When you think of Russians, what do you think of? Large, burly men named Ivan that drink vodka all day? While there are undoubtedly men named Ivan in Russia that drink vodka, there are many more ‘types’ of Russians, many different ethnic groups make up Russia.
This is especially true for the time leading up to the Russian Revolution. In the lead up to the revolution there was everything from Mongols to Varangians living within Imperial Russia. For example, this picture taken by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii shows a family of Kazakhs, a Turkic Jewish people. Kazakhs are a nomadic people, famous for their large empire that was at the height of its power around the Middle Ages and became a part of Russia due to the weakening of its main ally, the Byzantine Empire. This Kazakh family is presumably migrating in search of food, water, and shelter in order to sustain themselves.
We as historians can learn a few things from this photo. One of the first things that came to my mind was the disparity of wealth between the Russian people. On the bottom you have nomads and serfs with very little to their name whereas on the top, you have the immense wealth of the Tsar and the rest of the gentry. Another thing of note is how quickly various ethnic groups assimilate to Russian culture once the revolution occurs. Perhaps it’s merely my ignorance as a student that I haven’t heard any stories of Kazakhs or Uzbeks doing anything of note during the Soviet Union but I think it’s because they just became Russian and lost their natural identity.
This photo also begs some questions. For instance where are they going? The text that comes with the photo says it was taken on the Golodnaia Steppe, found on the bottom border of modern day Kazakhstan. Also, what happened to them? The world got really unpleasant for a few years after this photo was taken.
