RUSSIAN FAR EAST
See also SIBERIA
This page is concerned with the general history of the former imperial Government General of the Amur and its successor entities : the Kraya of Khabarovsk and of the Coast (Primorskiy), the Oblasti of the Amur, of Kamchatka, of Magadan and Sakhalin, the Jewish Autonomous Oblast and the Chukotka and Koryakia Autonomous Okruga. (and partly also of the Chita Oblast and the Buryatia Republic). Separate pages for each unit will be added later. __________________________________________________________________________________
THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST 1848 - 1884
Russian conquest of the Siberian Far East started in the 17th century when Cossacks established the settlements of Okhotsk (1647), Anadyrsk (1649), Nerchinsk (1654), Udsk (1679), etc. It ended in 1875 when the island of Sakhalin became a Russian possession (Treaty of St. Petersburg with Japan). (1) The area was part of the Government General of Siberia from 1803 to 1821 and then of the Government General of East Siberia. With the exception of Kamchatka - which became a separate Oblast in 1849 - the area was part of the Government of Irkutsk until 1856 when it was merged with Kamchatka to form the Primorskiy Oblast from which the Amur Oblast and the military government of Vladivostok were detached respectively in 1858 and in 1880. (2) (1) Far Chukotka however escaped effective Russian rule for most of the imperial period. (2) The creation of the Oblasti of the Coast and of the Amur had to do with the occupation of the Amur area, till then a Chinese dependency. The territory had already been occupied by the Russians in the 17th century, but was later restored to China (Treaty of Nerchinsk 1689). Taking advantage of China's internal and external difficulties Russia started establishing outposts in the region in the early 1850's. In 1858 (Treaty of Arguin) and 1860 (Treaty of Beijing) China formally ceded the whole area. __________________________________________________________________________________LOCAL ADMINISTRATORS
(until 1884, subordinated to the Governors General of Eastern Siberia, see also the Governors of Irkutsk, to be added) Military Governors of Kamchatka and Commanders of the Port of Petropavlovsk 1849 - 1856 see here Military Governors of the Primorskiy Oblast 1856 - 1884 see here Military Governors of the Amur 1858 - 1884 see here Military Governors and Commanders of the Port of Vladivostok 1880 - 1884 see hereRUSSIAN GOVERNMENT GENERAL OF THE AMUR
In 1884 the Amur, the Coastal, the Transbaykal Oblasti and the Military Government of Vladivostok were detached from Eastern Siberia to form the Government General of the Amur.(1) (1) Later administrative and territorial changes included : 1884 : Sakhalin Island was detached from the Primorskiy Oblast to become a separate department directly under the Governor General. 1888 : the Military Government of Vladivostok was abolished 1898 : the Governor General assumed the defence of the Chinese Eastern Railway Tract. 1903 : the Government General became part of the Vice Royalty of the Far East (until 1905) 1905 : Treaty of Portsmouth : the southern parts of Sakhalin and of the Chinese Eastern Railway were ceded to Japan. 1906 : the Transbaykal Oblast was returned to Eastern Siberia. 1909 : Kamchatka was detached from the Primorskiy Oblast to form a separate Oblast. __________________________________________________________________________________CHIEF ADMINISTRATORS
Governors General [Except for the period 1903 - 1905, the Goveernors General also were Commanders of the Amur military district (since 1884) and Army Atamans of the Amur and the Ussuri Cossack Hosts (since 1887/1889) until 1910, when the military administration was definitively separated from the civilian] 1884 - 1893 CavGen. Andrey Nikolayevich Baron von Korff 1831 - 1893 1893 - 1898 LtGen. Sergey Mikhailovich Dukhovskoy 1838 - 1901 1898 - 1902 InfGen. Nikolay Ivanovich Grodekov 1843 - 1913 1902 - 1903 Gen. Dean (Damian) Ivanovich Subbotich 1852 - 1903 - 1905 none (2) 1905 - 1910 Gen. Paul (Pavel Fridrikhovich) Unterberger 1842 - 1921 1910 - 1911 N. N. Martos* 1911 - 1917 Nikolay Lvovich Gondatti 1860 - 1946 (2) In the period 1903 - 1905, when the Vice Royalty of the Far East was in existence there were no Governors General, the military leaders performing some of their civilian tasks. Commanders of the Amur military district and Army Atamans of the Amur and the Ussuri Cossack Hosts 1903 - 1905 and since 1910 were : 1903 - 1904 Gen. Nikolay Petrovich Linevich 1838 - 1908 1904 - 1905 Gen. Rostislav Aleksandrovich Khreshchatitsky 1841 - (the Governors General 1905 - 1910) 1910 - 1914 Gen. Platon Alekseyevich Lechitsky 1856 - 1923 1914 - 1917 Gen. A. N. NishchenkovTHE RUSSIAN FAR EAST 1917 - 1920/1922
