Transcaucasian region in tsarist travels: from Alexander II to Nicholas II

The travels of emperors on the national outskirts of the Russian Empire as a representation of power and mastering the symbolic space of multinational state were the means to manage culturally complex communities of the Romanov dynasty servants. The article considers the circumstances of the visits of Alexander II in 1871, Alexander III in 1888, and Nicholas II in 1914 to the South Caucasus. It describes the general characteristics of the routes and scenarios of the highest visits, shows the stability of the principal forms of communication with the local population. The importance of the continuity of the czarevitch’s’ Caucasian journeys in their future practices of ruling the region is emphasized. The commemorative aspects of the czarist visits that actualize in the public consciousness the key events of the Russian history of the Caucasus are investigated. It is noted while observing organizational and ceremonial canon, each visit solved concrete and historical problems determined by the completion of the accession Caucasus to Russia, the development of transport infrastructure and deeper integration of the region into the socio-cultural space of the empire, symbolic mobilization of demographic and material resources of the southern outskirts during the World War I. The reasoned conclusion shows that the visits of the emperors promoted the legitimization in the eyes of the subjects of both the supreme crown authority and its representatives in the face of the authorities of the Caucasian region. “The Highest Visits” deepened the integration of the region into the larger imperial space and, at the same time, contributed to the reintegration of the peoples of the South Caucasus within the Russian state order.

1. BAEV G. Shagi grazhdanstvennosti sredi gorskikh plemen Terskoi oblasti [Steps of citizenship among the mountain tribes of the Terek region]. IN: Tiflisskii listok. – 1907. – No. 30. – P. 2. (In Russ.).

2. BEKULOV Kh.M., BEKULOVA I.B. Poezdka Aleksandra III na Kavkaz kak novaya vekha integratsii gorskikh narodov v sostave Rossiiskoi imperii [Alexander III's trip to the Caucasus as a new milestone in the integration of the mountain peoples within the Russian Empire]. IN: Rossiiskii elektronnyi nauchnyi zhurnal. – 2020. – No. 4 (38). – P. 159-185. (In Russ.).

3. DYAKIN V.S. Natsional'nyi vopros vo vnutrennei politike tsarizma (XIX – nachalo XX vv.) [The national question in the domestic politics of tsarism (XIX – early XX centuries)]. – SPb.: «LISS», 1998. – 1000 p. (In Russ.).

4. Ego Imperatorskoe Velichestvo gosudar' imperator Nikolai Aleksandrovich v deistvuyushchei armii: noyabr'-dekabr' 1914 [His Imperial Majesty the Tsar Nicholas Alexandrovich in the Active Army: November-December 1914] /Comp. by general-maior Dubenskii. – Petrograd: Ministerstvo imperatorskogo dvora, 1915. – 190 p. (In Russ.).

5. HUBERTUS JAHN. Visits of tsars to the Caucasus as representations of Empireю IN: Identities and Representations in Georgia from the 19th Century to the Present. Ed. by Hubertus Jahn. 2021. – P. 169-184. (In English).

6. ISMAIL-ZADE D.I. Graf I.I. Vorontsov-Dashkov. Namestnik Kavkazskii [Count I.I. Vorontsov-Dashkov. Viceroy of the Caucasus]. – M.: ZAO Tsentrpolirraf, 2005. – 511 p. (In Russ.).

7. Kavkaz [the newspaper "Caucasus"]. – Tiflis. (In Russ.).

8. KIREEV F. Samoderzhtsy vo Vladikavkaze [Samoderzhtsy in Vladikavkaz] IN: Rodina. – 2011. – No. 8. – P. 130-131(In Russ.).

9. KOLONITSKII B.I. «Tragicheskaya erotika»: Obrazy imperatorskoi sem'i v rody Pervoi mirovoi voiny ["Tragic Erotica": Images of the Imperial Family during the First World War]. – M.: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, 2010. – 664 p. (In Russ.).

10. KRIVENKO V.S. Ocherki Kavkaza. Poezdka na Kavkaz osen'yu 1888 g. [Essays of the Caucasus. Trip to the Caucasus in autumn 1888] – SPb.: tip. A.S. Suvorina, 1893. – 246 p. (In Russ.).

11. KRIVENKO V.S. Poezdka na yug Rossii v 1888 godu [A Trip to the South of Russia in 1888.]. – SPb.: tip. A.S. Suvorina, 1891. – 59 p. (In Russ.).

12. KRIVENKO V.S. Puteshestvie ego imperatorskogo vysochestva naslednika tsesarevicha na Vostok, ot Gatchiny do Bombeya [Journey of His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince to the East, from Gatchina to Bombay]. – SPb.: tip. M-va vn. del, 1891. – 72 p. (In Russ.).

13. MESHCHENINA A.A. «Kavkaz zamer v trepetnom ozhidanii…» (k istorii puteshestviya Aleksandra III na Kavkaz v 1888) ["The Caucasus froze in anxious expectation...". (To the History of Alexander III's Travels to the Caucasus in 1888)]. IN: Romanovy v doroge: puteshestviya i poezdki chlenov tsarskoi sem'i po Rossii i za granitsu: Tezisy Mezhregional'noi nauchnoi konferentsii 12-13 noyabrya 2013 g. – M.: Institut slavyanovedeniya, 2013. – P. 20-21. (In Russ.).

