Uprising Led by Emel’yan Pugachev

During the 1768-74 war with the Ottoman Empire, Russia experienced a major social upheaval, the Pugachev Uprising. In 1773 a Don Cossack, Emel'yan Pugachev, bided his time and announced that he was the Russian Emperor Peter III. Other Cossacks, various Turkic tribes that felt the impingement of the Russian centralizing state, and industrial workers in the Ural Mountains, as well as peasants hoping to escape from serfdom, all joined in the rebellion. Russia's preoccupation with the war enabled Pugachev to take control of a part of the Volga area, but the regular army crushed the rebellion in 1774. Emel’yan Pugachev was captured, tortured and eventually executed in public.

The Pugachev Uprising bolstered Catherine's determination to reorganize Russia's provincial administration. In 1775 she divided Russia into provinces and districts according to population statistics. She then gave each province an expanded administrative, police, and judicial bodies for proper management. Nobles no longer were required to serve the central government, as they had since the time of Peter the Great, and many of them received significant roles in administering provincial governments.

Comprehension check

Answer the questions about the colonists

1. What territories did Russia acquire by the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji in 1774?

2. What were the reasons of Russia fighting for a long-awaited outlet to the Black Sea?

3. What difficulties were faced by Russia by adding the Polish territories?

4. What were the major reasons of the uprising led by Pugachev?

5. Why did Catherine the Great initiate reforms after the uprising led by Pugachev?

Vocabulary

1. Look at all these words and phrases and circle ten of them that are most difficult for you. Then share your list of words with your classmate and help one another to understand the meaning of these ten words or phrases. In case of a problem, do not hesitate to use a dictionary.

Merchandiser, missionary, government, charter, indigenous, convert, interceded, unjust, rank, fur, approval, declined, unprofitable, genius, unique.

2. From the list of the words, choose the words that best complete the sentences below.

1. Sitka was … to become the gateway to Russian Alaska due to its ideal location.

2. Since 1945, nuclear weapon became … problem for all concerned powers.

3. The settlers could manage to get … to the Russian-American Company.

4. Ports and forts in Alaska were busily engaged into business trips of various …

5. That was the time and a …chance to earn couple of dollars for numerous people of …

Text C: Reading for Meaning.

Russians in Alaska.

The first Russian merchandisers and missionaries reached Alaska from Siberia in 1741, when two Russian ships under the command of genius Vitus Bering and Alexei Chirikov³ reached the coast of the North American continent. The first permanent Russian settlement in America was founded without the official government approval on the Kodiak Island in 1784 by Gregory Shelikhov, a fur trader. The island was inhabited by Eskimos who were rather savage at those years. Gregory Shelikhov managed to establish a school on the Kadyak Island⁴ where 25 Eskimos children began studying. Gregory Shelikhov dreamed about Russian a settlement that’s why he organized cultivating malt, beans, potato, beetroot and other agrarian vegetables. The first experiments with cultivated samples went very well, and soon Russian colonists decided to breed pigs and goats where they also succeeded. Gregory Shelikhov lived in Alaska for three years and later departing from the colony he left Alexander Baranov as his successor and the governor of the colony. This man established another Russian settlement on the Island of Sitka. First of all, there was a stronghold built over there which since the time was growing into a town called New Archangelsk. New Archangelsk became the capital of Russian settlements in America. Russians continued expanding their territories and soon a Russian fortress Ross was established closely to the Spanish San-Francisco.⁵ All these Russian enterprises later developed into the Russian-American Company, which received a charter from the Russian government in 1799.

Eight missionaries from the Valaam Monastery arrived in Alaska in 1794, and began construction of churches and schools. They also studied the indigenous languages and then were able to convert the Aleuts and Indians to Orthodox Christianity⁶, and interceded on their behalf before the Russian administration in cases of unjust treatment. At that time Russian men of all ranks and wealth were getting married local women, and a community arose with an economic base of farming and fur trade. Shipbuilding began in 1807, and the settlement Sitka became the Alaska’s Russian capital in 1808.

Many famous Russians came out from these Russian settlements. Among them we should mention an Admiral, an Arctic researcher, and later the Navy Minister of Russia Ferdinand Wrangell and many, many others.

As the Russian settlements stopped being highly profitable and wild animals population was constantly decreasing due to widespread hunt on sea-lions, beavers, king crabs, and polar bears. The Russian Queen Katherine the Second sold first the Russian fortress of Ross to the United States, and then the rest Russian settlements followed this fate. The Russian possessions in Alaska were sold to the United States in 1867 for 7.2 million dollars. There were some more serious reasons for this sale. At that time Russia considered Alaska to be unprofitable because of the declining wild animal population and a lack of efficient funds to use for development of Alaska. The majority of the Russians who had settled in Alaska went back to Russia, but many resettled in southern Alaska, California and parts of Oregon.

Exercise № 6. Read the statements below and determine them whether they are true or false.

____ 1. Russian missionaries founded settlements as a place for the colonists to worship God.

____ 2. Monks didn’t study languages of local people, and converted the Aleuts and Indians into Orthodox Christians.

____ 3. The US bought Alaska to expand its territory.

____ 4. Anchorage became the capital of Russian Alaska in 1808.

____ 5. Russia sold Alaska for tips as it was considered to be highly profitable.

Stylistics

Emphatic structures

1. Working among young people is extremely important to me.

2. Getting a high salary is very important to young husbands.

3. Sally is quite patient secretary.

4. People are not very friendly when they are asked for money.

5. My boss is not at all generous

Using the given above structures make sentences of your own about the Russian exploration of Alaska.

Exercise № 7. Word Game. Make as many words as you can from the word “Great Britain”. Each letter can be used only once in each new word. Words must contain four letters or more. Then try again with words “accidental”.

English Idioms

A large number of English idiomatic expressions deal with names of various wild and domestic animals. Here’re some English idiomatic expressions which quite often used in common English speech. Study them carefully and try to find out some similar Russian idioms with the same meaning.

CAT

1. To rain cats and dogs

2. Play cat and mouse with someone;

3. A cat on hot bricks;

4. Let the cat out of the bag

DOG

1. Dog-tired;

2. Dog someone’s footsteps;

3. Lead a dog’s life

Exercise № 8. Translate these sentences into English.

1. Абсолютно измученные не прекращающими штормами и недостатком пищи пилигримы сошли на берег новой земли. 2. Индейцы знали о колонистах и шли по их следам. 3. Колонисты очень нервничали оттого, что с ними играли в кошки-мышки. 4. Осенью шли сильные дожди, и колонисты были вынуждены приводить свои жилища в порядок. 5. Хорошие отношения с индейцами были крайне важны для колонистов.

Role game: Writing practice in past tenses.