical difficulties: a peasant from the European Russia would have to travel in a (single) horse driven wagon with all his household stuff and it is an obvious question where he is going to get a cow, chicken and other necessary livestock at the point of his destination.
But the gold rush and developing mining industry brought a lot of people into the area and not only the miners: demands for the food skyrocketed and a considerable part of it, in an absence of the railroads, had to be produced locally.
As far as the involuntary arrivals are involved, this is also not a simple issue. The convicted criminals who served their time and were allowed to settle in the area where not necessary a majority. But the state peasants were definitely resettled by the thousands to the areas of the newly founded state manufactures or the areas which the administration wanted to settle: for example, Muraviev-Amursky resettled few thousands state peasants from the Eastern Siberia to the Southern Pacific coast (going down the Amur).
Grain export abroad or even into the European Russia surely was not practical until the RRs construction but, with a big number of the newly built towns and industrial plants, the regional demands for the food supplies had been growing. Add to this the new consumers like the Kazakhs who were nomadic but, as a result of the close contacts with the Russians, started adding bread into their diet.
But until the late XVIII or even early XIX (and perhaps even later) the grain was not the main item of the Russian exports. Hemp, flax, iron, leather, fat had been higher on the list. Then, which “grain” are we talking about? IIRC, in OTL most of the XVIII Russia was exporting mostly rye. The wheat was mostly produced in the Southern regions most of which were not in the Russian possessions until annexation of the Crimea and the Partitions. Then, again, while it was possible to transport produce of the Southern regions to the Baltic ports by the river-ways, a more natural route was to the Azov and Black Sea ports and further to the Med but for the “historic” consumers (the Brits and Dutch) this route was not very convenient prior to the age of steam by which time France also joined the list.
This, of course, leaves aside the exports by land to Germany an AH but, as I understand, both were the late phenomena.
AFAIK, the main purposes for the OTL CA adventures were (a) security of the Russian territories and (b) markets for the Russian export goods. Russian settlements on the directly owned territories was considered mostly along these lines. Not sure that achieving Russian ethnic majority in the CA ever was a purpose and, IMO, the whole notion is more typical for the late XIX.
Well, for do it noticeably faster you’ll need an industrial revolution happening in Russia at least century ahead of the schedule. TransSib required a well-developed production of the rails, locomotives and other RR equipment, ability to make the numerous tunnels and many other things which would not be there (anywhere) for quite a while. At best, the process could be somewhat speed up by improving the main road to Siberia (not a trivial thing taking into the account the length, climate, needed material, labor force, etc.) to make communications easier. Sailing down the Amur would be a noticeable bonus (subject to the seasons and water level).
Most of that potential farmland is in Western Siberia, and so is not completely inaccessible, at least to consumers in the Urals. After the 18th century waterways connecting the Urals, the Volga, and St. Petersburg, there was an opportunity to move goods further.
There were various ideas to use waterways in Siberia itself for that purpose, including a canal from the Ob to the Yenisei. The old Northern shipping route was actually revived to carry rails for the Trans-Siberian railway down the Yenisei. The canal was badly designed and built but the main reason, IMO, nothing came of these plans was that there was no real demand for them in the era before railways and the trains were so much better once they were available that there was no reason to build the waterways after that. In an alt-scenario there might be possibilities.
This is real issue, there's no reason to settle Siberia in the 18th century century, at least beyond a scale require to support limited local settlements and industries. AFAIK the only things of nationwide interest going on in Siberia at the time were the traditional fur trade, the China trade, and some mining in the Altai and at Nerchinsk.
While trying to relax…
115. While trying to relax….
It was established that all goods from the colonies should first go to English harbors; in the colony goods can be transported only on British ships; goods from Russia and specially named goods from Europe (enumerated articles), such as firewood, salt, tobacco, potash, olive oil, flax, bread, sugar, wine, vinegar, etc., can be imported only into England and only on English ships.
In 1660 there was practically no problem for Russia or Sweden with any if the above because the Russian exports from Archangelsk had been carried by the British and Dutch ships and Sweden had been given certain allowances on bringing into the British ports the goods produced not exactly in Sweden and its provinces: their volumes were relatively small and usually it was something that the Brits needed but did not have a shipping capacity to carry themselves.
In the early XVIII situation did not change much and the problems still could be overlooked but no for long because (a) the Brits had all the shipping capacities they needed (and could easily increase them) and (b) volume and nomenclature of the Baltic and White Sea exports grew dramatically [3]. Which meant that, following the letter of the Act:
(a) Swedish ships could not officially use its ships to carry to the England the Russian goods arriving to its Baltic ports.
(b) Russia could not use its own ships for trading with England.
Then, there were some extra tariffs on the “permitted” goods carried by the non-British ships, requests regarding the ship’s origin, composition of its crew, right of the captains of the British Navy to stop and search the foreign ships, etc.
Of course, it could be argued that for Russia the problem was, to a large degree, rather theoretical than practical. With a single port on the Baltic Sea and one more on the White Sea Russia did not have a considerable merchant fleet on any of these seas and most of what it had was engaged in the intra-Baltic trade. The main development was happening on the Black Sea and so far it was not Britain-oriented. However, this was a matter of principle (and to a certain degree a part of the “sacred Peter’s legacy”): why should the British merchants have more rights toward Russia than other way around?
And when you are spreading the misery around, you’d better do it thoroughly, so Christian VI of Denmark also was brought into the picture as a potential victim: after all, the Danish ships had been engaged in the Baltic trade so why should they be excluded from carrying products of the Baltic League members to whichever destination they want?
In other words, as of here and now, situation looked as the British attempt to screw the Baltic Mafia by fully controlling transportation and distribution of a merchandise. The fact that the system had been created well before the Baltic Mafia came into existence was absolutely irrelevant to the issue. What was relevant is that the existing system was handicapping the growth of the Swedish and Russian naval trade.
The Ambassadors from Stockholm, Copenhagen and Moscow in London delivered a joined statement which declared that the existing situation is unacceptable and, in the case of Russia, plainly offensive to the dignity of His Imperial Majesty and that the offensive items of the Act of 1660 has to be changed to reflect the rights and interests of the Baltic League.
