Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022, the United States and its allies have launched sanctions against Russia, including the freezing of huge amounts of Russian funds. In a fit of rage, Russia threatened to "take back" Alaska!Does Alaska say "take it back" and take it back?What exactly happened between Russia and the United States around Alaska?
The name Alaska comes from the Aleutian word "alyeska", which means "great land". It is located at the northwestern tip of the North American continent, bordered by Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Bering Sea to the west, the Aleutian Islands and the North Pacific Ocean to the south. It is the largest of the 50 states in the United States, with an area of 17180,000 square kilometers, about one-fifth of the total area of the United States. It is separated from the mainland by Canada, making it an enclave of the United States. Alaska, however, has a population of just over 700,000.
Alaska is rich in resources. Its surrounding waters are home to some of the richest fishing grounds in the world, with 57 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and 30 billion barrels**. With Alaska, the United States has become the first echelon country in the Arctic Circle, and has a superior advantage in the development of the Arctic.
Alaska is separated from Russian Siberia by only one Bering Strait, which is only 35 kilometers at its narrowest point. The strait is the only link between the Arctic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, the continental boundary separating North America and the Asian continent, and the point through which the International Date Line passes. For the United States, Alaska occupies an extremely important position both in terms of economic value and strategy towards Russia.
Such a treasure land, the first colonial possession of it turned out to be Tsarist Russia!However, in 1867, Tsarist Russia gave Alaska** to the United States at an ultra-low price of $7.2 million. From a modern point of view, this is tantamount to a fantasy!As we all know, the biggest characteristic of Tsarist Russia in history is that it loves its land like its destiny and has been expanding its territory, so that it has expanded from a small Eastern European country - Muscovy all the way to a giant empire with a territory of 22.88 million square kilometers, approaching the area of the entire North America.
Why did Russia do thisIncrediblemovesWhat about it
In the late 16th century, Tsarist Russia, which developed from Muscovy, began to expand beyond the Ural Mountains to Siberia, reaching the Sea of Okhotsk at the eastern end of Eurasia in just a few decades, and completely conquering the Siberian tribes in 1598. In the next step, Tsarist Russia began to cross the Outer Khing'an Mountains to the south to compete for the land of the Qing Dynasty. On September 7, 1689, Tsarist Russia and the Qing Dynasty signed the Treaty of Nebuchu, which demarcated the eastern section of the Sino-Russian border. Tsarist Russia then set its sights on Alaska, which is located across the sea in the easternmost part of the Eastern Hemisphere and the westernmost part of the Western Hemisphere.
From the 16th century to the 18th century, European powers landed on the North American continent from the Atlantic coast, setting off a frenzy of carving up the North American colonies. The northwestern part of the North American continent had become an untouched area for European powers, and Russia took advantage of this opportunity to set foot in Alaska.
In 1725, the Tsar sent Vitus Jonassen Beling, a Danish-born Russian-American veteran, to lead an expedition on the northern shores of Siberia. In 1928, the Bering fleet crossed the Arctic Circle for the first time across the strait between mainland Russia and Alaska. In 1732, the navigator Pavlutsky arrived in Alaska and made the first measurements of the nearby coastline. In 1941, the Tsar again sent Bering and Aleksey Chilikov to lead a fleet of expeditions. The flotilla set off from Kamchatka and headed north, when a storm separated the two ships under Bering's command. Bering passes through the Aleutian Islands and eventually arrives in the Gulf of Alaska. On the way back to Petropavlovsk, they drifted to an uninhabited island in the Komandor archipelago, where Bering and 28 other sailors on board died of illness. In order to commemorate him, the small island where he died was named Bering Island, the strait he discovered was named Bering Strait, and the sea area north of the Aleutian Islands and south of the Bering Strait was named Bering Sea.
