Mike Binder (born June 2, 1958) is an American filmmaker, stand-up comedian, and actor.
150-636: Binder, descended from Russian-Jewish immigrants, grew up in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham . During the summers of 1966 through 1975, he attended Camp Tamakwa , a summer camp in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario , Canada; that experience was the inspiration (and the filming location) for his 1993 film Indian Summer . Beginning his career as a screenwriter and standup comedian , in March 1990 with
300-463: A Russian-speaking member of a Jewish community to be named to act as an intermediary between his community and the Imperial government to perform certain civil duties, such as registering births, marriages, and divorces. This position came to be known as the crown rabbi although they were not always rabbis and often were not respected by members of their own communities because their main job qualification
450-529: A Western model. Alexander I ( r. 1801–1825 ) helped defeat the militaristic ambitions of Napoleon and subsequently constituted the Holy Alliance , which aimed to restrain the rise of secularism and liberalism across Europe. Russia further expanded to the west, south, and east, strengthening its position as a European power. Its victories in the Russo-Turkish Wars were later checked by defeat in
600-785: A convert to Christianity, the attorney Ossip Pergament ( Odessa ). The two Jewish members of the Third Duma were the Judge Leopold Nikolayevich (or Lazar) Nisselovich ( Courland province, Kadet) and Naftali Markovich Friedman ( Kaunas province, Kadet). Ossip Pergament was reelected and died before the end of his mandate. Friedman was the only one reelected to the Fourth Duma in 1912, joined by two new deputies, Meer Bomash , and Dr. Ezekiel Gurevich . Many Jews were prominent in Russian revolutionary parties. The idea of overthrowing
750-507: A few were introduced , no major changes were attempted. The liberal Alexander I was replaced by his younger brother Nicholas I (1825–1855), who at the beginning of his reign was confronted with an uprising. The background of this revolt lay in the Napoleonic Wars , when a number of well-educated Russian officers travelled in Europe in the course of military campaigns, where their exposure to
900-424: A gift, the freed peasants had to pay a special lifetime tax to the government, which in turn paid the landlords a generous price for the land that they had lost. In numerous cases the peasants ended up with relatively small amounts of the least productive land. All the property turned over to the peasants was owned collectively by the mir , the village community, which divided the land among the peasants and supervised
1050-571: A higher rate of immigration to Israel than any other country. Russia's Jewish population is still the third biggest in Europe, after France and United Kingdom. In November 2012, the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center , one of the world's biggest museums of Jewish history, opened in Moscow. Jews have been present in contemporary Armenia and Georgia since the Babylonian captivity . Records exist from
1200-689: A large majority emigrated to the United States, some turned to Zionism. In 1882, members of Bilu and Hovevei Zion made what came to be known the First Aliyah to Palestine , then a part of the Ottoman Empire . The Tsarist government sporadically encouraged Jewish emigration. In 1890, it approved the establishment of "The Society for the Support of Jewish Farmers and Artisans in Syria and Palestine " (known as
1350-718: A low Jewish population, countries just to its west had rapidly growing Jewish populations, as waves of anti-Jewish pogroms and expulsions from the countries of Western Europe marked the last centuries of the Middle Ages , a sizable portion of the Jewish populations there moved to the more tolerant countries of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the Middle East. Expelled en masse from England, France, Spain and most other Western European countries at various times, and persecuted in Germany in
1500-547: A major domestic factor with its support for liberating Balkan Christians from Ottoman rule and making Bulgaria and Serbia independent. In early 1877, Russia intervened on behalf of Serbian and Russian volunteer forces, leading to the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78) . Within one year, Russian troops were nearing Constantinople and the Ottomans surrendered. Russia's nationalist diplomats and generals persuaded Alexander II to force
1650-407: A result, there was a slow improvement in the living standards of Russian peasants in the empire's last two decades before 1914. Recent research into the physical stature of Army recruits shows they were bigger and stronger. There were regional variations, with more poverty in the heavily populated central black earth region ; and there were temporary downturns in 1891–93 and 1905–1908. By the end of
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#17328759419941800-620: A separate quarter in Kiev, known as the Jewish Town (Old East Slav: Жидове, Zhidovye , i.e. "The Jews"), the gates probably leading to which were known as the Jewish Gates (Old East Slavic: Жидовская ворота, Zhidovskaya vorota ). The Kievan community was oriented towards Byzantium (the Romaniotes ), Babylonia and Palestine in the 10th and 11th centuries, but appears to have been increasingly open to
1950-513: A special treatment under the law. The 'decree of August 26, 1827' made Jews liable for military service, and allowed their conscription between the ages of twelve and twenty-five. Each year, the Jewish community had to supply four recruits per thousand of the population. However, in practice, Jewish children were often conscripted as young as eight or nine years old. At the age of twelve, they would be placed for their six-year military education in cantonist schools. They were then required to serve in
2100-517: A speech "On Anti-Jewish Pogroms" on a gramophone disc. Lenin sought to explain the phenomenon of antisemitism in Marxist terms. According to Lenin, antisemitism was an "attempt to divert the hatred of the workers and peasants from the exploiters toward the Jews". Linking antisemitism to class struggle, he argued that it was merely a political technique used by the tsar to exploit religious fanaticism, popularize
2250-496: A very large and complex bureaucracy, and a court that rivaled those of Versailles and London . But the government was living far beyond its means, and 18th-century Russia remained "a poor, backward, overwhelmingly agricultural, and illiterate country". In 1801, over four years after Paul became the emperor of Russia, he was killed in Saint Michael's Castle in a coup. Paul was succeeded by his 23-year-old son, Alexander . Russia
2400-845: A wasteland and useless, and saw the government wasting money, but later, much gold and petroleum were discovered. In the late 1870s, Russia and the Ottoman Empire again clashed in the Balkans. From 1875 to 1877, the Balkan crisis intensified, with rebellions against Ottoman rule by various Slavic nationalities, which the Ottoman Turks had dominated since the 15th century. This was seen as a political risk in Russia, which similarly suppressed its Muslims in Central Asia and Caucasia. Russian nationalist opinion became
2550-560: Is also known for Russia's involvement in the Seven Years' War , where it was successful militarily, but gained little politically. Catherine the Great was a German princess who married Peter III , the German heir to the Russian crown. After the death of Empress Elizabeth, Catherine came to power after she effected a coup d'état against her very unpopular husband. She contributed to the resurgence of
2700-416: Is usually seen as the beginning of the "imperial" period of Russia. Following the reforms, the governance of Russia by an absolute monarch was enshrined. The Military Regulations made a note of the autocratic nature of the regime. During the reign of Peter I, the last vestiges of the independence of the boyars were lost. He transformed them into the new nobility , who were obedient nobles that served
2850-504: The 1828–1829 Russo-Turkish War , Russia invaded northeastern Anatolia and occupied the strategic Ottoman towns of Karin and Gümüşhane (Argiroupoli) and, posing as protector of the Greek Orthodox population , received extensive support from the region's Pontic Greeks . Following a brief occupation, the Russian imperial army withdrew back into Georgia. Russian emperors quelled two uprisings in their newly acquired Polish territories:
