For a century, the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union wanted to annex Tibet. But the plans were violated by China, which on November 17, 1950 included in the state of Tibet. The Soviet Union had to forever abandon the idea of including this region in the USSR.
In the 19th century, the region of Central Asia became the subject of political interest of the Russian Empire. At this time, the Qing dynasty in China greatly weakened, and the British Empire claimed dominance in Central Asia. At the end of the 19th century, the Russian Empire was able to gain a foothold in the west of Turkestan, in Mongolia and in Manchuria (today the south of the Far East), and the British did not like this. Nevertheless, the territorial "appetites" of the Russian Empire grew.
The next step towards subjugation of Central Asia was Eastern Turkestan, Inner Mongolia and Tibet, where Muslims and Buddhists lived. There was an intelligent stratum in the Russian Empire that professed Buddhism and considered the Tibetans a friendly people. It was these Buddhists who pursued the policy of annexing the region to Russia - they wanted their culture and religion to be preserved.
Petr Badmaev
Petr Badmaev (before baptism - Zhamsaran) was one of the first to advocate the inclusion of Tibetan lands in the Russian Empire. The son of a Buryat nomad, he converted to Orthodoxy. The elder brother of Badmaev worked in Irkutsk as a doctor of Buryat medicine, therefore, with the help of grateful officials, he helped his brother enter a Russian classical gymnasium. After graduating from high school, he entered the oriental faculty of St. Petersburg University. In parallel, he graduated from the Military Medical Academy. In 1875, Petr Badmaev began serving in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
While working at the Foreign Ministry, Badmaev persistently suggested that Tibet and Mongolia be included in the Russian Empire. For these purposes, he proposed extending the Trans-Siberian Railway to the border with China in the Gansu province. In this case, the Russian Empire will establish communication with Tibet and strengthen its geopolitical position in Central Asia. Later, in this situation, Russia could subjugate trade with China, Korea and the countries of Southeast Asia. The idea with Tibet was supported by Sergei Witte, but Alexander III did not agree with Peter Badmaev.
The second attempt was made by Badmaev after the death of Alexander III, when Nicholas II stood at the head of the empire. The emperor became interested in Badmaev's proposal, sent Ulanov to Tibet to find out the situation in Tibet. But Badmaev's second attempt also failed - the Russo-Japanese war distracted the state's attention from Central Asia.
Promotional video:
Aghvan Dorzhiev
Aghvan Dorzhiev acted on the other side - surrounded by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. Due to his Buryat origin, in 1898 the Tibetan leadership sent him on a journey across Asia, the Russian Empire and Europe. Rossi Dorzhiev attached great
importance, because Buryats lived in the empire, like himself. Aghvan initiated the establishment of friendly relations. He argued that the Russian Empire was the kingdom of Shambhala, and Nicholas II was the reincarnation of Tszonkhava, a reformer of the Lamaists. But Dorzhiev was never able to convince the Dalai Lama that it was necessary to conclude a military alliance with Nicholas II.
Dorzhiev wanted to enlist military support from Russia in the event of the strengthening of the British in the region. The British at that time had already established dominance in Ladakh and Sikkim, and Dorzhiev feared that life in Tibet would follow the European way of life and lose culture.
But in 1907, England and Russia signed a treaty recognizing China's rule over Tibet, and all of Dorzhiev's efforts were in vain.
Tibet and the Soviet Union
After the February and October revolutions, the Soviet Union emerged. The Bolsheviks did not want to go into conflict with Buddhists in Russia. One of the reasons for the revival of interest in Tibet was that the people's revolutionaries under the leadership of Sukhe-Bator won in Mongolia. Sukhe-Bator destroyed Ungern von Stenberg, who was in charge of the White Guards. Sukhe Bator tried to take root in the politics of communism in Mongolia, drawing parallels between communist politics and Buddhism, arguing that there are similarities. The idea of the commonality of communism and Buddhism spread in the USSR, so the political elite supported the idea of Nicholas Roerich's expedition … The expedition lasted from 1923 to 1929, and one of its goals was to establish friendly relations with the Dalai Lama or Panchen Lama. The peasantry in Tibet was religiously fanatical, so they could be manipulated.
Nicholas Roerich tried to convince the Panchen Lama (because the Dalai Lama was more sympathetic to the British) that Russia and Tibet had a common cultural history and the unification of the USSR and Tibet would lead to a return to “Shambhala”.
Another member of the expedition was Yakov Blumkin. He was a key figure in the Central Asian direction of the USSR's foreign policy. On the expedition, he introduced himself as a Buddhist monk.
After Roerich's expedition, the OGPU prepared two more trips of Kalmyk agents who met with the Dalai Lama. They offered him guarantees of sovereignty in return for cooperation with the USSR. But the idea was unsuccessful.
The last attempt to establish Soviet-Tibetan relations
Aghvan Dorzhiev spoke at the All-Union Congress of Buddhists of the USSR in 1927. He declared the community of communism and Buddhism, convinced that Lenin was a Buddhist, and Buddha was the first communist. In parallel, he worked with the Dalai Lama, convincing that Soviet Russia was Shambhala.
But with the coming to power of Stalin, Tibet ceased to be interesting for the foreign policy of the USSR. Stalin strove to maintain relations with the Chinese Communist Party, and Buddhists in the USSR fell into disgrace. In 1929, Buddhism was banned in Buryatia, then there was a wave of closure of Buddhist temples.
The final point was reached in 1950 when China established its rule in Tibet. Since then, the USSR and then the Russian Federation have not paid attention to the "Tibetan issue".