Purishkevich, Vladimir Mitrofanovich
▪ Russian politician
born Aug. 24 [Aug. 12, old style], 1870, Kishinyov, Russia
died February 1920, Novorossiysk
Russian politican and right-wing extremist who in 1905 was one of the founders of the Union of the Russian People (URP), a reactionary group active before the Russian Revolution and noted for its violent attacks against Jews and leftists.
A landowner and onetime government official, Purishkevich also served as a deputy to the second through fourth state Dumas (parliaments), in which he made anti-Semitic speeches. Purishkevich quickly established himself as a leader of the extreme reactionaries in the Duma, claiming at one point, “To the right of me there is only the wall.” He combined unswerving loyalty to the monarchy with a firm commitment to ethnic Russian domination of the Empire's minority nationalities, and he had an unyielding hatred for liberals, socialists, and Jews.
In 1908, after a personality clash with other URP leaders, Purishkevich formed a splinter group known as the Union of the Archangel Michael. A vigourous supporter of the Russian war effort during World War I, Purishkevich was one of the conspirators in the murder of Grigory Rasputin in December 1916.
After the abdication of the Tsar in February 1917, Purishkevich planned the escape of the imperial family from the provisional government. During the revolution in November (October, O.S.) he led a counterrevolutionary conspiracy in Petrograd. Imprisoned by a Soviet court, he was amnestied in May 1918 and moved to southern Russia, where he worked with White forces and published an anti-Soviet newspaper. He died of typhus.
empress consort of Russia
Russian in full Aleksandra Fyodorovna, original name Alix, Princess (prinzessin) von Hesse-Darmstadt
born June 6, 1872, Darmstadt, Ger.
died July 16/17, 1918, Yekaterinburg, Russia
consort of the Russian emperor Nicholas II. Her misrule while the emperor was commanding the Russian forces during World War I precipitated the collapse of the imperial government in March 1917.
A granddaughter of Queen Victoria and daughter of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, Alexandra (German name Alix) married Nicholas in 1894 and came to dominate him. She proved to be unpopular at court and turned to mysticism for solace. Through her near-fanatical acceptance of Orthodoxy and her belief in autocratic rule, she felt it her sacred duty to help reassert Nicholas' absolute power, which had been limited by reforms in 1905. In 1904 the tsarevich Alexis was born; she had previously given birth to four daughters. The tsarevich suffered from hemophilia, and Alexandra's overwhelming concern for his life led her to seek the aid of a debauched “holy man” who possessed hypnotic powers, Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin (Rasputin, Grigory Yefimovich) (q.v.). She came to venerate Rasputin as a saint sent by God to save the throne and as a voice of the common people, who, she believed, remained loyal to the emperor. Rasputin's influence was a public scandal, but Alexandra silenced all criticism. After Nicholas left for the front in August 1915, she arbitrarily dismissed capable ministers and replaced them with nonentities or dishonest careerists favoured by Rasputin. As a result, the administration became paralyzed and the regime discredited, and Alexandra came to be widely but erroneously believed to be a German agent. Yet she disregarded all warnings of coming changes, even the murder of Rasputin. After the October Revolution (1917), she, Nicholas, and their children were imprisoned by the Bolsheviks and were later shot to death.
Trans-Siberian Railroad
▪ railway, Russia
Russian Transsibirskaya Zheleznodorozhnaya Magistral
(“Trans-Siberian Main Railroad”), the longest single rail system in Russia, stretching from Moscow 5,778 miles (9,198 km) east to Vladivostok or (beyond Vladivostok) 5,867 miles (9,441 km) to the port station of Nakhodka. It had great importance in the economic, military, and imperial history of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.
Conceived by Tsar Alexander III, the construction of the railroad began in 1891 and proceeded simultaneously in several sections—from the west (Moscow) and from the east (Vladivostok) and across intermediate reaches by way of the Mid-Siberian Railway, the Transbaikal Railway, and other lines. Originally, in the east, the Russians secured Chinese permission to build a line directly across Manchuria (the Chinese Eastern Railway) from the Transbaikal region to Vladivostok; this trans-Manchurian line was completed in 1901. After the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, however, Russia feared Japan's possible takeover of Manchuria and proceeded to build a longer and more difficult alternative route, the Amur Railway, through to Vladivostok; this line was completed in 1916. The Trans-Siberian Railroad thus had two completion dates: in 1904 all the sections from Moscow to Vladivostok were linked and completed running through Manchuria; in 1916 there was finally a Trans-Siberian Railroad wholly within Russian territory. The completion of the railroad marked the turning point in the history of Siberia, opening up vast areas to exploitation, settlement, and industrialization.
The trans-Manchurian line came under full Chinese control only after World War II; it was renamed the Chinese Ch'ang-ch'un Railway. In the Soviet Union, over the years, a number of spur lines have been built radiating from the main trans-Siberian line. From 1974 to 1989 construction was completed on a large alternative route, the Baikal-Amur Mainline; its route across areas of taiga, permafrost, and swamps, however, has made upkeep difficult.
The full rail trip on the passenger train Rossiya from Moscow to Nakhodka (including a compulsory overnight stay in Khabarovsk) now takes about eight days.
Russo-Japanese War
▪ Russo-Japanese history
(1904–05), military conflict in which a victorious Japan forced Russia to abandon its expansionist policy in the Far East, becoming the first Asian power in modern times to defeat a European power.
The Russo-Japanese War developed out of the rivalry between Russia and Japan for dominance in Korea and Manchuria. In 1898 Russia had pressured China into granting it a lease for the strategically important port of Port Arthur (now Lü-shun (Lüshun)), at the tip of the Liaotung Peninsula, in southern Manchuria. Russia thereby entered into occupation of the peninsula, even though, in concert with other European powers, it had forced Japan to relinquish just such a right after the latter's decisive victory over China in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95. Moreover, in 1896 Russia had concluded an alliance with China against Japan and, in the process, had won rights to extend the Trans-Siberian Railroad across Chinese-held Manchuria to the Russian seaport of Vladivostok, thus gaining control of an important strip of Manchurian territory.
However, though Russia had built the Trans-Siberian Railroad (1891–1904), it still lacked the transportation facilities necessary to reinforce its limited armed forces in Manchuria with sufficient men and supplies. Japan, by contrast, had steadily expanded its army since its war with China in 1894 and by 1904 had gained a marked superiority over Russia in the number of ground troops in the Far East. After Russia reneged in 1903 on an agreement to withdraw its troops from Manchuria, Japan decided it was time to attack.
The war began on Feb. 8, 1904, when the main Japanese fleet launched a surprise attack and siege on the Russian naval squadron at Port Arthur. In March the Japanese landed an army in Korea that quickly overran that country. In May another Japanese army landed on the Liaotung Peninsula, and on May 26 it cut off the Port Arthur garrison from the main body of Russian forces in Manchuria. The Japanese then pushed northward, and the Russian army fell back to Mukden (now Shen-yang) after losing battles at Fu-hsien (June 14) and Liao-yang (August 25), south of Mukden. In October the Russians went back on the offensive with the help of reinforcements received via the Trans-Siberian Railroad, but their attacks proved indecisive owing to poor military leadership.