| Sino-Russian border conflicts | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Qing Empire forces storming the fort ofAlbazin | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Qing dynastyJoseon | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 2,000 men[1] |
| ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| c. 800 men[2] |
| ||||||
TheSino-Russian border conflicts[3] (1652–1689) were a series of intermittent skirmishes between theQing dynasty of China, with assistance from theJoseon dynasty of Korea, and theTsardom of Russia by theCossacks in which the latter tried and failed to gain the land north of theAmur River with disputes over the Amur region. The hostilities culminated in the Qing siege of the Cossack fort ofAlbazin in 1686 and resulted in theTreaty of Nerchinsk in 1689 which gave the land to China.
The southeast corner ofSiberia south of theStanovoy Range was twice contested between Russia and China. Hydrologically, the Stanovoy Range separates the rivers that flow north into the Arctic from those that flow south into theAmur River. Ecologically, the area is the southeastern edge of the Siberianboreal forest with some areas good for agriculture. Socially and politically, from about 600 AD, it was the northern fringe of theChinese-Manchu world. Various Chinese dynasties would claim sovereignty, build forts and collect tribute when they were strong enough. TheMing dynastyNurgan Regional Military Commission[4] built a fort on the Northern bank of the Amur atAigun,[5] and established an administrative seat at Telin, modernTyr, Russia aboveNikolaevsk-on-Amur.[6]
Russianexpansion into Siberia began with the conquest of theKhanate of Sibir in 1582. By 1643, they reached the Pacific atOkhotsk. East of theYenisei River there was little land fit for agriculture, exceptDauria, the land between theStanovoy Range and theAmur River which was nominally subject to the Qing dynasty.[7][8][9]
In 1643, Russian adventurers spilled over the Stanovoy Range. However, they were driven back by the Qing by 1689. The land was populated by some 9,000Daurs on theZeya River, 14,000Duchers downstream and several thousandTungus andNivkhs toward the river mouth. The first Russians to hear of Dauria were probablyIvan Moskvitin andMaxim Perfilev about 1640.[7][8][9]
In 1859/60, the area was annexed by Russia and quickly filled up with a Russian population.[citation needed]
Next summer, he sailed down the Amur and built a fort near modernAchan [ru] (Wuzhala (乌扎拉)) probably near present-dayKhabarovsk. Again there was fighting and the natives called for the assistance of the Qing. On 24 March 1652, Achansk was unsuccessfully attacked by a large Qing force consisting of 600 Manchu soldiers fromNinguta and about 1500 Daurs and Duchers led by the Manchu general known as Haise (海色),[12] or Izenei (Изеней or Исиней).[13] Haise was later executed for his poor performance.[14] As soon as the ice broke up Khabarov withdrew upriver[15] and built winter quarters atKumarsk. In the spring of 1653, reinforcements arrived under Dmitry Zinoviev. The two quarreled, Khabarov was arrested and escorted to Moscow for investigation.[7][8][9]
Cattle and horses in the hundreds were looted and 243 ethnicDaurMongolic girls and women were raped by Russian Cossacks under Yerofey Khabarov when he invaded the Amur River Basin in the 1650s.[16]
Onufriy Stepanov was left in charge with about 400-500 men. They had little difficulty plundering the natives and defeating the local Qing troops. The Qing responded with two policies. First they ordered the local population to withdraw, thereby ending the grain production that had attracted the Russians in the first place. Second they appointed the experienced generalSarhuda (who himself was from the Nierbo village from the mouth of Sungari) as the garrison commander atNinguta. In 1657 he built more than 40 ships at the village of Ula (modern Jilin).[citation needed] In 1658, a large Qing fleet under Sarhuda caught up with Stepanov and killed him and about 220 Cossacks. A few escaped and became freebooters.[7][8][9]
In the following operations significant Korean forces underKing Hyojong were included into Manchu-led troops. The campaigns became known in Korean historiography asNaseon Jeongbeol (나선정벌, literallyRussian campaign).
