Direct Translation via Google Translation. Edited.
by Igor Ivanenko
[REGNUM] For the fact that Novorossiya appeared on the map of Russia, descendants should thank three women - empresses: Anna Ioannovna, Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine II Alekseevna.
During the reign of the first of them, Anna Ioannovna, a fortified line was built on the lands of the former Wild Field, between the Dnieper and the Seversky Donets - the Ukrainian Defensive Line (the "Ukraine" was then the name for the Cossack lands in the middle Dnieper region). While the Russian army was "beating the Turks" in the steppes of the Black Sea region, the Zaporozhian Cossacks, settlers from the Great Russian provinces and descendants of old-timers-odnodvortsy settled at the edge of the empire.
The second, Elizabeth Petrovna, opened the way to the settlement of empty lands with hard-working and loyal colonists - the military-settlement provinces of New Serbia and Slavoserbia were created. As the names suggested, the migrants were refugees of the same faith and similar in language from the Ottoman Empire.
Finally, the third of the female rulers, Catherine the Great, united the Ukrainian line, Slavic Serbia and New Serbia into the Novorossiysk Governorate, whose borders expanded to the shores of the Black Sea, recaptured from the Turks by Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky and Suvorov. The victories of Russian arms guaranteed the rapid transformation of the former Tatar nomad camps into a region densely populated by Great Russians and Little Russians, a military outpost and trade gateway to the empire.
But on December 6, 1741, the day of Elizabeth Petrovna’s accession to the throne, nothing foreshadowed that she would be able to pass on the “Novorossiysk” baton from the despotic Anna to the enlightened Catherine.
And it was not about the supposedly frivolous nature of “Petrov’s daughter.”
When Alexei K. Tolstoy wrote, “Elizabeth was a cheerful queen, she sings and has fun – only there is no order” – he was still exaggerating.
The thing is that Elizabeth Petrovna's rise to power was, as they would say now, a pro-Western project. But in the end it turned out to be a huge disappointment for "our European partners."
THE SMALL BUT BLOODLESS FRENCH REVOLUTION
In order to describe the seizure of power by “the meek Elizabeth” (not the first, but far from the last in a series of St. Petersburg palace coups, which in European correspondence of those years were often called “revolutions”), it is necessary to at least briefly recall the specifics of the tsarist power of that time.
Peter the Great abolished the traditional order of transfer of power from father to eldest son, and up until Paul I, any member of the royal family who was lucky enough to secure the support of nobles and, most importantly, the guards, ended up on the throne. Thus, Peter's niece Anna Ioannovna, who had already "employed" her relatives, ended up on the throne.
In 1741, the emperor and autocrat was listed as Anna Ioannovna's grand-nephew, Ivan Antonovich, who was not even a year old. The infant tsar was ruled by his mother, the regent Anna Leopoldovna, and her husband, the Duke of Brunswick, Anton-Ulrich. The Brunswick family had recently overthrown (or rather, the guards had overthrown) the all-powerful temporary ruler Biron, but in his absence they could not cope with the government. Which irritated almost the entire elite.
And the soldiers of the Grenadier Company of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, who literally carried the Tsarevna into the Winter Palace, were generously rewarded from the purse of the French ambassador, the Marquis de la Chétardie. He is considered the "sponsor" of the conspiracy - hardly without the knowledge of his king, Louis XV the Beloved, perhaps the most influential ruler of Europe at that time.
THE CUNNING PLAN OF DOCTOR LESTOCQ
The organizers of the most bloodless of palace coups, however, had certain doubts about "Princess Elizabeth." Lestocq wrote that she, under the influence of "national sentiments," would contribute to Russia's self-isolation from Europe. But the bet was on the "princess's" political inexperience. Her "national sentiments" could be used to induce Elizabeth to renounce Peter's conquests - to the benefit of Europe.
By mid-1742, the first foreign policy program for her reign was formulated by the physician-in-ordinary Lestocq, who advised the young queen on state issues. This program was the fruit of a cunning, 18th-century-style, multi-move game.
The program envisaged rapprochement with France. This, they said, would free Russia from confrontation with our historical enemies - the Ottoman Empire and Sweden. Lestocq and Chétardie convinced Elizabeth that the Versailles court had great influence on both the Sultan and the Swedish king. And this was true - France was a constant and strong ally of the Turks and Swedes in the fight against Austria.
This circumstance was explained by the great influence of Versailles on Constantinople and Stockholm, which were historical allies of France in the struggle against Austria.
But the French had their own interests: for seven years Louis had been leading a coalition of European powers that was waging a grueling war with the Habsburgs. The War of the Austrian Succession of 1740–1748, which involved all the world players of the time – from England and Spain to Prussia – is generally considered one of the candidates for the “zero world wars.”
