Russian City in Manchuria through the Eyes of the Minister of War: A.N. Kuropatkin’s Visit to Harbin in 1903

Abstract

The author considers the history of Russian Imperial Minister of War A.N. Kuropatkin’s visit to Harbin in 1903. The study is based on the Minister's diaries which he kept during the trip, a set of documents he built during the trip, as well as his official report written after the trip. The documents are stored in the Russian State Military Historical Archive (RGVIA) and have been used for the for the first time for historical research in this article. A. N. Kuropatkin visited the new Russian city which was under construction in Manchuria from 1898 as part of his trip to the Far East, and described in detail his inspection of the city, as well as its quay, military barracks, and civil facilities, as well as the maneuvers of the troops of the Harbin garrison and border guards. The study gives a description of the barracks accommodation of the troops in the city and the problems of organizing barracks construction at that time. It is noted that A.N. Kuropatkin considered Harbin as the most important commercial and strategic center of northern Manchuria. The article provides data on the number and national composition of the city population, as well as a description of the first time the Russian Minister of War negotiated with the Chinese governor-general of the Jilin province. The studied material illustrates A.N. Kuropatkin’s understanding of the impossibility of organizing the management of the non-Russian population of the region without preserving authority the Chinese local officials and therefore there was a need to establish close cooperation with them. It is also pointed out the Minister of War had hoped increase the coordination of representatives of the Russians at the local level including Russia’s local military, diplomatic, and financial departments. A.N. Kuropatkin’s in his conclusions shows his conviction of the relative ineffectiveness of exclusively peaceful penetration into Manchuria without support by military force, a discovery which prompted him to actively engage in the further development of Harbin’s military infrastructure.