3000-524: The Ashkenazim from the 12th century on. Few products of Kievan Jewish intellectual activity exist, however. Other communities, or groups of individuals, are known from Chernigov and, probably, Volodymyr-Volynskyi . At that time, Jews were probably found also in northeastern Russia, in the domains of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky (1169–1174), although it is uncertain to which degree they would have been living there permanently. Although northeastern Russia had
3150-529: The Boxer Rebellion . Japan strongly opposed Russian expansion, and defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. Japan took over Korea, and Manchuria remained a contested area. Meanwhile, France , looking for allies against Germany after 1871, formed a military alliance in 1894, with large-scale loans to Russia, sales of arms, and warships, as well as diplomatic support. Once Afghanistan
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#17328759419943300-577: The British domination. Peter I ( r. 1682–1725 ), also known as Peter the Great, played a major role in introducing the European state system into Russia. While the empire's vast lands had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those in the West. Nearly the entire population was devoted to agriculture, with only a small percentage living in towns. The class of kholops , whose status
3450-671: The Coalition and joined the Continental System . By 1812, Russia had occupied many territories in Eastern Europe, holding some of Eastern Galicia from Austria and Bessarabia from the Ottoman Empire ; from Northern Europe, it had gained Finland from the war against a weakened Sweden ; it also gained some territory in the Caucasus. Following a dispute with Emperor Alexander I, in 1812, Napoleon launched an invasion of Russia . It
3600-606: The Crimean War (1853–1856), leading to a period of reform and intensified expansion into Central Asia . Alexander II ( r. 1855–1881 ) initiated numerous reforms , most notably the 1861 emancipation of all 23 million serfs. From 1721 until 1762, the Russian Empire was ruled by the House of Romanov ; its matrilineal branch of patrilineal German descent, the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov , ruled from 1762 until 1917. By
3750-554: The Crimean War , which Russia lost. The war was fought primarily in the Crimean peninsula , and to a lesser extent in the Baltic during the related Åland War . Since playing a major role in the defeat of Napoleon, Russia had been regarded as militarily invincible, but against a coalition of the great powers of Europe, the reverses it suffered on land and sea exposed the weakness of Emperor Nicholas I's regime. When Emperor Alexander II ascended
3900-499: The Enlightenment , the specter of revolution and disorder continued to haunt her and her successors. Indeed, her son Paul introduced a number of increasingly erratic decrees in his short reign aimed directly against the spread of French culture in response to their revolution . In order to ensure the continued support of the nobility, which was essential to her reign, Catherine was obliged to strengthen their authority and power at
4050-600: The Franco-Russian Alliance , to contain the growing power of Germany; completed the conquest of Central Asia ; and demanded important territorial and commercial concessions from China. The emperor's most influential adviser was Konstantin Pobedonostsev , tutor to Alexander III and his son Nicholas, and procurator of the Holy Synod from 1880 to 1895. Pobedonostsev taught his imperial pupils to fear freedom of speech and
4200-605: The Great Northern War , which ended in 1721 when an exhausted Sweden asked for peace with Russia. As a result, Peter acquired four provinces situated south and east of the Gulf of Finland , securing access to the sea. There he built Russia's new capital, Saint Petersburg , on the Neva river, to replace Moscow, which had long been Russia's cultural center. This relocation expressed his intent to adopt European elements for his empire. Many of
4350-469: The Industrial Revolution , Russia began to lag ever farther behind, creating new weaknesses for the empire seeking to play a role as a great power. Russia's status as a great power concealed the inefficiency of its government, the isolation of its people, and its economic and social backwardness. Following the defeat of Napoleon, Alexander I had been ready to discuss constitutional reforms, but though
4500-657: The Italian and Swiss expedition ,—he inflicted a series of defeats on the French; in particular, the Battle of the Trebbia in 1799. Nicholas II Nicholas II, also known as Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov, was the final Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand duke of Finland. His reign started on 1 November 1894 and ended with his abdication on 15 March 1917. Born on 18 May 1868 at Alexander Palace , Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire, he
4650-963: The Kaunas province. Among the other Jewish deputies were Maxim Vinaver , chairman of the League for the Attainment of Equal Rights for the Jewish People in Russia ( Folksgrupe ) and cofounder of the Constitutional Democratic Party ( Kadets ), Dr. Nissan Katzenelson ( Courland province, Zionist, Kadet ), Dr. Moisei Yakovlevich Ostrogorsky ( Grodno province), attorney Simon Yakovlevich Rosenbaum ( Minsk province, Zionist, Kadet ), Mikhail Isaakovich Sheftel ( Ekaterinoslav province, Kadet ), Dr. Grigory Bruk , Dr. Benyamin Yakubson , Zakhar Frenkel , Solomon Frenkel , Meilakh Chervonenkis . There
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4800-586: The November Uprising in 1830 and the January Uprising in 1863. In 1863, the Russian autocracy had given the Polish artisans and gentry reason to rebel, by assailing national core values of language, religion, and culture. France , Britain , and Austria tried to intervene in the crisis but were unable to do so. The Russian press and state propaganda used the Polish uprising to justify the need for unity in
4950-493: The Ottoman Empire . The foundations of a Russian national state were laid in the late 15th century during the reign of Ivan III . By the early 16th century, all of the semi-independent and petty princedoms in Russia had been unified with Moscow. During the reign of Ivan IV , the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan were conquered by Russia in the mid-16th century, leading to the development of an increasingly multinational state. Much of Russia's expansion occurred in
5100-662: The Ottoman Empire . His attention then turned to the north. Russia lacked a secure northern seaport, except at Arkhangelsk on the White Sea , where the harbor was frozen for nine months a year. Access to the Baltic Sea was blocked by Sweden, whose territory enclosed it on three sides. Peter's ambitions for a "window to the sea" led him, in 1699, to make a secret alliance with Saxony , the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , and Denmark-Norway against Sweden ; they conducted
5250-467: The Partitions of Poland , Russia became the most populous state in Europe, ahead of France . The foundations of the Russian Empire were laid during Peter I 's reforms , which significantly altered Russia's political and social structure, and as a result of the Great Northern War which strengthened Russia's standing on the world stage. Internal transformations and military victories contributed to
5400-787: The Russian Provisional Government , and the proclamation of the first Russian Republic . Political dysfunction, continued involvement in the widely unpopular war, and widespread food shortages resulted in mass demonstrations against the government in July . The republic was overthrown in the October Revolution by the Bolsheviks , who proclaimed the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and whose Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ended Russia's involvement in
5550-587: The Russian nobility that began after the death of Peter the Great, abolishing State service and granting them control of most state functions in the provinces. She also removed the Beard tax instituted by Peter the Great. Catherine extended Russian political control over the lands of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , supporting the Targowica Confederation . However, the cost of these campaigns further burdened
5700-634: The Russo-Persian War (1804–1813) , they clashed with Persia over control and consolidation of Georgia, and also became involved in the Caucasian War against the Caucasian Imamate . At the conclusion of the war, Persia irrevocably ceded what is now Dagestan , eastern Georgia, and most of Azerbaijan to Russia, under the Treaty of Gulistan . Russia attempted to expand to the southwest, at the expense of
