Overview

One of the goals of Russia’s Eastern policy was to turn Moldavia and Wallachia, the two Romanian principalities north of the Danube, from Ottoman vassals into a controllable buffer zone and a springboard for future military operations against Constantinople. Russia on the Danube describes the divergent interests and uneasy cooperation between the Russian officials and the Moldavian and Wallachian nobility in a key period between 1812 and 1834. Victor Taki’s meticulous examination of the plans and memoranda composed by Russian administrators and the Romanian elite underlines the crucial consequences of this encounter. The Moldavian and Wallachian nobility used the Russian-Ottoman rivalry in order to preserve and expand their traditional autonomy. The comprehensive institutional reforms born out of their interaction with the tsar’s officials consolidated territorial statehood on the lower Danube, providing the building blocks of a nation state. The main conclusion of the book is that although Russian policy was driven by self-interest, and despite the Russophobia among a great part of the Romanian intellectuals, this turbulent period significantly contributed to the emergence, several decades later, of modern Romania.

Full Product Details

Author:   Victor Taki (Sessional lecturer, Concordia University of Edmonton)
Publisher:   Central European University Press
Imprint:   Central European University Press
Weight:   0.800kg
ISBN:  

9789633863824

ISBN 10:   9633863821
Pages:   388
Publication Date:   15 November 2021
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

"Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter I. Early Encounters Russian-Ottoman Confrontation and the Establishment of the Phanariote Regime The Peace of Kuchuk-Kainarji and Russian Protectorate Russian Occupation of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1806–1812 Church Policies under Russian Occupation Chapter II. Challenges of Empire-Building in a Revolutionary Age The ""Greek Project"" of Ioannis Kapodistrias The Bessarabian Experiment of Alexander I Russia's Eastern Policy and Stroganov's Mission Kapodistrias, Alexander I, and the Greek Rebellion Chapter III. The Uprisings of 1821 and Their Impact 1821 and the Anti-Greek Sentiment in Moldavia and Wallachia Tensions Among the Boyars and Their Projects of Reform Moldavian Boyar Radicals and Conservatives The Convention of Akkerman Chapter IV. From Akkerman (1826) to Adrianople (1829) The Russian Empire and the Elites of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1826-28 The War of 1828–29 and the Russian Occupation of the Principalities The Genesis of the Reform Agenda Ministerial Instructions and the Formation of the Committees of Reform The Peace of Adrianople Chapter V. Organic Statutes and Russia's Eastern Policy Boyar Opposition to the Organic Statutes The Affair of Sion and Its Consequences The Adoption of the Organic Statutes by the Assemblies of Revision Kiselev's Vision of the Principalities and Russia's Eastern Policy Chapter VI. A Well-Ordered Police State on the Danube Plague Epidemics and the Creation of the Danubian Quarantine The Creation of Militia and Police Reform Fiscal Reform and Peasant Obligations Administrative and Judiciary Reform Foreign Subjects, Dedicated Monasteries, and Censorship Chapter VII. Russian Policies in Moldavia and Wallachia After 1834 Russia and the Problem of Unification of the Principalities Political Tensions in Moldavia and Wallachia in the Late 1830s A Cordon Sanitaire for the Empire? The Limits of Hegemony Conclusion Annex 1: Boyar Ranks of Moldavia in 1829 Annex 2: Boyar Ranks of Wallachia in 1829 Glossary Bibliography Index"

Reviews

Victor Taki's latest book focuses on Russian policy in the Danubian principalities (Moldavia and Wallachia) and the development of Romanian statehood from the late eighteenth century until 1859. Deeply researched and cogently argued, the book presents an innovative thesis about Russia's vision for a well-ordered police state that challenges national historiographies and traditional stereotypes about Russian imperialism. We learn that St. Petersburg aimed to develop the region into a buffer zone against the Ottomans, and ultimately, the interaction between creative Russian statesmen and the traditional elites of Moldavia and Wallachia established a framework for the unification of the principalities to take place. By analyzing the conjunction between cultural policy, warfare, and institutional reform, the book makes a major contribution to our understanding of Russia and the formation of modern Romania. --Lucien J. Frary This outstanding book fills several important gaps in Russian and Balkan history: not only does it reconceptualize Russia's policy to the Ottoman Empire, it also corrects many accepted but questionable views in Western and Romanian historiography by bringing previously untapped evidence from the Russian archives. The book will be the main guide to the confusing developments that marked the end of Ottoman domination of Southeastern Europe in the context of the Napoleonic Wars and their aftermath. It sheds light not only on the emergence of Romania but also on the littleknown aspects of the Greek War of Independence and its effects on the Danube. --Denis Vovchenko

Victor Taki's latest book focuses on Russian policy in the Danubian principalities (Moldavia and Wallachia) and the development of Romanian statehood from the late eighteenth century until 1859. Deeply researched and cogently argued, the book presents an innovative thesis about Russia's vision for a well-ordered police state that challenges national historiographies and traditional stereotypes about Russian imperialism. We learn that St. Petersburg aimed to develop the region into a buffer zone against the Ottomans, and ultimately, the interaction between creative Russian statesmen and the traditional elites of Moldavia and Wallachia established a framework for the unification of the principalities to take place. By analyzing the conjunction between cultural policy, warfare, and institutional reform, the book makes a major contribution to our understanding of Russia and the formation of modern Romania.--Lucien J. Frary This outstanding book fills several important gaps in Russian and Balkan history: not only does it reconceptualize Russia's policy to the Ottoman Empire, it also corrects many accepted but questionable views in Western and Romanian historiography by bringing previously untapped evidence from the Russian archives. The book will be the main guide to the confusing developments that marked the end of Ottoman domination of Southeastern Europe in the context of the Napoleonic Wars and their aftermath. It sheds light not only on the emergence of Romania but also on the littleknown aspects of the Greek War of Independence and its effects on the Danube.--Denis Vovchenko

Author Information

Victor Taki is Sessional lecturer at Concordia University of Edmonton. His first book Tsar and Sultan: Russian Encounters with the Ottoman Empire was published by IB Tauris. His research interests include Imperial Russia’s Balkan entanglements and the intellectual history of the eighteenth and the nineteenth century.

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