Russia: A History

554 Pages·2002·9.706 MB·English

by  Gregory L. Freeze

RUSSIA
A HISTORY

RUSSIA
(cid:2)
A H I S T O R Y
EDITED BY
GREGORY L. FREEZE
SECOND EDITION
1
3
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ISBN 0-19-860511-0
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C
ONTENTS
LIST OF COLOUR PLATES vii
LIST OF MAPS viii
EDITOR’S PREFACE ix
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS xii
GLOSSARY OF TERMS, ABBREVIATIONS, AND ACRONYMS xiv
NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION AND DATES xvii
1. From Kiev to Muscovy: The Beginnings to 1450 1
Janet Martin
2. Muscovite Russia, 1450–1598 27
Nancy Shields Kollmann
3. From Muscovy towards St Petersburg, 1598–1689 55
Hans-Joachim Torke
4. The Petrine Era and After, 1689–1740 87
John T. Alexander
5. The Age of Enlightenment, 1740–1801 114
Gary Marker
6. Pre-Reform Russia, 1801–1855 143
David L. Ransel
7. Reform and Counter-Reform, 1855–1890 170
Gregory L. Freeze
8. Revolutionary Russia, 1890–1914 200
Reginald E. Zelnik
9. Russia in War and Revolution, 1914–1921 231
Daniel T. Orlovsky
10. The New Economic Policy (NEP) and the Revolutionary
Experiment, 1921–1929 263
William B. Husband
v
CONTENTS
11. Building Stalinism, 1929–1941 291
Lewis Siegelbaum
12. The Great Fatherland War and Late Stalinism, 1941–1953 319
William C. Fuller, Jr.
13. From Stalinism to Stagnation, 1953–1985 347
Gregory L. Freeze
14. From Perestroika towards a New Order, 1985–1995 383
Martin McCauley
15. Meltdown, Rebuilding, Reform, 1996–2001 422
Gregory L. Freeze
MAPS 457
CHRONOLOGY 467
FURTHER READING 482
PICTURE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 501
INDEX 503
vi
L C P
IST OF OLOUR LATES
Plate section: between pages 270–1.
1. The Battle between Novgorod and Suzdal:
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
2. Crown of Kazan:
State Armoury Museum Moscow, Inv. no. P-4/1-2
3. Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich:
From the GIM collection © State Historical Museum Moscow
4. Peter the Great 1697:
Collection Countess Bobrinskoy/Michael Holford
5. Samson fountain, Petrodvorets:
Robert Harding Picture Library
6. Catherine II: Portrait by Andrei Ivanovich Chernyl after Feodor
Rokotov, frame from the Imperial Porcelain Factory St Petersburg:
Hermitage St Petersburg/Bridgeman Art Library London
Ilya Efimovich Repin: A Religious Procession in the Province of Kursk:
Tretyakov Gallery Moscow/Bridgeman Art Library London
7. Isaac Brodsky: Tired (Cover of Leshii No. 1 1906):
David King Collection
8. Poster by Adolf Strakhov: Emancipated women build Socialism:
David King Collection
9. Kliment Redko: Uprising:
Tretyakov Gallery Moscow, TR 51
10. Vera Mukhina: Worker and Kohlkoz Woman:
Robert Harding Picture Library
11. Stalin cult poster:
David King Collection
Orthodox Church ceremony:
Fred Mayer/Magnum Photos
12. Coup 1991:
Michael Rondeau–San Jose Mercury News/SIPA Press/Rex Features
Conflict in Nagorny Karabakh:
Millyiret/Rex Features
vii
L M
IST OF APS
The Approach to Borodino 151
Territorial expansion and growth of the Russian Empire 457
Kievan Russia, 1054–1238 458
Russia c.1396 and the rise of Moscow, 1300–1584 459
Europe at the time of Peter the Great 460
The provinces of European Russia 461
Russia, its Empire, and its neighbours in the 20th century 462
The Great Patriotic War 464
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1950 465
The USSR in 1991 466
viii
E ’ P
DITOR S REFACE
THIS volume seeks to provide a systematic, state-of-the-art account of Russian
history from its recorded origins to the present day. It is distinguished, first and
foremost, by the fact that it draws upon the most recent scholarship, which in
many areas has considerably changed the way we think about the Russian his-
torical experience. It also gives a relatively stronger emphasis upon the modern
period, with roughly one-third on the medieval period, one-third on the imper-
ial, and one-third on the Soviet era. Most, but especially later, chapters are
deeply informed by the newest research and revolution in archival access, which
has permitted the use of a broad array of previously classified sources. Indeed,
archival access for material on twentieth-century topics was until recently all
but denied; in the last few years researchers have used materials, the very exist-
ence of which we did not even suspect. With this greater access, with a gradual
depoliticization of what was once an intellectual Cold War battleground, his-
torians can now tell their story far more dispassionately, far more intelligently
than was the case only a few years hence.
Several important themes run throughout this book and deserve to be under-
scored here. One is the protracted, difficult process of development, not only in
the economic domain, but also in state and society. In contrast to mesmerizing
images of an all-powerful autocrat, whether it be Ivan the Terrible or Stalin the
Terrorizer, in fact the rulers and regimes of Russia have had but a tenuous hold
on society, especially outside the capitals and major cities. The authority did
indeed gradually increase, but it remained highly vulnerable, circumscribed by
geography, compromised by bureaucratic incompetence, pervasive corruption,
and evasion and resistance from below. Although tyrants like Ivan and Stalin
could brutally extinguish large numbers of people, they did so more prophylac-
tically than purposefully; in many cases the sheer violence was meant to coerce
compliance because the regular instruments of rule and repression were so
episodic, sporadic, or downright unreliable. That curious combination—a
veneer of omnipotence, a huge void of operational power—periodically dis-
solved into ‘times of trouble’, as in 1598, 1917, and 1991, when the impotence
of the regime became transparent to all. In recent years the floundering, cor-
rupt regime has been aptly described by some as ‘Anarchistan’, by others (frus-
trated in making sense of the new disorder) as ‘Absurdistan’.
It was certainly not for lack of will that an Ivan, a Peter, a Lenin failed to
establish tight operational control over society. But to do so they had to over-
come enormous (if not insuperable) hurdles—the sheer dispersion of the pop-
ulace, the dearth of means and men to govern, a primitive infrastructure with
ix