5850-663: The Sabbath was banned in 1929, foreshadowing the dissolution of the Communist Party's Yiddish-language Yevsektsia in 1930 and worse repression to come. Numerous Jews were victimized in Stalin's purges as "counterrevolutionaries" and "reactionary nationalists", although in the 1930s the Jews were underrepresented in the Gulag population. The share of Jews in the Soviet ruling elite declined during
6000-410: The Soviet Air Forces ) and Grigori Shtern (Commander-in-Chief in the war against Japan and Commander at the front in the Winter War ). During World War Two, an estimated 500,000 soldiers in the Red Army were Jewish; about 200,000 were killed in battle. About 160,000 were decorated, and more than a hundred achieved the rank of Red Army general. Over 150 were designated Heroes of the Soviet Union ,
6150-402: The State Duma , although he still retained absolute political power. When Russia entered the First World War on the side of the Allies , it suffered a series of defeats that further galvanized the population against the emperor. In 1917, mass unrest among the population and mutinies in the army culminated in the February Revolution , which led to the abdication of Nicholas II, the formation of
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6300-439: The boyars , above whom was an absolute monarch titled the tsar . The groundwork of the Russian Empire was laid by Ivan III ( r. 1462–1505 ), who greatly expanded his domain, established a centralized Russian national state , and secured independence against the Tatars . His grandson, Ivan IV ( r. 1533–1584 ), became in 1547 the first Russian monarch to be crowned " tsar of all Russia ". Between 1550 and 1700,
6450-424: The collectivism of the medieval Russian obshchina or mir over the individualism of the West. More extreme social doctrines were elaborated by such Russian radicals on the left, such as Alexander Herzen , Mikhail Bakunin , and Peter Kropotkin . After Russian armies liberated the Eastern Georgian Kingdom (allied since the 1783 Treaty of Georgievsk ) from the Qajar dynasty 's occupation of 1802, during
6600-430: The liberalism of Western Europe encouraged them to seek change on their return to autocratic Russia . The result was the Decembrist revolt (December 1825), which was the work of a small circle of liberal nobles and army officers who wanted to install Nicholas' brother Constantine as a constitutional monarch. The revolt was easily crushed, but it caused Nicholas to turn away from the modernization program begun by Peter
6750-494: The " Odessa Committee " headed by Leon Pinsker) dedicated to practical aspects in establishing agricultural Jewish settlements in Palestine. In total, there were at least twelve Jewish deputies in the First Duma (1906–1907), falling to three or four in the Second Duma (February 1907 to June 1907), two in the Third Duma (1907–1912) and again three in the fourth, elected in 1912. Converts to Christianity like Mikhail Herzenstein and Ossip Pergament were still considered as Jews by
6900-484: The 14th century, many Western European Jews migrated to Poland upon the invitation of Polish ruler Casimir III the Great to settle in Polish-controlled areas of Eastern Europe as a third estate , although restricted to commercial, middleman services in an agricultural society for the Polish king and nobility between 1330 and 1370, during the reign of Casimir the Great. After settling in Poland (later Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth ) and Hungary (later Austria-Hungary ),
7050-462: The 17th century, culminating in the first Russian colonization of the Pacific , the Russo-Polish War (1654–1667) which led to the incorporation of left-bank Ukraine , and the Russian conquest of Siberia . Poland was partitioned by its rivals in 1772–1815;most of its land and population being taken under Russian rule. Most of the empire's growth in the 19th century came from gaining territory in central and eastern Asia south of Siberia. By 1795, after
7200-437: The 1861 abolition of serfdom in Russia . Under his rule Jewish people could not hire Christian servants, could not own land, and were restricted in travel. Alexander III was a staunch reactionary and an antisemite (influenced by Pobedonostsev ) who strictly adhered to the old doctrine of Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality . His escalation of anti-Jewish policies sought to ignite "popular antisemitism", which portrayed
7350-420: The 1930s, but was still more than double their proportion in the general Soviet population. According to Israeli historian Benjamin Pinkus, "We can say that the Jews in the Soviet Union took over the privileged position, previously held by the Germans in tsarist Russia ". In the 1930s, many Jews held high rank in the Red Army High Command: Generals Iona Yakir , Yan Gamarnik , Yakov Smushkevich (Commander of
7500-433: The 4th century showing that there were Armenian cities possessing Jewish populations ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 along with substantial Jewish settlements in the Crimea . The presence of Jewish people in the territories corresponding to modern Belarus, Ukraine, and the European part of Russia can be traced back to the 7th–14th centuries CE. In the 11th and 12th centuries, the Jewish population may have been restricted to
7650-534: The Bolsheviks ( See proletarian internationalism , bourgeois nationalism ) was incompatible with Jewish traditionalism. Bolsheviks such as Trotsky echoed sentiments dismissing Jewish heritage in place of "internationalism". Soon after seizing power, the Bolsheviks established the Yevsektsiya , the Jewish section of the Communist party in order to destroy the rival Bund and Zionist parties, suppress Judaism and replace traditional Jewish culture with "proletarian culture". In March 1919, Vladimir Lenin delivered
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#17328759419947800-448: The Communist Party labeled the use of the Hebrew language "reactionary" and "elitist" and the teaching of Hebrew was banned. Zionists were persecuted harshly, with Jewish communists leading the attacks. Following the civil war, however, the new Bolshevik government's policies produced a flourishing of secular Jewish culture in Belarus and western Ukraine in the 1920s. The Soviet government outlawed all expressions of antisemitism, with
7950-549: The Constitutional Democratic Party, were assassinated by the Black Hundreds antisemite terrorist group. "The Russkoye Znamya declares openly that 'Real Russians' assassinated Herzenstein and Iollos with knowledge of officials, and expresses regret that only two Jews perished in crusade against revolutionaries. The Second Duma included seven Jewish deputies: Shakho Abramson , Iosif Gessen , Vladimir Matveevich Gessen , Lazar Rabinovich , Yakov Shapiro (all of them Kadets) and Avigdor Mandelberg ( Siberia Social Democrat), plus
8100-480: The Councils of Elders ( Qahal , Kehilla ), constituted in every town or hamlet possessing a Jewish population. These councils had jurisdiction over Jews in matters of internal litigation, as well as fiscal transactions relating to the collection and payment of taxes ( poll tax , land tax , etc.). Later, this right of collecting taxes was much abused, and the councils lost civil authority in 1844. Under Alexander I and Nicholas I , decrees were put forth requiring
8250-684: The Great Northern War, served as the state's capital. This concept of the triune Russian people, composed of the Great Russians , the Little Russians , and the White Russians , was introduced during the reign of Peter I, and it was associated with the name of Archimandrite Zacharias Kopystensky (1621), the Archimandrite of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra and expanded upon in the writings of an associate of Peter I, Archbishop Professor Theophan Prokopovich . Several of Peter I's associates are well-known, including François Le Fort , Boris Sheremetev , Alexander Menshikov , Jacob Bruce , Mikhail Golitsyn , Anikita Repnin , and Alexey Kelin. During Peter's reign,
8400-445: The Great and champion the doctrine of Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality . In order to repress further revolts, censorship was intensified, including the constant surveillance of schools and universities. Textbooks were strictly regulated by the government. Police spies were planted everywhere. Under Nicholas I, would-be revolutionaries were sent off to Siberia, with hundreds of thousands sent to katorga camps. The retaliation for
