Russia on the Danube : : Empire, Elites, and Reform in Moldavia and Wallachia, 1812–1834 / / Victor Taki.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Central European University Press eBook-Package 2021
• VerfasserIn: Taki, Victor,
• Place / Publishing House: Budapest ;, New York : : Central European University Press, , [2021]; ©2021
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Series: Historical Studies in Eastern Europe and Eurasia
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (388 p.)

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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Chapter I. Early Encounters -- Introduction -- Russian–Ottoman Confrontation and the Establishment of the Phanariot Regime -- The Peace of Kuchuk-Kainarji and the 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 -- Introduction -- 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 -- Introduction -- 1821 and 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) -- Introduction -- 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 Committee of Reform -- The Peace of Adrianople -- Chapter V. The Organic Statutes and Russia’s Eastern Policy -- Introduction -- 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 -- 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 -- Introduction -- 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 -- Appendix 1 -- Appendix 2 -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index