Of the remaining 77 sailors on Bering's ship, 46 returned to the port from which they departed. The surviving crew took whole crates of animal skins piled up in the ship's hold to Siberia to sell them to Russian merchants. The lucrative fur ** aroused great interest among the Russians, and the tsar decided to rush to colonize and occupy Alaska before the British reacted. The Russians began to cross the Bering Strait and settle on the North American continent.
In 1763, Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War and completely occupied northeastern North America. Between 1776 and 1783, Britain's Thirteen Colonies of North America waged the War of Independence. Taking advantage of Britain's lack of time to take care of the northwestern part of North America, Russia further expanded its sphere of influence. In 1784, the merchant Shelikhov first established the first Russian colonial settlement in North America, "Roseburg", in the Three Holy Bays of Alaska. In 1799, the Russian-American Company (Russia-American Company = RAC) was founded. Founded by Russian merchants, travelers, adventurers and entrepreneurs, the company can independently enter into ** agreements with other countries and has its own flag and currency. In 1799, the Tsar issued a charter granting the Russian-American Company a 20-year economic monopoly, which was renewed thereafter in 1821 and 1844, and stipulated that the Russian-American Company would give one-third of its profits to the Tsar, and that the Tsar and his family members were shareholders of the RAC. Since then, the Russian-American company has carried out foreign colonial expansion in the name of ** company, thus confirming Russia's territorial sovereignty over Alaska. In 1799, the first city in Alaska was established, Sitka, and the base continued to expand southward, gradually clashing with the interests of the old colonizer Britain.
In 1776, the United States declared its independence, which was recognized by Britain in 1783. In 1812, the U.S. invasion of British Canada failed. In order to prevent British Canada from being caught between the United States and Tsarist Russia, Britain urgently needed to demarcate its borders with Tsarist Russia. In 1825, Britain and Russia signed itTreaty of St. Petersburg, which stipulates that the southern boundary of the ** territory is 54 degrees 40 minutes north latitude, and the eastern boundary is 141 degrees west longitude. Southeastern Alaska is divided into areas that run parallel to the coastline until it meets the coastal area at 141 degrees west longitude, and the territory is no more than 10 leagues (56 kilometers) from the coastline. As the territory of the United States expanded from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific coast,The North American continent has formed a three-legged situation of Britain, the United States and Russia
During this period, Tsarist Russia was expanding its territory in North America and encroaching on the northern shores of the Black Sea of the Ottoman Empire through the Russo-Turkish War. In between, the warmer Black Sea coast was preferred to the distant and cold Alaska, and the enormous expenses of running a North American colony weighed heavily on Tsarist Russia.
Between 1853 and 1856, Tsarist Russia fought the Crimean War with the British and French forces for control of Asia Minor. On March 30, 1856, the parties signed the Treaty of Paris, and Tsarist Russia was forced to accept unfavorable conditions, including prohibiting Tsarist Russia from having a fleet and naval bases in the Black Sea, and forbidding Tsarist Russia to fortify the Arand Islands in the Baltic Sea. After the defeat in the Crimean War, Tsarist Alaska became an easy target for British Canada. And if the British captured Alaska, they would be approaching the Bering Strait to confront Tsarist Russia, a prospect that Tsarist Russia did not want to see. (Yu Ningning, "Analysis of the Reasons for Alaska in the Period of Alexander II", Journal of Inner Mongolia University for Nationalities (Social Science Edition), No. 6, 2020).
On the other hand, Tsarist Russia encountered many difficulties after the colonial occupation of Alaska. The distance and cold climate made it uninhabitable, and the settlement of Sitka was only about 2,500 people at its peak. For the Russians, the economic value of Alaska lies only in the sea otter skin business, and no other resources are discovered. Over time, sea otters were drastically reduced by the barbaric hunting of the Russians, and by the middle of the 19th century they were almost extinct. Moreover, the native Inuit and Continental Indians of Alaska destroyed the Sitka as they fought for land. The United States and Britain, which also aimed at this land, also actively provided guns and so on to the Indians. In addition, whaling fleets and fur traders from other countries have also come to Alaska in pursuit of profits.
