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(ULTURAL Arll

RUSSıA A ND T liE FORMER S~VNDI LIBEl\_l

SOVIET UNION BEI\._STEIN,NEIPER..Çi
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NNO M..D XLIX
IJIE.LO.,)' .ESE JO€
Thc publication of this important book is a timcly
rcmindcr that now, morc than al any time since its
revolution in 1917. Russian culmre has captured the
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--.u.

attention of thc rest of thc world. This intcrcst bcgan with

the policies of pcresıroika and glasnost in the early t 980s
and has rcachcd an unprecedented pitch in the wake of
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Thc Russian Orthodox Church i~ currently celcbrating iıs

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J,..
,Moı.oGA :/.;----0~
history- both political and cultural-is the principal
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Hellcnü,tic. Slav, Viking and Byzantinc backgrounds. the
historical account opcns with thc conversion of Rus to
HLOJ>

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Christianiıy in the 10ıh cenlury and with the early centers
o f civilization at Kiev. Novgorod and Vladimir. Two ~1~
.,:'-~4'
centuries of Tatar rule dİ\'İde the fail of Kie\·an Russia
. ctaP;ı,a<
from the rise of Muscovy, but the medieval period of
Russian history does not fully end umil after ıhe ~ .
accc~sion of Pcter the Great in 1682- Peter·s reforms and -l'LTYL.A
extrovert policies. precursors of late 20th-century -)i,,
dcvelopment. suddenly projected Russia onto the center ; "'\ -,:>;vp"
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-:;;. ,,,..... ~
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An opening secıion of ıhe atlas provides the geographical

and eıhnic conıexı for ıhe cultural history ıhaı follows. Oc:cA. ..
~i; r

. ..
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 MAR 2 ~ ;

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 Cultural Atlas of

RUSSIA
and the Former Soviet Union
by Robin Milner-Gulland
with Nikolai Dejevsky

Revised Edition

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CONTENTS

8 Chronological Table
10 The Rulers of Russia and the former Soviet Union
14 Preface

Part üne : The Geographical Background

16 The Land and the People

Part Two: History

34 Rus
50 Muscovy
74 The Last Century of Old Russia
88 Peter the Great
IOO The Empire after Peter
107 The Flowering of Imperial Russia
I 20 The Last Four Em perors
142 Revolution and the Building of the Communist State
I 72 From Stalin to Yeltsin

Part Three: Regions and Countries of the

former Soviet Union
I 86 Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine
192 The Baltic Republics
l 98 Transcaucasia
204 Russia
216 Central Asia

22 5 Bibliography
228 Glossary
230 List of Illustrations
232 Gazetteer
235 lndex
Special Features List of Maps
30 Scythian Gold 12 The former Soviet Union physical
32 The Peoples of the Steppe 22 Vegetation of the former Soviet Union
48 St Sophia, Kiev 22 Climate of the former Soviet Union
62 Ivan the Terrible 23 Soils of the former Soviet Union
68 The Trinity Monastery of St Sergi us 26 Languages of the former Soviet Union
70 Novgorod the Great 28 The Slavonic language family
72 The Great Age of Russian Art 35 Eastern Europe and the Byzantine world
86 Wooden Buildings of Northern Russia in the 10th century
98 The Russian Baroque 36 Russia and the Vikings
116 1812 38 Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean in
118 Decem brists, Anarchists and Terrorists the mid-11 th century
122 Pushkin and Gogol 41 Kievan Russia
130 Tolstoy the Revolutionary 45 Russia on the eve of the Tatar conquest
138 Peasant Life before the Revolution 50 Russia and the Asiatic world, 13th- l4th
140 1905 centuries
144 Chekhov and the Moscow Art Theater 55 The monastic and missionary movements,
158 Communism 14th-l 5th centuries
162 Diaghilev and Stravinsky 56 Moscow and the "gathering-in" of the
164 Two Paths to Modern Art: Malevich and Russian lands
Tatlin 58 West Russia: the growth of Poland and
166 Religion in Russia and the Soviet Union Lithuania
170 The Art of Propaganda 60 Novgorod: lands and trade connections
210 Moscow 67 Russia at the Time of Troubles, c.1600
214 St Petersburg 74 The expansion of Muscovy in the 16th
and 17th centuries
79 Russian in the reign of Tsar Aleksey
91 Peter I's Great Embassy and Northern War
104 Expansion of the Russian empire in the
18th century
108 The Razin rebellion
109 The Pugachov rebellion
111 The social composition of Russia in the
!ate 18th century
115 The Napoleonic wars
124 The Crimean War
127 The Eastern Question
128 The Russian empire at its greatest extent,
ınid-19th century
147 Europe: alliances and frontiers in 1914
148 World War I
152 The revolutions and civil war
157 Consolidation of the Soviet Union
l 72 Industrialization, urbanization and
collectivization
174 World War II
177 The Soviet bloc, c.1950
183 Key ta the regional maps
186 Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine
192 The Baltic republics
l 98 Transcaucasia
204 Russia
206 The Moscow region
216 Central Asia
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
1000 ıı oo 1200
800 900

Prıncelv c:onfe ren ce at Taur rule established in

/'O! 1 l \;\, ı f R\ Ryurıı, ıulcr ı "\o\g ,rod
l.yubec'h 1097 Rus 1240
._ /'162
ülcı unıte'> Kıe,..· .md
~ovgorod c K82

L Christıan rclicf trnm

G,:or~ıa. 9th ccntury

.\fosa ıc
from St Mı chael ' s , Ogaday. son and
Kie,·. 12th century successor ofGenghis
Khan , 13th century

F irsı Rus att at: k o n Fırst Russıan treaty \.,.ıth Firsı Tatar raid 1223
l'\TFR'\iATTO '.'- AL RFLATl0 :-;5
Constantinople 860 Constantmople 91 1 Alexander Nevsky
ıg or o f Kiev makes tre-aty defe.ıts Teutonic Knıghts

w ith Constantinople 944 1242

Svyatoslav of Kiev sacks Kovgorod signs rreaty
K h az.ına 967 wıth Hanseatic Leauge
1270

T[ RRITORIAL CHA'.',GES Yaroslavl founded 1025 Vladimir founded 1108 füzhniy Novgorod
Moscow founded 1147 founded 1221

REI.IGlO.._, Olga of KJev baptiı:ed Bor is and Gleb martyred

c955 1015
Chrıstıanıty
officiaUy First native Russian
adopted 988/9 metropolitan elected 1051

ART A :'\D ARCH ITECTCRE St Sophıa, KJev, begun
1037
St Sophia, Novgorod,
begun 1043
Vırgın of Vladimir icon St George, Yuryev-
c.1125 Polsky 1230
Dormition Cathedral, Transfiguration
Vladımır I l 58 {enlarged Cathedral, Tver 1285
ll89)
Church ofthe Savior,
Kereditsa Hill,
Novgorod l I 98

LFAR'.\"l~G. SCIESCE A~D Cyrillic alphabet d evısed Hilarion 's On lhe La w arıd /nstructıonofVladimir II
LJTERATL"RE c.b60(1) ,he Grau mıd-1 lth :'ı.fonomakh c.1100
century Primary Chronicle
completed I I l 3
lgor Tale c.1187
ı ıoo 1400 1500 ı,,oo 1700 1800 ı•ııo

Yury of Moscow obtain,;: iv.an IIl ends lributc to Ivan IV a!>sumcs tide of Time of Troubles begins Pctcr l transfcrs scat of lJcccmbri'it upris ing 1825first Duma 19 0fı
yarlyk from Tatars I 31~ Tatars 1480 " t s,ır" 1547 l 60"i govcrnment to St Revolt ın Poli<,h Fe bruary .ınd October
Dmitriy Donskoy dcfeats !.udt>huik {law codc) 1550 Mikhail 1, first Rom.ınov Pctcr-,burg 1712 provinccs 1810 Rcvolutions 191 7
Tatars at Kulikovo 1 380 1-yodor L ]a st Ryurikid t<;ar Hil i Gcntry lıbcrated from Lm.ı.n c ipation ofserfs Civil War 191 7 20
rulcr, dies l 598 f..'io:henıye (net'\' legal obligatory service 17fı2 1861 U~\l< formcd 1921
codc) promulgatcrl 1649 l_egislative Coınmıssion hrst "To the People" Lnd of:,.. f~P, instilutio n
Revolt of ~tcnka Razin l 767 movcment 1873 74 of fiv e-ycar plam IQ28
1670 -71 Pugadıov rebcllıon Grcat Purgcs 1936 38
Mt'!>Cnıı hötvo abolishcd 1773 75 ~t.ılin dies 1g53
1682 Charter of Nobılity 178'> Dıssolution ofU~\l< 19g1

Boris Godunov's c hain

armor, !ate 16th ccntury Chucchofthi
Transfıgura.tion,
Kiz hi, 17 14 .. ·: .

::ır-
c .J ·' reı

Patriarch Filaret,
IS53?- 16 B ~ Lenin, 1870 1924

1 ithuanians defeat Muscovy Company Trcaty ofNerchinsk Start of Grcat Northcrn Trcaty of Tilsit signed Ru sso-Japancsc \\'ar
Teutonıc Kııights at formcd in I.ondon l 555 signcd with China l 689 \Var aga inst Swcden 1700 v,ııth Napoleon 1807 1904 U9
Tannenberg 1410 Commercial links Pctcr r's Grcat Embassy Petcr 1 dcfcats Charles Frcnch in vadc Ru ssia World War J 1914 18
Con<;tantiııo ple falls to esta blıshcd with 1697- 98 XII ofSweden aı Poltava 1812 Nonaggression pact witlı
Ottoman Turks 1453 Ho lland 1577 l 70'J Outbrcak of Crımcan Gcrmany 1939
lvan 111 doses Hanseatic Peacc ofNystad 1721 War IR53 Hitler invadcs U~~R 1g41
dcpüt in Novgorod 1494 First partition of Poland Hungarian uprısıng
1772 crushed 1956
Second partition of Cuban missile crisis 1962
Poland 1793 "Prague ~pring" 1968
Third parıition of Poland lnvasion of Afghanistan
1795 1979
Moscow annexes Ivan nı crushes Vasiliy JII annexes lrkutsk founded 1632 Sıtc ofSt Petersburg Duchy of\Varsav,· Independcnce of Poland
Nizhniy Novgorod 1478 Pskov 1510 Treaty with Poland capturcd from Swedes becomes p.ı.rt of Russia and Finland 1918
Nov gorod an d Suz dal Moscow absorbs confirms Russian 1703 1832 Indcpcndcnce of the
1392 tcrritory of Smolcnsk possession of Kıcv 1686 Anncxaıion of Crimea Vladivostok founded Republics of US~R 1991
1514 1783 1860
lvan lV conquers Kaza n Sitka founded as capıtal Alaska sold to United
1552 of Alaska 1799 Staıes 1867
Conquest of western Building of Trans-
Siberia 1582 Siberian Railroad bcgun
Archangel founded l 584 1891

Mctrop olitan see Solovki Monastery Church council supports Nikon patriarch of Patriarchate abolished Reestablishment of
transferre d from Kiev foun ded 1429 "Josephites" 150l M OSCO\\' 1652 1721 patriarchatc 1918
to Vladimir l 300 Lıthuanians set up rival Council of Hundred Church cou ncil deposes Dukhobor sect founded Chun.h property
Mctrnpolitan see Orthodox metropolitan Chaptcrs 1551 Nikon but confırms 1740--50 confiscated 1922
transferred from Vladimir in Kiev 1458 Patriarchate of Mos cow reforms 1666 67 Death of Patriarch
toMoscow c. 1321 established 1589 Archpriest A vvakum Tikhon; no new
Sı Sergius founds Trinity Union ofBrest 1596 martyred 1682 patriarch electcd 1925
Monaster y c .1 340 Recstablishment of
atriarchate 1943
Theophanes th e Greek Iconostasis of Archangel Cathedral, "Marvelous Church" at Old Admıralty building. Admiralıy building, St 1nstitute of Artistic
active in Novgor od Annunciation Moscow, begun l 505 Uglich 1618 ~t Petersburg 1704 Pet ersburg, remodded Culturc (lnkhuk)
1]78 Cathedral, Moscow 1405 Church ofth c Church of the Nativity Rastrclli's \'\'ınt cr Pala ce, 1806 organized 1920
Rublyov's Old Ascension, in Pu tinki, Moscow St Peıersburg l 754 First Vılanderers' Lenin Mausoleu m,
Testament Trinity Kolomcnskoye 1532 1649 Falconet's Bron::<:' exhibition 1871 Moscow 1929--30
icoıı c 1410 St Basil's, Moscow Nikon's Ncw Jcrusalem Horseman, St Pcıersburg Mır ı .,kU!,SWQ (World of Doctrin e of Socialist
Fioravanti builds 1555- 60 begun 1658 1766--82 Art) launched 18'18 Realism formul ated 19 34
Dormition Cathcdral, Smolcıısk kremlin 1596 Palace of Kolomenskoye Union of Artists founded
!ı.loscow, 14 75- 79 1667- 70 1q57

Trinity Chronicle ea rl y First book printed in Life (autobiography) of
15th century Moscow 1564 Avvakum 1670s
Slav-Grcck-Latin
Academv establishcd in
Moscm·/ 1687
Russia's first ncwspapcr
published l 703
Academy of Scienccs
foundcd at St Petcrsburg
1725
Lomonosov's Letter on
the L'tilıty ofG!Q!,!,l152
Moscow Universitv
foundcd 1755 , Gogol's Dead .\ouls 1842 Ne kv 1938
Academy of Arts
founded at St Peıersburg
1757
Radishchcv 's Journev
from S t Peter!,burg tO
Mosou· l?<J0
Karamzin's Hı story of the First issuc of Praı·Ja 19&2
Russian Stat<:' 18 16 26 SholokhO\•'s The Q ,
Pushkin 's Yeı:geny Ont>ginDon 1928 40
1823 31 Arıistic groups offıt a!]y
Chaad aye\·'s tirst di-.solvcd 1932
Phılo.rnphical Letlt"r 1836 First congres.., ofl ıı
1.ermontov 's Heroofour ~o\·ıct \'ılritcrs 1934
Time 1840 Eisenstein's Aıı'" ı
Turgencv's Farhers and Sputnık I laulllh'- 1
Chıldrerı 1862 Pastcrnak's Ik 7.
Tolsıov's \ \."urand Pt·ace 1'117
1864 69 Gag rın fir-.ı ma
Dostovcnk\''s The ~pa'-c 1961
Brorhen Ka;·umazllı Solzhc ·ısyn
[879--R0 fr · Dt'•:ı ı: J<Jb2
?ı.foscow Art Theater
founded 1897
THE RULERS OF RUSSIA In the period before l 547 the rulers of Russia we re princes o r g rand
princes; thc title of ıs.ar was adopted by lvan IV in I 547, and that of
emperor by Peıer 1 in 1721
Namcs in -.guare brackets arc those of regents. in many cases the
-.uccession pa,;sed beıwcen broth ers or uncles and nephews, rather
ıhan from father to !".on, or by some other arbitrary arrangement; see
noıes. Many of ıhe d;nes of the early reigns are doubıful.

Kie\'an !ine
862 79 Ryurık semilegenda ry rulerof Not.-gorod
879 913 Oleg Jırst ruler at kıet · (!rom c.882)
913 45 Igor
945 64 IOlg,ıj uııdo wof Jgor
945 72 ~vyaıoslav 1
973- 78/ 80 Yaropolk I
978/80-IOIS Vladimir I (the Saint) brother of Yaropolk J
1015- 19 Svyaıopolk 1
IOI9 54 Yaroslav 1 (the Wıse) brother of Svyaıopolk I, dlt'lded the
Kıeı·an rea/m (1026 J6) w ith another brother, Mstıslav

I054 7 l lzyaslav 1
1073- 76 Svyatoslav II sons of Yaroslaı• I, who ru.led Kiev in turns
1077- 78 lzyaslav l (agam)
1078 93 Vsevolo<l l
1091- I ı l l ~vyatopolk JJ son of I=.y aslat• I
I I I 3 25 Vladimir II Monomakh son of Vsemlod I
I 125 39 Mstislav I
1132- 39 Yaropolk II
y ounger bmthers of Mstı=.slat • l
1139--46 Vyacheslav
1146 54 lzyaslav il
.wms of Msııslaı: l
l 154---67 Rosıislav

11 49- 57 Yury Dolgoruky (i.e. Long-armed o r Long- sıghted) younger

b mıher of Mstıslar l ; oı,erlaps wııh Rosuslat•; prmce of !:.u=.dal

1157- 74 Andrey Bogolyubsky wular grand prmce of Kieı •. ru.led f,-om
Vladımir
1176- 1212 Vsevolod III (Bolshoye Gnezdo; i.e. ofthe Large Nest) son
of Yuıy Dolgoruky; ruler of Vladımir-Su::.dal
121 2- 18 Yury 11
1238-46 Yaroslav il brother of l'ury il, ruler of Kın • before mol'ing to
Vladımir

1247-48 Svyatoslav ili brother of Yury il

1249---52 Andrey ll son of l'aroslaı· il; prmceof Vladımır
1252- 63 Alexander Nev,;;.ky SDn of Yaroslat• il; prince of Noı-gorod,
subsequently V/adımır

1263-71 Yaro-.Jav III son of YaroslaL' il; pnnce of Tt'l:'r

ı\luscovite !ine
1263 1303 Dan iıl youngı:s t son of Alexander Nevsky ; Jirs t prınce of
Moscow and (!rom f JOl) of Perey aslal'I
l l03 25 Yury III (Danilovich)grand prınce of A-foscow
IU5-41 Ivan l (Kalita; i.e. Moneybags) brother of l'ury ili; "Grand
Prınce of Vladımır and Al/ Russıa," resident m Moscou·
B41 - 5J Semyon (Gordy; i.e. the Proud)
1153- 59 lvan il (Krasny; i.e. the Fair) brother of Semyoıı
l 359-89 Dmitriy lvanovich (Donskoy)
1389---1425 Vasilıy I
1425---62 vasiliy II (the Hlind) (throne of Moscow claımed by l'uıyof

Zt •en(ı;:orod anJ succes.wrs ırı cit•il war 1425 50)

1462- 1505 Ivan 111 (the Great)
1505- H Vasiliy 111
15H · 38 IYelena GlinskayaJ uıidou· of Vasilıy ili, motherof fran i V
IHl 84 Ivan IV (ıhe Terrıble)
il 575 76 !,em) 'OII Bekbulatot•ich kharı of Kasımot', "parody tsar-
in sıalled b_v fran]
1584 98 Fyodor 1 !ast of Ry urıkıd dynasty
1598- I 605 Bons Godunov brother-in-law of Fyodor 1

10
Time of Troubles
1605 Fyodor il son of Borıs GodunOl'
1605---06 F.ı.lse Dmıtriy l claımed to be Pmıce Dmıtrıy (J. 1591),
youngest son of lt'an TV: there u't're other subsequent pretenders
1606 - IO Va sıliy IV (Shu ysky]
1610-1 3 \Vladyslaw ısar--elect, son of kms of Polıınd: noı crou·ned

Roman o\' dynasıy

1613- 45 Mikhail Romano\' ~on oJ FyoJor RomanoL', U.'ho laur becıımt•

Metropoliıan Fılareı

1645- 76 Aleksey M ık ha ylo\'ich

1676 82 Fyodor lll Ale-ksı:y's chılJren by .\larııı .\lıloslııı-skıı\'ıl:

1682- 89 (SophiaJ l nın V çenior co-tsar u·ıth Peter J,
1682- 96 k a n V _ but u:ıth Sophiu as eJfectiı·e nıler untıl 1689
1689-96 (Nat.ı.lya N.ı.r ysh ki n.ı. J Alehey's çeconJ u·ıje ıınd u·ıdou•

1682- 1725 Peter 1 (the Great) Aleksey's son by Natıılya ,\'aryshkına:

co-tsar u•ith fran F to 1696

1715- 27 Catherme 1 U'ıdou· of Peler 1
1727-- 30 Peter il grandson oJ Peter J; son of the haret'tch Aleks~r
173D--40 Anna daughıer of fran \'
I74D-4I (Anna Leopoldovna) nıece of Arına. mothe,· oJ Jmn \'l
174D-41 lvan \'l grıınd-nepheu' o} Anna
1741 -62 Eli zabeth Jau,ghter o; Peter I
1762 Perer 111 nephew of Elı =abeth
1762 - 96 Catherine 11 (the G re.ı. t ) u:idou· o; Peu:r 111
1796-- 180 1 Paul I son of Peıer ili Pl ıınd Catherıne il
1801 25 Alexander 1
1825 - 55 Nichol.ı.s l brother oJ Alemnder /
1855- 81 Alexander 11
1881 - 94 Alexander lll
1894- 1917 Nicholas il consrırutional monarch Jrom 1906

Post-Re\'olutionary peri od
1917 (Feb- July} Prince Georg iy L\'O\' prıme mıni5ler m proı-ısıonal
got•ernment
1917 (July-Oct) Alex.ı.nd er Kerensky prıme mınıster ın proı·ı<;ıonal
got'ernmen t
1917 24 Lenin (Vladimir ll yich Ulyanov) chaırman of the Coundl of
People's Commıssars

l 924- 53 Joseph Stalın (losif Vısa r ionovich Dzhugashvili)

secretary-seneral of the Ct-ntral Committee of tht' Communı'>l Parıy

Jrom 1922, effect ı l't' wle pou:er from 1928, from /9..JO ojfıcıal head o}
go ı·e rn men t

19H- 55 Georgiy Malenkov unofficıal heııd oJ collectıı·e lt>adt'rshıp aJter

Stalin
1955----64 Nikita Khrushche\ Jirst <;ecreıa,y oj the central rnmmııtee

19'55- 58 Nikolai Bulganm ofjicıal head oJ ~raıe

1964- 8 2 Leonid Brezhnev first secrera,y of CPSC
1982 84 Yury Andropo\' firsc <;ecretary o; C'PSV
1984- 85 Konstantin Chernen ko first secretarv of CPSC
1985- Dec, 1991 Mikhail Gor bacho\· Jir.'>t secreltıry oj CPSl'
1991 - Bor is Yeltsın first Pre'>idenl of Rus<;İa afu,· the lismlutıon of ıht'
Sot·ı et Union ın Decem/xr /99/
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PREFACE
"Thıs book has been written and produced in
remarkable timcs ..." These words opened my
prcfaLc to its first cdition in 1989: in the years
since thcn they have become even more apposite.
it takes an cffort to reınem ber how rccent and how
ac;tonishing were suc h late- ~oviet cvents as the
rehabilitation of "taboo" w riters and artists, thc
institution of multi-part y elections, the
questioning of the bonds betwee n the Union
Republics, the reestablishment of su ch timc-
honorcd names as St Pctcrs burg . These
c;ymbolically-resonant renamings, and the
cmergence of so many new sovereign states on
fo rnıer Soviet territory, w ould be enough to justify
o ur revü.ed edition in themselves. More
funda mentally, the end of Soviet rule, and the
beginning ofa new, internationally-reorientated
existence fo r Russia are a momentous historical
punctuation-mark, making a clear-eyed look at the
interwoven history, culture and geography of
Russia and the new post-Soviet republics
imperativc. Visitors to Russia. students, business
people and ordinary readers are likely to be as
concerned as specialists to explore these matters -
about which VVestern journalists and politicians
often assume much but know little.
Coin cidentally Russia has just experienced the
greatest of its cultural anniversaries: the
millennium of its official conversion to Christianity
in 1998- 9. Vladimir J's choice of religion set Russia
on a cultural path which, with twists and turns-
discontinuities, some believe- has 1ed to the
p rcsent . The social and political history that
emerges from the centuries in betwecn, though
turbulent, is by no means a record of unmitigated
o ppression or hardship, as some seem to assume;
Russia, while usually eccentric to the Wcstern
experiencc, \\•as never wholly isolated from it and
can demonstrate--positively as well as
negativcly alternative possibilities within the
European heritage.
The term "Russia" is not self-explanatory: what
it has meant through more than a thousand years
of changing circumstances--from Kievan Rus
through Muscovy, the Russian Em pire, the Soviet
Union and the CIS- is indeed one of this book's
themes. Geographical context is of the highest
importance, and is provided in our first and last
sections (in the latter, the new republics are
treated individually). The bulk of our text is a
narrative history from the earliest times to the
present. it is both impracticable and undesirable to
separate cultural from political or any other kind
of history. But particular attention has been paid
to the contcxt of ideas in which Russian history
14
has unroll ed, to the Russians' self-image as a
nation, and to the arts through which non-
Russians gen erally make first contact with this
culture, and which are its "public face."
Evcn a book-leugth text demands rigorous
selectivity in coverage. This can be ali to the
good when it concentrates attention on what is
most important, painful when interesting topics
may be omitted or merely touched upon. That we
do not systematically discuss Russian food, or
chess, or folksong, does not mean we do not
consider such topics significant parts of thc
culture: simply that history and geography have
had to come first. Within Russian history, too,
we have made choices of emphasis that need to
be pointed out, even if unapologetically. On the
grounds that the 19th and 20th centuries are
likely to be far better known to non-Russians
than earlier periods, we have tried to redress the
balance somewhat towards the latter. in
particular we have concentrated on that most
crucial and ambiguous moment of Russian
history, the reign of Peter the Great (and on the
two centuries, 17th and 18th, between which his
lifetime was divided).
This book is not ali text: words, maps,
diagrams, illustrations, and special featurcs are
interdependent. The special features play an
inıportant role in complementing the narrative
visually and verbally on certain topics of
particular interest. To produce such a volume has
taken dedicated effort by many people. I must
single out Graham Speake and Jennifer Drake-
Brockman, a most discriminating copy-editor, who
contributed the features on pp. 30-32. Dr Nikolai
Dejevsky undertook the considerable task of
contributing most of tlıe political history on the
period 1855-1988 onwards and wrote the features
on pp. 138, 140, 166 and I 70. Maleolm Day
produced many expert map briefs and drafted
parts of the !ast section.
For the rest, and indeed for the overall shape of
the volume, I have to take responsibility. But to
many colleagues 1 must express thanks for helping
me on detailed queries (often without knowing
they were doing so): among them are Professors
A.A.M. Bryer, A.G. Cross, G.S. Smith and R.E.F.
Smith and Drs D. Dyker, S. Franklin and S. Hackel;
alsa members of my family. Above all l have
profited by the support and comments of Professor
Sir Dimitri Obolensky, as indeed I have throughout
a friendship lasting decades.
Robin M ilııer-Gulland
 PARTONE
THE
GEOGRAPHICAL
BACKGROUND
THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE
Anv account of Ru.,si.1n culturc through the ages
,h,;uld hegin by evoking the circumstanccs and
loc.nıon~ in which the history of this culture has
unrollcd. Russians may not have a uniquc status
.1mong p<.:ople"ı- in their sense of self-identification
with thl'İr land, but thcir awareness of the part it
h.ıs played in shaping their destiny, someti mes as
al1y, somctiml's as antagoni.".ı.t, has always been
particularly acute.
For the past thousand and more years several
constraints can be secn in the relationship of the
people and thc land of Russia. Thesc tend to
prescnt themselves in the form of problems in
whose resolution a positive aspect can emerge. (1)
Russia is, and throughout history has been, large-
very large on a European or even world scale: onJy
e\'anescent empires of conquest have outreached it.
This huge extent has generally entailed poor com-
munications and the threat of ungovernability. (2)
Russia is thinly populated, and this ,..vas true even
before it added the vast emptiness of Siberia to its
territory. (3) Russia is agricultural. The often pre-
carious harvests of field and forest have been the
prime source of its wealth (and cause of its difficul-
tie,). Even in the industrializcd 20th century the
rural population has been larger than the urban
until thc present generation. (4) Russia has lacked
fixed frontiers. The unequivocal natura! demar-
cation~ of seacoasts ar high mountain ranges have
becn attained by Russians only very gradually, and
ıhrough infiltration or conquest that has taken
thcm far beyond their historic lands. Nar did the
boundaries of the former Soviet Union ar the Russ-
ian empire before it follow ethnic/ linguistic demar-
cations at ali closely. (5) Russia is astonishingly far
north: evcn its grcat historic southern metropolis,
Kiev (now modern-day Kyyiv), is on a !eve) with
the southern tip ofHudson Bay; St Petersburg is on
the Iatitude of the Shetland Islands; nearly half of
Russian territorv is north of 60°, that is, on a level
with Alaska, Baffin Island or Greenland. (6) Finally
the Russian climate seems expressly designed to
foil humarı habitation and activity. \Vinter lasts
half the year or more, but the summer is actually
often very arid, with rainfall slight and ill-distrib-
uted; vast tracts of desert are matched bv even
vaster tracts of waterlogged swamp. w worldwide have adopted it to apply to the entire
The vcgetation helis
The great overriding constant in Russian and
Eurasian geography ha, been the natura! division
of the country's vegetation, following its climate,
into a series of latitudinal bands running roughly
from west to east across European Ru~3ia and we lI
into Asia, unhindcred by what on the map might
look like the natura) obstacles of the Ural Moun-
tains, the Ca~pian Sea and several great river sys-
tems. This spectrum of seven long, often narrow
zones, each continuing for Uterally thousand3 of
kilometers, is closely related to soil type and in
turn to gcology and to climate. The latter becomes,
16
as might be expected, colder as one proceeds from
south ta north, but alsa from west ta east until
close to the Pacific seaboard, as a truly continental
climate supersedes the somewhat more variable
and comparatively temperate conditions of western
and even central European Russia. The vegetation
belts are of considerable importance to the
economy and remain easily recognizable ta the
modern traveler, despite centuries ar mi1lennia of
humarı interference and modification. The most
basic distinction is between forest and grass]and
(or steppe). Each has presented its own difficulties
and opportunities for exploitation. It is however
worth dwelling brie/ly on ali seven of the great
vegetation zones and their distinctive traits.
The northernmost is tundra- the true Arctic
waste, where summers are too short and cool for
trees or exploitable grasses to grow. Though it
fringes the entire Arctic Ocean coastline and part of
the Pacific, it forms only a narrow strip in
European Russia on either side of the White Sea
entrance: in central Siberia however it stretches
several hundred kilometers south from the Taymyr
Peninsula. it was not, for obvious reasons, a place
of permanent Russian settlement until very
recently, yet it is not wholly hostile to life: it
supports reindeer on its lichen, water-birds on its
innumerable pools and summer swamps and fish
and walruses in its seas - resources which for
centuries the Russians, not to mention Eskimo
pcoples such as the Nentsy, have to some extent
exploited. The soil beneath the tundra is perman-
cntly frozen; it would be wrong however simply to
equate tundra with "permafrost," a frozen subsoil,
since in parts of central and eastern Siberia perma-
frost actually stretchcs far further south, up to and
beyond the Mongolian border.
South of the tundra, yet reaching in many places
beyond the Arctic Circle, comes the most extensive
zone of ali: the coniferous forest belt. Stretching as
it does from the Gulf of Finland to Kamchatka, not
less than 1000 kilometers wide (sometimes double
that), this, the "Hercynian Forest" of the ancients,
is one of the mightiest features of our planet. The
Russian term far it is taiga, which properly implies
trackless or virgin forest, though geographcrs
zone. Jn any case it has always been thinly, where
at ali, inhabited, with sparse settlements along its
river systems developing around forts, monasteries
and trading posts, and scattered non-Russian
(mostly Finno-Ugrian) indigenous inhabitants liv-
ing generally as hunters and gatherers. Where the
forest is cleared, particu1arly in European Russia,
some cultivation of hardy crops is possible, but the
soil is usually poor and often swampy, the growing
season short and chancy. Yet from these northern
forests Russia has derived great wealth over the
course of the last millennium, nowadays from the
timber which is methodically exploited and
exported, but in the past above ali from the fur-

Tundra in summcL an Eskimo
fishıng scıtlemcnt by the shores
of thc Arctic Ocean.
Orerlea; Where taiga and tundra
mceı: a ht'n1 of reındcer on tbt'
move in the north of European
Russla. Reindccr, ,.vhich fecd
mainlv on licheııs, are a valuable
resoufce for the peoples of the
north whert• conventional
(i,.·estock farmıng ıs ımpossıble
bcaring animals whose luxuriant pclts were well
adapted to the bitter cold.
The next two zones, very narrow hy comparison
vvith the taiga, can cOn\·eniently be treated
together. First conıes the mixed coniferous-
decid uous forest: this fans out towards the \\"estern
border, taking in ali of Belarus and the Baltic states,
linking up with the forests of central Europe. Here
the firs, pines and larches of the north are inter-
spersed with large stands of (chiefly) birch aııd oak:
such trees, together with limes, characterize too the
so-callcd wooded steppe, a narrow band running
alongside the mixcd forest across European Russi.:ı,
then becoming wider beyond the Urals until fading
out among the mountains of central Asia. \-Vith dis-
continuities, both zones can be traced su bse-
quently along the southern fringe of Siberia to the
Far East. Relath·ely inconspicuous on the ınap,
thesc two zones have been of thc greatest impor-
tance to Russia's hi,;torical geography. With a some-
what berter climate and more fertile soils, the\",
unlike the taiga, have been cleared and tilled fro;n
the beginning'i of Russian history, while stili
retaining a fair amount of exploitable forest land.
Russia's three anı.:ient capitals of Kyyiv (formerly
Kiev), \'lJ.dimir and l\.1oscow lie within these zones;
they represent not only the agricultural heartland
of the Old Russian state, but the corridor along
which the Russians, in the 16th and 17th centuries,
pushed eastwards to the nıiddle Volga region,
thence through the southern Urals and along the
thin fcrtile ~trip of southern Siberia between fore,;;t
and mountains-the line that was later la be taken
bv the Trans-Siberian Rai]road-and reaching the
P;cific Ocean with the mixed forcsts of the Amur
,·ali ev.
The wooded steppe graduallv gives way ta the
steppe proper, that most distincrively Ru,;sian
landscape, almost treeless and very flat, though
J.issected in places by deep-cut river valleys and
ravines. [t coYers much of Ukraine, from a Jittle
south of Kyyiv to the Black Sea, fringes the Cauca-
sus, then continues as a rather broad band south
and eastwards of the Urals and (in patches] to l\lon-
THE LAND AND THE PEOPU:
golia. The steppe landscape is quitc distinct fronı
that of the forested zones, and to under,;tand this
distinction we need to go back 10 the ice ages. in
European Russia the maximum extent of glaciation
reached approximate]y as far as what İ'i now the
belt of wooded steppe. To the north of this the ice
irregularly scoured the landscape. leaving sandy,
clayey or gravelly surface deposits overlying the
chalk and limestone (north of St Petersburg, older
rocks) beneath, and creating many moraine ridges
as it retreated: an undulating, sometimes hum-
ınocky landscape has resulted, \Vith many scooped-
out lakes and swampy hollow,;, among which
rivers wander rather inconsequentially. Below the
limit of glaciation, howe,rer, thick and fertile soils,
including much windblown loess, ha,·e builı up
undisturbed.
The age-old ,;teppe vegetation is the ta1l and lux-
uriant feather-grass, whose matted roots trap ,;uch
ınoisture as is available in this thirsty region, and
over millennia of growth and decay build up a
splendidly rich layer of humus. This is ıhe famous
"black earth" or chcrnozem, the availabilin· of
which is Russia's greate,;;t agricultural bles~ing.
There also exist various less remarkable, but still
useful related "brown" and "chestnut" '>oih. ;\o
blessing, however, comes unmixed, and where t h e
natura! grass has been plowed up in the more
accessible steppe territorie'i, du<itbow l conditions
can develop, soils can degenerate and d rought is
always a threat. Since the dawn of their h istory the
steppe ha,;; been important far the R ussian s, yet
they never managed t o co lon ize it mcthodicall)
until the !ast couple of hundred years (with Cos
,;;acks and runaway peasants as an "advance
guard" during the J,..luscov ite period). Not only
were there natur a] o b,;tacle'> waterle,;,;ncs,; (sa\·c
in the few river ,·alleys) and t he considerable difft
culty of breaking up t he th ick mat of grass-root,
before the days of mode rn agricultural machı
nery there \'\·ere h uman im pediments too.
The steppe is splendid h or~e country, and repre-
,;ented a natura! highroad for mounted in\·adcr,;;
from the east or south; any \ ettlement was easy
 11 l.ı\1'1> ı\'\ıı Tlıt 0 1'1.I

prcy for plundercrs, and the hor~cmcn could

appeJr w ithout warning an<l without giving time
to mohilizl' <l<.: fense . Not ,;,urprisingly, thc Cossack
outpo<,l<,, wh cn thev wcrc c<,tahli<,hed, wcrc scmi-
miliı..:ın· in r haractcr. I·vcn Kvyiv it-.elf, in the
,,·oodcd stcppc, wa~ not ç,,afc fnlffi the attentions of
the,e mobile raiders, aııd thc ,outhward !ine, of
c.:ommunicJtion along the great rivers (abovc all the
Dniepcr) wcre parti r ularly vulnerablc. Control and
"uhscqucntly coloniution of the European and
A<,ian <;tcppc wcrt..' probably the most importanı
pn.'l'OJH.tition<ı lor l{u<:,sia'~ c;;tatu<; asa great powcr.
'-ıouth of t he sıcppe coınc thc last l'wo zones:
:-.emi<ll'scrt an<l de<,t·rt propcr. Thcy are largcly a
fc.ıturc of Ccntr.ıl Asia, though thcy continue south
ol \ihcria, but on Chine:')e and Mongolian territory.
Howc\'er, both abo curl around the top of the Cas-
pıan \ca, <lown to Azerbaijan, across ıhe Volga
cmbracing A"ıtrakhan, c;;ccond most populou~ city
ol lall' !\luscovite Ru~~iJ, .ınd into Europc. Senıi­
de~crt cont ains, aınong it~ boulder-slrewn wastcs
and s,ıh - pans (,o lcmchakı), cun,iderable patche, of
rough vegetation, and it has always been used by
thc grazing flocks of transhumant pastoralists. The
dcscrt propcr. with it~ bare rock and in many
places dune, most notoriou,ly the Kyzyl Kum,
"Rcd "iands" is inhabited only in its oasc~. Yet
both zones contain small, but economicallv most
important ,trip, of lıighly productive land,' where
artificial irrigation or natura! rivcr valleys permit
the c ultivation of fruit crops, notably melons, and
of cotton, the foundation of ,-v hat is, bv Asiatic
standards, the considcrable prosperity ,,'r Central
Asia.
Thcse seven great zones are those normalJy dis-
tinguishcd by geographers. Therc is another,
however, strctching (though discontinuously)
along thc whole southern frontier of the rcgion,
that deservc\ mention, though it is in a somcwhat
different catcgory since it is not primarily deter-
mincd by any single type of vegetation. This is the
zonc of the great mountain ranges that historically
have hclpe<l to set limits upon the Russians' expan-
sionist urgc~. From west to east they include: the
northeastern arın of the Carpathians; the linıestone
Yayla range in the Crimea; the main spine of the
Caucasus, and to its south, bcyond Georgia, thc Carpathians) and extreme northeast (the Novgorod Abuı •e \Vhcre mıxed forest mcets

tangled uplands whcrc Arnıenia, Turkey and ıran
mcct; the ranges separating Turkmenistan from
ıran and Afghanistan; the very high and extensive
Pamirs and Tien Shan ("Mountains of Heaven");
thereafter many othcr less continuous ranges that
succced each other along ıhe border with Mongolia
and Manchuria to the Sikhotc-Alin overlooking the
Pacifıc. Mountains indeed are characteristic of the
territory stretched to the foot hills of the northern
Urals): crossing the main passes in the Ural range
(which they called "The Rock") in the !ate 16th
century marked the first major expansion of the
Russiaııs beyond their tradirional lands.
As a coda to any description of the great zones of
vegetation that characterize Russia a nd the sur-
rounding republics, mention must be made of its
wooded stcppt·: an early spring
scene in a large nature rcsen'e
ovcrlooking the Oka River in
Rya1..an provincc, soulheast of
Moscow. Thc spring thJw
produce:ı. swamp-likc çonditions
over huge .:ıreas of the çountry
as in vading armies from the
Tat.ır bordes ıo Hitler's panzer
di\'isions h.ı"e found to their
co:ı.t.

wholc of castern Siberia beyond the Lena. The
southern mountains of the former Soviet Union, a!'.-.
elscwhere, are favorable for livestock and timber
cxploitation; the precipitation they attract is
important in thc mo ... t arid parts of the country,
watcring in particular the fertile Transcaucasian
rcpu blics and the great oases of Central Asia.
The only important range eccentric to the
pattern described above is that of the Urals: rela-
tively IO\•v, and without spccial agricultural signifi-
cancc, they neverthcless have been most important
for centuries to Ru~sia as a source of mineral
wealth. Old Russia's territory touched on moun-
tains only at its extreme southwestern corner (the
very small, but totally distiııctive pockets of sub-
tropical vegetation: in western Georgia (particu-
larly Adzharia), in Azerbaijan, in Turkmenistan
and on the souıheast coast of the Crimea. Thcy do
not form any coherent zone or belt; indeed thcy are
scarcely large enough to be noticed on most vcgeta-
tion maps. Yet as normally frost-free areas they are
remarkable in the context of this northerly country
and havc disproportionate cconomic significance.
Citrus fruits are grown, whiJe the largest of these
pockets-at the extreme ea~tern end of the Black
Sea, around Bat'umi in Adz haria-has rich tea
plantations, and its hinter1and actually represents a
continuation of the subtropical rain forest of the

10
 THf· l.ı\~D ANI) THf PfOPU

seemcd limit]css: there was alway~ morc untouchcd

fon:st to clcar an d lan d for the ~parse population to
explo it. To wrc . . t prosperity rathcr tha n mcre sub-
sistence from it, howcver, was hard. Slash-and 4

burn techniques would givc reasonablc crops from

cleare<l forest for only a few sea . . ons: then it wa~
ti me to move on, ktting thc formcr clcaranccs
revert to . . crub. Crop-rotdtion sy"tcm~ rcmaincd
vcry primitive till recent timcs. Russian agriculturc
was trad itionally cxtcn~ive rat her than intcnsivc,
and th e Russian peasant gained a reputation among
some \ı\festern observers and Russian historian_..,
(such as Klyuchevsky) for ravaging rathcr than
h usbanding thc country . . ide. Such a judgment re . . ts
upon i ıı appropriate comparbons with the very
diffcrent circumstanccs of the .advanccd \Vc . . tern
European agricultural regions. Actually the Rus-
sians wcre quite capable of applying carcful an<l
intcnsive metho<ls when thcy wanted (as did Tsar
A leksey Mikhaylovich, a notable horticultural
experimenter, in the 17th ccntury), or where it was
profitablc (but the lan<lless urban population was
too sma ll until modern times to support very much
in thc way of market gardening).
Pcasants had to gct what they coul<l out of thc
land as fast as they could in ıhe brief growing
season. Certaiıı factors operated on their side: the
abundaııce of laııd, t he long warm days of mid -
summer, the tradition of villagc coopcration in thc
heavier tasks. Ranged against them, ho\ıvever, were
ra ıh cr more: six months or so of iron -hard winter,
with the conscquent difficulties of kccping livc-
stock; the fickle weather that would guite often
d eliver a drought in the growing season of carly
summer, but thundcrstorms to knock down the
crops at harvest time; long and d ifficult communi-
cat ion s t hat made it hard to dispos.e of surpluses.