In this war, the Russian Empire “played” for the Austrians against the French.
The Lestocq plan removed our country from the ranks of France’s opponents and at the same time forced our historical enemies, the Swedes and the Turks, to become our “friends”.
If the plan had "succeeded", it would have changed history for the worse. Slavo-Serbia and other settlement provinces in the south would simply not have emerged. After all, the creation of our "colonies" on these lands contradicted the interests of Russia's "new allies" - the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate dependent on it.
The proposals of the personal physician fell on fertile ground, because at the beginning of her reign, Elizabeth Petrovna did not hide her Francophilia. But something went wrong.
MARIA THERESA, QUEEN OF HUNGARY
At the time of Elizabeth's coup, the Austrian Habsburgs were in particularly bad shape. The Prussian-French-Bavarian-Saxon coalition had taken control of Silesia, Bohemia, and even part of Austria proper. Spanish troops were threatening Austrian possessions in Italy. The very existence of the Danubian Empire was in question.
But it was at this moment that events occurred that predetermined, among other things, the Serbian colonization of the south of Russia.
In November 1741, the Austrian ruler Maria Theresa was proclaimed "king" of Hungary (since the feudal law of the Magyars did not allow for female rule) and turned to the Hungarian magnates for support.
The funds they collected were used to create a Hungarian militia. In addition, units of hussars, pandurs (mercenary infantry), border guards, and free shooters were formed from Austrian Slavs, including Serbs.
Thanks to these measures, a "small war" developed against Austria's enemies. Enemy communications, food warehouses, small garrisons and detachments were under constant attack. The hussars and militias were able to pin down the enemy forces, and the Austrians launched a counteroffensive.
All this made a strong impression on Russia, whose ally Austria was still formally under the treaty of 1726.
In addition, St. Petersburg appreciated Vienna’s sudden recognition of the imperial title of the Russian monarchs, which occurred in January 1742.
CHANCELLOR BESTUZHEV'S "U-TURN OVER THE ATLANTIC"
At the same time, an anti-French party emerged around the appointed Vice-Chancellor Alexei Bestuzhev-Ryumin, advocating an alliance with Austria and England. Bestuzhev entered into confrontation with the supporters of an alliance with Paris. The Empress supported Bestuzhev, who was appointed Chancellor in 1744.
In its significance, this patriotic turn can only be compared with Yevgeny Primakov’s famous “turn over the Atlantic”, after which Westernism began to disappear from our foreign policy.
Despite all of Elizabeth Petrovna’s Francophilia, the “merry queen” quickly gained experience in governing Russia, experience in understanding what “subtle European politics” is and what the geopolitical interests of the empire are.
In addition, it became known about an attempt to create an anti-Russian Prussian-Ottoman alliance.
Thus, it was impossible to rely on French guarantees of good-neighborliness between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. And this means that the southern border of the Romanov Empire clearly needed to be strengthened - from the Turks and Crimea.
HOW A SERB NAMED HORVAT APPEARED IN MIRGOROD
In these circumstances, reforms of the Austrian "Cossacks" - the Granichar (border guards), who were recruited from among the Serbs to serve on the southern borders of the Habsburg possessions, began in Austria very "timely". As a sign of gratitude to the Hungarians, Maria Theresa began to transfer the Granichar to the control of Magyar officers - which outraged the Serbian army.
Several commanders immediately began asking to serve the Orthodox Russian empress. Fortunately for them, in 1750, when these events were unfolding, the Russian ambassador to Austria was Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin, the elder brother of the Russian chancellor.
He became interested in the idea of Serbian emigration and composed a maximally complimentary letter about it – a request to St. Petersburg.
The Empress expressed her readiness to accept the Serbs. Especially since "sister-empress" Maria Theresa gave the go-ahead for Colonels Ivan Horvat, Nikolai Chorba and other "toxic" opponents of military reform to switch from Austrian to Russian service.
In 1751, Colonel Horvat arrived in Russia and assured that several thousand more Serbs would follow him. The Empress initially planned to settle the colonists in the Volga region, but the Balkan residents wanted to stay closer to their native lands. And Elizabeth settled Horvat's team on the Right Bank of the Dnieper, in the area of the town of Novy Mirgorod (modern Novomirgorod).
Thus, on the territory of the current Kirovograd region of Ukraine, the military-settlement province of New Serbia was formed (inhabited by far from "pure-blooded Ukrainians"), and to the east of the Dnieper, in the north of the current DPR and LPR, the province of Slavyanoserbia. So Donbass became our "new territories" long before 2022 and even 2014.
