How the Russian fleet defended the United States

- It’s hard today to imagine that such words are capable of uttering by the United States Secretary of the Navy, and there will be no shadow of irony in them. But that is exactly what happened 155 years ago, when Russian warships arrived in New York. What prompted the Russian emperor to support the young American state?





It is known that there were no direct allied relations between our countries, but nothing brings together like a common enemy. President Abraham Lincoln, who was elected in 1860, was an opponent of slavery, which lay at the heart of the economic structure of the southern states. Despite the fact that Lincoln somewhat softened his position regarding the need to abolish this shameful phenomenon, postponing the resolution of the problem to the distant future, the South amicably told the North “no”, which led to the US Civil War.

At the same time, the Russian Empire worked out options for the abolition of serfdom. The reform caused ambiguous attitude in various sectors of society, and as a result, the decision was chosen to free the peasants, but without land, which is considered a prerequisite for future revolutions in the country. The most ardent opponents of the abolition of serfdom were the Polish elites. The positions of St. Petersburg and Washington were brought together by the fact that support to their opponents in the person of Poles and Southerners respectively was provided by London and Paris. Even then, the Western press painted the image of the totalitarian imperial regime, and the Russians began to be called the descendants of the Horde.

Like today, London then began to form an anti-Russian alliance with the participation of France, Poland, Austria and Sweden. To help the forces of the South, the British delivered military supplies and provided them with the cruiser Alabama, which robbed the merchant ships of the northerners. At the same time, Alabama could freely use the English and French ports. In St. Petersburg, a plan matured to respond to Britain symmetrically, by providing Russian warships to partner Abraham.

The Oslyabya cruiser was the first to arrive in New York to support Washington. Other Russian warships from Kronstadt followed him. And on time. The business elites of New York were against Washington itself because of the losses caused by the war and were thinking of postponing it. The northerners' press started a rumor that friend Alexander would come to the aid of friend Abraham in the event of European intervention. Thus, the presence of Russian military sailors kept New York under the wing of Lincoln.

By an amazing coincidence, in 1863, the commander of the Russian Pacific Squadron decided to winter in the US San Francisco. The northerners were then afraid of the Alabama raids and asked the commander Andrei Popov for help from the southerners. To which he agreed, which aroused the enthusiasm of the local authorities. Thus, both coasts of the United States came under the unspoken protection of the Russian fleet. However, Popov was soon removed from office, since officially St. Petersburg distanced himself from the American Civil War. In San Francisco, Russian Pacific sailors even helped to extinguish the great fire of 1863.

The simultaneous arrival of two Russian squadrons to the American shores is interpreted differently by historians. Today, experts are convincing that there was no secret agreement between St. Petersburg and Washington. But then no one knew for sure about this. London and Paris were forced to consider the Russian factor when deciding on a possible intervention. Similarly, today the Russian Navy conducts exercises off the coast of Syria in front of NATO forces. And she, the intervention, did not take place. So it worked.