David's Northern Star
The History of Alyeska
The History of Alyeska
The land in which would later become Alyeska was first colonized by the Russian Empire during the 17th century. Early colonists which arrived sometime around the 1640's already made inferences about the land and it's people with a geographer named Nikolai Daurkin who reported of a village on the Kheuveren River, populated by "bearded men" who "pray to the icons". Several more expeditions and visits to Alyeska would occur over the next couple decades, but it wasn't until 1799 that what would become New Archangel was established. The development of the colony was spurred on by the creation of the Russian-American Company established by Tsar Paul I during his short reign. New Archangel quickly became a hub for commerce, colonization, and law in Russian Alyeska and became the official capital in 1805.
Despite the Russian's ability to settle parts of the new colony the government never saw any desire to further its development over more pressing matters in Europe. In turn it was left to the settlers and whoever desired to move to Alyeska to really develop the colony. The colony proved well in terms of hunting and fur trading but lacked more valuable resources mainly due to its climate and location. Despite the colony having a governor most of the operations weren't run by colonists and more so by the navy or the clergy. In 1824 the Russians won a big agreement with the United States having the rights to all the fur trade north of latitude 54°40'N, with the American rights and claims restricted to below that line. The Russians would sign a similar agreement with the British the following year. The ethnic makeup of the colony by the 1860's was mostly Russian, Finnish, Swedish, Baltic, and native.
The first turbulent time for the colony came in the 1860's, after several decades of little profit pulled back to St. Petersburg the strings of the government began to lose interest in retaining the colony. Tsar Alexander II of Russia was fearful that the colony would easily be taken by the British if any future conflict occurred, (despite its lack in purpose losing it in a war would be crushing). The Tsar reached out to advisors and the governor of Alyeska Johan Hampus Furuhjelm asking them on what was best for Russia to do. Many felt that it was best to try to find a suitor to sell Alyeska to. The United States was a obvious choice for many while others considered Spain, Austria, France, and even the British as other buyers. In the end it was one advisor Konstantin Pobedonostsev who suggested that Alyeska would be the perfect site to deport dissidents for forced labor and exile. Pobedonostsev was a tutor for the Tsar's son Alexander and believed that moving all dissidents from "true" Russian soil would help maintain order. Tsar Alexander II would take Pobedonostsev's idea to heart and would end all ongoing negotiations of a "Alyeskan trade". From 1864 to 1868 thousands of detainees would be shipped to Alyeska to serve out their sentences. When they arrived they received little to no more than they had in Siberia and their manpower was quickly used to develop a better road system, housing, and farming. Crown Prince Alexander himself would make a visit to the Alyeskan colony in 1873 to see the colony for himself. What he saw was documented by his entourage, he was very impressed by the "modernization" of the Alyeskan colony thinking it akin to any far-eastern Russian territory.
Probably the biggest event in Alyeskan history began in 1881, when on March 13th Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in St. Petersburg. From across the Empire people mourned the untimely death of the Tsar of all Russians. His son Alexander III would succeed him but alongside that came a pivotal event. Many believed that it was the Jews who were responsible for the death of the Tsar, and combined with economic conditions and migration around the Empire lead to the spread of anti-Semitism. In all from 1881 to 1884; when more than 200 anti-Jewish events occurred in the Russian Empire, the most notable of them were pogroms which occurred in Kiev, Warsaw and Odessa. Many prominent Russian-Jews were deported to Alyeska during this period, and the government cracked down on them with the May Laws of 1882. By this time many Jews felt un-welcomed in Russia and began to look elsewhere to immigrate to. In 1886 L. L. Zamenhof, a prominent member of the Russian-Jewish community was forced into exile for "anti-tsarist thought". This sparked what became a massive exodus from Russia by Jews their destination, Alyeska. The Jewish community in Alyeska had already been growing for years in the territory but by 1886 it boomed to almost half of the population quickly challenging the Orthodox church in the territory. From exile L.L. Zamenhof helped establish the Zionist society of New Archangelsk and the Alyeskan Hebrew Council.