The revolutions of 1917 initiated a chaotic period that lasted until the foundation of the Far Eastern Republic (s.b.) in 1920. Chronology (all dates N.S.) 1917 Mar 16 : Governor General Gondatti was deposed and power was taken over by local Committees of Public Safety [Khabarovsk : Chairm. Ivan Ivanovich Malyshev (1889 - 1918), Vladivostok ...] and Soviets [Khabarovsk : Chairm. Nikolay Spiridonovich Vakulin, Vladivostok : Chairm. Aleksandr Fyodorovich Agarev, ...]. With the exception of the Committee of Khabarovsk all were dominated by Mensheviks. Apr : Aleksandr Nikolayevich Rusanov (1881 - 1936) was appointed Commissioner of the Provisional Government for the Far East. He ended pro Bolshevik rule in Khabarovsk. May : Formation of a People's Commissariat for the Far East, ruling the whole area under the authority of the Provisional Government. Chairmen of the People's Commissariat for the Far East (Dalsovnarkom) 1917 Luka Evdokinovich Gerasimov (may - aug), later joined the Bolsheviks 1... - 1918 1917 Nikolay Spiridonovich Vakulin (aug - dec) s.a. Nov 18 : Following the October Revolution the Bolsheviks seized power in Vladivostok [Chairm. of the Soviet : Konstantin Aleksandrovich Sukhanov (1894 - 1918)]. In the course of the following weeks they gradually extended their power over most of the Russian Far East. (1) Dec 25 : After also having seized power in Khabarovsk [Chairm. of the Soviet : Luka Evdokinovich Gerasimov (s.a.)], they arrested Rusanov and the members of Dalsovnarkom and formally proclaimed Soviet rule over the area. A new Dalsovnarkom [Chairman : Aleksandr Mikhailovich Krasnoshchekov (1880-1937)] was formed. The new regime was nearly immediately contested by so-called "White" groups, (s.b.) whose actions were however unsuccesfull until the arrival of the Czech Legion. 1918 Jun 29 : The Czech Legion ended Bolshevik rule in Vladivostok. In the course of the following months the Legion - together with the newly arrived Allied Forces and the Whites - also ended Soviet authority in the rest of the area. (2) Supreme White authority over the region was now claimed by the Provisional Government of Autonomous Siberia [Head : Pyotr Yakovlevich Derber (1888 - 1929)], but in Sep 1918 real power was actually exercised by four local rulers : - Aleksandr Nikolayevich Alekseyevsky, occupied the Amur area in Sep 1918 and headed a local Blagoveshchensk Government 1878 - - LtGen. Dmitry Leonidovich Khorvat (Horvath), Director and Governor of the Chinese Eastern Railway since 1903, revolted against Soviet rule in Dec 1917 and proclaimed himself "Temporary Ruler of Russia" in Jul 1918, operated from Harbin in China. 1858 - 1937 - Gen. Ivan Pavlovich Kalmykov, Ataman of the Ussuri Cossacks, revolted in Feb 1918, occupied Khabarovsk with Japanese support in Sep 1918 1890 - 1920 - Gen. Grigory Mikhailovich Semyonov, self proclaimed Ataman, Head of the Special Manchurian Detachment, revolted in Dec 1917 in Transbaykalia (Chita), but was expelled, reoccupied the area in Sep 1918 with Japanese help 1890 - 1946 Sep : The local leaders recognized the authority of the Provisional All-Russian Government of Omsk. High Plenipotentiary of the Supreme Ruler in the Far East 1918 - 1919 LtGen. Dmitry Leonidovich Khorvat, dismissed for refusing to quell a strike s.a. Representatives of the Provisional All-Russian Government in the Far East 1918 Pyotr Vasilyevich Volgodsky, ended what remained of the authority of the Provisional Government of Autonomous Siberia 1863 - 1928 1918 - 1919 MajGen. Pavel Pavlovich Ivanov-Rinov 1919 - 1920 Gen. Sergey Nikolayevich Rozanov 1920 Jan : Following the fall of the Provisional All-Russian