Russia

Theodore Roosevelt informs Harris Weinstock that he does not think the government will want him to go to Russia.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1917-08-10

The Birmingham Peace Society congratulates and thanks President Roosevelt for his part in bringing peace between Japan and Russia.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-23

Representatives of the town of Odaka and two other villages write to thank President Roosevelt for his part in negotiating peace between Japan and Russia.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-22

The Hotel Wentworth is hosting peace talks between Russia and Japan, due to its beneficial location and decent accommodations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-08-18

This article from the “Jewish Advocate” criticizing an article from The Outlook regarding Jews and the Russian passport question. It also criticizes the views of Dr. Lyman Abbott and Theodore Roosevelt’s attempt to throw the issue in The Hague. 

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1911-11-17

This article from the “Jewish Advocate” discusses the American Jewish Committee meeting and their view that the Russo-American treaty of 1832 should not be abrogated since it might create an outburst of anti-Jewish sentiment. Since Russia will not recognize American passports of Jews, they agree with Theodore Roosevelt that the matter should be arbitrated by the Hague. 

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1911-11-16

Assistant Secretary of State Forster sends William Loeb information from Ambassador Eddy which states that Russia has released the Malacca, a British steamship. Eddy notes that since this was the main point of the issue, “the tension will be relaxed,” most likely referring to tension between England and Russia from Russia seizing British merchant shipping.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-22

Two cats, one labeled “Japan” attacking the other labeled “Russia,” have their tails tied to a rope labeled “Manchuria” with a ribbon labeled “Neutrality.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

“Kilkenny cats” are parties whose disagreements are so strong that they kill and devour each other, with only their tails remaining on the ground. The term is derived from a legend about the querulous residents of County Kilkenny in Ireland.

Neptune, the Roman god of the sea, salutes a Japanese admiral on a gunboat. In the background are the ruins of a Russian naval fleet.

comments and context

Comments and Context

As the flames of battle were extinguished, and news filtered across the globe, the decimation of many Russian warships — a large percentage of the Czar’s fleet — by Japan, surprised observers. Even King Neptune, the mythical god of naval conflict and control, had to pay tribute in the eyes of cartoonist Joseph Keppler.

Handwritten essay describing Russia’s position on being a part of a league of Allies. Includes typescript (c.c.) of speech delivered 4 September 1915 by Baron Rosen.

Published in Metropolitan magazine, June 1917.

Collection

Harvard College Library

In a Chinese restaurant, a man labeled “Russia” is eating from a bowl of food labeled “Manchuria.” In the background, a Chinese man tells Emile Loubet labeled “France” and William II labeled “Germany,” who are standing outside the door, that whoever comes first, gets served first.

comments and context

Comments and Context

In the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion, on paper the Colonial powers withdrew, but quietly held on to several spheres of influence and territories they had carved out. Some of them were geographically small, but geostrategically important, like Hong Kong of the British, and Macau of the Portuguese. Russia, arguably the weakest of the military powers, held on to Manchuria, basically because they could, bordering that vast wasteland, a diplomatic version of Squatter’s Rights. Russia also squabbled with Japan over disputed islands and ports, leading to the Russo-Japanese War two years later.

A fox labeled “France” and the Russian Bear walk away from a grape arbor labeled “Anglo-Japanese Alliance.” They have tried the grapes and found them not palatable.

comments and context

Comments and Context

This seemingly innocent anthropomorphic cartoon ably suggests the troubling and complicated situation of international politics leading to the Great War a dozen years in its future. Treaties, “understandings,” secret alliances — some of them broken, and shifting — starting about the time of this cartoon are major factors in the cauldron that armed the Guns of August (1914, the commencement of continental hostilities). Great Britain ended a generation of “splendid isolation” — avoiding entangling alliances — with the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of 1902, the grape arbor of this cartoon. England’s concern partly was animated by a desire to counter Russia’s stated expansionist goals. France, which had treaty “obligations” with Russia, suddenly realized the possibility of being squeezed by powers from the east and west in the event of conflict. So Russia and Japan had reasons not to savor the grapes in the cartoon. A significant aspect of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty inured to the benefit of the United States and Theodore Roosevelt. During the negotiations he hosted to end the Russo-Japanese War two years subsequent, he was able to call upon Great Britain and its special relationship with Tokyo for assistance and back-channel communications. In the same manner also, Germany, tellingly absent from the 1902 round of alliances, was useful when Roosevelt recruited Kaiser Wilhelm to play a role with his cousin Czar Nicholas.