8550-414: The Imperial Russian army for 25 years after the completion of their studies, often never seeing their families again. Strict quotas were imposed on all communities and the qahals were given the unpleasant task of implementing conscription within the Jewish communities. Since the merchant- guild members, agricultural colonists, factory mechanics, clergy, and all Jews with secondary education were exempt, and
8700-416: The Jewish population was a majority or plurality in many communities. It was possible to evade these restrictions upon secondary education by combining private tuition with examination as an "outside student". Accordingly, within the Pale such outside pupils were almost entirely young Jews. The restrictions placed on education, traditionally highly valued in Jewish communities, resulted in ambition to excel over
8850-460: The Jews as " Christ-killers " and the oppressors of the Slavic, Christian victims. A large-scale wave of anti-Jewish pogroms swept Ukraine in 1881, after Jews were scapegoated for the assassination of Alexander II. In the 1881 outbreak, there were pogroms in 166 Ukrainian towns, thousands of Jewish homes were destroyed, many families reduced to extremes of poverty; large numbers of men, women, and children were injured and some killed. Disorders in
9000-413: The Jews have crucified our Master and have shed his precious blood." In 1892, new measures banned Jewish participation in local elections despite their large numbers in many towns of the Pale. The Town Regulations prohibited Jews from the right to elect or be elected to town Dumas . Only a small number of Jews were allowed to be members of a town Duma, through appointment by special committees. During
9150-452: The Jews regarded the Red Army as the only force which was able and willing to defend them. The Russian Civil War pogroms shocked world Jewry and rallied many Jews to the Red Army and the Soviet regime, strengthening the desire for the creation of a homeland for the Jewish people. In August 1919 the Soviet government arrested many rabbis, seized Jewish properties, including synagogues, and dissolved many Jewish communities. The Jewish section of
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#17328759419949300-400: The Jews were 1.8 percent of the Soviet population but 12–15 percent of all university students. In 1934 the Soviet state established the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in the Russian Far East. This region never came to have a majority Jewish population. The JAO is Russia's only autonomous oblast and, outside of Israel, the world's only Jewish territory with an official status. The observance of
9450-410: The Jews who were long settled in those lands. Alexander III of Russia escalated anti-Jewish policies. Beginning in the 1880s, waves of anti-Jewish pogroms swept across different regions of the empire for several decades. More than two million Jews fled Russia between 1880 and 1920, mostly to the United States and Palestine . The Pale of Settlement took away many of the rights that the Jewish people of
9600-459: The March 9 theatrical premiere of his first screenplay , Coupe de Ville , directed by Joe Roth and co-produced by Binder, and his own HBO stand up comedy special, broadcast the following night. Binder's directorial debut was with his second screenplay, 1992's Crossing the Bridge . Binder gained further prominence with his 20-episode 2001-02 HBO comedy series, The Mind of the Married Man , which he co-wrote, co-directed and starred in as
9750-511: The Ottoman Empire . This resulted in a significant weakening of the Crimean Khanate , an Ottoman vassal and long-term Russian adversary. The discontent over the dominant positions of Baltic Germans in Russian politics resulted in Peter I's daughter Elizabeth being put on the Russian throne. Elizabeth supported the arts, architecture, and the sciences (for example, the founding of Moscow University ). But she did not carry out significant structural reforms. Her reign, which lasted nearly 20 years,
9900-406: The Ottoman Empire, respectively. As a result, Pan-Slavists were left with a legacy of bitterness against Austria-Hungary and Germany for failing to back Russia. Disappointment at the results of the war stimulated revolutionary tensions, and helped Serbia, Romania , and Montenegro gain independence from, and strengthen themselves against, the Ottomans. Another significant result of the war
10050-453: The Ottoman Empire, using recently acquired Georgia at its base for its Caucasus and Anatolian front. The late 1820s were successful years militarily. Despite losing almost all recently consolidated territories in the first year of the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828 , Russia managed to favorably bring an end to the war with the Treaty of Turkmenchay , including the formal acquisition of what are now Armenia , Azerbaijan, and Iğdır Province . In
10200-430: The Ottomans to sign the Treaty of San Stefano in March 1878, creating an enlarged, independent Bulgaria that stretched into the southwestern Balkans. When Britain threatened to declare war over the terms of the treaty, an exhausted Russia backed down. At the Congress of Berlin in July 1878, Russia agreed to the creation of a smaller Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia , as a vassal state and an autonomous principality inside
10350-505: The Pale and could not migrate elsewhere in Russia without special permission. Within the Pale, the Jewish residents were permitted to vote in municipal elections, but their vote was limited to one third of the total number of voters, even though their proportion in many areas was much higher, even a majority. This served to provide an aura of democracy, while institutionalizing local inter-ethnic conflict. Jewish communities in Russia were governed internally by local administrative bodies, called
10500-408: The Pale of Settlement amounted to 42,338,367—of these, 4,805,354 (11.5%) were Jews. About 450,000 Jewish soldiers served in the Russian Army during World War I , and fought side by side with their Slavic fellows. When hundreds of thousands of refugees from Poland and Lithuania, among them innumerable Jews, fled in terror before enemy invasion , the Pale of Settlement de facto ceased to exist. Most of
10650-399: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Partitions of Poland , alongside Austria and Prussia . As part of the Treaty of Georgievsk , signed with the Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti , and her own political aspirations, Catherine waged a new war against Persia in 1796 after they had invaded eastern Georgia . Upon achieving victory, she established Russian rule over it and expelled
10800-687: The Russian Constitutional Democrat Party , Russian Social Democratic Party ( Mensheviks ) and Socialist-Revolutionary Party . The Russian Anarchist movement also included many prominent Jewish revolutionaries. In Ukraine, Makhnovist anarchist leaders also included several Jews. In August 1919 Jewish properties, including synagogues, were seized and many Jewish communities were dissolved. New laws against all expressions of religion and religious education were imposed upon Jews and other religious groups. Many Rabbis and other religious officials were forced to resign from their posts under
10950-401: The Russian Empire was hostile to Catholicism and Polish nationalism. The cultural and habitual isolation of the Jews gradually began eroding. An ever-increasing number of Jewish people adopted Russian customs and the Russian language. Russian education was spread among the Jewish population. A number of Jewish-Russian periodicals appeared. Alexander II was known as the "Tsar liberator" for
11100-564: The Russian State, for example Peter Shafirov , vice-chancellor under Peter the Great . Shafirov came, as most Russian Jews after the fall of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, from a Jewish family of Polish origin. He had extraordinary knowledge of foreign languages and served as the chief translator in the Russian Foreign Office, subsequently he began to accompany Tsar Peter on his international travels. Following this, he
11250-434: The Russian capital from Moscow to the new model city of Saint Petersburg , which marked the birth of the imperial era, and led a cultural revolution that introduced a modern, scientific, rationalist, and Western-oriented system. Catherine the Great ( r. 1762–1796 ) presided over further expansion of the Russian state by conquest, colonization , and diplomacy, while continuing Peter's policy of modernization towards