What's more serious is that the Russian-American Company of Alaska (RAC), which is directly operated by Tsarist Russia, has been losing money year after year, and can only rely on financial subsidies to continue its life, which has not only helped ** economically, but has become a burden. (Ma Tianxin, "The Reason for the Russian-American Alaska Deal - Based on the Perspective of **", PR World, No. 16, 2020).
During this period, Tsarist Russia made significant progress in territorial expansion and access to the sea in the Far East. In 1860, through the signing of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing, Tsarist Russia seized Vladivostok (Vladivostok), the outlet to the sea in the Outer Northeast, from the Qing Dynasty. This gain also further reduced Alaska's status in the eyes of Tsarist Russia.
In this context, Tsarist Russia wants to simply give Alaska, which may not be able to be saved, to a third country other than Britain, which can not only solve the urgent need in terms of funds, but also establish a buffer zone between Russia and Britain, and then concentrate on pursuing interests in Asia. (Dong Jimin, "Alaska** and the Formation of the Pacific World", Journal of Shandong Model University (Humanities and Social Sciences Edition), No. 5, 2003).
It was against this background that Tsarist Russia formed the idea of Alaska, and its chosen buyer was the United States.
As early as March 1853, Muravyov (1809-1881), the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia of Tsarist Russia, proposed to Tsar Nicholas I that Alaska be given to the United States. He believes that it is necessary to shrink the excessively long defensive boundary and concentrate on the operation of the Heilongjiang River basin. Some other ** dignitaries of Tsarist Russia also put forward proposals to sell this piece of land with no economic value to the United States. The tsar eventually adopted it.
In 1854, Tsarist Russia proposed to the United States the proposal of Alaska. In the same year, U.S. Secretary of State William Learned Marcy formally made an offer to Russia to buy it. In the eyes of Tsarist Russia, the United States was emerging as Britain's fierce rival in North America at that time, and Tsarist Russia intended to use the United States, the "enemy of the enemy", to contain Britain. However, the Crimean War began in 1853 and the Civil War broke out in the United States in 1961, and the Alaska deal was shelved. In the American Civil War, Tsarist Russia sent ** to help the Northern Army.
On December 16, 1866, Tsarist Foreign Minister Gorchakov, Minister of the Admiralty Grand Duke Constantine, Minister of Finance Leekin, Minister of Finance to the United States, and Minister Stokel held a meeting with Kolabey, an officer of the Admiralty who was familiar with the situation in Alaska, and decided on a plan to give Alaska to the United States. On March 11, 1867, Ambassador Sjieko and U.S. Secretary of State William Henry Seward (1801-1872) began negotiations on Alaska. (Wang Jing, "An Analysis of the Reasons for William Henry Seward's Purchase of Alaska", Journal of Shandong Normal University (Humanities and Social Sciences), No. 5, 2007).
* The human bid was $11.2 million. Seward pressed ** to $5 million, and the two sides were at a stalemate for a while. On March 29, the two sides bargained and talked all the way to the night. At 4 a.m. on March 30, Baron Stockel, the Minister to the United States, and Seward, the U.S. Secretary of State, finally signed the Alaska Cession Treaty. The United States bought 171 from Tsarist Russia for $7 million plus $200,000 in fees80,000 square kilometers of Alaska and Aleutian Islands colonies. On April 9, the U.S. Congress passed the acquisition. (Gu Xuejia: "Analysis of the Reasons for Tsarist Russia ** Alaska", Journal of Sichuan University (Philosophy and Social Science Edition), No. 3, 1987) In mid-May, the acquisition was approved by Tsarist Russia. Russia and the United States exchanged the text of the treaty on June 20. landBuying and sellingContractsIn the same yearOctober 18thEntry into forceAlaska officially became the United Statesthis dayIt was beenbecome"Alaska Remembrance Day".
