Російська імперія в боротьбі з османським спадком: упокорення корінних народів Північного Причорномор’я

Abstract

The article examines the establishment and maintenance of control by the Russian Empire over the territories of the annexed Crimean Khanate. Based on a comprehensive analysis of documents stored in Russian archives, travel notes and research by Ukrainian, Russian, German and British authors, it was found that the first important step in achieving this goal was the formation of a puppet government of Shagin Giray. With his help, the Russian Empire legitimized the presence of its own troops and the occupation administration in the region. As a result of the annexation of the Crimean peninsula, there were changes in the economic and political status of the indigenous peoples of the Northern Black Sea region, which consisted of depriving them of their rights and numerical restrictions. This led to the deployment of an anti-Russian national movement, which in turn prompted imperial government circles to develop a set of measures to maintain control over the region. Special attention is paid to the methods of subjugation of indigenous peoples, in particular the Crimean Tatars, Nogais, Greeks, Armenians. In the course of the research it was found that in order to solve the set tasks Russia managed to establish control over the local elites, physically destroy the Crimean Tatars and Nogais, deprive them of property, and push them out of the empire. At the same time, the tsar introduced various measures of assimilation, in particular: resettlement, the use of some ethnic groups in the struggle against others (the principle of “divide and rule”), religious pressure. All this led to the destruction of the traditional culture and way of life of the indigenous peoples of the Northern Black Sea coast. During the 19th century, the Russian Empire began to impose its own political, economic and mental traditions. By creating mythologemes and ideologemes, and enshrining them in the mass consciousness, the tsar formed a new reality and distorted the collective historical memory. The means of rooting imperial myths were the transformation of Orthodox churches into places of honor of the ruling dynasty, military victories and the Russian army, the construction of pantheons for the heroes of wars of aggression, and so on. The Church, carrying out the tasks set by the state, formed intolerance towards the Islamic population, consolidated the ideological division into “Orthodox” and “Busurman”, “liberators” and “enslavers”.