Rıght Thl' mixcd-forcst zom· of Trebizon d area . The Crimean "drv Mediter ranean"
centr.ıl Russ i.ı
has Jong b\.-cn coastal strip in th e 1cc of t he Yayla has long bcen an
hospitabk to h um.ın ~ttlemcnt
The ,voman with her clu,tcr of
area of touristic impnrtance as a winter and sum 4

sm.ıll livcstock repre~nts a mer resort.

timeless mode of peasanı life.
Humanki n <l in t h e !.111dscape
An account such as this may tend to eınphasizc the
rcgion's diversity: apart fro!n at ~t~ m?un_tainou~
southern fringes, however, ıts unıformıty ıs more
apparent on thc ground. A modern gcographer
(D.J.M. Hooson) has rather picturesqucly pointed
aut that "whilc in midsunımer almost all Russı ans
c.ı.n be happy in shirtslee\·es, in mid-wint~r it
would be perfectly feasible to skate on the rıvers
from the Arctic to the Caspian, or sledgc from
Leningrad ISt Petcrsburg] to Vladivostok"; "on no
othcr comparable stretch of land has the clımate
been able to use such a broad brush." The conse-
quence~ for the Russians through history havc
been clearlv evident.
ünce e~tablished as agriculturalbts, wcll o,·er
1000 vcars ago, on the European mixed-forest and
wood~d- . . teppe belt:!), their horizons mu~t have

Arcnoıshop Mitty High School LlbtClty 21

San Jose, California
 IH JA'\U ,\'.\.I. lHı ,·ı-Ol'II

Nf!wSıberı<1n
l&l<1rıds
./
ESTONIA
LATVIA
j
"\ • Tal~rın
_.J
,f

lowlandYeı;ıetaı,on

(:=lıun<i-a

□"""
[=:)sub-taıga
[:=l mıxed fOfest

□--•­
~steppe
~semıdeserı
C::Jdeseı-t
[:=lsub-tropıcaııoresı

moı.ınıaırıvegeıaııoo

~ıurıcıra
~taıga

C'..:J••·
~grasslarıd

~ permanenı ıce

scaıe ı 36 ooo ooo

§:
mearı precıpıtation. Jarıuaıy
mm
Ahovc: vcgctation.
A scrics of \'CS!ClJtıon zoııe" ruııs 400
!Jtıtudimılly across the cııtırc
rcgioıı. A fundanıcntal divisioıı
<;cparatcs tho-.c areds th.ıt ,ırc
natur.ılly covcrcd wıth dense
forc<;t from thosc th.ıt .ırc scale 1.86 500 000
trcclc.,.,. A grc.ıı conıforou s
forcst (taıga J, thc largesı such
fcaturc ın the world, strctches ESTONIA
from !:>c.ındınaı• i.ı to thc ~c.ı of LATVIA
Okhotsk : to the nortlı and LITHUANIA~
northcast ıı is fringed by tundr.ı,
ıo thc south coınc sm.·ccssıvely BELARus p
Loncs of sıcppc. scmidcscrt and --{ ?
desen . The"e conıinue beyond
tlıc Ccntrııl Ası.rn frnnııers on
MOLDOVA ➔f-~..;--s
MonS!olian .md ChınCM: tcrritory .
HetwL-cn tlıe conıfcrou-. foresı meanpre<:ıpı tatiorı.July
·""' . "'~-
-~
,ınd tlıc opcn gr;ı.,s];ınd ol thc
mm
stcppc comc two n.ırrow 600
tr.ınsıtıonal zon<.-s: mixcd fore-.ı
500
(in ~ıbcrıa, "sub-ıaıS!a"), dtıd thc
400
so-called woodcd steppc (steppe
couııtry with cons ıd er.ıblc .ıre;ıs
~ 300 /
of forestj. Tlıese two zonc.·s h.ıvc
bel.'n of thc gre.ııest impon.mcc
for lıuın;ın seıtleıncnt and
:
.ıgm:ulture. scaıe 1 66 500 ooo

22
 THE LA~D A:'\D THE: PHJPU

E STONIA \.•·

, ;:.: ~:·:r:
.~)\' .-~:/
....:..;

Soils, precipitati o n ,
Kur~ , temperature
ı stands
Soıl type (aboı•e), precıpıtatıon
I (Jıır lejl) and temperature (lefti at
different seasons determine the
I
[, mountııınsoıls
habicabilitv of Russia and its
neıghbors: and the viability of
marginal land for agriculture.
e:J ıundra The taig.ı is a region of poor
soils, hea\'İ]y leached (the
□ "'"' notorious pÔdzol) and often

□ ·­
scalel :55500000
s,vampy: though precipıtaııon is
low, temperatures are
insuffident to ev.ıpor.ıte it.
Podzol also predominates in the
mixed fore'it, though there are
patches of beıter soil {notably in
the Opo(w. northeasr of
Moscow), and temperaturı::s are
generalJy high enough to make
agriculture worthwhıle. The soil
ESTON I A ,-., abruptly imprcn·es in the
LATV I A ="'- / 1

wooded steppe. where

LITHUANIA~ ).._ ~ precipit.ıtion ıs generally
BELARUS J:i} - "' adequate. Thı:: truı::: steppe is
.7-::.· characterized bv the famous and
\ G, , ( fenıle chernoze~. '"black e.ırıh,''
MOLOOVA ~+,sı,~ full of humus. Here lack of
raınfall is a frequent problem,
- ~- ~ · RUSSIA though thls improves to the west
mean temperature Januarı
(where, hmH·vı::r, ıhe relatively
high July precipitation parıly

f, rı:::presenh unprofit.ıble summer

thunderstorms). The Amur basin

~
in the east has generally good
.24 climatıc conditıons, But in mO'it
.32 of the region, s.a,·e for small
-40 pockets in Transc.ı ucasi.ı and the
Far Eası. precipitatıon is low
enough ıo be a problem.
sı.:a1e 186500000 Russia and the surroundıng
repu blıcs show an enormous
ESTONIA 1
,,.-,
.,... .ınnuaJ r.ınge of temperature:
only ıin\· areas in the extreme
LATV I A :"-. I sou-th ar"e normallv frost free in
LITHUANIA~ ~ - ~ \'ı,ınter in summe"r the
BELARus -;fSJ' temper.ıturı::s, as one would

.-", ( expect, increase from north to

MOLDOVA ~ı:,,,_"'f>:,~ south latitudinallv wnh most ıt
the countrv eYeri ın lhc;' fort'"'>t
• ıı -~~\ belts, pleaS-amly warm: in
~ __, RUSSIA winter howe,·er. ıemperaıure
aver.ıges drop from west ıo e,;,;;·
funrıl close to the Pacifı~·ı:
ea'>Lern Siberia conıain~ the
ITlffin ıemperaıure Jı.ly coldest ınhabıted places n

~"
2~
e.ırth. Al imp<ırtant in ıh,;
region ports free?e for part
the wıntt.'r. sa\'e ironicdlh •
6 northernmosc. ~1.urm.ansı,:
whiLh ıs reached bv warmer
waters from thc Atİantıı
scale 186500000

23
Tlll: LA'\, ASI, fH l Pl'OPl

ı vcntually ıhe social sy,ıem subjected the peasants

to a landlord and officials, who tried to stop thcm
moving and commandeered part of thcir labor or
their cash. Their most constant antagonist,
howe\'er, \Vas thc very soil they worked. In thc
forcst belt, this wa, likely to be podzol: a thin
sanJy or clayey c;oil whosc mincrals had been
lcached out, often to form an iınperıncable layer or
"hardpan" a littlc bclow ıhc surface, hampering
drainage, impervious to anything but deep plow-
ing (usually ıhc peasant had neither time nor
rcsoun:es to do more than superhcially furrow the
soil with a light wooden sokha). Wıth enouglı
manure thc soil could be iınproved, but few pca-
c;ants could keep many animab through winter. Jn
sudı marginal conditions, what is ınorc, any expcr-
imcntation with farming methods represented a
life-or-death gam ble; it is hardly surprising that
landlords in the 18th and 19th centuries who
wished to bring in iınproved methods, putative or
real, ran up at best against a wall of "peasant obsti-
nacy," which was at root commonscnsical, at worst
against arson or personal violence.
in vicw of all thcse problcms faced by ıhe mass
of the Russian people, one can hardly be surprised
even by as sweeping a vcrdict as that of Richard
Pipes: "Their heavy reliance on farming under
advcrsc natura! cond itions is pcrhaps the most
single basic cause of the problems underlying Rus-
sian history." From such a judgment it is casy to
pass to the censorious implication that the forest
and steppe were made to support no more than a
small scattering of hunters in the former, livestock-
breeders in thc lattcr; that the establishmcnt of aııy
unitary and populous Russian state was a mistake,
foundcd as it had to be on settled agriculture; that
at some stage in its history it should have fallen
apart, and serve ıhe Russians right for their pig-
headedness.
It is important to note the relatively benign
climatic conditions that prevailcd across northern
Europe in the early Middle Ages, when the Rus-
sians were consolidating thcir position in their
land, and made marginal farming a more viable risk
(conver,ely the "Little Ice Age" of the early
modern period probably made its own contribu-
tion to the !ate Muscovite crisis). The foothold that
the Rus~ians established as carly as the 9th century
in the central nıixed-forest belt is at least partly the
consequence both of this climatic improvement and
of a lucky geographical accident: the existence,
well to the ııorth of other such features, of a large
isolated pocket of fertile "black earth." This is the
Opolye (deriving from the word for "field"), a
roughly oval arca with a long axis of some 130 kilo-
meters, located between the rivcrs Klyazma and
Volga. At its center is one ancient city (Yuryev-
Polsky), while others are ranged round its peri-
metcr: Vladimir, Aleksandrov, Pcreslavl-Zalessky,
Rostov "thc Great," Suzdal; Moscow is not far off.
To this day the traveler notices the region's com-
parative treelessness and its numerous farming
villages; nowadays it is specially noted for thc
qualiıy ofits cherries.
in general though the Russian pcasant in the
forest zone had to look beyond merely cultivating
the land to reach a rcasonable standard of life. Not
oııly fish, that could be caught in winter too
through the ice, but game birds and animals wcre a

24

Above Tbe Aral Sea, which cuts
across the frontier between
Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, and
was once the fourth largest
inlaııd sea in the world, is now
shrink.ing at an alarming rate.
This beautiful saltwater sea.
once rich in shoals of the highly
valued sturgeon and other fish,
is not only suffering some of the
worst depradations of pollution
but has also, since the 1960s,
been drained of its waters for
irrigation purposes at such an
alarming rate that it has now
been reduced to half its original
volume. Its maJor northeastern
port, Aralsk, is now stranded
several miles inland from the Sea
itself.
Left Central Asian desen: the
Kara Kum {"Black Sands") in
Turkmenistan. The wind blows
the sand into shffting dunes
(barkans) up to 20 m higb
~ .-:-✓~
~· . :·~
• .,$,-~~· - .
... ,_ .il~~
p ·
~ ,·:..\
significant part of the family 's diet- unlike in
Western Europe, where laws against poaching
grew progressively more stringent. The forest
would also yield honey (wild or domestic), berrics,
nuts and mushrooms, all suitable for winter
storage. When distilling reached Russia in the !ate
16th century it served not only asa means for jolli-
fication but as a practical method of "preserving"
any surplus of grain. Hunting could be a more
seriously and lengthily organized activity, particu-
larly at the fringes of the coniferous forest. But any
excessive exploitation or considerable settled
population would drive the precious fur-bearing
mammals farther and farther away-where Rus-
sians found it worthwhile to pursue them over
thousands of kilometers, and eventually in the
18th century even across the Bering Straits into
Alaska.
in the often isolated Russian villages and the
farms that in some regions would house a large
extended family ali activities and cottage indus-
tries necessary for an almost completely self-suffi-
cient life-a school of self-reliance--would be
carried on: baking, brewing, preserving, '"'eaving
sandals and baskets fronı bası (usually of birch-
bark), simple metalworking and the production of
a vast number of articles from wood. Onlv the occa-
sional itinerant pedlar, selling fine cloth, some
metal items, woodcuts, icons and similar goods
would bring news from the outside world.
The Russian people
\ı\/ho then are these Russians, with v\'hose history
and culture this book is prinıarily concerned, and
THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE
.
...
..,.,. .
who from before the start of written records lived
in parts at least of what we now consider "Russia"?
How did a Russian state arise, from what origins,
and who organized it? Perhaps unexpec tedly, the
early medieval Russians themselves were inter-
ested in such problems, and these !ast three ques-
tions are precisely those that the author of the
Russian so-called Primary Chronicle, The Tale of
Bygone Years, set himself in the first words of his
great work (written probably in the years 1111-
13). The answers that he gives as his narrative
unfolds are sometimes purely speculative, some-
times unintentionally or deliberately misleading or
full of gaps. Yet more often they are generally con-
vincing, needing little revision or amplification
even in the light of ali the further knowledge
amassed in nearly 900 years, and are the product of
a recognizably keen historical intelligence.
To the Primary Chronicle as a source for historv
and as a literary work we shall return (see below
p. 40). Here we are concerned with its description of
the origin of the Russians. They are Slavs, related
to those who "over a long period settled beside the
Danube, where the Hungarian and Bulgarian lands
nov. 1 Jie." Some tribes scattered along what we now
regard as the wooded-steppe and mixed-forest
zones to the east, mostly in dcfined territories
along major river valleys. The ch ronicler several
times names these tribes. about a dozen, whose
territories correspond fairly closely to the princi-
palities of the subsequent Kievan federation, and
indeed are traceable in later administrative
divisions of Russia. He is much interested in thcir
customs and way of life, and as a good Kievan he
25
THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE
ESTONIA
,---./ j
MOLOOVA .,, . , ·,
Ch, UKRAINE )
'ı
'ı.
~r·
praises the mild and respectful habits of the
Polyane ıribe, ıhe Kievans' own ancestors. Though
di\'ided, they retain a unified language, Slavonic;
they "!ive separately," that is, independently,
though some pay tribute ıo the Khazar kingdom of
the steppe country (one tribe, the Vyatichi, was to
do so until the laıer 10th cenıury). The establish-
ment of a more-or-less unitarv Russian state took
place in ıhe mid-9ıh century ,vhen a group of Vik-
ings, headed by a certain Ryurik (a name perhaps
cognate with "Rorich" or "Roderick") assumed ıhe
go\'ernment of Novgorod and north Russia, appar-
ently by invitation, and his descendants extended
their power southwards.
The chronicler does not hazard a guess as to the
time scale O\'er which this migration or infiltration
of Slavs on to what is IlO\'\' Russia, and the coal-
escence of small clans into larger tribal units, took
place. There is very little clear evidence. Unequi-
\'OCal references to the Slavs on the territory of
~ouıhern Russia are found only from the mid-6ıh
century onwards, in the writings of Byzantine, and
subsequenıly alsa Arab, historians and geogra-
phers. it seems likely that a confederation of tribes
known as Antes or Antae, who dominated the Pon-
tic steppe (north of the Black Sea) as vassals of the
Sarmatians until crushed bv the Turkic Avars,
were wholly or partly Slavo~ic. So too must have
been the more northerly Venedi (from whose name
derive modern forms such as "Wendish"). it is
FranzJosef
C.md
quite possible that Slavonic tribes, probably
(though not certainly) direct forebears of the Rus-
sians, occupied parts of Southern Russia many
centuries before they were first mentioned in
written sources by outsiders; some archaeological
evidence points in this direction. To postulate a
long and formative period of contact and coopera-
tion with southern steppe peoples of lranian stock
(as does the much-read historian G. Vernadsky)
goes far beyond any ascertainable facts. Yet ıhere
remains one not easily explained phenomenon: the
indisputable existence in the early Kievan period
(lüth-llth centuries) ofa single Russian outpost
far to the southeast of any other Russian domains,
the small principality of Tmutorokan on the Strait
of Kerch, where the Sea of Azov debouches inıo the
Black Sea. Was its establishment merelv one of ıhe
consequences of ıhe miliıary expeditions of that
greatest of peripatetic Kievan warriors, Prince
Svyatoslav (96Os), or a unique, hence precious rem-
nanı of an early Russian presence south of the great
steppe, guarding the mouth of what an early Arab
writer calls the "Slav River" [ıhe Don)? Answers
do not come readily, but what is certain is that Kie-
van Russians considered this area an important
part of their realm, and devoted much ultimately
unsuccessful effort to retaining it.
Up to this point we have referred to the fore-
bears of the Russians as "Slavs," as members, that
is to say, of a larger unit of people, linguistically
l.anguages of Russia and
Northern Eurasia.
\Veli over 100 languages are
spoken in the region, the
majority of them by very sınai!
ethnic groups, and hence
unrecordable on any save the
most detailed maps. The greatest
divecsity is seen in the C,-.ucasus,
partıcularly in Dagestan on the
northeast f1ank of the range
Two great language families,
however, dominate the territory
in guestion. The larger is the
Slavonic. comprısing the dosely
related Russıan, Ukrainian and
Bclarusian. Native speakers of
Russian extend from the Gulf of
Finland to the Pacific;
nevertheless they are now less
than half the total populatıon.
The other familv is the Turkic,
most of whose iecognized
l,mguages and dialects are
inıercomprehensible: it exıends
from Azerbaijan to Yakutia.
Oıher non-lndo---European
languagc families indude the
Finnic to the north and the
Caucasian group to the south.

homogeneo us, who during the middle centuries of
the first millennium AD spread outwards from a
fairly confined territory somewhere in east-central
Europe to occupy, wholly or partially, a vast
swathe of the continent, extending to the Elbe in
Germany, ta the Adriatic, to the Baltic, to beyond
the Gulf of Corinth in mainland Greece, and into
the wooded steppe, and perhaps the true steppe
country eastv..•ards. It is clear that in the course of
this great migration, or rathcr these vvaves of
migration, the Slavs split into three main branches:
the Western, the Southern and the Eastern. Out of
these, over centuries, the present Slavonic nations
crystallized: Poles, Czechs and Slovaks (ali, as well
as some smaller groups, such as the Sorbs or Lusa-
tians of East Germany, West Slavs); Bulgarians,
Serbo-Croats and Slovenes (South Slavs); and the
Russians {subdividing only from the !ate Middle
Ages into Great Russians, Belarusians and Ukrai-
nians) or East Slavs. This Slavonic expansion is
poorly documented: evidently it did not have the
suddenness or the military character of the great
movements of barbarian peoples that alarmed and
Sakr'ıahn
sometimes threatened the Romans and Byzantines.
The Slavonic languages
The Slavs, their three major branches and their
subsequent subdivisions, are fundamentally to be
defined not territorially, racially or politically but
linguistically. The Slavonic group of languages
forms one of ıhe major components of the great
lndo-European language family, whose speakers
range from North lndia (Hindi and Urdu), through
Iran (Farsi) and parts of middle Asia (Tajik), to
Armenia, the Baltic (Lithuanian, Latvian) and vir-
tually the whole of Europe. The Slavonic group
stands on an equal footing with, for example, the
Romance languages (derived from Latin), the Ger-
manic (including English and the Scandinavian
lf'do.European{wıttıbranch) tongues) and also such solitary surviving represen-
0Be1aıı.Jsıan(Slavonıc) tatives of ancient groups as Greek. By tracing back
LJRussıan(Slavonıc) the evolution of the existing Slavonic languages
LJukraınıan(Slavonıc) and exırapolating to the period before documen-
0Latvıaıı.Lıttıuanıan(Baltıc) tation, linguists have without difficulty recon-
D Taıık. Ossetıan (lranıan) structed a plausible "Common Slavonic" language
Moloovan (Romaııce) from which the three major branches originated.
Amıenıan(other) Common Slavonic, incidentally, must have devel-
A/\aıc(v.ııtıbranctı)
oped in proximit y to the Bahic group (Latvian,
0Azen,Turkmen,Yakut(Turkıc) Lithuanian, the extinct Old Prussian) with which it
Qsastıkır,Tatar(Turkıc) shares several significant features. Certain non-
QKarakalpak.Kırghıı.Uzbek(Turkıc) lndo-European languages (Finnish, Estonian,
QKazakh(Turkıc) Magyar, Turkish, Tatar) have also adjoined the
LJ Morıgoı, Turıgus-Manchurıan. Tuvan (other) Slavs, apparently without affecting their linguistic
structures. Somc more conjectural detective work
Caucasıan
C]Abkhaz,Chechen
has attempted to fix a prehistoric " homeland" for
the Slavs, chiefly on the basis of ıhe distribution of
D □agestanilanguages
planb that either have, or have not, Slavonic
0Georgıan
names: thus the word for "beech-tree" is not
Uralıc (Frınıc Ugrıc & Samoyedıc branctıes)
native in any Slavonic language. This homeland
QEs1onıan. Kareban . Komı.lapp.Nenlsy
would appear to be somewhere in east-central
Pa'eo-Sibenan
Europe, perhaps around the upper Vistula (Wisla)
Chukchı. Gılyak, Koryak
in modern Poland. But even the proto-S lav'.'t pre-
[Z;]ıınrıhabtedorsparselypopulated sumab]y came from ~omewhere. Problems con-
nected with the spread of the Indo-European
scaıe 136000000 peoples are highly contentious. A modern theory.
propounded b\' the archaeologist Colin Renfrew,
sees thc Indo:Europeans as the bearer,;; of the
settled agriculıural way of life that during the Neo-
lithic ,uperseded hunting and gathering over most
THE LAND A~D THE PEOPL E
of Europe, spreading in waves from eastern Anato-
lia. it is a concept of particular interest in a Russian
context, but it is largely untested and has been
vigorously disputed.
The Indo-European language family overall has
some rather distinctive characteristics that set it
apart on the world linguistic scene: a highly devel-
oped grammaıical ,ystem whereby discrete
v,.ıords ~nouns, verbs, adjectives and pronouns
undergo a series of systematic changes (usually to
their endings) to indicate their "agreement" with
other word,;; and / or their semantic function \Vithin
the sentence; a pervasive and apparently arbitrary
attribution of ıhe category of "gender" ta nouns:
an elaborate set of verb forms distinguishing the
manner (usually temporal) of an action. Modern
lndo-European language, have mostly, in the
course of their evolution, shed parts of this compli-
catcd ·web of interconnections- English more than
any. The Slavonic languages, by contrast, have
retained a remarkable amount of the pristine gram-
matical svstem. A most characteristic and interest-
ing feat,:;re that distinguishes them from other
modern European languages b their virtual
abandonment of fine temporal distinctions through
the tense of verbs (as in modern English and
French) in favor ofa different category, "aspect,"
based on the concept of the duration or completion
of an action. Tt is not so many years since whole
theories on the nature ofthe "Slav soul" used to be
propounded on ıhe basis of this rather fundamen-
tal grammatical point.
The modern Russian language, even after more
than a millennium of separate development, is not
remote from the other Slavonic languages either
phonetically, grammatically or (with reservations)
in vocabulary. These languages are much closer to
each other than, far exaınple, even English is to
Duıch: it is probably as easy far one Slav to be
understood in another's language as, say, for an
ltalian in Spain or a Dane in Norway. The aware-
ness of this communality has always been
important to Slavonic peoples, though it has not
always led ta undying affection between theın. A
certain inler-Slav solidarity has probably been fos-
tered through the ages by a lurking sense of being,
collectively, "outsiders" on the European scene,
seldom if ever among the cultural or political
leaders, aware since the davs of the Germanic
Ottonian em pire in the IOth ., century of the cov-
etous eyes of powerful neighbors. Sense of linguis-
tic community is incorporated in the very word
"Slav," which is cognate with slovo, \'\'Ord: its deriv-
atives are found in the Slovenes who live at the
head of the Adriatic Sea and, at the opposite corner
of the Slav world , the sloııenv who were the north-
ernmost of the original Ru,;;sia-n tribes, in the
hinterland of Novgorod. Conyer,;;ely, nemets, non-
understandable, ·was and is the general Slav dcsig-
nation for "German."
The coming of literacy to the Slan, and \\'İth it
the development ofa distinctive alphabet, was an
event of prime historical importance to the Sla\'S as
a whole rather than merelv to the one nation in
which it took place. This n~tion was Greatcr !\1ora-
via, in the 9th century the mo,ı po\\'erful and be,ı­
organizcd Slav state that had e\'er existed,
occupying at its maximum all modern Slovakia and
the Czech Republic, most of what is nm\· Hungary,
THE LAND AND THJ:, PEOPLE

)arge parı, of Germany, Austria and Poland. it was ;,(}O , 15, 20' 25'
soon to succumb to the Magyar invasion of the
early 10th century and to disinıegrate. in the mid-
NORWAy <.
_J
dle of ıhc century before, however, the Moravian
princes made a momentous choice: to join the
Christian world and to scek teachers and books
from ıhe Byzantine emperor. The Russian Primary
.o,ı,)
J
1
SWE,DEN

I
Chronicler (working doubtless from a Moravian
,ource) puts ıhese words into their mouths: "Our
nation is baptized and yet we have no teacher. We
understand neither Greek nor Latin ... we do not
understand written characters nor their meaning:
therefore send us teachers who can make known
the words of the Scriptures and their sense." The
Emperor Michael III seni to Thessaloniki, the sec-
ond city of the Greek world, a point at which the
Greek and Slav worlds meet. Two scholarly broth-
ers, Constantinc (later, as a monk, called Cyril) and
Methodiu~, werc dispatched with assistants as mis-
sionaries, since they were bilingual in Slavonic and
Greek. An ambitious and speedy program of bibli-
cal and liturgical translation was put under way,
traditionally starting at the first phrase of
St John's Gospel, "in the beginning was the
Word ... " Use of the vernacular for the religious
purposes of a newly converted nation was extra-
ordinary, and remained high in the consciousness
of ali Orthodox Slavs through the Middle Ages.
Constantine-Cyril devised an alphabet for the
new literat ure of his Slav converts. The curious
thing is that we do not know for certain what
alphabet that was. The Cyrillic alphabet, which in
several variants is uscd in the Orthodox Slav coun-
tries to this day, is named after him. it is based
closely on the Greek alphabet, with a dozen or so
(the number has varied through time and accord- BLA CK I SEA
ing to location) additional letters invented to
represent Slavonic sounds not found in Greek.
Some of the earliest Slav manuscripts to come
down to us are in Cyrillic (particularly those from scale1:15250000
Russia); others however use the very strange serip! o TURKE Y,,,ıııef
known as Glagolitic, and it is this that many
scholars believe St Cyril to have invented. A few of
, --,,.,-~----+--"'·""'""""'•-'"-'---+---
its letters seem to have cursive Greek or Hebrew Though the alphabet was the most obvious last- Thc Slavo n ic lan g u agc famil y.
models, some may have been adapted from medi- ing resulı of the Cyrillo-Methodian mission far the The Slavonic languagcs form one
of the major families within the
eval diacritics, but most are novel and elaborate Russians and other Orthodox Slavs, there was, and Jndo-European group. In
creations. It is cumbersome to write and could have remains to the present, a profounder legacy affect- prchistoric times a proto-
been first devised as a deliberately obscure ing the very character of their language. The mis- Slavonic tongue, spoken
somewhere in east---central
"secret" script. Glagolitic soon became obsolete in sionaries used for their translations-and soon, Europe, divided into Eastern,
most of the Slav world, but lingered on in Croatia, original compositions-the language they them- Western and Southern branches,
as the Slavs bcgan their gradual
as a legacy, it seems, of the Moravian mission, till selves spoke: the South Slavonic dialect of the hin- cxpansion in these directions.
modern times. ıerland of Thessaloniki- hence a type of Old Out ol these braııches grew the
Cyrillic on Russian soil, was written in the early Bulgarian, to which historians have given the name existing Slavonic languages,
differentiating themselves
Middle Ages in the beautifully clear-cut ustav "Old Church Slavonic." The name is perhaps rather gradually from .ıbout I 100 to
(majuscule). There later developed a succession of misleading: although in the circumstances of 500 ycars ago: the Wcstern in
cursive forms that get ever harder for the non-spe- medieval society far the larger part of written liter- Poland, the Czech Republic,
Slovakia and parts of eastcrn
cialist to read. A fi.ne tradiüon of manuscript illu- ature was naturally religious in nature, this was by Gcrmany; the Southern in thc
mination existed in Russia from the l lth century to no means exclusively a church language, but a lan- Balkans; the Eastern in Russi.ı,
Bclarus and Ukraine.
the 16th, with its culminating moment around guage for "high culture" in general; nar is it exclu-
1400. From the mid-16th century printed books sively "old," since it has remained, even if not
appear in Russia, though few in number until the spoken save for ritual purposes, a living force
end of the 17th century. Two moments of change through the centuries. it was the first multinational
affected the Russian Cyrillic alphabet, coinciding literary language of Europe apart from the ancient
with general political upheavals: in ıhe early 18th Greek and Latin, the first in European history to be
century under Peter ıhe Great the forms of letters deliberately so created, a point that many Slavonic
were simplified and regularized, while some appro- writers were to cite with pride. As an international
priate only to Greek were removed; further redun- language it continued to be understood by Slavs
dant letters were excised in 1918, leaving us with while their nations and their vernacu lar tongues
ıhe alphabet in general use today. developed away from each other, and its use even

spread to certain non-Slavs, most notably the
Romanians . it is to this day the language of the
Orthodox Church li turgy.
T here are two main factors that make this of
more tha n merely historical or ecclesiastical
interest . First, the missionaries, in order to trans-
late books of the New Testament and other spiri-
tual works, had to devise an entire abstract
vocabulary (mostly from Slavonic roots, following
to so me extent Greek patterns of vımrd formation).
Thus they opened the door for the enrichment of
simple vernac ular tongues with a vvhole new voca-
bulary of intellectual concepts. Secondly, because
the Slavonic languages have remained fairly
close-for a long time intercomprehensible,
despite t heir separate development- Old Church
Slavonic has never been sensed as "alien," hardly
indeed as a separate language: rather as an arc haic,
] 1 time-honored, solemn, abstract or rhetorical
SIA
version of one's spoken tongue. A good deal of Old
osarntoıı Church Slavonic vocabulary remains identical \'\'İth
that of modern Russian; where there are differ-
ences, including in grammar, they are often of a
------ı-------- simple and consistent nature. There is thus a radi-
wesıs ıaıroıııc l. KAZAKH· cal difference between the role of "Slavonicisms" in
c:::Jc,ecı, ( sTAN Russian and that of "Latinisms" in English and
·1 other Northern European languages, which in
LJ""''" 'i.,-."-,. other respects is a comparable case.
c:::Jsıo"'"""
IIII Sortıian :::> Modern Russian thus has innu merable "doub-
• lets" - words recognizably similar, but of East Sla-
East Slavonic
c::JBelarus
vonic (Russian) and Old Church Slavonic origin
respectively, never merely synonymous but
CJ Great Russıan 7 --
45'
carrying greater or lesser differences in meaning, in
CJUkraınian
usage or in stylistic "load." An interesting, stili
SoothSlavonic "productive" Old Church Slavonic element in Rus-
C J Bulgarian sian, known to everyone, is the termination -grad
'-\.;; CJ Macedonian indicating a city (as in VolgogradJ; the Russian
CJSert»Croatıan equivalent is gorod, tov,m. A similar phonetic alter-
1111 SJoveni::ın ~ -"ı nation affects the personal name "Vladimir," whose
Old Russian (and modern Ukrainian) equivalent is
r--,, appro:omate lim it o! S lavonıc­
'--J spealı.mg areas, aoo "Volodimir," from ,,v hich is derived the modern
r--,, approxımaıe l imıtot s ıavonıc­
"familiar" form "\'olodya." A characteristic Old
"--' spea kı f'l!'.I areas. 1500
Church Slavonic abstract formation is the well-
known word glasnost, relating to Russian golos,
voice. Throughout its history the Russian literary
language has, with varying degrees of self- aware-
ness and recognizability, mixed native Russian and
Old Church Slavonic elements; in the mid-l 8th cen-
tury a consistent attempt was made to codify these
variables in terms of "high," " middle" and "low"
styles-a n attempt that soon broke down as too
unsubtle a rigidification of an infinitely mobile
system.
Russian has absorbed other outside linguistic
influences besides those from Slavonic over its long
history. To the earliest neigh boring peoples of the
Slavs in general and the Russians in particular
Germans in the west, Iranians in the southeast ,
Finnic peoples in the northern forests, even Norse
Vikings who provided early Russia's rulers only
a tiny handful of words can be attributed. Much
more significant are the Turkic elements that
arrived partly through the Tatar invasion and
period ofrule (c. 1240- 1480), partly with the open-
ing-up of routes to the East in the 16th century.
But even these \vere limited to certain areas of
vocabulary, mostly to do with officialdom and
trade. New techniques and cultural terms from
Western European languages, often through the
THE LAND AND THE PEOPL C
intermediary of Polish, entered Russian in some
quantity during the 17th ccntury. With Peter the
Great's deliberate reorientation of Russia towards
the West after 1698 this trickle became a flood.
Naval and military terms, titles, even place names
were borrowed (often in rough-and-ready trans-
literation) from Dutch, German and English. As the
century progressed French- and Latin-based words
and expressions became very numerous, and more
significantly much vvord formation and cvcn
syntax vvas produced with Slavonic word-roots on
Western patterns (so-called "calques"). Both
calq ues of this kind and transliterated words
(generally, but not always, adapted to the exigen-
cies of Russian grammar) have entered the language
in vast numbers during the !ast century. The
Western visitor to modern Russia is often surprised
an d pleased to find that a mere ability to decipher
the Cyrillic alphabet (a skili quickly acquired) is
enough to reveal that large numbers of words in
street signs, newspaper headlines and elsewhere
are familiar friends from the European "inter-
national" vocabulary.
Russia, like any long-established rural society,
has plenty of dialect differentiation at village !eve!:
on a larger scaie, however, the language is remark-
ably uniform over its vast range (far more so, for
example, than English, German or lta;ian).
Probably the early mobi!ity of the Russian popu-
lation (even, until the !ate 18th century, ofthe aris-
tocracy) has been a contributory factor in this.
Basically there are two main Russian dialects-
"northern" and "southern"-that come together,
or overlap, in a narrow mixed "central" belt. The
most general and obvious differences concern the
pronunciation of vowels and certain consonants:
the central dialect, which is the basis of modern
standard Russian, takes some features from each.
it would be neat if the dialect distinction corres-
ponded with the forest/steppe divide: to some
extent it does, with the central belt (that includes
Moscow and St Petersburg) representing the mixed
forest, but in fact the dialect division slopes south-
wards as it goes further east, thus giving a much
larger (though less thickly populated) area, includ-
ing most of the Volga basin and Siberia, to the
northern division. The southern dialects not sur-
prisingly share some features with the Ukrainian
language, to which they are transitional. Until the
late Middle Ages, indeed, what were to become
Muscovite (or "Great") Russian, Ukrainian and
Belarusian \vere the fundamental dialect divisions
of Russian (or East Slavonic): differentiation into
what are now regarded as separate languages came
vı.ıith the political division of Russia after the Tatar
conquest and consequent absorption of L'kraine
and Belarus into the Polish-Lithuanian state. A
form of early Belarusian was in fact the chancery
language of the medie,·al Lithuanian principality.
But their status as independent languages was
recognized in the case of modern Ukrainian and
Belarusian only with their dewlopment of self-
sufficient literatures and the g eneral rise of nation-
alistic awareness in the early 19th cen tury, and \'\'a~..
gi\·en official recognition only after the Revolutkn.
Nane of these three great branches of the ::=ast
Slavonic peoples can !ay exclusi,·e daim to the Old
Russian heritage, as their propagandists might
energetically try to do so.
29
Scythian Gold

Scvthıan gold was the stuff of Grcck legend. The

st,;rv of Ja,on and the Argonauts told how Greek
adventurers sailed the ship Argo from Jolcos in Thes-
saly to the land of Colchis at the far eastern end of the
Hlack ~ca in order ta obtain a fabulous golden fleece.
J\1odern rcscarches, including a voyage from north-
crn Grcece ta ıhe republic of Georgia in a replica
ofa Hronze Age ship, have indicated a core of possi-
ble historical truth in the legend. Interestingly, con-
temporary Geurgian prospectors, searching for
alluvial gold in the rivers of the north Caucasus,
know an extraction technique using a sheepskin ta
trap thc minute granules as they are washed
downstream.
The Scythians appear above the horizon of history
with the information recorded by the Greek historian
and traveler Herodotus, writi ng in the mid-5th
century BC. Herodotus gives an especially graphic
account of the funeral ceremonies conducted by the
Scythians far their dead kings, and archaeological
investigation of the huge mounds raised over their
grayes has corroborated much of his narrative. Early
Scythian barrow (kurgan) burials occur particularly
in the Kuban steppe north of the Caucasus; later ones
are concentrated in the Crimea and along the lower
reaches of the Dnieper in the Ukraine. This lası area
became the heartland of a Scythian kingdom that
reached its peak in the 4th century BC defying even
Alexander the Great, before being gradually overrun
bv Sarmatian nomads .
., Scythian art evolved in a distinctive style suited ta
the circumstances of these warlike nomads. Favored
motifs \'\·ere animals-both real and fantastic-that
symbolized strength, speed and ferocity. Perhaps the
most popular were griffins, fabulous creatures of
Asiatic folklore, whose mythical role was as guar-
dians of gold mines and treasure. The animals' out-
lines were often grotesquely contorted and parts of
one animal merged with another to create weird
imaginary beasts, as in the case of the griffin which
combined the head and wings of an eagle with the
body ofa lion. This so-called Scythian Animal Style
showed both Near Eastern and, laıer, Greek
influences.

Rıght A shıeld plaque in thc

shape nf a recumbcnt :ı.tag lrom a
4th-cı:ntury bunal at Kul Oba,
near Kerch, ırı the Crimea. Tht:
outlint: of thc stylized sta,g ı.,
:ı.tron_~lv rcmını<ıcent of .-ı muçh
t·arlkr Sı.:ythian shit:ld plaqut·
(known a<, thc Ko<;.tromskava
stag from ıt:,, fınd ,;pot ın a ..ate
.,th-century e_rave in the Kuhan
area) and dt>mon<,trate<ı the
~taying powt:r of fdvort:d motı .,
in ~cythian Anıma! \tvk. Thl·
anımJ.h un thc '>t.ıf'> body arc
hu\.\c\'cr much morc rt·ali:ı.tic, in
.:ı ">tyk showing Greek ınflm.·nçe

30
 SCYTHIAN GOLD

Above A gold plaque of the 4th

century sc depicts two Scythians
drinking from the same rhyton
(cup) to confirm an oath of blood
brotherhood. The participants in
the ritual slashed their fingers to
draw blood, which thev
collected in a vessel filİed with
wine; they then drank the

;!;~t1 ~~\j~~~ it~c;t~i:n art,

and several stories attest the
seriousness ofthe obligations
imposed by ritual brotherhCXJd.

Opposite top Two Scythian

nobles are depicted on the side
ofa silver parcel-gilt ritual bowl.
Despite the apparently rela:ıced
poses, both have weapons ready
to hand: the man on the left
casually rests his hand over his
gorytus (case for bow and
arrows}: the man on the right
seems to be reaching for his
sword.

Opposıte cerıter This comb (early

4th century Be) was found in the
Solokha barrow in the Ukraine.

~~:to~~~~:k:ı°~;t~~ :c~~ian
soldier, is poised to thrust his
spear at an unhorsed opponent.

Left A masterpiece of
Greco-Scythian goldsmithing of
the 4th century BC, this pectoral
was discovered in a mound
south of Dnepropetronk in
1971. Its outer register depıcts
anımals in theır wıld and
ferocious aspecL pairs of griffıns
attack horses, lions maul a stag
anda boar while hounds pursue
hares The inner register sho\, s
animals beautifully observed ın
their domestıcated roles, with a
mare suckling her foal anda cow
her calf. One ofthe four human
figures mılks a ewe; another
holds an amphora. possibly
contaınıng milk from the ewc on
her right in ıhe center two men
make .ı sheepskın shırt; despite
their domestıc preoaupation
their ı,orvtı arc close
bv remınders ofthe Stvthı.ıns
fimed and fearcd proweSs as
equestrıan archers.

;ı
The Peoples of the Steppe

The earliest humarı inhabitants of the steppe were Uft A leather applique
decoration from a saddle, found
already advancing over the land before the lası Jce in a Sth-century sc barrow grave
Age. Paleolithic and Neolithic remains are widely dis- at Pazyry k. Tbe contorted
tributed across Russia and its neighoring republics. silhouettes ofthe deer and its
att.acker are typical of the
As the Neolithic gave way to the Bronze Age, agricul- vigorous, stylized form of
ture became widespread in the chernozem zone. The nornadic art that reacbed its
best-known culture of this period (4th-3rd millennia apogee in Scythian Animal Style.
sc) is named after Tripolye, south of Kyyiv (Kiev); its
siıes have yielded the earliest evidence for the
domestication of the horse--probably at first for meal.
The use of horses for riding, evident on the steppe
from the !ate 2nd millennium BC, brought about the
rise of societies based on mounted nomadism. The
nomads' mobility gave them a priceless advantage
over the settled farmers whom they could raid
without fear of retaliation. The ınigratory pressure of
the nomads was remarked (c.675 BC) by the earliest
known Greek to penetrate the steppe country, Aris-
teas of Proconnesus, who observed that tlıe peoples
there "continually encroached on their neighbors."
Cultural continuities can be traced right across ıhe
steppe through the different nomadic peoples, what-
ever their ethnic origins. At the opposite end of the
Scythian world, the graves (5th-3rd centuries Be) at
Pazyryk, preserved by permafrost in the Altay
mounta.ins in 1,,,•estern Siberia, contained items that
corroborate Herodotus' description of the Scythians.

Lefı A finıa l in the shape ofa
griffin's head; ıt holds the head
ofa deer in its beak. Finials with
animal motifs like these were
common in the ancient steppe
cultures and may represent elan
totems.
Rıghı A leather flask from
Pazyryk. it is made of four
pieces of leather stıtched
togeı:her with sınews and ıs
decorated with applique work,
alsa of leather. The stylized
pl.mt motif indicates the flask's
use asa container for herbs or
seeds.
Above A swan worked in felt. A
group of these birds, whose
design strongly suggests Chinese
influence, formed part of the
applique decoration of the
funeral cart cover. The cart was
disrnantled and buried with the
occupants of the grave.
Although robbed in antiquıty of
any precious metals, the
ice-filled PazyrJk tombs have
preserved remarkable textile
remnants showing influences
from both China and Iran,
including by far the oldest
known pile carpet.
Above A man's headdress made
of felt over whkh a fine laver of
leather has been applied. A.
leather piping strengıhens ıhe
edges and an ornament of thick
leather has been Se"\\n to the
crown. Both practical and
decorative, beaddresses of
sirnilar shape, with long side
flaps, are stili in use against the
biting cold ofthe steppe; the felt
would alsa have offered some
protection against bead ,,·ounds
in battle.

32
PARTTWO
HISTORY
RUS
Thc carly tribes
Documentation of the inhabitants of the land that
İ!-ı now Rus~ia bcgins with Herodotus in the 5th
ccntury sc . He and subsequent ancient historians
were interested in what lay north of the Black Sea
littoral on which there wcre alrcady long-estab-
lishcd Greek colonies. The people bcyond were the
~cythians, nomads who had conqucred the stcppe
country apparently around 700 BC and had in part
scttled along the great river valleys. They grew
grain which they exported, along with slaves, wax
and other commodities, to the Greek colonies.
They, ar at least their ruling class, were of Iranian
stock, and therefore in Grcck cyes barbarians, but
over the course of several centuries they estab-
lishcd a modus vivendi with the Greeks, in which
Scythians became partially Hellenized. The beauti-
fully made grave goods (mostly objccts of personal
adornment) that have been found in the numerous
burial mounds of the steppe country testify ta this
mixcd culturc. The cultural mingling and the trad-
ing connections persisted when the Scythians were
displaced by another Tranian nomadic people, the
Sarmatians, around 200 BC. Their federation of
tribes eventually seems ta have included a strong
Slavonic element, though the detailed history is
uncertain.
From the 3rd century AD, a disturbed period in
the history of the south Russian lands ensues. In
Obolensky's words : "the picture we obtain from
the ,-v ritten sources is that of a bewildering
procession of tribes and nations which every fevv
centuries succeed each other on the steppes, onJy
to sweep each other off the map." (Some were ta
settle permanently elsewhere than in the Russian
steppe: there are stili Avars in the Caucasus,
Magyars in Hungary, Turks in many parts of the
Eurasian landmass.) It is best, perhaps, to dis-
tinguish the successive broad groupings of peoples
involved. (l) in the early 3rd century an eastern
branch of t he Germanic speakers, the Goths,
migrated southeastwards to the Black Sea coast,
and some settled there. {Others moved westward ta
menace the Eastern Roman Empire, overwhelming
the Emperor Valens in 378 near Adrianople.) Thcre
was stili a residual Gothic population in the Crimea
till recent times. (2) The Huns, who movcd across
the steppe and deep into Europe in the 4th ta 5th
centuries, achieving under Attila a particular repu-
tation far ferocity, are hard ta categorize ethni-
cally: they seem to have included Turkic, Mango]
and Finno-Ugrian elements. (3) Thereafter, with the
solitary exception of the Finno-Ugrian Magyars in
the 9th century, whose language is distantly related
ta Finnish and Estonian, ali invaders from the east
were Turkic peoples. Their differing fates
depended on where, how and for how long they
succeeded in turning from a mobile to a settled
existence.
Early successors to the Huns were the Bulgars,
,,v hose territories su bsequently split into two parts,
14
quitc remote from each other. The better-known
group followcd the Black Sea coast ta modern Bul-
garia, where in the 7th century they formed a war-
rior elite amid the recently settled South Slavs. The
resulting ethnic mix produced a powerful Balkan
state, Slav-speaking within a few generations,
sometimes an ally but more often an irritating rival
ta the By zantines right up to the Ottoman conquest
at the end of the 14th ccntury. This Bulgaria was
Christianized in the 9th century by followers of
Cyril and Methodius, an event that had an impact
on the early Russian state, which was in close con-
tact with its South Slav neighbors. The other "Bul-
garia" was established in what is now east-central
Russia, at the very important junction of water-
ways where the Kama nows into the middle Volga.
Its capital was a city not far from modern Kazan
known as Great Bulgar. it too survived with
vicissitudes until the ]ate Middle Ages. Unlike
their cousins in the Balkans, these Bulgars con-
verted ta Jslam at an early date and remained far
centuries the only ]slamic peoplc .in direct contact
with the Russians.
Meanwhile another Turkic people with Mango!
admixture, the Avars, occupied the Pontic steppe
and Danube valley from the mid-6th century,
before collapsing suddenly two-and-a-half
centuries later. They came within the Russian
Primary Chronicler's horizon of historical con-
sciousness, and he quotes as a proverb the phrase
"disappeared like the Obry (Avars)." Their eclipse
was due ta the rise of yet another Turkic people:
the Khazars. The Khazar state, to which many of
their neighbors, including the Volga Bulgars and
some East Slavonic tribes, were tributary, was cen-
tered on cities at the lower reaches of the Volga
(itil), of the Don (Sarkel) and of the River Terek at
its approach to the Caspian Sea (Samandar). They
showed a strong instinct for geopolitics. Despite an
expanse of desert at the center of their territory,
agriculturally productive river valleys threadcd
their way through it, and these were also among
the most vital trade routes .in the Near East. The
ancient portage between the Volga and the Don,
which approach to within 60 kilometers of each
other near modern Volgograd, was theirs; sa was
the whole "isthmus" between the Caspian and
Black Sea, and the Kuban steppe ta the north ofthe
Caucasus.
This region was of great strategic significance, as
the Byzantines (who tried ta keep on good terms
with the Khazars) well understood. it was the Kha-
zars who in the 8th century suffered and blunted
the eastern thrust of the two-pronged Aralı Islamic
assault on Europe (the simultaneous westward
invasion through Spain met with more success).
The Khazars brought peace, stability, an "inter-
national" outlook and religious tolerance. The !ast
point brings us to the unique feature of the Khazar
state. When, probably in the 9th century, its ruling
class decided ta adopt one of the world's developed
Abot·e This gold coin, carrying
an imagc ofa bearded satyr,
comes from the ancient city of
Panticapaeum, on the site of
modern Kerch, and dates from
about '360 to '340 BC. Kerch
commanded the "Cimmerian
Bosphorus." a narrow waterway
giving access to the Sea of Azov,
the mouth ofthe River Don and
the Scythian-dominated steppe.
Greek colonies on the Black
Sea- trading in corn, slaves,
gold and uther commodities-
date back to preclassical times.
Kerch is on the Crimea, wlıich
remained a Greek outpost till the
late Byzantine period; opposite it
the early Russian principality of
Tmutorokan flourished in the
10th and 11th centuries.
Right: Eastcrn Eurupe and the
Byzantine world in the 10th
centu r y.
A number of powcrs, mainly of
Turkic origin. successively
established themselves along the
steppe belt that separated Kievan
Rus from the Byzantine empire.
The largest and most powerful
was Khazaria, whtch controlled
the impartant Don-Volga trade
route and the sırategk neck of
land north of the Caucasus.
The Byzantines, always
diplomatically astute, took carc
to maintain good relations with
ıhe Khazars. Fora long time the
Khazacs brnught peace and
stability to the region, but in the
960s Prince Svyatoslav of Kiev
challenged the Khazars' right to
tribute from some East Slav
tribes. His successful campaıgns
through Khazaria and later
westwards against the Danubıan
Bulgars brought huge swathes of
land into his realm. His removal
ofthe Hussian capital
southwards to Pereyaslavets
unncrved the Byzantines who
forced him to retire to Kiev; en
route he was ambushcd on thc
Dnieper and killed by stcppe
nomads.
 Rt:S
20• 30
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BA L TIC
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o.,
ı
KIEVAN RUS
j

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BLACK SEA
BULGARIA

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( E AST E RN ROMAN EMPIRE)
'-< L T.,:
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==3 ~~ 7r•ned tıy "-evıtn Rus

CJ~re~r~~~yıantne
Rhodes CJ K,eııan rlus.c960
--, Crete C J Byıantıne empore c 960 C) ~~~ '~ :;ıı:: 35
scale 1.12200000
o
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Cyprus
CJKhazarıa c960 - - -~boı.ını:lary
encl10thceı,tı.,ry

Svyaıosla,•s campaıgn rouıe Bu,g.ırs tnbeorpeople

300m,
MEDITERRANE~N SE4 O town sacked try 511')'3loslav tra:lerouıe

re1igions, it was to neither of the obvious alterna-
t ives-Christianity or Islam- that it turned, but to
Judaism: thc only such conversion ofa non-Jewish
nation in history. Various historians, including
Art h ur Koestler, have speculated ıha! the large
Je,,vish population of Eastern Europe in later
centuries was partly a legacy from Khazaria.
By the 9th century the circumstances were right
for ıh e coa!escence and political development of
the East Slav tribes into a grcat nation: Kicvan Rus-
sia. This happened within a triangle of disparate
cultural-political forces, to each of which the nas-
cent East Slav nation reacted differently. The
southeastern corner of this triangle was rcpre-
sented by the Khazars. Thcir pax Kha:arica stabil-
ized the turbulent steppe frontier, but their
imposition of tribute and controls on trade was evi-
dently resented by ıhe Slavs. The southwestern
corner was representcd by thc Byzantinc Empire,
which from the early 9th to the mid-1 lth cenıury
was at the height of its early-medieval glory.
Constantinople, its capital, was more than just ıhe
major entrepôt of east Mcditcrranean trade: it was
the greatest ciıy of the world, the metropolis of
Christianity, where, if anyw herc, it was thought
that God's kingdom on earth might be realizcd .

