Part IV: The Twilight of the Czars
'The best generals I have known were . . . stupid or absent-minded men . . . . Not only does a good army commander not need any special qualities, on the contrary he needs the absence of the highest and best human attributes-love, poetry, tenderness, and philosophic inquiring doubt. He should be limited, firmly convinced that what he is doing is very important (otherwise he will not have sufficient patience), and only then will he be a brave leader. God forbid that he should be humane, should love, or pity, or think of what is just and unjust.' Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)
Peter the Great's death leads to a power struggle in Moscow that reveals the emerging primacy of the officer corps, which from this point forward comes to play a key role behind the scenes in choosing Russia's ruler. Peter had ordered his only son Alexis tortured to death in prison on suspicion of treason. His second wife Catherine I ascends the throne but dies almost immediately. Peter II, Alexis' son, then assumes power and lasts for three years. He is ousted by the Palace Guards in 1730 and replaced by Anna Ivanovna, a despotic duchess from Riga who fills the court with her Prussian protégés. Russia under the Czarina Anna is adrift in more ways than one, as massive migrations of peasants flow into Siberian settlements.
Russian foreign policy has a momentum of its own, however, as merchants and senior officers continue to deepen their influence in Poland and northern Europe. When the pro-Russian August III ascends the Polish throne, he faces a nearly hopeless situation. Turkey has rebuilt its army, and the Prusso-Austrian rivalry has both states looking for additional territory. August III realizes that Poland's only chance of avoiding a partition and liberating Polish populations living under Turkish occupation is to join forces with the Russians. In 1735, the Polish king swears fealty to the Russian crown and his five provinces are incorporated into the Russian Empire.
Anna's death in 1740 leaves another power vacuum that is temporarily filled by Ivan IV, the czarina's infant grandnephew. The Palace Guards then install Elizabeth Petrovna, Peter the Great's youngest daughter, on the throne. Elizabeth I proves to be a capable leader, and she assumes power just in time for Europe's first major war in 15 years.
The first domino falls in Dublin. In 1738, Irish insurgents declare independence from England and immediately ally France. The crisis causes King George II to drop out of his alliance with the Dutch in order to avoid foreign entanglements while focusing on the internal crisis. The Netherlands join the alliance with Sweden, Turkey and the Hansa. Meanwhile, the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa has revived her country's old alliance with Spain, which is involved in a bitter rivalry with the Dutch in the Americas. Turkey and Sweden have prepared their armies for an offensive, and Russo-Polish forces are primed for a conflict together with their Austrian allies. All of Europe is itching for a war, and in 1741, Austria sets the train in motion by invading (and eventually annexing) the province of Holland with its army in Munster. Russian forces bleed a Swedish offensive dry without serious difficulty as the Polish army goes on the offensive. Russo-Polish forces storm Turkish fortifications in Lithuania and force the Turks to cede territory that links Poland with Russia proper in 1745.
A period of quiet follows in which Moscow consolidates control over its new territory, replaces losses and builds up manufacturing capacity in Poland's textile-producing regions. By the middle of the century, the Russian treasury is taking in 3400 ducats per year, and preparations are soon ready for another war with the Turko-Swedish alliance. When Turkey gets itself entangled in a war with Persia, Elizabeth I opts to declare war on Sweden without calling on Austria for assistance. The Turks and Swedes avoid an engagement on the battlefield with the powerful Russian army, leaving their fortifications open to the enemy. Within three years, the Poles are able to liberate Krakow and Podlasia from Turkey, while the Russians take Kurland and Karelia from Sweden.
The last war reveals that the religious diversity of the Russian Empire is making it extremely difficult to keep all of its subjects happy. The Roman Catholics in Poland, Muslims in the Crimea, Orthodox Christians in Russia and Lutherans in the Baltic have diverse and conflicting loyalties that inevitably lead to uprisings in times of war. In 1757, revolts in the Crimea and Estonia erupt that take nearly five years to fully put down.
Elizabeth's death in 1762 brings Grand Duke Peter III of Holstein to power. Like many of the Germans who now inhabit the Russian court, he is an admirer of Prussia's Frederick the Great. This sentiment is mirrored in the Russian general staff and merchant classes. However, Russia has maintained its alliance with Austria for practical reasons. In practice, both German rivals have received equal amounts of subsidies, an arrangement that has averted a war for over seventy years. Peter III is an unstable man who makes no secret of his contempt for his Russian subjects and begins to question Moscow's support for Austria. The Palace Guard murders the czar after just six months in power and places his wife Catherine on the throne.
The woman who eventually receives the questionable title Catherine the Great is a German princess from Polish Stettin and an admirer of the French Enlightenment. She proves to be a talented leader due in large part to the quality of her advisors, who in many cases are also her lovers. Catherine II consolidates her power by courting the nobility. She exempts nobles from military service and expands their authority over the serfs. In 1766, these measures trigger massive revolts in the Crimea and Siberia led by the Cossack hetman Yemelyan Pugachev. Pugachev is eventually hunted down and executed, but the turmoil causes Russia's enemies to intervene. In 1769, Turkey sends a large army into Azerbaijan that is utterly annihilated by Field Marshall Suvarov. The Russian army then liberates the rich Orthodox Christian provinces of Georgia and Armenia.