Prominent Alyeskan Hebrew Council members:
L.L. Zamenhof
Isaac Leib Goldberg
Oizer Weizmann
Carl-Hyman Marcuse
L.L. Zamenhof
Isaac Leib Goldberg
Oizer Weizmann
Carl-Hyman Marcuse
In August of 1896 near the Klondike river gold was found. This kicked off what became the 1897 Klondike Gold rush in which around 30 thousand people journeyed to find gold. This helped the local economy of Alyeska and neighboring towns and settlements near the river. In 1899 near the town of Nome gold was found which spurred off another gold rush, which was different from the last as it was inside Alyeska and gold was more easier to come across. The rush also helped develop the town and its adjacent sea port and became a powerful mining town for the territory in the following years. Nome also held a small community of Jews centered around an American named Wyatt Earp and his wife Josephine Marcuse-Earp daughter of Carl-Hyman Marcuse, the two ran the town's saloon which was also the site for Jewish celebrations. It was after the discovery of gold and a growing coal mining industry that the Russian government ended the gulag system to Alyeska and integrated the territory in 1902 almost 100 years after the establishment of New Arkhangelsk.
In 1904 the Russo-Japanese war broke out over Manchuria. Although the war was mainly centered around Manchuria and China, some Alyeskans saw service during the war as they lived closer to the conflict than others in the Empire. But after the Russian Pacific Fleet was destroyed in Port Arthur in December many Alyeskans were worried that the Japanese would mount a expedition to take Alyeska. On December 21st, 1904 around 500 Japanese troops landed on both Saint Theodore and Kiska islands, both islands had a combined population of around 70. The Japanese held these islands for the duration of the war and would occasionally fire upon merchant vessels nearing the coasts. The Russo-Japanese war came to a crushing end in January of 1905 with Russia losing all stakes in Manchuria to Japan. Alyeskan veterans that returned home came back to a society in the early stages of a "home rule" or "autonomy movement".
Due to the failure in the Russo-Japanese war, lack of reform, and worker's rights led to the Russian Revolution of 1905. Although it ended with the revolutionaries' failure it put pressure upon the Tsar and government to reform and modernize Russia. Many across Russia solely blamed the ineptitude of Tsar Nicholas II for why Russia was lagging behind most European and Western nations. In Alyeska there was small revolutionary groups who wished to break Alyeska away from Russia as the navy could no longer maintain a garrison. The revolutionaries in Alyeska never did get their way however the local governments petitioned the government back in St. Petersburg calling for greater autonomy. In 1906 the new Russian Constitution was signed which empowered the parliament to take more responsibility than in previous years. Alyeska would receive a special status as it became a Grand Duchy and received Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia as their Duke. Paul was a designated choice of Tsar Nicholas II as he was a uncle of the Tsar and wanted to further the "Russification" of Alyeska.
Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Alyeska
The Grand Ducky of Alyeska was not so different from the normal Alyeska, however it received more attention from St. Petersburg in forms of funding and garrisons. However due to this extended attention came the rise of a autocracy within Alyeska with the Grand Duke bringing along his own court of rich and noble Russians. Big construction projects would go first to these autocrats with the construction of the Grand Duke's personal mansion in Dzhuno, while most of the Duchy still lived in low median housing. This re-sparked a "home-rule" movement which didn't want Alyeska to become the Romanov's personal playground. Alongside this came the resurgence of the Orthodox church in Alyeska which upon decree of the Grand Duke became the promoted religion within the Duchy and for all missionaries. The Grand Cathedral of New Archangel was completed in 1909 with even the future Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow in attendance at it's opening. The Jewish society in Alyeska would see this as a threat to infringe their rights even more than in Russia. Leaders like Chaim Weizmann called for mandate to enforce a "non discriminatory secular Duchy" but no avail.
