Imperiia: a spatial history of the Russian EmpireMain MenuAboutProjectsDashboardsData CatalogMapStoriesGalleriesGamesWho said history was boring?Teach Our ContentCiting the ProjectKelly O'Neilldc20b45f1d74122ba0d654d19961d826c5a557f5The Imperiia Project // Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University
Need, Plenty, & Resistance
12019-04-04T23:19:47-04:00Kelly O'Neilldc20b45f1d74122ba0d654d19961d826c5a557f592plain2020-04-16T14:32:18-04:00Kelly O'Neilldc20b45f1d74122ba0d654d19961d826c5a557f5Catherine II annexed Crimea and partitioned the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but one morning in March 1794 she couldn’t find enough ship-grade timber to build six 74-gun ships for her fledgling Black Sea fleet. Each ship required 4,000 tons of oak alone. Because the vast majority of local landowners were unwilling to sell their most valuable timber to the Admiralty, naval officers were dispatched north to Minsk, Smolensk, and Nizhnii Novgorod to purchase the necessary quantities of oak. [RGVMF 238-1-23]