Covering more than 1,000 years of tumultuous history, Russia as Empire shows how the medieval empire of Kyivan Rus metamorphosed into today's Russian Federation. Kees Boterbloem vividly and lucidly describes Russia's various incarnations and considers how the concept of empire evolved from tsarist Russia to the Soviet Union, and how and why it survives today. He discusses the ideological architects of these empires and the ideas of their political leaders the tsars, Lenin, Stalin, Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin. Russia as Empire considers the role of the various empires inhabitants, from nobility to clergy to communist party members, revealing how and why they adhered to, or believed in, their country's imperial mission. What emerges is a highly original overview that illuminates the continuities and discontinuities in Russian history.
Author(s): Kees Boterbloem
Edition: New
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 256
City: London
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Preface
1. Empire, Imperial Identity and Colonial Rule: The Russian Case
2. Empire by Design or Accident of History?
3. The Russian Empire in Western Eyes
4. Prehistory and Geography: Rus’
5. The Mongols, Siberia and Asia
6. Moscow’s Rise: The Impact of the Byzantine, Polish-Lithuanian and Mongolian Empires on Muscovy
7. Troubles
8. From Mikhail to Peter: Composite Empire and Middle Ground
9. The Waning of the Middle Ground: The Russian, French and British Empires, 1721–1853
10. Indirect and Direct Rule: The Russian and British Empires in Asia, 1853–1907
11. Multinational Empires: Russia and Austria-Hungary, 1853–1917
12. The Soviet Union as Empire, 1917–91
13. Since 1991: Russkii or Rossiiskii?
Afterword: Is the Age of Political Empires Over?
References
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements
Index