When WWI broke out in 1914, Alyeskans were just like before during the Russo-Japanese war called upon to serve in the Russian army and was put under the command of their Grand Duke to serve on the Austro-Hungarian front. Many Alyeskans who went to Europe had no personal connection to the continent or it's climate and many faced logistical and personal problems with fighting so far from home. The was also a form of discrimination against Alyeskans as their Russian officers saw them akin to Caucasians or Finnish not truly Russians. The war for Russia went worse than they expected and their government gave them no favors. On December 30th, 1916 the mystic who held power of the Romanovs Grigori Rasputin was murdered by a combination of poisoning, shooting, and possibly drowning. One of the main culprits was Dmitri Pavlovich son of Grand Duke Alexandrovich of Alyeska. When this news reached the frontlines many Alyeskans felt evermore emboldened to mutiny, and back in Alyeska is was seen as a powder keg to do the same. Eventually Tsar Nicholas II was forced into abdication in March of 1917, afterwards came the Russian Republic led by Georgy Lvov, who was followed by Alexander Kerensky who pulled Russia out of WWI. During this period back in Alyeska several groups began to stake their claim to the Duchy, with the aristocracy basically removed a power vacuum was left in New Archangel. Many wanted to declare independence and form a Republic similar to the United States, others wanted to stick with the Russians, some wanted a form a Socialist state, the clergy sought to form a new Tsardom and invite any Romanov to take the crown. The answers would come sooner than thought.
The October Revolution and beginning of the Russian Civil War in November of 1917 brought upon a new path for many Russians. The Ukrainians, Finnish, Polish, Caucasians, Baltics, and Kazakhs all splintered away from Russia. The Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin sought to bring the worker's revolution to Russia and topple the ineffective Social Democratic government. The Alyeskans watched on waiting on a decision. In March of 1918 a special convention was called in New Archangel it was an assembly of the Zionist Society in Alyeska, they convened to layout a plan to establish a government to take over the Duchy. Isaac Leib Goldberg alongside Adam Zamenhof, Israel Beilin, and Nikolay Butrovich visited the Grand Duke's palace on April 7th, 1918 and met with Regent Vladimir Kappel. The group of men demanded the end of the Duchy and for elections to be held to establish a Republic, after hours of negotiations and guarantees Kappel relented mandating a election for May 19th.
May 19th, 1918 Alyeskan election results
Issac Leib Goldberg 25,897 votes (Zionists / Liberals / Centrists)
Grigori Tarnovschi 11,119 votes (Social Conservatives / Clergy)
Fyodor Dan 5,891 votes (Mensheviks / Social Democrats)
President Issac Leib Goldberg
The Zionists under Issac Leib Goldberg won the first Alyeskan elections to establish a federal republic to replace the Grand Duchy. The prepared constitution was signed on May 30th which established a republic similar to the United States'. Chaim Weizmann was appointed Vice-President of Alyeska and a new parliament was elected with a Zionist and Liberal majority. The Republic of Alyeska was recognized by the Entente and Central Powers during the following months. On May 31st the old Russian Empire flag was lowered from New Archangel and replaced with the new Alyeskan flag. During the following year Alyeska would receive several thousand White émigrés as the Russian Civil War winded down with a Soviet victory. In 1924 Dmitri Pavlovich arrived in Alyeska and was given a small estate near Nome by the government and in the year afterwards was given the public title of "Duke of the White Republic".
Alyeskan Flag 1918 - 1929
During the interwar period many believed that a future conflict with the Soviets was imminent and to prevent this Alyeska signed a treaty with the United States and Britain in 1920 to safeguard the republic. This was during the first Red Scare in America and was seen as a no-brainer for many Americans. The Alyeska Home Guard was established and received equipment and training from the Entente especially from Canadians. In 1919 Otto Warburg failed to make an agreement with Arab leader Faisal. This was devastating to the Zionist movement who wished to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine, this led to a beginning of sour relations between the two groups. Weeks later the Paris Peace Conference didn't try to overturn the outcome leaving the Zionists without a Palestinian homeland, afterwards Alyeskan President Goldberg penned a declaration announcing his intention to establish a Zionist homeland in Alyeska. The Goldberg Declaration was what truly began the steps towards modern Alyeska. During the 1920's Jews across the world flocked to Alyeska and where first sent to cities like Nome, Ankoridzh, and Fort Zamenhof to grow their populations and economy.
In 1929 a convention was called in New Archangel to establish a new constitution which enshrined Zionist philosophy, establish Judaism as the national religion, established Hebrew as a secondary language, and adopted the Alyeskan Star of David flag (still used today). In the aftermath the Orthodox and Catholic churches in the country were converted to synagogues and Hebrew began to be taught in secondary school. On December 19th, 1929 New Archangel was renamed to New Jerusalem.
END OF PART 1
