The Eastern Question and Russian-American Relations (1821–1878)

This study examines the role of the Russian-American relations in the establishment of the Eastern Question. Although relations between Russia and the United States cannot be considered a major factor in the international relations in the Balkans, they nevertheless have had some influence at certain stages, and in some cases have even been of considerable importance. Russian-American relations in the Balkans and the Middle East must be studied in the context of the general development of the relations between Russia and the United States in the late 18th-19th centuries. Numerous studies by Soviet, Russian, and American historians show that although the two countries were radically different in their political and ideological characteristics, this fact did not prevent the successful development of the relations and a cooperation between the bourgeois United States and autocratic Russia. The difference in political systems was never a decisive factor for this relationship. The realities of the concrete international situation and international contradictions, and especially the mutual contradictions of Russia and the United States with Great Britain, were of bigger importance. The study allows us to provide an interpretation of the European strategy in the US foreign policy during the so-called ‘isolationism’ period.