The handover ceremony in Alaska took place in Sitka. Russian and American soldiers lined up at the flagpole, and the national flag slowly lowered amid the salute. However, the flag was entangled at the top of the flagpole, the sailors climbed the flagpole and threw it down, and the flag accidentally fell on the bayonets of the ** people. This seems to imply that this deal of the Russians is a big failure!
Given the sheer size and enormous value of Alaska, the Russians have undoubtedly made a loss-making deal that has been ridiculous for 10,000 years. Why should we give up the land on which so much effort and time was developed, the Russian newspaper wrote?However, for Tsarist Russia, which was in dire need of money at that time, this price was also acceptable. The total income of the Russian state in 1867 was 44.4 billion rubles, and $7.2 million from the sale of Alaska accounted for 23%。Moreover, Tsarist Russia was worried that Alaska would not be able to keep it, so it was better to get a sum of money and use it to realize "uniting the United States to control Britain", which was simply a two-win deal.
After the contract of sale was signed, Alexander II could not get the money from the Americans for a long time, so he ordered the ** minister in Washington to lobby the US congressmen to ask them to quickly allocate funds to buy land. When the tsar finally received the money, how did it only 703$50,000, 16 lessWhat about $50,000?It turns out that this 16The $50,000 was used by Edouard de Stoeckl, Russia's minister to the United States, to bribe and bribe Stevenson, chairman of the Congressional appropriations committee, Banks, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, other congressmen, and members of the press to get the United States to complete the purchase quickly. At that time, there were rumors that a number of Washington politicians had taken the money of the ** people, so they supported the bill to buy Alaska. The matter later fermented into the "Suspect Case of Buying Alaska**". On May 18, 1868, the U.S. Council on Foreign Affairs passed the appropriations bill by a narrow majority. On 14 July, the House of Representatives passed the appropriations bill by a vote of 113 in favor, 43 against and 44 abstentions. It can be seen that at that time, the United States did not buy Alaska happily, and there were many opponents.
On July 28, 1868, Secretary of State Seward withdrew $7.2 million from the Treasury Department and handed it over to the Russian ambassador to the United States. At this point, the Alaska cession was completed. In his report to the Tsar, it was mentioned that about $200,000 of the purchase price had been used for "secret expenses". In his report, he also ridiculed corruption in the United States, saying that he wanted to be transferred to other positions so that he could "breathe purer air than Washington."
In the case of the U.S. side, pay $7.2 million for 17180,000 square kilometers of land equals only 2 cents per acre or only 4 cents per square kilometer2 USD. According to the GDP data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the total GDP of the United States in 1867 was 83$4.4 billion, then $7.2 million is equal to 0086%。That is, the United States used less than 0 percent of its annual GDP that year1% of the funds bought Alaska, which accounts for one-fifth of the land of the United States today.
In the summer of 1880, just 13 years after the United States acquired Alaska, engineer Juneau discovered a large amount of placer gold in the narrow Avalanche Valley of Alaska. In 1881, a city appeared on the site and named it "Juno" after the pioneers. Between 1880 and 1900, Juno discovered three large gold mines, and its production once became the world's largest. Juno went from being a deserted place to Alaska's largest city of 1,800 people, while Sitka, the capital city of Sitka, which was heavily reliant on whaling and furs, went into decline. After repeated suggestions from Juno and others, in June 1900, William McKinley (1843-1901), then the United States, signed the "Alaska Act", officially deciding to move the capital of Alaska from Sitka to Juneau.
In 1912, the United States established the Alaska region, and in 1959, it became a state. Alaska becomes the 49th state of the United States.
Acquired 171. for $7.2 millionThe 80,000-square-kilometer Alaska is an obvious bargain, but the Americans didn't think it that way.
