The Eurasian Triangle: Russia, the Caucasus and Japan, 1904-1945 PDF
Preview The Eurasian Triangle: Russia, the Caucasus and Japan, 1904-1945
HiroakiKuromiyaandGeorgesMamoulia TheEurasianTriangle Russia,TheCaucasusandJapan,1904-1945 Hiroaki Kuromiya and Georges Mamoulia The Eurasian Triangle Russia, The Caucasus and Japan, 1904-1945 | Managing Editor: Katarzyna Inga Michalak Series Editor: Irena Vladimirsky Language Editor: Adam Tod Leverton ISBN978-3-11-046951-6 e-ISBN978-3-11-046959-2 ThisworkislicensedundertheCreativeCommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs3.0license. Fordetailsgotohttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. Copyright©2016,HirokiKuromiyaandGeorgesMamoulia PublishedbyDeGruyterOpenLtd,Warsaw/Berlin PartofWalterdeGruyterGmbH,Berlin/Boston Thebookispublishedwithopenaccessatwww.degruyter.com. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData ACIPcatalogrecordforthisbookhasbeenappliedforattheLibraryofCongress. ManagingEditor:KatarzynaIngaMichalak SeriesEditor:IrenaVladimirsky LanguageEditor:AdamTodLeverton www.degruyteropen.com Coverillustration: ©ŁukaszPołczyński Contents AcknowledgmentsandNotes|VI 1 Introduction|1 2 TheRusso-JapaneseWar|13 2.1 War|14 2.2 TheAkashiOperations|17 2.3 Japanand“TotalEspionage”|46 3 ALull|53 3.1 “Pacification”|53 3.2 TheImpactofJapan’sVictory|56 3.3 ANewGlobalPoliticalConfiguration|60 3.4 “SpyMania”|63 3.5 TheCaucasusontheEveofWorldWarI|68 4 War,Independence,andReconquest,1914–21|73 4.1 WorldWarI|73 4.2 Revolution|79 4.3 Reconquest|87 4.4 TheCaucasusandtheWorld|100 4.5 TheCaucasusandJapan|102 5 Renewal|106 5.1 “Pacification”|107 5.2 InternationalRealignments|113 5.3 TheRenewalofJapan’sInterestsintheCaucasus|121 6 TheCaucasusGroupandJapan|128 6.1 MoscowversusTokyo|128 6.2 JapanandCaucasianÉmigréForces|135 6.3 TheCaucasusGroupandJapan|144 6.4 TheAnti-CominternPact|149 6.5 TheGreatTerror|156 6.6 ClandestineOperations|165 7 WarandDénouement|169 7.1 TheRealignmentofForces|169 7.2 AnAttemptonStalin’sLife?|173 7.3 TheMolotov-RibbentropPactandWorldWarII|175 7.4 TheExpansionofWar|182 7.5 Dénouement|193 8 Conclusion|195 Appendix|203 Bibliography|208 ListofFigures|223 SourcesofIllustrations|224 Index|225 Acknowledgments and Notes Wewouldliketoexpressourgratitudetoallthelibrariesandarchives,bothpublicand private,inthemanycountrieswhoseholdingswehaveutilizedforthepresentbook. WeoweespecialgratitudetotheInstitutfürdieWissenschaftenvomMenschen,Vi- enna,Austria,whosefellowshipallowedoneofus(Kuromiya)toworkonthisproject. Inaddition,wehavebenefitedgreatlyfromtheNowyPrometeuszgroupinPolandwith whichwehavebeenworkingforsomeyears.EsterHamofIndianaUniversitykindly translatedDutchdocumentsintoEnglish.Dr.AlexanderMarshalloftheUniversityof Glasgowgenerouslyansweredourqueries.Wearealsoindebtedtoanonymousreview- ersforhelpfulcommentswhichwetookintoconsiderationinrevisingthemanuscript. Dr.JanRyderhascarefullyeditedthemanuscript. TheJapanesenameorder,thesurnamefollowedbythegivenname,causesmuch confusioninliterature.Toavoidconfusion,wehaveadoptedtheWesternorder,the givennamefollowedbythelastname,forexampleGiichiTanaka,insteadofTanaka Giichi.AlthoughthissoundsoddtotheJapaneseear,wehaveconsistentlyadheredto theWesternnorm. Wehavetriedtoavoidacronymsexceptforsomearchivalnames: AMAE: ArchivesduministèredesAffairesétrangères,Paris,France AVP: ArkhivvneshneipolitikiRossiiskoiFederatsii,Moscow,Russia BBKT: Bo¯eisho¯Bo¯eiKenkyu¯joToshokan,Tokyo,Japan BDIC: Bibliothèquededocumentationinternationalecontemporaine,Nanterre,France CAW: CentralneArchiwumWojskowe,Warsaw,Poland CHAN: Centrehistoriquedesarchivesnationales,Paris,France GARF: GosudarstvennyiarkhivRossiiskoiFederatsii,Moscow,Russia GGSK: Gaimusho¯Gaiko¯Shiryo¯Kan,Tokyo,Japan GSCHA: GeorgianStateCentralHistoricalArchive,Tbilisi,Georgia HHStA,PA: Haus-,Hof-undStaatsarchiv,PolitischesArchiv,Vienna,Austria JACAR: JapanCenterforAsianHistoricalRecords,NationalArchivesofJapan,Tokyo,Japan NA: NationalArchives,Kew,UK NARA: NationalArchivesandRecordsAdministration,CollegePark,USA RGASPI: Rossiiskiigosudarstvennyiarkhivsotsial’no-politicheskoiistorii,Moscow,Russia 1 Introduction TheCaucasusliesfarfromJapan.ThedistancefromTokyotoTbilisi,capitalofGeorgia, forexample,isalmost8,000kilometersor5000miles.Itisdifficulttoseeanyimme- diatehistoricalorculturallinks.Oddly,however,fromthebeginningofthetwentieth century,anareaofmutualconcerndevelopedbetweenthem.JustasPolandandJapan foundmutualbenefitintheirresistancetotheRussianEmpireandSovietexpansion,¹ sodidJapanandtheCaucasus.Relationsbeganduringthe1904–05Russo-Japanese WarandcontinuedintotheperiodofWorldWarII.Theformermarkedthefirstdefeat inthemoderneraofaEuropeanpowerbyanon-Europeanpower,followedbyRus- sia’srapiddeclineandJapan’sspectacularriseontheinternationalscene.Thelatter markedtheSovietUnion’srisetoaworldsuperpowerandJapan’sdecisivedefeatatthe handsoftheUnitedStatesandBritain(and,attheveryend,theSovietUnion).Three relativelatecomers–Germany,Russia(latertheSovietUnion),andJapan–defined muchofthefateofEurasiainthefirsthalfofthetwentiethcentury.Inthegeopolitical schemeofthesethreecountries,theCaucasusplayedastrategicrole.BecauseJapan’s roleinthisareaistheleastknownandleaststudied,²mostworksonthemodernhis- toryoftheCaucasusdonotevenmentiontheremoteAsiancountry.³NorisJapan’s CaucasiannexuswellknowninJapanitself.Forexample,theactivityofLieutenant ColonelShigekiUsuioftheImperialJapaneseArmy,oneofthemajorJapanesefig- ureswhoworkedcloselywiththeCaucasianémigrésinthe1930s,isutterlyunknown there.Evenhissonknewnothingabouthisworkuntiloneoftheauthorsfoundand contactedhiminTokyoin2010. Thepresentbook,avastlyexpandedversionofourshortessaypublishedin2009,⁴ focusesonsecretwarstheCaucasusandJapanjointlyfoughtagainsttheRussianEm- pire and the Soviet Union. Although, unfortunately, many relevant Japanese docu- mentsweredestroyedduringWorldWarII,existingpiecesofinformationallowusto 1 SeeHiroakiKuromiyaandAndrzejPepłoński,MiędzyWarszawąaTokio:Polsko-Japońskawspół- pracawywiadowcza1904–1944(Toruń:AdamMarszałek,2009). 2 Jonathan Haslam has written a short yet pioneering work on the enigmatic relations between MoscowandTokyointhe1930s:TheSovietUnionandtheThreatfromtheEast,1933–41:Moscow, TokyoandthePreludetothePacificWar(Pittsburgh,PA:UniversityofPittsburghPress,1992).Itdoes not,however,discusstheCaucasusfactor. 3 See,forexample,CharlesKing,TheGhostofFreedom:AHistoryoftheCaucasus(Oxford-NewYork: OxfordUniversityPress,2008),DonaldRayfield,EdgeofEmpires:AHistoryofGeorgia(London:Reak- tionBooks,2012),andJamesForsyth,TheCaucasus:AHistory(NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress, 2013).AnexceptionisAlexMarshall,TheRussianGeneralStaffandAsia,1800–1917(London-New York:Routledge,2006),whosediscussionoftheJapanesenexusisbasedlargelyonanearlierworkby oneoftheauthorsofthepresentbook:GeorgesMamoulia,“L’histoiredugroupeCaucase(1934–1939).” CahiersdumondeRusse48,no.1(January-March2007),45–86. 4 Hiroaki Kuromiya and Georges Mamoulia, “Anti-Russian and Anti-Soviet Subversion: The Caucasian-JapaneseNexus.”Europe-AsiaStudies61,no.8(October2009),pp.1415–1440. ©2016HiroakiKuromiyaandGeorgesMamoulia ThisworkislicensedundertheCreativeCommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs3.0License. 