History of the Russian Far East (Spring)

GREETING

Dear students,

My name is Nikolay Vorontsov, and I’m glad to introduce you to the course "History of the Russian Far East ".

This course is devoted to the history of the Far East, one of the largest political and cultural regions of Russia. This region has long attracted the attention of researchers due to the vastness of the territory of the Far East, the combination of elements of Eastern and Western cultures and traditions, the diversity of the population, the presence of various religious and ethnic groups, a complex and diverse economy, the abundance of natural resources and the great economic prospects for its development by Russian and foreign entrepreneurs.

The relevance of the course is determined by the fact that the Far East is an important and rather complex region throughout its history of being a part of the Russian state. Since the middle of the 19th century, it has been of great importance for the country in terms of political, social and economic development, administration, defense and the safe Pacific borders of Russia.

An objective point of view on the interaction of local small-numbered indigenous peoples with various flows of new settlers of the 19th and 20th centuries, represented by a large number of Russian and foreign citizens, will help to understand the origins and trends of their coexistence over a large territory. As a result, the studied issues of this course can help to identify the problems and opportunities for the successful and promising development of the Far Eastern region in the present and future.

SEMESTER OF STUDY Spring
COURSEWORK BREAKDOWN TEACHING HOURS ECTS CREDITS
Lectures 14 0.5
Laboratory / workshops 14 0.5
Self-study assignment 26 0.5
Total (1 ECTS = 36 hrs.) 54 1.5
GENERAL SKILLS
  • Chronological understanding
  • Historical Analysis and Interpretation
  • Historical Research skills
  • Interpretations of historical processes in the local territory of the Far East
  • Reflection of general historical processes in frontier and remote territories
  • Knowledge and understanding of events, people and changes in the past
LEARNING OUTCOMES

Based on the results of training on the course, students will be able to acquire knowledge about the main stages and general patterns of the development of the Far Eastern region, the formation and further development of its parts, including the most important settlements, the formation of the main sectors of the region's economy throughout history. We’ll learn to identify external and internal factors that determine the level of development of the region in different historical periods. They will be able to determine the characteristic features of this development and the main historical trends that have influenced the current situation in the region.

Students will acquire the ability to reasonably, thoroughly and constructively defend their positions and ideas in discussions in a foreign language, to choose the style of communication in the state and foreign languages, depending on the audience.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The goal of this course is to show in dynamics the accession of various parts of the Far East to the Russian state and the development of this region as part of Russia; show the forms and methods of relations between the Russian administration, indigenous peoples and settlers at all stages of the development of territories.

The process of Russian colonization is revealed, waves of resettlement movement to the Far East, the dynamics of the population, its ethnic, social and religious composition are shown, the work of local Russian authorities on the settlement and provision of settlers is analyzed; The analysis of long-term plans for the development of the Far East and the transformation of the system of public administration of these territories was carried out; The defense significance of the region, the efforts of various generations of Russian state and military leaders to strengthen key points of the Far East are analyzed, its military and naval history is shown.

