Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU)—a special service for safeguarding the national security of the Soviet Union. Formed in February 1922 by decision of the Politburo of the RCP(b) Central Committee from the former VChK, initially designated as the State Political Directorate (GPU). With the formation of the USSR in December 1922, it was renamed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU). Feliks Dzerzhinsky was the chairman of the OGPU from 1922 to 1926, followed by Vyacheslav Menzhinsky (1874–1934) from 1926 to 1934.
Khazar Khanate—a state originating in the mid-7th century in the Lower Volga region and eastern part of the North Caucasus as a result of the breakup of the Western Turkic Khanate. In the early 8th century, the Khazars controlled the North Caucasus, the Azov region, and most of the Crimea, as well as the Eastern European steppes as far as the Dnipro [Dnieper], and they warred with the Arabs for the Transcaucasus. Displaced by the Arabs, the Khanate shifted to the Lower Volga. In the late 8th and early 9th centuries, the struggle within the Khazar Khanate intensified, and in the late 9th century the Pechenegs settled on their territory in the Northern Black Sea region and along the Don. In the late 10th century, due to a series of Russian campaigns of conquest, the Khazar Khanate ceased to exist.
Manufacturing and Mining Board—a central governmental industrial institution of the Muscovite state in the early 18th century, founded by Peter the Great’s decree of December 23, 1718. This institution supervised all Russian industry, including mining, and was abolished on December 10, 1719 in connection with its reorganization into two new departments, the Manufacturing Board and the Mining Board.
Mining Board—a central governmental ore mining institution of the Muscovite state and Russian Empire in the 18th century, providing supervision of the mining and manufacturing industries. It operated intermittently, from 1719 to 1731, from 1742 to 1783, and from 1797 to 1807. Board operations were governed by the Mining Privilege and the Mining Regulation, as well as special and Senate decrees.
Mining Office—a central governmental mining engineering institution of the Muscovite state in the early 18th century. Formed on August 24, 1700 by a decree of Tsar Peter the Great, it laid the foundation for government administration of mining geology in prospecting for ore and other minerals in various parts of Russia. This institution managed ore prospecting and the training of people versed in mining, concerned itself with the construction of factories, and collected information on metals mined and newly discovered mineral fields. Under its control, iron works were built at Nevyansk, Tagil, Kamensk-Uralsky, and Alapayevsk. Subsequently, the country’s need for foreign metal ceased. By the end of Peter the Great’s reign, Russia was trading Russian iron and copper abroad. The institution was abolished on December 23, 1718 in connection with its reorganization into a new central industrial department, the Manufacturing and Mining Board.
Order of Lenin—highest decoration of the Soviet Union, instituted April 6, 1930 by resolution of the USSR Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’, and Peasants’ Deputies.
Polovtsy—also called Cumans, Kipchaks, and Qypchaqs, spoke a Turkic language and inhabited the South Russian steppes from the western horns of the Tien-Shan to the Danube from the 10th to 13th centuries. They raised livestock and led a nomadic life. From the 10th to 13th centuries, they regularly raided the territory of Kievan Rus. Attacks in the late 11th century were most dangerous. They were crushed and subjugated by the Mongolian-Tatar hordes in the 13th century. Some Polovtsy joined the Golden Horde, while others fled to Hungary. The Russian people’s struggle with the Polovtsy tribes was reflected in chronicles and in the monument of Russian literature, The Story of Igor’s Campaign.
Siberian Office—a central governmental institution of the Muscovite state in the 17th to 18th centuries, separated from the Kazan Palace Office in 1637. It managed administrative, judicial, military, and financial matters, trade, postal services, mining, and other enterprises over the territory of all Siberia, and to an extent, its relations with adjacent countries. This office was reorganized by Peter the Great’s decree of December 18, 1708 into the Moscow Chancellery of the Siberian Province, and in 1710 it ceased to exist. Its functions were concentrated in the hands of the Siberian governor and the governor’s office in Tobolsk. Due to the declining income received by the treasury from Siberia, the Russian government reinstituted the Siberian Office in 1730 and made it report to the Senate. The newly created institution managed only administrative, financial, trade, and customs matters. The Siberian Office was abolished for good on December 15, 1763, by order of Catherine the Great.
Profiles of Key Historical Figures
CHAPTER ONE: The Russian Empire’s “Black Gold”
Alexander I (1777–1825): Russian Emperor (1801–1825). Under the influence of liberal ideas, early in his reign he abolished the use of torture in judicial investigations, gave greater freedom in the performance of rites by religious minorities, permitted the operation of private printers, and encouraged the issuance of liberties to serfs (though only 0.5% of serfs were actually freed). He built new roads and canals in the center of the country and opened universities at Kazan, Kharkiv, Dorpat (Tartu), Vilnius, and St. Petersburg. He also made important changes in the structure of government administration. He expanded the powers of the Senate (1802), replaced the boards with ministries, and instituted the advisory State Council (1810). During the war of 1808–1809, he crushed Sweden, resulting in the annexation of Finland to the empire, and won a war against the Ottoman Empire from 1806 to 1812, capturing Bessarabia and several cities on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. In July 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte’s army invaded Russia, initiating the Patriotic War of 1812 in which Russia was victorious over the aggressors. Napoleon’s new army was crushed by the combined armies of Russia, Prussia, and Austria at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. After Napoleon’s abdication in 1814, Emperor Alexander, along with representatives of Austria, Prussia, and Great Britain, participated in the Congress of Vienna. To keep order in Europe, the Russian and Austrian emperors, together with the king of Prussia, entered into the “Holy Alliance,” later joined by most European monarchs. Subsequently, Russia consolidated its positions in the Balkans, continuing to force out the Ottoman Empire. The emperor’s sudden death in December 1825 caused an armed uprising by several military units in St. Petersburg, which went down in history as the “Decembrist revolt.”
Alexander II (1818–1881): Russian emperor and reformer. He was tutored by the noted Russian poet Vasily Zhukovsky, who inculcated liberal views and a romantic attitude toward life. In 1837, he made a long trip through Russia, and in 1838 another through Western Europe. In 1841, he married the Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt, who took the name Mariya Aleksandrovna. He participated in the affairs of the Empire, becoming a member of the State Council, the Council of Ministers, and the Finance Committee. He assumed the throne on the death of his father on February 19 (March 3), 1855. One of his first signature acts was to forgive the exiled Decembrists, which he announced during his coronation in Moscow on August 26 (September 12), 1856. He ended the Crimean War with England and France by signing a peace treaty in Paris on March 30, 1856. On February 19 (March 3), 1861, he promulgated a manifesto emancipating the peasants from serfdom. This radical reform foreshadowed other equally substantial acts: administrative (a statute on provincial and district land institutions), judicial (public and open trials, independent judges, new court procedures), reorganization of the Military System (in particular, a Charter on Universal Military Service), and a reform of public education. Under his reign, the conquest of the Caucasus was completed. Russia expanded its influence in the east, annexing Turkestan, the Amur Valley, the Ussuri Territory, and the Kurile Islands in exchange for the southern part of Sakhalin. During the American Civil War, he opposed British and French policy, and decisively supported the Union. In 1867, he sold Alaska and the Aleutian Islands to the United States. Despite his liberal reforms, his reign was marked by a growth in the revolutionary movement, and the emperor was the target of several attempts on his life. In 1880 he barely escaped death when terrorists detonated a bomb in the Winter Palace. Members of the People’s Freedom movement succeeded in assassinating Alexander II on March 13, 1881.