The exiles and convicts of Tsarists Russia seen through rare photographs, 1885

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On his return to the United States in August 1886, he became an ardent critic of the Russian autocracy and began to espouse the cause of Russian democracy.
Kennan devoted much of the next twenty years to promoting the cause of a Russian revolution, mainly by lecturing. His reports on conditions in Siberia were published serially by Century Magazine, and in 1891, he published a two-volume book Siberia and The Exile System.
It, with first-hand interviews, data, and drawings, had an influential effect on American public opinion. In 1901, the Russian government responded by banning him from Russia.
#oldworld #oldphotos #history #oldworldphotos #historicalplaces #america #american

[@GreatPolishWingedHussars]

This video still gets a thumbs up from me because all videos of "The Time Machine" always get a thumbs up from me. :) Moreover in one of their videos, Tsarist Russia was shown in a different way with the title: "Intimate photos of the Romanovs, shortly before their execution, 1915-1916". Certainly other photos of tsarist Russia will also be shown in future videos that not only show prisoners. In addition, photos were also shown in videos that also revealed abuses in western countries.

[@GreatPolishWingedHussars]

Of course, Tsarists Russia is viewed negatively in my home country, because they were the occupiers of Poland. Nevertheless, it bothers me when Russia is always portrayed in the Western media and by Western historians in an exaggeratedly negative way because that disturbs my sense of justice and fairness. First! Prisoners were treated cruelly around the world at the time and extremely hard forced labor for prisoners was not unusual. Photos of prisoners in the US were probably no different than those of Russian prisoners, and there were political prisoners in many countries around the world. There were political prisoners anyway in the monarchic dictatorships of Germany and Austria, but also in western democracies where feminists were also brutally imprisoned. The worst prison of that time was probably "Devil's Island" in French Guiana! The prison system had a death rate of 75 %! Devil's Island was also notorious for being used for the exile of French political prisoners, with the most famous being Captain Alfred Dreyfus, accused of spying for Germany. By the way, the Dreyfus affair was a scandal extending for several years in late 19th and early 20th century France, exposing antisemitism and corruption in the French military.
But as much as Russia is portrayed negatively by western media and historians, other countries, for example Austria and Germany, are portrayed positively, although these countries, if you look more closely, were not at all more positive than Russia. In fact, these countries were much more negative and harmful countries than Russia! Tsarist Russia is generally portrayed in the West as backward! Serfdom in Russia is often cited as proof of this, which, oh so late, was only abolished in 1861. OH so late...really? When was slavery abolished in the US? Oh 1865 so 4 years after the abolition of serfdom in Russia. In fact, in some German small states, serfdom was also abolished the 30s of the 19th century so only 30 years before Russia not 100 years before. Of course, the economy of Tsarist Russia is also portrayed as completely backward by Western historians and the media. Of course, the successes of the Russian economy in the 19th century are willingly overlooked. But various Russian successes refute this completely one-sided point of view, including the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the longest railway line in the world with a length of 9288 km. Much of the route was completed as early as the 19th century, with construction finally completed in 1916. Incidentally, the Trans-Siberian Railway is 3 times as long as the transcontinental railway line in the USA, which was completed in the 19th century. And it was by far not the only railway project in Tsarist Russia, because in total from 1861 to 1881 over 19 thousand kilometers of railways were built. But the railway lines were not built with imported materials, but Russian factories, especially in the Donbas, produced rails and equipment for railway construction. In the Caucasus, the Baku oil region developed rapidly, in which valuable liquid fuel was extracted - oil. By the way, the petroleum age started in Austrian-occupied Poland and was established there by the Polish pharmacist, engineer, businessman and inventor Ignacy Łukasiewicz because his achievements included the discovery of how to distill kerosene from seep crude oil, the invention of the modern kerosene lamp (1853), the introduction of the first modern street lamp with kerosene lamps in Poland (1853), and the construction of the world's first modern oil well (1854). The success of Łukasiewicz is doubly impressive because it was in Poland occupied by the Austrians and Polish industrialists were very discriminated by the occupiers. But that's another topic! However, Russian oil production boomed after the 1870s, and by 1900 Russia was the world’s leading producer. In 1882 after the establishment of the Geological Committee of Russia, the petroleum potential of many territories eventually started to be systematically explored also on