35
kUS

o-,, CJ ~;;~,~1~~!,,~r,~·a,ar,gıarı
Fınns
Fınrn trıbeorpeople

ti'., ~ ~~~!~~,., .. rıç

~,;,...,., - rrıaıntraı:leroute
•riOıngCOfl"MOO~oe-s rra r aı-ea

Russia and the Vikings.

The amazing expansionist urge
■ ruo that led the Scandinavian
peoples (Vikings) in the 9th and
10th centuries to colonize many
• tıeeswaı
parts of northern and western
• aırter Europe had profound effects too
in eastern Europe. By the early

. ,.
a••ecMrotsıa,eıraııe
mıgra•,oroııreFınns
rr.ıgratoroftneMagfill'S
scale 1 17 820 000
50
9th century adventurers from
Sweden had crossed the Baltic in
search of trade routes first to
Samarkand and China (via ıhe
Volga), then to the Byzantine
empire (via the Dnieper),
exploiting too the resources of
the northern lands through
whkh they passed (amber.
honey. beeswax, slaves, fursJ.
The number of Viking settlers
(known to the Russians and
ıoo,e
Greeks as ·•varangians") seems
not to have been large, and
,50m relations with the loca! Slav and
Finnic peoples were usually
cooperative.
The descendants of the
semilegendary Ryurik
established themselves as the
ruling dynasty ofa more--or-less
unifıed Rus fırst at Novgorod
(860s); by 900 the capital had
shifted southwards to Kiev
Though the Ryurikids and their
retainers (druzhina) were soon
Slavicized, contacts with
Scandinavia persisted until the
12th century, while
intermarriage with the royal
houses of central and western
Europe was normal. The career

•• ofa mid-1 lth-century Viking,

Harold Hardradi, could thus
embrace service in the imperial
CAUCASUS
MOUN•AINS bodyguard at Constantinople
and marriage to the daughter of
Yaroslavl the Wise as wcil as an
attempt to seize the throne of
England.
AEGE-4N
BYZANTINE EMPll!E
SEA ıo Norttr Alntaı. ltaly -. Sa~•• ,ı w.
F'ff,pc•arıdS,,aın ıo aagııoa<1 ..,dlnd ı a

This was the grcat age of Byzantium's missionary
endeavor, closely linked with diplomatic and mili-
tary efforts to secure its northern frontier. Trade,
religion and politics brought the early Russians
into the orbit of Byzantine interest. The Russians
alarmed the Byzantines with a series of freebooting
raids on the em pire and the City itself from the 9th
to the 11th century, but more constructively they
established the famous trade route down the River
Dnieper and thence to Constantinople. it is memor-
ably described by Emperor Constantine Porphyro-
genitus of Byzantium in the mid-!Oth century, and
from a different perspective in the Russian Primary
Chronicle.
The coming of the Vikings
The third corncr of the triangle was occupied by the
Vikings to the north and northwest. The history of
their penetration into Russia is unclear and contro-
versial. Vikings (in Russian sources "Varan-
gians" - cam pare Norse Vaeringjar and Anglo-
Saxon waerengs, wanderers) had crossed the Baltic
by the start of the 9th century, and perhaps much
earlier: what they were after was trade. A famous
passage in the Russian Primary Chronicle describes
their trade route to Constantinople: "There was a
way from the Vikings to the Greeks ... " This way
led from the Gulf of Finland, up the short River
Neva to Lake Ladoga, south along the Volkhov to
Novgorod and Lake limen, up the Lovat to the Val-
day Hills, across a portage to the headwaters of the
Dnieper (flowing from the grcat source of Russian
rivers, the Okovsky Forest), down the Dnieper to
the site of Kiev. Constantine Porphyrogenitus
continues from this point: assemb1ing at Kiev, the
flotilla took the Dnieper downstream in the high
water after the spring thaw; where the river breaks
through an outcrop of metamorphic rocks in the
southern Ukraine a series of rapids had to be cir-
cumvented; reassembling at an island, the flotilla
passed down the Black Sea coast to the "Great
City" of Constantinople (to the Vikings "Mikla-
garth," to the Slavs "Tsargrad," City of the
Emperor). How they gol back, upstream, is passed
over in silence. in Constantinople they sold their
cargoes of furs, wax, honey, amber and slaves.

l6

There is someth ing rather strange abo u ı the
geography of this greaı Viking trade route. If the
Vikings simply w anted to get from Scandinavia to
Byzantium, it is scarcely credible they should add
many hund red s of kilometers to their journey by
going via the Gu lf of Finland. The Vikings, no fools
when it came to orientaling themselves, can only
have established a route along \he Neva in conse-
quence of already having depoıs set up in thal
area : cerıainl y at Aldeigjuborg (Russian Ladoga),
probably already at Novgorod and Staraya Russa
(at the other end of Lake limen). it is clear, in facı,
that the first sorties of the Vikings on the farther
shores of ıhe Baltic led them not south, but east-
wards: to the upper Volga, through Bulgar and
Khazar territory, to the Caspian. The natura!
magnet in that part of the world was the Islamic
c a liphaıe, whose center of gra vity had shifted eası,
to the newly founded capital cily of Baghdad, in
t he early 8th century. The most obvious route from
the Gulf of Finland ta the Volga passed via Lakes
Lad oga and Onega, the White Lake (Beloozero) and
the Sheksna; almost as good (though by more tur-
bulent rivers) is the more southerly route via Nov-
gorod, then either the River Msta and the portage
at Vyshniy-Volochek to the Tvertsa, or through
Lake Seliger. The northern route would scarcely, if
at ali, pass through territory then inhabited by
Slavs; the southern route impinged upon the land
of the Sloveny.
The Viking turn t a the sout h is certainly bound
up with the development of Novgorod (literally,
"New Town") as a stro ngpoint and trading post .
There is na record of bloodshed and terror, and it
seems that a deal betwecn Vikings and Slavs was
struck at an early stage. The Primary Chronicle
tells a curious story of hovv the Vikings were fırst
ejected, then in vited back by a coalition of Slav
and Finno-Ugrian tribes ta "bring order" ta the
land. This they did. far a time at least , but they
were n ot (as was once widely believed) great
bringers of culture too. On the contrary, early Rus-
sian law, religion, literature and languagc bear at
most only slight and haphazard traces of Viking
influence. There cannot have been much coloniza-
tion. Place names of Scandinavian origin (ubiqui-
tous in eastern England) are virtually nonexistent
in Russia: by contrast north-central Russia is ful! of
place names derived from Finno-Ugrian, including
even 1\ıfoskva, Moscow, itself. The well-known
personal names Igor, Oleg and Olga, however, are
Scandina vian and associated with the Viking
dynasty; even Vladimir, thoroughly Slav in form,
hasa perhaps fortuitous resemblance ta Valdemar.
The Vikings certainly found the Slav tribes in
the process of civilization; they called the land Gar-
dariki (realm of enclosures ar of cities), presumably
from the numerous towns ar fortifıed citadels they
encountered thcre. What the Vikings brought, ar
encouraged, were military, political and commer-
cial skills. Hoards of Anglo-Saxon, Byzantine and
Arab coins found all over Eastern Europe bear
testimony to their commercc. Their cxtraordinary
mobility broadened horizons. A perhaps surprising
aspect of the Viking-Slav partnership was that
Russia was then in closer touch with the whole of
the rest of Europe than at any time till the end of
the 17th century. Kievan princes and princesses
married into ali the raya! houses of Europc.
RUS
The word "Rus" itself, appearing generally at
this period, and referring batlı ta a land and to its
people, needs some explanation. Serious historical
questions about the origins of Russia have tended
ta focus too narrowly on the ety mological deriva-
tion of its name: since the modern controversy
about it erupted in the mid-!8th century, mu ch
nationalistic emotion, pro- or anti-Slav, has sur-
rounded what has come to be known as the "Nor-
manist" issue. Even for the Primary Chronider in
the I 2th century the matter had political signifı­
cance, affecting the legitimacy of the d ynasty
under whom (and for whom) he wrote and the
status of his city of Kiev: "thesc particular Varan-
gians were known as Rus, just as some are called
Swedes, and others Norsemen, English and Got-
landers . . . on account of these Varangians, the
Russian land received its name." The most striking
independent testimony ta this comes from Constan-
tine Porphyrogenitus, who lists the " Russian" and
the "Slavonic" names of the cataracts over or
around which the Dnieper trade route had ta pass:
the "Russian" names turn out ta be Scandina vian
linguistic forms, the "Slavonic" early Ru ssian
(they are among the earliest written specimens of
Russian vvords). Certainly, therefore, there were
well-informed people in the 10th ccntury and later
,vho equated Russians and Varangians.
A very early and most curious story in a
Western source (the Bertinian Annals) recounts
how in 839 some "Russian" envoys from the Kha-
zar kagan arrived at the court of Louis the Pious at
Ingelheim, via Constantinople; on being interro-
gated they turned aut ta be Swedes. The Finnish
word far Sweden, Ruotsi, is brought in as evidence;
so too is the name ofa stretch of Svvedish coastline,
Roslagen. Yet "Rus" as a term for Viking or Vik-
ings is unknown in the Viking lands. The "anti-
Normanist" case, apart from some Chronicle ambi-
guities, concentrates on evidence that the Greek
" Rhos" and similar forms were known in the south
before Viking penetration . Alsa. "Rus" tended ta
be applied in ear]y sources to southern Russia,
around Kie v, and not ta the Novgorod area where
the Vikings arrived. Near Kiev there is a river with
the signifıcant name of Ros.
There are some curious complications. Arab
sources, generally geographically reliable, give
certain strange items of inforrnation: "Russia is an
island, around which is a lake, and the island in
which they dwell is a three days' journey through
forests and swamps . ." (Ibn Rusta, early 10th
century). The Byzantines apocalyptically cquated
"Rhos" with a sinister prince mentioned (through
a translation error) in the prophecy of Ezekiel,
w hich perhaps accounts far the othcrwise udd
change of vowel from "Rus," and certainly for
their fright when Russian raiders appeared at their
walls in 860 AD. What is beyond doubt is that the
name came in to general use to de seri be a new
entity in the Europe of 1100 years ago, a state, its
land and population, whose Slav basis and Viking
admixture were inextricably fused, together vvith
Estonian and Finnish elements (known to the Old
Russians as Chud , Merya, Ves). This entity quickly
advanced in cultural terms beyond the level of any
of its previous component parts. When the fırst
treaty between Russia and Byzantium came to be
written in 91 I, it seems that it was written down in
37
RUS
"'
BALTIC SEA
UTHUANIA
Esr.e,gc,,-f
r1
J
MEDITERRANEAN
two languages, Greek and Slavonic, though most of
the Russian signatories' namcs can be identified as
of Scandinavian origin. Those Norsemen perma-
nently resident in Russia were becoming culturally
Slavonicized.
Sourccs for Kievan Russian history
in general, the history of premodern societies
yields, as we go back in time, proportionately less
and less of the matcrial remains and general quality
of "everyday life," while information is stili avail-
able abouı political events, official decrees and so
on. \Vith Kievan Russia things are not so straight-
forward. The copious state archives that in many
\Vestern countries stretch back to the early Middle
Ages have not survived, not only because of Rus-
sia's turbulent history but because of the extreme
susceptibility of its largely wooden cities to fire.
Later copyists have fortunatcly reproduccd and
preserved a few official documents: the fırst
written law code, church statutes, two very early
treaties. Gaps remain at several crucial points: the
early organization of the church, the succession
system of the Kievan rulers and, most notoriously,
38
l'!l)ff'.ın::,a:rıaıcna·e
lioıraııarcrııı,nopnc
areao1pa!rıarcna:es l 050
~Cons:antırıopıe
Euıınıı-.s oıtı er re lıg'(l,'IS
c=ı'-'us-r
LJ""'
scaıe, 14500 000
o
the manner in which Viking settlers established
themsel ves in, or were invited into, Old Russia. But
in certain limited areas a great deal can confıdently
be said about early Russian life.
First, there are material remains. Standing build-
ings from pre-Tatar Russia number only a tiny pro-
portion of the surviving Romanesque buildings of
Italy, France or England, yet they include a hand-
ful of remarkable churches w hosc architecture,
pictorial decoration and even graffıti can yield up
information about Old Russia, its wealth, ideology
and external contacts. On the secular front, modern
archaeology, dcveloped systematically only in the
Soviet period, has revealed immeasurably more
about O]d Russian cities, their architecture and
way of life (in some cases with thc baneful assist-
ance of Hitler's bombs). Domestic artefacts, grave
goods, coins (including Arabic, Byzantine and
Western European) have turneci up in considerable
numbers. But one area of recent archaeological dis-
covery in Russia has produced a cache of objects so
abundant, uncxpected and revealing of the life of
early Russia as to put it in a class of its own.
The generally unfavorable geographical

Left: Eastern Euro pe a nd the
Mediterranean in the
mid-llth century.
Until the tum ofthe millennium
the Christian patriarchates of
Constantinople and Rome--the
future Orthodox and Roman
Catholic churches-competcd to
win converıs among the pagan
peoples ofthe Slavonic world.
By the mid-llth century the
spread of Christianity across this
region was virtually complete
and in the future would lead to
strong antipathies: the
Orthodox-Catholic dividing !in e,
even if subsequently somewhat
blurred. remains an important
cultural boundary on the map of
Europe tothis day. Ofthe
non-Christian peoples, the Volga
Bulgars remained for centuries
the only Muslims in direct
contact with Russia; the
Lithuanian ruling class remained
pagan until dy nastic union with
Poland (1385).
Rıght This ıs the first bırch-bark
document to be identifıed and
deciphered from Novgorod
excavations in 1951, by A
Artsikhovsky . lt is still one of
the longest known , with l3 lines
ofincised script; it lists village
feudal dues payab le to one Fama,
and dates from the 14th ccntury.
These "throwaway" docwnents,
preserved in the anaerob ic
environment ofpeat bog, were
so unique and unexpected a
discovery that it took time far
their authenticity to be accepted
outside Russia . Now many
hundrcds have been published
(some from other ancient sites),
and thousands more still lie in
the Novgorod su bsoil. They
testıfy to widespread literacy
among urban townsfolk .
conditions of the Russian forest zone--short sum-
mers, acid soils, poor drainage -mean that several
anciently inhabited sites are situated on what
amount to peat bogs with a permanent water table
not far below ıhe surface. The northern metropolis
of Novgorod is the classic example of such a
location . Wooden objecıs ıhaı find ıhcir way into
the ground arc excellcnıly preserved in this
environment, although much care is needed in
their conservation once they are exposed to air
again. Since in the forest zone wood was the
normal material not only for house-building but
alsa for a wide range of domestic utensils, for
shoes, for the paving ofroads, for fortifications, ıhe
excavations in such areas have given us a remark-
ably comprehensive view of thc conditions of carly
Russian life. Novgorod has proved particularly
favorable not only because of its soil conditions,
but because of its decline after the Middle Ages
(hen ce little disturbance of the archaeological
record) and the wholesale reconstruction, accom-
panied by careful investigation, that has been
necessary as a result of World War II. A well-
validatcd dendrochronology assists dating; up to
25 layers of wooden paving have been found
superimposed on the sites of some ancient streets.
it was in this context that around 1950 numerous
small and tighıly rolled strips of ancient birch-bark
began to emerge. When it was realized that thcy
bore traces of scratched writing they were pains-
takingly unrolled and, where possiblc, deciphered.
Thus Novgorod began to make its unique contribu-
tion not just to our evidence about medieval Rus-
sian life, but to world archaeology of the lası
half-century . So astonishing did the discovery and
its implications seem in the atmosphere of the lası
years of Stalin that some Western historians were
skeptical, suspecting a hoax in the spiril of Russian
nationalistic chauvinism. Any such doubts
however have long been stilled.
The birch-bark documents, in Cyrillic characters
inscribed with a stylus (pisalo), using the vernacu-
lar Old Russian language, are brief personal letters
or notes, most often concerning money transac-
tions, debts, legal claims, landholdings and family
matters. By now several hundred have been pub-
lished, anda Soviet expert (D. Yanin) estimates that
over 20 000 may stili lie in the Novgorod subsoil.
Very recently the first examples in Latin, Runic
(Scandinavian) and Greek scripts have becn dis-
covered, while a number of specimens have now
been identified from half-a-dozen other ancient
Russian cities as far south as Smolensk. This was a
society in which, contrary to what was until
RUS
recenı lysupposed, literacy was widespread and
laken for granted (the "throwaway" character of
the documents is significanl), at least in ıhe milieu
of urban traders. The purposes of these documenıs
were evidently various. They do not seem to have
been primarily connected with loca! bureaucralic
administralion . Though the majority arc lale
medieval, some go back to thc early days of Chris-
tian Rus, and if inscriptions on other objects
(wooden tally-sıicks, ceramic fragments) are laken
into consideration, Russian literacy can be shown
to predate the conversion to Christianity.
Literary sources
Despite the lack of official documenıs, the literary
sources for knowledge of Kievan Russia are in facı
rather rich, and of course are not limited to whal
archaeologists have managed to uncover. From the
lale !Oth century the newly converted and newly
educated nation took readily to the forms of medie-
val literature as they had developed in the
Christian East Roman empire of Byzantium. Not
surprisingly, the religious element predominates.
Ideological intentions can be discerned in a
remarkable piece of religious rhetoric, the Serman
on the Law and the Grace by the first Russian metro-
politan of Kiev, Hilarion (mid-11 th century); Grand
Prince Vladimir Monomakh's In struction to his
children (c . 1100) reads as if it were a piece of auto-
biography; and the beginnings of certain idiosyn-
cratic paths that thc Russian Orthodox Church was
to take can be traced in the various Lives of t wo of
Russia's first martyrs, the Princes Boris and Gleb
(d. !015). in some works towards the end of ıhe
Kievan period the secular impulse overwhelms the
religious: for exampl e, the learnedly witty Suppli-
caıion of Daniel the Captive and above ali the most
remarkable relic of Kievan literature, the anony-
mous Tale of the Armament of Igor (or Igor Tale, c.
1187). This work, in highl y rhythmic prose
crammed with effectively deployed rhetorical
devices, is also a powerful vehicle for contempor-
ary political messages. It has the peculiar interest
that it seems to be a written, indeed highl y literary,
adaptation of the age-old unwritten forms of the
oral heroic epic. Such epic poems, known as byliny ,
were recited and reworked through the centuries
until they were transcribed in the lası couple of
hundred years; in many cases they refer back to
the Kievan period and evidently preserve much
archaic material.
Ali such works, as primary documents of their
time, teli even if indirectly or unintentionally of
their society and its concerns. It should h owever
39
RUS
•'tr1ı+:ırr. /\_f f\ıJ'ff Ulıt i..İ,d,Hrı,y= ıÔ CrTIOı\"1h, (OTT
~-..\ıl . ınıııcpmtıCA. BOı\O~tt,'w'\tlp,kfrtO/\O~tiriı\(f'ftHM
..=~w,, fH<'All<.\,t; ıiy-/1.j-ltMMıl. fJITltttcrı&ım -1 mıt~!i?tf;
artp"J.. rlG...il&HMt1f ·1:-tCi.Aı\6 . b" lll.4\t'<O ~u cm
be noted that ali those mentioned have come down
not in conternporary manuscripts, but in often
defective later copies (in thc case of the lgor Tale
the sole late-medicval manuscript was destroyed in
the 1812 fire of Moscow). üne work above ali,
while being a far from negligible literary achieve-
ment, is of such a sustained historical value that it
eclipses any other fundamental source. This is the
so-called R ussian Primary Chronicle--to use the
chronicler's own words, the Tale of Bygone Years
(Povest vremenrzykh /et). Old Russia has left an
abundance-greater than from any other medieval
nation-of historical chronicles, produced in all
important and many obscure places up to the early
18th century. Chronicles were not kepi and
updated as a diary or similar record might be,
though ıhey would doubtless partially derive from
notes of such a nature. Rather they were compiled
afresh on the basis of as many earlier chronicles as
could be collatcd and of any additional material
available, as the result of a special commission,
perhaps from a new ruler, perhaps to celebrate a
great occasion. Monasteries were the main but not
the sole center of such activity. The aim of any
chronicle was, roughly speaking, to link the events
of one's city, monastery or principality with
universal history. To this end almost all later
chronicles began with much the same integrated
narrative, recounting the course of world and Rus-
sian history from biblical times up ta the early 12th
century: the Tale of Bygone Years.
Taken as an indcpendent entity, this Primary
Chronicle is a work whose significance to our
knowledge of Russia and to the Russian national
consciousness can scarcely be matched by any
comparable work, not even by the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle, which is probably its closest rival in
these respects. Any educated Russian will recog-
nize many quotations from it. Without it, know-
40
Mf, fp/rt
. Judgmcnt. AppMcntly stili
«wnormH
ledge of the origins and carly development of
Russia would be impossibly fragmentary: the odd
nuggets of information or hearsay in, for example,
Arab geographies, Byzantine histories or kelandic
sagas have a value in adding to, confirming and
modifying the Primary Chronicle account, but
could not alone provide any sort ofa coherent tale.
For ıhe discussion of any event in medieval Rus-
sian history the account in the Primary or other,
later chronicles is almost bound ta be the point of
departure.
The Primary Chronicle, save for its first few
pages, is set aut in the form of separate entries for
individual years, measured from the supposed
creation of thc world in 5508 BC. But it is not the
mere annalistic record this format might suggest. lt
is a huge compendium of diverse materials: Byzan-
tine, Russian and probably Scandinavian; religious
and secular; learned and folkloric. At several
points there are self-contained narratives several
pages long, such as ıhe stories of the death of Oleg
and of the blinding of Vasilko; at others, entire
documents, legal or literary, are inserted (the ıwo
famous treaties of 911 and 944, the "Speech of ıhe
Greek Philosopher" to Prince Vladimir I, the
"Testament" of Vladimir Monomakh). There are
divcrting anecdotes, sententious digressions, edify-
ing ruminations, notes on signs and portents, sum-
maries of the lives of individual princes, saints and
monks inserted, sometimes appropriately, some-
times inappropriately, under a given year. Yet this
encyclopedic work is shaped by an underlying
purpose: the uncovering of Russia's identity and
historical destiny. The chronicler himself boldly
states his intentions in his fırst sentence: "These
are the narratives of bygone years regarding the
origins of ıhe land [i.e., nation] of Rus, the first
princes of Kiev and from what source the land of
Rus emerged."
Left in the ela borate process of
vladimir l's conversion to
Christianity in the 980s, as
recounted in the Tale of Bygone
Yeaı-s, a central episode was
Vladimir's audience ,ı,rith a
"Greek (i.e. Byzantine]
philosopher''-here depicted in
the early 15th-ccntury Radziwill
Chronicle. The philosopher
summarized the tenets of the
faith at considerable length, then
displayed an içon of the Last
unconvinced, vladimir then seın
emissaries to report back on
various religions; at
Constantinople they were struck
by the beauty of Greek
Orthodox ritual. Vladimir then
dcmanded the emperor's sisler in
marri.ıge; it seems that reason,
aesthetics, politics and pn:stige
ali played apart in his decision.
Right: Kievan Russia.
The East Slavs who settled along
the m.ıjor rivcr vallcys of what
are now European Russia,
Belorussia and the Ukraine
coalesced into a dozen or so large
tribal umts with many enclosed
settlements. To the Vıkings. this
land was Gardariki, "land of
towns {or enclosuresj." Under
the leadership of Oleg, the
Vıking Ryurikid f.ımily captured
Kiev in the 880s, opcning up the
north-south tradc route from the
Baltic via the Dnieper lO the
Black Sea. This was the birth of
Kievan Russia; the largest
country of e.ırly-medieval
Europe, it was by no mcans
economically or culturally
backv,:.ırd.
Thc princc of Kiev {later
termed "grand prince") was
considered senior member of the
royal house, whose junior
princes ruled (with frequent
changes of location) in other
citİe!>: Chernigov was co nsidcred
second in importance,
Percyaslavl third. (The
independent existence of some
ofthe principalities, for
example, Turov-Pinsk, has been
doubted by some historians.}
There was an unexpected Kievan
outpost at Tmutorokan on the
Black Sea. Though strong Kievan
princes (not.ıbly Vladimir 1,
Yaroslav the \\'ise, Vladimir il
Monomakh] could maintain the
integrity of the whole realm,
persistent local traditıons of
indcpcndence asserted
themselves during less forceful
reigns. The lower Dnieper region
and Kiev itsclfwere vu]nerable
ıo .ıttack from tribes such as the
Pechenegs to the east, and in the
mid-12th century Kiev yielded
primacy to Vladimir in the
northeastern forests.
 RUS

Thc surviving version of the Primary Chroniclc
was written in the 11 !Os, but the chronicler based
himself probably on a lost original of the 1050s.
Byzantine Greek historians, notably Georgc
Hamartolos whom he cites by name, helped him to
establish a sccure chronological framework. From
the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Michael IIl
(842- 67) the chronicler has precise, if not always
accurate dates for the events he records, and
arrangcs his material accordingly. This reign marks
a crucial stage in the history of the Slavic peoples:
it witnessed the great Christianizing mission of
Cyril and Methodius to Moravia (see p.28) and the
irruption of the Russians into European history
with the raid (860) of Askold and Dir on Constan-
.,,.
1(1'
tinople. For what happe ned before then, in Russia
at least, the chronicler is dependent on undated
and mythologized oral sources, but he is not
daunted: in a singlc highly intcresting "essay" he
takcs us from the biblical account ofthe division of
the world among the three sons of Noah, to the
tcrritories of the Slavs and their tribal divisions, to
an account of the land of Russia itsclf, its geogra -
phical and cthnic situation, to the foundation of its
main cities and to the establishment of a ruling
dynasty of Viking origin in a unifıed state.
Kievan Rus in history
At its zenith, around thc turn of the millennium,
Kievan Russia (Rus, as it was known to its inhabi-

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41
RUS

tants) wa, the largest state of early-medieval Eur- ambushed and eventually terminated the trade
ope, and by no means isolated from the rest of convoy southwards to Constantinople and dis-
Furope culturally or politically. it had a recorded rupted settled agricultura1 life. Kievan history
history of nearly 400 years, ending with the Tatar bcgins with Rus as tributary to one great steppe
conqucst ol 1237 40. This history can be laken to power (the Khazars) and cnds with conquest by
begin with thc attack on Constantinoplc by t he another (the Tatars or Mongols). Even more fata lly,
Kievan rulers Askold and Dir (18 June 860), or per- early Russia was sapped by internecine civil war,
haps a little latcr, with the forciblc unification sometimes on a trivial !evci, sometimes a fight to
of Kiev with Novgorod by Oleg around 882. Cul- the death. Such ci vil strife, resulting normally from
turally it is easily subdivided into a "pagan" and a rivalries, greed or feuding within the ruJing
"Christian" pcriod by the official conversion to dynasty, became the more dccply ingrained in Old
Christianity of 988/9. From the political point of Russia as its branches proliferated after the reigns
vicw a dividing !ine can be dra\\ n at 1132 35, of Vladimir I and Yaroslav: it would lake until the
whcn a more or lcss unitary state seemed rathcr !ate I 5th century for a permanent solution to the
suddenly to fail apart into more than a dozen com- problem to be found in ruthless centralization
ponent parts, with the role of Kiev itself as capital under Moscow. Meanwhile the more farsighted
shortly to be u,urped by Vladimir. among the Kievan Russians were not slow to make
A morc shadowy division of Kievan history can a connection between each type of chronic and
be made around the middle of the 11 th century. debilitating warfare. Agreement among the princes
Culturally Russia "came of age" in the long and to sink their differences would free them to apply
prosperous reign of Yaroslav (1019 54); a learned their efforts cooperatively in beating back the
Russian, Hilarion, was astonishingly chosen as raiders from the steppe. This is the ideological sub-
metropolitan (head of the Russian Orthodox tcxt of the late-Kievan Igor Tale; politically, it was
Church) in 1051; a national consciousness was most successfully, though briefly, realized under
bcginning to be forged with the probable first com- the influence of Vladimir il Monomakh at the
pilation ofa comprehensive Russian chronicle; the beginning of the 12th century.
"Great Church" (St Sophia) of Kiev was completed.
lt happens that from that time onwards many archi- The Kievan princes and Christianity
tectural and literary rclics of Kievan Russia sur- The early rulers of Russia are shadowy figures; in
vive, from before it very few. But at the same particular the founder of the dynasty, Ryurik
period future political difficulties can be sensed (unattested in any sourcc bcfore the Tale of Bygone
with the uneasy division of Yaroslav's heritage Years) seems to belong almost wholly to myth. The
among his sons after his death in 1054, and with next princes of Kiev- Oleg (d. 913), lgor (d. 945),
the appearance of a new enemy in the steppe Svyatoslav (d. 972), Yaropolk (d. 978 or 980) and St
country, the Polovtsians or Cumans. Vladimir (978 or 980-1015) for ali that their
To understand the history of Kievan Russia is to recorded doings are wrapped in a good deal of folk-
understand the polarities and tensions that under- lore, gradually take on clearer outlines as historical
lay it and gave it both its dynamism and its weak- personages. Though they "ruled" Russia, in the
nesses. Some are the geographical factors that have sense of being able to impose their will through
haunted ali Russian history: the contrast betwecn force of arms, it was only slowly that they began to
forest and steppe, between the exploratory and govern in any methodical way, and that Russia
sedentary ways of life. Some are geopolitical: became recognizably a "state" rather than merely
particularly the tension between the forcibly their realm, or their field of exploitation.
linked partners, Novgorod and Kiev, who respec- Presumably, however, the Vikings' East Slav
tively controlled the northern and southern parts subjects were quite capable, within the limits of
of the trade route that was the axis of the first Rus- tribal society, of arranging justice, religion, agri-
sian state, the "way from the Vikings to the culture and perhaps trade according to custom.
Greeks." Some are national: between the native Long before the Vikings arrived, Byzantine sourccs
Slavs and Scandinavlan incomers, and between the (Procopius, Pseudo-Maurice) speak of the Slavs'
different tribes with their varied customs. Some are "democracy": "cverything which involves their
social, as during the Kievan period elan relation- welfare, whether for good or ili, is referred to the
ships gave way to a strongly differentiated class people." Quite early in the Kievan period, as the
structure and eventually to an approximation to main towns began to attract a significant popu-
feudalism. Perhaps the greatest tension as is only lation, a rough-and-ready democratic institution
to be expected in a huge territory with difficult emerged in the form of the popular assembly or
communications-is between centralizing, unify- veche. in some cities. notably Novgorod, its power
ing forces on the one hand and centrifugal provin- grew to such an extent that from the early 12th
cialism on the other, a tension that is stili far from century the role ofthe prince became marginalized:
re sol ved in the 20th century. the Novgorod princes were thereafter regarded as
Kievan Russia projected an image to later ages of little more than military commanders, ıo be hired
comparative peace, stability and prosperity, yet, or fired at will by the citizens. It seems clear that
like most states at most times, it existed and flour- social differentiation, the concept of landowner-
ished in an atmosphere of incipient or actual war- ship and similar preconditions for a mcdieval
fare. Most of its non-Russian neighbors posed a rather than tribal or elan society were developing
military threat at one time or another, but the most among the S]avs, irrespective of the Viking
strength-sapping and unrelieved menace came at presence. The political heritage ofthe latter in Rus-
the southern steppe frontier, to which Kiev itself sia has hada banefuJ aspect: the great gulf between
was dangerously exposed. Year after ycar the the interests of the rulers and the ruled, the exploi-
Pechenegs and subsequently the Polovtsians tative relations of the one towards the other. Some-

42

This rare gold coin from the
rdgn ofVladimir I (978/80-101S)
shm...·s the prince with a heraldic
emblem above his shoulder: the
inscription reads "Vladimir and
this is his gold."
times this was overcome by statesmanship ar the
influence of more sophisticated political and
religious ideas, but it reappeared often in Russia's
history, particularly in the way that "patrimonial "
authority was exercised in the 1'1uscovite state,
The first moves in the direction of systematically
organized government seem to have been taken by
Olga , widow of Igor, who was regent of Russia far
some 17 years during the chil dhood of her son
Svyatoslav. She regularized tax gathering, pacified
the rebellious Drevlyane tribe (who had killed Igor
far his arbitrary exactions) and established a
network of fortified posts. She was alsa a Christian
convert, and made a visit to Constantinople, of
~..vhich we have a Byzantine account. Svyatoslav
however was a remarkably different character: the
epitome of the pagan Viking wanderer-warrior,
even though he bore a thoroughly Slavonic name.
Far a hu ndred years the ruling dynasty and its
band of retainers (druzhina) had used Kiev not only
as a trading depot far the annual southbound
flotilla, but also as forward base far occasional far-
ranging raids of plunder throughout the Black Sea
area and even beyond. Svyatoslav, placing
princely relatives to look after the main Russian
cities in his absence. devoted his reign to a series of
such exploits. becoming doubtless the most suc-
cessful Russian military commander till Su vorov
800 years later.
In the mid-960s. learning that a Russian tribe
stil! paid tribute to Khazaria, Svyatoslav sacked the
Khazars ' cities and destroyed ı-heir power for ever.
Then he turned westwards, incited rather rashly
by the Byzantines to attack Bulgaria. Far a few
years he was ruJer ofa colossal empire, successor to
all the ephemeral steppe-country powers: it seems
that he and two or three subsequent Kievan grand
princes even adopted the Khazar rulers' title of
kagan. The Balkans suited Svyatoslav, who
announced in 969 that he was shifting his capital
from Kiev to Pereyaslavets on the lower Danube:
" since that is the center of my realm and all mer-
chandise is brought there: gold, silks, wine and
various fruits from the Greeks, silver and horses
from Hungary and the Czechs, and from Russia
furs, wax, honey and slaves." But after a couple of
years a new, militarily skilled Byzantine emperor,
John Tzimisces, forced him and his retinue to
retreat to Kiev. At the Dnieper cataracts he ·was
killed by the Turkic nomad Pechenegs. an ominous
irony, since it was precisely his destruction of Kha-
zar power that would enable the dangerous steppe
peoples to harass the southern flank of the Kievan
state far the rernainder of its existence.
Svyatoslav was lası of his kind, though the rul-
ing dynasty sporadically kept up contacts with
Vikings overseas till well into the next century.
Even before his time it would seem that the
composition of the druchina was ethnically mixed:
while the signatories to the 911 treaty with Byzan-
tium were o-venvhelmingly Scandinavian, those to
iıs successor of 944 include a significant proportion
of identifiable Slavonic and even one or two Eston-
ian names. A new commitment to the Russian land
is already visible in the reigns of his sons Yaropolk
and Vladimir. Having overthrown Yaropolk after a
somewhat confused civil war, Vladimir refused to
allow his retinue to sack Kiev, sent some to serve in
Constantinople and gave others grant s of land,
RUS
while establishing his capital as one of the great
cities of Europe. With the consequent flourish ing
of the Kievan realm the q uestion of the choice of a
state religion posed itself in an acute form. The
time ,-vas ripe: paganism \\'as on the retrcat
throughout northern and central Europe, and Vla-
dimir's neighbors, the Poles, accepted Christian ity
in the 960s. Vladimir resolved the issue in 988/ 9 by
pledging his adherence and that of his people to
Christianity on the Byzantine pattern, what has
come to be called the Orthodox Church .
Curiously, Byzantine sources are silent on the
events of 988/ 9, while speaking glowingly of the
reported conversion of the Russians in the 860s,
over a century before. The circumstances are
unclear, but in some way the aftermath of the raid
on Constanıinople in 860, led by Askold and Dir,
had resulted by 867 in the official adherence of
their followers to Christianity. When Oleg seized
Kiev around 882 paganism must have been rein-
stated, but there \-ı:as a Christian presence- indeed
a church~there in the first half of the 10th
century, even before Olga's conversion. Olga may
have tried to establish an auıocephalous (indepen-
dent) church organization, and to have played off
the Eastern and Western branches of Christendom.
in any case a would-be bishop. Adalbert, arrived
in Kiev from the German Emperor Otta 1 in 962 ,
only to encounter the pagan reaction when Svya-
toslaY assumed power and to retlfe home
embittered.
Vladimir, understanding that a centralized and
developed religion was a prerequisite of civilized
states in the world he knew, first instituted a syn-
thetic pantheon of the various pagan deiıies of the
Russian lands, to whom he set up idols. Their chief
was to be Perun. god of thunder. Other gods
appear to have had Oriental antecedents. This arti-
ficial religion proved unsatisfactory, and soon Vla-
dimir carried his investigations farther. The
Primary Chronicler recounts the whole process at
understandably great length, and with embellish-
ments that have a mythical ring. Emissaries came
from various lands to expound their faiths in Kiev:
Islamic Bulgars (from the Volga), Germans, Jews
(from Khazaria), Greeks (from Byzantium). The
"Greek Philosopher" summarized Christianity at
considerable length and finished by unveiling an
icon of the Last J udgment; this should have
clinched the matter. But, according to the chronicle
account, Vladimir then summoned his elders,
reported his conversations and sent 10 "good and
wise men" to experience the faiths at first hand.
in the responses, first by Vladimir, then by his
investigators, a note of surely intentional conıedy
can be heard. The Islamic version of paradise
sounds good, but the prohibition of alcohol is too
much, and, any how, the Volga Bulgars stink. The
Gerrnans are drab. The Jews are losers, without a
homeland, the Khazars having been routed by
SvyatoslaY 20 years before. But in a Greek church,
the 10 report, "we did not know whether we were
in heaven or earth. Far on earth there is no such
splendor or beauty, and we are at a loss to describe
it. We only know that God dwells there among
men ... " Even this povı;erfu l aesthetic argument,
much quoted to this day, did not finally decide the
issue. Vladimir's advisers preferred a more pragma-
tic argument: "If the Greek faith were evi!, it
43
RUS
would not have been adopted by your grand-
mother Olga, who was wiser than anyone." Even
then Vladimir dclayed. He went off to capture the
vital Byzantine city of Cherson in the Crimea and
demanded the emperor's sister Anna in marriage:
ali ended happily when he accepted baptism, got
his princess and handed back Cherson as the bride
price. This extraordinary and protracted drama
ended with Vladimir's return to Kiev and a mass
baptism in the Dnieper.
The acceptancc of Christianity on the Byzantine
model as state religion was not just a confessional
choice. A medieval religion was a "package deal"
involving many elements. Vladimir's Russia was
importing, together with a doctrine, the abstract
literary language in which that doctrine could be
expressed, the literature and "high culturc"
(including much that was ultimatcly of classical
origin) that already existed in the language; an
architecture adapted not just to different purposes,
but employing new materials (masonry, mosaic); an
art of enormous thcological as wcll as aesthetic
import; a vvhole new music; a sophisticated
political theory, involving not just the ruler's
responsibility to his subjects but his international
status; certain aspects of law; and an educational
system. The Chronicler describes how, imrnedi-
ately after founding churches and establishing a
clergy, Vladirnir "began to take the children of the
best families and send them for instruction from
books," to their mothers' distrcss. Literate
personnel were needed quickly, and it seerns the
already Christian and Slavonic Bulgarians obliged;
many early manuscripts in Russia are of Bulgarian
origin.
It is easy to see what Byzantium stood to gain
44
from the transaction--even at the price of a
"purple-born" (imperial) princess, a rare privilege
for the Russian ruler. Many souls would be
brought into the Orthodox fold, not just to their
own benefıt but to that of the Constantinopolitan
patriarchate. A warlike and barbarous people
would be at least civilized and become imperial
allies, taking their place in the hierarchy of peoples
headed by the ernpire, the "oikoumene" or
"Byzantine Commonwealth." For Vladimir things
must have looked more ofa gamble: not only was
there a risk of social upheaval, but by adhering to
Byzantine Christian ideology he was also to some
extent reducing his own unfettered sovereignty.
But the benefıts of joining the international family
of civilized nations evidently outweighed these
other worries.
Vladimir and Novgorod &low in the !ate 15th century
Vladirnir I's long reign is the "classic" age of Kie- Russian icons began to portray
van Russia, the moment when everything, or most complex scenes without
traditional iconographic models,
things, went right. Much of the surviving oral epic and sometimes to have
folk poetry of Old Russia (the so-called byliny) is set publicıstic purposes. A
singularly interesting subject in
in the court of Vladimir the "Bright Sun" (Yasnoye vıew ofRw,sia's palıtıcal hıstory
solnyshko). When he died, confusion set in, as his is one that became popular in
numerous sons battled for supremacy. Two, Boris Novgorod when ıhe andenı
city's independence was under
and Gleb, were murdered at the instigation of their threat from Moscow. it depicts
elder brother Svyatopolk (reigned 1015- 19). Con- an earlier, 12th--century
sciously choosing non-resistance to evil, they medieval skirmish in which the
Novgorodians drove back ıhe
became celebrated as the first Russian martyrs. army of Suzdalia (the Vladimir
Eventually ( 1026) the two most powerful brothers, I...a.nd, predecessor to Mu~ovy)
with the miraculous assistance of
Mstislav and Yaroslav, established a diarchy, a cheri:,hed ıcon, the "Vırgın of
dividing Russia between them along the !ine of the the Sign." The narrative unfolds
River Dnieper; with Mstislav's death (1036) Yaros- in three stages: in the middle
register, show □ here, we see the
lav, a tough and probably ruthless survivor, icon, unharmed, repelling enemy
reigned alone until his own death in 1054. This was arrows from the city walls.

