What the Soviet Chukchi and American Eskimos did not share in 1947 and how they almost fanned the conflict between the USSR and the USA

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Most anthropological scientists agree that the inhabitants of the North, the Eskimos and the Chukchi, belong to the same race - the so-called Arctic. Those who hold a different opinion cannot but agree that over the long history of the northern peoples there has been such a close interpenetration of ethnic groups that they have actually become relatives. And yet, despite such close ties, the indigenous populations of Soviet Chukotka and American Alaska were constantly at enmity, which once almost led to a large-scale conflict between the United States and the USSR.

How the relationship between the Chukchi and the Eskimos, the indigenous peoples of the Arctic, who, by the will of fate, found themselves on opposite sides of the state border, developed in the 20th century

The Chukchi are a small people who call themselves "real people" - since ancient times they were distinguished by their belligerence. They were in tense relations not only with their neighbors - the Koryaks, Yakuts and Evenks, but also with the Eskimos living on the other side of the Bering Strait. The enmity between the Chukchi and the Eskimos was quite justified, given their competition for such valuable products as whale oil, walrus bone, and seal meat. In addition, while raiding American territory, the Chukchi drove off Aleutian women and children, turning them into concubines and slaves.

Of course, there were not only conflicts in the relations of these peoples. The short distance (about 90 km) allowed people to easily pass to the side of the neighboring state and communicate, regardless of the functioning of the border services. This tradition continued after the establishment of Soviet power in Russia. At that time, the residents of Chukotka had something to envy: the standard of living of their foreign neighbors was much higher than their personal one. And this did not contribute to the strengthening of friendship. The raids on the Eskimo settlements continued. Weapons, clothes, household utensils became trophies.

How Americans began to strengthen their positions in Alaska

During World War II, the United States sensed a grave danger posed by militaristic Japan. According to intelligence, the Japanese had accurate cartographic data on the coastline of Alaska, the location of settlements and the number of their inhabitants. The Land of the Rising Sun dealt a serious blow to the islands of the Aleutian archipelago in the spring of 1942. After that, it was decided to create the Territorial Guard - military units from the local population, which could be involved in protecting the coast of Alaska.

At the end of the war, this unit, numbering more than 2,500 Indians, Aleuts and Eskimos, was disbanded. But only formally: the military training of the aborigines and their indoctrination continued, setting the Eskimos up to the fact that their main enemy is the Soviets, and a war with the inhabitants of Chukotka is inevitable. To strengthen its positions on the North Pacific coast, the United States used bases and airfields created during World War II, conducted maneuvers and tests of weapons and equipment in low temperatures.

How Stalin reacted to the Chukchi-Eskimo conflicts and the militarization of Alaska

By the fall of 1945, there was no doubt that a new military threat was brewing in the northeast of the country - the United States. Much testified to the aggressive sentiments of the States: American ships in the territorial waters of the USSR, reconnaissance aircraft, frequent military reviews and exercises in Alaska. Realizing that the US government could use the slightest Chukchi-Eskimo conflict to activate regular army units, Stalin instructed the military command to develop possible retaliatory operations, including landing in Alaska.

The implementation of the strategic plan began with the redeployment of the 132nd long-range aviation regiment to Chukotka, designed to provide cover for the landing. And the direct invasion of the enemy's territory was entrusted to the 14th Airborne Army, the command of which was assumed by an experienced commander, Lieutenant General Nikolai Oleshev, who had been in military service since 1918, who went through the Great Patriotic War and distinguished himself in the Soviet-Japanese war of 1945. The task of the formation was extremely clear: in the event of US aggression, force the Bering Strait (by march in winter or on ships in summer), take a foothold on the coast of Alaska and strike back. And some of the highest statesmen got fired up with the idea of restoring the so-called historical justice - the return of the peninsula to Russia.

The building materials necessary for the construction of a stationary heated housing had to wait for more than a year. And before that, the soldiers bravely endured blizzards and 40-50-degree frosts in ordinary army tents. The march to Alaska never took place. Throughout the entire period of deployment in Chukotka, Oleshev's army performed defensive missions to protect the coastal bays from probable American landings.

How Soviet Chukchi attacked the Eskimos in 1947 and almost provoked a conflict between the USSR and the USA

Despite the presence of regular military formations on each side, the indigenous people of Chukotka and Alaska did not stop hostile actions towards each other. The last armed clash of these northern peoples took place in the Bering Strait region in 1947. Historians cannot call this battle a war, since not one of the superpowers officially took part in it - the Soviet Chukchi and Eskimos from Alaska "sorted out relations" between themselves.

The residents of Chukotka initiated the military incident, sending several armed landing groups to the American coast. The Eskimos did not remain in debt. Land skirmishes were interspersed with water skirmishes in the Bering Strait. Neither the American nor the Soviet government openly intervened in the conflict, but each belligerent received weapons, albeit secretly, but regularly. The heads of state realized themselves only after the death toll began to count in the hundreds and the seemingly local conflict threatened to develop into an international one. The hostilities ceased, but did not go without consequences: in 1948 the border was closed, visits of Aleuts to Chukotka were prohibited (the only exceptions were the closest relatives included in special lists). This continued until the end of the perestroika period, when in 1989 the interaction between Chukotka and Alaska resumed.

But in due time the Chukchi almost defeated the Russian Empire by destroying Anadyr.