The foreign policy of the Russian Empire covers Russian foreign relations from their origins in the policies of the Tsardom of Russia (until 1721) down to the end of the Russian Empire in 1917. Under the system tsarist autocracy, the Emperors/Empresses (at least theoretically) made all the main decisions in the Russian Empire, so a uniformity of policy and a forcefulness resulted during the long regimes of powerful leaders such as Peter the Great () and Catherine the Great (). However, several weak tsars also reigned—such as children with a regent in control—and numerous plots and assassinations occurred. With weak rulers or rapid turnovers on the throne, unpredictability and even chaos could result.Hugh Ragsdale, Imperial Russian Foreign Policy (1993)
Russia played a relatively minor role in the Napoleonic Wars until 1812, when the Imperial Russian Army virtually destroyed Napoleon's huge army when it invaded Russia. Russia played a major role in the eventual defeat of Napoleon and in setting conservative terms for the restoration of aristocratic Europe during the period of 1815 to 1848 as the Holy Alliance. Russia conducted several wars with the Ottoman Empire between 1568 and 1918, and in 1856 Russia lost the Crimean War to a coalition of Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire. More small wars followed in the late-19th century, as well as the large-scale Balkan War of 1877-1878.
For three centuries, from the days of Ivan the Terrible (ruled 1547 to 1584), Russia expanded in all directions at a rate of 18,000 square miles per year, becoming by far the largest power in terms of contiguous land area. The expansion brought under Russian governance many minority ethnic groups who had their own religions and languages. The Imperial Russian political system was an autocracy ruled by the tsar; in its later days it was challenged by various revolutionary groups who were rendered largely ineffective by a tough police state that sent many thousands of its opponents into exile in remote Russian Siberia. Territorial expansion had slowed by the 1850s, but there was a southward conquest in Central Asia toward Afghanistan and India greatly troubling Britain, which controlled India, leading to the Great Game. Russia also acquired territories in Manchuria from the Qing Dynasty. Russia's main historic enemy was the Ottoman Empire, which controlled Russia's access to the Mediterranean Sea. Later tsars sponsored Slavic insurgents in the Balkans against the Ottomans. Serbia supported insurgents against Austria, and Russia stood behind Serbia, which (like Russia) was Eastern Orthodox in religion and Slavic in culture. Russia's main ally from the 1890s was France, which desired Russian size and power to counter the increasingly powerful German Empire (founded in 1871); followed by Britain in the Anglo-Russian Convention (1907). Russia expanded influence in East Asia during this time as did other Western powers and Japan, joining to suppress the Boxer Rebellion, acquiring concessions in China and invading Manchuria. In 1904-1905 the massive Russo-Japanese War was fought in Chinese territory.
Russia entered World War I in 1914 against Germany, Austria and the Ottoman Empire to defend the Kingdom of Serbia, and to gain access to the Mediterranean Sea at the expense of the Ottoman Empire. Financial help came from its allies Britain and France. The Russian military faltered, as did the political and economic system. Russians lost faith in the failed Emperor Nicholas II. There resulted two revolutions in 1917 which destroyed the Russian Empire and led to independence for the Baltic states, Finland, Poland and (briefly) Ukraine and a host of smaller nation-states such as Georgia. After sharp fighting in the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922 with international involvement, a new regime of Communism under Lenin secured control and established the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1922. For the following period of Russian foreign relations see Foreign relations of the Soviet Union.
Strategy
Geographical expansion by warfare and treaty was the central strategy of Russian foreign policy from the small Muscovite state of the 16th century to World War I in 1914. The goals were territory, warm water ports, and protection of Orthodox Christianity. The main weapon was the very large and increasingly well-trained Imperial Russian Army, although the domestic economy was hard-pressed to provide adequate support. Although there were occasional defeats and setbacks, the record was generally successful down to the 1900s.
West: Poland and the Baltic To the northwest, Russia engaged in a century long struggle against Sweden for control of the Baltic Sea. The Empire succeeded by the 1720s, obtaining not just access to the sea but ownership of Finland and the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. To the west, there were a series of wars with Poland and Lithuania, followed by negotiated settlements with Prussia and Austria that gave Russia control of most of Ukraine, and a large slice of Poland. Napoleon unsuccessfully challenged the Russians directly with his 1812 invasion of Russia. Russia seized more territory and became a great power, with a strong voice in the affairs of Europe from 1814 to the 1840s.
South: Ottomans and the Caucasus
To the south, the conflict with the Ottoman Empire lasted for centuries. Russia sliced away territories previously held by the Ottomans, such as the Crimea, and became a political, powerful protector of Orthodox Christians in the Balkans, and also of Christians in Transcaucasia. The greatest defeat in the history of Russian expansion came in the Crimean War (1854–1856), as the British and French defended the integrity of the Ottoman Empire from clients. However, the tsars largely recovered their losses by 1870.
Central Asia To the southeast, Russia seized power in large swaths of territory in Central Asia inhabited by Muslims of Turkic ethnicity. Although some Russian settlers were sent into Kazakhstan, generally leading local elites were left in power as long as it was clear that Russia controlled foreign and military policies. The mainstream of expansion finally reached Afghanistan in the middle of the 19th century, leading to the Great Game with repeated wars against the Afghan tribes, and increasingly involved threats and counterthreats with the British, who were determined to protect their large holdings on the Indian subcontinent.