Suvarov's achievements against the Turks and rebellious Cossacks catapult him to a position of great power and influence in the imperial court, above all in the Palace Guards. The Empress even takes him as a lover. Meanwhile, many in Moscow are beginning to grumble about Catherine's flirtation with French liberalism. In 1774, she dies in her sleep under suspicious circumstances. There are whispers of a rigged autopsy that ignores evidence of strangulation, presumably by someone intimate with the Empress…
The real power in Russia is exercised by Field Marshall Suvarov via a regency that lasts for over twenty years. Admiral Orlov, the Russian commander of the Polish navy in Danzig, rises to similar prominence in that country by virtue of his connections with the Russian commercial syndicates. A third military authority arises in the person of Colonel Baranov, commander of Russian forces in Asia. Baranov subdues most of the tribes in the Far East, and the Empire is extended beyond the Amur River to the Chinese border. Baranov later leads an expedition to North America that enables Moscow to stake a claim to the rich gold reserves in the Yukon.
In 1778, Russian agents provoke a court scandal in Stockholm that leads to a declaration of war. The war proves to be a showcase of Russian military superiority. Turkey is forced to give Pripet and Galicia to the Poles, and Sweden cedes its Finnish center of manufacturing in Nyland. Colonel Baranov, however, perishes in battle against the Sweden's Dutch allies, who control much of the north American west coast. Nonetheless, the Russians succeed in razing and replacing Dutch trading posts down the coast to what is today Seattle.
The Russian military's quality and professionalism begins to attract officers from many parts of the world. In 1780, a British American subject by the name of John Paul Jones enters Russian service as the admiral of the Black Sea fleet. A shipyard is constructed in the Crimea and Admiral Jones prepares to challenge the Turks' naval dominance of the region.
Admiral Jones and his counterparts in the army do not have to wait long for another major European conflict. This time, the first domino is tipped by the young and impulsive French King Louis XVI. Louis is attempting to curb the power of the upstart parliament while struggling with mounting debts. By 1782, he has massed a force of some 200,000 men on France's border with the Spanish lowlands. He declares war in the hope of territorial gain and indemnities that will ease the crown's financial problems. The enlightened King Carlos III had allowed Spain's alliance to lapse with Austria, and the Spaniards in central Europe soon found themselves bracing against a deluge.
Initial French successes encourage other states to jump on the bandwagon. In 1783, Austria's ally Cleve attempts to seize Spanish-occupied German territory, and surprisingly, Austria joins the war against the Spanish. The Austro-Russian alliance now includes Persia, and in 1785 Turkey declares war on its neighbor. This brings the Turko-Dutch-Swedish alliance once again into conflict with Russia, and the Russian military machine springs into action. When the dust settles, the Congress of Munster assigns the spoils of war. Poland receives the wealthy province of Carpathia from Turkey. France annexes Hessen from Spain and receives a large indemnity, but Spain is allowed to annex Cleve.
The Austrians come away empty handed. In 1787, Emperor Franz II defaults on his debts, a large portion of which are owed to Russian banks. A scandal ensues that causes Marshall Suvarov to lose favor, and the talented civilian minister of state Kuzma eventually assumes the leadership. In any case, Moscow is extremely angry with the Austrians. In 1788, the Russian ambassador in Berlin delicately suggests that Russia would not object if Prussian forces were to seize Austrian property in Silesia and see that it arrives in the hands of Vienna's creditors. Prussia initially succeeds in occupying Silesia, and much property is sent north to Danzig. But the Austrians quickly recover and eventually force Prussia to surrender Saxony.
As the revolution begins to devour France in 1792, two huge alliances have emerged in Europe. The Dutch have ousted the Portuguese from India, making the Netherlands Europe's wealthiest state. The Dutch organize a coalition including Sweden, the Hansa, Turkey and England in order to maintain a balance of power on the continent. Russian financial support motivates some reconciliation between the Austrian emperor and Prussia's Friedrich Wilhelm II, and both states are brought into Russia's alliance with Denmark and Persia. The alliance system acknowledges Russia as one of Europe's primary powerbrokers.
In 1792, Russia is Europe's second wealthiest empire and by far the most powerful militarily. The treasury's annual income totals 4200 ducats, a 260% increase from the beginning of Peter the Great's reign. About half of this revenue comes from crushing taxes on the Empire's huge population of peasants and craftsmen. Another 30% derives from trade and the remainder comes from industrial activity. In fact, Russia has become the world's leading producer of furs, grain, salt, naval stores, wool and iron. In the space of two hundred years, the Russian state has emerged from turmoil and humiliation to become a European superpower of unrivaled stature.
'To choose one's victims, to prepare one's plan minutely, to slake an implacable vengeance, and then to go to bed . . . there is nothing sweeter in the world.' Josef Stalin (1879-1953)
