The start (January-March, 1869).
Khiva Campaign: Preparations]
General Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufmann prepared the campaign, Bukhara donated just under 20,000 camels for the expedition, while Russia had to tame some of its own to round the number (and they had about 4,600 horses).
In total, three detachments and an auxiliary detachment (located in the Krasnovodsk fort) were prepared.
The army would leave in February, but the conflict with the Khiva Khanate would not arrive until May.
Before that in January there was a lot of propaganda at the hands of the Russian army and some Moscow newspapers.
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[Propaganda]
The Russian state initiated an early use of propaganda during the campaign in the Khanate of Khiva, especially towards the conservative and nationalist mass. It was primarily a goal of Emperor Alexander III to distract them from the reforms towards the Jews (and to encourage national pride towards the successful campaigns).
In January much of the propaganda was under the administration of Commander Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev, after February Ivan Sergeevich Aksakov was placed.
Skobelev as a member of the front was beginning to be noticed, a staunch supporter of nationalism even at that time. Skobelev's depictions of the army became much more popular in the 1880s, but as early as the late 1860s it was receiving good reviews.
Aksakov on the other hand, although also nationalist, was part of the more Slavophile movement (while Skobelev was more Pan-Slavic), instead of Aksakov being prohibited from publishing newspapers (as Interior Minister Alexander Yegorovich Timashev proposed in October 1868, but it was not carried out) it was able to publish newspapers on a biweekly-monthly basis, growing in fame during the next 12 years.
The only thing that was imposed on the newspaper "Moscow" (or Moskva) during this period was to refrain from speaking out against Russian generals and some actions of the government.
The Moskva was a newspaper firmly adhering to Russian Orthodoxy, and with its popularity on the rise since 1868, the great conservative mass of Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the heart of Russia was distracted to other aspects of the Russian Empire.
Ignoring the mild reforms of the situation of the Jews, which were actually rather a continuation of the reforms of Jewish agriculture (initiated before Alexander II) and the reforms of the late Tsar Alexander II.
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[Infrastructure]
Striving to prepare the way for the great reforms, the various ministries of the Russian state under Alexander III invested in the necessary preparations.
Materials were gathered, the workforce, all the necessary paperwork was done, etc.
The infrastructure I need the construction of road (or railway lines in certain cases), the bases for different buildings.
These bases were: Educational institutions (schools, gymnasiums, universities), train stations, banks, apartments, hospitals, etc.
The foundations of these various buildings began to flourish throughout Russia, mainly in the heart of the Russian Empire, Finland and its southern regions (Malorossiya and the Caucasus).
And some focal points like Vladivostok, important cities in Central Asia.
The work increases with so many people working in construction throughout the Russian Empire.
[Chemistry]
Between March 1 (OS: February 17) and March 18 (OS: March 6), there were important Russian advances in chemistry. On the one hand, during this period, Dmitri Mendeleev's periodic table is published and this table is presented in the Russian Chemical Society.
Another achievement in Russian science.
On the other hand, the first chemical fertilizers are finally produced by Dmitri Mendeleev, some easier to produce organic and other chemical ones.
Mendeleev's inventions earned him greater economic success due to his work by the Russian government and influence in the scientific society of the Russian Empire.
Apart from the fact that the periodic table model became popular (at least in Russia) as it was quickly adopted in the country, it was invested in the Russian chemical industry.
The proliferation of the chemical industry allowed the creation of fertilizers, dyes and other products that would be beneficial to Russia, at the national level (be it in agriculture or the economy).
Fertilizer production became widely used at the state level, Malorossiya, the Kazakh steppe, southern Russian Manchuria and (to a lesser extent) parts of southern Siberia began to be fertilized.
The growth of fertilization in Russian agriculture produced the basis for an explosion of agricultural growth, although it was milder in 1869 than in later years, if it was notable for the production of grain, cotton, wheat, other cereals, etc.
Outer Manchuria and parts of southern Siberia were able to start exporting cheaper grain to the west and east of the Russian Empire (the Eurasian parts and Alyáska). This further motivated future investments in the region and the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway and associated lines.
