in late 1867 Alaska was transferred from the ownership and dominion of the Russian Empire to the United States of America it was sold for the princely sum of 7.2 million dollars and for most it's just a footnote in history a question that should be asked is why did Russia decide to sell its overseas colony furthermore why did it sell it to the United States and why not say Britain or some other colonial power so the primary reason for the sale of Alaska was Russia's defeat in the Crimean War the war had done several things the
first was that it had largely bankrupted Russia which was struggling to repay the debts it had racked up in order to fight the war the second was that the victories of the Royal Navy over the modernizing Russian Navy had made it clear that Russia a long way to go before it could challenge Britain at sea as such it was realized by the Russian leadership that shoot another War break out there was little to stop Britain from simply conquering the territory via Canada so what type of territory was Alaska for a start it wasn't called Alaska
at the time but simply Russian America and for the Russian Empire it provided several things first of all was the prestige that came with owning an overseas territory as for its economic benefits Alaska was a much more mixed bag which combined with the cost to protect it you can see why the sale was seen as necessary incidentally the sale of Russian America was broached by Emperor Alexander the second brother the Grand Duke Constantine who wanted to strengthen and liberalize the empire in the wake of the defeat in the Crimean War it didn't take much to
convince the Emperor to agree to the sale but now the question was to whom well Britain was an obvious contender given that its North American lands were already attached to Russian America and they already had the right to navigate its waters and trade with the colony so why didn't they sell to Britain well Russia and Britain were Imperial rivals and to give Britain a large coastline so close to Russia was potentially dangerous also Britain wasn't interested since Canada is already huge and Britain had enough access to the Pacific Ocean thus the United States of America
was really the only likely candidate for the purchase Russia had approached the u.s. in the early 1860s concerning the purchase but they were undergoing this little-known event could the American Civil War and so were a bit busy after the war was settled and the US had to deal with the issues of reconstruction the purchase of Alaska was seen as a useful distraction the Russian Empire was also keen to keep up the ongoing good relations with the Americans because as an ally they would be useful it was agreed in march 1867 between the governments of the
US and russia that alaska would be bought how did they come up with the price well Russia had sent a team of surveyors to look for things like natural resources and to see how good life in Alaska was and it was determined that Alaska was worth about ten million dollars however the survey is argued that Alaska shouldn't be sold at all and that the governance of it simply be reformed the emperor ignored this and both sides negotiated until the sum of 7.2 million was agreed in October 1867 it was transferred to America and Russia's attention
would thereafter be focused at the south and to the west I hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you for watching with extra thanks to my patrons that you see on screen now and a special thanks to James Bissonnette party-boy Co szarka flash chris wicker Rob Waterhouse Michael Reynolds Gustav Swan Maggie packs Kowski Winston K word rafail Adam Harvey Anthony Beckett Skye Chappell and the amusement park Ives you
