Russian Heroes

Russian Heroes

Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin, 1799-1837

“Pushkin is alone in this: He is a hero to everyone.”—Sergei Ivanov

“Likhachov considers early nineteenth century writer Aleksandr Pushkin as the essence of the Russian soul. Indeed, Dostoevsky himself named Pushkin as the ideal Russian.”—Zita Dabars

Pushkin was born into an aristocratic family in 1799. He was given an excellent education and his writing quickly became popular. His political poems and his concern for social reform, however, frequently irritated the government of Tsar Nicholas I, and in retaliation Pushkin suffered travel and creative restrictions, surveillance, and occasional periods of exile. He was a contemporary of such other great Russian writers as Gogol, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoi, and Turgenev. His many works include lyric poetry and folk tales re-told in verse as well as Eugene Onegin, a novel in verse, and Boris Godunov, the story of one of Russia’s early tsars. In 1837 Pushkin died in a duel, defending the honor of his wife.

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N. N. (Nikolai Nikolaievich) Muraviev, 1809-1881

Muraviev is a prominent name in Russian history, belonging to revolutionaries and inventors, scientists and authors. The Muraviev discussed here, also known as Count Muraviev-Amurskii, was a soldier, a statesman, an explorer, and a diplomat. He served as governor-general of eastern Siberia in the latter half of the 19th century. He was instrumental in expanding and consolidating Russian influence in the Amur River region, in 1858 negotiating the Treaty of Aigun that set the Russian-Chinese border at the Amur River.

Muraviev was the first to plant the Russian flag at the site where the city of Vladivostok now stands, on the southern portion of the Muraviev-Amurskii peninsula. Prior to World War II a Russian battleship was christened “Muraviev-Amurskii.” A statue of Muraviev stands on the Khabarovsk quay.

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V. K. (Vladimir Klavdievich) Arseniev, 1872-1930

V. K. Arseniev was a Russian explorer, naturalist, and surveyor. In the early 1900s he became the first European to map the southern portions of Far East Russia. He covered many hectares of Primorskii Krai and Khabarovskii Krai primarily on foot, accompanied by native bearers and Cossack troops.

“Ussuria or Ussuri Land was all but unknown to the West until early in the twentieth century, when it was explored by Vladimir K. Arseniev, a young army lieutenant, geographer, and naturalist who made three expeditions there between 1902 and 1908 in order to map the wild Primorski Krai, or Maritime Province. Arseniev was subsequently described as ‘the great explorer of Eastern Siberia’....” - Peter Matthiessen, Tigers in the Snow

The books Arseniev wrote describing his adventures have been compared to the journals of Lewis and Clark. His most famous book, Dersu the Trapper, has become a classic in its genre and has been made into a classic movie, Dersu Uzala. Dersu was a native trapper and hunter who guided several of Arseniev’s expeditions and, in time, became a close friend of Arseniev himself.

Arseniev’s family home in Vladivostok has been made into a museum. Exhibits include the compass, the camp cot, and even the pipe that Arseniev used in his travels. There is also the V.K. Arseniev State Museum in the heart of downtown Vladivostok, with exhibits covering natural history, modern history, anthropology, and more. A half-life-size wood carving in shades of rich red-brown dominates one of the museum lobbies—Arseniev and Dersu at rest in camp.

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Yuri Alexeievich Gagarin, 1934-1968

Yuri Gagarin was a colonel in the Soviet Air Force, a test pilot, a cosmonaut, and the first human being in space. In 1961 he orbited the Earth in the spacecraft Vostok I, spending 108 minutes outside the earth’s atmosphere. In his article “Comrade Kosmonaut,” David Polfeldt describes Gagarin’s spacecraft in these words: “Basically, Gagarin was sitting in a tin-can on top of a bomb.”

“I see Earth! It’s so beautiful!” — Gagarin’s first words from space

“I’m boundlessly happy that my beloved home-land was the first to accomplish this flight, was the first to reach outer space.”

Gagarin was declared a “Hero of the Soviet Union” and received a medal for his extra-terrestrial exploits. He died in 1968 at the age of 34, crashing during the test-flight of a MiG-15. His ashes were buried at the Kremlin. A crater on the far side of the moon has been named in his honor.

“People of the world! Let us safeguard and enhance this beauty, not destroy it.”

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China vs. Russia in the Amur River Basin

1640-1860

Russians first filtered into the Amur region—at that time under nominal Chinese control—in the 1640s. Spurred by rumors of precious minerals in the earth and fertile fields along the river, Moscow sent its first exploratory expedition into the valley in 1643. The next significant forays into the Amur region took place in 1649-1650, led by Yerofei Pavlovich Khabarov. The Khabarov expeditions encountered some armed resistance, but superior Russian firepower prevailed and soon serious attempts at Russian settlement began in the Amur River region.

But China still lay just beyond the river, and in 1658 Chinese forces began pushing the Russians out of the valley. As soon as Chinese vigilance in the area began to wane, however, Russian settlers slipped back in. Full-fledged war broke out in the region in 1682. In 1685 Russia surrendered the Amur River region to China, and the Manchu emperor demanded a Russian promise “never again to invade China’s frontiers.” But almost before the emperor turned his back, Russians were returning to the river valley.

In 1689 a conference was held attempting to find a permanent solution to the seesawing conflict. The Russians demanded that the Amur River be recognized as the border between China and Russia, but China prevailed and the border was drawn between Nerchinsk and Albazin.

When China became preoccupied with the Opium Wars during the 1840s-1850s, Russia once more turned a speculative gaze toward the Amur River Basin. Russian settlers under the protection of Cossacks began to move into the territory and by 1854, Russia controlled the entire length of the Amur.

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The Treaty of Aigun

In 1858 Russia proposed that the border between her possessions and China should be fixed at the Amur and Ussuri rivers, a demand that extended Russia’s boundary farther than ever before. Chinese representatives met with N.N. Muraviev, governor-general of eastern Siberia, to discuss the matter. According to “Sino-Soviet Amur Conflict”:

“Muraviev proposed the signature of a new treaty fixing the Amur as the common boundary between the two states. [The Chinese representative] I-shan rejected the proposal, whereupon Muraviev withdrew from the conference in feigned anger, and Russian gunboats on the Amur cannonaded during the night. The following day I-shan sent a representative to mollify Muraviev to the end that he would resume negotiations. Muraviev graciously consented to return to the conference table, and on May 28, 1858, the two sides signed the Treaty of Aigun, by virtue of which the Amur River from the Argun to its mouth was accepted as the boundary between the two countries.”

In 1860 Russia extended her holdings to the brink of the Pacific with the founding of Vladivostok on land belonging to China. By the Treaty of Peking (1860), both banks of the Amur River and the land south of Vladivostok were ceded to Russia.

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The 20th Century

In 1969 border disputes flared again in the Amur River Basin. Shots were fired, soldiers died, and politicians thundered. The following quotes from interviews of that year are taken from the “Sino-Soviet Amur Conflict.”

"China has not yet asked the Soviet Union for an accounting about Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Kamchatka, and other towns and regions east of Lake Baikal which became Russian territory about 100 years ago." (Mao Tse-tung)

"The borders of the Soviet Union are sacred, and he who dares to violate them will meet with a most decisive rebuff on the part of the peoples of the Soviet Union." (Nikita Khrushchev)

Border skirmishes continued off and on during 1969 until diplomatic agreement was reached. Today the Amur River forms the Sino-Russian border—and as late as 1998, Russian missiles along the banks of the Amur remained pointed across the water toward China

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