[Metallurgy]
The heavy sector of Russian industry began to flourish more rapidly than in previous years, the industry of iron, coal, oil, etc., began to be firmly industrialized with the growth of state and private industries.
Russia is seriously enriched by its natural wealth with a technical revolution, this revolution takes its foundations during this year but is reinforced in the following decades.
The center of Erupean Russia became the main industrial center of the Russian Empire during these years, cities such as St. Petersburg and Moscow, but other local industries, Tula, Novgorod, Kiev, etc., were also continued.
There would also be other industrial centers in regions more peripheral to the heart of Russia, in the Caucasus, Manchuria, Siberia, the Kazakh steppe, Finland, the Baltic, etc.
It would be the beginning of a golden age for heavy and resource industry in Russia.
The army would seriously benefit from Russia's technical developments thanks to the improvement of Russia's factories and industrial capacity in subsequent years.
[Agronomy]
With the new use of fertilizers in state agriculture, the process also began to be mechanized with the use of more advanced tools instead of human or animal force.
However, the use of new methods (fertilizers, tools, crop rotation, etc.) needed to instruct the mass of rural-state workers (mostly peasants) in these matters.
The Ministry of Education began giving instructions in a kind of communal seminars to state farmers for this task (at least for adults).
Some institutions for the maintenance and use of new agricultural materials were also built throughout the Russian Empire.
These attempts to eliminate illiteracy and promote education among agricultural peasants aged 16 to 50 were part of the experiments of the Ministry of Education for Educational Reform.
These state education seminars (quite basic in their early days) were quite effective.
When the Ministry of Education had fewer resources or the capacity to reach rural areas, local churches were instructed (and reviewed monthly) to teach such farmers.
They also represented some degree of success, but much less than in the more formal education conducted by bureaucrats.
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[International]
On January 27, on the island of Ezo the Republic of Ezo is proclaimed, the first attempt at a semi-democratic state in Japan (although such democracy only applies to the samurai caste).
This is the last stand of the Tokugawa Shogunate against the Empire of Japan. In March the Meiji Emperor "persuaded" various Honshu dominions to give their territory to him, effectively centralizing the government of Japan.
Queen Ranavalona II of Madagascar is baptized into Christianity.
Ulysses S. Grant is sworn in as President.
The war in southern Taranaki ends in an English victory after the last free Maori troops surrender.
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At the end of January the siege of Paris ends its first phase, the rule of the generals after the famine and destruction caused by the military governors caused a liberal-democratic-republican reaction against them.
The Government of National Defense was proclaimed, against the Second French Empire and the Prussians. This French Third Republic expected to be received by the entire population of the Second Empire.
Emperor Napoleon III was surprised as he continued his advance towards Paris. The French Third Republic allowed the working-class neighborhoods to elect their officers, in the midst of this situation, many of them radicalized, the officers sometimes did not even wear a uniform due to the bad conditions (and many times they had to eat dogs, cats and other animals domestic).
Anarchists and socialists began to proliferate.
The Third Republic and some of its officers were convinced that there was still a chance to defeat the Prussians.
In the first days of February the working-class neighborhoods declared the Paris Commune.
Paris was effectively divided into imperial-conservative portions against the revolutionary uprising, moderate-liberals and republican defenders of the French Third Republic, and the revolutionary working-class neighborhoods (socialists and anarchists).
The central and provincial government was in chaos due to the news from all three parties.
Prussia, on the other hand, taking advantage of the French weakness, bombed the French Third Republic, leaving the rest of the neighborhoods to fight.
A part of the German armies left to face Napoleon III, while another was in charge of the siege of Paris, although it stopped being a siege, there were more Germans watching the French fight against the French.
Due to the complicated logistical situations, in mid and late March came the long awaited combat, the Prussian armies against the army of Napoleon III.
Two important battles occurred in March, the internal battles of Paris and the battle between Napoleon III against the Germans.
The Prussian-German armies were ultimately victorious, Emperor Napoleon III came out alive but captured by German forces, on the other hand in Paris, the Paris Commune ended the short French Third Republic.