By 1658, the Chinese had wiped out the Russians belowNerchinsk and the deserted land became a haven for outlaws and renegade Cossacks. In 1660, a large band of Russians was destroyed. They had some difficulty pursuing the Cossacks since their own policy had removed most of the local food. In the 1670s the Chinese attempted to drive the Russians away from the Okhotsk coast, reaching as far north as theMaya River.[7][8][9]
In 1665,Nikifor Chernigovsky murdered[19] the voyvoda of Ilimsk and fled to the Amur and reoccupied the fort atAlbazin, which became the center of a petty kingdom which he namedJaxa. In 1670 it was unsuccessfully attacked. In 1672 Albazin received the Czar's pardon and was officially recognized. From 1673 to 1683 the Qing dynasty were tied up suppressing a rebellion in the south, theRevolt of the Three Feudatories. In 1682 or 1684 a voyvoda was appointed by Moscow.[7][8][9]
After extensive reconnaissance, the Qing made their first attempt to conquer Albazin in 1685. At the time Albazin was a wooden fort with only 300 muskets, 3 cannons, and low stocks of gunpowder; regardless, the Chinese concluded that it could not be taken from its tiny garrison unless "red barbarian cannons" (Hongyipao) were used. Three thousand Qing soldiers initially assailed the fort. A detachment made a feint on the south of the fort, while other soldiers secretly moved Hongyipao to the north of the fort and to its sides, to carry out a pincer attack. In total, the Qing force included 100-150 light artillery, 40-50 large siege guns, and 100 musketeers, with the rest of the men using traditional weapons. On the first day, 100 Russians were killed or wounded by the massive artillery barrage. After the wooden walls were set ablaze, the Russians surrendered and acknowledged Qing suzerainty.[20]
After this, the Russian garrison was ordered to build more powerful walls. With the help of Prussian soldier Afanasii Ivanovich Beiton (who was second in command of the fort), the walls were eventually built up to a height of five and a half meters and a thickness of seven and a half meters. In July 1686, the Qing sent another force of 3,000 troops (chiefly cavalry and including 30-40 "newly cast" cannons), supported by 150 supply boats manned by 3,000 to 6,000 more men, to retake the fort from the garrison of 736 Russian soldiers and militia (who had 11 cannons). The Russians rejected a Qing demand for surrender, and another battle ensued on July 18. Over the next few weeks, the Qing made various attempts to take the fort, but were always driven back with heavy losses, while Russian combat losses were negligible. The Russians even began sallying out for counterattacks to destroy Qing siege engines, one sally killing 150 Chinese troops for the loss of only 21 Russians. The Qing were befuddled by the design of the fort which, like contemporary European artillery forts, often left the Chinese soldiers caught in crossfires when they attempted to place their siege lines and artillery according to traditional tactics. The Qing general, Langtan, abandoned assaults in August and instead decided to starve the fort out by blocking Russian access to the nearby river. Eventually, the Qing investment in Albazin became so large that the fortifications of the siege camps dwarfed those of Albazin itself. Moscow sent elite musketeers to relieve the fort but the Qing controlled all approaches and no sled or sleigh could slip in. Both armies suffered from disease and starvation: Russian combatants and civilians alike died en masse from scurvy, typhus, and cholera, while the Chinese starved and froze outside the walls and were sometimes driven tocannibalism. By November, 600 Russian men and more than 1,500 Qing soldiers had died. In October 1686, Russian envoys arrived in Beijing from Moscow requesting peace. In December, a messenger from the Qing emperor arrived at the siege lines announcing a pause to the siege, and that his men, as a show of good faith, were to offer food and medicine to the remaining Russians, of which there were only 24.[21]
Albazin was eventually ceded to the Qing in the 1689 Treaty of Nerchinsk, in exchange for trading privileges in Beijing and the right to keep the city of Nerchinsk.
FormerMing dynasty loyalist Han Chinese troops who had served underZheng Chenggong and who specialized at fighting with rattan shields and swords (Tengpaiying) 藤牌营 were recommended to theKangxi Emperor to reinforce Albazin against the Russians. Kangxi was impressed by a demonstration of their techniques and ordered 500 of them to defend Albazin, under Lin Xingzhu (Chinese:林兴珠) and He You (Chinese:何佑), former Koxinga followers, and these rattan shield troops did not suffer a single casualty when they defeated and cut down Russian forces traveling by rafts on the river, only using the rattan shields and swords while fighting naked.[22][23][24]
"[the Russian reinforcements were coming down to the fort on the river] Thereupon he [Marquis Lin] ordered all our marines to take off their clothes and jump into the water. Each wore a rattan shield on his head and held a huge sword in his hand. Thus they swam forward. The Russians were so frightened that they all shouted: 'Behold, the big-capped Tartars!' Since our marines were in the water, they could not use their firearms. Our sailors wore rattan shields to protect their heads so that enemy bullets and arrows could not pierce them. Our marines used long swords to cut the enemy's ankles. The Russians fell into the river, most of them either killed or wounded. The rest fled and escaped. Lin Hsing-chu had not lost a single marine when he returned to take part in besieging the city." written by Yang Hai-Chai who was related to Marquis Lin, a participant in the war[28]
Most of the Russians withdrew to Nerchinsk, but a few joined the Qing, becoming theAlbazin Cossacks at Peking. The Chinese withdrew from the area, but the Russians, hearing of this, returned with 800 men under Aleksei Tolbuzin and reoccupied the fort. Their original purpose was merely to harvest the local grain, a rare commodity in this part of Siberia. From June 1686, the fort was again besieged. Either the siege was raised in December when the armies learned that the two empires were engaged in peace negotiations,[29] or the fort was captured after an 18-month siege and Tolbuzin was killed.[30] At that time less than 100 defenders were left alive.[7][8][9]
In 1689, by theTreaty of Nerchinsk, the Russians abandoned the whole Amur country including Albazin. The frontier was established as theArgun River and theStanovoy Range. In 1727 theTreaty of Kyakhta confirmed and clarified this border and regulated Russo-Chinese trade.
In 1858, almost two centuries after the fall of Albazin, by theTreaty of Aigun, Russia annexed the land between the Stanovoy Range and the Amur (commonly referred to in Russian asPriamurye, i.e. the "Lands along the Amur"). In 1860, with theConvention of Beijing, Russia annexed thePrimorye (i.e. the "Maritime Region") down toVladivostok, an area that had not been in contention in the 17th century. Those treaties allowed theAmur Annexation.
Haise was executed for this disgrace
Works cited
1. Page 133 -152 China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central EurasiaBy Peter C. PerduePublished by Harvard University Press, 2005
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