11400-514: The Russian state grew by an average of 35,000 km (14,000 sq mi) per year. Major events during this period include the transition from the Rurik to the Romanov dynasties, the conquest of Siberia , and the reign of Peter the Great ( r. 1682–1725 ). Peter transformed the tsardom into an empire, and fought numerous wars that turned a vast realm into a major European power. He moved
11550-518: The Senate that its mission was to collect taxes, and tax revenues tripled over the course of his reign. Meanwhile, all vestiges of local self-government were removed. Peter continued and intensified his predecessors' requirement of state service from all nobles, in the Table of Ranks . As part of Peter's reorganization, he also enacted a church reform . The Russian Orthodox Church was partially incorporated into
11700-512: The Tsarist regime was attractive to many members of the Jewish intelligentsia because of the oppression of non-Russian nations and non- Orthodox Christians within the Russian Empire . For much the same reason, many non-Russians, notably Latvians or Poles , were disproportionately represented in the party leaderships. In 1897 General Jewish Labour Bund (The Bund), was formed. Many Jews joined
11850-438: The already oppressive social system, under which serfs were required to spend almost all of their time laboring on their owners' land. A major peasant uprising took place in 1773, after Catherine legalized the selling of serfs separate from land. Inspired by a Cossack named Yemelyan Pugachev and proclaiming "Hang all the landlords!", the rebels threatened to take Moscow before they were ruthlessly suppressed. Instead of imposing
12000-584: The antisemitism that was endemic to tsarist Russia. During the World War, Jews were often accused of sympathizing with Germany and often persecuted. Pogroms were unleashed throughout the Russian Civil War, perpetrated by virtually every competing faction, from Polish and Ukrainian nationalists to the Red and White Armies. 31,071 civilian Jews were killed during documented pogroms throughout the former Russian Empire ;
12150-542: The arbitrariness of the qahal to the Russian government. In some cases, communal elders had the most threatening informers murdered (such as the Ushitsa case , 1836). The zoning rule was suspended during the Crimean War , when conscription became annual. During this period the qahals leaders would employ informers and kidnappers (Russian: " ловчики ", lovchiki , Yiddish : khappers ), as many potential conscripts preferred to run away rather than voluntarily submit. In
12300-576: The beginning of the 21st century; however, the Russian Jewish population has experienced precipitous decline since the dissolution of the USSR which continues to this day, although it is still among the largest in Europe . The presence of Jewish people in the European part of Russia can be traced to the 7th–14th centuries CE. In the 11th and 12th centuries, the Jewish population in Kiev , in present-day Ukraine ,
12450-537: The building of the Trans-Siberian Railway , 1890 to 1904. This opened up East Asia ; and Russian interests focused on Mongolia, Manchuria , and Korea . China was too weak to resist, and was pulled increasingly into the Russian sphere. Russia obtained treaty ports such as Dalian / Port Arthur . In 1900, the Russian Empire invaded Manchuria as part of the Eight-Nation Alliance 's intervention against
12600-471: The case of unfulfilled quotas, younger Jewish boys of eight and even younger were frequently taken. The official Russian policy was to encourage the conversion of Jewish cantonists to the state religion of Orthodox Christianity and Jewish boys were coerced to baptism . As kosher food was unavailable, they were faced with the necessity of abandoning of Jewish dietary laws . Polish Catholic boys were subject to similar pressure to convert and assimilate as
12750-632: The central character "Micky Barnes". That same year, his independently produced film The Sex Monster won "Best Film" and Binder won "Best Actor" at the 2001 Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen . Binder wrote and directed three mid-2000s films in which he also played supporting roles. The first, The Upside of Anger , starring Joan Allen and Kevin Costner , premiered at the January 2005 Sundance Film Festival ; thirteen months later, Man About Town with Ben Affleck ,
12900-475: The country's administrative structure, in effect making it a tool of the state. Peter abolished the patriarchate and replaced it with a collective body, the Most Holy Synod , which was led by a government official . Peter died in 1725, leaving an unsettled succession. After a short reign by his widow, Catherine I , the crown passed to Empress Anna . She slowed the reforms and led a successful war against
13050-449: The death of Peter were returned in the 1732 Treaty of Resht and 1735 Treaty of Ganja as a deal to oppose the Ottomans. Peter reorganized his government based on the latest political models of the time, molding Russia into an absolutist state. He replaced the old Boyar Duma (council of nobles) with a nine-member Senate , in effect a supreme council of state. The countryside was divided into new provinces and districts . Peter told
13200-445: The despotic, unpopular regime, and divert popular anger toward a scapegoat. The Soviet Union also officially maintained this Marxist-Leninist interpretation under Joseph Stalin , who expounded Lenin's critique of antisemitism. However, this did not prevent the widely publicized repressions of Jewish intellectuals during 1948–1953 when Stalin increasingly associated Jews with "cosmopolitanism" and pro-Americanism . Jews were prominent in
13350-485: The education restrictions on the Jews were removed with the appointment of count Pavel Ignatiev as Minister of Education. Even though the persecutions provided the impetus for mass emigration, there were other relevant factors that can account for the Jews' migration. After the first years of large emigration from Russia, positive feedback from the emigrants in the U.S. encouraged further emigration. Indeed, more than two million Jews fled Russia between 1880 and 1920. While
13500-416: The empire entered the 20th century in a perilous state. A devastating famine in 1891–1892 killed hundreds of thousands and led to popular discontent. As the last remaining absolute monarchy in Europe, the empire saw rapid political radicalization and the growing popularity of revolutionary ideas such as communism . After the 1905 revolution , Nicholas II authorized the creation of a national parliament,
13650-563: The empire. The semi-autonomous polity of Congress Poland subsequently lost its distinctive political and judicial rights, with Russification being imposed on its schools and courts. However, Russification policies in Poland, Finland and among the Germans in the Baltics largely failed and only strengthened political opposition. In 1854–1855, Russia fought Britain , France and the Ottoman Empire in
13800-489: The end his dynasty was overthrown by the Russian Revolution . The Industrial Revolution began to show significant influence in Russia, but the country remained rural and poor. Economic conditions steadily improved after 1890, thanks to new crops such as sugar beets, and new access to railway transportation. Total grain production increased, as well as exports, even with rising domestic demand from population growth. As
13950-499: The expense of the serfs and other lower classes. Nevertheless, Catherine realized that serfdom must eventually be ended, going so far in her Nakaz ("Instruction") to say that serfs were "just as good as we are" – a comment received with disgust by the nobility. Catherine advanced Russia's southern and western frontiers, successfully waging war against the Ottoman Empire for territory near the Black Sea , and incorporating territories of
14100-560: The government and other major buildings were designed under Italianate influence. In 1722, he turned his aspirations toward increasing Russian influence in the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea at the expense of the weakened Safavid Persians . He made Astrakhan the base of military efforts against Persia, and waged the first full-scale war against them in 1722–23 . Peter the Great temporarily annexed several areas of Iran to Russia, which after
14250-610: The highest award in the country. More than two million Soviet Jews are believed to have died during the Holocaust in warfare and in Nazi-occupied territories. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, many Soviet Jews took the opportunity of liberalized emigration policies, with more than half of the population leaving, most for Israel and the West: Germany, the United States, Canada and Australia. For many years during this period, Russia had
