Explain Why Russia Was Weakened from 1878-1906
Explain why Russia was weakened from 1878-1906
Russia was weakened from 1878 to 1906 for many different reasons. In 1878 Russia believed itself to be a leading country or a superpower.
Russia was first weakened at this point when they helped the fight the Bulgarian war with the Turks. The Russian army helped Bulgaria get victory, but the British and other countries saw this as a threat as Russia now had a port which they could send Battle ships out all year round. They held a meeting in Berlin and everyone agreed (par Russia) that the Turks would get back most of their land and Russia would not have a port in Bulgaria any more. This was the first major humiliation for the Russians and they felt like the other countries were starting to undermine them. In the Berlin conference, the rest of the countries also agreed that Russia could not let war ships through the Straights, which meant that Russia would only have the Balkan fleet if they got into any more wars.
In 1885 Russia saw a Bulgaria union with eastern Rumelia, Russia saw this as a threat so Russian agents kidnapped the Bulgaria King because they thought that Bulgaria would listen to them more, and they also thought that this would give them a chance to make Bulgaria stop its union. However the Bulgarian people did not like the king and believed that he was usuless so they then got another king. This was yet another humiliation for Russia and they believed that many countries were undermining them.
In 1905 Russia faced one of its biggest humiliations. Russia started to spread its land east wards to get a better port so they could trade all year round. They invaded port Arthur in China to do this. Japan then saw this as a threat and invaded Port Arthur. After a short battle (because of Japans superior navel army) Japan destroyed all of the Russian port Arthur fleet with submarines. Russia