Russia Abroad

Abstract

This chapter provides background on the inter-war Russian emigration, its numbers, geographic spread, demographic make-up, and political divisions. It explains that most Russian émigrés expected their exile to be short; this was particularly true of military émigrés. Russians of all sorts experienced both economic hardship and xenophobia during their years of exile. This produced a growing sense of isolation and of paranoia. The Russian emigration split into smaller and smaller political groups. The chapter describes various émigré political groups and their leaders, such as P. N. Miliukov, Smena Vekh, the Eurasian movement, monarchism, and the Mladorossy.