Above: Russia on the e ve of
the Tatar conquest.
Internecine warfarc among the
Ki evan princcs and the
increasing frcquency of
incursions by steppe nomads
such as the Polovtsians drove
many Russians northward s in
the 12th century to seek the
natura[ sheltcr of the forest zone.
A demographıc and political
shift away from the old capital,
Kiev, was taking place.
Novgorod had long been the
great entrepôt of Baltic trade and
now the town of Vladimir
(founded 1108) grew rapidly asa
center of tradc. Thc
Vladimlr-Suzdal land enjoyed
good river communication s with
both Novgorod and, via the
Volga, with thc Volga Bulgars
and the East; it seems to have
becn developed in delibcratc
imitation of the Kievan land
(!here are many placcnamcs in
common). The oldcr capital no
longer traded down the Dnie~r
and was edipscd economically in
the south by Galicia and
Volhynia.
Kiev's second golden age. Yaroslav (known as "the
Wise") fostered building, the arts, literature and
learning, and drew up thc legal codc known as
Russkaya pravda- a rich source of social infor-
mation (and controvcrsy). A Russian intcllectual,
Hilarion, was appoin ted metropolitan in 105 ı,
apparently without due reference to Constantin-
oplc. The "Great Church" of Kiev, St Sophia, was
built and adorned with mosaics and frescoes,
including a representation of Yaroslav's family. it
survives ta the present, as do fragments of thc
"Golden Gate" of the city.
in his testament Yaroslav adjured his numerous
family to heed the eldesi brother, Izyaslav, but
again confusion followed. The inability of thc
Ryurikid dynasty to work aut any effective
succession system is puzzling. Presumably the
realm was perceived as belonging to the princely
family as a whole. Princcs frequentl y shifted their
seat of power, even over a distance as great as from
Tmutorokan to Novgorod, so that a vast game of
musical chairs seems sometlmes to have been in
progress. Therc was certainly a hierarch y of princi-
palities (Chcrnigov was the second city of Kievan
Russia, southern Pereyaslavl the third), and some
historians have postulated a succession system
from brother to brother, with everybod y moving
up one place ona senior prince's death. No written
evidcnce exists for this, and it cannot havc been
more than a rough-and-read y principle. There was
always the temptation for branches of the royal
family to put down roots and found a loca!
dynasty. This was acknowledged in a confercncc of
RUS
princcs held at Lyubech in 1097, where the princes
said to one another: "Why do wc ruin the Russian
land by quarreling? Thc Polovtsians plunder our
country and rejoice that we wage war among our-
selves. Lct us rather hcrcaftcr be united in spiril
and watch over the Russian land . "
Such unity provcd fragilc in practicc, but was
besi achicvcd in the reigns of V!adimir il Mono-
makh (1113 25), who was brought to power by a
popular uprising in Kiev, and his son Mstislav
(1125- 39). Vladimir II, who is sometimcs confuscd
in fo!klore and epic with his grcat predeccssor, was
half-Greek, son of a Byzantinc princess of the
Monomachos fam il y. He himsclf married Gytha,
daughter of thc King Harold of England who was
killed in 1066. He was architcct of the Lyubcch
conference and other inter-princely accords and
was a tircless defender of ali Russia's borderlands,
in particular managing to get the upper hand over
the Polovtsian steppe raiders. He was also a law-
giver and a man of learning, and his so-called
Testament (or Instruction), a compcndium of auto-
biography and good advice addressed to his sons,
is one of Russia's most fascinating medieval docu-
ments. Vladimir and Mstislav could do no more
than hold Kiev's problcms at bay, and the highly
pocticized account of a disastrous expedition by
Prince lgor of Novgorod-Seversk (the Jgo,· Ta/e, c.
1187) looks back sorrowfully to the days of
princely cooperation.
Vladimir II traveled widely and paid closc atten-
tion ta ali parts of the Kievan federation. He
founded or refounded a stronghold and city on the
River Klyazma in northeast Russia, to which he
gave his own name, Vladimir. This soon super-
seded its ancient neighbors Suzdal and Rostov as
capital of the Zalesskaya zem/ya ("Land beyond the
Forest," usually if confusingly known as the Vladi-
mir-Suzdal principality). Russians had becn thin on
the ground in this distant region, but tlıe founda-
tion of Vladimir marks the beginnings ofa demo-
graphic and political shift that was to have the
most lasting consequences for Russian history. The
region, centered on the fertile Opolye (see p.24)
between the great rivers Volga and Oka, turned aut
to be one of the most suitable areas in the forest
zone for colonization. It seems to have grown phe-
nomenally in the 12th century. Its many eastward-
flowing rivers fed into the Volga and provided
trade links in one direction with the Bulgars, and
thence with the Caspian and Georgia and Armenia;
in the other, by a choice of easy portages it was
linked to Novgorod, gateway to the Baltic. With
the decline of the Dnieper route from Kiev to Con-
stantinople, Russia was reorientating itself.
This was made brutally clear when Andrey
Bogolyubsky, who succeeded to the grand princcly
throne in l 157, did not take up residence in Kiev
but announced that Vladimir would be his capital.
He remained titular "Grand Prince of Kiev," but,
after sacking the city in 1169, he installcd his
younger brother in the older capital. Evcn in its
decline Kiev remained ecclcsiastical capital, until in
1300 thc mctropolitan too took up residcnce in Vla-
dimir. Among the 12th-century cities established
in the wake of Vladimir was Moscow, traditionally
founded by Andrcy's father Yury Dolgoruky (thc
"Long-armed" or "Long-sighted") in 1156. The site
was actually inhabited carlicr, as cxcavations of the
45
ı 1

t1
1

Aboı't' The greatest artistic glory
ofVIadimir Russia, in the final
century before the Tatar
conquest, is a small grnup of
churches in fine white Iirnestone
that represents the culmination
of early Russian architecture .
The St Dernetrius Cathedral
(1194) at Vladimir is
extraordinary far the tapestry of
low-relief carving, both
omamental and figurative, on its
exterıor walls: inside are some
fıne (probably Byzantine)
frescoes.
Left The icon ofthe "Virgin of
Vladimir," the palladium of
Vladimir and Moscow Grand
Principalities, is ofthe
iconographic type known as
"Tenderness,'' subsequently
very popular in Russia. lt is
Byzantine of the early 12th
century-an early and
outstanding example of the
softening of stylistic rigidity in
the direction of portrayal of
emotions. Only the face and
hands are original: the rest is !ate
medieval overpainting. There are
marks from the elaborate silver
casing (oklad) that was
subsequently applied to this, as
to most other old icons.
waterside of the Moskva River have revealed. The
fırst name of the settlement was in fact Kuchkovo,
after the loca! landowner.
The disintegration of Kievan Russia became evi-
dent in its last century of existence. Evcn in south-
ern Russia the Kiev land was losing its economic
leadership ta the united principaliıies of Galicia-
Volhynia in the far southwest. Polotsk, in the
northwest (the heart of what was la ter ta be Belo-
russia) was well placed far trade down the Dvina
towards westcrn Europe. Its separate identity was
emphasized by the establishment of its own
dynasty of princes from Vladimir I's time on;
however, its powerful !ate l lth-century Prince
Vseslav (reputedly a werewolf] nıade a strong bid
for the Kiev throne. Smolensk, too, had western
trade links and revived in the 12th century.
The most independent and politically interesting
of the Russian lands was Novgorod, which
remained ta the end of the Kievan period and
beyond the great entrepôt of Baltic trade. it clearly
had special status and privileges from a very carly
period. in its later subordination of its princes and
the growth of its assembly (ueche), Novgorod
turned in effect into an oligarchic city-state, not
dissimilar from those in Italy and parts of northern
RUS
Europe. Its real "head of state" was not its prince,
but its almost independent archbishop, and the
city styled itself "Lord Novgorod the Great." it
came to control a vast tract of northern Russia,
sometimes fancifully called thc "Novgorod
empire." There wcrc fcw other tO\'\'ns in this agri-
culturally unproductive region, but Novgorod had
a "younger brother" to its west, thc ancient city of
Pskov. This too was a well-located trading center,
which alsa developed a Peche culture and asserted
its individuality ta such effect that in the 14th
century it was to achicve independence.
The transplanted Byzantine culture of Kicvan
Russia flourished, sometimes developing rather
jndividual characteristics, to which the vernacular
folk culture often contributed elements. Apart
from the chief secular litcrary works (sce a bovc pp.
39-41), there was alsa a rich religious litcrature,
including several versions of the Liues of Sts Boris
and Gleb, and the varied and vivid tales collectcd
in the Paterikon of the Kiev Monastery of the
Caves. This cstablishment, the greatest religious
foundation of earJy Russia, was a]so a focus of
learning, whcrc the legendary monks Nestor and
Sylvester compiled the Tale of Bygoııe Years.
The great buildings of Kievan Russia, though not
numerous, form an impressive legacy of its c ulture.
The foundations of Vladimir l's largc and ornate
Tithe Church in Kiev arc known from excavation.
The even greater St Sophia (l037) is alması wholly
preserved, though outwardly obscured by baroque
accretions. Chernigov, Smolensk, Polotsk and
Pskov ali preserve important early buildings. Prc-
dictably, the most remarkablc collection survives
jn Novgorod, including its own severe and monu-
mental St Sophia (1043). As the Kicvan period pro-
gressed the exterior of buildings, previously almost
unadorned, tended to be treated morc delicately ,
\'\o"ith, for example, patterned brick\-vork or pilaster
strips. The roofline and drum took ona pyramidal
silhouette. inside, ali churches (and doubtless too
the palace architecture of which little is kno·wn)
were plastered and painted in fresco. Occasionall y
in Kiev mosaic was used, but for this imported
specialists, not to men tion a glass factory, were
needed, making it prohibitively expensive. The
surviving Kievan frescoes, mostly fragmentary , are
monumental and rather linear in manner, at least
until the mid-12th century. There is a precio us
relic of secular art in the paintings of the staircase
towers of St Sophia, Kiev, sho\ving scenes from the
Hippodrome in Constantinople.
Half-a-dozen astonishing churches of the later
12th and early 13th centuries, in Vladimir and
nearby, are perhaps the fınest works of art ta sur-
vive from Kievan Russia. AH save the Dormilion
Cathedral in Vladimir itself are quite small , but
their fıne proportions are enhanced by beautiful
white limestone masonry. They are like sc ulptcd
caskets, and the impression is heightened by the
remarkable low-relief sculpture that adoms them.
On two, St Demetrius, Vladimir (1194) and St
George, Yuryev-Polsky (1230), al m ası the entire
external surface of the building is covered by a
profusion of architectural, vcgetablc, animal and
human carving of unknown origin. The chronicler,
tantalizingly, merely observes " God seni craftsmen
from ali the land s ta Andrey (Bogolyubsky)," leav-
ing unexplained the buildings' mystery.
47
St Sophia, Kiev

The "Great Church" of Constantinople, built (532 37) S.t Sophıa. Kiev, built in we imagine it wıthout its present staircase towers thaı were soon
under Justinian in substantially the form that has 1017 39, is one of the handful of baroque accretions. The domes added led to the palace.
grcat middlc-Byzantine churches were helmet-shaped rather than Externally, the patterned brick
survived to this day, was dedicated to Hagia Sophia, that are among the glories of semicircular in section. The and stone courses would not
"Divine Wisdom." in the early 11th century the l:iıst l:.uropean art. Though pictori.al scheme unusually originally h.ave bcen plastered.
thoroughly Byzantine irı concept integrates mosaic and fresco: the
newly converted Russians used the same dedication andın ıts comprehensive former, as befits its cost and
for cathedrals in threc major cities: Kiev (1037), intcrnal scheme of decoratıon, it prestige, in the more "heavenly"
Polatsk (1044) and Novgorod (1043), in south, west is in some respects quite partsofthe building: main domc
individual. and looks furward to ;md main ea<;tern apse. Broad
and north Russia respectively; St Sophia, Kiev, was specifically Russian architcctural internal upper galleries were for
grandest, as befitted the capital. Half-abandoned after developments. it bas l 3 the use of the grand prince, his
the Tatar invasion, it was fully restored by order of domcs --an unp.ıralleled farnil_y and retinue: domed
number--on rather tali drums,
lvan V and Peter I in the 1680s. The exterior is almost grouped in such a way (on
wholly baroque: inside, the l lth-century building, stepped side aisles) as to give a
with its fine mosaics and frescoes, remains largely strongly pyramidal outline when
unchanged. Built by order of Yaroslav the Wise, the
cathedral hada group portrait in fresco of Yaroslav's
family in the centra l nave, and stili contains his
magnifıcent marble tomb. Even now, it is more numi-
nous with the spiril of early Rus than any other
place.

Abm·c Hagia Sophia of Russian churches ın making

Constantinople exl!rcısed a
lasting fascination on eastern
Chrıstians yt!t its only direct
architectural successors,
l'uriou'>ly, an· the great Ottoman
mosques Howevıc-r it anticipates
moc;t subc;equent Byz.antine and
great play wiıh dazzling light
and darkness, with large and
small spaces, wıth what ıs
re vcaled and concealed, wıth
simplicity and complexity. with
the straight and the cur\'ed.

Lefı The ground plan of St

Sophia, Kıev, is an elaborated
version ofthe "cross-in-square"
Probably five naves were
originally intf"nded, surrounded
by arcaded galleries: by the
early 12th century the latter
were enclosed to make extra
naves. and further galleries
added (eventually alsa enclosed)
A building surprisingly broader
than long resulted.
 ST SOPHIA, KIEV

Detaıls of the main dome of ~t

Sophia, Kiev. The domes of
Orthodox churchcs rest on
masonrv drums that tcnded to
be buili highcr and narrower as
time went on. Thc transition
between drum and the piers or
walls on which ıt stood was
effected either through the crude
bridging squinch or the far more
elegant pendenti\"e. Thc dome
ıtself ıs always occupied by the
Pantokrator or Almighty (abot·e).
immediatek belo\•.ı him thcre is a
drdc of ar~hangels (bt"lou").
Between the windows of the
drum there werc usuallv
rcpresentations of the t\\·elve
apostles; on the pendentıves
e,
often the four 1angelists.

,,,
MU SCOVY

T h e Tatar invasion assault was aimed at the southern cities, Chernigov Bc)ow: Ru ssia an d t he As iatic
world, 13th- l4th centuries.
The end of Kievan Russia came suddcnly and cata- and Kiev. it is with this event that Tatar rule in Contacts between Russia and ıts
strophically, though not without warning. in 1223 Russia is ge nerally taken to begin. Asiatic neighbors have
armcd horsemen appcarcd on the southeastern steppe The Tatars, or Mongols as they are more often flu ctuated through the centurİt''>
ac cording to political
frontier. Thc Polovtsians, Russia's ol.:l nomadic called outside Russia, \\.·ere a confederation of dans circumstances. Since before
cncmics, warncd the Kievan authorities, but t h ere li ving in the land stili known as Mongolia, a tree- rı: co rded Rus-.ian hi-.tory began,

was little time. A Russian army was hastily ra iscd lcss region w hose harsh climate is unfavorable to the Rıver Volga and the Caspıan
Sea have been important links
by three princes (ali, coincidentally, called Msti- settled agriculture but adeguate for horses. As connecting Rus'>ia and t he
slav) and marched into thc stcppe country to give transhumant pastoralists they lived in tenis, had Scandinavian \,·orld with the
Middle East. From earlv times,
batık. On thc bank of the Kalka Rivcr, aftcr a no tow ns until the 13th century, and were v,:ell too, there was east-weSt
doggcd fight , they were ovcrwhclmcd. The prince eguipped fora mobile existencc. Ali the men bore movement across thı: stı:ppe: not
who led thcm was killed, despite a safe conduct, an arms, so their military potential was disproportion- so much a trade route (though
some detours o f the silk route
ominous sign: these people made war by differe n t atc to their meage r numbers. Their explosive pass that way), the steppe was
rules. Then the invadcrs left, their reconnaissance impact on the outside world was initiated by more an unobstructed highway
completed, lcaving thc sh ocked Russian s to Temuchin (1167- 1227), who united the Tatar clans, fo r nomadic or migrant raiders
and invaders on horseback. The
wonder ,-vho they were, whence t hey came, gathered together thc people in a great Kuriltay last such grcat movement,
whither they departed and what they pu r posed. (popular assembl y ) in 1206, was givcn the new title cataclysmic for thc Kicvan lands
The pcople in gucstion were the Tatars, an d 14 Genghis (Chingis) Khan, and embarked on world as for scttlcd states over a vast
swathe of Eurasia from China to
ycars passcd bcfore they reappeared . In 1237 t hey conguest. Genghis Khan centralized the Tatar army the Balkans, was that of the
dcscendcd unexpectedly on the R y azan land, des- and administration, partially feudalized the elan Tatars, whosc leadcr Genghis
Khan embarked on w orld
troyed the city of Ryazan so thoroughly tha t w h en sy stem, established stringent discipline and set out conguest at the end ofthe 12th
it was refounded it was on a differe nt site, sack ed on his career of conguest. In 1215 Peking fell. Then centur\" . Kiev fell to the Tatar
scvcral tovvns including Moscow and Vladimir, came the turn of Central Asia, Persia and the Trans- generaİ Batu in 1240. Thereafter
the Golden Horde ruled Russia
headed towards Novgorod an d then turncd back caucasian lands: it was a battle-hardened force that until 1480 from its capital at
eastwards: the swam py con ditio ns of the spring tra veled up through Azerbayjan to victory on the Saray on the \'olga.
thaw wcre unfitted for thei r ca valry. In I 240 a new Kalka .

.,. 80'

KHAIIATE OF THE GOLDEN HORDE

~ - ,-
White Horde_/ •

C:Jc.-cınq.ıe5ısol GengtıısKrıan1206-27
rıaıor cam ~aıg n ot Gengtı~ ı<Mn

C:=Jc.-cınqııestsolTaw suı:teSSOı"s
~ ıTıa/OfU.mpaıgnot Tataıs

c:::J a•e.ioltem p,o,,af}' t-cıMrol

C] =:~~"r:~~:s Mcie~

Taıartermoryc 1260

Kırghiz Ta•ar•rt>e sca,e\46000 000 \

1000km

750m,
r1
 MU'>COVY
Rıght Genghis Khan (d . 1277),
the greal ruler who united the
Mongols (Tatars) and set them on
ıheir path ofworld conqucst, is
here represcnted m a Pcrsian
minıature ofthe 14th centun•
He is seen enthroncd in a .,
1sıylized nomad tent in a garden,
surroundd by his retinuc which
' includes his sons Ogaday and
Juchi. Ogaday w.ıs Genghis's
immediate :.uccessor; Juchi's son
Batu devastated Russia in
1237-42. The Mango! dyn.ısty m
Persia lasted from 1256 ıo 1344;
Tatar ruk ın Russia ıs reckoncd
to have lasted from about 1240
ro 1480

Abotıe Yaroslav Vsevolodich was

grand prınce of Vladimir at the
time ofthe imposition of Tatar
rule. Ht.' succceded his brother
Yury who was killed in a m.ıjor
battle against the invaders in
1238. This donor-portrait of hım
comes from the church on
Nereditsa Hill outside Novgorod
and dates from around 1246, tlıe
year of his death. The Ncredıtsa
church itself dated from 1199
and had a complete set of
f~escoes, unique in l::urope, but,
lıke several other early
Novgorodian churches, it was
destroyed in World W.ır il; it
has been rebuılt, but the
paintings were ncarly ali lost .

What did the Tatars want? Plunder, obviously,
and power; but beyond these it was, surprisingly,
not territory that thcy sought certainly not agri-
cultural land for their own use but people, and
the skills people brought. Manpower could be
exploitcd in situ through efficient taxation, as
generally was the case in Russia, or else by
impressment into the ranks of Tatar soldiery,
bureaucracy and craftsmcn. Large numbcrs of Tur-
kic peoplc thus guickly became assimilated into
Tatar society. with conscquent linguistic mingling
(such "Tatar" \vord~ a~ have passed into Russian
vocabulary are usually Turkic in origin). To some
extent the Tatars scttled as a ruling elite in the
lands they first conguercd, but this scarcely
ha ppcncd in Russia. A strong Jwarcness of nationa1
tradition bound thc Tatar leaders togcther despitc
the vast extent of their eınpire; all had to tra\'d
back to Karakorum in Mongolia whcn death occa-
sioned the election of a new Great Khan. But
gradually the far-!lung rcgions of the Tatar realm
becamc more or less autonomou~. sometimcs in
rivalry \Vİlh caclı other. For most ofits Tatar period
Russia wa~ ruled not from Mong.olia or Peking, but
from SarJy, the ncw city cstablished on thc lower
course of thc Volga (at that time well bcyond
settlcd Russian territory) by the rulcrs of thc
wcslern branch of Tatar dominion, ıhe Goldf',ı
Horde. The Hordc controlled not only cent:al,
~outhern and castern Russia, but thc steppe
country from Siberia to the wcstern ~horcs of the
Black ScJ, much of central Asia Jnd Caucasia.

51
MUSCOVY
There are no statistics to estimate the loss of life
caused by thc Tatar invasion, but the destruction
of cities, forced levies of manpower and financial
exactions wcre an economic and social catastrophe,
while sudden and total military defeat at the hands
of t he infi d el was a great psychological trauma. The
only Russian principalities that cscapcd devas-
tation werc those that submitted and paid tribute
without offering rcsistance, notably Novgorod and
Pskov. Daniil of Galicia, in the cxtrcme southwest,
attempted to rally Western European assistance,
offered obedience to the pope and received a
crown but no armies. The consequence was a
devastati ng Tatar raid in 1260, and tight control
therea fter. Yet though the Tatars were Russia's
overlords, the y did not rule there as they ruled in
China until 1368. Political authority remained, as
before, in the hands of the princely families, The
Tatars at first stationed a small number of baskaki
(overseers) in the Russian towns, but presumably
thc vasi majority of Russians, almost ali the rural
population in fact, never set eyes on any Tatar or
experienced any change in legal or social status,
For thc princes and their retinues the situation
was very different. Their patent to rule (yarlyk)
was dependent on undertaking the humiliating and
hazardous journey to a Tatar capital- sometimes to
Karakorum, a monstrous distance, usually to Saray,
which was bad enough. From such a journey the
prince, if his loyalty was suspect, might never
return. At any moment the Tatars might launch a
punitive raid. This did not need to happen very
often, The princes, understandably if not very
nobly, acted as the khan's agents, generally sup-
pressing discontent occasioned by tax-gathering
methods, levies or censuses among the populace,
While from one point of view Russia can be seen
as enslaved by an alien and merciless conqueror,
from another it was business as usual, with the
Tatars a considerable but occasional menace. But,
as reflected in the surviving literature of the time,
the Russians had difficulty in coming to terms with
their loss of sovereignty. Any given defeat could
be recorded and bitterly regretted as a sign of
God's displeasure; the permanent overlordship of
infidels was another matter, passed over in silence
or alluded to in terms more adequate to the steppe
skirmishes or inter-princely feuding of the
previous age, Later, of course, a whole historical-
ideological theory of the "Tatar yoke" would be
constructed, involving the image of Russia asa sort
of European punchbag, absorbing dazedly the
vicious onslaught of barbarians and thereby pro-
tecting the progress of Western civilization, at its
own expense . There is some measure of truth in
this picture, yet it does not really correspond to
how things looked to Russians at the time.
Alexander Nevsky and the Kievan legacy
Tatar domination meant different things at
different times and in various circumstances, while
Russian responses were far from uniform. The
interpretation of such responses can be a minefield,
and nowhere more so than when we consider the
figu re of St Alexander Nevsky, eldest surviving
son of Grand Prince Yaroslav of Vladimir, himself
Prince of Novgorod, aged about 20 at the time of
the invasion. In summer 1240, when the second
great Tatar assault w as being unleashed on Cherni-
gov and Kiev. Alexander defeated the Swedes. who
were alread y much interested in territorial expan-
sion on the far side of the Baltic, beside the River
Neva, whence his honorary surname "Nevsky."
Later he became the patron saint of St Petersburg,
built alması 500 years afterwards near the site of
this victory, in April 1242 Alexander fought his
other great battle, partly on the frozen Lake Pei-
pus. The so-called Teutonic Knights, semireligious
crusading military orders of German origin, bent
on conquering the Orthodox lands and bringing
them into the Catholic fold, had been working their
way up the Baltic and had reached Pskov. in the
"Battle on the Ice" Alexander' s forces destroyed a
mixed army of Germans and loca! Estonians, and
the Knights advanced no farther. Subsequently
Alexander submitted to Batu, leader of the Golden Abore Frescoes of the glorious
Horde, thereby averting any Tatar assault on Nov- progenitors of the Moscow line
gorod. The Tatars la ter placed him on the throne of of grand princes adorn the
Archangel Cathedral (1505) of
Vladimir. the Moscow Kremlin, the !ast
Within a couple of generations Alexander had and externally the most ornate of
become a legend, was canonized in the 14th the series of great buildings that
were commissıoned to enhance
century and was made the subject ofa heroic bio- their ne\'\' independent capital
graphy. The First Novgorod Chronicle makes him by Ivan III and his son Vasiliy.
more than life-size: "His stature exceeds that of This fresco depicts Alexander
Nevsky, Prince of Novgorod,
other men, his voice is like a trumpet . . his who was canonized in the 14th
strength is like the strength of Samsan; God has century (hence his halo). in 1240
he defeated the swedes, and in
given him the wisdom of Solomon and the courage 1242 the German Teutonic
of the Roman caesar Vespasian ." His heroic Knights, in battles whose
image was evoked under Stalin in World War II, signifıcance was subsequently
built up (as was Alexander's
not only in Eisenstein's famous film, but in, far ow n personality) to heroic
example, the attaching of his name to a tank corps status. He made a probably
raised from the donations of Orthodox believers. unavoidable accommodation
with the Tatars, who later had
Some modern historians have looked with a him installed as grand prince in
beadier eye at contemporary sources that treat Vladimir.
Alexander's campaigns in a more matter-of-fact
way, observing that the victory over the Swedes
was no more than another skirmish in a centuries-
long process of boundary definition. They alsa
rather damningly point aut that Alexander's
submission to the Horde was more the result of
political maneuvering and ambition within the
princely family than of military necessity; had he
made common cause with his brothers, Alexander
would have had a good chance of successfully
resisting Tatar occupation ofthe forest zone. What-
ever bargain Alexander struck with the khan, it
brought advantages not just to him personally, but
to Russia, in mitigating the harsher aspects of Tatar
rule, and to the Orthodox Church, which was even
permitted to set up a diocese at the Tatar capital of
Righı Mount Athos is a
Saray in 1261. precipitous peninsula projecting
Folklore hauntingly allegorized the lost glory 70 kilomt'ters into the Aegean
and independence of Kievan-Vladimir Russia in the Sea east of Thessaloniki. Remote
today, it was in the late Middle
legend of the lnvisible City of Kitezh, which rather Ages the religious he art of the
than fail to the infidel sank below the waters of its Orthodox world. a "monastic
republic"" (as it stili is). meeting
lake, to reemerge in better times. It is the subject of place of many nationalities:
one of Rimsky-Korsakov's most spectacular operas. Russians, Bulgarians, Serbs,
Sophisticated literature lamented the conquest in Romanians and Georgians, as
well as Greeks, had monasteries
several works, of which the most memorable is the on the '"Holy Mountain.'" The
fragmentary Tale of the Ruin of the Russian Land, Russian mon.:ıstery of St
which starts with the most idyllic and poetic of Pantaleimon, shown here, is an
ancient foundation, but now
apostrophes to Old Russia: "O brightly brilliant looks a rather anonymous
and splendidly adorned Russian land! Many beau- conglomeration of l 9th-century
buildings: under the !ast tsars it
ties have made you marvelous . . . " The bright was deliberately enlarged, and
image of Kiev has inspired Russian nostalgia many accommodated thousands of
times since, while the cultural and political attempt pilgrims. Ali Athonite
monasteries are fortress-like.
to resurrect its heritage can be observed as early as picturesquely huddled round
the 15th century. their main church.

Tatar rule
The trauma of the Tatar conquest healed slowly as
generations passed and Tatar power became an
accepted fact of Russian life, however unwelcome.
in the Russian lands there was an intensification of
certain trends already visible in Kievan days:
notably the relentless subdivision ofthe large prin-
cipalities into ever-smaller appanages (in the
absence of primogeniture) and the generalized
feuding between them, exacerbated by the desire
to seek Tatar favor. Considerable significance
attached to acquiring the yarlyk or patent to the
title of grand prince of Vladimir from the khan,
with whom the grand prince alone had the right of
direct dealing, and for whom he acted as chief tax
gatherer and law enforcer. From the early 14th
century onwards the rulers of Moscow, formerly a
somewhat insignificant subdivision ofthe Vladimir
principality, were most often successful in this. At
the same time they managed to reverse the usual
trend by increasing rather than diminishing their
territory. For this reason we genera11y associate the
14th and 15th centuries with the rise of Moscow.
This was not the only political process at work in
the historic Russian lands at the time, however,
and indeed Moscow's rise is matched by the simul-
taneous rise in west Russia of that large and
remarkable, if often-forgotten, medieval state, the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Meanwhile Novgorod
enjoyed a silver age of prosperity and cultural
MUSCOVY
activity in the 14th century. For a time around
1400 it looked as if the old Kievan federative
system might be restored. it would be far too deter-
ministic to regard the rise of Moscow as inevitable,
or as the only proper destiny of Russia.
Tatar conquest, accompanied by ıhe widespread
destruction of cities and consequent disruption of
commerce and industry, must have forced much of
Russia back to a subsistence economy. Building
activity, a normal indicator of surplus wealth,
stopped, as far as is known, from the 1240s to
1280s. Kiev itself was particularly hard hit,
"reduced almosı to nothing" as the papa! envoy
Plano Carpini noted on passing through in 1246.
Loss of skilled manpower to the Tatars was signifi-
cant, but actual loss of life was probably slight
compared with the huge disaster ofthe Black Death
a century later. This reached Russia from the Wesı
in the 1350s and became endemic for many
decades. ln none of these matters are precise statis-
tics available. Nonetheless Russia began recovering
from the effects of the conquest fairly quickly. it
was in the Tatars' interest to encourage trade, and
they soon issued decrees to ensure free passage to
merchants. Even if they Jet others rule on their
behalf, they were keen to order and to enumerate
their subjects, instituting censuses (far from
popular) and an efficient post-horse service to
impose their notions of discipline even at a
distance.
53
M U\CO\''t
Churc h life and the mona,ti c ınovement
A notablc phenomenon in 14th-century Russian
culture is the blossoming of the Orthodox Ch urch .
The conditions for this were partly supplied,
rathcr surprisingly, by the Tata rs. They exempted
the church, with its lands and all its scrv itors,
ele rical or lay, froın the exactions and conscri ption
that the rest of society suffered. The Tatars, w ho
\vere themselve<; ~hamanistic pagans at the time of
the conquest and lon g after wards, foll owed Geng-
his Khan's example of tolerance towards the
various devcloped rcligions they cncountered,
perhaps for superstitious reasons. Their own
choice of religion depended on where t hey were. in
Mongolia t hey remained pagans. Many in th e west
toved w it h Christianity, until in t he early 14th
ce.ntury the Golden Horde as a wh ole adopted
Islam. Despite comparative Tatar benev olence, the
chu rch in t his period became more strongly
identified with the Kussian nation than bcfore; it
re rnained an all-Russian institution at a time of
po litical fragmentation and demoralization. It has
been q uite recently demonstrated that there must
have been an agreement between the Russians and
t he patriarchate in Constantinople, whereby the
metropolitans of Kiev (resident in Vladimir, and
afterwards Moscow) were chosen alternately hy
each partner. The By zantines were much weakened
politically, and between 1204 and 1261 were under
occupation by the \'\Testern European adventurers
of the Fourth Crusade. Byzantium was no longer in
the dominant position it had held in the 9th and
10th centuries. Yet it was stili capable of generat-
ing religious ideas to grapple with the challenge of
Islamic successes and of several heretical
movements.
A general mood of heightened spirituality suf-
fused the whole Orthodox Church in the 14th
century, finding its most remarkable expression in
the theological movement called Hesychasm (liter-
ally, "quietism"). Drawing upon and elaborating
certain practices of earlier Church Fathers, this
recommended disciplined repetitive prayer and
spiritual exercises that might, with God's grace,
put the individual in direct contact with the divine
energy. After bitter wrangling Hesychasm was
ratified as Orthodox doctrine at church councils by
the mid-14th century, and it remains so to the
present. it had considerable effect on late-medieval
art and literature.
The church was important as a link between
Russia and the \'\'İder world. There ,vas consider-
able rnovement, including some revival of trade,
between Russia and the east Mediterranean lands
in the 14th and early 15th centuries, no longer
using the Dnieper, but normally via the River Don
and the Crimea. Pilgrims and church delegations
traveled to Constantinople (where their graffiti
have recently been identified in the galleries of St
Sophia), but the great spiritual powerhouse of the
Orthodox was the monastic repu blic of Mount
Athos in the northern Aegean, where the Russian
monastery of St Panteleimon stili exists. Here
books were translated and copied, icons painted
and ideas exchanged. Emissaries too traveled in the
other direction: senior Byzantjne churchmen
several tirnes went to 1\ı1.oscow and the other Rus-
sian lands in effect to beg for alms, usually so as to
repair the buildings of Constantinople--a striking
S4
testimony to the !4th-century revival of Russian Thc m onastic and missionarv
mo\·ements, I4th-15th ~
prosperity and comparative Byzantine indigence.
centuries.
it could have been one such emissary who Before 1300 most ofthe monasıic
reported back to the patriarch that the Grand life ofthe Russian Orthodox
Prin ce Vasiliy I was saying, "We have a church, Church was associated with the
princely courts. Sergius of
but no emperor," and leaving the latter out of Radonezh (c.1321 91) began
official prayers. Patriarch Antonios sent a long something ofa reformation when
he moved north into the remote,
letter of rebuke, pointing out that church and densely forested lands to pursue
empire were inseparable. üne of the classic state- an ascetic and intellectually
men ts of By zantine political ideology, it was rıgorous life. He attracted a
follmving ofmonks, and
written in thc 1390s when the empire itself had between 1340 and 1440 nearly
been reduced to little more than the City and a few 200 monasteries were founded
islands, with the Ottoman Turks already sweeping al ong the prıııciples he laid
down for his Trinitv lı.lonasterv
ali before them. The Russians apparently accepted [see pp. 68 69). Mafiyofthese·
the rebuke, and it was only after 1448, a decade new foundations wcre in the
Trans-Volgan regions, stretching
after the Council of Florence had patched up a to the Ura1s and as far north as
union between Eastern and Western churches, the great Solovki Monastery on
causing grass-roots outrage, that they cautiously the \\'hite 5ea (founded 1429).
The mo nasııc movement
took the destiny of their church into their own pioneered the opening-up of the
hands, appointing their own metropolitan without northeast and ,•,tas accompanied
reference to Byzantium. Prior to that, the Byzan- by the settlement of many
Russian peasants in ıhe new
tine patriarchate had had the awkward task lands. The Roman Catholics and
throughout the 14th century of deciding between Ortho dox ,-:ere also in
competition for thc convcrsion
the rival claiıns of northeast Russia (Vladimir/ of the remainıng pagan peoples
Moscow) and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (which of Europe-the \\"ends,
in mid-century annexed Kiev, historic seat of the Prussians and Lithuanians.
metropolitan) to represent Russia. Lithuania
probably had a considerably larger population of
Orthodox believers, but its ruling class were stili
pagans, the !ast pagan nation in Europe. After
much wavering, Constantinople decided for Mos-
cm. . ·, and the Lithuanian rulers joined forces with
Poland and accepted Catholicism in 1385, though
they set up a rival Orthodox metropolitan in Kiev
in 1458. Subsequent Russian cultural history was
radically influenced by these events.
The most interesting and important develop-
ment in Russian church Jife of the Tatar period
was, however, purely internal to the country. This
was the so-called monastic movement: the found-
ing of numerous monasteries and hermitages in
ever-remoter parts of the northern forests. Before
1300 the major monasteries had been in or near
towns, closely associated with the princely courts.
Belou: Dmitriy Donskoy. Grand
A complete change of pattern was instigated by Prince of Moscow, provoked the
Sergius of Radonezh (c.1321 - 91), later considered Tatars into launching a punitive
expedition, ,•,.hich he defeated at
one of Russia's patron saints. He came from a Kulikovo (1380) on the Don. it
family of boyars (aristocrats) in Rostov, dispos- demonstrated at last that the
sessed as a result of pressure from Moscow during Russians could stand up to the
Tatars, though they paıd tnbute
his childhood. As a young man he sought out a fora further century. Like the
refuge from the world in trackless forest northeast earlier warrior-prince.
of Radonezh; his "wilderness," symbolically rather Alexander Nevsky, Dmitriy was
canonized and made ıhe subject
than physically remote, soon attracted other her- of an extravagantly eulogisıic
mits. Against his will he was persuaded to organize biography.
his bermitage into a monastery, of whfrh he became
abbot. The town of Sergiyev Posad (Zagorsk under
the Soviet regime) grew around it.
Sergius's monastery, dedicated to the Holy
Trinity, became before his death the leading intel-
lectual center of resurgent Russian culture. Its
early monks founded remoter monasteries, and
from these remoter ones stili were established. It
has been estimated that nearly 200 arose in the
century 1340-1440, reaching eventually to the
White Sea and the Urals. Peasant colonists
followed: not surprisingly the Moscow grand
princes did their best to profit by the whole pro-
cess. Ideologically the friendship between Sergius
and Grand Prince Dmitriy Donskoy stood the latter
 MUSCOVY

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in good stead at a crucial moment, whether or not
Sergius actually blessed Dmitriy's successful mili-
tary challenge to the Tatars. Another friend and
contemporary of Sergius was St Stephen of Perm,
whose single-handed missionary activity managed
to convert the Komi people (Permians) to Orthodox
Christianity. in imitation of Sts Cyril and
Methodius he devised them an alphabet and a
literature. Muscovite centralization extirpated
both a few generations later, and an icon of the
Trinity carrying Permian script is a unique surviv-
ing relic.
The story of Moscow's aggrandizement is com-
plex, but its general outlines are clear enough. Its
family of resident princes begins with the youngest
son of Alexander Nevsky, Daniil. From the start,
the dynasty was concerned to add to its territory,
whether by peaceful means (purchase, marriage,
inheritance) or force. in or about 1318 Prince Yury
Danilovich married the sister of the khan of the
Golden Horde, receiving the title of grand prince.
Thereafter his successors tenaciously struggled to
keep the title in their own family. Moscow had
tough rivals . Lithuania too was growing fast and
intervening frequently in central Russian politics.
Novgorod was at the height of its commercial
power. The chief opposition, however, came from
another newcomer to the political scene, the city of

55
MUSCOVY

Tver on the upper Volga. The struggle far supre-

macy , with the sometimes bloody involvement of
the Tatars, continued well into the 15th century.
Support from the church was a factor that raised
Moscow's prestige: from about 1328 the metropoli-
tans resided there, while the wise and courageous
Metropolitan Aleksey acted as regent during the
minority of Prince Dmitriy lvanovich. The latter,
who inherited the principality in 1359 at the age of
nine, later found fame as Dmitriy Donskoy. The
surname alludes to the headwaters of the River
Don, where on Kulikovo Pole (Field of Snipe) in
1380 Dmitriy led an army from an alliance of prin-
cipalities into battle against a large Tatar force sent
to punish him for several acts of insubordination. 60" G~,r~ı
ına,,

Mamay, the Tatar commander, expected help from

the Lithuanian ruler Jagiello, but it arrived too
!ate, and he was comprehcnsively defeated.
Two years later another Tatar army under Tokh-
tamysh sacked Moscow. Dmitriy continued to pay
ıribute and was confirmed as grand prince. The
Tatars mounted occasional highly destructive raids
and remained Russia's nominal overlords for
another century, but their grip had obviously
loosened. The Golden Horde was demoralized, and
Russian independence under Moscow's leadership
could only be a matter of time. An internecine civil
war in the Moscow royal house, lasti ng for the
entire second quarter of the 15th century, marks
the !ast public eruption of the sort of "uncle-
nephew" generational conflict that so bedeviled
the princely succession in Kievan days. Generally
the Moscow dynasty was fortunate enough to
enjoy uncomplicated father-to-son inheritance. it
also produced long-reigning monarchs. From 1359 I
0 Ctıem,gov
(disregarding civil war claimants) six rulers in
succession (Dmitriy, Vasiliy I, Vasiliy il, Ivan III,
Vasiliy III, lvan iV) enjoyed reigns that spanned İ C:=J un::ıeılvan Hl(1 462-15ô5 j
225 years (30, 36, 37, 43, 28, 51 years respectively), \ CJ un::ıeıVasıl,yln(15ôŞ----331
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disease-ridden times. f .,·
1İ scale112000000

The arts of early Muscovy
From the cultural point of view 14th- to 15th-
century Russia tends to be overshadowed by the
glories of the Kiev and Vladimir heritage. Yet the
Tatar period, once the initial shock was over, was
no dark age. Building activity restarted on a
modest scale before the opening of the 14th
century, and as the century progressed a consider-
able number of churches appeared, particularly in
Novgorod. Moscow acquired walls under Dmitriy
Donskoy, and a small number of early Muscovite
buildings survive from about 1400. These build-
ings pick up the traditions of the elegant white
limestone architecturc devclopcd in Vladimir 200
years earlier, though less monumentally and
without the external fıgurative sculpture of some
Vladimir buildings. Certain prc-Tatar tcndencics in
the direction of increasing the visual impact of
rooflines were greatly developed, with an interest-
ingly varied effect of pyramidality. Domes were
probably stili helmet- rather than onion-shaped.
Extcrnal walls are articulated by the application of
small arcades, stringcourses, decorative gables,
pilasters and other devices that have a purely
aesthetic effect, since they no longer correspond
with internal structure.
The visual arts flowered magnificently in
~ .. . ., ıl}'ımıc..,Y~;;;;:"e,,. •
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another area: painting. The first half of the 15th
century is rightly considered the golden age of the
Russian icon. Though earlier medieval art had
generally been anonymous, individuality began to
assert itself, and from about 1400 the names of
several of the best practitioners are known . In
particular the life and work of the monk Andrey
Rublyov (c. 1370-1430) have in the 20th century
been resurrected from myth. We can also grasp the
distinct artistic personalities of Rublyov's older
contemporary Theophanes the Greek (Feofan Grek,
a lay Byzantine expatriate) who worked in Nov-
gorod and in 1405 with Rublyov in Moscow, and
of his !ast important successor, Dionisiy (!ate 15th
century).
Few icons survive from Kievan Russia: those that
do mostly display a static, uncluttered monumen-
tality. in the early Tatar period Russian art, thrown
back on its own resources, shows a "folk" quality,
with expressive, plastic distortions and simplifica-
tions of fıgure style and clear, unnatura1istic colors.
When Russian culture revived in the !ate 14th
century its art was able to draw on both these
aspects of its past, but also on renewed inter-

56

Left: Moscow and the
"gathering-in" ofthe Russian
lands.
Moscow was founded in the
mid-l2th century (though its site
was inhabited earlier); ,,,..ith the
decline of Kiev the central and
northeastern forest zone was
bcing rapidly opened up to
Russian colonization. After the
Tatar invasions of 1237---40
Moscow, at fırst a minor
subdivision of the Vladimir
pıincipality, began the process
of territorial aggrandizement and
rise in power that led to the
consolidation under lvan 111
(1462- 1505) ofthe centralized
Muscovite realm. ln the 14th
century Moscow rulers
"gathered in" adjoining
principalities by conquest,
cajolery, purchase or
inheritance; the metropolitan of
Kiev and All Russia moved first
to Vladimir, then to Moscow,
increasing their prestige;
Moscow's princes were generally
successful in acquiring the title
"grand prince" from the Tat.ı.rs .
Stiff opposition to Moscow's
ambitions, however, came from
the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
(later united with Poland), from
Novgorod and from Tver (batlı
subdued by lvan lll). The
principalities of Pskov and
Ryazan were allowed ta continue
as buffer states ta the west and
southeast respectively, but they
too were absorbed into the
Muscovite realm in the fırst
quarter ofthe 16th century. The
reasons far Moscow's success
have been much debated by
historians. though
inconclusively; its location at the
heart ofthe Volga-Oka ıiver
system is often cited, though
Tver, Vladimir and other cities
would seem as well or better
situated.
Rıght The earliest accurate plans
of Moscow date frorn the end of
the 16th cenıury; some are
copies from a lost oıiginal traced
by Fyodor, son of Boris
Godunov. A similar, though not
identical, map was made for
Sigismund III, king of Poland,
who in 1610-12 expected ta
make Moscow his own capital.
This is one of the variants of
Sigismund's map . The Moskva
River is shown flowing from top
ta bottom left {west ta east), with
its tributaries, the Neglinka
{flowing round the Kremlin: it is
now piped) and the Yauza. The
concentric quarters of the city
are all fortifıed. in the middle of
the map is Red Square with
market rows {6) and the chucch
of Basil the Blessed . Among
features ofinterest indicated are
public batlı houses on the
Moskva and the Yauza (13).
South ofthe Moskva is the
guarter ofthe streltsy, with the
tsar's great garden (14) opposite
the Kremlin; the physic garden
adjoins the Kremlin 's northwest
wall.
national contacts, above all with Byzantium. There
were certainly also contacts with the South Slavs
(Serbians are known to have worked in Novgorod)
but none can be proved with Wesıern Europe. The
best painters of the late-medieval Orthodox lands
seem to have sought a tender expressivity, though
in the case of Rublyov combined with gravitas and
a pure and monumental !ine. There seems to be a
truly classical inıpulse at work here, whether
looking back to the nobility of Kievan art or
through recent Byzantine models to a sort of
refined Hellenistic legacy. The painters of !5th-
century Russia seemed to share a common interest
in unnaturalistic but often dramatic effects oflight,
notably in scenes such as the Transfiguration and
the Descent into Hell; it is reasonable to see in this
an effect of Hesychast mysticism.
lcon painters had singular opportunities in the
early 15th century asa resul! ofthe development of
the iconostasis, a wooden screen closing off the
altar area ofa church and clad with tiers of icons,
often life-size or greater. The central ıier (t he "Dei-
sis") represented holy figures interceding with
Christ on behalf of the worshipers. The iconostasis
as a gallery of representations of saints conıpares
with the great sculpted portals of Western nıedi­
eval cathedrals, while the opening and closing of
its central doors enhance the drama of the liturgy.
The inıpact of the whole ambience is increased by
the frescoes covering ali interior walls and ceilings.
Good 14th- to l 5th-century examples of these sur-
vive, though fragmentarily, in Novgorod (World
War il took a heavy toll here), and include paint-
ings by Theophanes. There are wall paintings by
Rublyov in the Dormition Cathedral at Vladimir. A
small number of very fine illuminated gospel books
(."~-.. ~'-&11~
-~_...,,_,.;:,,, - . _: ,.
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,,
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h ({
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MUSCOVY
of the period have been attributed to the circles of
both artists.
Inevitably, the literature of the period, distanced
by its language, cannot have the immediacy or
universality of ıhe great icons, but it is not neglig-
ible. Chronicle writing continued to flourish: a
notable example is the early 15th-century Trinity
Chronicle compiled in St Sergius's Trinity Monas-
tery, a comprehensive work that attempts to speak
fronı an all-Russian perspective. Grand Prince
Dmitriy Donskoy of Moscow inspired two unusual
works. üne was a highly poeticized Life; the other,
extant in several versions, celebrates the victory at
Kulikovo in 1380 and is usually called Zadons/ı­
china ("What happened across the Don"). This
work quotes and skillfully adapts the Igor Tale of
200 years before.
The finest writer of the time is known to us by
name: Yepifaniy Premudry (Epiphanios the Wise),
a monk who personally knew Si Sergius and wrote
his Life, and that of Stephen of Perm, soon after
their deaths, doubtless with a view to bringing
about their canonization. Both works are Jong (over
100 pages) and intricate in construction: unfortu-
nately all extant variants ofthe Life of Sergius have
been demonstrably reedited and tampered with in
the interests of Muscovite propaganda in the 15th
century, but the Life of Stephen is intacı. Yepifaniy
describes his own literary method as "braiding of
words," and though set out as prose, the Life, or
much of it, is probably besi read as poetry- full of
rhythmic and sonorous devices, rhyme and alliter-
ation, neologisms, rhetorical figures, struct ural
echoes. The effect is highly emotionalized yet it
and the Life of Sergius alsa pack much interesting
factual narrative into the texture. Both works are
. ..: .· f
i
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57
MUSCOVY

really highly elaborate verbal "icons," whose covy, and implying the free, unitary Russian state
purpose is ta move the emotions and the soul, and with Moscow as its undisputed capital- was the
sa ta instill veneration. Jt has been a commonplace creation of one ı~ıan: Grand Prince lvan III, some-
of Russian literary histories ta ascribe this re mark- times known as " the Great." Yet even a great
able manner of writing to South Slavonic immi- mover of historical ev ents can be very much a
grants into Russia, refugees from t he Ottoman child of his times; it is far from clear that Ivan
conquest of the Balkans. Though some such immi- thought in categories that differed essentially from
grants are known, notably the learned Metropoli- those of his predecessors and contemporaries, or
tan Kiprian, and though they certainly influenced a that he saw the novel implications of the goals he
movement towards the refurbishment of Church strove so hard to achieve . it is very hard to say
Slavonic as a pan-Slavonic literary medium, Yepi- an ything defi nite about his motives, beliefs or
faniy's stylc and concept of literat ure have turned personality: the evidence that survives is generally
out on analysis to be highly original and, as it of a most forma! or offıcial kind. He was at le ast
emerges, inimitable: his methods were simply vul- tenaciou s, since he does not seem to have wavered
garized by his successors, notably the l Sth-centu ry in his aims even when he had to move slowly and
immigrant Pakhomy the Serb. These two Lives are circumspectly towards their realization. We can
undoubtedly the best literary relics of the short but also guess that childhood experience of civil war
productive period (roughly, the reigns of Dmitr iy left a legacy of suspiciousness. There was a long-
Donskoy and Vasiliy !), that represcnts w hat D. S. drawn-out dynastic crisis towards the end of his
Likhachov has termed the Orthodox "Pre-Renais- reign, w hen Ivan's favor was withdrawn from his
sance." it is possible ta view this as the " Sergie- eldesi surviving son, Vasiliy, in favor of his grand-
van" period of Russian civilization , centered on St son by an earlier marriage, Dmitriy, but later res-
Sergius's Trinity Monaster y, before Moscow tored. Historians have floundered in the
fınally tightened its grip on ali arcas of Russian interpretation of this important power game. Did
cultural as well as political life, and bro ught ali lvan vacillate? Behave capriciously? What personal
possibility of any full Renaissance to a halt. factors were involved? Did Vasiliy, Dmitriy and
their respective mothers represent identifıable
Ivan ili and the triumph of Muscovy social ar religious factions? The evidence is simply
.rvıuscovite Russia- kn own in the West as Mus- not there .
c...---
------------ ~is-
----------- 20'
G.Rıl-ND
pRINC\f'ıl,\.\i'f
of \
,.osco'IJ
Left: West Russia : the growth
of Poland and Lithuania.
At the same time as Moscow was
jncreasing in power in the 14th
BALrıc and I 5th centuries, its
arch-rival, the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania, was expanding over
huge tracts of land to the west.
Llthuania grew from a
confederation of pagan tribes
formed under King Mindovg (d.
1264) to fight offthe Teutonic
Knights who were advancing on
Lithuanian territory through
easccrn Prussia. In the centurv
following the Tatar invasions·or
1237-40, the old souch Russian
principalities such as Kiev and
Chernigov fell easy prey to
Lithuanian cxpansionism under
energetk empire-builders such
as Gediminas (ruled 1316- 39),
who took Kiev in 1321 and
founded his own capital of
Vilnius two years La.ter. Algirdas
(ruled 1345- 77} bequeathed to
his son Jagiello an empire
covering over 900 000 square

1
/ --- kilomecers and containing many
Orthodox Christian subjects.
Under the Union of Krevo
u:~uaıııa 1263-1470 \ (1385) Lithuania made a dynastic
'163 CRllA'EA alliance with Poland and
officially accepted Roman
Catholicism. The confessional

Polarıd1385-- 1 470
- -? difference further exacerbated
the antagonism between the
Orthodox Muscovites and their
gaınstofimeolunıon
wı!hlıllıuanıa1385 acquisitive western neighbors.
~gaınsto1470
" lvan lll's protracted struggle
with Lithuania eventually
[:=Jı.ırıôerPol<Slısovereıgnıy
t ,,,. turned the tide in Moscow's
sca..eı 12000000 ç::_ favor at the start of the 16th
century, though both Kicv and

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Lithuania's borders for some
yea rsmore.