With Britain being just out of the prolonged and expensive War of the Austrian Succession, its PM Henry Pehlam (who was not excessively bellicose by nature) was not looking for one more serious conflict even if this conflict would be a purely economic one. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle had been signed in 1748 leading inexorably to a number of cost-cutting budgetary measures. The Army and Navy spending shrunk from £12 m to £7 million per annum. Pelham promised to reduce interest rates through introduction of a balancing act measure from 4% to 3% by 1757. He also assisted a fund to reduce the National Debt. Getting into a quarrel with the unified front of the strategically important suppliers could be a costly affair: what of they just raise the cost of the goods they were exporting or restrict their nomenclature or a volume of what they are ready to sell? On one hand, at least in theory, their demand may hurt the British shipping industry by depraving it of a part of the merchandise it was carrying but OTOH, shortage of the strategic materials and their increased cost will limit the British ability to expand their merchant fleet (and the Navy as well) also hurting the maritime trade. Britain was already pretty much licked out of the trade inside the Baltic Sea due to the tariffs favorable to the League members.
Of course, the Baltic League also did not want to break with its main customer but, OTOH, while to give that customer a monopolistic right to define the rules of trade? After all, if it comes to the principle, they can start selling the “strategic materials” to the Dutch leaving the Brits with a choice between staying on a principle or buying these goods from the Dutch (at a higher cost).
There was a heated discussion in the Parliament, with the hot heads talking about a war, but eventually the reason prevailed. The offensive part regarding the Russian goods was removed and it was agreed that the Baltic League can be considered as a single “country of origin” for its exports and as far as origin of its ships was involved, they may be built either within the League or in Britain. OTOH, Britain was endured in the stability of the League’s exports. After the “improved” Act was legalized, the British wharfs got from Russia an order for 10 merchant ships and 2 sloops, each 16-guns and 450-tons: Russian Admiralty informed Alexey about an interesting project, which he found quite promising… [4]
Finally, everybody could feel happy, at least for a while.
______________
[1] Which assumes that he thought that he knew which ideology is correct. 😉
[2] To be completely honest, I have no idea why the clams are supposed to be happy and who and how exactly degree of their happiness had been measured but surely not all of them are happy in exactly the same way (the same goes for Tolstoy’s statement about similarities of all happy families). “The derivation is more likely to come from the fuller version of the phrase, now rarely heard - 'as happy as a clam at high water'. Hide tide is when clams are free from the attentions of predators; surely the happiest of times in the bivalve mollusk world.” … Not that it has a slightest relevance to the subject.
[3] Those from the Black Sea were only on their initial stage and the British “footprint” there was minimal.
[4] This will come dangerously close to ASB but not in the technical/technological terms. 😜
“Unhappy. Unhappy. Very, very, very unhappy”
The Producers
“The purpose of economic theory is to replace the contradictory principles of popular eclecticism with a consistent correct ideology.” [1]
Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises
“Nothing gives rise to such confusion in the state as introduction of the innovations”
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
Seemingly, Emperor Alexey should be happy. But he was not. Actually, he was rather unhappy. This time with the Brits in general (or at least with their Parliament if one wanted to narrow his unhappiness down to a limited group of people) and with the late King Charles II specifically. Even more specifically, he was unhappy with the Navigation Act of 1660 and he even managed to spread his unhappiness to Charles XIII of Sweden, who prior to being explained why he has to be unhappy was almost as happy as a very cheerful clam [2].The Producers
“The purpose of economic theory is to replace the contradictory principles of popular eclecticism with a consistent correct ideology.” [1]
Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises
“Nothing gives rise to such confusion in the state as introduction of the innovations”
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
It was established that all goods from the colonies should first go to English harbors; in the colony goods can be transported only on British ships; goods from Russia and specially named goods from Europe (enumerated articles), such as firewood, salt, tobacco, potash, olive oil, flax, bread, sugar, wine, vinegar, etc., can be imported only into England and only on English ships.
In 1660 there was practically no problem for Russia or Sweden with any if the above because the Russian exports from Archangelsk had been carried by the British and Dutch ships and Sweden had been given certain allowances on bringing into the British ports the goods produced not exactly in Sweden and its provinces: their volumes were relatively small and usually it was something that the Brits needed but did not have a shipping capacity to carry themselves.
In the early XVIII situation did not change much and the problems still could be overlooked but no for long because (a) the Brits had all the shipping capacities they needed (and could easily increase them) and (b) volume and nomenclature of the Baltic and White Sea exports grew dramatically [3]. Which meant that, following the letter of the Act:
(a) Swedish ships could not officially use its ships to carry to the England the Russian goods arriving to its Baltic ports.
(b) Russia could not use its own ships for trading with England.
Then, there were some extra tariffs on the “permitted” goods carried by the non-British ships, requests regarding the ship’s origin, composition of its crew, right of the captains of the British Navy to stop and search the foreign ships, etc.
Of course, it could be argued that for Russia the problem was, to a large degree, rather theoretical than practical. With a single port on the Baltic Sea and one more on the White Sea Russia did not have a considerable merchant fleet on any of these seas and most of what it had was engaged in the intra-Baltic trade. The main development was happening on the Black Sea and so far it was not Britain-oriented. However, this was a matter of principle (and to a certain degree a part of the “sacred Peter’s legacy”): why should the British merchants have more rights toward Russia than other way around?
And when you are spreading the misery around, you’d better do it thoroughly, so Christian VI of Denmark also was brought into the picture as a potential victim: after all, the Danish ships had been engaged in the Baltic trade so why should they be excluded from carrying products of the Baltic League members to whichever destination they want?
In other words, as of here and now, situation looked as the British attempt to screw the Baltic Mafia by fully controlling transportation and distribution of a merchandise. The fact that the system had been created well before the Baltic Mafia came into existence was absolutely irrelevant to the issue. What was relevant is that the existing system was handicapping the growth of the Swedish and Russian naval trade.
The Ambassadors from Stockholm, Copenhagen and Moscow in London delivered a joined statement which declared that the existing situation is unacceptable and, in the case of Russia, plainly offensive to the dignity of His Imperial Majesty and that the offensive items of the Act of 1660 has to be changed to reflect the rights and interests of the Baltic League.
