All my adult life I came across articles about Alaska. In them two versions were intricately intertwined. The first - the rotten tsarist regime, criminally spending "national property", sold Alaska for a pittance. And the other - America rented Alaska and was obliged to return it. The versions are mutually exclusive, and both are refuted by very serious circumstances.
No matter how rotten the tsarist regime was, but until the last days it fiercely clung to all its conquests and showed no readiness to give them away for any money. Among the great powers, Russia was the least in need of money.
But the “totalitarian” Soviet regime, with all its “internationalism”, did not miss the opportunity to grab a piece. Why was the Soviet leadership so indifferent to the "end of the lease" and did not try to return Alaska back?
It was interesting, but not so much that I tried to sneak into the archives, or at least sat down in the Public Library. But some information itself fell on me and a "version" was formed from it:
In the second half of the 19th century, Russia occupied territories that it could not develop and protect. The situation was especially bad with Alaska, where it was extremely difficult to get through Siberia and all contacts had to be made through England. The British were tolerant of this, until the demand for furs and leather goods began to grow in the world (other riches were not yet discovered). Here England began to openly lead the matter towards increasing "her" Canada, taken from France, at the expense of Alaska. Alaska began to fill up with English hunters and merchants, and the next step would be the introduction of British troops "to protect British subjects."
The Russian government decided to use the United States to keep Alaska for Russia by leasing it to them for a long time. But the young American democracy was not so naive as to work for Russia, and even pay for it. The Americans wanted Alaska forever, not for a century. They didn't want to hear about rent.
However, they dealt with sophisticated Russian diplomacy, including such a brilliant politician as Pushkin's classmate, Prince Gorchakov. The Americans were told that Russia is ready to give them a tsarist gift in the form of Alaska (otherwise it will disappear anyway), but if England is capable of taking Alaska away from Russia, then it will even more easily take it away from the then weak USA. Renting it out created two owners for it. The British Empire would have to deal with an alliance of Russia and America, to which all the enemies of England would have joined.
In conversations with American politicians and reporters, the Russians talked about the sale of Alaska, covered by a lease. The main thing that should have convinced the Americans was the terms of the lease. The agreement was accompanied by a whole series of secret articles that have not been published so far. But the essence was known. Americans immediately paid a million dollars, which was very big money back then. It was a trifle for Russia. More important was the right to take Alaska back at the end of the lease. At the same time, the million was viewed as a long-term loan with decent interest rates. 99 years is a long time and the amount during this time should have reached almost a billion dollars. At that time, it seemed to the Americans almost a fabulous sum and they were sure that no country would be able to pay them. However, the Russians were confident that in 99 years they would be able to repay the money without difficulty. Agree that now even one Abramovich or Khodorkovsky could easily pay a billion “greens”!
Promotional video:
The Russians knew that no one would remember all their statements of sale in 100 years, and the provisions of the agreement would remain. They also knew that treaties are easily violated if there is no real force behind them. For 99 years, it was required to create such a force. Plans for the development of the Northern Sea Route were developed, and most importantly, the railways were supposed to reach Chukotka, and in two versions - along the coast of the Arctic Ocean and through southern Siberia. The difficulties were enormous, but the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway inspired confidence (for the entire time of Soviet power, we did not even come close to the record and the scope of this construction, and only three small pieces were built from the highways to Chukotka, the northernmost Dudinka - Norilsk). After the construction of the highway to Vladivostok, Alaska became quite achievable,and the mighty Pacific Fleet could well guarantee the fulfillment of any agreements.
Russia's plan was brilliantly successful. England had to leave Alaska alone, but further sadly - smart and selfless politicians who sacrificed their careers and reputation for the future of Russia were ousted by stupid and greedy "patriots of the Kuril Islands", demagogues who wanted everything for themselves now and are indifferent to the fate of future generations.
After the 1917 revolution, by means of confiscation and simple robbery, the Bolsheviks concentrated in their hands enormous wealth in currency, securities, gold, etc. However, they could not buy weapons for the Red Army: the West banned trade with Russia. To "break" this blockade, Lenin suggested that the United States renounce its claims to Alaska in exchange for lifting the ban on trade. As a guarantee, Lenin offered to give the Americans all copies of the signed agreements that were kept in Russia and confirmed its rights to Alaska. So Alaska was actually sold for the first time.
During the war against fascism, Stalin made a statement in Yalta that the USSR would not claim their rights to Alaska, which surprised the Americans in no way, who believed that this issue had been finally settled even under Lenin. Stalin just wanted to portray that he was making a concession for the USSR's right to take control of the countries of Central Europe. So Alaska was sold again …
Finally, under Brezhnev, the lease term came to an end. Despite all the previous, it was still possible to try to lay claim to Alaska. It was only necessary to officially declare that these two, so to speak politicians, Lenin and Stalin had no right to sell Alaska, their actions were never confirmed by the Supreme Soviet and, therefore, were legally invalid from the very beginning. Well, and of course, present money for payment! However, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was not capable of this … The historians, who, in a patriotic rage, began to publish articles demanding the return of Alaska, were slightly shouted to shut up … And they shut up. As far as I know, they are still silent.
This is how Alaska was sold for the third and final time.