The course makes extensive use of illustrations and visuals, including videos, and presents a wide range of historical studies on every issue and every historical era.
COURSE CONTENTS
Topic 1: Socio-economic and political prerequisites for the inclusion of Eastern Siberia and the Far East into the Russian state by the middle of the 17th century.
Topic 2: Russian advance in Eastern Siberia, the beginning of the economic development of Transbaikalia, the Amur region and the northern coast of the Pacific Ocean.
Topic 3: The establishment of interstate relations between Russia and China, the beginning of the formation of the political borders of the Russian Far East.
Topic 4: Accession of the southern part of the Far East to Russia in the 19th century, colonization and settlement of the Far East during the Russian Empire.
Topic 5: Free port in the Far East. Socio-economic development of the region in the late 19th – early 20th century.
Topic 6: Russian influence in Manchuria; Far East during the Russo-Japanese War; The Far East during wars and revolutions (1905-1917).
Topic 7: Civil War in Russian Far East. Non-Bolshevik governments in this region, Far Eastern Republic (FER) and its fate.
Topic 8: Far East in the first decades of the Soviet period (1920s-1930s).
Topic 9: Far East during the Second World War.
Topic 10: The Far East in the post-war years (1960-1970) under Khrushchev and Brezhnev; The "Soviet San Francisco" project.
Topic 11: The Far East: from the USSR to modern Russia (late 1980s - early 1990s).
Topic 12: The Russian Far East in the 1990s - 2000s: the search for a new regional development strategy.
Topic 13: Military history of the Russian Far East.
Topic 14: The demographics of the Far East: from the past to the present.
TEACHING METHODS Assessment
USE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY Projector, software for presentations (pptx format)
RECOMMENDED BOOK AND JOURNAL ARTICLE RESOURCES
  1. Bassin, M. Expansion and Colonialism on the Eastern Frontier: Views of Siberia and the Far East in the Pre-Petrine Russia. Journal of Historical Geography, 1988. Vol. 14. N. 1, pp. 3-21.
  2. Chia Yin Hsu. The "Color" of Money: The Ruble, Competing Currencies, and Conceptions of Citizenship in Manchuria and the Russian Far East, 1890s-1920s. The Russian Review. Vol. 73, N. 1, 2014, pp. 83-110.
  3. Collins, D.N. Russia’s Conquest of Siberia: Evolving Russian and Soviet Historical Interpretations. European Studies Review. Vol. 12. 1982. N. 1. pp. 17-44.
  4. Denison, E., Ren, G. Russian Manchuria: Kwantung Leased Territory. Ultra-Modernism: Architecture and Modernity in Manchuria, 2016, pp. 8-25.
  5. Efimov, V., Laptevа, Siberia and the Russian Far East in the 21st Century: Scenarios of the Future. Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences 2008, Vol. 10. pp. 1669-1683.
  6. Fortescue, S. Russia’s “turn to the east”: a study in policymaking. Post-Soviet affairs. Routledge. 2016, 32, pp. 423-454.
  7. Ian Nish. The History of Manchuria, 1840-1948, Vol. I & II: A Sino-Russo-Japanese Triangle. Renaissance Books Asia Pacific Series, 2016.
  8. Kerr, D. Opening and Closing the Sino-Russian Border: Trade, Regional Development and Political Interest in North-East Asia. Europe-Asia Studies. Vol. 48, N. 6, 1996, pp. 931-957.
  9. MacGregor, E.C. Pink in Appearance, but Red at Heart: The United States and the Far Eastern Republic, 1920-1922. The Journal of American-East Asian Relations. Vol. 1, N. 3, 1992, pp. 327-357.
  10. Marks, S.G. Road to Power. The Trans-Siberian Railroad and the Colonization of Asian Russia, 1850-1917. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991.
  11. Masafumi, A. The China-Russia-Japan Military Balance in Manchuria, 1906-1918. Modern Asian Studies. Vol. 44, N. 6, 2010, pp. 1283-1311.
  12. Pereira, N. G. O. White Siberia: The Politics of Civil War. McGill-Queen's University Press, 1996, 320 p.
  13. Richardson, W.H. Planning a model Soviet city: Transforming Vladivostok under Stalin and Brezhnev. Antioch University Santa Barbarbara, 2011. Vol. 8, N.1, pp. 129-142.
  14. Pray, E.L.. Wars, Revolutions, and Foreign Intervention. Letters from Vladivostock, 1894-1930. University of Washington Press, 2013, pp. 160-193.
  15. Sablin, I. Democracy in the Russian Far East during the Revolution of 1905–1907. Russian History. Vol. 44, N. 2-3, Special Issue: Twenty Years of the Midwest Medieval Slavic Workshop at the University of Chicago. 2017, pp. 449-475.
  16. Shulatov, Y. Re-establishing Economic Relations between Russia and Japan after the Russo-Japanese War: The 1907 Treaty of Commerce and Navigation. Slavic Research Center, Hokkaido University. 2007. Vol. 20, pp. 100-111.
  17. Smith, C.F. Vladivostok under Red and White Rule: Revolution and Counterrevolution in the Russian Far East, 1920-1922. Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1975.
  18. Xanthaki, Alexandra. Indigenous Rights in the Russian Federation: The Case of Numerically Small Peoples of the Russian North, Siberia, and Far East. Human Rights Quarterly. Vol. 26, N. 1. 2004, pp. 74-105.
  19. Ziegler, C.E. Soviet Strategies for Development: East Asia and the Pacific Basin. Pacific Affairs. Vol. 63, N. 4, 1990-1991, pp. 451-468.
THE GRADING SCALE IS AS FOLLOWS
Score Grade  
100-91 Excellent 5
90-76 Good 4
75-61 Satisfactory 3
60-0 Unsatisfactory 2

Assistant Professor

Nikolay Vorontsov

Department of International Relations and Law