Russian Foreign Policy

Crimean War
1. crisis of 48-49:
  1. main focus of Nicholas 1 on domestic order. concerned with keeping order, foreign policy subordinate to keeping order in domestic Russia
  2. the 1833 crisis and Russian troops at border of Constantinople Russian restraint to avoid a european war
  3. growing tension between Britain and Russia over the region
  4. crisis of 1848 in France and spreading instability across Europe
  5. Russian troops invade Hungary in 1849 to help defeat rebellion against vienna
2. geopolitics of the crisis: why Russia had an interest in the Southern tier: the black sea and symbolism of Constantinople (home of orthodoxy)
3. what the British wanted: concern about India and rise of Russia as a naval power in the med.
4. What the french wanted: the cover of the holy places
5. blundering into war: Metrichov = mistake. persuaded France to back of holy places, and then claimed that Russia should protect the holy places- political blunder
6. the Russian defeat:
  1. quiet first year
  2. Anglo-french naval domination
  3. seige of sevastopol (1854)
  4. possibility of austrian intervention
  5. paris settlement of 1856: restrictions on Russian warships passing out of black sea.
  6. impact on the movement to reform: serfdom etc. very hard for either side to win, but symbolic defeat for Russia because cannot win on owns soil
7. Post crimean foreign policy:
  1. avoiding confrontations, rebuilding ties with france
  2. pushing on to south
  3. complex diplomacy: concern in West over the suppression of the polish rebellion
  4. emergence of pan-slavism in Russian society during 1870s
Eastern Crisis again:
1. Risings in Herzegovina 1875 and Bulgaria (1876) created tensions with the ottomans and the austrians
2. 1877 Russian drive towards constantinople
3. Pan slavism and the liberation of the Ottoman slavs: Alexander 11 and Russian Public opinion
4. war scare with British
1860s and 70s
1. rise of panslavism: idea that Russians have natural allegiances with slavs. Russia should be their protector?
  1. why does this rise? press
2. tsar very suspicious of panslavism, would bring conflict late 1870s. Russian government has a problem; large opinion in support of more aggressive foreign policy

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Russian Foreign Policy

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