14400-537: The implicit threat to India ; and decades of diplomatic maneuvering resulted, called the Great Game . That rivalry between the two empires has been considered to have included far-flung territories such as Outer Mongolia and Tibet . The maneuvering largely ended with the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907. Expansion into the vast stretches of Siberia was slow and expensive, but finally became possible with
14550-591: The late 17th century Russia had enjoyed. At this time, the Jewish people were restricted to an area of what is current day Belarus, Lithuania, eastern Poland and Ukraine. Where Western Europe was experiencing emancipation at this time, in Russia the laws for the Jewish people were getting more strict. They were allowed to move further east, towards a less crowded region, though it was only a minority of Jews who took to this migration option. The sporadic and often impoverished communities formed were known as Shtetls . Before 1917 there were 300,000 Zionists in Russia, while
14700-484: The late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Russian Empire had not only the largest Jewish population in the world, but actually a majority of the world's Jews living within its borders. In 1897, according to Russian census of 1897 , the total Jewish population of Russia was 5,189,401 persons of both sexes (4.13% of total population). Of this total, 93.9% lived in the 25 provinces of the Pale of Settlement . The total population of
14850-486: The leading Bolsheviks were Ethnic Jews , and Bolshevism supports a policy of promoting international proletarian revolution—most notably in the case of Leon Trotsky —many enemies of Bolshevism, as well as contemporary antisemites, draw a picture of Communism as a political slur at Jews and accuse Jews of pursuing Bolshevism to benefit Jewish interests, reflected in the terms Jewish Bolshevism or Judeo-Bolshevism . The original atheistic and internationalistic ideology of
15000-955: The main Jewish socialist organization, the Bund , had 33,000 members. Only 958 Jews had joined the Bolshevik Party before 1917; thousands joined after the Revolution. The chaotic years of World War I , the February and October Revolutions , and the Russian Civil War had created social disruption that led to antisemitism. Some 150,000 Jews were killed in the pogroms of 1918–1922, 125,000 of them in Ukraine, 25,000 in Belarus. The pogroms were mostly perpetrated by anti-communist forces; sometimes, Red Army units engaged in pogroms as well. Anton Denikin 's White Army
15150-583: The military, 20 percent to government economic activities, 12 percent to administration, and nine percent for the Imperial Court in St. Petersburg. The deficit required borrowing, primarily from bankers in Amsterdam ; five percent of the budget was allocated to debt payments. Paper money was issued to pay for expensive wars, thus causing inflation. As a result of its spending, Russia developed a large and well-equipped army,
15300-464: The mob. The systematic policy of discrimination banned Jewish people from rural areas and towns of fewer than ten thousand people, even within the Pale, assuring the slow death of many shtetls . In 1887, the quotas placed on the number of Jews allowed into secondary and higher education were tightened down to 10% within the Pale, 5% outside the Pale, except Moscow and Saint Petersburg, held at 3%, even though
15450-647: The new parliament (the Duma). He signed the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 to counter Germany's influence in the Middle East, ending the Great Game between Russia and the British Empire . However, his reign was marked by criticism for the government's suppression of political dissent and perceived failures or inaction during events like the Khodynka Tragedy , anti-Jewish pogroms, Bloody Sunday (1905) , and
15600-477: The newly established Persian garrisons in the Caucasus. Catherine's expansionist policy caused Russia to develop into a major European power, as did the Enlightenment era and the Golden age in Russia. But after Catherine died in 1796, she was succeeded by her son, Paul . He brought Russia into a major coalition war against the new-revolutionary French Republic in 1798. Russian commander Field Marshal Suvorov led
15750-568: The number of Jewish orphans exceeded 300,000. A majority of pogroms in Ukraine during 1918–1920 were perpetrated by the Ukrainian nationalists, miscellaneous bands and anti-Communist forces. Continuing the policy of the Bolsheviks before the Revolution, Lenin and the Bolshevik Party strongly condemned the pogroms, including official denunciations in 1918 by the Council of People's Commissars. Opposition to
15900-401: The obligation of the nobility to serve was reinforced, and serf labor played a significant role in the growth of the industry, reinforcing traditional socioeconomic structures. The volume of the country's international trade turnover increased as a result of Peter I's industrial reforms. However, imports of goods overtook exports, strengthening the role of foreigners in Russian trade, particularly
16050-523: The only one it conducted, found a population of 125.6 million with considerable ethnic, linguistic, religious, and socioeconomic diversity. The rise of the Russian Empire coincided with the decline of its rivals: the Swedish Empire , the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , Qajar Iran , the Ottoman Empire , and Qing China . From the 10th to 17th centuries, the Russians had been ruled by a noble class known as
16200-568: The peers and increased emigration rates. Special quotas restricted Jews from entering profession of law, limiting number of Jews admitted to the bar. In 1886, an Edict of Expulsion was enforced on the historic Jewish population of Kiev . Most Jews were expelled from Moscow in 1891 (except few deemed useful ) and a newly built synagogue was closed by the city's authorities headed by the Tsar's brother. Tsar Alexander III refused to curtail repressive practices and reportedly noted: "But we must never forget that
16350-516: The pogroms and to manifestations of Russian antisemitism in this era were complicated by both the official Bolshevik policy of assimilationism towards all national and religious minorities, and concerns about overemphasizing Jewish concerns for fear of exacerbating popular antisemitism, as the White forces were openly identifying the Bolshevik regime with Jews. Russian Empire The Russian Empire
16500-567: The population expanded into the lightly populated areas of Ukraine and Lithuania , which were to become part of the expanding Russian Empire. In 1495, Alexander the Jagiellonian expelled Jewish residents from Grand Duchy of Lithuania , but reversed his decision in 1503. In the shtetls populated almost entirely by Jews, or in the middle-sized town where Jews constituted a significant part of population, Jewish communities traditionally ruled themselves according to halakha , and were limited by
16650-446: The press, as well as dislike democracy, constitutions, and the parliamentary system. Under Pobedonostsev, revolutionaries were persecuted—by the imperial secret police , with thousands being exiled to Siberia —and a policy of Russification was carried out throughout the empire. Russia had little difficulty expanding to the south, including conquering Turkestan , until Britain became alarmed when Russia threatened Afghanistan , with
16800-740: The privileges granted them by local rulers. (See also Shtadlan ). These Jews were not assimilated into the larger eastern European societies, and identified as an ethnic group with a unique set of religious beliefs and practices, as well as an ethnically unique economic role. Documentary evidence as to the presence of Jews in Muscovite Russia is first found in the chronicles of 1471. The relatively small population of them were subject to discriminatory laws, but these laws do not appear to have been enforced at all times. Jews residing in Russian and Ukrainian towns suffered numerous religious persecutions. Converted Jews occasionally rose to important positions in
16950-672: The public (and antisemitic) opinion and are most of the time included in these figures. At the 1906 elections, the Jewish Labour Bund had made an electoral agreement with the Lithuanian Labourers' Party ( Trudoviks ), which resulted in the election to the Duma of two (non-Bundist) candidates in the Lithuanian provinces: Dr. Shmaryahu Levin for the Vilnius province and Leon Bramson for