58

Abtwe Muscovite cmbassies
excited the unbridled curiosıty
of Western Eumpcans, who
were much taken with their
participants' fıne robes,
outlandish hats and unfamiliar
manners. This early woodcut
(1576) by Mkhael Peterle shows
an ambassadorial proccssion of
boyars to the Austrian Emperor
Maximilian il, followed by
merchants carrying furs.
Members ofRussian embassies
generally had no cash, and
maintained themsclvcs by fur
sales asbest they could while
abroad.
In the event Vasiliy succeeded to the throne, and
continued his father's policies. He was in turn suc-
ceeded by lvan IV "the Terrible," who put his
stamp on the 16th century as his grandfather had
on the 15th. Between them, over a total of94 years,
the two lvans established a sodety whose insti-
tutions were so powerful that even the extinction
of the Ryurikid dynasty in 1598, and the
subsequent anarchy of the "Time of Troubles," did
not prevent its reinstatement under the Romanovs
in 1613-as a com plete anachronism on the Euro-
pean scene, since times had moved on-and its sur-
vival for another century. Peter the Great was
paradoxically the !ast great Muscovite ruler in
both his major goals and many of his methods, and
genuinely admired his strong-minded Muscovite
predecessors.
Ivan III's fundamental aim was the restoration of
his ful] patrimonial authority as Grand Prince "of
ali Russia" (often mistranslated in the West as "of
ali the Russias"), which implied vigorous attention
to the strength, security, independence and pres-
tige of his realm. These in their turn had many
more implications: a protracted struggle against the
expansionist pretensions of the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania, by this time in dynastic alliance with
Catholic Poland; the ostentatious upholding both
of Orthodoxy and of his own sovereign title;
careful diplomacy with foreign powers that might
lend their weight to the struggle; the concentration
of ali forces in the non-Lithuanian territories (that
is, northern, eastern and central Russia) into the
hands of the grand prince; the casting off of the !ast
vestiges of subjection to the Golden Horde; the
marshaling of ali sections of society into the pur-
poseful organism that historians have called the
Muscovite "service state." This was a considerable
agenda, even fora reign of 43 years.
The Golden Horde proved the least of lvan's
worries. Russia's 240-year subjection to the Tatars
ended not with a bang, but a whimper: what might
ha ve been a blood y showdown in the autumn of
1480 ended with a Russian and a Tatar army con-
fronting each other across the River Ugra, south-
west of Moscow, and, after staring at each other fa r
MUSCOVY
some days, simply going their separate ways. Jvan
ceased to pay tribute to the Horde, but did not stop
gathering it from his countrymen, merely diverting
it to his own purposes. Several decades before the
non-event on the Ugra thc Moscow princes had
already been subverting Tatar power by taking
"dissident" Tatar nobles into thcir service, with or
without conversion to Orthodoxy. Ivan IIl's father,
Vasili y II, had even set up a small vassal Tatar
principality at Kasimov on the Oka, ruled by
Kasim, a descendant of Genghis Khan. in certain
respects the Muscovite rulers apparently saw
themselves as heirs to the khan ijust as some Kic-
van rulers had been dubbed kagaıı). in a bizarre
episode in Ivan IV's reign, a Kasimov ruler,
Semyon Bekbulatovich, would officially (if jocu-
larly) be made tsar of Russia for a few months in
1575- 76.
The crushing of N ovgorod
lvan III faced a much tougher and more invidious
task in settling accounts with those of his Russian
compatriots who did not accept his title to supreme
authority over the Russian lands, or whom he at
least perceived asa threat to his supremacy. Chief
among them were the Novgorodians and Tverians,
or at least their ruling circles. The suppression of
Novgorod in 1478 is the most notorious single acı
of lvan's reign. Novgorod's political situation had
long been a balancing act. Although acknowledg-
ing the theoretical supremacy of the grand prince
- and hiring as its own princes mem bers of the
Ryurikid family- the Novgorodians maintained
complete practical independence through their
dcvelopmcnt of city-state institutions and efficient
management of their huge tcrritories. in the veche
or assembly (which anybody could summon by the
ringing of a great beli) the citizens held ultimate
authority, but this large and argumentative body
could not make day-to-day decisions. These were
left to an oligarchic council and elected officials:
the mayor, the head of the city militia and the arch-
bishop (also a city appointment).
in the earlier part of thc Tatar period Novgorod,
with its wealth, geographical seclusion and smooth
59
MUSCOVY
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functioning, must have seemed unassailablc. By
thc mi d- l 5th century t he situation was danger-
ou sly fluid. W ith the slack ening of the Tatar grip
and the polarization of the Russian heritage
betwecn Moscow and Lithuania, Novgorodian
aloofncss was bccoming harder to maintain. Vasiliy
il made a dcmonstratio n of autho rit y in 1456 w hen
he scored a military victory over the city and fined
it for backing th e wrong side at a !ate stage of thc
Moscow civil war. Thereafter Novgorod could not
treat indepcndently wit h fo reign powers and had
to use thc gran d prince' s seal. Nev erthcless it prc-
scrved its institutions, and it secms that neither
Vasiliy ]] nor, at firs t, lvan fil intended to cxtin-
guish thcm.
However, as so often in city -statcs, rivalry
between the wcalthicst fa milies (from whom thc
mayor usually came) and th e mass of townsfolk
was becoming steadily greater. The economic posi-
tion too was shaky: the Hanscatic League, of which
Novgorod was the important eastern terminus, was
by now siphoning off ever more of thc profits of
Novgorod trade, since Novgorod mcrchants had
largely stopped shipping their goods. Simulta-
neously the bottom had droppcd out of the
European squirrel fur market. Above ali, Nov-
60
,,-
'
/ _.;
.,..,.
gorod, stili richer and probably more populous
than Moscow (a fıgurc of 30 000 inhabitants is the
usual estimate), had two great handicaps: it could
neither reliably defend itself, nor feed itself. For its
army it had only its imported prince and his
retainers, together with a small city militia. As for
food, thc Novgorod climatc (adequate only for
growing flax and hcmp) was marginal even for the
hardy cereals, rye and oats. in the frequent years
of bad harvests, Novgorod was fatally dependent
on grain shipmcnts from middle Russia, which
could be cut off by whoever controlled the rivers
and portages.
in thc years aftcr 1456 the Novgorodian leaders,
notable among them the tough-minded Marfa Bor-
etskaya, widow ofa mayor, made the fatal mistake
of parleying with Lithuania. lvan sent a punitive
expedition in 1471, but gave the city a !ast chance
to recognize his authority. Equivocation and panic
sealed ıhe Novgorodians' fate. lvan proved to be
extremely touchy about the exact title by which
the Novgorodians would recognize him, and when
slighted besieged the city in 1478, demanded the
abolition of all its separate institutions, and hauled
off the veche beli to Moscow. He exiled the arch-
bishop, w ho was replaced subsequently by a Mos-

:ı.ovgorod: lands and tradl'
connections.
Novgorod was a crucial trading
post betvı:een Viking, SJa,,onic
and Finnic peoples from the 9th
centurv, if not earlier. The name
means -.,~e-vv ToY.'n," "ney,•"
perhaps in comparison with the
older se-ttlement of L:ıdoga.
Between the 12th and 15th
centuries ~ovgorod enjoyed
effective indcpendence as the
northernmost of the great
European city-states, more or
less democrancally ruled.
co:-ıtrolling vast tracts of
northern territory as far as the
Urals; this so--called "empire"
was exploited for the fur trade
by the fi.ve kont5.>' ("ends" or
"wards") into whıch the city
itself \,·as divided. ~1ajor trade
routes ran from Novgorod
east,,·ards to the Volga basin,
southwards to Kiev (and
ultimately Constantinople) and
westwards to Sweden and the
lands ofthe Holy Roman empire.
Xovgorod was the tenninus of
the Hanseatic League and had u s
own important entrepôt on
Gotland (where probably
Xovgorodian fresco paintings
survive). Two i'-.ovgorod
cities-Pskov to the southwesı
and V,·atka in the e.ıst- became
inde~ndent in the late Middle
Ages until forcibly incorporated ,
like Novgorod itself, into
Muscovy
cow strongman, Gennadiy, and confıscated large
amounts of church land.
In addition to these confiscations, some thou-
sands of ıhe better-off Novgorod citizens were for-
cibly deported during the 1480s ıo other parts of
Russia. They were replaced by a smaller number of
Ivan's servitors, whose somewhat larger estatcs
were intended to be sufficiently remunerative for
them to equip themselves for military service. Most
signifıcantly, they were not granted outright !itle
ıo the land , as had been normal up to ıhen (a tenure
known as voıclıiııa, patrimony), but only far their
lifetimes, and conditionally upon their satisfactory
performance of duties. Some 1·2 million hectares
were disposed of in this manner, and the new
sysıem, known as pomesty e, was quickly extended.
Under ]\'an III's successors even ı•otchina holders
had to serve, under threat of expropriation: they
were betler off than pomesıniki only insofar as they
could seli their land or bequeath it in ıheir wills. in
1v1uscovy there was only one true, unconditional
voıchina left: Russia itself, over which the ruler had
what ıhe Romans termed dominium, unfettered
right of disposal.
The svstem of land tenure in 15th-centurv Mus-
co,-y m~y seem arcane, yet it is the chief founda-
tion of the practices and one of the foundations of
the ideology----of the 1"1uscovite realm, a source
of both iıs sıreııgths and iıs weaknesses. it affected
ıhe attitudes of the tsars towards ıheir lands and
subjects up ıo Nicholas il. it equally affecıed their
attitude to the international scene and promoted
the arrogance for which the Muscovite monarchy
was alsa noted. A letter from J\·an iV to Queen Eliz-
abeth of England (l 570) complains that he had
assumed she was truly sovereign, "but now we
perceive that there be other men that do rule," that
is, that she recogrıized ıhat her subjects had rights.
The use of land, that apparently limitless resource
in a state otherwise far from ,vealthv, as re\·••ard for
service long outlived Musco-v~v, continuing
ıhroughout the 18th century. Moreover the exploi-
tation of the land- for trapping, mining, manufac-
turing, disıilling, salt-working and so on - was alsa
generally regarded as a royal prerogative, even if
farmed aut into private hands.
It was not onlv because of the consequent insti-
tution of poııı esiye that the sack of No,·gorod is a
great punctuation mark in Russian history. Nov-
gorod represented "the possible other case," an
authentic part of Russia that share d the same Kie-
van and pre-Kievan antecedents as it s rivals Mus-
covy and Lithuania, yet grew into a society more
attractive than eith er ta modern minds: it com-
manded the lavalı v rath er tha n the fear of its citi-
zens, \VaS freed oITl-lo, Ting, relath·ely dem ocratic,
fam ousl v resourcefu1 and hardworking, tolerant in
iıs law cod e and pena! practice, artistically prolific.
It wa s al so a '\•,;indow on t he \ Vest," like its suc-
cessor St Petersbu rg, past whose site ~ovgorod
merchants once used to sail. Ivan III closed the
shutters by ejecting the Hanseatic merchants in the
1490s. T he suppression of C'lovgorod was ruthless
in itself, though understandable in terms of J\'an's
fear of Lithuanian power, but it was made more
ominous bv ıhe forced deportations that accompa-
nied it. in., 11uSCO\'V human life and dignity were
held cheap, and people became adjuncts to the
land; in su ch an atmosphere the gradual institution
MUSCOVY
of serfdom during the [6th cent ury could take
place alması unnoticed. it sıarted with the occa-
sional, then regular, abrogation of the peasants'
traditional righı ıo change their employment
during ıhe two weeks around St George's day in
Novenıber; the motive was to ensure that land
would have the necessary hands to work it.
With the sack of Novğorod the "gathering-in" of
the Russian lands became more like a mopping-up
operation. Tver, Moscow's old rival, capitulated in
1485: its !ast independent prince had turned des-
perately to Lithuania, while his boyars, sensing
the need to salvage what ıhey could , flocked ıo
Moscow. Ivan, whose fırst wife had been a Tverian
princess, treated it relativcly Ieniently. There
remained two other lesser city -states with free
institutions thaı followed ıhe Novgorod pattern.
üne was Pskov, an allv of ı\1oscow, on which it
relied far military support against the German
Baltic colonists. The other, a remarkable offshoot of
Novgorod's farthest domains, was Vyatka, a large
but thinly populated land of hunters and free-
booters in the far northeast, \'\"ith traditions as
libertarian as No,·gorod's, if not more so. The Vyat-
kans were quite ready to make common cause with
ıheir neighbors, the Kazan Tatars, against Moscow,
and Ivan suppressed them, again with deport-
ations, in 1489. At ıhe end of lvan IIl's reign only
two independent Russian lands remained: Pskov,
the buffer-territorv to the west , and a truncated
principality of Ryizan, performing the same func-
tion at the eastern steppe fringe. Vasiliy llI fınished
them off in 1510 and l 520 respectively, deporting
Pskovians and the t>eche beli as his father had done
in Novgorod, if less brutally, despite Pskov's
traditional friendship with Moscow.
Lithuania was a harder nut to crack. Ivan moved
cautiously and craftily. At one stage he married off
his daughıer to the Lithuanian grand duke, appar-
ently in the hope of establishing a political and
religious fooıhold in ıhe Lithuanian courı. He
regained several border territories, though n ot the
chief prize of Smolensk. The continued existence of
an independent Lithuania was, however, a greater
danger to the Muscovite political sy stem than mere
questions of territory would suggest. The oldest
and mosı stubbornly maintained right of the upper
class of ıhe Old Russian pr in cipalities was that of
free service: at a moment's notice the servitor \'\'as
entitled to transfer his allegiance to anotbe r prince.
\Vith the "gathering-in '' of Russia t here was no
one but t he Moscow grand p rince left to sen'e,
except fa r Lithuania, !\loscow's deadly rival. '.'/ot
surprising ly, from lvan III's time departure from
Moscow's service began to be regarded as treason.
Suddenh• t he ar istocrats of Russia found them-
sel ,·es a-s defenseless as peasants or e,·en slaves
against the ruler's whims. There was no "feudal
contract," as in \ \'estern Europe, whereby the
stro nger as well as the weaker party pledged him-
self to obser\'e certain obligations. it is significant
that \ \'estern Europeans in 16th-century .!\ılusco,·y
often particularly noted the self-abasement of the
boyars and sen·ice class generally before the ruler.
A late and most dramatic defection from .Musco\'y
took place in the 1560s, when Inn I\''s successful
commander and personal friend, Prince Andn.')
Kurbsk,•, went o,·er to Lithuania. This eYent,
which ğa\'e rise to a long correspondence between
61
1
Ivan the Terrible

Thc imagc uf lvan !\' "thc Terrible" (Russian G.-ozny,

propcrly ')\we-inspiring") has far many people been
formed by Fisenstein's movies (1943 46). This is no
bad thinı: Fben~tcin, working under an autocrat
~talin who partly modcled himself on lvan,
matches lvan in his ambiguities, his mixed nobility
and grotesquerie, suppressed panic and laghter.
Ivan encompao,sed rational political aims (particu-
larly the strcngthening of the 1\1uscovitc service state
bv an assault on thc old aristocracy and promotion of
new men) through incrcasingly irrational and unpre-
dictablc mcans as his long reign (1533 84) pro-
gresscd. An extraordinary "ma..,querade" quality
characterized his actions and sclf-image (there are
remarkable parallels with Peter !). Full of ill-directed
intcllectual energy, he produced copious correspon-
dencc in an inimitable histrionic style. Foreigners
were imprcssed by his learning and quick wit.
Despitc the real psychological and physical damage
he did to Russia, his folk image is generally admiring,
as upholder ofRussia's interests, unity, traditions and
piety. But his Muscovy was already a rigid, ideologi-
caJly hidebound, unprogressive and hazardous p1ace,
outwardly cxcessively ordered, underneath simmer-
ing with discontent.

Abot'e Ivan IV's great sıate seal.
The crowned double-headed
caglc is of Byzantinc origin.
reprcsenting Old and New Rome;
on it is su perimposed a shıeld
v•:ith the Moscow emblem ofSt
George. Twelve seals of
principalities incorporated into
Muscovy, together with the
Orthodox cross, surround it; thc
inscription round the rim
records Ivan's full titles.
Right In I564 Ivan I\' suddcnly Aboı ·e A miniature from the
withdrew to the smaU town of ilJustrated chronicle of Nikon
Aleksandrov, 100 kilometers (15th century), showsthe
northeast of Moscow, and building ofa new palace in
threatened to abdıcate. He made Moscow to housc Ivan IV's
his resumption of rule oprichniki. The tsar himself
conditional upon being able to monitors progress from inside a
punish his enemies at wi\J and to fancifully dcpictcd Kremlin.
set up the opnchmna. The central
corps of oprichniki, when not out
devastating the countryside,
lived a pseudo-monastic life
centered on Aleksandrov. In this
contemporary drawing they are
shown feasting in the presence
of the tsar, as they did every
moming at 10.

62

Above- Portraits of individuals,
usually com.mernorative, are
known in Russia from the later
16th century; they are at first
completely within the traditions
oficon-painting, though some
attempt at individualization is
made. This iconic depiction ona
wooden panel of ıvan IV
(probably early 17th century} is
now in Copenhagen .
Above right The capture of Kazan
(1552) was the most signifıcant
military success of lvan IV's
early years. Kazan \•:as the most
powerful successor state to the
Tatar Golden Horde: its strategic
location on the middle Volga
made it the gateway to south and
east, its capture opened up
Siberia and the Urals to Russia.
This miniature shows lvan's ne,-..·
force of streltsy using fırearıns
0
~i~~ :t!hc~t~at;reft~~~a~a;~~his
mounted retainers are in the
background.
Below The main banner oflvan
IV's troops at the siege ofthe
city of Kazan: it can also be seen
depicted imaginatively in the
background of the miniature of
the siege (borrom right). lt carries
a representation of an kon of the
face ofChrıst-the traditıonal
"fırst kon."
Top One of the strangest and
socially most disruptive episodes
oflvan l\''s reign was the
creation ofa separate
''realm-within-the-realm,'' the
opnchrıina ("place apart";
1564 72). A parallel
administration was set up and
the opnchnına handed over to a
mounted force, the opnchrııki,
empowered to destroy the tsar's
enemıes. in parody of monks,
they dressed uniformly ın blark.
this is one such survivıng
garment
MUSCOVY
the two, probably helped to unbalance lvan's
personality. it signalled the total subjection of the
boyar class, which had grown in numbers with the
absorption of so many old principahties into Mos-
cow and might well have proved a counterweight
to autocracy.
Orthodoxy and heterodoxy
A scries of rehgious and ideological problems,
issucs and initiatives accompanied the birth of the
Muscovite systcm; these were gencrally inter-
linkcd. Two serious hercsies arose, in the late 14th
and !ate 15th centuries: the "Shearers" (Strıgolniki)
and "Judaizers" (Zhidovstvuyushchie). Both spread
from No\'gorod, suggesting possible connections
with \Vestern Europcan pre-Reformation move-
ments, though the influence of the eastern Bogo-
mils may have also reached Russia from the
Balkans. Both seem to ha\'C bccn rationalistic and
anti-hierarchical, but bevond that it is hard to
characterize their belief;, since both were sup-
pressed and are known largel y from their oppo-
nents' attacks. The second was the more successful
movement, even gaining a foothold in Moscow in
the grand prince's entourage. In thc spirit of the
times, it was eventuallv dealt with more harshlv,
its leaders being burned after long hesitation Ôn
Ivan's part. Gennadiy, the tough Muscovite arch-
bishop of Novgorod, had urged lvan to follow the
example of the Spanish Inquisition. J\!ore peace-
ablv, he commissioned the first full Russian Bible
to counter the heretics' scriptural knowledge.
The Orthodox Church proper meanwhile had its
own problems and was developing its own idio-
syncrasies. Some of these were a legacy from the
great eremitical and monastic movement initiated
by St Sergius in the 14th century. Its tradition of
contemplative Hesychast spirituahty was articu-
lated and carried farther by some notable figures in
Ivan III' s and Vasiliy III' s reigns: these include St
Nil Sorsky ("of the Sora River," d. 1509), his suc-
cessor Vassian Patrikevev and their followers the
"Trans-Volga Elders"" (with hermitages in the
northern forests). They were dubbed "Non-
Possessors" from their argument that monasteries
should be free of worldly encumbrances. An
opposing position was held by St Joseph of Volo-
kolamsk (losif Volotsky, d. 1519); it su pported the
integration of monastic and everyday life, church
patronage of the arts and large landholdings (the
wealth from which would allow the monasteries to
perform good works). These two divergent
positions sharpened into a conflict that had a
political dimension, since "non-possession"
imphed separation of rehgious and secular affairs,
while the "Possessors" sa1.v the ruler as protector
of the church, and the latter as closelv enıneshed
with the state. In 1503 a church council decided in
favor of the "Josephites," the Possessors; this is
not surprising in view of the whole drift towards
centralized autocracy of the !ı.1uscovite state, in
1.,ı;hich tbe ''Non-Possessors, '' spiritual opters-out,
were an anomaly. Subsequently their follov\o'ers
were persecuted, yet their general spirit was
harder to eradicate. Much that remained indivi-
dualistic about Russian Orthodoxv, such as the
many wandering "holy men," inclı.i'ding the "fools
in Christ" who become prominent in the 16th
century, is outside the "Josephite" tradition.
63

Abotıe ltalian architects and
engineers worked ona variety of
structures in the Moscow
Kremlin over the course of 30
years. Thc last and most ornate
ofthese was the Cathedral of the
Archangel Michael (1505), buri,:ll
church of the tsars. it was
~:,r~"~~ ~:v~~~{!~v(~;';~~e
Crimean khan at Bakhchisaray
on his way. it popularized
various Renaissance exterior
decorative motifs in Russia;
hcavy cornices, pilasters with
capitals, scallop shclls in gablc
ends. The portals (this is the
north doocway) are elaborately
carved in low relief on
limestone. inside, the cathcdral
remains Old Russian in its focms.
Left The smallcst of the main
Kcemlin cathedrals, that of the
Annunci.:1tion, was rcbuilt in the
mid-16th century after a fire .
Somc experts believe that two
tiers of thc tine icon screcn may
have been savcd and
reassembled from the building
painted in 1405 by Theophanes
and his team (including
Rublyov). The screcn is here
glimpscd from thc surrnunding
gallcry through the west portal,
of carved and paintcd limcstonc
in the manner of Alevisio (and
even more elaborate); the floor is
of semiprecious stone from thc
Urals.
Some historians see the Russian Church as no
more than an arın of government, com pletely
controlled by the ruler after 1503, a situation
termed by Toynbee "Caesaropapism." The concept
is not really valid: the Russian ruler never took a
"high-priesıly" role, and in the !ast resort could
face sanctions by the church, however closcly it
would normally cooperate with him. At the height
of Ivan IV's irrational terrorism, the Metropolitan
Philip courageously reproached him, and lost his
life for it; actually ecclesiastical leaders seem more
often to have exercised an influence in Muscovite
state affairs than vice versa. But clearly lvan Hl
saw himself in a special role as protcctor of Ortho-
doxy, if not from choice, then through circum-
stances. Constantinople had fallen to the Turks in
1453. When Russia threw off thc Tatars, it became
the only important free Orthodox nation. From
lvan's viewpoint the religious threat from the West
was equally serious: the breach between the two
halves of Christendom, hugely widened with the
crusaders' sack of Constantinople in 1204, was
made obvious to ali by the fa ilure of the Council of
Florence in the 1430s. both events leaving a legacy
of great bitterness.
With the fail of Constantinople a bizarre theory,
apparently hatched in the Slavonic Balkans,
became current in Russia: that Moscow had
become the "Third Rome" (to supersede Constanti-
nople, "New Rome"), "and a fourth there shall not
be"; it would represent the convergence of ali the
Christian realms and "shine to the ends of the
earth." This formulation of the doctrine comes in a
famous letter of 1515 from the monk Filofey of
Pskov to Vasiliy 111, but many decades before that
it had been applied to Moscow's rival, Tver. Tn any
case Jvan and Vasiliy soon started building up their
outward and visible signs of prestige, from the
emblem of the double-headed Byzantine eagle to
the propagation of texts that purported to give
their dynasty a Roman pedigree and Byzantine
regalia. lncreasingly e laborate and comprehensive
titles were adopted, culminating when the young
ı van TV became the first Russian ruler to be
crowned "tsar": the title, deriving from "Caesar,"
was previously used in official Russian sources to
refer to the Byzantine emperor and Tatar great
khan. Further prestige accrued to lvan llI from his
marriage, after the death of his first wife, to Zoe
(renamed in Russia Sophia) Palaiologina, niece of
the !ast Byzantine emperor. Constantine Xl. Since
the bride had been brought up in Italy, the Vatican
took considerable interest in the match; but lvan.
concerned to recover his own patrimony, was deaf
to blandishments, even when they suggested an
anti-Turkish alliance that might have put him on
the throne ofa reconquered Constantinople.
The Jtalian connection, however, produced a
stili visible result: the rebuilding of the main struc-
tures of the Moscow Kremlin in appropriately
grand style. Muscovite builders, who had had
plenty of experience over the previous century,
started the construction of the greatest Kremlın
cathedraL dedicated to the Dormition, but they
mixed the morlar badly, and there was a collapse.
Ivan called in a team of experts from Pskov, who
diagnosed the trouble and stayed to design several
buildings in the Moscow area. The ~ormıtı_on
itself, however, was entrusted to the Italıan engın-
MUSCOVY
eer "Aristotele" Fioravanti, who remained in Rus-
sia from 1475 to 1479, went to study the great 12th-
century Dormition Catlıedral in Vladimir and
succeeded in d esigning a building that, while gran-
diose and novel in several respects, was thoroughly
Russian in conception and detail. Other ltalians
arrived over the course of the next 30 years, and
we can stili see their handiwork in the Faceted
Palace, the brick walls with their swallowtail Ital-
ianate battlemenıs and, lası of ali (1505 onwards),
the grand Archangel Cathedral with its High
Renaissance detailing but Byzantine ground plan.
lvan iV "the Terrible"
A break w ith Byzantine architectural preccdent
was marked by one of the greatest, or most aston-
ishing, of Muscovite buildings, the Church of the
Ascension at the royal palace of Kolomenskoye out-
side Moscow: it is a great brick spire, probably rep-
resenting a reinterpretation in masonry of a
wooden design. it was built in 1530 to celebrate
the birth of an heir to the long-childless Vasiliy ııı,
the future lvan TV "the Terrible" (grozny, properly
"Awe-inspiring"). Hi s father died when lvan was
three, and his mother, Yelena Glinskaya, was
declared regent. A chaotic period ensued, in which
the child-tsar was endangered and humiliated, his
mother died, possibly poisoned (in 1538) and his
boyars proved themselves self-seeking and unreli-
able. it is curious that Jvan's great predecessor,
Tvan 111 (during the Moscow civil war), and later
Peter 1, also had similarly alarming, maybe trauma-
tizing experiences in childhood. Each was highly,
perhaps morbidly suspicious in later life of trea-
sonable plots, and it is not unreasonable to see a
cause in the early violence and uncertainty that
surrounded them.
Ivan IV's long reign is the most characteristically
"Muscovite" of periods: Moscow's centralization
of Russia's resources under a regime of, apparently,
complete stability was most clearly realized during
it. Yet it was also, much of the time, a period of pro-
longed crisis. and Russia took a couple of
generations to recover from its effects. Jt is hard to
ascribe this crisis to anything other than the tsar's
own personality, though he would have blamed his
untrustworthy servitors. The course of the reign,
sometimes intricate or mysterious, is clear enough
on a large scale: it had a "good" half and a "bad"
half, of roughly equal length, with the division
coming in the early 1560s. Although we can get a
far betler idea of lvan's personality than of any of
his predecessors', il is stili hard to judge how far
this dislocation in his reign is the result of mental
unbalance, or how far the threats he perceived
almost everywhere had any rational basis. His reign
began with superabundant promise, ending in
failure and disillusion on almosı every count.
in 1547 Tvan suddenly decided the time had
come for his coronation, a ceremony of great ponıp.
His personal rule began, and he made his first and
happiest marriage to Anastasia, who came from a
family that was later to play such a significant role:
the Romanovs. With a council of enlighıened
advisers, including the Metropolitan Makariy, he
instituted a series of reforms and had them
approved by a popular assembly, the zemskiy
sobor. They included promulgation of a law code
(1550) and a great church council (1551). Then
65
MUSCOVY
came regularization of the gentry's service require-
ments and a reorganization of the army, includi ng
the inauguration of an up-to-date corps of muske-
teers, streltsy .
in the wars that followed, the Russians achieved
some remarkable successes. The two Tatar relict
kingdoms controlling the Volga, Kazan and Astra-
khan, fell in 1552 and 1556: not only did lvan thus
greatly increase his territory and prestige, gaining
two populous cities with their fisheries, trade and
agriculture, but he opened the doorway to Siberia
and the east. in l 558--<i3 considerable gains were
ınade in the west against the Germans of the Livo-
nian Order (successors to t he Teutonic Knights)
and it seemed only a matter of time before Russia
would have unfettered access to t he Baltic. Mean-
while Ivan recruited foreigners to work in Russiaı
and in 1553, by a remarkable stroke of fate,
encountered Richard Chancellor, captain of an
English ship washed up on the coast of tbe White
Sea while seeking a norı hern passage to the lndies.
Trade links with England th ro ugh w hat soon
became the great Russian port of Archangel, at the
mo uth of the Northern Dvina, were set up: cities
between Archangel and Moscow, such as Yaro-
slavl, prospered . To exploit this windfall, the
English established the first ever joint-stock
company, and they retained for years a near-mono-
poly of Russian trade. The 16t h-century English
tra ding house an d embassy in M oscow bas recently
been u nearth ed.
The style and atmosphere of Ivan's reign
changed dramatically after the sudden death of
Anastasia in 1560. l van was shattered and thought
she had been poisoned. He broke with his council
and turned on those closest to him ı.vith great sava-
ger y. Prince Kurbsky and some others wisely
defected abroad . lvan's character, studious, intelli-
gent and eager as a boy, became more and more
subject to fıts of rage and equally unpredictable
remorse, prone to superstitio n, blasphemy and
extreme piety. in 1564 the most remarkable episode
in his reign began. First, w ithout warning, he
retreated to a monastery in the small town of Alek-
sandrov, 100 kilometers northeast of Moscow. He
then wrote to the metropolitan, abd icating the
throne, denouncing his aristocracy but praising
the common people. The bl uff, if such it was,
worked: a stunned populace begged hiın to res ume
the throne, on whatever conditions he might set.
Tlıis he did, on condition that he could punish
whomsoever he wished and set up a separate
realm-within-the-realm, to be managed at his own
discretion.
This extraordinary institution, known as the
oprichnina, "the place aparı," was a mosaic of
estates, towns and e\·en parts of Moscow, inter-
locking with the cemshchina, "country," in a giant
jigsaw puzzle, with parallel administrations. Little
is known of the workings of this scheme, for lack
of surviving documents, but it is notorious that
lvan instituted in the oprichnina a reign of terror,
manned by a force of bullies known as the oprich-
niki charged with destroying the tsar's enemies.
Among many acts of savagery, the wo rst was the
massacre of the Novgorodians (descendants in t he
main of Muscovite settlers drafted in by lvan III)
on an unfounded rumor that they were negotiating
w itb Poland. in 1572 the oprichnina was abrupt ly
66
abolished, pro bably because of a devastating raid Right: Russia at the Time of
the previous year by the Crimean Tatars, who had Troubles, c.1600.
The succession crisis occasioned
even reac hed an un prepared Moscow. Mean while by the death in 1598 of Fyodor I,
the war in t he west dragged on, going from bad to last ofthe Ryurikid dynasty,
worse. Swe den joined in, and eventually, by trea- precipitated a period known as
the "Time of Troubles," in
ties in t he early 1580s, Russia had to give up its which rebellion. the lack ofa
gains of 20 years before. All hope of a port on the uni ted government and foreign
intervention tbreatened the very
Baltic was lost until the time of Peter the Great. statehood ofRussia. Two major
On l van IV's death in 1584, probably from rebellions----one ofRussian
poisoning, his second son Fyodor came to the peasants under Bolotnikov and
another of non-Slavs from tbe
t h rone. Fyodor was pious and unassertive, but his Volga basin------came in the wake
chief minister and brother-in-law, Boris Godunov, ofa severe famine at the
of partly Tatar descent, was a "new man" of great beglnning of the 17th century.
Poland and Sweden strove to
ability. Fyodor's reign at !ast saw some ınilitary take advantage ofthe political
successes again. Domestically it was notable for the and social chaos by occupy ing
areas in the west and northwest.
upgrad ing ofthe head ofthe Russian Church to the For a time both Moscow and
rank of patriarch, on equal terms with the five Novgorod were under foreign
ancient patriarchates (Rome, Constantinople, domination. it was the rallying
efforıs of the church in the face
Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem). of growing anarchy ıhat created
Fyodor, the lası of the Ryurikid dynasty, died a spirit of cornmon cause. A
childless in 1598, and the country faced an unpre- force was assembled by Kazma
Minn and Prince Pozharsky to
cedented succession crisis. Another son of lvan IV, repel the Poles from Moscow.
Dmitriy, had indeed survived him, but died in Although order was restored in
161 3 wi th the accession to the
1591 at the age of nine in the out-of-the-way town throne of M ikhai l Romanov,
of Uglich. To this day the circumstances of his Russia had lost access to the
death are completely unclear, but at the time Baltic Sea anda large amount of
territory in the west.
rumors started that Boris, ambitious to gain the
throne himself, had had Dmitriy murdered. Since
Boris could not at that time have known that Fyo-
dor would die without heir, the rumor is prima
facie improbable, but it was to have disastrous
consequences for Russia. Boris was duly elected to
the vacant throne, to the annoyance of old boyar
faıniHes such as the Shuyskys. The subsequent
events are well known from Pushkin's play and
Musorgsky 's opera. Boris's reign ( 1598- 1605) wit-
nessed a series of disasters, in particular crop
failure and famine. Though he attempted enligh-
tened ıneasures (which included sending a batch of
students to Western Europe, one of whom settled
in England and became an Anglican country
parsan) and revived building activity, he could not
retain popular support. A pretender claiming to be
the miraculously saved Dmitriy appeared in
Poland , and advanced upon Moscow with a motley
army that grew despite defeats. Boris suddenly
died , his young son, Fyodor II, was lynched and
"False Dmitriy " was acclaimed tsar. This was the
beginn ing of nearly a decade of the Time of
Troubles (smuta) .
The Time ofTroubles
Dmitriy, whether or not he believed in his own
authenticity, proved a capabl e ruler. However, the
Moscow boyars, for w hom he had served his
purpose in top pling Boris's fa mily, no longer sup-
ported him, and he made th e mi stake of marry ing a
Pole, Marina Mniszck, occasioni ng w idespread
unpopularity. He was unseated in a boyar rebel-
lion, killed and his ashes fire d from a cannon in the
direction of Poland. Vasiliy Shuysky became tsar
(1606-10) but without rnuch general support. in
the !ast year of his reign, before he was deposed by
a l\.1oscow assembly, Russia was in turmoil, with no
acknowledged authori ty. Only the soldier Prince
Skopin-Shuysky could hold the country together,
but he died suddenly. The nex t couple of years
saw Swedish and Polish claimants for the throne. A
second "False Dmitriy," bizarrely recognized as
 MUSCOVY

.,,.
- •- politıcal boundary. 1598
1
) ,
~ occupıedtıyPoland,1611-13

1 1 EZ] oecupıedtıySweden,1613
'I ; 1 ~ Poland,1618
SWEDEN ~Aussıa,1618

Gulf o f
Bothn ı a
' F!NLANO
\ LOnega
[=ı Sweden, 1618

[=ı otııerstaıes,1618

. . . Swedıshad\o'ance, 1610
. _ Po!ishadvar.ce, 1610
'\ aAtıo
.-,.-, Russiancoı.ınterattackunder
Minın and Pozharsky, 1611-12
ladoga
Gu / o rF~ rı d,
----o"stoıtıovo +--- Belozerska- - BolotnıkDv's marctı, 1606----07

BA,LTJC r - ..) o C) BolotnikoYrebeNıon, 1606----07

SEA _, T • -"-' t~~ •' im
C) uprısmg of non•Slav
pwples, 1606-08
RUSSIA
I'_ '"'
( -J□ Pslı:ov O Koslroma

·~
.~

a Vw
WD~

LITHUANIA
-o N

1 asamam

L POLANO i /
----
0 TamboV •/
1 /
1 . )□~s,raıo, 1 Kazakns

\
__ı__ -~~
·-\
\• """ \
zaporozhlan
o,.' -, \ ·, '
alzyum

<ı,,,.
-;.. _ ~
""~:.", . ./'""''"• \
Cossacks • 7 -.. . . .,_ \
-. -"?.;ı-·-· . . . . ____ ·----
\ -....(J·_..,.. ,-f ,,. ·- .
\-
-ı ,., KHA NATE OF CRIM EA ---..)
OTTOMAN EMPIRE Perekop "
Astrakhana
,..,_ o , · S[AOF
45' AZO V

BLACK SEA

Left A stylized portrait of Boris
Godunov (t~ar 1598 1605) with
regalia. Borıs-- of partly Taı,u
descent, and not from a
traditional boyar family was
one of the "ncw men" who
emerged ın lvan IV's reign . He
wasa capable chief minister ı o
Ivan's unasscrtive hcır, Fvodor l
(1584-98). Elected tsar oll thc
extinction of ıhe Ryurikid
dynasıy . he proved a
wcll-intentioned, intclligen t but
un]ucky ruler: crop faılure s
brought faminc and popular
dıscontcnt. Boris re vived
building activity (complcting the
great Kremlin belfry) and se ni
students abroad, anticıpating
Pcıer L
authentic by Marina Mniszek, set up an alternative
court and government at Tushino, j u st outside
ivloscow. He was the most successful of severa l
pretenders. in 1610 12 a Polish garr ison held Mos-
cow: armed bands, parti cul ar]y of Cossacks,
roamed and terrorized the countr yside. Only the
great w alled mon asteries, notably St Sergius's
Trinity Monastery, were strongh olds of Russian
resistance t o a narchy.
Instead of fa lliıı g ap art com pletely, Russia rallied
and met the challenge. it bccame obvious t h at
national unity an d the e lection of a generally
acceptable Russian tsa r were needed, and it was
leaders of the chu rc h , t h e lası remaining respected
Russian instit ution , who seni out this appeal. The
Russian response centered on the eastern city of
Nizhniy No vgorod , where Kazma Minin. a butcher
with remarkable organization al abiJities, gathered a
pco ple's army. Command ed by Prince Dmitriy
Pozharsky, it ejected the Poles and created condi-
tions in whic h a zemskiy sobo,· could elect a new
tsar. A relative of Ivan IV's popular first wife. s1x-
teen•year-old !\ılikhail Romanov, too young to have
becn compromised in the factionalism of the Time
of Troubles, was chosen for the throne. His father,
who had been forced under Tsar Boris to become a
monk, was at the time a prisoner of the Poles.
\Vhen a truce was negotiated he returned as the
newly clected Patriarch Filaret, and became the
guidiııg light of his youııg soıı's reign. So endcd the
Time of Troubles, an exhausting and devastating
period, with no one social group emerging as clear
"winners," but leaving behiııd it a strong image of
the need for national unity, and a terror of anarchy
and foreign intervention, that the Russians have
never forgotten.

67
The Trinity Monastery of
St Sergius
Among the great monasteries of Old Russia the
Trinity Lavra (or Monastery) of St Sergius, 70 kilo- ')·
meters northeast of Moscow at Sergiyev Posad ~ ., sergryev ''
/. Moscow RUSSI A
(Zagorsk in the Soviet period), is dou btless the most
remarkable. lts large and picturesque ensemble has ~,tr .... "
preserved some of Russia's greatest artistic treasures; ' ~✓
it witnessed crucial events in Russian history; it is .,. .f 1~

stili an important Orthodox Church center.

Nowadays it stands by one ofthe great highways
of Russia, but when young Sergius (bom c. 1321), Right The first view o f th e
Russia's future patron saint, retreated here from Tri mty Mo nas tcry that mcets the
nearby Radonezh thc arca was trackless forest . Ser- eye after the road or rail journey
from Moscow is dramatic. Abovc
gius's settlement attracted other hermits and peasant a small v alley tow cr the
colonists, and he reluctantly accepted the position of l6th-century walls, strong
abbot at the head of an organized monastery. By his enough to stand an 18-month
siege in 1608- 10. Beyond them
death (1391) this had come to hold a unique position rises an extraordinarily
in Russian spiritual (a nd even political) life, as the picturesque skyline of the main
mother fo undation from which over 100 houses and monastic buildings---each
srylistically different, blending
hermitages were founded in ever-remoter regions harmoniously and vivadously.
of the forest zone, blazing a trail for colonization. Thc major buildıngs seen here
( cenıra! group) are: the refectory,
in the 15th century the Trinity Monastery served one of the largest and strangest
as an all-Russian cultural metropolis, patron of art "Moscow Baroque" buildings;
and literature, standing above the fragmented prin- the belfry, designcd by D.
Ukhtomsky (1741 onwards), that
cipalities; here was compiled the best late-medieval dominates the undulating
chronicle. in 1408 it was destroyed in a Tatar puni- countryside for miles
tive raid; thereafter it was rebuilt in stone, with the around- frecstanding and partly
openwork, like many such in
Trinity Cathedral that stili stands. Dating from the Russia; the great Dormition
1420s (sa within memory of Sergius's life-time), it is Cathedral (1550s onwards}--like
much "offidal" Muscovite
the earliest surviving structure at Sergiyev Posad. architccture a simple five-bay
Each subsequent age added churches, refectories, whitewashed cube, derived
domestic quarters, towers. Its massive walls with- loosely fronı the Kremlin
Dormition, relieved by its
stood a prolonged siege during the Time ofTroubles, unforgettable blue and gold
and provided Peter I with refuge in the crisis of 1689. domcs
 TI-lE TRINIT\' MONASTERY OF ST SERGIUS

Far lefc The imerior of the small
Trinity Cathedral. The great
iconostasis of the later 1420s
rivals that ofthe Kremlin
Anııunciation as the most
important that exists. Painted
under the general direction of
theelderly Rublyov, it shows a
stylistic di\•ersity testifying to
thevaried potemial ofRussian
art before Muscovite
centralization absorbed and
homogenized local schools
(noıably that of NO\•gorod).
Beside the central "ro\·al doors"
stood the most revered of
Russian kons, Rublvov's Old
Tescamenc Trinity (set° p 72): it
h.as been replaced with a
facsimile since tbe original wa!ı.
put in the Tretyakov Gallery.
The frescoes have not \'et been
cleaned, though it is aSsumed
thaı those of Rublyov's period
have not survived.
Abol'e Among the smaller
strucrures within ıhe Trinity
:\fonastery are this 19th-century
(st)'listically eclectü:) open
rotunda above the holy spring,
and the elegant round
well-chapel in the Moscow
B.aroque manner of the late 17th
century. Over them looms the
cliff-like wall ofthe central
Dormıtion cathedraJ, beside
which is the burial vault of Boris
Godunov and his family
Lı!fc Worshipers with candles
inside the main Dormition
cathedral. The room\' ınter:or
suggests the Mosco~· DıJrmition
Cathedral, but at Sergıyev PoSJd
there are fine l 7th-centun·
frescoes in Yaroslavl maniı.er.
bnght and rather sm.tll-s..:.ıle.

Lı!fc Two picturesque small

churches in Sergiyev Posad; the
Prı:sentation ofthe Vugin and St
Paraskeva-Pyatnitsa (both 16th
cemury). The amactive curved
roofline, so typicaJ of
pre-l 7th-cerıtury Russian
churches, was often later
replaced by a cheaper flat roof,
'.1-Dd (as here} sometimes restored
ın modern times.

••
Novgorod the Great

Novgorod, near the northern fringes of Old Russian

settlement, was agriculturally marginal---only flax
and hemp grow well there-but splendidly located
for Baltic trade and the exploitation of the forest
zone. Its name means "New Town" (there are
several others, notably Nizhniy Novgorod "Lower
New Town"); its forma[ title was "Lord Novgorod
the Great." Founded by the 9th century, Novgorod t· ~ -"' ı:.
was the main Viking foothold in early Russia and \.ı, - ...:
dominated irade between the Baltic, middle Russia
.,. ıi:ı- .,,.~.!..-~ :~ \ :----_ 1
- . . ., ,
'I"~ ....
and (via the Volga) the Near East. It developed in
Kievan times into an independent city-state, con- t-,. ~ ),
trolling vast northern territories, until forcibly ,,. f-' ~ >
incorporated into Muscovy (1470s). it was also the
easternmost base of the Hanseatic league, which it
supplied with furs, salt, wax and honey. Politically
it was administered through loca! assemblies, cul-
minating in the oligarchic city veche, which was
empowered to choose officials-even the pdnce.
Its real head of state was its archbishop. After Ivan
IV sacked it (1570s), it rapidly declined; its role was
,...,
later taken over by St Petersburg.
Novgorod had a rich culture. Its eyde of byliny
(oral epic poems) reflect merchant life. it produced -
several important chronicles and other Hterary
' p
works. A distinctive school of icon painting flour-
ished in the 14th and 15th centuries; it is stylized, ,t.,:-a "
very linear and clear toned, featuring the brilliant ~ıJı, _/'~.ô
cinnabar often called "Novgorod Red." Nov- ~ ~~ ,, {':
gorod's early brick and stone churches (St Sophia,
1043) are craggy, monumental, externally plain.
--·--O-
/'-. -.
The city's churches provided an amazing gallery of I < .ı 9
stylistically diverse fresco painting, though much ı~~-
was lost during World War II.
,....Jl,v .')

Lefı A wooden board with the

old Russian alphabet incised
.~-
~,-_ /
• .,.,....,
)y~ ·f
ı

upon it. 1t could he fixed to a

wall asa study aid in teaching.
Both literary culture and basic
-~ ~ ~~
literacy flourished in Novgorod.
The former led to a profusion of ./
chronicles and hagiography, -f'<:. ~~ '·
produced largely in clerical and ~ - .: .;"~;..:.•
monastic scriptorta. The latter
permitted a high volume of
11 ,i-)J~' > ~· - - -,
business documentation and -.(-...•
personal correspondence,
recorded with telegraphic -;..... ~-.__
conciseness by styli on
birch-bark strips.
7' · ~~

:~ w~- .r
~

Right This hypothetical

! ;: :, - ; .--
reconstruction shows Novgorod
as it may have appeared in the < ;,
!ate 15th century; the town plan
dates to the 12th century. The
city was divided in two by the ~ :-: ~:~.' ..,
Rıver Volkhov. The near half is .-:~~~
tbe Cathedral Side, while the far
halfis the Trade Side. The
rıverbank citadel on the
t
Cathedral Side housed the
cathedral, archbishop's court
and dty assembly chambers. The
Trade Side was the commercial
district. Residentia1 quarters
centered on parish churches.
 NO\'GOROO THE GR.EAT
Ufı The guslı, a strınged muska!
Rıghı This met.al rdi9u.ıry cross
instrume-nı, made- of wood, was
prob.biy belonged to a
popul.ı:r in Novgorod. Jt could
Novgorodıan c:leric. it is hınged
vary in size from 20 to 70 cm ın
at the bonom, wııh a pendant
le-ngıh, and rould have bt-twecn
loop at thc- top for pc-ctocal wc-.ı:r
thıtt .ınd eıghı strings. The ~g
Thc- cruc:ified Chııst has thc
ı:nd was c:arved wıtb traditıonal
Mothı-r ofGod to his righı, St
decoratıvı- motifs Gu.slı were
John the- Evangdist ıo his left
used to accomp.ıny recit.ation of
oralepics. and St Georgc- •bove.

