 | |
 Russia |  United States |
|---|---|
| Diplomatic mission | |
| Russian Embassy, Washington, D.C. | American Embassy, Saint Petersburg |
| Envoy | |
| Ambassador Andrey Dashkov(first) George Bakhmetev(last) | Ambassador Francis Dana(first) David R. Francis(last) |
TheRussian Empire officially recognized theUnited States of America in 1803. However, Russia had established trade relations with theThirteen Colonies well before they issued theUnited States Declaration of Independence in 1776. This commerce, which violated theNavigation Acts of theBritish Empire, continued to take place during theAmerican Revolution. Although Russian empressCatherine the Great decided against openly endorsing either side during theAmerican Revolutionary War, she did hold the view that it was the "personal fault" of British policy and also believed that secession amongBritish colonies in the Americas could be "advantageous" to her realm.Russia's position on the United States, therefore, largely facilitatedFrance's pro-American position and contributed to the British defeat in 1783.
Diplomats were first exchanged betweenSaint Petersburg andWashington, D.C., in 1809.[1] During theAmerican Civil War, Russia openly supported theUnion and while it refrained from entering the conflict as a belligerent, theImperial Russian Navy maintained a presence in American ports as a show of force against theConfederacy.[2] In 1867, theAlaska Purchase resulted in the American acquisition ofAlaska, which had previously been aRussian colony in North America.[3] Following the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917 (the year ofAmerican entry into World War I), the United States supported theWhite movement until 1920. However, theAllied effort to support the White movement was ultimately unsuccessful, as theRussian Civil War ended with the establishment of theSoviet Union.
There were points of contention in Russia's relationship with the United States, particularly overRussian pogroms between 1890 and 1914. Large-scale immigration to the United States from the Russian Empire did not take place until the late 19th century, mostly attractingJews,Poles,Lithuanians, andFinns, but also a fewethnic Russians. During this period, the two sides also began to cooperate on issues like maritime law and trade, which continued into the early 20th century.
Relations between the two countries began in 1776, when the United States declared its independence from Great Britain.[citation needed]
Earlier contacts had occurred. In 1763, a Boston merchant had anchored his ship at the port ofKronstadt after a directtransatlantic voyage.
Despite being geographically removed from the North American scene, Russia underCatherine the Great significantly affected theAmerican Revolution through diplomacy. While Catherine personally oversaw most Russian interactions with the new country, she also entrusted certain tasks to her foreign advisor,Nikita Ivanovich Panin, who often acted on Catherine's behalf when it came to matters of international diplomacy. Catherine and Panin interacted with the British government throughJames Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury, at the Russian court.[4] The decisions made by Catherine and Panin during the Revolution to remain officially neutral, refuse Great Britain's requests for military assistance, and insist on peace talks that linked a resolution of the American Revolution with the settlement of separate European conflicts indirectly helped the Americans win the Revolution and gain independence.[5]
Small scale direct trade between Russia andBritish North America began as early as 1763. Such trade was a violation of the BritishNavigation Acts, which allowed theThirteen Colonies to trade only withGreat Britain. Russian products, such ashemp, sail linen and iron, had started arriving in colonial ports years before theAmerican Revolutionary War began and did not stop when the war started.[6] America and Russia saw each other as trading partners.
Throughout the Revolutionary War, Catherine believed an independent American nation would be ideal for Russian business interests. While some Russian leaders worried that an independent America might interfere with Russia's trade with other European nations, Catherine saw direct Russian-American trade as an excellent opportunity to expand commerce. Catherine knew that after the war, a free America could trade directly with Russia without interference. Moreover, if the Americans gained their independence, Britain would have to turn to other countries such as Russia to supply it with the resources that could no longer be acquired from North America, such as timber for theRoyal Navy.[7]
Catherine chose to have Russia remain officially neutral during the Revolution and never openly picked sides during the war.[8] On an unofficial basis, however, she acted favorably towards the American colonists by offering to provide them all that she could without compromising Russia's neutrality and her eventual desire to act as a mediator.