17100-401: The public use of the ethnic slur жид ("Yid") being punished by up to one year of imprisonment, and tried to modernize the Jewish community by establishing 1,100 Yiddish-language schools, 40 Yiddish-language daily newspapers and by settling Jews on farms in Ukraine and Crimea; the number of Jews working in the industry had more than doubled between 1926 and 1931. At the beginning of the 1930s,
17250-487: The ranks of two principal revolutionary parties: Socialist-Revolutionary Party and Russian Social Democratic Labour Party —both Bolshevik and Menshevik factions. A notable number of Bolshevik party members were ethnically Jewish, especially in the leadership of the party, and the percentage of Jewish party members among the rival Mensheviks was even higher. Both the founders and leaders of Menshevik faction, Julius Martov and Pavel Axelrod , were Jewish. Because some of
17400-563: The redrawing of the map of Europe at the Congress of Vienna (1815), which ultimately made Alexander the monarch of Congress Poland . The " Holy Alliance " was proclaimed, linking the monarchist great powers of Austria, Prussia, and Russia. Although the Russian Empire played a leading political role in the next century, thanks to its role in defeating Napoleonic France, its retention of serfdom precluded economic progress to any significant degree. As Western European economic growth accelerated during
17550-488: The revolt made "December Fourteenth" a day long remembered by later revolutionary movements. The question of Russia's direction had been gaining attention ever since Peter the Great's program of modernization. Some favored imitating Western Europe while others were against this and called for a return to the traditions of the past. The latter path was advocated by Slavophiles , who held the "decadent" West in contempt. The Slavophiles were opponents of bureaucracy, who preferred
17700-552: The screenplays he has written, and has acted in many of them as well. As a writer, he has written screenplays for Steven Spielberg, Julia Roberts , Robert Zemeckis , Jim Carrey , Adam Sandler , Tim Allen and Reese Witherspoon . Binder's first novel, Keep Calm , a thriller set in the UK, was published in 2016. He directed stand-up comedian Bill Burr 's most recent Netflix comedy special Paper Tiger . On October 4, 2020, his five-part documentary series on The Comedy Store , based on
17850-461: The serfs, was the single most important event in 19th-century Russian history, and the beginning of the end of the landed aristocracy's monopoly on power. The 1860s saw further socioeconomic reforms to clarify the position of the Russian government with regard to property rights. Emancipation brought a supply of free labor to the cities, stimulating industry, while the middle class grew in number and influence. However, instead of receiving their lands as
18000-678: The south once again recalled the government attention to the Jewish question. A conference was convened at the Ministry of Interior and on May 15, 1882, so-called Temporary Regulations were introduced that stayed in effect for more than thirty years and came to be known as the May Laws . The repressive legislation was repeatedly revised. Many historians noted the concurrence of these state-enforced antisemitic policies with waves of pogroms that continued until 1884, with at least tacit government knowledge and in some cases policemen were seen inciting or joining
18150-479: The start of the 19th century, Russian territory extended from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea in the south, and from the Baltic Sea in the west to Alaska, Hawaii, and California in the east. By the end of the 19th century, Russia had expanded its control over the Caucasus , most of Central Asia and parts of Northeast Asia . Notwithstanding its extensive territorial gains and great power status,
18300-491: The state for the rest of their lives. He also introduced the Table of Ranks and equated the votchina with an estate . Russia's modern fleet was built by Peter the Great, along with an army that was reformed in the manner of European style and educational institutions (the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences ). Civil lettering was adopted during Peter I's reign, and the first Russian newspaper, Vedomosti ,
18450-461: The third (1795) Partitions of Poland . Under the Commonwealth's legal system, Jews endured economic restrictions euphemised as " disabilities ", which also continued following the Russian occupation. Catherine established the Pale of Settlement , which included Congress Poland , Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus, Bessarabia , and Crimea (the latter was later excluded). Jews were required to live within
18600-563: The threat of violent persecution. This type of persecution continued into the 1920s. In 1921, a large number of Jews opted for Poland, as the Peace of Riga entitled them to choose the country they preferred. Several hundred thousand joined the already numerous Jewish population of Poland . The chaotic years of World War I, the February and October Revolutions, and the Civil War were fertile ground for
18750-422: The throne in 1855, the desire for reform was widespread. A growing humanitarian movement attacked serfdom as inefficient. In 1859, there were more than 23 million serfs in usually poor living conditions. Alexander II decided to abolish serfdom from above, with ample provision for the landowners, rather than wait for it to be abolished from below by revolution. The Emancipation Reform of 1861 , which freed
18900-489: The traditional punishment of drawing and quartering, Catherine issued secret instructions that the executioners should execute death sentences quickly and with minimal suffering, as part of her effort to introduce compassion into the law. She furthered these efforts by ordering the public trial of Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova , a high-ranking noblewoman, on charges of torturing and murdering serfs. Whilst these gestures garnered Catherine much positive attention from Europe during
19050-540: The transformation of Russia into a great power, playing a major role in European politics. On 2 November [ O.S. 22 October] 1721, the day of the announcement of the Treaty of Nystad, the Governing Senate and Synod invested the tsar with the titles of Peter the Great, Pater Patriae (father of the fatherland), and Imperator of all Russia . The adoption of the title of imperator by Peter I
19200-449: The various holdings. Although serfdom was abolished, its abolition was achieved on terms unfavorable to peasants; thus, revolutionary tensions remained. Revolutionaries believed that the newly freed serfs were merely being sold into wage slavery in the onset of the industrial revolution, and that the urban bourgeoisie had effectively replaced the landowners. Seeking more territories, Russia obtained Priamurye ( Russian Manchuria ) from
19350-670: The violent suppression of the 1905 Russian Revolution. The Russo-Japanese War , which resulted in the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet at the Battle of Tsushima , further eroded his popularity. By March 1917, public support for Nicholas II had dwindled, leading to his forced abdication and the end of the 304-year rule of the Romanov (dynasty) in Russia (1613–1917). Nicholas II was deeply devoted to his wife, Alexandra, whom he married on 26 November 1894. They had five children: Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Tsesarevich Alexei. The Russian Imperial Romanov family
19500-571: The war, but who nevertheless were opposed by various factions known collectively as the Whites . During the resulting Russian Civil War , the Bolsheviks conducted the Red Terror . After emerging victorious, they established the Soviet Union across most of the Russian territory; it would be one of four continental empires to collapse as a result of World War I , along with Germany , Austria–Hungary , and
19650-677: The weakened Manchu-ruled Qing China , which was occupied fighting against the Taiping Rebellion . In 1858, the Treaty of Aigun ceded much of the Manchu Homeland, and in 1860, the Treaty of Peking ceded the modern Primorsky Krai , also founded the outpost of future Vladivostok . Meanwhile, Russia decided to sell the indefensible Russian America to the United States for 11 million rubles (7.2 million dollars) in 1867. Initially, many Americans considered this newly gained territory to be
