Russian outskirts in the imperial administration model of the 19th century

In terms of developing the model of outlying politics, the major part of government's attention was attracted by the Caucasus, Finland, Poland and Siberia in the first half of the 19th century. The authors of the article believe, that the Caucasus region was strategically and economically important for Russia. That is why the Russian government set an objective of integrating this region into the empire. Vicegerency had to become the main unifying factor in this situation. The main efforts of all the imperial institutions in the Caucasus were aimed for an early rapprochement of the empire and the outskirts so that the new subjects could "get attached to their new stepmother as their own mother". The authors share the view that Finnish outskirts were important for their military-strategic potential: it was a giant defensive line. In order to attract former Swedish subjects to its side, the tsarist government made several concessions: the former Swedish province received the autonomous status of the Grand Duchy of Finland. Being part of the Russian Empire, Finland was completely autonomous - both politically and economically. The polyvariance of the Russian outskirts policy can also be observed in the example of Poland. In December 1815, the Kingdom of Poland received the constitution. In fact, between 1815 and 1830 Poland was an autonomous province of the Russian Empire. However, the Polish uprising of 1830-1831 put an end to the constitution. Actually, the course was adopted to transform the Kingdom of Poland into a Russian province. As for Siberia, the unity of views was manifested only by the understanding of the significance of the resettlement of the serving and agricultural population in the Trans-Ural region as the main means of ensuring Russian military-strategic presence in the East. The authors think that in the first half of the 19th century the government was not able to develop a universal model for managing the outskirts. In fact, the autocracy was compelled to take into account the different geopolitical and economic significance of the outskirts for the destinies of the country. The transformations of the post-reform period required a substantial update of the entire program of building the relationships between the center and the periphery. The counter-reforms of the 1880s and 1890s were reflected in the transformation of the outskirts policy aimed at the all-round "involvement" of the outskirts in the all-Russian economic, administrative, political and socio-cultural system. This situation was equally characterized for all of the Russian outskirts. The policy of ruthless Russification began in the Baltic provinces, in Poland, in the Caucasus, and even in Finland. The outskirts policy of the Russian state passed a long way of evolution and development. On the example of the western and southwestern outskirts - Finland, Poland, and the Caucasus - one can observe the polyvariance of the Russian policy towards outskirt areas so as its sufficient flexibility: from the complete unification with Russia to the receiving of political autonomy.

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