Government, Partisans seized power in the Far East. In order to avoid a clash with Japan, the Russian Soviet government did however not immediately occupy and annex the area, but instead created three non-Bolshevik leftist - therefore sometimes styled "Pink" - administrations to serve as a buffer zone and to facilitate negociations : - the Provisional Zemstvo Government of Vladivostok (Jan 31) Chairmen 1920 Aleksandr Semyonovich Medvedev 1920 - 1921 Vasily Grigoryevich Antonov - the Zemstvo Government of Khabarovsk (Feb 06) ... - the Provisional Government of Pribaykalia (Mar 07) (3) Chairman 1920 Aleksandr Mikhailovich Krasnoshchekov s.a Apr 06 : The Far Eastern Republic replaced the Government of Pribaykalia. The same day a White Government was proclaimed at Khabarovsk. Head of the Khabarovsk Government 1920 Konstantin Tikhonovich Likhoydov Jul 15 : Treaty of Gongota : the Far Eastern Republic agreed to contain Bolshevism in exchange for a Japanese evacuation of most occupied territories. This evacuation toke place in the course of the following months and by early 1921 only the coastal area and Northern Sakhalin were still occupied. 1921 May 21 : The Provisional Zemstvo Government of Vladivostok was replaced by a White Provisional Priamur Government supported by Japan. Head of the Provisional Priamur Government 1921 - 1922 Spiridon Dionisovich Merkulov 1922 Jun 09 : A new White government toke power in Vladivostok. Voevoda 1922 Gen. Mikhail Konstantinovich Dieterichs, offered Vladivostok to Maria Fyodorovna of Denmark (1847 - 1928), mother of former Russian Emperor Nikolay II 1874 - 1937 Oct 25 : Immediately after the departure of the last Japanese forves, the coastal area was occupied by the People's Revolutionary Army (of the Far Eastern Republic) and integrated into the republic. After this only Northern Sakhalin remained under Japanese occupation until 1925. (1) Like in the imperial period Chukotka and Kamchatka partly remained outside the control of the successive authorities established in the Far East after 1917. It was only after the annexation of the Far Eastern Republic to the RSFSR in 1922 (s.b.), that the complete integration of both areas was achieved in 1923 - 1924. (2) Allied Forces in the Far East Some Japanese troops were already present since Dec 1917, but the main part of the Allied Expeditionary Forces - with contingents from Canada, China, France, Italy, Poland, Rumania, Serbia, the UK and the US - only arrived in Jul - Aug 1918. With the exception of the US forces all were under the overall authority of the Japanese Commander-in-Chief. Commanders-in-Chief of the Japanese Expeditionary Forces 1918 - 191. LtGen. Otani Kikuzo ... Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in Siberia 1918 - 1920 BrigGen. William Sidney Graves 1865 - 1940 Except for the Japanese and US troops - operating as far as Transbaykalia - most of the contingents remained in Vladivostok and its vicinity. The foreign troops started leaving in 1919 and by early 1920 only Japanese remained. Anti White Resistance After the fall of the Bolshevik regime anti-White partisan units emerged. At first they operated independently of each other, but in 1919 they were placed under a single command. Head of the Military Revolutionary Staff (Subordinated to the Siberian Bureau of the All-Russian Communist Party - Sibburo) 1919 - 1920 Sergey Giorgievich Lazo 1894 - 1920 (For the Korean Partisans s.b.) (3) Pribaykalia was separated from the two other administrations by two "non- Pink" authorities : - In part of the Baykal region Gen. Grigory Mikhailovich Semyonov (s.a.) - since 1919 also Supreme Commander of the White Forces in the Far East - still controlled the Buryat Mongol Autonomous Republic he had establshed at Chita. - a dissident Bolshevik government at Blagoveshchansk in the Amur area, opposed to the moderate politics of the Russian governmentFAR EASTERN REPUBLIC
When founded in Apr 1920 the independent Far Eastern Republic only covered part of the Baykal area. It was later extended with : - the Amur and Khabarovsk regions (Aug 1920) - the rest of the Baykal area (Nov 1920) - the coastal area (Oct 1922) The regions in the north (Chukotka and Kamchatka) were ceded to the RSFSR in Dec 1920. __________________________________________________________________________________HEADS OF STATE AND MINISTERS