14. Ocherk vysochaishego gosudarya imperatora puteshestviya v predelakh Tiflisskoi gubernii [Essay of the Highest Emperor's Journey in Tiflis Province] IN: Kavkaz. – 1871. – No. 115. – P.1-2. (In Russ.).

15. POTTO V.A. Tsarskaya sem'ya na Kavkaze. 18 sentyabrya – 14 oktyabrya 1888 [The Tsarist Family in the Caucasus. September 18 – October 14, 1888]. – Tiflis: Tip. Okruzhnogo Shtaba Kavkazskogo voennogo okruga, 1889. – 230 p. (In Russ.).

16. Prebyvanie na Kavkaze ikh imperatorskikh velichestv gosudarya imperatora Aleksandra III Aleksandrovicha i gosudaryni imperatritsy Marii Fedorovny [Stay in the Caucasus of Their Imperial Majesties, Sovereign Emperor Alexander III Alexandrovich and Sovereign Empress Maria Feodorovna]. IN: Kavkazskii kalendar' na 1889 g. – Tiflis, 1888. – Prilozhenie. – P. 1–81. (In Russ.).

17. Priezd naslednika tsesarevicha na Kavkaz [The Crown Prince's arrival in the Caucasus]. IN: Severnyi Kavkaz. – 1892. – No. 91. – P. 2. (In Russ.).

18. Prikaz po Kavkazskomu voennomu okrugu 30 oktyabrya 1871 g. [Order for the Caucasian Military District, October 30]. IN: Terskie vedomosti. – 1871. – No. 42. – P.1. (In Russ.).

19. TREPAVLOV V. Tsarskie puteshestviya na Kavkaz [Tsar's travels to the Caucasus]/ IN: Rodina. – 2015. – No.10. – P. 102–107. (In Russ.).

20. VOLKHONSKII M. A. «Ob"ezd» glavnonachal'stvuyushchim kn. A. M. Dondukovym-Korsakovym Kavkazskogo kraya v 1882 g.: bor'ba za polnomochiya i prezentatsiya imperskoi vlasti ["Detour" by the chief prince A. M. Dondukov-Korsakov of the Caucasus region in 1882: the struggle for authority and the presentation of imperial power]. IN: Istoriya. Nauchnoe obozrenie OSTKRAFT. – No. 6. – M.: Modest Kolerov, 2018. – P. 5-24. (In Russ.).

21. VOLKHONSKII M.A. «Iskat' preimushchestvennuyu oporu v naibolee nadezhnom elemente kraya». Vsepoddanneishaya zapiska glavnonachal'stvuyushchego knyazya A.M, Dondukova-Korsakova «Ocherk politicheskogo sostoyaniya Kavkaza». Dekabr' 1882 ["Seeking a preferential support in the most reliable element of the region". The all-subject note of the chief prince A.M. Dondukov-Korsakov "The sketch of the political state of the Caucasus". December of 1882]. IN: Kavkazskii sbornik. – Moskva, 2021. – Vol. 11 (45). – P. 112–138. (In Russ.).

22. VOLKHONSKII M.A. "Revision" by A.M. Dondukov-Korsakov of the Caucasian region in 1882 ["Revision" by A.M. Dondukov-Korsakov of the Caucasian region in 1882]. IN: Ural Historical Herald. – 2019. – No. 2 (63). – P. 79-86. (In Russ.).

23. VOLKHONSKII M.A. Pervaya russkaya revolyutsiya i vosstanovlenie Namestnichestva na Kavkaze [The first Russian revolution and the restoration of Governorate in the Caucasus]. IN: Kavkazskii sbornik. – M.: NP ID «Russkaya panorama», 2006. – Vol. 3 (35). – P. 87-106. (In Russ.).

24. Vysochaishee povelenie «O privlechenii k otbyvaniyu voinskoi povinnosti naseleniya Zakavkaz'ya i inorodtsev Terskoi i Kubanskoi oblastei» [The imperial order "On enlisting the population of Transcaucasia and the peoples of the Terek and Kuban regions"]. – Tiflis: Tipografiya kantselyarii glavnonachal'stvuyushchego grazhdanskoi chast'yu na Kavkaze, 1886. – 5 p. (In Russ.).

25. WORTMAN R.S. Stsenarii vlasti: mify i tseremonii russkoi monarkhii. V 2-kh tt. [Scenarios of Power: Myths and Ceremonies of the Russian Monarchy. In 2 vols. Vol. 2: From Alexander II to the abdication of Nicholas II]. – M.: OGI, 2004. – 796 p. (In Russ.).

26. Zametki o puteshestvii Ego Velichestva Gosudarya Imperatora po Terskoi oblasti (okonchanie) [Notes on His Majesty the Emperor's Travels in the Terek Region (End)]. IN: Terskie vedomosti. – 1871. – No. 42. – P. 2. (In Russ.).