The Launch of the Volunteer Fleet: Late Imperial Russia and the “Empire Route”

Abstract

Abstract We examine the first decade that the Russian Volunteer Fleet, established due to the patriotic upsurge that followed the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, connected Odessa with the Russian Far East after 1879. We also discuss government support for Russian ships’ passage through the Suez Canal, triggered by the opening of the Chinese and Indian routes of the Russian Steam Navigation and Trading Company in 1871. The history of shipping trade in late Imperial Russia gives us hints regarding the scarcely examined relations between Russia and the global economy. Using documents from the Russian State Historical Archive in St. Petersburg, we reveal what Russia’s ruling politicians expected from maritime transportation. We argue that Russia’s shipping network, despite its many foreign ports of call, developed to promote the consolidation and development of domestic maritime trade. Some involved in Russia’s shipping trade thought that entering international trade was contrary to national interest.