2 | Introduction Fig.1.1.TheCaucasusandJapan. outlinetheclandestineoperationsofJapanandvariousCaucasianpoliticalgroups. Publishedandarchivalsources–Russian,German,American,French,Georgian,Pol- ish,British,andJapanese–documentthelengthstowhichJapanandpeoplesfrom theCaucasuswentinplanningandexecutingsubversionagainsttheircommonen- emyaswellasthelengthstowhichtheSovietUnionwenttosubvertsuchactivities bypenetratingtheCaucasiangroupssupportedbyJapan.Then,asnow,international schemesofthissortwerenotunusual.Manyhavesimplynevercometolight.Yetthe storyoftheJapanese-Caucasianconnectionraisesissuesofmorethanmereepisodic significanceinthehistoryoftheRussianEmpireandtheSovietUnion:indeeditsym- bolizestheglobalizationoftheregionalaffairsofAsiaandtheCaucasusinthetwen- tiethcentury. *** ThenexusbetweenRussiaandtheCaucasusiscenturiesold.Bythesecondhalfofthe nineteenthcentury,thebulkoftheCaucasushadcomeunderRussiandomination. During the Civil War of 1918–21 that followed the Russian Revolution of 1917, some southernmostareas(suchasthecityofKarsanditsregion)oftheRussianCaucasus wereincorporatedintotheOttomanEmpire.SandwichedbetweentheBlackSeaand Introduction | 3 theCaspianSea,theCaucasusissometimesdividedintotheSouthernCaucasus(Tran- scaucasia,roughlyencompassingAzerbaijan,Georgia,andArmenia)andtheNorth- ernCaucasus.Intermsofgeographicalsize,theCaucasusisveryroughlythesizeof FranceorSpain,andlargerthanGermanyorthestateofCaliforniaintheUnitedStates. In1897thepopulationoftheRussianCaucasuswasapproximatelyninemillion,in- creasingtosomefourteenmillionby1939.(Herethe“Caucasus”isdefinedinrough termswithoutconsideringthevariousandcomplexadministrativechangesthathave affected the region.) The Caucasus was an area long contested for influence by the Russian,Persian,andOttomanEmpires.ItwasanareawhereIslamandChristian- itycoexisted:Georgia(anautocephalousOrthodoxchurch)andArmenia(anOrien- talOrthodoxMonophysitechurch),bothamongtheoldestChristiancommunitiesin theworld,andsmallerChristiancommunities(inOssetia,Abkhazia,andelsewhere) livedalongsidetheMuslimsofAzerbaijanandtheNorthernCaucasus(suchasChech- nia,Ingushetia,andDagestan).Withineachoftheselands,ChristiansandMuslims createdacomplexwebofrelations.TheMuslimsinturnweredividedamongShias (predominant,forexample,inAzerbaijan)andSunnis(predominantinChechnia,In- gushetia,andDagestan). Mostofall,theCaucasusisknownastheembodimentofcomplexity,amosaicof geographic,ethnic,linguistic,andculturaldiversity.SincethedaysofGreekciviliza- tion,theCaucasushasdismayedvisitorswithits“tribal”andlinguisticvariations.Itis estimatedthatmorethanfiftyethnicgroupsandcorrespondingnumbersoflanguages existthere.Asoneanthropologisthasnoted: AgainandagaininthetwoandahalfmillenniasinceHerodotus’sday,writershavecommented ontheethnicandlinguisticdiversityoftheCaucasus.Strabo,writingaboutfourandahalfcen- turieslater,havingdiscountedmoreexaggeratedestimates,affirmsthat70tribes,allspeaking differentlanguages,wouldcomedowntotradeinDioscurias(themodernSukhumi),andafew decadesafterStrabo,PlinyclaimedthattheRomanscarriedonbusinessinthesamecityby meansof130interpreters.ArabtravelersinthemiddleagesborecontinuingwitnesstoCaucasian polyglossia,anditwasoneofthem,thetenthcenturygeographeral-Mas’udi,whonamedthe Caucasusˇȷabalal-alsun,“mountainoftongues.”⁵ Thisdiversity,especiallyprominentinthenorthern,mountainousregionsoftheCau- casus,mayhavesomethingtodowiththeregion’sterrain(whichisolatedvillagesand settlementsfromoneanother)aswellaswiththepracticeofendogamy,intendedto provide“ahighlevelofguaranteethatoutsiderswillnotbeabletolayclaimto[arable] land,”whichwasparticularlyscarceinthemountainousregions.⁶Itwasonlyafterthe 5 SeeJ.C.Catford,“MountainofTongues:TheLanguagesoftheCaucasus.”AnnualReviewofAnthro- pology6(1997),283. 6 BernardComrie,“LinguisticDiversityintheCaucasus.”AnnualReviewofAnthropology37(2008), 139.
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