With Britain being just out of the prolonged and expensive War of the Austrian Succession, its PM Henry Pehlam (who was not excessively bellicose by nature) was not looking for one more serious conflict even if this conflict would be a purely economic one. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle had been signed in 1748 leading inexorably to a number of cost-cutting budgetary measures. The Army and Navy spending shrunk from £12 m to £7 million per annum. Pelham promised to reduce interest rates through introduction of a balancing act measure from 4% to 3% by 1757. He also assisted a fund to reduce the National Debt. Getting into a quarrel with the unified front of the strategically important suppliers could be a costly affair: what of they just raise the cost of the goods they were exporting or restrict their nomenclature or a volume of what they are ready to sell? On one hand, at least in theory, their demand may hurt the British shipping industry by depraving it of a part of the merchandise it was carrying but OTOH, shortage of the strategic materials and their increased cost will limit the British ability to expand their merchant fleet (and the Navy as well) also hurting the maritime trade. Britain was already pretty much licked out of the trade inside the Baltic Sea due to the tariffs favorable to the League members.
Of course, the Baltic League also did not want to break with its main customer but, OTOH, while to give that customer a monopolistic right to define the rules of trade? After all, if it comes to the principle, they can start selling the “strategic materials” to the Dutch leaving the Brits with a choice between staying on a principle or buying these goods from the Dutch (at a higher cost).
There was a heated discussion in the Parliament, with the hot heads talking about a war, but eventually the reason prevailed. The offensive part regarding the Russian goods was removed and it was agreed that the Baltic League can be considered as a single “country of origin” for its exports and as far as origin of its ships was involved, they may be built either within the League or in Britain. OTOH, Britain was endured in the stability of the League’s exports. After the “improved” Act was legalized, the British wharfs got from Russia an order for 10 merchant ships and 2 sloops, each 16-guns and 450-tons: Russian Admiralty informed Alexey about an interesting project, which he found quite promising… [4]
Finally, everybody could feel happy, at least for a while.
______________
[1] Which assumes that he thought that he knew which ideology is correct. 😉
[2] To be completely honest, I have no idea why the clams are supposed to be happy and who and how exactly degree of their happiness had been measured but surely not all of them are happy in exactly the same way (the same goes for Tolstoy’s statement about similarities of all happy families). “The derivation is more likely to come from the fuller version of the phrase, now rarely heard - 'as happy as a clam at high water'. Hide tide is when clams are free from the attentions of predators; surely the happiest of times in the bivalve mollusk world.” … Not that it has a slightest relevance to the subject.
[3] Those from the Black Sea were only on their initial stage and the British “footprint” there was minimal.
[4] This will come dangerously close to ASB but not in the technical/technological terms. 😜
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The project - part 1
116. The project - part 1
Intermission. The first Europeans to visit Alaska on August 21, 1732 were members of the team of the bot "St. Gabriel", a small ship that was a part of the 1st Kamchatka Expedition.
Starting from the mid-1730s the Aleutian Islands had been regularly visited by the Russian hunters and traders and in 1735 the first permanent settlement, Unalaska, had been founded there followed by the fort St. Nicholas (Kenai) founded in Alaska in 1741 [2]: the Russian colonists founded this fort in the center of the native village in order to trade fish and furs.
Owner of the biggest company operating in the area, Shelikhov, presented government with a project which would allow to keep the regional hunting and trade under control. Shelikhov's project provided for protection from the uncontrollable local hunting and the whims of Kamchatka administration by transferring his company under the patronage of the Irkutsk (Eastern Siberia) Governor-General, sending a military team, specialists, exiled settlers and missionaries to American settlements, sanctions for the purchase of slaves from native leaders of the American tribes and their resettlement in Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands and also permission to trade with Pacific countries and India. To implement these large-scale plans, Shelikhov requested financial assistance from the treasury in the amount of 500 thousand rubles and insisted on prohibiting foreigners from engaging in trade and fishing activities within the emerging Russian America.
Some of the project’s items looked a little bit on a fantastic side but, in general, the project looked promised and the measures definitely had to be taken to prevent an unlicensed hunting on the valuable sea animals. [3]
Unlike previous merchant associations, the Shelikhov-Golikov company was established in 1745 not for one "voyage", but for a period of 10 years, and it aimed not just to extract furs in the New World, but to establish permanent settlements there. At the same time, the companions sought direct patronage of Irkutsk governors both over their company and over the colonies founded in America. As soon as their proposal was made public it generated a considerable enthusiasm in the local trading community. A number of Irkutsk merchants proposed to unite merchant companies for trade in the area of the Kuril Islands and Japan, and in 1745, as a result of the merger of merchant capital, the creation of a single monopoly company in the Pacific North was initiated. Upon recommendation of the Commission on Commerce, Sailing and Trade in the Pacific the Emperor provided company with the benefits and state assistance it requested, including the provision of a trade monopoly both in the areas already developed by the company and in the territories it will add for up to 20 years. The Russian-American Company (RAC) was officially created.
Obviously, one of the first necessities was to have a fleet and, beside building its ships on the Okhotsk wharf, RAC built a wharf in the newly-founded town, Novo-Archangelsk (Sitka). Predominantly, these were small ships in a range of 30 - 360 tons.
As a side note, while the site had a good harbor, the high humidity resulted in a fast rotting of the wooden buildings. Nonetheless, the town was steadily growing.
The main problem facing the RAC was logistics and it was two-fold:
The end of the Russian-Qing wars gave Russia a border by the Amur and possession of a potentially agricultural area on the Pacific coast. One of the first post-war actions taken by the Governor-General of the Eastern Siberia was to sail down the Amur with a huge caravan carrying the troops and over two thousands settlers (state peasants and Cossacks) to trigger development of the region. A port town, Nicholaevsk-on-Amur had been founded to establish a better naval base than Okhotsk.
_____________
[1] “The ocean passed through the time of the miraculous and mysteries, passed through the time of its strength and power, and has now become a wide big road” Vyshelsavtsev “Notes … from circumnavigation … 1857…”
[2] Actually, in 1741 the Russian traders first time visited the Indian settlement located there. The fort was founded in 1791. Is there a need to remind that IITL we live ahead of the schedule? 😉
[3] The ideas of a wild life preservation were a matter of the future but unlicensed hunting was depriving the government of its legal share of profits.
“Captain!!! Captain!!!
- What?
- The anchor has surfaced!
- Hmmm... A bad omen...”
“The sailor was asked if he had performed any feats at sea.
- Of course, - there was an answer, - one day I saved the entire crew of our battleship.
- Really! How? How?
"I shot the ship's cook," the hero replied modestly.”
“Captain, I have two news!- Boatswain, don't pull, start with a good one.- We don't have a single rat on board!”
Jokes about the sailors
«Океанъ пережилъ время чудеснаго и таин ственнаго, пережилъ и время своей силы и могущества, и сталъ теперь широкою большою дорогой.»