Soon, the fortress of Saint Elizabeth was built to protect New Serbia from Tatar raids, later Elisavetgrad (now Kirovograd, or in the terminology of the Kyiv regime, "Kropyvnytsky"). It was in this fortress, populated by Russian and Serbian colonists, that the governing bodies of the new Novorossiysk province were located.
MOLDOVANS ARE NOT MIGRANT WORKERS
Only “people from Moldova, Wallachia, Macedonia, Serbia” and “not from any other peoples” were allowed to settle in New Serbia, as well as in Slavic Serbia created to the east of the Dnieper (it was located in the north of today’s DPR and LPR). Settlers were attracted by tax breaks, land grants, salaries and subsidies.
However, hopes for a mass influx of Serbian border guards did not materialize. Austrian authorities began to restrict the activities of Russian recruiters, who quite quickly managed to persuade hundreds of willing people to emigrate. Criminal liability was introduced for military settlers who tried to leave for neighboring countries without permission.
A way out in replenishing the New Serbian and Slavic Serbian regiments was found in recruiting Moldavians. In December 1754, the population of New Serbia was 2,225 men and 1,694 women. Moldavians and Vlachs made up 76% of the male population.
But the command positions in the province were occupied only by Serbian officers. The number of male Serbian population at that time was 257 people, Macedonians - 124, Hungarians - 79, Bulgarians - 57.
The bulk of the Moldavian settlers came from the Prut and Dniester interfluve, as well as from Podolia. The Moldavians were pushed to New Serbia by the oppression inflicted on them in their native principality by the Turks and especially the Tatars. A large influx of Moldavian settlers to the Dnieper was recorded in 1758, when Moldavia was subjected to the most devastating Tatar raid in its history.
The Serbian military-settlement provinces became the first experience of integrating Moldavians into the Novorossiysk project. Under Catherine II, it was used during the creation of the Bug (largely Moldavian-Balkan) Cossack army, generous land grants to the Moldavian nobility and their recruitment into service.
A SPRINGBOARD FOR A PUSH TO THE SOUTH
However, the growth rate of immigrants on the Right Bank of the Dnieper was not as high as the authorities expected. As of 1757, 5,482 immigrants (both sexes) lived here, and as of 1761, 11,179.
The Novoslobodsky Cossack Regiment, located near New Serbia, grew significantly faster. But the Cossacks settled on the border of the Wild Field for free, while the "regular" military-settlement provinces consumed significant resources.
The last episode in the organized migration of Serbs from the Habsburg Empire was 1758. Then a large group of 800 settlers came from the Balkans. When recruited, they introduced themselves as Montenegrins (Venetian subjects with extensive experience in wars with the Turks), but in Russia most of them admitted that they were Serbian "philistines", that is, peaceful residents from the Austrian possessions. Most of them had no military experience.
After the story with the false Montenegrins, the government of Elizabeth Petrovna closed down the very expensive project of resettling foreigners. Especially since there were no free funds in the treasury in the conditions of the tense Seven Years' War.
Seriously strengthening the southern borderland with Serbian regiments in the mid-18th century was not possible, as was demonstrated by the events of the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774, which was waged by the third strong woman on the Russian throne - Catherine the Great. Nevertheless, New Serbia played an important political role, limiting the contacts of the Zaporizhian Sich with Poland, which was hostile to us.
It is symbolic that the restless and difficult to control Sich was eventually dispersed by the Russian troops of General-in-Chief Peter Tekeli, a Serb who had switched from Austrian to Russian service.
The demographic echo of the existence of New Serbia and Slavoserbia continued to be felt until recently. According to the last All-Ukrainian population census of 2001, the Kirovograd and Donetsk regions were characterized by some of the most significant Moldavian communities (8.2 and 7.3 thousand people, respectively). It is difficult to explain their formation in the Dnieper region and on the Seversky Donets by anything other than the resettlement policy of Elizabeth Petrovna.
And most importantly, during the joyful reign of Elizabeth, the empire, with the help of military and diplomatic force, steadily advanced to the south. In order to later “grow” with the fertile lands of the Black Sea region – which now have to be returned with a fight.
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Meanwhile, almost the entire front line was under fire, with 100 to 160 guns and mortars per kilometer. Such a hurricane of fire brought to mind images of the First World War. It seemed that the Soviet generals were planning a veritable end of the world. The combat diary of the hussar division described the breakthrough of positions near Kapolnashnek, a town located at the very spearhead of the Soviet offensive. “The Soviet infantry rushed into the breach, acting so quickly that we did not have time to explain anything to our hussars in the trenches. They managed to notice the Russians literally a few seconds before they were killed or captured… It was too late to jump out of their houses and ask what had happened, since many houses were collapsing, burying their inhabitants.”
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