19800-674: The wealthy bribed their way out of having their children conscripted, fewer potential conscripts were available; the adopted policy deeply sharpened internal Jewish social tensions. Seeking to protect the socio-economic and religious integrity of Jewish society, the qahals did their best to include “non-useful Jews” in the draft lists so that the heads of tax-paying middle-class families were predominantly exempt from conscription, whereas single Jews, as well as "heretics" ( Haskalah influenced individuals), paupers, outcasts, and orphaned children were drafted. They used their power to suppress protests and intimidate potential informers who sought to expose
19950-415: The world . Within these territories, the primarily Ashkenazi Jewish communities of many different areas flourished and developed many of modern Judaism 's most distinctive theological and cultural traditions, while also facing periods of antisemitic discriminatory policies and persecution , including violent pogroms . Many analysts have noted a "renaissance" in the Jewish community inside Russia since
20100-417: The years he spent there and interviews with most of the major alumni of the famous nightclub, aired on Showtime . Russian-Jewish The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest population of Jews in
20250-546: Was a bastion of antisemitism, using "Strike at the Jews and save Russia!" as its motto. The Bolshevik Red Army , although individual soldiers committed antisemitic abuses, had a policy of opposing antisemitism, and as a result, it won the support of much of the Jewish population. After a short period of confusion, the Soviets started executing guilty individuals and even disbanding the army units whose men had attacked Jews. Although pogroms were still perpetrated after this, in general
20400-658: Was a vast empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its proclamation in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about 22,800,000 km (8,800,000 sq mi), roughly one-sixth of the world's landmass, making it the third-largest empire in history , behind only the British and Mongol empires. It also colonized North America between 1799 and 1867. The empire's 1897 census,
20550-612: Was also a Crimean Karaim deputy, Salomon Krym . Three of the Jewish deputies, Bramson, Chervonenkis and Yakubson, joined the Labour faction; nine others joined the Kadet fraction. According to Rufus Learsi, five of them were Zionists, including Dr. Shmaryahu Levin , Dr. Victor Jacobson and Simon Yakovlevich Rosenbaum . Two of them, Grigori Borisovich Iollos ( Poltava province) and Mikhail Herzenstein (b. 1859, d. 1906 in Terijoki ), both from
20700-479: Was assassinated by the Narodnaya Volya , a Nihilist terrorist organization . The throne passed to Alexander III (1881–1894), a reactionary who revived the maxim of "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality" of Nicholas I. A committed Slavophile, Alexander III believed that Russia could be saved from turmoil only by shutting itself off from the subversive influences of Western Europe. During his reign, Russia formed
20850-427: Was catastrophic for France, whose army was decimated during the Russian winter . Although Napoleon's Grande Armée reached Moscow, the Russians' scorched earth strategy prevented the invaders from living off the country. In the harsh and bitter winter, thousands of French troops were ambushed and killed by peasant guerrilla fighters. Russian troops then pursued Napoleon's troops to the gates of Paris, presiding over
21000-402: Was close to that of slaves , remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter converted household kholops into house serfs , thus counting them for poll taxation. Russian agricultural kholops had been formally converted into serfs earlier in 1679. They were largely tied to the land, in a feudal sense, until the late 19th century. Peter's first military efforts were directed against
21150-604: Was executed by who were believed to be drunken Bolshevik revolutionaries under Yakov Yurovsky, as ordered by the Ural Regional Soviet in Yekaterinburg on the night of 16–17 July 1918. This marked the end of the Russian Empire and Imperial Russia. Russia was in a continuous state of financial crisis. While revenue rose from 9 million rubles in 1724 to 40 million in 1794, expenses grew more rapidly, reaching 49 million in 1794. The budget allocated 46 percent to
21300-834: Was first seen at the February 2006 Santa Barbara International Film Festival and, after another 13 months, Reign Over Me was released; Binder directed, wrote, and appeared in the film, starring Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle . His most recent film is 2014's Black or White , starring Kevin Costner and Octavia Spencer . As an actor, Binder has appeared in Steven Spielberg 's Minority Report with Tom Cruise , Rod Lurie 's The Contender with Joan Allen , and Rebecca Miller 's The Private Lives of Pippa Lee with Robin Wright Penn . He also appeared in Season 2, Episode 10 of Curb Your Enthusiasm (2001). Binder has directed most of
21450-410: Was fluency in Russian, and they often had no education in, or knowledge of Jewish law. The beginning of the 19th century was marked by intensive movement of Jews to Novorossiya , where towns, villages and agricultural colonies rapidly sprang up. In 19th century, legally the Jews were a subcategory of the inorodtsy category, special ethnicity-based category of non-Slavic population that received
21600-674: Was in a state of war with the French Republic under the leadership of the Corsica -born First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte . After he became the emperor , Napoleon defeated Russia at Austerlitz in 1805, Eylau and Friedland in 1807. After Alexander was defeated in Friedland, he agreed to negotiate and sued for peace with France; the Treaties of Tilsit led to the Franco-Russian alliance against
21750-456: Was informally partitioned by the Anglo-Russian Convention in 1907, Britain, France, and Russia came increasingly close together in opposition to Germany and Austria-Hungary. The three would later comprise the Triple Entente alliance in the First World War . In 1894, Alexander III was succeeded by his son, Nicholas II , who was committed to retaining the autocracy that his father had left him. Nicholas II proved as an ineffective ruler, and in
21900-444: Was published. Peter I promoted the advancement of science, particularly geography and geology , trade, and industry, including shipbuilding, as well as the growth of the Russian educational system. Every tenth Russian acquired an education during Peter I's reign, when there were 15 million people in the country. The city of Saint Petersburg , which was built in 1703 on territory along the Baltic coast that had been conquered during
22050-417: Was raised to the rank of vice-chancellor because of his many diplomatic talents and skills, but was later imprisoned, sentenced to death, and eventually banished. Their situation changed radically during the reign of Catherine II , when the Russian Empire acquired large Lithuanian and Polish territories which historically included a high proportion of Jewish residents, especially during the second (1793) and
22200-446: Was restricted to a separate quarter. Evidence of the presence of Jewish people in Muscovite Russia is first documented in the chronicles of 1471. During the reign of Catherine II in the 18th century, Jewish people were restricted to the Pale of Settlement (1791–1917) within Russia, the territory where they could live or to which they could immigrate. The three partitions of Poland brought much additional territory to Russia, along with
22350-579: Was the acquisition from the Ottomans of the provinces of Batumi , Ardahan , and Kars in Transcaucasia , which were transformed into the militarily administered regions of Batum Oblast and Kars Oblast . To replace Muslim refugees who had fled across the new frontier into Ottoman territory, the Russian authorities settled large numbers of Christians from ethnically diverse communities in Kars Oblast, particularly Georgians , Caucasus Greeks , and Armenians , each of whom hoped to achieve protection and advance their own regional ambitions. In 1881, Alexander II
22500-433: Was the eldest son and successor of Aleksandr Aleksandrovich (later known as Alexander III of Russia ) and his wife Maria Fyodorovna (formerly Dagmar of Denmark ). During his rule, Nicholas II supported the economic and political reforms proposed by his prime ministers, Sergei Witte and Pyotr Stolypin . He favored modernization through foreign loans and strong ties with France, but was reluctant to give significant roles to
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