At the time, some U.S.** and lawmakers expressed serious doubts about the reasonableness of the acquisition. In the eyes of these people, the United States has just experienced a civil war, the country's finances are in a very bad situation, and there is no extra money to buy uninhabited land. However, the U.S. Congress eventually approved the purchase agreement. After acquiring Alaska, Seward said excitedly: The United States' acquisition of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands is tantamount to "extending a hand of friendship to Asia" and can attract the best interests of China and Japan to the United States.
The American public was in an uproar when they learned of this. It was thought that it was not worth the taxpayer's money that the state spent on the barren land of Alaska. Newspapers ridiculed Alaska as "Johnson's polar bear backyard," "Seward's refrigerator," "Seward's stupidity," and why does the United States need 50,000 wild Eskimos (Alaska Natives, also known as Inuit) who drink fish oil for breakfast?Johnson here refers to Andrew Johnson (1808-1875), the 17th emperor of the United States. In fact, the cheap purchase of Alaska became one of the two great historical feats of Johnson's greatness, the other being the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which completely emancipated slaves. Seward was not discouraged by the ridicule either. In one of his speeches, he said: "It may be of little use if I buy it now, but in many years from now our children and grandchildren will benefit from it." Seward eventually became highly regarded by the Americans as well, and the coastal town east of Anchorage, Alaska's largest city, was named Seward.
History is on Seward's side!
Soon after the U.S. bought Alaska, this cold, barren land began to show its value in a steady stream. The more time passed, the more the Russians' remorse deepened, and the more Siward's prescience was confirmed.
After Juneau's discovery of gold, the gold rush alone made the $7.2 million a paltry insignificant. Gold mining in Juno City for more than 40 years has earned the United States back 1500 million, equivalent to 20 Alaska**. Soon, the fishery, forest, and fur resources here were also developed one after another. By the beginning of the 20th century, more than 50 salmon canneries had been established in Alaska. Later, with the advancement of exploration technology, rich underground resources were discovered in the freezing Alaska, and this "Seward refrigerator" originally buried gold and copper, and later oil and gas. Only then did the Americans realize what a great "Siyward vision" "Seward's stupidity" was!(Wang Guoyu, "Alaska Purchase and Its Significance to the United States", Journal of Aba Normal College, No. 1, 2012).
In 1935, Billy Mitchell, the "father of the modern American Air Force," commented on this treasure in his speech to Congress: "Alaska is the most important strategic region in the world, and whoever owns Alaska owns the world. "In December 1941, the Pacific War broke out. After taking Southeast Asia, Japan invaded the Aleutian Islands, only to be stubbornly resisted by U.S. forces stationed in Alaska. It was the first battle against a foreign enemy on American soil. The Aleutian Islands, like a chain of fortresses that stretched out, allowed the American army to advance step by step towards the Japanese army. The role of the Aleutian Islands in the war has highlighted Alaska's strategic position.
During World War II, the United States** built a 1,523-mile highway from Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska, which allowed Alaska to have a land route to the continental United States, and its economic and strategic value was further developed.
On July 7, 1958, Eisenhower** signed and Congress passed the statehood statute, and in January 1959, Alaska officially became the 49th state of the United States, seven months before the 50th state, Hawaii. Since then, Alaska has changed from "Seward's refrigerator" to the "last frontier" of the United States.
During the Cold War, Alaska became at the forefront of the United States against the Soviet Union. The United States deployed ballistic missiles here to contain the Soviet Union. In 1990, the United States established the 11th Air Force Command in Alaska, which is part of the Pacific Command and is responsible for providing support to the entire Pacific theater.
From a longer-term perspective, with Alaska, the United States, which was originally unable to compete with the Arctic, became a country in the Arctic Circle in one fell swoop, giving it a head start in the development of Arctic resources in the future. In May 2013, Obama** promulgated the National Strategy for the Arctic Region, and Alaska has become the support point of the United States' Arctic strategy.
Putin once said: "Russia is big, but not an inch of land is superfluous". But the Russians can only regret the sale of Alaska.