Illustration showing the Russian bear looking across a river to Afghanistan at a large beehive labeled “British Beehive Herat Honey” on a building with minarets. Caption: Russia. — I would like to have the honey, but I’m afraid of the bees!

comments and context

Comments and Context

Keppler’s cartoon illustrates a snapshot in time of a centuries-old and virtually intractable conflict played out in Central Asia, specifically Afghanistan. Included are traditional trade routes, East-West geopolitical ambitions, British colonial expansion and a desire to insulate its “jewel in the crown,” India, the claims of Persia (now Iran) on Herat and other territory, and Russian desires for a warm-water port. The “Charge of the Light Brigade” and Rudyard Kipling novels have tried to romanticize the bloody friction in history. Some trivialized the momentous factors as “The Great Game,” many of which persist today. Herat, Afghanistan’s third-largest city, is one of the world’s oldest, and connected by roads to Kabul and Kandahar. At the moment of Keppler’s cartoon, Imperial Russia was not dissuaded from meddling in Herat by geography or other factors, but by British military presence.

The British Lion runs on a path toward “Pretoria” while four figures representing Russia, France, Germany, and Italy hide. At the time of this cartoon, the British Empire stepped up its campaign to suppress rebellion of its colonial rule in South Africa.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Pughe’s cartoon could illustrate the admonition against “fishing in troubled waters.” By 1900 most of the globe had been carved up by colonial powers or controlled by spheres of influence. South Africa was recalcitrant, a thorny problem for the British who regarded the Horn of Africa with special importance. Only 15 years before this cartoon’s publication, Germany had gobbled up lands, largely comprising the present Tanzania, and established German East Africa, and British colonial fears were heightened. The cartoon suggests that Great Britain simultaneously doubled its resolve to quash the Boer Rebellion, and kept rival powers from intervening themselves.

President Roosevelt tells Secretary of State Hay about Captain John F. Morrison’s assessment of the Japanese army. Morrison spent time with Japanese General Yasukata Oku’s army and observed that American attachés were favored over British attachés and the Russian prisoners—most of whom were wounded—were treated kindly. Morrison was impressed by the training and preparedness of the Japanese army, especially in comparison to the Russian army.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-05

President Roosevelt suggests to Secretary of State Hay how to handle an international relations situation involving Russia and China, suggesting that if Hay presents Russia’s protest about a breach of neutrality to China, he should also mention Russia’s own violations of China’s neutrality.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-16

President Roosevelt congratulates Secretary of State Hay on his success with Russia and on his excellent work on the Isthmian canal. Secretary of War Elihu Root is currently at Oyster Bay, New York, recovering from a cold.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-07-14

President Roosevelt is concerned that the Lutheran Germans would resent a Catholic being sent as Ambassador to Berlin. He would like to find out if Charlemagne Tower will accept Berlin and if Robert Sanderson McCormick will go to St. Petersburg. Roosevelt is also interested in trying to purchase the Isthmus of Panama instead of leasing it from Colombia.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-08-21

President Roosevelt asks Secretary of State Hay to consult with Secretary of War Elihu Root and Secretary of Commerce and Labor George B. Cortelyou whether it would be advisable for Roosevelt to donate $100 to a fund for the relief of Russian Jews. A later notation shows that Root advises against a donation.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-05-21

President Roosevelt finds the actions of the Russians appalling but sees no way to help China and is not ready to fight in order to keep Manchuria open. He has suggested to Secretary of the Navy William H. Moody that a first-class battleship be sent to join the old cruisers of the European Squadron at Kiel. The German attitude has been “puerile” but if one battleship voyage can help Hermann Speck von Sternburg it will be worthwhile.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-05-22