71
The Great Age of Russian Art

When Russia received Christianity from Byzantium

in the late 10th century, an important part of the cul-
ture transplanted onto Russian soil was the early
medieval art that Byzantium had brought ta a level of
great sophistication. Far the Orthodox Church, icons
(images of holy personages ar events) were an integral
part of worship and theology, testifying ta the reality
of the Incarnation. Characteristicall y icons were
painted in tempera on wooden panels, though they
may be of other materials, and the fresco wall paint-
ings (occasionally mosaics) with which early churches
were always adomed are equally "iconic."
After the Tatar conquest building activity, and
with it painting, revived gradually during the 14th
century. First Novgorod, then increasingly Moscow
were the major patrons; but the political fragmen-
tation of the time led ta productive artistic activity in
many smaller places. Contacts with the Mediter-
ranean world revived: Serbian painters worked in
Novgorod; the learned Greek Theophanes (in Russian
Feofan) worked batlı there and in Moscow. But
home-bred talents made this the great age of Russian
painting: notably the monk Andrey Rublyov
(c.1370--1430). He is fırst recorded as one of the
painters of the Moscow Annunciation Cathedral in
1405. He was evidently aware of new stylistic
currents in Byzantine art of the time--and alsa
conveys the Hellenistic impetus behind Byzantine art
generally. A notable development of the period was
the multitiered iconostasis (icon screen), giving
unprecedented opportunities far panel painters.

Far left School of Theophancs

the Greek: Vırgın of the Don.
Frnm fragmentary frescoes in
Novgorod, the iconostasis of the
Kremlin Annundation Cathedral
and a few works. like this one,
attributed to Theophanes or his
followers, we can assess his
highly individual style: stark,
dramatic, painterly,
unnaturalistically highlightcd.
The influence of Hcsychast
mystkism on his art is probable.

Above left Three splendid icons,

discovered in a woodshed at
Zvenigorod, wesı of Moscow, in
1919, can be safely attributed to
Rublyov at the height of his
powers. The central kon of
Christ exernplifies the mingled
gravity and gentleness of
Rublyov's fınest images. it
derives from- though
surpasses-the very linear !ate
Byzantine manner cerıainly
known in Moscow ofthe IJ90s
from the imponed Vysotsky tier
oficons.

Left The so-called Old Testament

Tnnıty was painted in memory
of St Sergius when ıhe Trinity
Monasıery was restored after the
Tatar raid of 1408. The scene is
the Hospitality of Abraham
(Genesis 18): three pilgrims,
::f~ze:b:~;:e~~da~.:ı:~n a
 THE GREAT AGE OF RUSSIAN ART

Abow Detdil from the Last

Judgment wall painting by
Andrey Rublyov and Ddniil

~;~;J'r!~ ~ı:~::;~~i:8).
the 15th century some of t he
in

great pre-Tatar monuments ,-.·ece

restored: chronicles record the
work of Rublyov and associates
at Vladimir, from which parts of
a large iconostasis and a fresco
cycle have survived. Particularly
noble-comparable with ıhe
contcmporary work of Masaccio
in Aorence-are the almost
classical figurcs in the scene of
Sts Peter and Paul ushering thc
righteous into Paradise, part of
which is sccn here.

Right The last signifıcant figure

ofthe great age of Russi.m
paiming was Dionisiy, who with
a team of artists painted the
Moscow Dormition Cathed ral in
the 1480s; his and his sons'
subsequent frescoes in the
Ferdpontov Monastery near the
White Lake (1500) are splendidl:y
preserved . His manner is light,
lmear and delicate, but rather
stiff and bloodless compared
with Rublyov·s. The icon 1n
Thu Rejoiceıh ... represents a
hymn to the Virgin Mary. and is
characteristic ofthe rather
complex and abstract
iconographic scenes that became
popular afıer about l•fiO.

73
THE LAST CENTURY OF OLD RUSSIA

Muscovy under the early Romanovs period of Muscovy is simply one of decline, stili The expansion of Muscovy in
the 16th and 17th centuries.
Thc Muscovitc state, with its basically medieval less ofruination. Already easily the largest country The mosı spectacular expansion
system of government, way of life and artistic cul- in the world in terms of territory, though not of of the Rus si an lands took place
ture, was revived almost in defıance of the march population, Russia was beginning- after the debi- in the )ast century of Muscovite
rule, by far the most substanıial
of history, with the ending of the Time of Troubles litating wars of the 1650s and early 1660s-to advances being made to the east.
and the establishment of the Romanov dynasty in achieve a modest prosperity. The chief visible The successful campaigns of
lvan IV against Kazan and
1613. it survived for ncarly another century, but legacy of this prosperity is in the considerable Astrakhan in the 1550s were
its apparently unshakable, timeless stability turned quantity of lale l 7th-century buildings stili to be followed up in the later 16th and
out to be subject to disruptive factors that in the found in Moscow itself, in several great monastic ı 7th centuries. ünce the
Russians were across the Urals.
second half of the 17th century led step by step to ensembles and in some provincial towns, notably the vast Siberian plains with
its end. Two generally sensible rulers whose long Yaroslavl and Archangel. Measures to modernize their extensive river systems and
reigns spanned more than half of the century- Russian life---what would later be thought of as easy portages were open to
explorers seeking to extracı " fur
Mikhail Romanov (tsar 1613-45) and his son Alek- "Westernization''-were, however uncertainly tribute" (yasak] from the sparse
sey Mikhaylovich (tsar 1645- 76}--gave validity and unsystematically, being undertaken. With population . in 1648 the Cossack
advenıurer Siman Dezhnev
and durability to the traditional order, but its crisis them came a greater need for literacy and even for became the fırst known person
was perhaps ali the worse when it erupted, spas- European-style higher education: this period sees to sail through what later
modically but violently, during the lası quarter of the establishment in Moscow of the so-called Slav- became known as the Bering
Straits.
the century, in a welter of dynastic confusion, mili- Greek-Latin Academy (1687). Progress ıo ıhe south, wcst
tary insubordination and popular discontent. Emblematic of the piecemeal extension of hori- and nonh was less
it should not be thought that the story of the !ast straightfonvard. Tsar Aleksey
zons in late 17th-century Russia is the manner in brought much of present-day

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74

Ukraine and Belarus (Belorussia)
under Muscovite rule, and the
push southwards w wards the
Black Sea continued slowlv _
Attempts to expand nonh:
westwards into the Baltic regions
met \\'ith strong resistance from
Sweden, which would ally itse lf
w ith Poland•Lithuania against
the common enemy: pennanent
conquest of these lands would
have to wait until the tıme of
Peter the Great.
which each of the arts began to absorb into itself
disparate "modern" elements, assimilating them
more or less successfully into medieval patterns.
Thus literature acquired the new form of syllabi-
cally based verse, coming ultimately from France
via Poland; church music , notably in the reign of
the highly musical Fyodor III (tsar 1676--82),
underwent fundamental changes, particularly in
the field of harmonization; icon painting moved
towards secular portraiture, itself a new genre
(known to Russians as parsuna, a derivative of the
Latin "persona"); wall painting particularly of the
Yaroslavl School became saturated with pictur-
esque detail, often of secıılar inspiration, and some-
times of \ı\/estern iconographic origin. in
architecture, pediments and other reminiscences of
the classical order system were grafted on to Old
Russian forms, and secular building in stone and
brick rather suddenly acquired an importance and
dignity it seems not to have had before: ıhe tsar's
new palaces and a few great houses (notably that of
V.V. Golitsyn in the 1680s) are imbued with
Western notions of comfort and privacy. A quite
new art form-literary drama-had already estab-
lished a toehold in the Russian court during Alek-
sey Mikhaylovich's !ast years.
Several factors from the mid-l 7th century
onwards facilitated these developments. The first is
the absorption into Muscovy, partly through war,
partly by voluntary submission, of much of what is
DO\'\' Ukraine and BelarusT including the ancient
capital, Kiev. These historic Russian lands, though
well on the way to the linguistic differentiation
that has since led to the recognition of independent
Ukrainian and Belarusian languages, had remained
largely Orthodox in religion, and supplied Mus-
covy in the !ast third of ıhe 17th century with a
number of churchmen, intellectuals and artists, not
to mention simple builders and craftsmen, who had
grown up in tbe post-Renaissance, in effect West-
ern, society of the Polish-Lithuanian common-
wealth, and had in many cases undergone a
humanistically based Jesuit education.
Despite late medieval Russia's seclusion and
xenophobia with regard to the rest of Europe, for-
eigners were no novelty in l 7th-century Muscovy :
hundreds, eventually thousands, of Westerners
were at any given moment resident in Moscow, Jiv-
ing in their own suburb after 1652 and play ing a
vital role, particularly in military matters. Western
books, too, found their way into 17th-century
Moscow libraries. Intermarriage, though rare, was
not unknown: Artamon Matveyev one of the most
powerful figures in the la ter years of Tsar Aleksey,
married Mary Hamilton from Scotland, and it was
in this thoroughly Westernized housebold that the
tsar's second wife, Natalya Nary shkina grew up.
To her influence Aleksey's growing taste for things
Western in his !ast five years is usuall y attributed.
As it bappens, Aleksey, in his Polish and Swedish
wars of the 1650s, was the first tsar to cross
Russia's western frontier. it is interesting, perhaps
surprising, that each of tbe three de facto Russian
rulers immediately preceding Peter (Aleksey, Fyo-
dor, the regent Sophia), thougb far from rejecting
either traditional religion or regal ceremonial, were
in their various way s "\Vestern.izers," concerned,
however cautious]y, to widen Russia's cultura]
horizons.
THE LAST CE~'TURY OF OLD RUSSIA
Expansion and diplomacy
The political history of Mu scovite Russia during its
!ast century of existence is largely a stor y of h ow a
centralized autocracy, unwilling in general to
change its ever more ant iquated principles and
metbods, coped with huge internal stresses. E x ı e r­
nal politics were of secondary importan ce; Russia
was little known, and of small diplomatic interest,
to the nations of Western Europe, and it played no
part in the great settlement of European frontiers
and religious claims at the Peace of Westphalia
(1648), unlike iıs then stili powerfııl neighbors
Sweden and Poland .
This picture of non-involvement can be modified
in some important respects as Russia expanded
territorially to the west, the south and tbe east .
Westwards, the chief fricti on was with Poland-
Lithuania. in the immediate aftermath of the Time
of Troubles, an exhausted Russia negotiated a 14-
year truce with Poland; when it ran aut, incon-
clusive fighting broke out again , chiefly over the
greaı fortress-city of Smolensk. Tsar Aleksey was
more successful: the anti-Polish Cossack-Ukrainian
popular revolt of 1648 and his own campaigns of
1654 onwards brought the " left-bank " Ukraine
(that is, east of the Dnieper), with the cities of Smo-
lensk and Kiev, into Muscovy. Later there was talk
ofa Romanov candidate for the elective throne of
Poland, which imerested even tbe papacy, ever
hopeful of bringing Russia into the Catholic or
Uniate fold. Aleksey educated his children in
Polish and Latin, regretting his own lack of
languages.
Southwards too, Muscovv's settled territories
crept on, over tbe " Wild Field" (Dikoye pole) of the
nearer steppe, towards tbe Black Sea. in the south-
em territories the key popıılation ofthis thinly set-
tled area was that of the independent Cossacks,
some already landed agricıılturists, some st ili
mobile freebooters. Russians by or igin and
language, the Cossacks were mostly content to
place themselves under the tsar's protection so
long as their ancient rights were guaranteed, but
their often over-adventurous harassment of Turks
and Persians brought Muscovy headaches ratber
than advantages. Several times in the 17th and 18th
centuries the fortress-city of Azov, at tbe mouth of
the Don, gateway t o the sea, was capt ured from the
Turks, only to be lost again.
Eastwards, M uscovy made fa r more spectacular
advances in the 17th century. Early in his reign
Ivan iV had conquered Kazan and Astrakhan,
gateways to the East. The gentle passes througb the
Urals presented no barrier. ünce across, Rus<::ians
had ahead of them a great plain intersected by a
river system tbat coııld lake them with easy por-
tages to the vicinity of Lake Baykal. The merchant
Stroganov family, empowered by lvan to exploit
Siberia, hired a band of less than 1000 men, mostly
Cossacks under Yermak, wbo in the 1580s captured
the western Siberian khan's citadel of Isker on the
River Irtysb. They established nearby the new
Siberian capital of Tobolsk, nowadays a compara-
tively insignificant and out-of-the-way place since
the railroad bypassed it to the south. The forward
momentum of the Russian fur-seeking explorers
\VaS extraordinary. In 1632 Irkutsk, near Lake
Baykal, was founded, and in the 1640s the Russians
pushed on thro ugh mountainous territory to the
75
TIIE LAST CENTURY OF OLD RUSSIA

Amur river basin and the Pacific Ocean. Siman

Dezhnev, another Cossack, sailed down the Kolyma
Rivcr to the Arctic Ocean and thence to Anadyr by
the northeast passage round the far tip of Siberia,
through what were later named the Bering Straits.
in the Amur vallcy, howevcr, the Russians found a
more considerable settled population of Manchur-
ians who owed allegiance to China: eventually
Chinese forces resisted the R ussian advance, and
by the Treaty of Nerchinsk ( l689)~ the lcgacy of
which has caused contention even into the Iater
20th century~ the Russians withdrcw to the north
of thc Stanovoy range, stili maintaining the possi-
biliıy of access to the Sea of Okhotsk.
Ali this expansion, howevcr, caused few ripples
in the wider context of international relations, and
17th-century Russia remained largely shut off from
any but its most immediate neighbors. This is illus-
trated in the practice of Muscovite diplomacy.
Embassies were often cxchanged between Russia
and Western European powers, notably England,
its leading trading partner since the mid-l 550s,
when an ''.A.mbassadorial Department," or Foreign
Office, was set up in Moscow. M uscovite diplo-
macy tended however rather to hinder than to
expedite its own purposes. While the no-nonsense,
mercantile and bourgeois Northern European states
general1y wanted practical negotiations, Muscovy
viewed such contact first of all from a ceremonial
standpoint. English and other Western embassies
in Muscovy had to put up with mysteriously
delaycd or circuitous travel arrangements, endless
and incomprehensible speeches, the attentions of
numerous guards, civil servants and customs
officials, highly formalized feasts with an excess of
"grosse meates and stinking fish" (Jenkinson,
1557), and ultimately audiences in the Kremlin, sacks; (3) tlıe Moscow uprisings of 1648 (the Salt Tsar Aleksey receıvcs foreign
sanctified by the tsar's presence, that were uncom- Revolt) and 1662 (the Copper Re volt), both of ambassadors . The illustration ıs
from Joumey to Muscoıy (1660)
fortably ritualistic in nature. From a Muscovite which put Tsar Aleksey in grave personal danger; by a Gcrman, Adam Olearius,
point of view, Westerners were mysteriously recal- (4) the Novgorod bread riots of 1650; (5) the huge whıch is one of the fullest,
bcst-informed and
citrant and discourteous, grumbling continually popular uprising in the Volga and Don regions led besı-illustrated accounts of !ate
about such harmless matters of protocol as dis- by the Cossack Stepan (Stenka) Razin in 1670-71; Muscovy. Among the details
mounting upon meeting the senior officia] at the (6) the mutinies of the Moscow streltsy militia in Olcarius has noted are the
double-he<1ded imperiill e<1gles
Russian frontier. 1682 and 1698. ln the first decade of the next on thc tsar's thronc and the
R ussian envoys in the West attempted to export century there were to comc the Bulavin rebelJion sharply differing styles of dress
their own protocol, which did not go down well. on the Don (1707) and what amounted to a national worn by the tsar's attendants
and the Wcstcrn Europcan
They were poor negotiators, since they had to stick war of independence by the Turkic Bashkirs, last- visitors.
closely to inadequate briefs and could not lake ing several years. in addition, from the 1660s
unauthorized initiatives. Their intelligence about onwards there was a perpetuaJ grumbling rebel-
what was going on abroad was utterly inadequate. liousness connected with the schism in the church
The methodical Tsar Aleksey eventually put the (see below, p. 77-78).
gathering of information ona sounder, if still fairly Rebellions were of the most varied natıne: some
primitivc footing, but in the 1650s he stili valued urban, some rural; some associated with a clearly
an embassy to Venice in terms more of the fascinat- defined social group, some not; some involving
ing tal es of foreign customs it brought back than of Russians, some non-Russians, some mixed; some
hard results. well led, some anarchic; some with a positive
program, some without. They originated in the
Crisis and church schism north, the south, the east and the west of Russia,
The internal crisis of late Muscovy expressed itself though it was the southern and southeastern bor-
throughout the 17th century in violent explosions derland that was particularly notorious in tlıis
of civil disorder. The most notable of these were: respect. Some put forward pretenders, often pretty
(!) Bolotnikov's rising in 1606--07 (the first ofmany implausible, to the Russian throne. Ali sprang from
whose heartland was the recently settled, turbu- popular grievances, fears or ambitions: taxes,
lent wooded-steppe lands of the south) that threat- shortages, inflation, social and religious inno-
ened Moscow and came close to toppling Tsar vations, national oppression, the exactions of land-
Vasiliy Shuysky; (2) a series of rebellions during lords or the generaJ severities of serfdom and of the
the 1620s and 1630s in Ukraine directed against service state.
Poland, and culminating in 1648 with Bogdan In the circumstances it seems rather remarkable
Khmelnitsky's successful "liber ation" of the Cos- that the state was able to survive at all. However it

76

Aleksey Mıkh.aylovich (tsar
164S-76). This anonymous
painting by a Western anist of
the second Romanov tsar
apparently derives from a
portrait from life. European-type
portraiture appeared in Russia
for the first time, as far as is
knO\·rn. in the later 17th
century
managed to outlive not only peasant and miliıary
revolts, but ıhe longest lasıing and most intractable
of its difficulties, the religious crisis (though its
implications were also social and intellectual)
whose manifestation \vas the Great Schism. This
split in the Russian Orthodox community, which
led to the disaffection from the official church of
perhaps half the population of Russia and a situ-
ation close to civil war, has often seemed to out-
siders a rather grotesque and uniquely Muscovite
business, whereby a monstrous legacy of antagon-
ism and bloodshed was occasioned not by any
serious doctrinal differences but by ritualistic and
formalistic squabbles. Notoriously, there was the
question of whether one should cross oneself with
two fingers or three. The schism's most heroic
fıgures were precisely those \•v ho were most
benighted and backward-looking. Altogether it has
seemed the deplorable but natura! consequence of
a superstitious, hidebound and intellectually inert
religious culture.
The background to the Great Schism is that ofa
new self-consciousncss and self-examination in the
Orthodox Church, aware in the 17th century not
only of its particular mission but of its inter-
national standing and general credibility. The
question of relations with Catholicism on the one
hand, and with the new Protestan! churches on the
other, would not go away. Many of the tsar's new
Ukrainian subjects were, asa result of the Union o f
Bresi (1596) Uniates, in commurıion with Rome; yet
precisely those northern European countries vvith
which Russia conducted most trade and on which
it relied for immigrant skills were the strongholds
of Protesıantism. The Orthodox clergy had the
worrying task of defending their own faith in
debate when, in the early 1640s, the Danish prince
Valdemar seemed likely to marry Tsar Mikhail's
TH E LAST CE.1'.ffURY OF OLD RUSSIA
daughter !rina (he refused to convert, and the
wedding was eventually called off). When th e
ritual habits and dubiously translated service
books of the Muscovite church came under
scrutiny during Tsar Mikhail's reign, it was clear
they were aberrant when juxtaposed with Greek
Orthodox texts and practice.
The foreground to the schism was a grass-roots
movement of renewal in the Russian church
known as the " Zealots of Piety." lts senior figure,
the fuıure Patriarch Nikon, was bom in 1605, his
ally and bitter enemy-to-be, ıhe Archpriest
A vvakum, in 1620/ 1. Both came from humble fami-
lies in the deeply provincial middle-Volga area.
The third element in a tense triangle of person-
alities, Tsar Aleksey himself, was significantly
younger, being bom in 1629. Nikon, aman of com-
manding presence, became a monk- and so elig-
ıble for elevatıon to bıshop--after the deaths of his
children and the retreat ta a convent o f his wife .
Avvakum rcmained a member of the marricd
"white" (that is, parish) clergy until forced to enler
a monastery in 1666. The zealoıs wished to revivify
and purify the Russian church, to extirpate laxitv
in its ritual and counteract dvoyeı 1 er-iye (survival Üf
pagan customs alongside Christianity) that was stili
endemic in the countryside. They found a recep-
tive ear in the young and pious Aleksey, whose
chaplain Stephen was one of the leading members.
The tsar summoned several members oftheir group
to officiate in Moscow; Nikon achieved speedy pre-
ferment, first (1648) ıo the metropolitanate of Nov-
gorod, then (1652) to the patriarchal ıhrone. He
had, or rather seemed to have, an almost compleıe
hold over Aleksey, who promised to obey him in
spiritual matters and granted him the title of a
regent, "Greaı Lord" (Velikiy gosudar), when he
himself left for the wars.
Nikon, by nature imperious, assured and
impatient of delay, immediately on becoming
patriarch put in hand reforms to ritual and pre-
scribed revised service books, starting with the
Psalter, the biblical book with which ali Russians
were most familiar. An uproar of dissent followed ,
largely from his erstwhile zealoı comparıions. The
facı that these reforms followed Greek models was
na reassurance; the Greeks after all were contamin-
ated with Latinism (many of their books were
printed in Yenice), and God had depri ved them of
their ciıy of Constantinople. A variety of means
was used ta try ta silence objectors, at first persua-
sive, but as the century progressed more and more
coercive. Avvakum was exiled, fırst ta To bolsk,
then ona Iengthy and distant expedition to Dauria
(eastern Siberia) and finally to the Arctic north at
Pustozyorsk, where he compiled h is Life. in 1682,
having consistently refused to retract, he was
burned at ıhe stake.
Nikon meanwhile was scarcely popular with any
section of society, though he commanded reluctant
obedience. From Aleksey' s point of view .'<ikon
had admirably succeeded in bringing order to ıhe
Russian church and to its books, yet showed dis-
turbing signs of claiming special status, perhaps
superior to the ısar h imself. A curious and sigrıifi­
cant early (! 652 ) sign of this was his insistence on
moving the relics of the Metropolitan Philip from
the northern Solovki monastery to Moscow. Philip
had been marty red for resisting Jvan the Terrible, a
77
THE LAST CENTURY Of OLD RUS~IA
predecessor whom Aleksey revered. Nikon clearly
wished to emphasize lvan's offense; Aleksey saw
the occasion as one of reconciliation.
For half-a-dozen years, however, tsar and
patriarch cooperated closely in a remarkable !ate
manifestation of the Byzantine ideal of symphonia
(harmony); omens of discord seemed negligible.
lndeed, this harmony hada lavish visible manifes-
tation in the great monastic found ations that tsar
and patriarch jointly sponsored, culminating !ate
in 1657 in Nikon's extraord inary proj eci known as
New Jerusalem, 60 kilometcrs west of Moscow near
the modern town of lstra. i n the summer of 1658
however things were clearly going wrong. Nikon
did not cooperate with Aleksey in the politically
sensitive matter of church authority over the
newly acquired Ukrainian territories. Thereafter
relaıions went quickly and publicly to the bad.
Nikon, in a gamble reminiscen t of thaı taken by
lvan IV when he w ithdrew to Alek sandrov, left
Moscow for his citadel-monastery of New Jeru-
salem, abandoning his patriarchal duties w ithout
abdicating his title. A caı-and-mo use game, lasting
to the mid-1660s, ensued. Aleksey, though
appalled, kep t his ner ve and called Nikon's bluff:
in the end, lacki ng popular or clergy support,
Nikon needed the ısar more than the tsar needed
him.
It was intolerable to the tsar that the situation
remain permanently unresolved. The only solution
was to try the issue before a council in which non-
Russian Orthodox authorities could participate and
g ive disinterested judgment. Aleksey appealed to
t he fo ur traditional Eastern patriarchates: Constan-
ti nople and Jerusalem refused to get closely
involved, but Antioch and Alexandria fortunately
agreed, and at the end of 1666 the council got
under way. In its personnel, its spirit and in the
arguments adduced this remarkable event was
entirely By zantine: doubtless it was the ]ast major
political event in European history of which this is
true. The clinching point came from the By zantine
canan law book ( No mokanon): "Whosoever
troubles the emp eror and disturbs his empire has
no defense." Nikon was formally deposed from
office, reduced to t he status of an ordin ary monk
and exiled to the north .
Strangely enough, this was not t he end of ali
contact between tsar and former patriarch : Aleksey
cven sent Nikon gifts, but did not receive the
forma! blessing he sought. Nikon outlived Aleksey
and was permİtted to return to New Jerusalem, as
Aleksey had desired, but died on t he way back; his
cell-church (skete) stili stands, having survived the
general destruction of the monastery in World War
il. in ıhe 1680s, after Nikon's death, a hagiographic
Lıfe was written by one of his disciples; in his old
age as a monk Nikon was credited with healing
powcrs.
The deposition ofthe patriarch was only the first
and indeed briefest task of the church council of
1666 67; it had to choose a new incumbent and
generally to bring order, as the tsar so much
desircd, to a disorientated church . in the years
immediately before, with Nikon removed fro m
Moscow and Aleksey desperate for solutions, it
seemed as if the "Old Believers," as they came to be
known by the orthodox (in Russian starovery,
staroobryadtsy), might fin d accommodation with
;8
the new order. Avvakum came briefly back from Right: Russia in the reign of
Sibcrian exile to Moscow and met with abundant Tsar Aleksey.
Aleksey was more successful
signs of the tsar's favor. The new service books, than his predccessors in
though in use far a decade, were not yet compul- expanding the frontiers of
Muscovite Russia. His campaigns
sory. Nikon's downfall in 1666 looked like a of 1654 onwards, on the back of
triumph far the anti-reformers, but caused yet the popular uprising led by the
further strains, since some of those churchmen who l.aporozhian Cossacks against
their Po1ish overlords, brought
condemned Nikon personally disapproved even "left-bank" Ukraine into the
more of deth roning a patriarch. Muscovitc rcalm. Support for
Even in N ikon's absence, the council however the Cossacks made inevıtable a
confrontation with Poland and
p roceeded to back the liturgical reforms, behind the resulting war lasted until
w hich of course the ısar had ıhrown his own 1667, when the Treaty of
Andrusovo confirmed Russian
weight, and condemned the ignorance of the possession or the land on the east
councils convened by lvan IV: This was too much bank of the Dnieper, a small area
fa r Avvakum and other Old Believers, some of on the west bank around Kiev
and the province of Smolensk.
w hom- notably the widowed Boyarinya Feodo- Aleksey' s reign however was
siya Morozova- were in high places: they refused dogged by social unrest as
ali compromises, courting- and in many cases sub- awareness grew ofa polarization
between tradition and
sequently achieving- punishment, exile and even modernization; rebellions broke
marty rdom . The crucial sticking point was usually out in many parts ofthe
the sign of the Cross, a clearly public gesture, made country, affecting various
sectors of society . Peasants from
many times each day and serving as much, say, as a nearly every quarter, but
military salute to identify one's loyalties. it was not particularly the south and
southeast, rose up, often in
amenable, as liturgical changes might be, to silent support of Cossack initiatives,
inner reservations. and the Turkic Bashkirs waged
Tsar Aleksey behaved, if not tolerantly, then at what amounted to a national war
of independence. Although ali
least with some mercy and understanding towards this together gives the
the schismatics whom he had partially provoked. impression ora nation on the
in subsequent reigns things goı worse far them. To verge of anarchy. grievcınces
were largely unrelated and
the threat or reality of military force against them posed no combined threat ıo the
several Old Believer communities responded by existing constitution.
mass suicide, immolating themseJves by setting fire
to their wooden churches. Peter 1 doubled taxation
on O]d Believers; his successors put them under
punitive legal disabilities. Only under Catherine
the Great were these disabilities reduced and an
attempt, apparently at Potemkin's instigation,
made at reconciliation. The schismatics soon
divided and subdivided among themselves. The
dominant faction, from which many further sects
were born, were the "Priestless" (Bezpopovısy),
who held that, since no bishop had renounced the
church reforms, there could be no further valid
ordinations; their views resulted in a communal
religious life remarkably different from that with
clergy to celebrate the liturgy.
Old Believers in the next two centuries provided
Russia with many of its hardiest colonists, traders
and free peasants, as well as many rebels; by the
mid-19t h century there was a very prosperous Old
Believer merchant class. in contrast, the closed
nature of some Old Believer communities has led to
the bizarre phenomenon of remote Siberian v illages
w here old sectarian battles are continually refought
on the paper of manuscripts copied and recopied in
peasant scriptoria, a I7th-century w ay of life sur-
viving into the late 20th-century in one or two
parts of the region . The extraordinary durability,
communality and steadfas tness of the schismatics
cornman d respcct, but beyond that modern histori-
ans have not come near to agreeing what to make of
the whole phenomenon.
Political structures
The absolu te d aim to power of the tsar may have
continued unsha ke n throughout the !ast Muscovite
century, and indeed into the new age of Peter I,
but the sy stem of go vernmenı did change, even if
not very obviously. No one person of course could
 THE LAST CENTURY OF OLD RUSSIA

,,. ...
'·' <(J• 25'
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uprısırıgs

- ~~Ktı~rııtsky,
Bashkırs.1662-67
and167S-8J
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Lef t A mid - 19th-cent ury Englı sh
drawing of an Old Believer,
characteristically in Old Russian
clothing. The Old Believer sects
originated in t he sc hism caused
by resi stance to reforms initiated
by Patriarc h Niko n in the
mid- l7t h ce ntury, which w ere
intended to bring Russian
Orthodo xy more closely into !ine
w ıth the Greek Orthodox
Church
SEA
tak e ali t he decisions needed ta manage R ussia
sin gle-handed, a nd in facı Muscovy was governed
by the tsar in council, the coun cil being t he " Boyar
Duma, " an assembl y of notab1es that seems to have
becn in p ermanent session, on cali at all t imes in
the Kremlin. The stan da rd formula for the opening
ofa decree w as " The tsar indicated an d the boyars
assented . . " Such boyars were, of coursc, per-
forming a specialized kind of state service far the
tsar, ra th er than representing separate interests in
the mann er ofa parliament, but as there are no sur-
vi ving minutes of their debatcs it is impossible to
know h ow far any incipient pluralism developed
or might have developed.
Ev en more tantalizing is the role of the other
great ad visory body, the Zem skiy sobor (Assembly
of the Lan d). Such assemblies, summoned for a
particular purpose, included representatives of
',----r~~-- -----i'""·
·,. ..... _____ ., . - • -· ,ıl
""""
various estates: boyars, servitors, clcrgy, towns-
folk and on occasion e ven peasan ts. Somct imes
they took crucial d ecisions: such an assembl y put
Mik hail Romanov on the throne and bro ught the
Time of Troubles ta an end. in the first half of thc
17th century assemblies met freq uen tly, debated
iss ues of peace or war, proba bly took some
decision s on fı n ances. Early in Alekscy's rcign a
great asse m bly was summoned to br ing order and
codification to the chaotic legal system; it is quite
unclear h ow far the tsar " uscd " thc asscmbly, or
the assem bly used the tsar, or how far thcy fruit -
fully cooperated. But the work was effıcicntly
done, for t he great Ul ozhenıye or Code of 1649 was
quickly promulgated . it was the first offıcially to
recognize the alr ead y existing institution of serf-
do m, but alsa ıhe first to proclaim ıhe principle of
"equalj ustice fa r ali ."

79
THE LAST CENn.:RY OF OLD RUSSIA

in the second half of the century, however, con-

vocations of the assembly sharply declined as
Alekse y's administration became more centralized
and betler organized. in 1682, we are told, " a hası
of men of ali ranks from the whole of the Musco-
vite state" ratified, or maybe instigated, the
arrangements far the regency that followed; this
seems to refer to such an assembly, and if so it was
the !ast known one, since Peter the Great had na Fyodor 111 (tsar 1676- 82): a
typical late l 7th-century
use for it and it is never recorded as having met "iconic" pon.rait by a Russian
again. Perhaps its distant descendants were the painter, B. Saltanov. Fyodor, a
great Legislative Commission of 1767 and Gorba- child of Aleksey by his first
marriage to Maria
chov's Communist Party Congress of 1988. Miloslavskaya. succeeded his
On a lower, day-to-day level Russia was admin- father at the age of 14. but he
istered through an array of fıfty-odd "offıces" was sickly and died at 20,
leaving no descendants.
(prikazy). Some, like the Ambassadorial Depart-
ment mentioned above (p. 76), dated from well
back in the 16th century; others dealt with new
territorial acquisitions such as Siberia and the
Ukraine and were set up in an ad hoc way, fre-
quently overlapping in function. The loca[ self-
government of provincial towns, encouraged,
perhaps surprisingly, by lvan IV, disappeared with
the Time of Troubles. Large provinces were run by
royal governors or "representatives." These were
basically tax-farmers who delivered up income to
the treasury while enriching themselves at the loca!
expense, a completely medieval arrangement
known ta Russians as kormlenie (literally "feed-
ing"). in this autocratic but disorganized state
system it is not surprising that a succession of
effıcient "strong men" emerge and exercise "prime
ministerial" power throughout the 17th century,
from the "new man" Boris Godunov at its start to
Menshikov at its end (even more humbly bom);
others included the two Patriarchs Filaret and
Nikon, Boris Morozov, Ordyn-Nashchokin, Arta-
mon Matveyev, V.V. Golitsyn.

Dynastic turmoil
The end of Muscovy-and simultaneously of "Old
Russia" -came witb another protracted crisis, this
time of d ynastic origin. At the time of Aleksey's
death there survived, out of his 16 children by two
marriages, three boys and six girls; ultimately faur
of them were ta rule. Despite the endemic Russian
uncertainty about the royal succession system and
the relative newness of the Romanov dynasty, İt
was clear who the heir apparent was, since Aleksey
had had his eldesi surviving son Fyodor cere-
monially "presented to the people" and crowned
as his successor. But Fyodor was known to be in
delicate health; he was intelligent, pious, well read
and artistic, but unassertive and stil! very young.
He died at the age of 20 after six years' reign, his
wife and only child having predeceased him. There
developed a fıght ta the death (literally, far some of
those involved) far the spoils ofthe realm between
various boyar family groupings headed by the
Miloslavskys, Aleksey's fırst wife's family, to
which Fyodor belonged, and the Naryshkins,
family of the widowed Natalya, mother of the
future Peter the Great, who was still under four
years old at his father' s death. Under Fyodor a pre-
carious balance was held, though the vengeful
Miloslavskys were dominant, and the major
political figure of Aleksey 's time, Artamon Mat-
veyev (farmer guardian of Natalya Naryshki na),
w as exiled.
Dramatic events erupted at Fy odor's death
without an heir. Next in succession was the 16-
y ear-old middle brother, lvan [a Miloslavsky), but
he was menta lly retarded , ar, at least, defective in
speech, and could not rule alone. His half-brother,
Peter, was ten, evidentl y bright, healthy and a
budding future ruler. Tensions between the boyar
groupings were matched, if not exacerbated, by
the general tensions in society . At the center of
these tensions, as it transpired, was the Moscow-
based militia, some 20 000 strong, known as
streltsy (musketeers). Founded in the mid-16th
century as an up-to-date army, by the 1680s they
were a force of dubious value, only semi-
professional (they engaged in irade and agriculture
when not campaigning), under-educated and prey
ta rumor, potentially mutinous and uncertain of
their loyalties, anachronistic compared with
fareign-offıcered standing troops, irregularly paid,
inclined ta the Old Belief, suspicious of foreigners,
with their own ambitions and anxieties about the
preservation of their privileged status.

80

Top A gold coin of about 1682
shows thc crowned fıgure of the
Ts.ı.rits.ı. Sophia, regent to her
youngcr brother Ivan V and
their half-brothc r Pt'ler I. The
r;~:~:~~~;~ ~~~~; ~:e°r~;~~!y
oftheir older shtcr was an
arrangement reached in response
to thc succession crisis that
eruptcd on the deaıh of Fyodor
III. Anothcr go ld coin of the
same period (a!xwe) shows the
two child tsars with the emblem
of the double-headed cagle.
Seven ye.us la ı er Sophia's
probablc designs upon ıhe
throne led to her forcible
retirement ı o a convent at the
instigation of Pcter. then 17
years o ld. Peter and Ivan then
ruled as nomina l co-tsars until
Ivan's death in 1696.
The sırelısy were one element bidding to fiil the
power vacuum after Fyodor's death; the other was
one rather unexpected member of the royal family.
Fyodor died on 28 April 1682: the patriarch
instantly proclaimed young Peter tsar, with his
mother Natalya regent. Matvcyev was already on
his way ba ck from exile. The politically inexper-
ienced Natalya made the mistake of ordering 16
strelt sy colonels to be flogged. Rumors circulating
among the stre/tsy that both Fyodor and lvan had
been poisoned by the Naryshkins provoked thcm
into a riot. Matveyev returncd and took his seat at
the head of the boyar council on 15 May, but by
that evening he had been brutally lynched by
streltsy, and far three days the murderous huni far
Naryshkins was on. Tcn-ycar-old Peter with his
mother, prisoners in the Kremlin, though spared
by ıhe rioters, witnessed some of the killings.
The outcome was a modification to thc
succession arrangement, proclaimed on 26 May,
whereby lvan and Peter were to be joint tsars. The
unexpectcd figure who eagcr ly fılled the powcr
vacuum was their 25-year-old Miloslavsky sisler,
Sophia. Well educated, unlike other Museovite
womcn but like the othcr children of Tsar Aleksey,
she saw her chance with considerablc perspicacity;
in thc crisis-r idden atmosphere she was proclaimed
regent. Not only was sh e thc fırst woman to rulc
Russia since Olga in the 10th century. she was not
even the senior princess of the fam il y (Yevdokia
was seven years aitler, Marfa five). But she was
quick-witted and decisive and had the support of
the lcading Russian statesman V.V. Golitsyn. At
fırst decrees were issued simply in the names ofthe
curious child diarchy of lvan V and Peter !: a
throne that still survives in thc Kremlin Armory
Museum has a double seat and a small "prompt
window" behind, presumably far Sophia's whis-
percd instructions or answcrs. Soon Sophia was
using grander ıitles such as "Great Sovereign"
(curiously, there werc no special terms far
"regent" or "regency" in the Russian of the
period). and was portrayed in grand regalia, devis-
ing specia l ceremonies appropriate to a queen.
Meanwhile Ivan V was married at 17, and fath-
ercd a string of daughters, one of whom, nearly 40
years later, wou ld come to the throne as the Tsar-
itsa Arına. Peter, though at 16 he was stili liıtle
intcrcsted in governmcnt, seems to have been
nudged by his supporters and family into attend-
ing the boyar council from 1688; in January 1689
he too married, and )ate that summer moved
againsı his half-sister, objecting to her presence in
ceremonies and denouncing her in a remarkablc
letter to his co-ısar Ivan: "And now, sovereign
brother, the time has come far us to rule the realm
entrusted to us by God ... it is disgraceful that in
our majority ıhis shameful pcrson should rul e the
state in our stead." Sophia lived aut the rest of h er
days, until 1704, in the Moscow Novodevichy
Convcnt.
Squeezed as they are bet we en the long and
eventful reigns of Aleksey and Peter, Fyodor's and
Sophia's periods of rule often get no more than a
passing mention from historians of Russia, yet they
havc considerable interest. "Wcsternization" took
somc stcps farward, though stili hesitantl y, in
both. Just before he died Fy odor made a politica l
decision of considerablc symbolic and some practi-
TH E LAST CENTURY OF OLD RUSSIA
cal signifıcance: he a bolished mestnichestvo, the
ranking system where by boyars would only accc pt
service positions equal to or above ıhos e held
previously in their families, and according to their
status within their families. it was a con stant
source of quarrels and ineffıciency and often had
to be temporarily suspended in time of war. Fyo-
dor' s dramatic gesture not only in abolishing the
system, but alsa in burning the great manuscript
books (razryadnye knigi) in which ıhe wholc rig-
marole was recorded, ıhus preventing iıs return for
ever, opened the door far Peter' s servi ce
mcritocracy.
The singlc fıgure most responsiblc far cnding
mestnichestvo in the la s ı months of Tsar Fyodor,
and thereafter the dominant politician during the
regency of Sophia, the outstanding Russian of ıhe
1680s, in facı, was Prince Vasiliy Golitsyn. Head of
the Old Russian equivalcnt to the Foreign Ministry,
he was Sophia's favorite and de fac ıo prime
minister. Foreign policy in facı loomed larger in th c
1680s in Russia than had ever previously been thc
cas e, and the period dcscrvcs note as one of peace
in comparison with the expensive Polish war of
Aleksey and the lcngthy northern wars of Petcr.
The atmosphere in Moscow under both Fyodor and
Sophia was distinctly pro-Polish: Poland, stili
powcrful and prospcrous, offered the most readily
accessible models of cultural progress and what we
would now cali Westernization. in 1685 Soph ia's
government concluded an important treat y w ith
Poland; from the Russian point of view most sig ni-
ficantly it confırmed in perpetuity what had bcen
the temporary acquisition of Kiev.
The Polish alliance, howcver, had unwanted and
disastrous complications . Far the first time in its
history Muscovy was brought into an alliance of
European states that carried mi1itary jmplications.
The l ası greaı thrust of Ottoman expansion had
broughı the Turks to the outskirts of Vienna in
1683, and Russia was drawn into war against an
Ottoman empire with which it had na specifi c
quarrel. An Ottoman vassal-state existed north of
the Black Sea: the so-called Crimean Tatars, Turk-
ized remnants of thc Grcat Horde, who had irregu -
larly harassed the Muscovite statc far over 200
ycars. A reluctant Golitsyn had to launch and lead
two large expeditions against the Crimean Tatars in
1687 and 1689. Neither could farce th e Perekop
isthmus into the Crimea itself. nar indeed makc any
gains that could plausibly offset their considerable
huma rı losses. Both w crc prcsented in Moscow
however as triumphant victorics, and it is probable
that no one factor so di scredited Sophia's rulc (and
strengthened Peter' s hand when, immediatcly
afterwards, he instigaı e d the showdown that termi-
nated her regency) as this do u blc defeat and cover-
up . As far Golitsyn , he lived a ut the rest ofa long
life (until 17 14) in exile after Sophia' s downfall.
Thu s Ru ssia l ası , at thc outseı of Peter's reign, the
pcrson who representcd ıhe best hope for a
gradualist and perhaps painless approach to
Wcstcrnization.
Golitsyn was a man of grcat erudıtion and intel-
lcct. well read and fluent in several languagcs,
ıota ll y at home in Wcstcrn Europcan company,
human e and farsighted . Among his achievements
wcrc thc mitigation of thc severcr parts of thc
criminal code, ıhe opening of ıhe Slav-Greek-Latın
81
THE LAST CENTURY OF OLD RUSSlA
Academy and the impetus he gave to the rebuild-
ing of central Moscow, so often ravaged by fire, as
a city of brick and stone rather than wood. His
own great pedimented house, which survived in
Moscow into the 20th century before being wan-
tonly dcmolished, was noted for the taste and opu-
lence of its furnishings, though his own preferred
way of life was modest, even spartan. Golitsyn was
unusual among l\luscovite political fıgures in aim-
ing not merely at the establishment of good order
and the strengthening of haJlowed institutions; he
envisaged the development and education of his
socieıy, its economic growth and financial stabil-
ization, freedom of religion and even thc end of
serfdom.
Culturc and the arts in transition
Late Muscovite culture seems to have had a self-
consciousncss and at times an aridity about it that
has given it mostly rather a bad press, batlı ıhen
and later. Travelers' accounts, though certainly not
uniformly hostile to the Muscovites, reacted more
critically than ever before to the limitations of their
religious and general outlook and to ıhe absolutism
of their statc system. Occasional individual Musco-
vites also raised critical voices. Grigoriy Kotoshik-
hin, a civil servant in the Ambassadorial Office,
lled Muscovy and entered Swedish service in 1666.
He wrote a mosı valuable, because detailed, though
also strongly hostile account of Russian society and
government. Despite his contention that "The men
of the Russian state are arrogant by nature and
untrained in ali ıhings, because they do not and
cannot receive a good education in their country,"
Kotoshikhin and others nonetheless somehow
obtained sufficicnt education to scrutinize their
own condition.
Only in the lası half-century hasa reassessment
of late Muscovite culture been made in terms not
merely of its impoverishment and backwardness,
but also ofa complexity that increased as the 17th
cenıury proceeded, inteJlectual strivings and, on
occasion, aesthetic achievements. in particular, the
so-called Moscow Baroque period, which reached
its height in the 1680s, has attracted much recent
attention. To one of the greatest modern cultural
historians, D.S. Likhachov, this period represents
the belated Russian equivalent of the Renaissance,
although it should be noted that this implies
depriving the subsequent Petrine period of such a
role. Some interesting "Renaissance" fıgures of
many-sided cultural significance indeed emerged
in, and helped to shape, this period.
The chief of these was Simeon of Polotsk (1629-
80), a West Russian of wide Latin-based education,
both theological and secular. He came to Moscow
in 1664, was influential in court circles, becoming
tutar to ıhe royal family, and almost single-
handedly established a ncw Russian literature
largely on western Baroque, particularly Polish
models. His copious writings include secular odes
and shorter poems introducing a syJlabicaJJy based
metrics usually now considered to fit rather awk-
wardly with the strongly stress-accented Russian
language. He also wrote plays on biblical subjects
andan influential rhymed translation of that favor-
ite among the Russians of aJI biblical books, the
Psalter. But despite Simeon's activities and those of
some of his circle, notably Silvester Medvedvev
(1641-91), adviser to and historian of the regent
Sophia, himself executed subsequently at Peter's
orders, there are no giant intellects at work, on sur-
viving evidence, in this "Russian Renaissance."
Folklore and the vernacular arts llourished, and
were at times able to interact with, or revivify, the
rather stilted, ossifıed forms of "sophisticated" art.
üne literary masterpiece emerged from such an
interaction, and from the social and personal
circumstances of crisis in which Muscovy dis-
sol ved: the Life of the Archpriest Avvakum,
written by himself and dating from his incarcer-
ation in a northern monastery in the 1670s. To take
the hallowed religious genre of the vita, the saint's
life, and to turn it inıo auıobiography, was a daring
conceptual leap, even more daringly accomplished.
it was offıciaJly unpublishable in Russia till after
1861. it is significant and paradoxical that Avva-
kum's Life is, despite its individuality and
complete stylistic originality, a lası llare-up of
Muscovite culture, not at ali a product of the new
Westernizing trends of its time.
Plenty of l 7th-cenıury prose wriıing has come
down ta us: historical accounts of that turbulent
age and secular tales, fıctiona l and semi-fıctional,
fantastical, parodistic and picaresque. Such works
only catch fire as literature when, as with
Avvakum, ıhe full, albeit stili rather chaotic
resources of the Russian language are employed to
surprise and inlluence the reader emotionally. A
finc example is the Ta/e of the Siege of Azov, written
by a participating soldier in the 1640s, weirdly
blending the dry and facıual manner of ıhe mili-
tary lale with highly rhetorical, folk-inlluenced
j
purple patches. Even more remarkable is the Ta/e
of Woe and Misfortune (Povest' o Gore-Zlochastii), a
highly metaphoric and poeticized variant of ıhe
theme of the Prodigal Son, pursued ıhrough life by
The Patriarch Nikon in
a personification of Woe. Generally, though, the ceremonial dre!>!>, depicted in an
most readable l 7th-century Russian literature, early 19th-century drawing.
often not closely datablc, is anonymous poeıry,
more or less suffused with the spiril of folklore: in
particular the so-called "spiritual verses" (dukhov-
nye stikhi), deriving from biblical and apocryphal
stories, are refracted in the prism of Russian folk-
consciousness and popular religious concepts.
Musical life of ıhe period is an elusive topic.
From what was noted down we might assume that
nothing but unaccompanied church music existed,
ıhough in this area too, large changes had occurred
by the end of the century under ıhe inlluence of
polyphonic Kievan chant. V. Titov set Simeon
Polotsky's popular rhymed translation of the
Psalter to music in 1680. Beyond that, of course,
there was folk music, some of it, naıurally, instru-
mental. Yet we can also be sure that Western
European music too was performed in l 7th-
century Moscow- though how much, how well
and in what circumstances are matters of conjec-
ture. ln 1648, for example, the Moscow rioters des-
troyed several cartloads of Western musical
instruments. Even earlier, in the 1630s, the Hol-
stein diplomat Olearius remarked casually in his
well-known travel notes that Nikita Romanov,
kinsman of the tsar, was "a friend of German
music." By the 1670s Tsar Aleksey was watching
the hallet Orpheus probably to the music of Schütz,
the greatest German composer of the time; three-
year-old Peter had his own clavichord.
 THE LAST CENTURY OF OLD RUSSIA