In March 1780, the Russian ministry released a "Declaration of Armed Neutrality." That set out Russia's international stance on the American Revolution and focused on the importance of allowing neutral vessels to travel freely to any Russian port without them being searched or harassed by the Navigation Acts. While the declaration kept Russia officially neutral, it supported many of France's own pro-American policies and resisted Britain's efforts to defeat the Americans via naval blockades. The declaration also gave the North American rebels an emotional lift, as they realized Russia was not solidly aligned with Great Britain.[9] With Russia as a potential, powerful friend, Russian-U.S. connections and communications continued to improve. Nevertheless, Catherine refused to recognize the United States openly as an independent nation until the war had ended.[8]
As the Revolutionary War continued into the late 1770s, a growing list of European powers took sides against Great Britain. The British saw a need to solidify an alliance with Russia to bolster its North American war. As aworld power that had previously allied with Britain, Russia was an obvious choice to assist with logistical and military support, as well as diplomatic efforts.[10] While Catherine admired the British people and culture, she dislikedGeorge III and his ministers. She was particularly disturbed by theSeven Years' War during which Catherine observed Britain's efforts to exit the conflict discreetly, which left Russia's allyPrussia vulnerable to defeat. She considered those efforts immoral and disloyal and saw Britain as an unreliable ally. She also viewed the American Revolution as Britain's fault. Citing the constant change in Britain's ministries as a major reason, Catherine understood the Americans' grievances.[11]
Despite Russia's official neutrality, Catherine's negative opinions of the British government and her view that Britain had caused the conflict weighed on her decisions when Britain began to request Russian support. In the summer of 1775, Britain sent diplomats to Russia in an attempt to learn whether Catherine would agree to send troops to North America to aid Britain's forces. Although her initial response seemed positive, Catherine denied Britain's formal request for support. While her dislike of the British ministry likely influenced her decision, Catherine formally cited the fact that her army needed rest after it had just finished more than six years of war.[12]
In November 1779, Britain made another plea for Russian assistance. The plea acknowledged to Catherine the collective power of Britain's enemies, as well asGeorge III's desire for peace. The British letter to Catherine explained those concerns and offered to "commit her [Britain's] interests to the hand of the Empress."[13] After waiting several months, Catherine decided to refuse the request.[13] In 1781, distressed and realizing that the British were close to losing the war, James Harris asked if a piece of British territory could convince Russia to join the fight. Offering the island ofMinorca, Harris did not request soldiers in exchange. This time, Harris simply asked for Russia to convince France to exit the war and to force the Americans to fight alone. However, Catherine merely used Harris's proposal to embarrass the British government. She declined Harris's offer and publicized it to the French and the Spanish.[14]
Catherine played a significant role in peacemaking efforts during the Revolutionary War. In October 1780, she sent a proposal to each of the European powers involved in the conflict. The proposal requested for the countries to meet to discuss what could be done to create peace. The powers met inVienna after Great Britain requested for the Austrian ministry to co-mediate the peace talks. Catherine sent Prince Dimitri Galitzin to act on her behalf as the Russian mediator. She sent him with a proposed set of peace guidelines that included a multi-year armistice between the countries and a requirement for negotiations between Great Britain and its European enemies as well as between Great Britain and the Americans. Catherine chose not to include a proposal concerning whether the U.S. would become autonomous. Since the British would not accept U.S. independence, and the French would not accept anything short of it, Catherine realized that explicitly providing for either outcome would lead to an immediate breakdown in the talks.[15] Catherine's ambiguous negotiation efforts ultimately fell through.
In 1801Thomas Jefferson appointedLevett Harris as the first Americanconsul-general to Russia (1803–1816). Russia attempted to join as a third-party mediator of peace in theWar of 1812, but this idea was rejected by British officials.[16][17]
TheMonroe Doctrine was partly aimed atHoly Alliance support of intervention inLatin America which Russia several times tried to get the United States to join, as well as theUkase of 1821 banning non-Russian ships from the Northwest Coast. TheRusso-American Treaty of 1824 setparallel 54°40′ north as the boundary betweenRussian America and the Anglo-AmericanOregon Country.