Вышеславцев Очерки … из кругосветного плавания 1857… [1]
- What?
- The anchor has surfaced!
- Hmmm... A bad omen...”
“The sailor was asked if he had performed any feats at sea.
- Of course, - there was an answer, - one day I saved the entire crew of our battleship.
- Really! How? How?
"I shot the ship's cook," the hero replied modestly.”
“Captain, I have two news!- Boatswain, don't pull, start with a good one.- We don't have a single rat on board!”
Jokes about the sailors
«Океанъ пережилъ время чудеснаго и таин ственнаго, пережилъ и время своей силы и могущества, и сталъ теперь широкою большою дорогой.»
Вышеславцев Очерки … из кругосветного плавания 1857… [1]
Intermission. The first Europeans to visit Alaska on August 21, 1732 were members of the team of the bot "St. Gabriel", a small ship that was a part of the 1st Kamchatka Expedition.
Starting from the mid-1730s the Aleutian Islands had been regularly visited by the Russian hunters and traders and in 1735 the first permanent settlement, Unalaska, had been founded there followed by the fort St. Nicholas (Kenai) founded in Alaska in 1741 [2]: the Russian colonists founded this fort in the center of the native village in order to trade fish and furs.
Owner of the biggest company operating in the area, Shelikhov, presented government with a project which would allow to keep the regional hunting and trade under control. Shelikhov's project provided for protection from the uncontrollable local hunting and the whims of Kamchatka administration by transferring his company under the patronage of the Irkutsk (Eastern Siberia) Governor-General, sending a military team, specialists, exiled settlers and missionaries to American settlements, sanctions for the purchase of slaves from native leaders of the American tribes and their resettlement in Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands and also permission to trade with Pacific countries and India. To implement these large-scale plans, Shelikhov requested financial assistance from the treasury in the amount of 500 thousand rubles and insisted on prohibiting foreigners from engaging in trade and fishing activities within the emerging Russian America.
Some of the project’s items looked a little bit on a fantastic side but, in general, the project looked promised and the measures definitely had to be taken to prevent an unlicensed hunting on the valuable sea animals. [3]
Unlike previous merchant associations, the Shelikhov-Golikov company was established in 1745 not for one "voyage", but for a period of 10 years, and it aimed not just to extract furs in the New World, but to establish permanent settlements there. At the same time, the companions sought direct patronage of Irkutsk governors both over their company and over the colonies founded in America. As soon as their proposal was made public it generated a considerable enthusiasm in the local trading community. A number of Irkutsk merchants proposed to unite merchant companies for trade in the area of the Kuril Islands and Japan, and in 1745, as a result of the merger of merchant capital, the creation of a single monopoly company in the Pacific North was initiated. Upon recommendation of the Commission on Commerce, Sailing and Trade in the Pacific the Emperor provided company with the benefits and state assistance it requested, including the provision of a trade monopoly both in the areas already developed by the company and in the territories it will add for up to 20 years. The Russian-American Company (RAC) was officially created.
Obviously, one of the first necessities was to have a fleet and, beside building its ships on the Okhotsk wharf, RAC built a wharf in the newly-founded town, Novo-Archangelsk (Sitka). Predominantly, these were small ships in a range of 30 - 360 tons.
As a side note, while the site had a good harbor, the high humidity resulted in a fast rotting of the wooden buildings. Nonetheless, the town was steadily growing.
The main problem facing the RAC was logistics and it was two-fold:
- With a big part of the controlled territory being ill-suited for the agriculture and especially grain production (bread was the main staple of the Russian diet) and the same going for the Russian settlements on the Northern part of the Asiatic Pacific coast (from Okhotsk to Kamchatka) the supplies had to be carried from the areas outside the RAC jurisdiction (unless it is going to be greatly extended to the South).
- The furs obtained on Kamchatka and Alaska had been very valuable but their transportation to the point of the sale was quite costly: they had to be brought by the sea to Okhotsk and from there carried by land all the way to Kyakhta (by the routes that were neither convenient nor quite safe). Taking into the account a harsh climate and a rather short navigation time, the whole travel could take up to 2 years and even the 600-fold markup received did not always compensate for the dangers to the life and health of the entrepreneurs.
The end of the Russian-Qing wars gave Russia a border by the Amur and possession of a potentially agricultural area on the Pacific coast. One of the first post-war actions taken by the Governor-General of the Eastern Siberia was to sail down the Amur with a huge caravan carrying the troops and over two thousands settlers (state peasants and Cossacks) to trigger development of the region. A port town, Nicholaevsk-on-Amur had been founded to establish a better naval base than Okhotsk.
_____________
[1] “The ocean passed through the time of the miraculous and mysteries, passed through the time of its strength and power, and has now become a wide big road” Vyshelsavtsev “Notes … from circumnavigation … 1857…”
[2] Actually, in 1741 the Russian traders first time visited the Indian settlement located there. The fort was founded in 1791. Is there a need to remind that IITL we live ahead of the schedule? 😉
[3] The ideas of a wild life preservation were a matter of the future but unlicensed hunting was depriving the government of its legal share of profits.
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The Project - part 2. The Captain
117. The Project - part 2. The Captain
Founder of the family, Philip Crusius, was born in 1597 in Eisleben. Having engaged in trade with Estonia, he was shipwrecked, but he was supported by Reval city councelor Mullen. According to family legend, in the 1630s Cruzius performed diplomatic duties: he was a Holstein resident in Estonia, sent on missions to Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich and to Persia. In 1644, F. Crusius accepted Swedish citizenship; on March 9, 1649, the decree of Queen Christina elevated him to noble dignity under the name von Krusenstiern with the assignment of a personal coat of arms.
In 1659, he acquired the Haggud estate, which was considered one of the smallest and poorest in Estonia. By the end of his life (in 1676), he had reached the rank of assessor of the Reval Burg Hericht and was even the Swedish governor of Estonia; he became famous for clarifying the book of the Estonian nobility and the land cadastre. His grandson son had eight children the younger of which was Adam Johann. The Krusenstern estate of Estonia was not prosperous: the father of the family was forced to be hired to manage other estates.
For the younger sons of the Baltic nobility, especially the poor families, military service was something of a traditional occupation and the options were limited to choosing branch of the service and the employer. Swedish “market” was reasonably limited and going to one of the Russian military schools making further career there was the most popular choice both because, due to the friendly relations established in 1700, the young Swedish nobles were accepted on the same conditions as the Russians and because Russia was providing bigger opportunities for the further career than any other European country. What was unusual, was opting for the naval career chosen by young Adam Johann. He applied and was accepted into the Naval Cadet corps in Kronstadt where at that time he was the only Baltic German.