Western immigrant portraitists and engravers most spectacular, until its demolition in the early
(not, admitted ly, oft h e first quality) arc frcqucntly 19th century, must have been his planned ncw
recorded as ply ing their irade in Russia in the 17th tO\.Vll, Borisov Gorodok, ncar Mozhaysk, which
century; nat ive Russian painting mostly stayed had the tallest of all "tent" churches (at least 73
within the medieval territory of icons and frescoes, meters). Under Tsar Mikhail there was a gradual
though t entati vely reaching out into the iconic renewal of building activity after the interruption
secular portraiture known as the parsuna. The and destruction of ıhe Time of Troublcs: a memor-
same Patriarch Nikon who is reported to have ial ta this grim period is the most elcgant of "tcnt''
personall y destroyed icons that seemed too sen- churches, the triple-spired "Marvelous Church" at
suou sly p ai nted was realistically depicted together Uglich (16 18; properly called the Church of the
w ith his attendants by a Dutch portraitist. Assumption in the Alekseyev Monastery). By the
However, Western-inspired mannerisms took ever 1630s a Moscow merchant, Grigoriy Nikitnikov,
firm er roo t in the court icon workshops of l 7th- was rich enough to build the Trinity in the Nikit-
cen tury Moscow, with more emphatically modeled niki, adjoining his own housc: it is a calculatcdly
faces and lim bs, architectural backgrounds using picturesque and asymmetrical agglomcration of
Ren aissance perspective and slick handling of the varied spaces, highly decorated inside and aut,
paint imitative of, and occasionally in facı employ- baroque in spiril though Old Russian in its forms.
ing, oil pigments. More regularized, at lcast outwardly, is the Terem
A great deal of l 7th-century Russian painting Palace in the Kremlin, also built mostly in the
sur vives. Much is perfunctory, but it varies greatly 1630s by Bazhen Ogurtsov.
in quality, and the most skilled practitioners of thc The most spectacular building of Tsar Aleksey's
ti me \\ı'ere considera ble artists; it is characteristic reign is (or was, until it was largely destroyed in
that in this last stage of medicval Russian art we World \Var fl - it is now under restoration) the
often know them by name. The most important is Patriarch Nikon's monastery of New Jcrusalem
that of Simon Ushakov (1626-84). From 1664 he (1658 onwards). Nikon was a keen builder: he dis-
was head of the major artistic workshop of !ate approved of ornatc Muscovite accretions and
M uscovy, based on the Armory building in the patronized a rathcr severe architecture based on
Kremlin. He could handle secular subjects in a the traditional Byzantine five-domed cu bical
Western manner (he engraved the title page for church. He declared that "tent'' churchcs were
Si meon Polotsky's translation of the Psalter) but is uncanonical, yet at the center of New Jerusalem
remembered above aJl for the numerous icons he !here stood one of the largest and most daring deri-
and his team produced. The most interesting are vatives of the type, surmounting the Cathedral of
those that del ve into new su bject matter, particu- the Resurrection. Nikon had ordered from Pales-
larly with political import: one in particular, The tine an inlaid wooden model of the Church of the
Planıing of the Tree of the Muscovite State, is a Holy Sepulcher to use as his prototype; this model
highly unusual work, incorporating depictions of still survives. Many Be1orussian workmen assisted
Tsar Aleksey and his family with 20 medallion por- in the construction of New Jerusalem, and there is
traits of his great predecessors, arranged like fruits a signifıcant infıltration of e1ements of thc Western
on a vine surrounding an icon-within-an-icon of order system into its archltecture. lts great tent-
the Virgin and Child. Some !ate 17th-century icons like rotunda collapsed in the 18th century and was
have a fınicky delicacy derived from the earlier reconstructed in its final form by the major mid-
Stroganov School, incorporating much naturalistic 18th-century architect Rastrelli. The !ast and mosı
detail; they unexpectedly, though accidentally, astonishing "tent" church in Moscow was the
evoke the world of Western International Gothic of Church of the Nativity in Putinki ( 1649): its six cal-
around 1400--it too the !ast bright flare-u p of an culatedly irregular fleches greeted travelers on the
over-refıned art. This delicacy is seen to bcst cffcct, Novgorod road at the entrance to the city.
however, in thc frescoes of thc schoo1 centered on The opposite approach, from the southeast along
Yaroslavl, brilliantly hued and swarming with the Moskva River, led past the old royal estate o f
miniature fıgures; they are at the opposite extreme Kolomenskoye, and here Tsar Aleksey commis-
from the muted, uncluttered monumentality of sioned and p1anned the most extraordinary Rus-
early Russian wall painting. Most secular painting sian building of the age: the great wooden palace of
of the period, incidentally, is lost, giving us an 200 or more rooms- an anthology of thc w ood-
unbalanced view of the whole artistic scene . .l\ıluch builder's art, a fairytale jumble of disparate and
elaborate,sometimcs over-ornate but always sp1en- picturesque elements - built to royal specifications
didly crafted metalwork survives: icon casings in only three years (1667- 70). This was t he tsar's
(oklady), book covers, railings, metal folding icons, favorite place of re1axation during his second mar
cnameled and damascene objects. riage, but it fell into disrepair in the ~t Peters burg
era and had to be demolished a hundred years
Late J\ıluscovite architecture later. Luckily Catherine il had a large model of the
The art that thrived above all others in the !ast palace made, which can stili be admired.
century of Muscovy was building. The 17th Building activity reached its climax in the often
ccntury begins with Boris Godunov's attempts to ignored period of Fyodor JII's reign and Sophia's
cquip Muscovy with a monumental architecture regency. This was the time of the flowering of the
that would pick up where lvan III and Vasiliy III Moscow Baroquc , in whosc ex tremely distinctivc
left off a century before. The most prominent structures Western and Old Russian elements are
heritage of this is the present form of the great so teasingly balanced that they cannot be categor-
Moscow Kremlin belltower, "Big John" (lmn ized as ancicnt or modern. Churchcs arc often in
Velikiy, not named as is often thought after lvan lII several diminishing stories, with centralized
or "Great," but after St John Climacus), whilc the ground plans and rich ornamentation along the

83
THE LAST CENTUR':ı' OF OLD RUSSIA

successive rooflines; belltowcrs are of openwork

construction; fortrc ss-towcrs have surprisingly
dcmatcrialized, lacy strapwork battlemcnt s;
domcstic buildings, of which for the first time
many survive, have richly ornate w indow
surrounds.
in this short era, barcly a q uartcr-century long,
the art of colored ccramic architect ural dc coration,
which had bcen an occasional resource in Russian,
as in Byzantine, architecture si nce t he 15th
century, if not earlier, reaches a splendid climax in
thc domes of the Kremlin palace church know n as
thc Savior behind the Golden Grille ( 1680) and in
the astonishing sma ll Moscow pa lace call ed t he
Krutitsky Teremok, comple tely face d in poly-
chromc tilcs. Outsid c Moscow thc age left many
monumcnts in country cstatcs, towns, fo rtrcsses
and monasterics, particularly on the great trad e
route northeast ta Yaroslavl and beyond . Here, at
Rostov on t he edge of Lake Nero, the Metropolitan
!ona Sysoyevich built in the 1670s and 1680s th e
strangest of ecdesiastical follies: an e ntire Kremlin,
a miniaturc city, all ofa piece- a nostalgic anac h-
ronism in its time (Iona was a covcrt supporter of
Nikon), marvelously preserved to the present.
But this was above ali the age of Moscow it self, a
huge city of perhaps q uarter of a million people,
many t imes morc pop ulous t han any othcr in th e
realm. Until well into the 19th century it had a
spraw ling, village-like quality: outsid e thc Kremlin
its fun damental organization was into slobody,
us ually translated "suburbs" but h ere more appro-
priatcly " quarters," where specializ ed trades or
merchant activ ities were ca rried on . Hints o f the
old wood-built slobody, clustered round their loca]
church, survived into l 9th-century Moscow and
cve n, in the many street names referring to trades,
up t o the present .
The village-like quality of Old Moscow was
enhanced by the way in w hich the resid enccs of
the service and aristocrati c class w ere more lik c
miniature estates than town houses: they had their
own o utbu ildings, gard en s, orchards and privat c
churches. Relics of such co mplexes survivc in two
or t hree places in Moscow today, notably the Kru-
titsk y Palace and the Bersenevka house. Herds of
cattle wandered at da wn and dusk through Mos-
cow strccts to pasture outsid e the city Jimits during
the day; every courı yard house had its flock of
pou ltry. By day the cent ral squares, especiall y th c
mar ket area around thc present-day GUM storc,
constituted a huge emporium, the center for thc üne exception to this can, however, be noted,
trade of ha lfa conti nent. and it is a most important one, since it is Tsar Aiek-
sey himself. Here wc havc a fıgure whosc extensivc
Tsar Ale ksey: the las ı Byzantine? private archive, down ta marginal doodlings, has
The turbulent, contradictory l ası age of Mus co vy survived, one who in addition was commented
is hard to sum up . it remain s, to Russians as to upon by innumerable observers from many cul-
Westerners, an exceedingly remote age compared tural backgrounds. it may confıdently be assertcd
with the 18th century that immedia te ly foll owed, that he can be known as no other personalit y from
an age in which medieval qualiti es (the unqucs- Old Russia is knowable . What emerges from a
tioned religious basis of life, its dominance over modern study of the evidence is a remarkably
secular elements of cul ture, an a bsence of the very emblematic ruler for the final half-ccntury of
concept of progress, rigidity of beha vioral norms] medie val Russia one who was by disposition and
prcdominate. Memorablc as ma ny of t he figurcs of by conscious choice the lası ruler of truly Byzan-
the age are, we have to admit to bafflement if wc tine mentality in Europe. He was Byzantine not
try to look dcep ly into thcir motives or per son- just in his great devotion to rcligious observance,
aliıies: as so often with med ieval people, the evi- his Grecophile sympathies, his conviction of the
dcncc just is not there, cvcn in the cases of men high calling of his tsardom, his elaboration of sym-
like Nikon and Avvakum. bolically charged raya] ceremonial: he also had the

84

Rostov the Gre.ıt, northeast of
~loscow~ the so-called Kremlin ,
built at the end of the Old
Russfan period by the
~letropolitan Tona Sysoyevich in
the 1670s and 1680s. Splendidly
preserved, it is seen here from
the frozen Lake :-;ero.
personal qualitics of powerful human understand-
ing, political subtlety (bordering on deviousness), a
sense of God-given righteousness but above ali pas-
sion far order and harmony characteristic of the
ideal Bvzantine ruler.
Aleksey hada sense of Russia's national interests
that flowed from his own enthusiasms_ A kecn
gardener, he put large-scale experiments in agricul-
ture and manufacture under \,·av on his estates; he
was passionately enthusiastic and well inforıned
about geography ata time when Russia was hugely
expanding. His way of life, despite some modifıca­
tions in his !ast five years, was stili thoroughly
medie, al, revol ving around lengthy ceremonies of
court and church. His chief relaxation, an age-old
occupation of rulers, was hunting and in particular
falconry. Yet backward-looking as he may secm,
part of his greatness was that he was flexibly
THF. LAST CE~TURY OF OLD RL"SSIA
minded, able ta widen his field of vision and leam
from mistakes. He ı.-.·as one of the most revered of
Russian rulers, \,·ith a reputation far sanctity and
gentleness, despite his disciplined firınness and
occasional strong temper. The adjecıive tishayshıy,
"most-gentle," that was attached ta him n his life-
time and since has usually been taken ta reflect his
personal qualities, though it is in facı a Russian
version of the tide serenissımus or its Bvzantine
equivalent galenoıaıos_ .'-!ore than anyone else he
formed the nostalgic image of the ideal tsar in the
popular imagination_ in any case he hada great and
usuallv underestimated effect on his son Peter-
and il is the same Peter to ı.vhom we owe o:..;r
unique oppornınity to know Aleksey, since ıt .,·as
he wbo ordered the preservation and cataloging of
his father's private papers, many years after his
death.
Wooden Buildings
of N orthern Russia
Nowhere is ıhe creative genius of the common people
in Russia more inımediately evident than in the
wooden architecture of the forest zone. Throughout
the Old Russian period stone and brick were reserved
for occasional use in churches, monasteries and a few
important town houses: wood was overwhelmingly
the predominant constructional material, even for
fortresses and palaces. The clinıax of domestic
wooden architecture came as !ate as 1667 in the large
and picturesque raya! palace built far Tsar Aleksey at
Kolomenskoye: it was stili in use in the 1760s, and
when it was dcmolished a model was made of it.
The age--old Russian log house (izba) is based on a
simple square module that could be. and usually was,
prefabricated and put up with great speed. Logs were
always laid horizontally, their ends often lapped.
Insulation would be provided by close-packed wad-
ding; but wooden buildings would stili "breathe,"
and werc considered healthier to livc in; wooden
living rooms often surmounted a brick foundation
story uscd far storage. The development of a specta-
cular folk church architecture in wood, using the
sinıplest tools, is shrouded in mystery. Since wood is
vulnerable ta fire and decay the earliest surviving
churches are lale medieval. Yet we know, for
example, that a wooden cathedral with "13 heads"
(domes?) was built in IDth-century Novgorod.

Above Detail ofa window from

the Yeli:z.a.rnv house, built in
1880 at Seredka near Lake
Onega, novı.· at Kizhi. Decorative
windov,: surrounds, often
making play with pediments and
other forms frorn the classical
repertory, are characterıstic of
elaborate houses such as thıs.

Left Among several wooden

buildings that have becn
dismantled and reassembled at
Kizhi in recent years is the small
and simple church of St Lazarus
from the Murom Monastery on
Lake Onega. This is thought to
be the oldest surviving wooden
church in Russia, built before
the monk Lazar died in 1391.
Three square cells of
successively diminishing area
represent narthex, nave and
sanctuary, each having a
differently pitched roof, with
the nave rising highest; there is
no foundation story.

86
 WOODEN BUILDINGS OF NORTHERN RUSSIA

Btlow The greaıest treasure
house of wooden architecture is
at Kizhi, an island on Lake Onega
in the far north. Its ıwo
spectacular churches are
dedicated to the Transfıguration
{1714) and the Intercession
{Pokrov; 1764). Here the latter is
seen from the shingled domes of
the fonner. Both are highly
elaborate showpieces: Kizhi was
an important parısh and trading
post. Its renowned carpenters,
working largely with axes.
"followed their eye." needing no
blueprints. The Intercession rises
in an octagon above a cube. each
rib of the octagon supports a
decorative dome, with one more
in the middle and another on the
apse. The Transfıguration, a ıhe lake, sayıng "There was not,
sıeep ( 38-meter) tiered pyramid. is not and will not be such a
has the st.ııggering total of 22
domes; it resembles a vast
Christmas tree. It was built on
the virtuoso "twenty-walled"
plan: an octagonal core with four
side-projections producing a
cross. Its builder, Nestor.
supposedly nung his axe into

Top left The interipr of the

Church of the lntercession,
Kizhi. There is a relatively low
false ceiling, and a fıne
iconostasis, with carved and
painted "royal doors" in the
middle. Here the successive tiers
ofthe iconostasis, working
upwards, are: locally revered
ıcons; feast-day icons (the
"twelve major feasts" from the
GospelsJ; the Deisis {the Virgin,
the Baptist and other figures
interceding with Christ on behalf
ofhumanity); the Prophets.

Left Several wooden buildings

from outlying places have been
collected at Suzdal, Novgorod,
Kolomenskoye and elsewhere
These l 9th-century wooden
windmills now stand at Suzdal.

Above Schematic drawings

showing techniques of wooden
building. The ku.b (cube) form of
roofing (top), achieves the
transition from a square of
walling to an onion dome
Unable to reproduce most of the
curved fonns of masonry wıth
logs, the carpenters resorted to a
variety of ingenious solutions to
arrive at equivalent aesthetıc
eITects. Diminishing stories of
varied cross-section were
popular from the 17th century
(as, indeed, in the Moscow
Baroque). Small onion
domes-purely decorative
elements-are traditionally
covered in silvery aspen
shingles . Two widespread
methods of securing the corners
ofbuildings are lapping {center)
and dovetailing (below).
PETER THE GREAT
Russia's new age
Well before the end of Peter the Great's reign it
was made quite clear that Muscovy had expired: as
the Frcnch civil servant Liboy, assigned to accom-
pany Peter's second personal embassy to the West
in 1717, rcported: ''.,\llow me to remark that the
term 'Muscoviıe' or even 'Muscovy' is deeply
offensive to al! this court." it is of interest inciden-
tally that these two names are purely Western
Europcan usages, with no Russian equivalents; to
tlıe tsars their domain was Rus, rcplaced (under
Polish inlluence) with the Latinate form Rossiya,
just as the very title ısar became, in official though
of course not popular terminology, the Latin imper-
aıor (emperor). The moment that marked the end of
Muscovy was the transfer of the seat of govcrn-
ment in 1712 to Peter's newly founded city with its
ostentatiously un-Russian name, St Petersburg.
Even thereafter, however, Moscow continued to be
considered Russia's alternative capital, as if both
cities and what they represented were competing
for the populace's spiritual allegiance.
Peter- despite his no-nonsense reputation- was
highly aware of the symbolic dimension of words,
gestures and behavior. From quite early in his
reign (c.1698) his actions, however apparently
impulsive, systematically aimed to reinforce the
sense of fundamental change in Russia signaled by
the new nomenclature of w hich the examples
quoted above are only the most prominent. For-
eigners were certainly impressed: Voltaire, not one
to be lightly taken in, wrote in the middle of the
century: "The establishment of this empire is
perhaps Europe's greatest event after the discovery
ofthe New World."
The chronological framework of Peter's early life
-until, in his later twenties, he began to take on
the role of reformer and 11
Westernizer" of his
society-falls into a series of strongly demarcated
compartments relating directly to political circum-
stances. He was born in May 1672, the eagerly
awaited and much-loved only son of Tsar Aleksey's
second marriage, to Natalya Naryshkina, at the
palace of Kolomenskoye outside Moscow. While
Aleksey was stili ali ve Peter spent much of his time
there and at other out-of-town royal residences,
and on Aleksey's death in J 676 Na tal ya and her
children were allocated rooms in the Kremlin. The
first great, and horrific, dislocation came to Peter's
life when his half-brother Fyodor lII died in 1682.
The events that immediately followed have already
been described (p. 80). Peter's family largely with-
drew from Moscow to the old royal hunting lodge
at Preobrazhenskoye, some five kilometers to the
northeast beside the little River Yauza. it is
notorious that thereafter Peter hated and feared the
Kremlin and what he took it to represent.
Already highly practical, inquisitive and experi-
mentally minded, Peter spent his teenage years at
Preobrazhenskoye acquiring various technical
skills and, quite literally, playing soldiers. He
88
Peter 1 [tsar 1682- 1725). Peter
tbe Great was painted or
sculpted many times: tbis, the
earliest grand portrait of him,
was made at 'William lll's
suggcstion by Sir Godfrey
Knellcr, when Petcr arrived in
England w ith the Great Embassy
in January 1698. Knellcr may
have sketched Peter earlier, in
Holland. Forma! a~ it is, tbc
young tsar noncıhcless
consid ered it an admırable
likeness, and many copies were
madeofıt.
formed children's regiments named after Preobraz-
henskoye and Semyonovskoye (an adjoining
village), whom he drilled and engaged in mock
battles. As time went by, his "soldiers" became
older and their exercises more realistic; Sophia,
presumably sensing no threat, authorized their use
of arms and ammunition. Peter's boy regiments
developed into the elite force of the new Russia,
while among his playmates were some-notably
Alexander Menshikov, who was of humble birth-
that became his close subsequent friends and
collaborators. His greatest enthusiasm of the time,
and one that never left him thereafter, was kindled
by the chance discovery in a shed ofa sailing boat,
Western European in design, supposedly a gift sent
by Queen Elizabeth of England to Ivan IV a
century before. Peter had it repaired and lloated it
on the Yauza; since the tiny river cou ld not accom-
modate his efforts to tack it against the wind, he
transferred his nautical endeavors to Pereslavl-
Zalessky, a small ancient town some 160 kilometers
northeast of Moscow on the finely situated Lake
Pleshcheyevo. Peter's original boat was trans-
ported to St Petersburg where İt later acquired
"iconic" status as the centerpiece of a curious
shrine in the Peter-Paul Fortress.
Early in 1689 the 16-year-old Peter was married
to Yevdoki ya Lopukhina, a wedding arranged by
his mother and disastrous for al! concerned-
particularly for the unfortunate heir, Aleksey, that
it produ ced. In !ate summer of that year came
another crisis and turning point in Peter's life.
Informed (on the basis ofa misunderstanding) that
the Moscow sıreltsy reg iments were, at Sophia's

A mid-18th---ceııturv view ofthe
main channel of ıhe River :-.;eva
in St Petersburg- The nearcst
building on the left {south) bank
is the Imperial Winter Palace.
before us rcconsırucıion in iıs
present form {l i 54 ). Beyond it
{middle distance) is the \'ast
Admiralty building. its wings
enclosing shipyards. Its great
gold spıre (1732) is stili a
prominent landmark in St
Petersburg, though no\,.
enclosed in an open colonnadc
added bv the neoclas-.ıcal
architecİ A. Zakharm, when he
remodeled the vı:hole build.ing in
1806. On the opposite (nonh)
bank are the old Academv of
Sciences buildıng and ıh~
Menshikm· Palace.
instigation, about to move threateningly against
Preobrazhcnskove, Peter and his immediate
entourage fled iİı the middle of the night and estab-
lished ıhemselves in tlıe strongly fortifıed Trinity
Monasterv some 70 kilometers northeast of the
city. The;e he precipitated a showdown with his
half-sister by sending letters demanding that the
st,·eltsy colonels and foreign mercenary offıcers
should come in person to pledge their Joyalıy. He
also sent the remarkable missi,·e, quoted earlier (p,
81), to his co-tsar lvan denouncing Sophia as a
usurper. Peter's initiative caused shock and
consternation in 1-ııl oscow, particularly among the
foreign officers who were genuinely uncertain
whom thev should obev. The decisi\·e mo,·e was
made bv the ,·eteran Scot, General Patrick Gordon
(1635 99), who sensed ıhe indecision of Sophia's
governmcnt and went ta Peter. Sophia's chief
minisıers had no choice but to follow. Sophia was
forciblv retired to the Novodevichv Con,·ent on
the ou'tskirts of Moscow. Gordon was~ ta save Peter's
throne for him again in the abortive streltsy rebel-
lion of 1698.
it is a seldom-noticed irony that the regency of
one woman (Sophia) was replaced by that of
another (Peter's mother Natalya). But, unlike
Sophia, the Tsaritsa Natalya was politically passİ\'C
and unskilled. The countrv was ruled bv a boyar
oligarch_y much influencedJby the xenophobic ;nd
anti-progressive Patriarch loakim, and Sf\'eral
years of reaction against anything foreign ar inno-
vative follov,:ed. h·an \' performed most ceremonial
duties: Peter's attentions were focused upon ship-
building at Archangel, Russia's only seaport.
it is surprising in view of what was to come thar
for many years Peter was the candidate fa\·ored as
, lljıfıt:m;kwfı .illi IIII.JJ.®1.'ı-/1:0·1;:ı'/i.Ji. I,· .1fı;ır.;.J.l '.-.:Jll1(11Jf.lf!.ı
ı'ir.lbt,7fi1llfff(_yıcn ,ıı:Aı:.urv,OllIPlrl• .l(: ~ırP lf. lı..'i(..1.L.IIJ,ltl '6/1"4/"J
PETER THE GREA T
ruler among the conservative (tlıough not O]d
Believer) group in late l 7th-century Russia both
the Orthodox xenophobes around tlıe patriarclı
and the major boyar families ·whose position ·was
undermined bv the abolition of mestnichest!'o
under Fvodor !iL Peter with his boats and war
games se.emed obviously content ta lea\'e politics t o
others. He had, however, the bad lıabit of consort-
ing \\'ith \\'estern Europeans in the Foreign
Quarter, situated at only ~trolling distance from
Preobrazhenskoye (particularly with the Dutch,
but also, for example, with tlıe ~cot Gordon and
the Swiss Lefort). it was not that \Vesterners
offered him some sort of vision of higher civiliza-
tion (far from it, given ıhe reputation for debau-
chery of the Foreign Quarter). What he found there
were experts ofa sort in the skills and technologies
that fascinated him; he alsa found an alternative,
unbuttoned and carnivalistic way of life.
Tsaritsa Natalya died, to Pete;'s great sorrow, in
1694. lvan V died in 1696. Peter seems alwavs to
have got on amicably with his brother and tr~ated
him punctiliousl_y as co-tsar. Nü\-\' he was Ieft as
sole ruler, and events began to move rapidly. in
1695, without specific cause, he decided to make
another attempt to capture ıhe Turkish fortress of
Azov, kev to the south . .Not onlv had two unsuc-
cessful e~peditions against the Turks' vassals, the
Crimean Tatars, been the undoing of Sophia's
government; the Turks and Tatars continued to be
a menace ta the Ukrainian borderland, making
frequent slave raids. Russia made regular payments
to the Crimean Tatars (and did so till 1700); Peter
was stung by a scornful missive from the patriarch
of Jerusalem pointing aut that this meant the Rus-
sians ,vere as good as tributaries of the Turks. Peter
89
PETER T HE GREAT
led the first campaign in person; it ended disas-
trously, th ough as Golitsyn's had been, it was
presented in Moscow as a triumph. Peter d ecided
on a second campaign in 1696, and had a fleet of
galleys to control thc River Don built at Voronezh
in a matter of months. The second campaign took
Azov, largely through Gordon's military experi-
ence, though it was to be given up again 15 years
later. it is no accident t hat these military adven-
tures, marking the transition from war games to
life, alsa marked Peter's rather belated accession to
practical power.
Azov fell in July: the Russian forces reac hed
Moscow in triumphal procession (the tsar marching
alongside other naval commanders) during
October. At once Peter announced the forced draft-
ing of thousands of laborers and streltsy ta Azov,
ıh e construction of Russia's first naval base on the
coast below the estuary of the Don at Taga nrog and
a massive, expensive and (as it turned a ut) over-
hasty program of ship building. Foreign ship-
wrights started arriving w ithin weeks. in
November Pcter announced the names of more than
50 Russian noblemen who were command ed, irre-
spective of their own wishes, to go as students of
navigation and related skills to Venice, th e Dal-
matian coast, Holland and England- the first of
many who wou ld stu dy abroa d thereafter. Most
were young, but the oldest, Peter Tolstoy, was 52.
They were to pay t heir own expenses and to return
with a certificate of competence. Peter, characteris-
tically, devised their syllab us himself. in December
a busy half-year reached its remarkabl e conc1usion
with the announcemen t that the tsar's "great
ambassadors an d p lenipotentiaries" (incl uding, as
it later turned aut, Pet er h imself) wo uld shortly
deparı on a "Great Embassy," t o a variety of
Western European states,
T h e Gr eat Embassy
Peter's Great Embassy was a colossa l und erta k ing.
The retinue numbered over 250, includ ing tru m-
peters and court dwarfs; among them the tsar,
whose incognito was to be preserved on pain of
death, was simply known as " Peter Mik haylov."
in his absence from Moscow, which could scarcely
have been expected to go u nnoticed, a t hree-man
regency council nominally hel d power. Th e real
boss, however, was a figure no less alarming than
Peter himself: Prince Fyodor Romodanovsky, gov-
ernor of Moscow, first R ussian head of a secret
police force. The so-called Preobrazhensky Office
that Romodanovsky headed was so effectively sec-
retive that we do not even know when and how it
was set up; it performed its grim task so well that
such treasonable plots as came to pu blic knowledge
in Peter's time may well strike us now as patheti-
cally ili organized or unthreatening. Romoda-
novsky alsa played a stranger role, one that bore
more directly on his position as de facto regent of
Russia. He was nothing less than "alternative
tsar," semi-officially titled "Prince-Caesar" by
Peter and unofficially called by him "king" or
"lord" (gosudar); several of the best 18th-century
sources (Kurakin, Shcherbatov, Golikov) testify to
this masquerade, that parallels lvan IV's ent h rone-
ment of Semyon Bekbulatovich (see p.59) .
in Romodanovsky's case the "prehistory" to his
remarkable status lies in the ]ast and most realistic
ıo
(though stili for ma lized) " mock battles" that were
the culmination of Peter's w ar games at Preobraz-
henskoye in the early 1690s, in wh ich Romoda-
novsky, command ing the Preobrazhensky
regiment, was preordained victor (since Peter and
foreign soldiers were among his "subordinates")
over 1. Buturli n's Semyonovsky regiment (w ith its
complemen t of streltsy). Al! this, although gener-
ally ignored by historians, is worth recounting far
the insight it gi ves into the !ess obvious reaches of
Peter's mentality, where childhood ex periences and
diversions shaded uninterruptedly into adult con-
cerns, w here masquerade could turn into cere-
monial an d vice versa. The week before the
de parture of the Great Embassy was marked by an
omin ous po rtent of what would come at its end. A
colonel of the strelt sy, lvan Tsy kler, discontented
at being posted to Azov, had grumbled too out-
spokenly with some conservatively inc1ined
boyars. Romodanovsky 's department scented a
plot; t he upshot was an execution staged in the
most bizarre and gruesome circumstances.
The Great Embassy was not, as often seems to be
thought, primarily a sort of fact-finding mission or
Russian equiva lent to the Grand Tour. it had a
quite specific diplomatic purpose: to interest the
Western powers in an anti-Turkish alliance that
could help Peter carry forward his gains at Azov,
perhaps (via Kerch) into the Black Sea. in this it
was wholly unsuccessful, even though Austria had
been fighti ng far its life against Turkey in the
1680s and Venice was a traditional Mediterranean
rival of the Ottomans. The Western powers had
quite enough on their hands in countering the
growing pretensions of Louis XIV's France to want
a renewal of war on another front. When the Aus-
trians finally made peace, Russia's interests were
di sregard ed, to Peter's lasting bitterness.
During the embassy, however, another and
greater war, that was to last 20 years and perma-
nently change the map of Europe, was hatched in a
quite casual manner. in the course of his progress
t hro ugh northern Europe Peter picked up hints
that oth er countries were dissatisfied with the
power and territorial aggrandisement of Sweden, a
nation tha t had played so prominent a part in the
Thirty Years' War. The Swedish "empire" (succes-
sor in this respect to the Teutonic Knights)
stret ched round the whole eastern Baltic, blocking
Russia's access to any west-facing port. New possi-
bilities began to take shape in Peter's mind. it so
ha ppened that early in its progress the embassy
ha d passed throug h Swedish terri to ry, stopping at
Riga . There a sen tr y, unaware of " Peter Mikhay-
lov's" identity, had challenged him on the fortress
battlements. Batlı the head of the embassy, Lefort,
and Peter himself knew t hat the man was only
doing his job. But this trivial inciden! was to be the
preposterous pretext far Peter's declaration of war
in 1700.
i n genera l, t he obscure purposes and unusual
nature of the Great Embassy caused embarrassment
to several of t he nations t hrough which it passed.
There was the particular p roblem of how to deal
with Peter, w hose presence was an open secret but
whose incognito had to be preserved. He expected,
and u sua11y received, royal honors while remain-
ing unenc umbered by time-consuming protocol.
Sophia, Electress of Hanover, contrived to sit with

scaıe ı :21 000 000
o 600km
ATLANrıc
OCEAN
,ı "',ı"
• place..,.SjledbyGıeatEmbassy
◊ shıDbu~dırıg cerııer
[==ıRussıanıemtory.1697
C:=J Swedısh temıory.1697
---ınternatıooaJboundary.1721
Pctcr l' s Gr cat Embassv and
:,ı;orthcrn \\'aı-. - him. She praised his good looks, quick-spiritedness
The Great Embassv to western
Europe, including- visits to
Prussia, the United Provinces
(Holland), Greaı Britain and
Vienna, was sy mbolically a
break with pası Muscoviıc
traditions, which were
charactcristically xcnopbobic.
The primar~• ostensiblc purposc
ofıhe embassy, which lasıcd 18
monıhs, was t o insı igate an
alliance against the Turks, from
whom Peter had recenılv
captured ıhe fortress ıo{, n of
Azov. This gavc the landlocked
Russians their longed-for
opportuniıy of access to ıhe
Black Sea, with ali thaı that
implied in terms of naval
potcntial; hence Peter' s interest
in the shipbuilding and
dockyards at Dcptford and
Zaandam.
During the Great Embassy
Petcr conceived thc bolder
notion ofa war against Sweden,
which controlled thc castcrn
Baltic lands, blocking Russia's
access to western ırade. After an
initial defeaı at Aarva, Russıan
forccs m.ı.naged to hold a post on
an island thaı was ıo become ıhe
hcan of Peter's ncw capital of St
Petersburg. With Charles XII of
Sweden fighting Prussia and
Poland as well, Peter was able to
consolidatc his hold on the east
Baltic coast as far souıh as Riga
lmpoıtant Russi.ı.n vicıories at
lesnaya and Poltava finallv
containcd the merı.ace of -
Swedcn, although the war
dragged on far some years more
unıil the Treaty ofKysıad (1721)
confirmed most ofRussia's gains.
ıo 20•
400mi
N O R TH
S EA
1697-98
ot Peter 1
him at dinncr and left a celebrated description of
and repartee, but wished his manners were "a little
less rustic"; he was "a prince at once very good
and very bad ,'' who "if he had received a betler
education, would be an cxceptional man," with
"great qualities and unlimited natural
intelligence."
The embassv, naturallv, attracted much atten-
tion and provided the fır~t obvious demonstration
of what those who kne,v Peter we1l in Russia must
already have realized: his insatiable, almost manic
enthusiasm far doing things himself. His greatest
efforts were of course devoted to slıipbuilding aııd
related skills, at Zaandam in Holland and Dcptford
near Landon, but he also, as it were in passing,
learnt watch-mending skilis and, when delayed
unexpectedly at tlıe East Prussian port of Pillau,
took a certificate course in gunnery. Among tlıe
skills he developed in Russia were boot making,
woodcarving (a constant, time-consuming and
probably therapeutic diversion) and, notoriously,
tlıe pulling of teeth- woe betidc any of his
subjccts who mentioned their toothache in his
presence. It ,,vas an ancient tradition that every
ruler should learn a trade: this onc, with character-
istic arrogance or exuberance, evidently wanted to
learn them ali.
Revelry accompanicd the embassy 's progress
through Europe, reaching its spectacular climax
with a great masked ball in Vicnna. it is notorious
that, when the entire embassv had been accommo-
dated for some months in tlıe fine h ous e of the
diarist Jolın Evelyn at Deptford, there was a huge
repair bili (footed by the English government): it
seems that the Russians parti cularly enj oyed
driving wheelbarrows through lı olly he dges. \Vlı at
cou1d Laetitia Cross, a leading Landon actr ess w ho
moved in ·with Peter at Lord Carmarthen's suggc~-
tion, have made of it ali? Carmarthen, a brilliant
PI::Tl:.R T H E GREAT
ı;a
FlNLAND
-
seaman and drinking crony of Peter's, landed an
immensely valuable tobacco supply monopoly in
Russia. His offering of ı:28,000 in cash kept the
embassy going when İt was draining the Moscow
treasury almost dry (it eventually cost 26 million
roubles). The encouragement ofa tobacco industry
in Russia brought, conveniently for Peter, both
financial and idcological rewards: tobacco was
considered a grossly sin ful substance by the Ortho-
dox Church hierarchy. On a more sy stematic foot-
ing Peter recruited approaching IOOO foreign
officers, technicians and experts to work in Russia,
aııd sent home many shiploads of varied purchases.
A specter at the feast, Romodanovsky 's mes-
senger arrived hotfoot for Peter as the embassy ,-vas
packing up to leave Vienna for Venice. To the sur-
prise of his hosts Peter and his retinue left north-
eastwards rather than southwestwards, heading
home through Poland. Romodanovsky 's alarming
news was that four regiments of streltsy, ordered to
march from Azov to the western bordcrland to
make the Russian presence felt during the election
of a new Polish king, had disobeyed orders and
turned towards Moscow. Peter sent a command
that the rebellion should be suppressed with thc
utmost severity. Soon after ward s another message
confirmed that the rebels ha d been defeated and
disarmed, largely thanks t o the Russian army com-
mander Shein and to General Gordon's cool-
headedness. Thus Peter, instead of hurrying the
remainder of his h omeward progress, could stop
for several pleasan t d ays at Rawa with the new
Polish king Augu stus and plot war against Sweden.
Nevertheless his ardval in !vloscow on 25 Augu~t
1698 was ,udden and u n h eralded. Thc date (OIJ
Sty le) d eserves to be mentioned, although amc,ng
modern historians only Boris U!)pensky ~eems to
have noted İb significance: a ,-veek before New
Year's Day (uııtil l 700, reckoned as l September) of
1699, t he year in w h ich An tich rist was expected
91
PETl:.R rHI ,Kı A ',
hy cschatologically minded Russians to appear.
1 Yen ıhey rn uld scarccly have cxpected ıhe may-
hcm and bloodletting ıhaı was about to be
unlcashcd.
Pctcr's rcturn
Jf in the pn.·, ·ious three years Peter had been
rcmJrkably and creatively activc, now he appeared
to be dcstructivclv so. On his first full dav homc.
he suddenly, with out warning. began to hack the
beards ofT th c boyars attcndant on him with a dry
rJ zor. T his w as rather morc than a pra ctical joke:
beard s wcrc considcred by the Ort hodox as a
svm bo l of man's God-given dignity. Soon t he
en tire serd ce clas!ı. was !ı.U bjcctcd to this facial
mctamorph osis: peasants and clergy \'\'ere exempt
from it, and an instantly visible chasm was op ened
up betwecn the very appcarances of upper and
lower cla s!ı.CS. This was strengthened when Peter
began to snip off the long slceves of trad ition al
Russian dress, and eventually to forbid it to his
scrvitors. In thc end bean.l s were pcnnitted on
pay ment ofa quite substa ntial tax [ccrtifica ted by
"bcard tokens"J, bu t made n o significa nt come-
back till ıhe mid-19th ccntury. Next Peter summa r-
ily retircd his unloved, uncom prehending and
unwilling wife Yevdokia to a con vent at Suzdal
(where she continued to regard herself as t saritsa),
parting her perempt orily from their eight-year-old
son Aleksey, w h om h e h anded over to one of his
sbtcrs. Meanwhile in mid-Septem ber Peter's
settling of acco unts wit h t h e sırelısy began.
The leading fi gure in t he protracted and ghastly
process that follow e d was Romodanov sky. and its
central locatio n was Preobrazhenskoye, the
"coun terfei t capital" of Peter and his intimates
(t hey even gave it the ga r bled Germanic name of
" Plcz purkh," that is, "Pressburg"), the locus of the
new rcgimc nts that were rendering the st reltsy
h umiliated and obsolete. Fourteen special interro-
gation chambers were constructed , and each week-
day batch es of streltsy were taken for torture and
ques tion ing. This whole exercise in mass cruelt y
produced no signifi cant information of the sort
Peter d esired- either ofa plot in high places or of
th e active participati on of h is in carcerated sister
Sophia, w h om he personally questioned. Soon
executions began, both at Preobrazhenskoye and
in t he city itself.
1\-iuch has been written about this reign of
terror, since J ohannes Korb, a member ofa recentl y
arrived Aust rian embassy to Russia, kept a detailed
and much-quoted diary of w hat he witnessed and
the rumors he h eard. it seems highly probable that
the tsar made leading mcmbers of his circle partici-
pate in the bloodshed, w hether or not he did so
himself. A repu lsive symbolism characterized some
events, as when p r iests w ho had blessed thc
stt·elt!:!ıy were executed on a cr oss-shaped gibbet
w ith the court jester in clerical robes acting as
hangman.
Korb and other contemporary commentators, it
should be noted, did not question that the sırelısy
wcre rebels who deserved an unpleasant fate. But
Korh's dia r y caught a note of panic and terror, of
the tsar's vengeful overreaction, and Iater Peter
tried to suppress its pu blication in Austria. There
\.vere two great waves of executions, in the autumn
of Peter's return and after Lent in the following
Left Pete r began, without
warning , to cut the bcards of his
boyars .;ıs soo n .ıs he returned
fro m the Grcat Embassy in 1698.
He then extended the ban on the
wearing of beards to th e entı re
gentry and merchant class (but
not to thc peasants and clergy)
Russians regard beacds asa
symbol of God-gi,·cn dignity,
and thı: humıli.ıtion oi losing
them w.ıs panicularly intense for
thc traditionalist Old Believcrs
(one of whom is shown sufferıng
ıt in this contemporary
woodcuq. (n 1705 Peter
permittcd bcards again on
paymem of .ı tax: tokens (below)
were issued for th ı .-., certifyi ng
"thc money has been p.ıid , " but
few took .ıdv.ınt.ıge of thıs
expı:nsıv,: conccssıon.
spring, with a total of some 1200 victims. This was
o nly a small fraction of the streltsy class asa whole,
but reprisals did not end there: some (mostly those
under 20) \•v hose livcs wcre spared were mutilated
and exiled, while the victims' wives and children
were sent to beg in the countryside. The other
st relt sy regiments, fearful and discontented. were
in the next few y ears disbanded and forcibly
settled in remote parts. The episode traumatized
Russian society, however, out of all proportion to
the actual number of victims: it seemed as if by his
bloody gcsture a tsar vvas now signaling that he
would wage ferocious war against a whole tradi-
tional and sanctified culture.
Perhaps Peter's action did save his throne and the
country's stability, as he himself thought. Yet even
afterwards large and desperate rebellions were to
break out. The second most populous city in Rus-
sia, Astrakhan, was the scene of an uprising in
1705 into which were fed varied ingredients:
Old Believer resentment, sı,·eltsy bitterness, heavy
burdens of taxation, the authoritarianism of Peter's
governor (who was beheaded by the rebels), Ortho-
dox apprehensiveness and wiJd rumor. lt was said
that the y oung women of the city would ali be for-
cibly married off to Germans (on a single day 100
married to avoid this fate), and that the wigs the
governing classes now wore were idols that the
pious folk would have to worship. Behind ali this
was the more widespread belief that foreigners
were infiltrating and taking over the land, that the
true tsar had died while abroad and that "Peter"
was a German imposter- such a rumor was heard
in .M.oscow even before the return of the Great
Embassy.
Th ere is another aspect of Peter's personality
and its lifelong activity that needs to be discussed
and that was made indeed shockingly public at the
same period. This is Peter's involvement with a