the base of the first reliable geological map. Russian scientists ranked among the pioneers in the exploration of petroleum! The Russian Vladimir Markovnikov (1837-1904) studies and describes of a new class of hydrocarbons called naphthenes. Vladimir Markovnikov (1837-1904) studies and describes of a new class of hydrocarbons called naphthenes. In 1910 the Russian chemist S. V. Lebedev develops the first commercial process[16] to convert butadiene into a rubberlike material. This are by no means all Russian scientists who made scientific discoveries in this area at that time, and Russian scientists made many discoveries in other areas as well. Russian engineers were also successful back then! The first petroleum fueled power station was built in Russia! The first oil pipeline was also laid in Russia! Russia also had the longest oil pipeline in the 19th century. But Russia's industrialization also progressed in other areas, for example weaving mills supplanted handicraft weaving. Of course, foreigners also invested in Russia like the Englishman John Hughes who built the Yuzov Metallurgical Plant in 1869-1872. The outstanding russian metallurgist Mikhail Kurako worked at the plant. As a result of Kurako's work, there was a fundamental improvement in the design of the blast furnace and the technology of the blast furnace process. Procedures introduced by Kurako are still used today. As worldwide in the time of industrialization as well as in Russia in all sectors, there was a desire to improve the quality of products and to introduce improved production methods that contributed to cheaper production, making goods more accessible to the mass of consumers. The government laid the development of technical educational institutions and the direction of their activities to meet the needs of industry. In connection with the successes of industry, domestic trade was developing highly. Cities not only grew, but also improved. Their layout improved, new buildings appeared, straightened, planted green, paved and paved streets. The water supply system, which until 1861 existed only in Moscow, Saratov, Stavropol and Torzhok, began to be built in all major cities. From 1879, electric light appeared on the streets of Russian cities, and from 1882, a telephone appeared in city apartments. Certain industries of the Russian Empire were characterized by extremely rapid growth. For example from 1894 to 1914, in the Russian Empire, coal production increased by 306%, oil - by 65%, cast iron - by 250%, steel - by 224%. On the eve of the of the 1st World War, the country's national income ranked in a global comparison fourth after the United States, Germany and the British Empire. I will not deny that despite these Russian successes I have described, the Russian economy was not as well developed as, for example, the British economy or the US economy in the 19th century and early 20th century. But the Russian economy was not nearly as backward as is always claimed. By the way, the Austrian economy was definitely not superior to the Russian economy in the 19th century. You just have to remember that the Habsburg monarchy had the antiquated protective tariff system that severely decoupled the monarchy from the world economy. There was even an internal customs border with customs duties between Austria and Hungary. So there were in the country trade-hindering customs duties. In Austria serfdom existed until 1848. Because of this, Austria is not branded as backward like Russia, which abolished serfdom only 13 years later. Of the nations oppressed by the Austrians, the Habsburg monarchy was also referred to as the "prison of the nations" because of the reprisals and oppression against the nations under the rule of the Austrians. Yes, that's right, tsarist Russia also oppressed peoples, but the Russians are also accused of this in contrast to the Austrians. But something nice like this is being spread about Austria! "Bella told alii, tu felix Austria nube." - "Others may wage wars, you, happy Austria, marry." An allusion to the successful marriage policy, which hides the fact that in reality Austria has often been at war. Because only through war did they manage to force other nations under the yoke of their rule. But the Austrians are not accused of such a thing, but the Russians, as well as the alleged great backwardness. In contrast, that's a common quote about 19th-century Russia! "The country's agricultural backwardness was rooted in the economic and cultural consequences of serfdom, and it was reinforced by the government's conservative policies." Nothing of the sort is said about Austria, which abolished serfdom just a few years before Russia and was ruled by a fully conservative monarchy. As for the political system in the 19th century, it's the same Russia is heavily criticized and such countries as Germany and Austria are not rated nearly as negatively. There were no democracies in these countries like in Russia. But only russia is branded because of it and exaggeratedly portrayed as allegedly absolutely backwards in economic terms at the time. Therefore, when looking at these photos, one should not be tempted to prematurely see Tsarist Russia of the 19th century as particularly backward, because at that time prisoners looked similar all over the world.

[@thetimemachine7331]

True that

[@GreatPolishWingedHussars]

@@thetimemachine7331 Thanks!