In itself, training in a navy institution was more difficult, and career prospects were more problematic than in the army military schools and this situation existed not only in Russia. The building was poorly heated, there were many broken windows, the cadets were poorly fed, underwear and bed linen were rarely changed. The relationship was dominated by rudeness, mentors most often addressed pupils by nicknames. Everyday life was regulated by the senior cadets, “the garde-marines” [1] ; moreover, each garde-marine had an "adjutant" from the younger cadets, obliged to serve him and tacitly endure reproaches and beatings; in return, the elder was obliged to help the younger in performing educational tasks. Classes were divided into two blocks: morning (from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.), including mathematics and navigation, and evening (from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.) dedicated to foreign languages. On Saturdays, instead of evening classes, there was an analysis of the weekly successes of the pupils, according to which penalties and corporal punishment were imposed.
When Adam Johann von Krusenstern joined the Naval Cadet Corps, he was two years older than most of his classmates; and as a result he was probably less bullied. While in the Corps, he Russified his name and has since been called "Ivan Fedorovich." His main comrade was Yuri Lisyansky, who was younger in age, but entered the corps two years earlier. According to his memoirs, Kruzenshtern was "focused, serious, closed, not talkative, stiff" and rarely spent his leisure time in the company of his comrades. The teachers characterized him as “promising little German”.
Training in the cadet corps lasted for Ivan Kruzenshtern three and a half years out of the six required: in 1712 142 cadets were made to midshipmen ahead of schedule due to the beginning of the BFW (1712 - 14). Soon Ivan was promoted to midshipman and assigned to the 74-gun ship "Mstislav" under the command of G. I. Mulovsky, who by that time was fully prepared a round-the-world voyage. [2] According to indirect data, it can be assumed that Kruzenshtern aroused Mulovsky's interest and had the opportunity to discuss with him practical issues of long-range ocean voyages. After the war “Mstislav” was staying in Kronstadt passing through the extensive repairs and Krusenstern, promoted to the lieutenant, had enough time for self-education, especially perfecting his French, English and Latin. As he wrote later, “In England, you can't claim education at all without knowing Latin”. War of the Polish Succession did not involve major naval operations but in 1738 the Russian-British treaty, which provided for the training of Russian officers on ships of the Royal Navy was renewed. Initially, 12 interns were planned to be sent, but then the group was expanded to 16 people including Krusenstern and Yuri Lisyansky. Kruzenstern went to Portsmouth on the frigate Thetis under the command of Captain Cochrane. During the War of Austrian Succession the ship was operating from Canada to the Caribbean hunting for the French warships. Kruzenshtern was the only one on board fluent in French and accumulated 100 pounds of the prize money [3], which he distributed to ordinary sailors. Judging by his further behavior in the English and Russian service, it was a conscious manifestation of character traits. In 1748 Krusenstern was hired to serve at the East India Company convoy ship which allowed him to visit India and, eventually, China.
In Canton he first of all observed the state of trade and witnessed the arrival of an American 100-ton brig from Alaska, which brought a large cargo of furs worth 50,000 piastres. The journey took about 5 months, while Russian furs obtained in North America were often delivered to the Chinese border in two years and the 600-fold markup received did not compensate for the danger to the life and health of the entrepreneur. Returning to England on the merchant ship Bombay Castle (at the invitation of its captain Hamilton), Kruzenshtern formalized his thoughts into a holistic project to supply Russian colonies in Kamchatka and Alaska by sea from St. Petersburg with the resale of furs in the ports of China. The consequence of the new trading scheme, according to Kruzenshtern, was supposed to be liberation from intermediaries and Russia's competition with England, Holland and Portugal. To do this, it was necessary to continuously carry out round-the-world voyages and dramatically expand the acceptance into the Marine Corps, making it available not only to the nobility.
From Krusenstern’s project: “The purpose of the expedition is to deliver the cargo prepared to support the Russian-American villages in their development of trade and industry; to take and bring customs cargo here; to make customs cargo on the same return route, to go to the Chinese port of Canton, to develop the experience of exchanging fur goods for Chinese works; that between the achievements of these enterprises in the north-eastern part of Russian America, if time and circumstances allow, to learn more about the islands there and the mother's shore of Russia beyond 55 degrees north latitude, and to obtain information in the reasoning of trade during this long circumnavigation travel on what can serve in favor of our homeland” [4].
Arriving in the autumn of 1748 through Cape Town and St. Helena to England, Krusenstern learned that the Emperor Alexey had issued an order through the Admiralty to return all Russian naval officers who served in the British Navy. In Alexey’s expressed opinion, if in 10 years an officer did not learn everything he needed, he’ll never learn it. So Krusenstern and his colleagues had to get back to Russia while a new group of the young officers would be sent to replace them.
Upon his return Krusenstern was promoted to captain-lieutenant, made a frigate commander and got married [5]. Kruzenshtern's manuscript in 26 pages reached the vice-president of the Admiralty N. S. Mordvinov who was just in a process of planning a sea expedition to Kamchatka. Kruzenshtern put in the first place Russia's commercial interests, "from which the country was excluded "by its own omission"". Therefore, he offered full state support for large private entrepreneurship for the development of navigation in the Pacific Ocean, relying on ports in North-West America and Kamchatka. This made it possible to weaken the positions of England and France in the fur trade and strengthen Russia's position in China. Goods received in the Far East would be delivered to St. Petersburg by sea, not through Kyakhta. In the future, this promised Russia's entry into the markets of Southeast Asia and India and even the creation of the Russian East India Company.
The project was personally approved by the Emperor who put Krusenstern in charge of its implementation causing a family crisis: Ivan Fedorovich had to leave his wife and newborn son for an indefinite period, and without guarantees that he would return alive at all. The final agreement was facilitated by the emperor's decision to pay the Krusenstern family 1500 rubles annually for 12 years. [6]
Two ships had been ordered in Britain and as a commander of the second one Krusenstern choose his old friend Yuri Lisyansky. Lisyansky and ship master Razumov left for Britain to receive two sloops built for the expedition. They were named “Nadezda” (Надежда) and “Neva”.