Far East: China and Japan
Finally, there was expansion to the Far East, as Russian settlers moved into the mining and agricultural districts of Siberia, taking control of local tribes and building towns, mines, prison camps along the Trans-Siberian Railway. The total Siberian population was only a half-million in 1800, but reached 9 million in 1914, of whom 1 million were criminals and political exiles.Martin Gilbert, Atlas of Russian history (1993) p 62–63.
To build up a presence on the Pacific Ocean, Russia seized some 400,000 square miles of almost uninhabited territory from Qing dynasty China in 1858–1860. It sent in settlers and prisoners, so that its holdings from Vladivostok north along the Sea of Japan reached 310,000 in 1897.Gilbert, Atlas of Russian History (1993) p 60. Russia established an economic role east into the Sinkiang and Manchuria regions of China peacefully, using the Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1881), loans to the Chinese government, networks of merchants, and by building the Chinese Eastern Railway, a branch of the Trans-Siberian railroad, through Manchuria to the ocean.Gilbert, Atlas of Russian history (1993) pp 65–66.Immanuel C.Y. Hsu, The Rise of Modern China (1995) pp 317–325.Charles Jelavich and Barbara Jelavich, Russia and the East, 1876–1880 (1959). Meanwhile, in the late 19th century, the Empire of Japan was expanding into Manchuria and especially Korea. It proposed a deal whereby the Russians would have the predominant role in Manchuria, and Japan in Korea. The tsar, contemptuous of the Japanese, bluntly refused. In the Russo-Japanese War, Japan attacked, pushing back the Russian army on the ground, and sinking the main Russian battle fleet. Japan took control of Korea and of the southern half of the Chinese Eastern Railway.Gilbert, Atlas of Russian history (1993) pp 66–67.Brian Catchpole, A Map History of Russia (1983) pp 26–31.
Russian expansion jumped to North America, with small fur-trade operations in Alaska, coupled with missionaries to the natives. By 1861 the project lost money, threatened to antagonize the Americans, and could not be defended from Britain. In the Alaska Purchase of 1867, it was sold to the United States for $7.2 million.James R. Gibson, "Why the Russians Sold Alaska." Wilson Quarterly 3.3 (1979): 179-188 online.Thomas A. Bailey, "Why the United States Purchased Alaska." Pacific Historical Review 3.1 (1934): 39-49. online
Before 1793 The Tsar shaped foreign policy in a way that a transition could mean an overnight radical turnabout. The most famous example came in 1762, during the Seven Years' War, where Empress Elizabeth had almost destroyed Frederick the Great of the Kingdom of Prussia. Then she suddenly died. The new Tsar Peter III was a friend of Frederick, who unexpectedly survived. He called it the "Miracle of the House of Brandenburg."David Fraser, Frederick the Great. King of Prussia (2000), p. 459.
Relations with Sweden During the Middle Ages several wars were fought between the Swedes and Russians and 11 wars have been fought between Russia and Sweden since the 15th century. In these wars superior Russian forces often outnumbered the Swedish, which however often stood their ground in battles such as those of Narva (1700) and Svensksund (1790) due to Sweden's capable military organisation.D.G. Kirby, Northern Europe in the Early Modern Period: The Baltic World 1492–1772 (1990).
The central theme of the 1600–1725 era was the struggle between Sweden and Russia for control of the Baltic, as well as territories around it. Russia was ultimately the winner, and Sweden lost its status as a major power.Jill Lisk, The struggle for supremacy in the Baltic, 1600–1725 (1968).Robert I. Frost, The Northern Wars: War, State and Society in Northeastern Europe, 1558–1721 (2000) In 1610 the Swedish army marched into Moscow under the command of Jakob De la Gardie. From 1623 to 1709, Swedish policy, particularly under Gustavus Adolphus (1611–1632) and Charles XII (1697–1718), encouraged and militarily supported Ukrainian opposition to Muscovite Russian hegemony. Gustavus Adolphus fought the Ingrian War against Russia. It ended in 1617 with the Treaty of Stolbovo, which excluded Russia from the Baltic Sea. Sweden's most dramatic defeat on the battleground came in 1709 at the battle of Poltava, in an attempt to second the Ukrainian rebellion leader Mazepa.Gary Dean Peterson, Warrior Kings of Sweden: The Rise of an Empire in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (McFarland, 2007).
Peter the Great Peter the Great (1672–1725) took control of Russia in 1695. He greatly expanded the size of Russia while gaining access to ports on the Baltic, Black, and Caspian seas. His Russian commanders were generals Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov and Boris Sheremetev.Lindsey Hughes, Russia in the Age of Peter the Great (1998) pp 21-62. Before Peter, Russia was largely isolated from European affairs in terms not just of military but of economic and cultural relationships. The mysterious far-off Eastern land was held in low regard. Peter saw the urgent need for access to the Baltic Sea, and formed coalitions to challenge Swedish dominance there. His success transformed Russia's role and made it a player in European affairs.Derek McKay, and Hamish M. Scott, The Rise of the Great Powers 1648–1815 (1983) pp 80–81.