Testing the boundaries of imperial alliance: cooperation, negotiation and resistance in the era of Razin (1667–1681)

Brian J. Boeck

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511642104.008

5 - Testing the boundaries of imperial alliance: cooperation, negotiation and resistance in the era of Razin (1667–1681)

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 January 2010

Brian J. Boeck

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Brian J. Boeck: Affiliation:
DePaul University, Chicago

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Summary

Beginning in the mid-seventeenth century, a significant shift occurred in the strategic objectives of the Muscovite government. After the construction of the Belgorod line Tatar raids could no longer penetrate the Russian heartland, making it possible for officials to incline their ears towards the chorus of voices calling for Russians to help their Orthodox brethren abroad. Upon accepting a major military commitment in Ukraine, Muscovite officials searched for a strategy that would bring security to their southern frontier. For the first time the tsar's relationship with the Don Cossacks was brought as a chip to the diplomatic bargaining table in 1667, but Russian officials still treated the Don region with flexibility in order to avoid imperial overreach.

This chapter examines how the shift in Russian strategic priorities tested the boundaries of the alliance between the Don Host and the Russian tsar. It connects the Razin rebellion to the consequences of the Russian involvement in Ukraine after 1654, but argues that neither event radically altered the separate deal between the tsar and the Don Cossacks. Remarkably, Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich permitted his representatives to bargain with rebel leaders and failed to punish Don Cossacks who invaded Muscovite territory. The Host evaded implementing “autocratic” will in cases as small in scale as the arrest of a single Cossack criminal or as significant in scope as the construction of a key government fort.

Type: Chapter
Information: Imperial Boundaries
Cossack Communities and Empire-Building in the Age of Peter the Great
, pp. 68 - 85

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511642104.008 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2009

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