Expenses for the expedition had been split between the state Treasury and RAC. There were typical preparation issues including proposal to form the crews out of the British sailors but even Kruzenshtern, who was known as an Anglophile, opposed the idea and insisted on the use of only Russian military sailors, strictly on a voluntary basis and with the payment of increased salaries for the entire duration of the expedition (120 rubles per year). His authority slightly increased when he was awarded the Order of St. George of the 4th degree (for 18 maritime campaigns) [7]
Kruzenshtern conducted a personal interview with each of the sailors and officers. Officers were personal acquaintances of the captain or his relatives: von Romberg and von Levenstern were colleagues and participated in an English internship, doctor Espenberg was the family doctor of the Krusensterns, Baron von Bellingshausen became one of the captain's most successful students, 13- and 15-year-old cadets Moritz and Otto von Kotsebu were his wife’s relatives. The captain said goodbye to his wife in Kronstadt, where she specially arrived just before departure.
[In OTL a big handicap for the expedition was decision of Alexander I to kill few birds with one stone. What was intended as a purely merchant expedition also became a diplomatic one and Krusenstern was saddled with Count Rezanov traveling as an ambassador to Japan. Both of them received instructions which did not make it clear who is having responsibility for what. To add to the problem, the Count was an a—hole with the inflated self-esteem and more arrogance than brains. He spent a considerable effort to enforce his preeminence in the expedition but only after it sailed and Krusenstern could not refuse to led it. During the expedition, Rezanov and Kruzenshtern quarreled so much that they communicated only with the help of notes. After another scandal, Rezanov closed himself in the cabin (which he shared with Kruzenshtern) and did not leave it again until his arrival in Petropavlovsk. Here Rezanov wrote a complaint to the governor of the Kamchatka region Pavel Ivanovich Koshelev against the “rebel” crew and demanded the execution of Kruzenshtern. Kruzenshtern agreed to go on trial, but immediately, before the end of the expedition, thereby disrupting Rezanov's mission. The Governor-General had a hard time reconciling them.
Needless to say that mission to Japan was one more Alexander’s stupidity (Japanese already informed the Russian officer who visited Japan earlier that they don’t want any diplomatic relations with Russia) made worse by Rezanov’s incompetence. After wasting 6 months at Nagasaki the mission had to leave with nothing. In Petropavlovsk, Rezanov learned that Kruzenshtern was awarded the Order of St. Anna II degree, and he was granted only a snuffbox with diamonds and exempted from further participation in the first round-the-world expedition, with an order to conduct an inspection of Russian settlements in Alaska.
In this mission he finally demonstrated some skills. Rezanov bought the vessel "Yunona" with a cargo of productsfrom merchant John Wolf and gave them to the settlers. But these products would not be enough until spring, so Rezanov ordered the construction of another vessel, "Avos". After construction, he sent these two ships to the south, to California, for food supplies and to establish trade relations with the Spaniards who owned California at that time.
In six weeks of stay, Rezanov completely conquered Governor of Upper California Jose Arillaga and Commandant of Fort San Francisco Jose Dario Argüello.
Here the romantic part starts: At this time, he met fifteen-year-old Concepción Argüello (Conchita), the daughter of the commandant of San Francisco. After a while, he proposed marriage to her. He was 42 years old. Her parents took her to confession, persuaded her to refuse, but her determination eventually calmed everyone down. And they decided to leave the decision to the Pope, but agreed to the engagement. After that, products in such quantities began to be brought to “Yunona” that there was no more place on the ship. Immediately after the betrothal, Rezanov went back. He expected to ask for the emperor's petition to the Pope for consent to the marriage. According to his calculations, it should have taken two years. Conchita assured him that she would wait.
By the time Rezanov reached Okhotsk the autumn thaw began, and it was impossible to go further. But he went on a "difficult road by horseback riding." Moving over the rivers, it fell into the water several times because of thin ice. I had to spend a few nights right in the snow. As a result, he caught a cold and lay in fever and unconsciousness for 12 days. As soon as he woke up, he set off again.On the way, he lost consciousness, fell off his horse and hit his head hard. He was taken to Krasnoyarsk, where he died.
Now, the tear-jerking part: Conchita remained faithful to Rezanov. According to legend, she went to the cape every morning for more than a year, sat on stones and looked at the ocean. Now there is a support for the Golden Gate bridge at this place. She learned about Rezanov's death from a letter which A. A. Baranov sent to her father. However, she didn't get married. At the end of her life, she went to the monastery, where she died. There are at least two poems dedicated to this event.
IITL the expedition has a single well-established purpose and a clear chain of command.
]
______________
[1] rank in the Russian navy equal to the non-commissioned officer (“low rank” in a contemporary terminology).
[2] In OTL this was the case in 1787 but after Mulovsky had been killed during the Russian-Swedish war the project was abandoned.
[3] Not quite sure how this was related to his knowledge of French. Perhaps some extras for the translation services?
[4] From Krusenstern’s plan
[5] His wife, Juliane Charlotte von Taube, received an excellent education and even understood Kant's philosophy. The last otem, IMO, may explain Krusenstern’s eagerness to go upon the circumnavigation. 😂
[6] Perhaps Krusenstern expected that by that time his wife will forget at least some of Kant’s philosophy?
[7] For a while, St. George could be awarded not for the battle performance but for the service (25 years of service as an officer in the army or 18 navigation campaigns). Later, St. Vladimir of the 4th degree was used for this purpose.
“Python: I have a thought and I’m thinking it”
“38 parrots”
“The sovereign determined that I myself must be the executor of my plan”
Krusenstern
“I did not try to impress with my mental abilities … the only thing that I wanted was to benefit the state.”
“It is hard to be a god”
Ива́н Фёдорович Крузенште́рн, А́дам Ио́ганн фон Кру́зенштерн (Adam Johann von Krusenstern).“38 parrots”
“The sovereign determined that I myself must be the executor of my plan”
Krusenstern
“I did not try to impress with my mental abilities … the only thing that I wanted was to benefit the state.”
“It is hard to be a god”
Founder of the family, Philip Crusius, was born in 1597 in Eisleben. Having engaged in trade with Estonia, he was shipwrecked, but he was supported by Reval city councelor Mullen. According to family legend, in the 1630s Cruzius performed diplomatic duties: he was a Holstein resident in Estonia, sent on missions to Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich and to Persia. In 1644, F. Crusius accepted Swedish citizenship; on March 9, 1649, the decree of Queen Christina elevated him to noble dignity under the name von Krusenstiern with the assignment of a personal coat of arms.
