THE OTHER CAUCASIAN WAR: CAUCASIAN VICEROY VS THE TSAR’S MINISTERS (1844-1853)
At the end of 1844 great changes in the management model of the southern outskirts of the Empire took place. Nicholas I decided to appoint a Caucasian Viceroy with almost unlimited powers. The first Caucasian Viceroy was count M. S. Vorontsov, who at the same time held the office of Novorossiysk Governor-General and Viceroy of Bessarabia. The idea of establishing the Caucasian vicegerency belonged to the Emperor himself. This was a complete surprise for the St. Petersburg bureaucratic elite. M. S. Vorontsov, who in 1844 was already over sixty, agreed to move to Tiflis on condition of maximum freedom from ministerial control. According to the special rules approved in 1846, which regulated the relations between the Governor and the Central departments, M. S. Vorontsov received the right of direct appeal to the Chairman of the Caucasian Committee, the Minister of war, A. I. Chernyshev and the Emperor, bypassing the opinions of Ministers. This administrative revolution brought about permanent tensions between the Caucasian Viceroy and the ministers. The article analyzes conditions of this confrontation, mechanisms of lobbying and informal relations of ruling elite of the mid-19th century Russian Empire. The confrontation with the ministers, caused by the unprecedented service rights of the Caucasian Viceroy, was generally in favor of M. S. Vorontsov. This was explained by his celebrity, as well as the informal coalition with A. I. Chernyshev, the Minister of War and the Chairman of the Caucasus Committee.