Chairmen of the Government 1920 - 1921 Aleksandr Mikhailovich Krasnoshchekov 1880 - 1937 1921 - 1922 Nikolay Mikhailovich Matveyev 1877 - 1951 Chairmen of the Council of Ministers 1920 Aleksandr Mikhailovich Krasnoshchekov s.a. 1920 - 1921 Boris Zakharovich Shumyatky 1886 - 1938 1921 Pyotr Mikhailovich Nikiforov 1882 - 1974 1921 - 1922 Nikolay Mikhailovich Matveyev s.a. 1922 Pyotr Alekseyevich Kobozev 1878 - 1941 Ministers of Foreign Affairs 1920 Aleksandr Mikhailovich Krasnoshchekov s.a. 1920 - 1921 Yakov Davidovich Yanson 1896 - 1938 1921 Ignati Leonovich Yurin (Ignacy Gintowt-Dziewaltowski) 1888 - 1921 - 1922 Yakov Davidovich Yanson (2x) Ministers of War 1920 - 1921 Vladimir "Bill" Sergeyevich Shatov 1888 - 1943 1921 - 1922 Gen. Vasily Konstantinovich Bluher 1890 - 1938 1922 Gen. Valentin Alekseyevich Aksentievsky 1890 - 1941 1922 Gen. Ieronim Petrovich Uborevich 1896 - 1937 Ministers of the Interior 192. - 192. ... 192. - 1922 Andrey Aleksandrovich Znamensky 1886 - 1943 1922 ... Ministers of Justice [formally : head of the Department of Justice of the Pribaykalia Regional People's Revolutionary Committee (Narrevkom) since Nov 1920] 1920 - 1922 Sergey Yulievich Shirokikh-Polyansky 1898 - 1922 1922 ... Ministers of Finances 1920 - 192. ... 192. - 192. ... Bogdanovich 192. - 1922 ... __________________________________________________________________________________MILITARY LEADERS
Commanders of the People's Revolutionary Army 1920 - 1921 Gen. Genrikh Khristoforovich Eikhe 1893 - 1968 1921 Gen. S. A. Burov 1921 Gen. Albert Yanovich Lapin* 1899 - 1937 1921 - 1922 Gen. Vasily Konstantinovich Bluher s.a. 1922 Gen. Valentin Alekseyevich Aksentievsky s.a. 1922 Gen. Ieronim Petrovich Uborevich s.a.THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST 1922 - 1938
See also ROMAN CATHOLIC HIERARCHY IN THE FAR EAST 1923 - 1945
Havins achieved its purpose - the peacefull integration of the Far East into the Soviet system - the Far Eastern Republic was no longer of any use and in Nov 1922 it was annexed to the RSFSR. The Russian Far East now successively was : 1922 - 1923 : a Province of the RSFSR 1923 - 1926 : an Oblast of the RSFSR 1926 - 1938 : a Kray of the RSFSR. The territory of the Russian Far East was twice reduced : - in 1930, when the Baykal area was detached, - in 1935, when the Chinese Eastern Railway Zone was detached. (S.b. for the administrative division in 1938) During the 1920's and the early 1930's the region unformally enjoyed some autonomy, mainly a consequence of its economic importance and of the presence of numberous foreign companies in the area [Germany : Kunst & Albers, Hong Kong : Bryner & Co., US : Kamchatka Company, Sinclair Oil Company, etc.] But in the middle of the 1930's the Soviet central government - invoking the danger of regionalism and of separatism and of a foreign (Japanese) intervention - ended this unwritten autonomy and liquidated the leadership of the Kray, which was finally divided in 1938 into the Kraya of : - Khabarovsk : - the Oblasti of the Amur, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Lower Amur and Sakhalin - the Jewish Autonomous Oblast - the National Okruga of the Chukchi and of the Koryak - Primorskiy : - the Primorskiy Oblast, - the Ussuri Oblast. __________________________________________________________________________________
CHIEF EXECUTIVES
Chairmen of the Far Eastern Revolutionary Committee (Dalrevkom) 1922 - 1924 Pyotr Alekseyevich Kobozev 1878 - 1941 1924 - 1926 Yan Borisovich Gamarnik (Yakov Pudikovich) 1894 - 1937 Chairmen of the Executive Committee of the Oblast/Kray of the Far East 1926 - 1928 Yan Borisovich Gamarnik s.a. 1928 - 1929 Sergey Yegorovich Chutskayev 1876 - 193. 1929 - 1930 Yan Vasilyevich Poluyan 1891 - 1937 1930 - 1931 Aleksandr Nikolayevich Asatkin-Vladimir 1885 - 1937 1932 - 1937 Grigory Maksimovich Krutov 1892 - 1938 1937 Mikhail Petrovich Volsky* 1897 - 1938 1937 - 1938 Pavel Konstantinovich Legkonravov 1895 - 1938 __________________________________________________________________________________PARTY LEADERS