In 1659, he acquired the Haggud estate, which was considered one of the smallest and poorest in Estonia. By the end of his life (in 1676), he had reached the rank of assessor of the Reval Burg Hericht and was even the Swedish governor of Estonia; he became famous for clarifying the book of the Estonian nobility and the land cadastre. His grandson son had eight children the younger of which was Adam Johann. The Krusenstern estate of Estonia was not prosperous: the father of the family was forced to be hired to manage other estates.
For the younger sons of the Baltic nobility, especially the poor families, military service was something of a traditional occupation and the options were limited to choosing branch of the service and the employer. Swedish “market” was reasonably limited and going to one of the Russian military schools making further career there was the most popular choice both because, due to the friendly relations established in 1700, the young Swedish nobles were accepted on the same conditions as the Russians and because Russia was providing bigger opportunities for the further career than any other European country. What was unusual, was opting for the naval career chosen by young Adam Johann. He applied and was accepted into the Naval Cadet corps in Kronstadt where at that time he was the only Baltic German.
In itself, training in a navy institution was more difficult, and career prospects were more problematic than in the army military schools and this situation existed not only in Russia. The building was poorly heated, there were many broken windows, the cadets were poorly fed, underwear and bed linen were rarely changed. The relationship was dominated by rudeness, mentors most often addressed pupils by nicknames. Everyday life was regulated by the senior cadets, “the garde-marines” [1] ; moreover, each garde-marine had an "adjutant" from the younger cadets, obliged to serve him and tacitly endure reproaches and beatings; in return, the elder was obliged to help the younger in performing educational tasks. Classes were divided into two blocks: morning (from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.), including mathematics and navigation, and evening (from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.) dedicated to foreign languages. On Saturdays, instead of evening classes, there was an analysis of the weekly successes of the pupils, according to which penalties and corporal punishment were imposed.
When Adam Johann von Krusenstern joined the Naval Cadet Corps, he was two years older than most of his classmates; and as a result he was probably less bullied. While in the Corps, he Russified his name and has since been called "Ivan Fedorovich." His main comrade was Yuri Lisyansky, who was younger in age, but entered the corps two years earlier. According to his memoirs, Kruzenshtern was "focused, serious, closed, not talkative, stiff" and rarely spent his leisure time in the company of his comrades. The teachers characterized him as “promising little German”.
Training in the cadet corps lasted for Ivan Kruzenshtern three and a half years out of the six required: in 1712 142 cadets were made to midshipmen ahead of schedule due to the beginning of the BFW (1712 - 14). Soon Ivan was promoted to midshipman and assigned to the 74-gun ship "Mstislav" under the command of G. I. Mulovsky, who by that time was fully prepared a round-the-world voyage. [2] According to indirect data, it can be assumed that Kruzenshtern aroused Mulovsky's interest and had the opportunity to discuss with him practical issues of long-range ocean voyages. After the war “Mstislav” was staying in Kronstadt passing through the extensive repairs and Krusenstern, promoted to the lieutenant, had enough time for self-education, especially perfecting his French, English and Latin. As he wrote later, “In England, you can't claim education at all without knowing Latin”. War of the Polish Succession did not involve major naval operations but in 1738 the Russian-British treaty, which provided for the training of Russian officers on ships of the Royal Navy was renewed. Initially, 12 interns were planned to be sent, but then the group was expanded to 16 people including Krusenstern and Yuri Lisyansky. Kruzenstern went to Portsmouth on the frigate Thetis under the command of Captain Cochrane. During the War of Austrian Succession the ship was operating from Canada to the Caribbean hunting for the French warships. Kruzenshtern was the only one on board fluent in French and accumulated 100 pounds of the prize money [3], which he distributed to ordinary sailors. Judging by his further behavior in the English and Russian service, it was a conscious manifestation of character traits. In 1748 Krusenstern was hired to serve at the East India Company convoy ship which allowed him to visit India and, eventually, China.
In Canton he first of all observed the state of trade and witnessed the arrival of an American 100-ton brig from Alaska, which brought a large cargo of furs worth 50,000 piastres. The journey took about 5 months, while Russian furs obtained in North America were often delivered to the Chinese border in two years and the 600-fold markup received did not compensate for the danger to the life and health of the entrepreneur. Returning to England on the merchant ship Bombay Castle (at the invitation of its captain Hamilton), Kruzenshtern formalized his thoughts into a holistic project to supply Russian colonies in Kamchatka and Alaska by sea from St. Petersburg with the resale of furs in the ports of China. The consequence of the new trading scheme, according to Kruzenshtern, was supposed to be liberation from intermediaries and Russia's competition with England, Holland and Portugal. To do this, it was necessary to continuously carry out round-the-world voyages and dramatically expand the acceptance into the Marine Corps, making it available not only to the nobility.
From Krusenstern’s project: “The purpose of the expedition is to deliver the cargo prepared to support the Russian-American villages in their development of trade and industry; to take and bring customs cargo here; to make customs cargo on the same return route, to go to the Chinese port of Canton, to develop the experience of exchanging fur goods for Chinese works; that between the achievements of these enterprises in the north-eastern part of Russian America, if time and circumstances allow, to learn more about the islands there and the mother's shore of Russia beyond 55 degrees north latitude, and to obtain information in the reasoning of trade during this long circumnavigation travel on what can serve in favor of our homeland” [4].
Arriving in the autumn of 1748 through Cape Town and St. Helena to England, Krusenstern learned that the Emperor Alexey had issued an order through the Admiralty to return all Russian naval officers who served in the British Navy. In Alexey’s expressed opinion, if in 10 years an officer did not learn everything he needed, he’ll never learn it. So Krusenstern and his colleagues had to get back to Russia while a new group of the young officers would be sent to replace them.
Upon his return Krusenstern was promoted to captain-lieutenant, made a frigate commander and got married [5]. Kruzenshtern's manuscript in 26 pages reached the vice-president of the Admiralty N. S. Mordvinov who was just in a process of planning a sea expedition to Kamchatka. Kruzenshtern put in the first place Russia's commercial interests, "from which the country was excluded "by its own omission"". Therefore, he offered full state support for large private entrepreneurship for the development of navigation in the Pacific Ocean, relying on ports in North-West America and Kamchatka. This made it possible to weaken the positions of England and France in the fur trade and strengthen Russia's position in China. Goods received in the Far East would be delivered to St. Petersburg by sea, not through Kyakhta. In the future, this promised Russia's entry into the markets of Southeast Asia and India and even the creation of the Russian East India Company.
