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In 1912 a thin line of Russian soldiers, confronted by a large crowd of gold miners on strike for several weeks, reacted with fear and anger. At their officers’ orders, they opened fire, shooting five hundred unarmed protestors. The event reverberated across Russia. The Lena goldfields massacre can be viewed from several distinct viewpoints, each presenting a contrasting story. Author Michael Melancon avoids prematurely picking a “right” way of looking at the massacre. Instead, he explores all aspects of the incident, from the despair of the miners at the poor conditions they faced, to the calculations and priorities of the mining entrepreneurs and state officials, and even the rationale of the soldiers who pulled the triggers. The Lena Goldfields Massacre and the Crisis of the Late Tsarist State will appeal to anyone interested in labor relations, in revolutionary movements, and in transitions associated with modernization. Its comparative framework will be helpful for generalists and Europeanists. It will also provide food for thought for those who seek a carefully researched examination of Russian society during the early twentieth century.
This volume surveys Nineteenth-century Russian society and economy and finds that Russian institutions, practices and ideas fit the general European pattern for that period of rapid change. Even apparently distinctive Russian features deepen our understanding of 'Europeaness'. In the Nineteenth-century there were still many different ways to be European, and excessive generalization based on the experiences of one or two countries obscures the great diversity that still characterized European civilization. Moreover, these essays bring to light several points at which Russian legislation and thinking provided models and examples for others to follow. The authors focus on key elements of how Russians envisaged and constructed their economy and society. This is an important contribution that increases understanding of Russian history at a time when Russia's relationship with the 'West' is again debated.
Preface -- Introduction -- Facing west : Peter the Great and his successors -- Roots of the system : Catherine the Great -- Refining the system : Alexander I and Nicholas I -- Engaging the public : Alexander II -- Reasserting authority : Alexander III and Nicholas II -- From revolution to revolution : the Duma period -- Schooling for socialism : revolution to cultural revolution -- Retrenchment : Stalin to Chernenko -- Ends and beginnings : Gorbachev to Putin -- Conclusion.
This engaging collection of primary sources and selected fiction excerpts explores important events, figures, and themes in European history, from 1789 to the present. Modern Europe offers four types of selections: memoirs of individuals who witnessed important historical events; excerpts from works of fiction; writings of influential figures and theorists; and significant historical documents. Primary source selections acquaint students with the writings and documents that helped shape modern European history, while the fiction selections bring historical events to the level of human life. The selections explore significant themes of this time period-modernization, social and political movements, the relationship between the individual and society-enhancing students' understanding of the historical events presented in course lectures and textbooks. Both challenging and captivating, Modern Europe provides students with a glimpse of the emotions, ideologies, and mindsets that lie behind the facts and figures of history, allowing them to experience the past and to better understand it.
Presenting major writings on the revolution and its context, bringing together key texts to illustrate interpretive approaches and covering the central topics and themes, this volume forms a coherent representation of both the events and the theories anddebates that relate to them.
This book examines the rise and the fall of the Russian Empire through the lens of its military history. While much of the literature on this history tends to focus on epochs, The Russian Military and the Creation of Empire uses a variety of archival sources to capture this aspect of modern Russia from Peter the Great right up to the present day. John W. Steinberg analyzes the social dynamic between Russian society and its military over time. Through a focus on civil-military relations, he demonstrates that both the Tsarist and Soviet regimes were built on, and ultimately dependent upon, the support of the military. Case studies of significant battles are also used throughout the volume to reveal insights into the roles, missions, and capabilities of the Russian military since 1689. The Russian Military and the Creation of Empire is a vital study for all students of modern Russia and the history of modern warfare.
The Russian Intelligentsia is the first single-volume history of a small but tremendously influential group of Russian intellectuals who achieved world renown in a variety of spheres. While previous accounts have addressed the history of individuals within this collective, Christopher Read offers the first explanation of the intelligentsia as a group. Read traces the vast debates that broke out between, and within, a multitude of intellectual factions, and contextualizes the ideas of the group within the framework of cultural, social, political, and economic development from the late 18th century to the present day. This comprehensive yet accessible account demonstrates how the Russian intel...
An encyclopedic and richly detailed history of everyday life in the Soviet Union The Soviet Union is gone, but its ghostly traces remain, not least in the material vestiges left behind in its turbulent wake. What was it really like to live in the USSR? What did it look, feel, smell, and sound like? In The Soviet Century, Karl Schlögel, one of the world’s leading historians of the Soviet Union, presents a spellbinding epic that brings to life the everyday world of a unique lost civilization. A museum of—and travel guide to—the Soviet past, The Soviet Century explores in evocative detail both the largest and smallest aspects of life in the USSR, from the Gulag, the planned economy, the ...
This groundbreaking comparative study rediscovers the socialists of Russia’s borderlands, upending conventional interpretations of working-class politics and the Russian Revolution. Researched in eight languages, Revolutionary Social Democracy challenges long-held assumptions by scholars and activists about the dynamics of revolutionary change.
Russia in Revolution gives a full account of the Russian empire from the last years of the nineteenth century, through revolution and civil war, to the brutal collectivization and crash industrialization under Stalin in the late 1920s