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During theAmerican Civil War, Russia supportedthe Union, largely because it believed that the U.S. served as a counterbalance to its geopolitical rival, the United Kingdom. In 1863, theRussian Navy's Baltic and Pacific fleets wintered in the American ports of New York and San Francisco, respectively.[18] In fact, Russia was one of the only European nations that expressed its support forthe Union and its sympathies with what was happening to the United States. Through an official declaration byAlexander Gorchakov to PresidentAbraham Lincoln on behalf of TsarAlexander II expressed the importance ofthe Union on the global political stage as well as a wanted ally.[19] When the issue of recognizing theConfederacy John Appleton, who was the current ambassador to Russia at the time, said “The question of recognizing the Confederate States was not before the Emperor, as the United States must remain a well‐prospering whole in order to counterweigh the British trade empire.”[20] TheAlexander Nevsky, Osliaba,[21] and the other vessels of the Atlantic squadron stayed in American waters for seven months (September 1863 to June 1864).[22]
ToTsar Alexander II, the main reason to support the Union was clear and it was that they were fighting on the side of emancipation and freedom.Tsar Alexander II was the Tsar that abolishedserfdom in the Russian Empire and he believed that Lincoln shared his similar beliefs and championed the side of emancipation. This was one of the main reasons why the Russian Empire continued its support of the Union throughout theAmerican Civil War.[23]
1865 saw a major project attempted: the building of a Russian-U.S.telegraph line fromSeattle, throughBritish Columbia, Russian America (Alaska) and Siberia. An early attempt to link East-West communications, it failed and never operated.[24]
Russia operated a small fur-trade operations inAlaska, coupled with missionaries to the natives. By 1861, the project had lost money, threatened to antagonize the Americans, and could not be defended from Britain. It proved practically impossible to entice Russians to permanently migrate to Alaska; only a few hundred were there in 1867. In theAlaska Purchase of 1867, the land was sold to the United States for $7.2 million.[25][26]
The Russian administrators and military left Alaska, but some missionaries stayed on to minister to the many natives who converted to theRussian Orthodox faith.[27]
From 1880 to 1917, about 3.2 millionimmigrants arrived in the U.S. from the Russian Empire. Most were Jews or Poles, and only 100,000 were ethnic Russians.[28] There were manyVolga Germans orRussian German immigrants to the United States.[29] Meanwhile, large numbers of minorities, especially Jews, Poles, and Lithuanians, emigrated to the United States before 1914.[30] Relations remained cool, especially because of the repeated pogroms in the Russian Empire.
After 1880, repeated anti-Jewishpogroms in Russia alienated U.S. elite and public opinion. In 1903, theKishinev pogrom killed 47 Jews, injured 400, and left 10,000 homeless and dependent on relief. American Jews began large-scale organized financial help and assisted in emigration.[31] More violence in Russia led in 1911 to the United States repealing an 1832 commercial treaty.[32][33]
In 1900, Russia and the United States were part of theEight-Nation Alliance suppressing theBoxer Rebellion inChina. Russia soon afterward occupiedManchuria, and the United States asserted theOpen Door Policy to forestall Russian and German territorial demands from leading to a partition of China into closed colonies.[34]
U.S. PresidentTheodore Roosevelt volunteered and successfully mediated an end to theRusso-Japanese War. Though during the conflict itself, Roosevelt had tacitly supportedJapan, theTreaty of Portsmouth was signed in 1905 on the conditions widely deemed more favorable to Russia given the circumstances. Roosevelt was subsequently awarded theNobel Peace Prize for his efforts.
DuringWorld War I, theUnited States' declaration of war came in April 1917 and only afterFebruary Revolution forced the abdication ofNicholas II who was widely viewed as adespot by the American public, long deterring support for the entente cause. When the Tsar was still in power, many Americans resisted fighting a war with him as an ally. TheWilson administration cited the new provisional government in Russia when describing the war as a struggle of democracies against autocratic old empires ofGermany andAustria-Hungary. During the war, theAmerican Expeditionary Forces were just starting to see battle when theOctober Revolution led by theBolsheviks overthrew theRussian Provisional Government in Petrograd and withdrew Russia from the war altogether.
Before the armistice in November 1918, the Americans had helped theAllied intervention in the Russian Civil War with thePolar Bear Expedition and theAmerican Expeditionary Force Siberia. The Americans' goal was not necessarily ideological but rather to deny the Central Powers access to Russian stockpiles of war materiel left vulnerable ascivil war raged in Russia following the rise of the Bolsheviks. The United States did formally, though tacitly, support theWhite movement against the Bolsheviks.[35]
TheRussian Empire and theUnited States both had anembassy andconsulates in each other's nations during their diplomatic relations. A few months after the Russian Empire fell during theFebruary Revolution in 1917, theUnited States government began to pay the consuls' expenses at all seven locations because of the importance they were playing inassisting the large number of Russian emigrants coming to North America.[36] On November 16, 1933, some of the consulates were closed after the signing of theRoosevelt-Litvinov Agreement where the United States recognized theSoviet Union anddiplomatic relations between the two countries began.[37]
The Russian Empire Embassy was inWashington D.C., while its consulates were in Chicago, Honolulu,New York, Philadelphia, Portland,San Francisco, andSeattle.[36][38] The US Embassy was located inMoscow, while its consulates were inOdesa,Saint Petersburg, andVladivostok.[38]
In 1801 [...] President Jefferson initiated relations with the new czar, Alexander I, sending Leverett Harris, a political friend from Pennsylvania, as the first U.S. consul-general to Russia. Russia tried to be a third-party meditator of peace in the war of 1812. However, Great Britain officials rejected this idea.
[...] in St. Petersburg, Levett Harris [...] had been America's first consul from 1803 to 1816 [...]
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