The project was personally approved by the Emperor who put Krusenstern in charge of its implementation causing a family crisis: Ivan Fedorovich had to leave his wife and newborn son for an indefinite period, and without guarantees that he would return alive at all. The final agreement was facilitated by the emperor's decision to pay the Krusenstern family 1500 rubles annually for 12 years. [6]
Two ships had been ordered in Britain and as a commander of the second one Krusenstern choose his old friend Yuri Lisyansky. Lisyansky and ship master Razumov left for Britain to receive two sloops built for the expedition. They were named “Nadezda” (Надежда) and “Neva”.
Expenses for the expedition had been split between the state Treasury and RAC. There were typical preparation issues including proposal to form the crews out of the British sailors but even Kruzenshtern, who was known as an Anglophile, opposed the idea and insisted on the use of only Russian military sailors, strictly on a voluntary basis and with the payment of increased salaries for the entire duration of the expedition (120 rubles per year). His authority slightly increased when he was awarded the Order of St. George of the 4th degree (for 18 maritime campaigns) [7]
Kruzenshtern conducted a personal interview with each of the sailors and officers. Officers were personal acquaintances of the captain or his relatives: von Romberg and von Levenstern were colleagues and participated in an English internship, doctor Espenberg was the family doctor of the Krusensterns, Baron von Bellingshausen became one of the captain's most successful students, 13- and 15-year-old cadets Moritz and Otto von Kotsebu were his wife’s relatives. The captain said goodbye to his wife in Kronstadt, where she specially arrived just before departure.
[In OTL a big handicap for the expedition was decision of Alexander I to kill few birds with one stone. What was intended as a purely merchant expedition also became a diplomatic one and Krusenstern was saddled with Count Rezanov traveling as an ambassador to Japan. Both of them received instructions which did not make it clear who is having responsibility for what. To add to the problem, the Count was an a—hole with the inflated self-esteem and more arrogance than brains. He spent a considerable effort to enforce his preeminence in the expedition but only after it sailed and Krusenstern could not refuse to led it. During the expedition, Rezanov and Kruzenshtern quarreled so much that they communicated only with the help of notes. After another scandal, Rezanov closed himself in the cabin (which he shared with Kruzenshtern) and did not leave it again until his arrival in Petropavlovsk. Here Rezanov wrote a complaint to the governor of the Kamchatka region Pavel Ivanovich Koshelev against the “rebel” crew and demanded the execution of Kruzenshtern. Kruzenshtern agreed to go on trial, but immediately, before the end of the expedition, thereby disrupting Rezanov's mission. The Governor-General had a hard time reconciling them.
Needless to say that mission to Japan was one more Alexander’s stupidity (Japanese already informed the Russian officer who visited Japan earlier that they don’t want any diplomatic relations with Russia) made worse by Rezanov’s incompetence. After wasting 6 months at Nagasaki the mission had to leave with nothing. In Petropavlovsk, Rezanov learned that Kruzenshtern was awarded the Order of St. Anna II degree, and he was granted only a snuffbox with diamonds and exempted from further participation in the first round-the-world expedition, with an order to conduct an inspection of Russian settlements in Alaska.
In this mission he finally demonstrated some skills. Rezanov bought the vessel "Yunona" with a cargo of productsfrom merchant John Wolf and gave them to the settlers. But these products would not be enough until spring, so Rezanov ordered the construction of another vessel, "Avos". After construction, he sent these two ships to the south, to California, for food supplies and to establish trade relations with the Spaniards who owned California at that time.
In six weeks of stay, Rezanov completely conquered Governor of Upper California Jose Arillaga and Commandant of Fort San Francisco Jose Dario Argüello.
Here the romantic part starts: At this time, he met fifteen-year-old Concepción Argüello (Conchita), the daughter of the commandant of San Francisco. After a while, he proposed marriage to her. He was 42 years old. Her parents took her to confession, persuaded her to refuse, but her determination eventually calmed everyone down. And they decided to leave the decision to the Pope, but agreed to the engagement. After that, products in such quantities began to be brought to “Yunona” that there was no more place on the ship. Immediately after the betrothal, Rezanov went back. He expected to ask for the emperor's petition to the Pope for consent to the marriage. According to his calculations, it should have taken two years. Conchita assured him that she would wait.
By the time Rezanov reached Okhotsk the autumn thaw began, and it was impossible to go further. But he went on a "difficult road by horseback riding." Moving over the rivers, it fell into the water several times because of thin ice. I had to spend a few nights right in the snow. As a result, he caught a cold and lay in fever and unconsciousness for 12 days. As soon as he woke up, he set off again.On the way, he lost consciousness, fell off his horse and hit his head hard. He was taken to Krasnoyarsk, where he died.
Now, the tear-jerking part: Conchita remained faithful to Rezanov. According to legend, she went to the cape every morning for more than a year, sat on stones and looked at the ocean. Now there is a support for the Golden Gate bridge at this place. She learned about Rezanov's death from a letter which A. A. Baranov sent to her father. However, she didn't get married. At the end of her life, she went to the monastery, where she died. There are at least two poems dedicated to this event.
IITL the expedition has a single well-established purpose and a clear chain of command.
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[1] rank in the Russian navy equal to the non-commissioned officer (“low rank” in a contemporary terminology).
[2] In OTL this was the case in 1787 but after Mulovsky had been killed during the Russian-Swedish war the project was abandoned.
[3] Not quite sure how this was related to his knowledge of French. Perhaps some extras for the translation services?
[4] From Krusenstern’s plan
[5] His wife, Juliane Charlotte von Taube, received an excellent education and even understood Kant's philosophy. The last otem, IMO, may explain Krusenstern’s eagerness to go upon the circumnavigation. 😂
[6] Perhaps Krusenstern expected that by that time his wife will forget at least some of Kant’s philosophy?
[7] For a while, St. George could be awarded not for the battle performance but for the service (25 years of service as an officer in the army or 18 navigation campaigns). Later, St. Vladimir of the 4th degree was used for this purpose.
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Is this quote an AH in itself? Because IOTL the cartoon is "38 Parrots", and the title character is Boa/Удав. Not 39 and Python, though Python makes sense as the boas in (fictional) Africa are misplaced wildlife as it comes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/38_Parrots For these interested in Russian/Soviet popculture.