Nikolai Nikolayevich Muravyov-Amursky

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Count Muravjow-Amurski, portrait by Konstantin Makowski , 1863

Nikolai Nikolayevich Muravyov-Amursky , ( Russian Николай Николаевич Муравьёв-Амурский ., Scientific transliteration Nikolai Nikolaevich Murav'ëv-Amurskij * 11; jul. / 23. August  1809 greg. In Saint Petersburg , † 18 jul. / November 30  1881 greg. In Paris ) was a Russian military man, statesman and diplomat who played an important role in the expansion of the Russian Empire in the Far East .

Early life and career

Nikolai Muravyov was born in Saint Petersburg . In 1827 he graduated from the page corps and then took part in the siege of Varna in the Russo-Turkish War (1828-1829) and in the suppression of the Polish uprising of 1831 . For health reasons, he retired from the military in 1833 and initially managed his father's property. However, in 1838 he returned to active service and was deployed in the Caucasus . Muravyov was wounded during one of the actions against the hill tribes. From 1840 Muravyov was in charge of a section of the Black Sea coastal defense lines and during this time took part in the pacification of the Ubyches .

In 1841 Muravyov was promoted to the rank of major general, but had to retire permanently from the military due to illness. Instead, he moved to the Ministry of the Interior and was appointed civil and military governor of the central Russian province of Tula in 1846 . In his endeavor to improve the economic situation in his governorate, he set up an agricultural association. Muravyov was also the first governor to submit a proposal to Tsar Nicholas I to abolish serfdom . The petition was also signed by nine major landowners in his governorate. The tsar ignored the proposal, after which he always referred to Muravyov as a "democrat" and a "liberal".

Governor General of Eastern Siberia

Muravyov-Amursky

In 1847 Muravyov was appointed Governor General of Irkutsk . The appointment sparked speculation as it was unusual for a man his then age of only 37 to act as steward of such a vast area. Notwithstanding the negative interventions by Foreign Minister Karl Robert von Nesselrode , Muravyov was personally commissioned by the Tsar to force Russian territorial gains over China . Muravyov's first efforts as governor general in Siberia were the fight against corruption and the Russification of Far Eastern peoples. He drove the Russian development and settlement of the areas on the Amur and used the help of political exiles. His actions were aimed at asserting Russian interests in addition to promoting trade and the economy in Russian Siberia. He saw the Russian Orthodox religion as a suitable means of subjugating foreign peoples and favored the building of churches.

On the basis of the Treaty of Nerchinsk , signed in 1689 , Russia had no right to operate shipping on the Amur. Muravyov ignored this international law treaty , despite repeated objections from the Petersburg Foreign Ministry, which foresaw a deterioration in Sino-Russian relations "for a long time". However, after Muravyov's troops had conquered the lower Amur, the tsarist government approved further expansion. These so-called expeditions were led by Gennady Nevelskoi , who between 1851 and 1853 had several Russian settlements founded in the Amur Delta and on the island of Sakhalin .

At the beginning of 1854, Tsar Nikolaus I authorized Muravyov to negotiate with the Chinese about the border on the Amur and to station large contingents of troops at the mouth of the Amur. Between 1854 and 1858, Muravyov provided military support for Nevelskoi to establish new settlements. The first fighting took place in May 1854. The Russian military sailed on 77 warships, led by the “Argun” steamship , downstream to the mouth of the Amur, and occupied large parts of Outer Manchuria . Due to the outbreak of the Crimean War , some of the troops were sent to Kamchatka , where Muravyov had artillery positions and fortifications built, which later secured the successful defense of Petropavlovsk against Anglo-French landing forces. In 1855 armed Cossacks founded the first Russian settlement at the mouth of the Amur: Nikolayevsk . During this time border negotiations with the Chinese began.

Treaty of Aigun

During the last expedition in 1858, Muravyov signed the Treaty of Aigun with the Chinese Empire . The Chinese government was against any other demarcation on the Amur. She preferred the status quo and compliance with the 1689 Treaty of Nerchinsk, which was binding under international law. Muravyov forced the Chinese to sign the treaty drawn up by Russia by firing shots from two gunboats at Aigun during the negotiations , whereupon the Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Army Yishan signed the " Unequal Treaty ".

The Treaty of Aigun set the Amur as the border between the Russian Empire and China and gave Russia free access to the Pacific Ocean . For this achievement Murawjow received the title Count of Amur (Amurski), which he led from then on as an addition to his name. The new territories that Russia received included, according to today's terms, the Amur Oblast , the Khabarovsk Krais , Primorye and the island of Sakhalin . The Treaty of Aigun was confirmed and expanded in the Beijing Convention in 1860 .

As governor of Eastern Siberia, Muravjow-Amurski made numerous attempts to colonize the areas on the Amur. However, since only a few people wanted to move voluntarily into this undeveloped area, several Cossack regiments had to be stationed there so that the area could be held. Attempts to organize the traffic of steam boats and the establishment of a mail route along the Amur have for a long time proved difficult. Muravyov obtained permission from Saint Petersburg, where there were still strong concerns about the expediency of taking over this area to free serfs from the work in the captured ore mines of Nerchinsk . From these people a 12,000-strong corps of Amur Cossacks was founded, which secured the Russian interests in the Amur. They were led by Cossacks with military experience from the Baikal region.

Muravyov-Amursky resigned from the post of Governor General in 1861 after his proposal to divide Eastern Siberia into two separate Governor General was rejected. He was appointed a member of the State Council. In 1868 he moved to Paris , where he lived until his death in 1881, visiting Russia only occasionally to attend the meetings of the State Council.

Commemoration

Muravyov-Amursky on the current 5000 rubles - banknote of Russia (2006)

In 1891 a bronze statue of Muravyov was erected on one of the Amur cliffs near Khabarovsk . In 1929 it was dismantled and replaced by a monument to Lenin that existed until 1989. In 1993 the monument to Muravyov-Amursky was rebuilt.

In 1992 the remains of Muravyov-Amursky were brought from Paris to Vladivostok . The city is located on the Muravyov-Amursky peninsula named after him . The monument near Khabarovsk was depicted on the highest ruble banknote (5000 rubles) that the Central Bank of the Russian Federation put into circulation on July 31, 2006.

Web links

Commons : Nikolai Murawjow-Amursky  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wolfgang Seuberlich: On the administrative history of Manchuria (1644-1930). Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2001, pp. 31-33.
  2. Paul U. Innocence: China's Trauma - China's Strength. The decline and rise of the Middle Kingdom. Springer-Verlag, 2016, p. 48.
  3. ^ SCM Paine: The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. Perceptions, power, and primacy. Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 133 f.