First Secretary of the Far Eastern Bureau of the All-Russian/All-Union Communist Party (Dalburo) 1922 - 1926 Nikolay Afanasievich Kubyak 1881 - 1937 First Secretaries of the Far Eastern Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Dalobkom/Dalkraykom) 1926 - 1927 Nikolay Afanasievich Kubyak s.a. 1927 - 1928 Yan Borisovich Gamarnik s.a. 1928 - 1931 Ivan Nikolayevich Perepechko 1897 - 1943 1931 - 1933 Sergey Adamovich Bergavinov 1899 - 1937 1933 - 1937 Lavrenty Yosifovich Kartvelishvili "Lavrentiev" 1890 - 1938 1937 Yosif Mikhailovich Vareykis 1894 - 1939 1937 - 1938 Giorgy Mikhailovich Statsevich 1898 - 1938 Sergey Mikhailovich Sobolyev 1900 - 1939 1938 Nikolay Mikhailovich Pegov 1905 - 1991 1938 ...MINORITY AREAS IN THE FAR EAST
In the course of 1920's and 1930's many ot the indigenous minorities living in the Far Eastern Kray were granted some administrative autonomy, as were some other non- indigenous peoples : the Jews, the Koreans and the Ukrainians. (1) The following autonomous or national units were in existence within the Far Eastern Kray : - the Jewish Autonomous Oblast (1928 - ) - the Chukchi National Okrug (1930 - ) (encompassing an Eskimo National Rayon since 19..) - the Koryak National Okrug (1930 - ) - the Okhotsk-Eveni National Okrug (1930 - 1934) - the Aleut National Rayon of the Kamchatka Oblast (1932 - ) - the Korean National Rayon of the Primorsky Oblast (1925 - 1937) - the Nanai National Rayon of the Primorsky Oblast (19.. - ) - the Nanai-Tungus (Evenki) National Rayon of the Primorsky Oblast (19.. - ) - the Nivkhi National Rayons of the Primorsky and of the Sakhalin Oblasti (1930 - ) - the Ukrainian National Rayons of the Amur and of the Primorsky Oblasti (19.. - ) - the Ulchi National Rayon of the Primorsky Oblast (1934 - ) (1) Unlike the Koreans, the Chinese were not granted administrative autonomy. Although there already existed Chinese autonomous communities of fishers, fur traders, etc in the Amur and coastal areas before the Russian conquest, it was only in the 1870's that large numbers of Chinese workers and traders started settling in the Russian Far East. Some attempts were made to stop this migration but nothing came of it and during WWI the need of working forces even provoked a second wave of migrants. With a few exceptions most migrants remained Chinese citizens and did not integrate into the Russian society. During the period of Soviet rule the Chinese communities at first enjoyed some cultural autonomy, but things changed in the 1930's when the Soviet government started considering them as Japanese spies and in 1937 - 1938 most Chinese were deported to Northern Siberia were they perished. More on the evolution and the organization of the indigenous peoples will found under Siberia (to be added) __________________________________________________________________________________KOREAN NATIONAL RAYON
Although there were already some Koreans present before the conquest, it was only in the 1860's thet a first wave of Koreans migrated to the Russian Far East. A second wave followed after the Japanese seized power in Korea in 1905 - 1910. The area then became one of the major centers of the Korean anti-Japanese movement and its partisans (tolerated by the Russians until the approach of WWI). Unlike the Chinese, most Koreans accepted Russian citizenship and integrated into the Russian society, some of them even adopting Orthodox religion. At the outbreak of the Russian Civil War the Koreans were divided : some remained neutral, others joined the Mencheviks or the Bolsheviks, forming partisan groups - united by Gen. Yi Dong Whi (18.. - 1924) in 1919 - to fight the Japanese and the Whites, especially Kalmykov and Semyonov. As a reward for this attitude the Koreans were granted far-going autonomy by the Soviet government and in 1925 a Korean National Rayon was established at Posyet in the Primosky Okrug/Oblast. This situation lasted until 1937 when the Soviet government - invoking the danger of the Koreans being Japanese spies - abolished the rayon and deported most Koreans living in the frontier regions to Kazakhstan (from where some moved to Uzbekistan and the Caucasus). __________________________________________________________________________________UKRAINIAN NATIONAL RAYONS
To be addedHOME INDEX