group of cronies, partly overlapping v,:ith his inncr
circle of state adviscrs, headcd by Romodanovsky,
who gavc themselws the name of "All-jocular
Sy nod" (vseshuterhiy ,obı,,-: altcrn.1tively vsepya
neyslıiy ''.All-drunken"). Orgiastic carousing took
place in a context that parodied church ritu.:ıls,
with ınock dignitaries and mock cereınonies that
sometimes, notablv in the ,vinter of 1698 99,
became destructiv~Iy public. \ıVh.1t is iınporıant
abouı- this clu b, apart from its scandalous shock-
value in a traditionalist socict y, İ<., that Peter him-
self found it import.ınt. He w.ı~,; at thc ccnter of its
activities, ın.ıking out its "statutes," dcvising its
rituals, from beforc the age of 20 to his death. His-
torian!-> have interpreted the significance of this
"synod" in diYer!->c \\'ays, or havc .:ıvoidcd inter-
preting it sa,·e as horseplay or relaxation (its ıume
has been softened into "the Jolly Company"). That
the pu blic hooliganism associated with the mock
svnod reached its climax in the winter of 1698-99
iS douhtless connectcd with thc fearfuI vengeance
on the .\t1·eltsy that was simultaneously in progrcss.
The tensions of the time ,;eem to havc somewhat
unbalanccd Peter, and commentator,; noted there-
alier an alarnıing facia! tic that frequently distorted
his features at time<., of !->tre,..,_
If Peter had been, as <.,ome writen, imply, indil'-
ferent to religion or eYen atheistically inclined, the
mock synod's activities could have been dbmisscd
as simply ta,;tele,;s buffoonery. Actually this was
far from the case. His writings continually invoke
divinc approval, he quotes the Bible frequently,
One ofthe bloodie!»t episode!» ın
Russian history w.ı.s the
supprcssion of the stn:ltsv
(musketeers), some of whom
stagcd a brief rebellion in 16Y~
when Peter was awa, on hıs
Grc.ı.ı Emb.ıs;sv_ Afıei- his rcturn,
in lak 1698 ai'.ıd early 1699, some
1200 rebels were interrogated
and executed by h.ı.ngıng or
behe.ı.dıng in or ne.ır .\foscow.
The sccret.ır\' to thc Austrian
embassv, Johannes Korb, lcft thc
best-k!lown account ofthis rcign
of terror; the illustration of the
ınass execution:. ıs taken from
his Dıary ofa Joumey to ,\fo~CO~)'
(1700)-with an inaccuratdy
dcpicıed Moscow in thc
background Thou~h the victims
wcre only a small proportion ol
the 20 000 or so strelısv. ıhe
force asa whole was d·oomed
PLl H< THE GKEA l
his library \'\'aS full of religiou<., book!->, he even
cnjoyed ~inging in church. \Vhen, during the fır:,,.t
w.:ıve of reprisals against the stre/tsy, the Patri.:ırch
Adrian (Joakim's successor, elected in 1690 against
Peter's wishes) tricd to appeal to Peter's sense uf
mcrcy, he was rebuffed, according to Korb, with a
remarkable :-.pccch in which he told the Patriarch
"Know that l revcrence God and honor his most
holy Mother more earnestly perhaps than thou
dost . . ." The mock synod was, to put it sinıply,
an adventure in bla!->phcmy, from motive<., one can
only gucss. Peter's .:ıctions were interprcted hy
soınc as an attcınpt to livc up to thc role of
Antichrü.t which so many of his subjccts assigned
to him, p.:ırticularly in hb "usurpatiÜn" of the role
of patriarch after Adrian dicd in 1700 and was not
replaced. Peter's chief clerical apologist Feofan Pro-
kopovich explicitly saw him as pontfex maxımus,
high priest. Foreigners did not quite understand
this: scnsing his dissati,faction with the ürthodox
hier.:ırchv, thev tried to intcrest him in Catholicism,
Protesta;ıtism~ cvcn Anglicanism and the Socict y of
Friends (Quakers). But the blasphcnıer cannot do
without the object of his blasphemy.
The Great i\orthcrn \Var
The vear I 700 marked another moment oi traıhi­
tion fn Peter'c; reign. The internal terror was for the
moment over and done v,,rith. A peace treaty with
Turkcy meant the ccssation of tribute p.ıyments to
the Crimean Tatar,. But a more protracted,
dangerous .:ınd financially draining war was
1 . ,l -
r. 1
■ -_;,''
·- ~
93
Pl·TrR TIII c;Rt,ı\T
dcclarcd thc saınc yca r: the Grcat Northern War
against Swcdcn, that cvcntually cstablished Russia
as a forcc to be reckoncd w ith on the European
stagc. The eastern Baltic provincc~ that formed part
of Sweden's empirc wcrc full of discontent;
~wcdcn had ovcrrcachcd it self and was gcncrally
disliked or cnvicd in northern Europe; its new
king, Charlcs XII, was stil! a tcenagcr. But Sweden
provcJ to be no pushovcr and morc than oncc
dcalt Petcr ncarly mortal blows. First the fighting
ceııtercd on thc old fortrcss-city of Narva, \"-'here
modern h,tonia and Russia mect on the Gulf of Fin-
land. Alınost at oncc thc Russian army besicging it
was crushingly dcfeatcd by a much sınaller
Swcdish forcc. Thercaftcr, fort unatcly for Pctcr,
instcad uf advandng into Rus'.'>ia Charlcs Xll turned
to deal with ı\ugustus the Strong.
In the brcathing spacc Peter's force~ recuperatcd
suffıcicntly ovcr thc next couple of years to move
in on the ca~termnost and kast populous of
Sweden's Baltic provinccs, Ingria. This was, as
Pctcr proclaimed, ancient Russi.:ın territory, vital as
a irade route, despitc its inhospitability, to the
Novgorod statc in the Middle Ages, and its rccap-
ture was a declared war aim. Here, in Charles's
absence in Poland, Peter's forccs met with success,
taking back the old Russian towns Yam and
Koporye, and in May 1703 knocking out the two
Swedish fortresses on the great River Neva that
connects Lake Ladoga with the Baltic. A few miles
downstream from the only Swedish town on the
river, Nyenskans, the Neva fanned out into .:ı low-
lying delta, too prone to llooding to tempt inhabi-
tants, through which it found its way to the Gulf of
Finland. Here, iınmcdiately after the capture of
Nyenskans, Peter took part for the first time in his
life in J. successful naval cngagement, capturing
some Swedish vessels that camc to rclieve the
town. Suddenly Russia once again had direct terri-
torial access to the Baltic and thc West. Peter
marked the occasion by cstablishing a fart on Hare
lsland, a small patch of land near the head of the
delta: so St Petersburg was born. During the 17
ycars of lluctuating fortuncs that marked the
rcmaining course uf thc war, Peter hung doggedly
on to thb vulnerable patch of coastlinc, and long
before the war w.ıs over the Peter-Paul Fortress
on Hare hland was the hcart of his new c.:ıpital
city.
As the Northcrn War continucd, Charles XII
(reckoning Augustus to be his ınore threateııiııg
opponent) slowly consolidated his grip on Poland,
while Russian forces raided the ill-defendcd Baltic
provinccs. Pctcr dcspcratcly rcorganizcd and
trained his numcrous but inexpcri cnced and
undisciplined armies in an attempt to match the
Swcdish fighting machine. More and morc money
that the treasury scarccly knew how to find was
pumpcd into thc military cffort, rising at times ıo
over 90 perccnt of thc statc income. Evcrything
imaginable wa~ taxed, from bath-houses to coffins.
Eventually, in 1718, thc fundamcntal land or
household tax of Muscovite Russia was done away
with, and a poll tax on ali adult ınales of the pea-
sant and working class, to be collected by land-
owners, was substituted. This squeezed thrce timcs
as much revenue out of the unfortunate populace
as the taxes it replaccd; rcgularized conscription
for life of peasant soldiers was also instituted: both
94
were among Peter's more lasting innovations. Great
levies of forced labor were raised for the tsar's
public construction works: fortresses, canals and,
more and more demandingly after 1703, the build-
ing of St Petersburg on its swampy, chilly and
unhealthy estuary.
Apparcntly unworried by his east Baltic
reverses, Charles XII meanwhile applied ever
greater pressure on the combined armics of Poland
and Saxony. This was a grim time for Peter's Rus-
sia: the treasury was empty, the army stil! semi-
trained, and a series of great popular revolts broke
out in quick succession: the Astrakhan and Bulavin
(Cossack) rebellions and the Bashkir civil war. This
decade culminated nevertheless in Peter's most
famous success, the battle of Poltava (1709), that
routed Charles's army and is indeed usually
considered one of the great punctuating events of
European history. The fırst ınajor Russian victory,
maybe the one that decided the war, took place
however the year before (1708). Charles, having
dealt with his westerly opponents, moved
gradually east into Belorussia, keeping the Rus-
sians guessing as to where he would aim his next
blow. Su bsequent historians ha ve blamcd him for
not heading dircctly towards Moscow. in the event
he swung his armies south, towards the richer
lands of the Ukraine, where the hetman (Cossack
leader) lvan Mazepa had secretly gone over to his
side. This extended his supply lines, leaving him
ali too depcndent on the arrival ofa vast reinforce-
mcnt of over 12 000 troops with a large baggage
train. in September 1708 a roughly equal Russian
force managed to intercept the Swedish reinforce-
ments at the villagc of Lesnaya and comprehen-
sively defeated them, the first time skili rather than
numbers had brought Russia victory. Peter called
this first true victory "the mother of the battle of
Poltava."
The battle of Poltava was hard fought but over
in halfa day. Charlcs, badly wounded in th e foot,
escaped southeastwards with a few hundred
followers, helped by Mazepa. Pcter was hit by
gunfıre but remained unscathed. Charles's only
hope, thin as it seemed, was to survive, reach Otto-
man territory, reactivate the old hostilit y of the
Turks and their strongly anti-Russian dependants
the Crimean Tatars against Peter, restart the war
with his tiny army and somehow make his way
across thc breadth of Europe to his northcrn home-
land. Ali this, incredibly, he managed, though it
took him fivc years. Meanwhilc it was Pcter's turn
to overstretch himself. Only two years after Pol-
tava, pursuing the dream that for over 200 years
intermittently haunted Russian rulers- of an
uprising of Balkan Christians against the q'urks,
under Russian leadership- Peter almost suc-
cumbed on the River Prut in Moldavia. Forccd, in
the face of defeat, to sue far peace on almost any
terms save losing Petersburg, he, like Charlcs
before him, escaped by the skin of this teeth. Skili-
ful negotiation by his diplomat P. Shafirov, who
was of Jewish origin, bribery of the pasha, perhaps
instigated by his wife Catherine, and more impor-
tantly differences between the loca! and central
Ottoman authorities, the Crimean Tatars and the
Swedes let Pcter off the hook, at the expcnse of
Azov and some other forts and, to his bitter regret,
the southern ileci he had built up.

in 1717 Peter made hıs second
journey ta the West, this time
choosing (partly because of the
recent death of Louls XIV) ta
visit Fr.ınce. This canvas bv
L.M.J. Wersent shows Pet~r at
Versailles, holding up the child
mon.ırch Louis XV . Diplomatic
results ofthe \'İsit, .ıgain seen .ıs
an embassy, were negligible.
After Poltava the exhausted Swedes would have
been as happy as the Russians to make peace.
Charles XII's survival however ensured that the
war dragged on, but after ıhc Prut it was com-
paratively undramatic. The Russians gradually
consolidated their Baltic gains, occup.icd Finland,
won more naval engagements and fınally sent raid-
ing parties into Sweden itsclf. Charles was killed in
Norway in 1718, and eventually the Peace of
Nystad ( 1721) secured Russia' s new territor y,
though, curiously. Pctcr had to purchase Livonia
(the larger part of modern Lal via). Nystad was
probably the crowning moment of Peter's life~
litera11y so, since to celebrate it he was proclaimed
emperor, "Father of the Fatherland" and "the
Great." After it, Peter neither enjoyed the fruits of
peace nar found that Russia itself ran smoothly. in
1722 he started a war against Persia, making some
territorial gains that ultimately could not be held.
It was, however, in these last few years of his life
that many of the institutional changes for which
his reign is remembered were made. Notab1e
among thesc was his ordering of his entire "service
class" according to a table with corresponding col-
umns of ranks (far army, guards, navy and civil
service), originally 14 in number, representing a
ladder of promotion up which the servitor had to
proceed step by step; the top eight rungs conferred
hereditary nobility.
The su ccession drama
in 1717, 20 years aftcr the Great Embassy, with thc
critical stages of the Northern \Var past, Peter
PETER THE GREAT
made his second journey to \\Testern Europe, this
time ta Holland and France. Again there were dip-
lomaıic motives: with ıhe War of thc Spanish
Succession over and Louis XlV recentl \' dead, it
seemed a good moment to strike comm--crcia] and
military bargains with the stili enormously power-
ful and prosperous French. ünce again his diplo-
macy bore little fruit, though a vague treaty of
friendship was signed, and specialists, though
fewcr than before, were recruited to work in
Russia.
Again, too, a crisis involving real or perceived
treason erupted dramatically on his return. This
time the central victim was his own son Aleksev, a
quite intelligent but shallow, confused ~nd
indolent character. The divergence of their per~on-
alities had long becn apparent: Aleksey was not
only, and with reason, scared of his dominating
parent, but handled their differenccs quite
wrongly, alternately submissive, obstinate and
evasive. Several missives that passed between them
survive, helping to chart a complex and truly
tragic story. \Vhen in 1716 Peter sent an ultimatum
threatening Aleksey with retirement to a monas-
tery (echoing his mother's fate), ıhe latter wcnt
abroad and simply disappeared for many months.
He resurfaced in Austria, whose diplomatic re]a-
tions ,-vith Russia \\'ere poor. The Austrians were in
a quandary: would Peter use force to get his son
back7 They permitted the experienced and unscru-
pulous cnvoy Peter Tolc;toy to interview him: ona
spurious promise of safe conduct Aleksey was
unwise cnough to return. He had been a focus for
95
PFTFR 1Hf ,,k A1
the hopes of malcontents in high places, and Peter
scnscd a dangerous plot. Alcksey and those who
were ">upposed ta have hclped him, werc scntenced
ta be cxecuted for treason; before the sentence on
Aleksey was confırrned, however, he died in
prbon, doubtless as a consequence of the current
methods of interrogation.
Aleksev's death was a relief, and Peter hardly
pretended otherwise. His infant son Peter (Pyotr
Petrovich) by his second in Orthodox eyes ques-
tionablc marriage to Catherine \vas the ne\.\' heir.
But the child soon dicd, ta Peter's misery, and by a
trick of fate his only grandson, thc !ast maJe in the
Romanov !ine, was another Peter (Pyotr A1ekseye-
\'ich), son of the ill-fatcd Aleksey. There is another
curious twist in this family saga. \ı\lhen Catherine
(born Marfa Skavronskaya in Livonia) converted to
the Orthodox Church, AJeksey had stood godfather
to her, so that \he was "reborn" into Orthodoxy as
Yckatcrina Alckseyevna: to rnany believers Peter's
subsequcnt marriage to her was the grotesque
symbolic blasphemy of nıarrying his "grami-
daughter."
After the crbis there \•\'as a dynastic problem:
since so much in the "Petrinc rcvolution" clearly
dependcd on the tsar's person, how could a worthy
inheritor of his title be guaranteed? ln the secular-
ized ~tatc God's grace \•,:as scarcely ta be relied on.
ln any case Peter promulgated a law that each ruler
could nominale his or her successor. He did not
avail himself of it, and Jegend recounts that just
before he died he managed to scrawl ona paper the
\\Ords "! Jeave al1 .. ," without getting farther. To
whom? "To the people," somc later guessed. Be
that as it may, he had not long before his death had
Catherine cro\'\'ned empress with 1avisb ceremony,
suggesting a consc.ious evocation of the Byzantine
system of crowning one's heir in one's lifetime, She
was tough, sensible, not over-subtle and a loving
interpreter of Peter's wishes; she was unlikely arbi-
trarily ta disrniss his favorites ar have any dis-
turbingly innovatory ideas of her own. An ad hoc
council of Peter's servitors notably Menshikov,
who stood to gain or lose much-started ta press
her claim to rule even before Peter had breathed his
]ast, but the clinching factor was the support of the
Guards regiments. These regiments had been
Peter's own fırst creation and the focus of his
power: they were henceforth to have a deciding
voice in aJI accessions to the throne until that of
Alexandcr I in 1801.
The legacy of Peter
How are Peter and his reign to be summed up? The
problem is almost too enormous to grapple with,
since it is perhaps the central problem of ali Rus-
sian history. Here we can limit ourselves ta a few
comments and conclusions, viewed from four
angles: that of rnilitary success and concomitant
territorial acquisition; of domestic reform; of Wes-
ternization; and of legacy to Russia and the world.
Naturally, these aspects are interJinked.
Peter's reign saw only small gains of territory
compared with those of his grandfather Mikhail
(across Siberia), of his father (into Poland and
Ukraine) and of his 18th-century successors (into
Central Asia, and subsequently southwards to the
Crirnea). Yet those small gains were crucial, and not
only because they enabled St Petersburg to be
founded. By taking over the east Baltic provinces
Peter made himself heir, in a sense, to another
empire, that of Sweden, and in the process incor-
porated some sizeable non-Slavic national groups
Letts and Estonians, with some Jews and a
German upper class. These, when added to the
scattered Finnic, Turkic and Palaearctic people and
the various Caucasian groups and Persians around
the Caspian, made Russia by 1725 a remarkably
multi-ethnic empire. Peter's constant warring
impoverished and exhausted the country, but it
did at Jeast make it secure and provided the basis
for sonıe fairly long peaceful intcrludes in the rest
of the I 8th century; the same is true of his deveJop-
ment ofa fleet, however minor its impact at first.
Despite his recruitment of foreign officers he
actually assisted the Russification of the army, as
v,ell as its greater efficiency. But the militarization
of society was the price paid, and the new Guards
regiments acquired at times controlling political
pm'\'er.
Peter's reforms flowed aut of the military and
politico-economic situations in which he found
himself, and also out of his pcrsonal disJikes and
enthusiasms. After the turn of the century,
howcver, and particularly in the ]ast decade of his
life, they began to have a morc ordered character,
implying a vision ofa properly run society. Many
recorded remarks and letters testify ta his concern
with the comnıon good of Russia, to be manifcsted
in its prosperity, orderliness and international
glory. There was nothing particularly subt1e, Jet Aboı 1e This engraving from
alone revolutionary, in this, but it was pursued Johannes Korb's Dıarı1 shows
ships that Peter the c:reat had
with a tenacity and assiduousness that made it built at Archangel. This town,
extraordinarv; Peter v,,:ould work for months draft- situated whl·re the Northern
Dvina flows into the White Sea,
ing regulati~ns and decrees personally, rising to close to ıhe Arctic Circle, ,,•as
work normally at 4 a.m. Particularly interesting is :ı.tuscovy'<; only direct point of
the habit in his later years of prefacing decrees by acce<;s tn the sea until the site of
St Peter<;burg was captured from
explanations for them in terms of public benefit. it the Swt'de'!ı in 1703, Archangcl
seems that he was the first ruler of Russia to have, was establıshcd in the I 580s to
or anyhow to express, a clear concept of the state as cope with the growing volume
of trade first with England, then
an entity separate from and superior to the current with Holland and other
ruler. A famous instance is the exhortation he is countrit."S. The Archaııgd
reported to have delivered to his troops on shipyards cxpanded Peter's
interest in ,;hipbuilding which
the eve of Poltava, urging them to think not of dated from hı'i actıvıtıcs at Lake
"Peter" but of "Russia," Ple!>hcheyevo in the early 1690s.
The Petrine reforms modernized the way society
was administered and, to point up differences with
Muscovite practice, brought in a new nomen-
clature. The 50-odd government departments (prik-
azy) yie!ded to a much smaller num ber of
"colleges" or ministries, more clearly demarcated
from each other. The committee of each was to con-
tain at least one foreign experL The old Boyar
Duma, or permanent council of notables, had na
place in the new order; stili Jess had the AssembJy
of the Land. Instead, a "Ruling Senate" was set up,
at first to govern when Peter was away fighting: its
real boss was his own supervisory official, the pro-
curator, who was to be the tsar's "eye and proxy."
The church, deprived of its patriarch, was to be
governed by the synod, in effect another depart-
ment of state, chaired by a layman. The structure
of society itself was not so much changed as more
starkly, probably less organically delineated.
Beards and Russian clothes marked aut the peasant
class, but so did payment of the poll or "soul" tax,
which homogenized the various lower social
groupings that had characterized the old system.

i
Belou· A page from Vedomo.<;Ci
(30 November 1723), a gazene
founded as Russia's fırst
newsp,aper; it was edited at ~t
Petersburg and carried reports
from abroad. The page shown
here descrıbes the conclusion of
a state visit by King George I of
England to Berlin . Note the clear
new "civic" typeface introduced
by Petcr and the view of the
Neva at St Petersburg in the
vignette above.
,: .,. Hı. Y lı n it! p 15 y p x b-
Ô J. O :-,.1 O C T U.
B
ı ııb 6Ep ,\11-l'.\ 16 o ~m"6f~ ,
K:f~~:~~':17,.B~~:~:~:to;~:--~
ııırnôyprlı d, Kopo,,caoıo npyc"oıo,
pco •ceıo Kopn,ıc scıw ıo 4>~-,JAlno ,
c'b E C Al ı:.l"l>I ,ı,oı:.aıa mc,o.cuı•bl JCCf ,llJI
,., .ı py.o<ôhl. Ha n ftmpeb uo Bt:., Jq e.
c11130,rıoP:u.,"bombmo.uc1Kof"'·'" "1,
14 npycı.ı"1lı
As far the upper class, its ability to evadc or
ameliorate the conditions of state service ,vas cur-
tailed. Pcter's simplc social principle was that ali
must serve according to their capability, the tsar
most of ali; h e once pronounced that "a noble is he
who is useful." Certainly part of Pcter's aim was ta
set up what we would now call a meritocracy, and
the Table of Ranks, through which theoretically
any person of sufficicnt talent could progress,
formalized this aim. A few low-born servitors
(Menshikov, Yaguzhinsky, Shafirov) did manage
spectacular careers, yet the top rungs of the !ad der
mostly stili continued to be occupied by members
of the great old families: Golitsyns, Golovins, Dol-
gorukys, Sheremetyevs and their likc. There was
undoubtedly an increase in social mobility, but it
would be hard to claim that any large segment of
society felt itself "more frce." Serfdom was if any-
thing tightened up, while the impressment of
hundreds of thousands of peasants into military or
labor forces was a cruel hardship. There is one
sterling exception: women's participation in
society was improved, at least in the upper classes,
and arranged marriages were officially forbiddcn.
A subtler increase in mental freedom, at anv rate,
came from the growth in education that Pe'ter, at
fırst clumsily, propagated; promotion in service
was conditional upon passing examinations, and at
one stage it ,vas forbidden even to issue marriage
licenses to those who failed.
Did Peter's reforms add up to--or ultimately
promote~Westernization (a term, incidentally, he
and his contemporaries did not use)? A gloss of
"foreignness" was deliberately applied by Peter to
most of the products of his reign: to the organ-
ization of government bodies, to rank titles, to the
educational syllabus, to the conduct of social gath-
erings, to the names of towns and palaces, to the
styles promoted in architecture and painting.
Sometimes things Western had a glamor for Peter
and his associates that sprang simply from their not
being Muscovitc. Very often, however, one senses
that thc prime merit of \.Vesternization for Peter
was shock-value, emphasizing to thc mass of the
population the spiril of newness that his propagan-
dists assiduously promoted.
Neverthelcss there are alsa those who claim
plausibly that Peter had a "modern mentality"
(which in the context ,vould have to mean
,vestern). His world ,vas no longer statically
medieval: he was awarc of historical progress, of
ıhe rise and fail of great nations, of the possibility
that Russia's turn far greatness had come, or could
be madc to come. The desires far increased trade
and far military success. were scarcely "modern" or
\Vestern in themselves, but the activc encourage-
ment of capitalistic commerce and the intense
intercst in the natura! sciences ,vere so. An opening
up of horizons, a sense of new possibilities, much
as in the post-Renaissance West, was part of the
Petrine atmosphere. Yet here too ambiguities lurk.
There was greater access to information, admit-
tedly, and a sort of public newspaper was pub-
lished from 1703, yet there was unprecedentedly
tight control on the expression of divergent vie,-vs,
and Peter was more concerncd with the dissemina-
tion of propaganda [particularly abroad) than with
the free flow of knowledge. The gates of Russia
were thrown open to foreign experts (among whom
PETER THE GREA1
were nota fe,v second-rate adventurers), and they
werc offered huge salarics and opportunities; on
arrival they tended to find thcy wcre no longer, as
they naively thought, selling their skills in a free
market, but absorbcd into thc periphcries of the
service statc, dependent on the whims, patronage
and politicking of grandees. The service state itsclf,
spruced up under Pctcr into a fine vehicle for the
sell~realization of absolutism, was cssentiallv a
thoroughly "unmodcrn" concept. Peter !ived more
than half his life in the hard 17th centurv, and is to
be compared with figures such as the English
Stuarts, the Frcnch Louis XIV or thc Prussian
Friedrich Wilhelm 1-awkward, obsessivc and
obstinate fıgures, stilJ curiously remote from
modern undcrstanding.
Peter's legacy to his countr\' secmed to man\'
later Russians all-pcrvasive, far" better or worse Ğr
both. He could inspire fanatical devotion in some
of his foll owers, to an unhealthy degree when his
portrait could evcn be set up as an "icon." There is
somcthing curiously unedifying about the spec-
tacle of Fcofan Prokopovich, the \\'est Russian
churchman who became Peter's leading intellectual
propagandist, almost dcifying thc ruler who had
abolished the paıriarchate. The morc spccific or
concrete legacy could be seen in the Russian fleet
and in the new city of St Petersburg. but more
deeply, if less tangibly, it conccrned attitudes to
pü\'\'er and its exercise, the Russians' self-iınage
and their image abroad, their understanding of ho\\"
things should get done and what son of picıure they
(and others) have built up of Peter and his exploiıs.
However we evaluate Peter's reforms, we can
hardly den y the strength of his personal cxample.
Thc tireless worker, of simple (though not ascetic)
personal tastes, on easy terms with even his humb-
lcst acguaintanccs-all this makes for a powerful
image and impressed non-Russians greatly. An
unpublished English manuscript describes a
merchant's impression ofthe tsar's approachability
in Archangel: "He's no proud man, l assure you,
for he'll eat or be merry with anybody He
invited ali the nastv tars to dinner with him." He
was one of the firs~t grcat political voluntarists of
modern times, one of those believers in the power
ofwill and effon to change thc world. Such strong-
men normally believe that ends justify means , and
the means usually involve cruelty. Peter, though
able ta be cruel, was not sadistic: except in the case
of the sı,·e/tsy, he did not apply the death penalty
frequently, indiscriminately, or without warning.
Yet memories of the harsh effects of an unbend-
ing will lingered on, and became fused [as with
fvan IV) with the great achievements, as if some-
how glory and cruelty were inseparable. This was
well expounded by Alexander Pushkin in the earlv
19th century, most memorably in The Bronze
Horseman (a poem haunted by the powerful ghosı
of Peter) but also in the epic Poltaı•a. The effects
for Russia were not, on the wholc, far the best. :\far
,vere other aspects of the Petrine cult: the "deifi-
cation" of pure power in the person ofa tsar no
longer under divine sanction and the bclief in the
effıcacy ofa single superhuman or monstrous effort
to make everything suddenly new and better. But
the period, hm·vever much it cast a shadow on
subsequent Russian history, has assuredly become
a patent sourcc of myth.
97
The Russian Baroque

Thc cultural impact of the West on Russia, the

strength of the latter's native traditions, ıhe some-
times uneasy but often exciting hybridization that
resulted are strikingly evident in the great baroque
buildings of Russia. A period of under a century
( l 680s- l 760s) saw a ra pid evolution of style that pro-
duced some of the most characteristic, varied and (to
the visitor) surprising works of Russian architecture.
At least three "Baroques" should be distinguished.
They share a striving for polychrome decorativeness:
walls of pastel hues, details picked out in white, til-
ing, gilding, elaborate window surronı1ds. ''Moscow
Baroque" flourished quite briefly, largely in the joi nt
reign (1682- 96) of the young tsars lvan V and Peter I,
under the patronage of a few leading families-
Naryshkins, Golitsyns, Sheremetyevs, also the regent
Sophia- but not only in Moscow. it is very idiosyn-
cratic: effectively the lası stage of O]d Russian archi-
tecture, with abundance of applied Western
detailing, probably culled mostly from architectural
textbooks. "Petrine Baroque," associated particularly
with the carly years of St Petersburg (though origin-
ating in Moscow), was comparatively modest and
sober. Finally, the lale Baroque, often called "Eliza-
bethan" from the reign of Elizabeth (1741---fi2), is
known primarily through the vast, breathtaking
palaces of Rastrelli, but is actually a much wider
phenomenon. Ukrainian Baroque alsa deserves
mention: a Central European offshoot, it probably
played a part in the formation of the Moscow style,
but has distinctive forms. Baroque yielded rather
suddenly to a severe and elegant neoclassicism.

Above left The Intercession

Church (c. 1693) in the Moscow
suburb of Fili exemplifıes
Moscow Baroque church
archıtecture. A Naryshkin
foundation, it rises pyramidally
in stories of varied cross-section
ona centralized, quatrefoil plan.
The manner suggests the work of
Yakov Bukhvostov, the best
Moscow builder of the time.

Lefc B.F. Rasrrelli (1700-76), son

of the immigrant Italian sculptor
C.B. Rastrelli, worked in or near
St Pctcrsburg and far Bührcn in
Courland. His influence bccamc
pervasive in Elizabeth's reign.
The Great Palace at Tsarskoye
Selo (renamed Pushkin) stands
with the Winter Palace (both
I750s) as Rastrelli's rnasterpiece.
lts seemingly endless, rippling
facade was intended to be
glimpsed through a belt of
mature trees. Characteristic
"Elizabethan" gilded domcs
crown thc chapel.
 THE RUSSIAN BAROQUC

Abot'e Though Moscow Baroque

appeared rather suddenly, it had
a prehistory In the I 7th cenıury
Smolny in Leningrad, is .ı. rare Westcrn motifs occur, notably in
example, though much restored decor.:ıtıve windovv surrounds;
since it was built in 1714 far an extremely ornamental
A.V. Kikin. He was one of mannerism and concern with
Peter's dosest sen'İtors, but efTect enters much Muscovitt
advised the Ts.ı..revich Aleksev to architecture. An incomparable
flee abroad and was executed- in anthology of Moscow Baroque is
1718. Ofthe fıve houses Kikin the '.'ılovodevichv Convent that
owned in Petersburg this was guarded the souihwestern
doubtless the grandest, yet it is approach to the city. The main
still architecturally unassuming, cathedral is a plain H:ıth-centun·
like much Petrine building. "official" building; othenvise
Characteristic are the pilaster almost ı:vcrythıng w.ı.s pl.ı.nned
strips, symmetrical projecting ur built in thı: rı:gency of the
wings and naively cheerful Tsaritsa Sophia ( 1682 /:IY).
pediments. Other survivors are a Sophia herselfwas subsequcntlY
couple of wooden cottages where incarcerated here. The stout
Peter stayed; his modest Summer wa.11s and towcrs are crowm:d
Palace; Menshikov' s rambling with inc;.ubstanıial strapwork
p.ı.lace on the Neva, a house on There are two gatehouse
the Bersenev ka ın Moscow. churchcs on dıfferent plans.
Drawings by the adaptable Swiss characteristic domestıc buildıngs
architect TrezzinL far Petersburg (seer, here) anda splendid belfry
"model houses" for various of dıminishıng storıes
social classes, are knmvn.

Archbishop 1/ıitty High School Library 99

San Jose, California
THE EMPIRE AFTER PETER

The mice and the cat

An cnergetic and autocratic ruler with a strong
sense of missi on, such as Peter, is likely to be much
exercised over thc question of how to ensure a
worthy successor to carry on the good work. in
Pctcr' s case this led to the agonizing collision with
his son Alekscy and to the law he then promul-
gated which specified that the sovereign should
nominale his or her successor, a nomination not to
be challcngcd on pain of dcath. Powcr, it would
scem, was no longer to be considered a divinely
bestowed prerogative but a matter of personal gift.
So remote was this law from human realities, from
Russian traditions and from the actual processes of
ıransmissioıı of power thaı in the rest of the 18th
century d uring which seven tsars and tsaritsas
followed Peter- it opcrated properly only twice,
and on both occasions in favor of shortlived and
unsuitable successors. The first time was in 1740,
when the Empress Anna bequcathed the throne ta
her newborn infant grandnephew (Ivan Vl). This
was not only a capricious legacy, but one disas-
trous far the recipient. The second such nominee
was Peter III. Under Paul in 1797 Peter's law was
discarded in favor of primogeniture, but even so
another major succession crisis took place in 1825.
Pcter's l8th-century successors, except for Cath-
erine II, tend to be dismissed as mediocrities. lt
scems unfair to blame ordinary people, even if
ru]ers, for not being cxceptiona]; in any case a
reign as exceptional as Peter'~ must have made
most of his subjects yearn for a little ordinariness.
The glee of various "little" people at the passing of
Peter their great oppressor is memorably allegor-
ized in the various popular \·\ 'Oodcuts in circulation
after Peter's death, illustrating "How the Mice
Bur1ed the Cat." The rulers in question were in fact
very different from each other; some ruled only
briefly. But it is not so much their personalities
that are of interest as the way in which pressures
and forccs inherent in post-Petrine society mani-
fested themselves as Russia settled down into a sort
of normality after the long Petrine crisis. in facı a
touchstone of Peter's individual reforms can be
taken to be thc dcgree to which they survived,
were adapted or werc quietly she]ved in
"mediocre" but calrner times.
\Vhere autocracy relaxes its grip on the reins,
various other hands will gra b at them. Tlıe alterna-
tion of dominant intcrest groups, rising and falling
rather abruptly, is a marked featurc of the period.
Catherine J's acccssion to the throne on her hus-
band's deaıh marked the apogee of Peter's senior
servitors, notably Menshikov (whose unscrupu-
lous greed had put him under a cloud in Peter's !ast
years). Catherine, uninterested in policy-making,
set up a "Supreme Privy Council" for thc day-to-
day running of the couııtry: supcrior to the senate,
it was an oligarchic "cabinet" containing batlı
"new men" and representatives of the old aristo-
cracy, but dominated by Menshikov. it grappled as
best it could with the comp]exities, obscurities and This popular woodcut (lubok) is
one of scveral depicting a large
excessive cxactions of the Petrine legacy. cat beıng convcyed ro burial by
Catherinc, who was too fond of the boıtle, lasted the mice it had tormcnted. Thev
only two years. On her death only onc male heir of cırculated widely after Peter th'e
Great's death in 1725 as an
the Romanov line remained, the unfortunate Alek- allegory of the vaTious groups in
sey's young-but tali, robust and intclligenı son the populatıon whom Peter had
persecuted and v•:ho felt a sense
Peter, now aged 11. Catherine supposedly made a of relief at hıs demise The
deıailed tcstament leaving him the throne, though cheerful and expressi\·c art form
it is a near certainty others were responsible; any- of the lubok (often carrying
s.ıtirical messages) Oourıshed
how the succession was not challenged. The privy from the 17th to the 19th
council acted as regent, and Menshikov made an century
immediate bid to take over the life of the boy tsar,
as he had educated-and bullicd- his fathcr more
than 20 years before: he even arranged a betrothal
to his own daughter, Maria. Peter ll, hm-\'ever,
seems despite his tender years to have united his
grandfather's decisiveness with his father's suspi-
cion of the hangers-on of the "new agc." fn al1iance
with the old-aristocratic Dolgoruky family, Pcter
managed to engineer the arrest of Menshikov and
sent him into exilc whcre he died. Another specter
from the pası, Peter Tolstoy, betraye r of Peter's
father Aleksey, already over 80, had already bcen
similarl y dealt with, and died in exile on an island
in the White Sea. Grass grew in the streets of St
Petersburg, and a forma! shift of capital back to
Moscow seemed imminent. Pctcr II, by now 14,
was engaged to marr y a Dolgoruky princess, but
suddenly he was stricken with smallpox, and died
in January 17 30 on the day that had been fixed for
his wedding. Some of the Dolgorukys claimed,
unconvincingly, that he had lcft the throne to his
fiancee. He was clearly already a ruler with a will-
ful if untrained mind of his own, and it is interest-
ing to spcculate what direction Russia's destiny
might have taken had he lived.

:oo

Catherine I (tsaritsa 1725- 27),
here depicted by Jcan Marc
~attier, ,,:as humbly bom in
1684 in Livonia as Marfa
Sk.awonskaya. She became Peter
the Great's companion in his
military expeditions durıng the
~orthern War, then his second
wife {1712). She was a soothing
influence on Petcr, being
notably the only person vı:ho
could quell the muscular spasms
(probably mild epileptic seizures
resulting from a severe fever) to
which he was prone. He had her
crowned empress in 1724, ,md
when he died the following year
without namıng .a successor, the
Guards regiments, among v,;bom
she \,·as a popular fıgure, put her
on the throne, despite her lack of
education and her humble birth.
-, l
. (,
' ,
., .; .. . --·
~
A nna and th e Ger m a n ascend ancy
i n this sudden crisis the Suprcme Privy Council,
packed by now with Dolgoruk ys and Golitsyns,
took upon itself the task of finding a successor. Na
male Romano,·s in the royal !ine wcre left, and t he
council resortcd ta a bold gamble--one that, with
its unintcnded conscquences, marks an important
if often undercstimated turning point in Russian
history. From Pcter I's family the counciJ turned to
that of his senior co-tsar, lvan V, who had kft
scYcral daughters. The eldcst was married to the
Duke of Mecklenburg; the second, Anna, was the
widowed Duchess of Courland (a small scmi-indc-
pendcnt principality in the southern part of
modern Latvia). Led by Vasiliy Dolgoruky, a depu-
tation from thc council travelcd in sccrccy to
Anna's capital, Mittau (in Russian Mitava), ta put
an unusual proposition: that shc should asccnd the
Russian thronc on acceptance of a serics of
conditions that would make her what wc would
now call a constitutional monarch- in effect, that
all important policy decisions should be appro ,·ed
ar instigatcd by the privy counciL
The idea was a brilliant one, Though other
women had ruled Russia before, they had all done
so in the capacity of widow, of tsars (Catherine !)
THE EMPIRE AFTER PETFR
and /or rcgents (Sophia, Natalya Nary,hkina,
Yclena Glinskaya, even the Kievan Olga). Anna,
offcred such a prize in her own righı, could be
expected to be suitabl y pliant, evcn gratcfuJ; yet
she was not a novice at thc task (having had Cour-
land to run far many y cars) and was stiU, in her
mid-thirties, young cnough ta marry again (at the
privy council's discrction!) and produce an heir.
All secmcd to go to plan. Anna acccptcd without
demur, signed ıhe conditions and set off far l\l os-
cow, which shc reached in late February . Earlier in
thc month, howcvcr, word of the conditions
imposed by thc privy council had lcakcd out. Hec-
tic politicking among ıhe lesser gcntry , who
formed the bulk of the Guards rcgiments, soldiers
as wcll as offıcers. cnsued: it sccmcd clcar ta most
of them that an oligarchic clique of traditional
aristocrats intcnded to rcmodcl thc Pctrinc system
that gave at least chances of prefcrmcnt ı o ıhe low-
born as wcll as ıo the mighty.
The showdown, in thc great rcception ha11 of the
Kremlin palacc, was dramatic. \\'e have a dctailed
account of it from a forcign contemporary witncss,
General Manstcin. Early in March the council,
senate and a large number of gentry. watched
doscly by thc Guards, assembled to darify thc
situation. A deputy of the Jesser nobility spoke,
claiming that Russia had traditionally becn gov-
erned by sovereign monarchs, not by council, and
begging Anna to take the reins of government into
her own hands. She affcctcd surprisc: "\ Vas it not
with the will of the whoJe nation ıhat I signed ıh e
act presented to me at Mittau?'' A shout went up
"Na!" Th is was rcpcatcd when cach point of the
conditions was rcad to the asscmbly by thc unfor-
tunatcly. upstaged Vasiliy Dolgoruky. Anna ıhen
ceremonıously tore up the document she had
signed with the words, "Thesc writings then are
not necessary," and claimed the prerogatiYe of her
ancestors by right of inheritance. not by the
council's choicc. So endcd thc onc month of consti-
tutional monarchy that Russia was to cnjoy until
1906.
W h o won, who Jost in these c,·ents of 1730? Thc
immediate losers, obviously, were the members of
the privy council and the aristocrats it represented
as the council was disbanded forthwith. Anna
won, of course, insofar as she ·wished ta exercise
power untrammckd: indccd her rcign becamc
notorious for arbitrary acts and scverc punish -
ments. But despite the positive showing she mad e
in the Kremlin she does not seem to have bcen
much intcrcstcd in thc responsibilitics of statccraft.
The senate was not restored to its former eminence;
instead, a small group--smaller even than the
formcr prh·y council- w icldcd powcr. Thc kcy
fıgure was a Baltic Ge rman baron, Johann-Ernst
Bühren (Russified into " Bire n" ar "Biran"), Anna's
favoritc from Courland days. Thc wholc oppressİ\'e
pcriod \\'Js givcn by Russians th e name Bironot''>h
ch ina, the " Bira n regime ."
fn rctrospcct it, and t hc following short reign of
!Yan VI, were thought of as a time of total ascend-
anc y of the " German party." This is an cxagger-
ation or oversimplification: thc Gcrmans in
qucstion w ere of varied origins and by na rncans in
agrcement ,-vith cach other. They included !\1ün-
nich (in Russian Minikh), a soldier and technica]
expert who e\'cntually cnginccrcd Bühren's
101
TJ-U: EMPUU: AFTER PFTER
overthrow, and thc wily, expcrienced politician
Ostcrınann, completely Russified since he had
cn tered Petcr I's ser vice at the age of 17 in 1703. in
fact it has to be rccognized that t his "Germaniza-
tion" of the aristocracy was a direct if unwelcome
consequcnce of thc Petrine heritage--and not only
because he invited so many Germans and similar
north Europeans into his service, particularly to
staff his new ministries or "colleges." After Peter's
ow n marriage to the lowborn Catherine I and his
son's to a German princess, the Russian imperia1
family consistently found its brides and bride-
gro o ın s a ın o ng the Western European (usually Ger-
man) minor roy alty, instead of the Orthodox
Russian aristocracy as had been the Muscovjte
norm. More gencrally, it has been said that Russia
in the first half or more ofthe 18th century had the
cultural and political atmosphere of a minor
provincial German principality.
Elizabeth
Anna did not in facı remarry and produce an heir
as had been hoped, and she decided under the
terms of Peter I's succession law to bequeath the
throne to the two-month-oJd son of her niece Anna
Leopcldovna, granddaughter of lvan V, daughter
of Charles Leopold of Mecklen burg and wife of the
Prince of Brunswick. A document witnessed by
Ostermann appointed Bühren as regent. This was
taking Gerınanization too far. First Münnich and
Manstein deposed Bühren and handed the regency
to lvan's frivolous and feather-headed mother,
Arına Leopoldovna. Then, after some months'
wavering, anti-German forces, including a couple
of Frenchmen, grouped theınselves decisively
around the one figure at court who was truly Rus-
sian, authentically of the Romanov dynasty and
not unwilling to be promoted for the throne: the
32-year-old surviving daughter of Peter the Great,
Elizabeth. With the enthusiastic support of the
older Guards regiments (Arına had instituted
another) the coup d'etat was easily managed, and
Elizabeth became empress !ate in 1741. Anna Leo-
poldovna, her husband and family were packed off
into confinement at Kholmogory, near Archange!,
where they languished far decades until released
and seni back to the West by Catherine Jf, while
the miserable deposed tsar I van was brought up on
the fortress-island of Schlüsselberg in the Neva, his
existence almost forgotten by ali but his reluctant
guards.
Elizabeth proınised a new style of rule froın that
of Anna. Not only did she make a clean sweep of
the "German party," she had a quite different and
more attractive personality. She was good-Iooking,
outgoing, shrewd and compassionate; she is famous
for having abolished capital punishment, or rather
for refusing to ratify death sentences. it is of
interest that thereafter, throughout the 18th and
19th centuries, the death penalty was normally
applied only in cases of treason or armed rebellion;
however, sentences of, for exanıple, 50 biows of the
knou t , normally sufficicnt to cause death, were
someti ınes passed. Her reputation for kindness is
somewhat v itiated by the treatment of lvan Vl and
his family; torture was not aboJished, nor indeed
were the secret po1i ce, which had been suspended
by Peter II, but reintroduced under Anna. Favori-
tism w as Iess capricious and blatant, but certainly
'"'
not done away with: new famHy names came to the Schlusselburg (its name meaning
fore, particularly the Razumovskys and Shuvalovs. "Key Fort") occupies a sırull
island in thc Rivcr Neva,
Aleksey Razuınovsky had a fairytale career: a controlling the entrance to lake
simple Ukrainian farın boy, his fine voice brought Ladoga; it is seen here in a
him into the imperial choir where he attracted l 9th-ccntury prim. lts capture
from the Swedes was a vit.ıl final
Elizabeth's attention; it is probable that they were step bcfore Peter I could found
secretly ınarried. The statesınan of the family was St Petersburg in l 703. it w.ıs the
scenc ofmost ofthc sad, short
Aleksey's brother Kiri]!. Among the Shuvalovs the life of Ivan VI, who had bccn
outstandingly capable and enlightened figure was nominatcd by Anna .ıs hcir
Ivan, a prime mover in the foundation of the whilc stili an infant, but deposed
after 15 months by Elizabeıh's
Petersburg Academy of Arts (1757) and Moscow supportcrs. He was brought up
University (1755). in sccrctivc confincmcnt in
Despite the differences of personality and of cul- Schlüsselburg, .ınd when an
attempt was made in 1764 to
turaI atmosphere, Anna's and Elizabeth's reigns can rescuc him and proclaim him
be seen as something of a continuum. Russia's cmpcror, he was killcd here by
hisguards.
standing in the world of European politics, so pain-
fully and uncertainly established by Peter 1,
steadily consolidated itself- thanks mainly to a
now very efficient army (Russia's undefeated mili-
tary geni us Su vorov began his career at this time)
and to intelligent diplomats. Russia faced renewed
challenges from Sweden, which took advantage of
the interregnum of 1741, and from Turkey (1736-
39), gaining in consequence part of Fiııland and the
elusive prize of Azov. By now Russia could not
help but be entangled in the European system of
alliances, the complexities of which need not be
followed here. lts most reliable ally was Austria, its
most permanent enemy France. Great Britain was
on the whole a friend, not to mention a good trad-
ing partner. Prussia was generally hostile, and
when Russia made its most significant European
intervention of the period, in the Seven Years
War, from 1756, its troops were so successful that
it could have had East Prussia for the asking, and
Frederick the Great was saved only by Elizabeth's
death.
Both Anna and Elizabeth consciously tried to
associate themselves with the achievements of
Pcter the Great, just as Catherine ll, rather more
plausibly, was to do later in the century. This had
the practical conseguence that St Petersburg was
firmly re-established, after Peter II, as the seat of
government, and indeed began to grow in this
period intö a great European city. As far as the
more unbuttoned aspects of court life were
 THE Eı\lPIRE AFTER PETER

which poinı service would be deemed to lıave

begun. The ground was prepared for the complcte
"liberation" of the service class in 1762. Such
measures have led to the common description of
the 18th century in Russia as the "Age of the
Nobility." Certainly in that century the upper
class-a small fraction of the population- received
not just such material benefıts as a growing, if pri-
Elizabeth (tsaritsa 1741 62}. Seen mitively managed economy had to offer, but
here in a baroque portrait by
Grooth (1743), she cut a dashing greater freedom of choice in life and a broadening
figure in the early part of her of spiritual horizons that resulted from better
reign-good-looking, benevolent
and popular. The last surviving
educational opportunities, the possibility of
child of Peter the Great and foreign travel and immeasurably greater access to
Catherine 1, she was brought to the printed word.
the throne (at the expense ofthe
unfortunate child tsar Ivan VI, Ali this was to come to fruition in the !ast third
and of the whole "German of the century under Catherine il. Mcanwhile,
party" of Anna's time} in a coup howcver, there is another aspect to the picture:
d'etat. Her connection with her
formidable father was a aside from the tiny handful of really rich families,
deliberately fostered point of who were prone to squander their money in court
prestige, marking a new
self-conscious Russianness in the
circles, the state of the class commonly known as
cultural elite. the "nobility" or "gentry" was neither very
comfortable nar secure. Fara start, who was in fact
"noble"? in Western European countries with a
landed· aristocracy originating in feudal times the
demarcations were reasonably evident. in Russia
concerned, Peter's satanic rowdyism repeated itself even before Peter the Great-with nobility depen-
farcically in Anna's reign. Many tales of tasteless dent on service, a gift of the tsar rather than a
buffoonery are told; it is notorious that of her six right-the situation was far less clear. There were
court jesters four came from old aristocratic fami- no titles in pre-Petrine Russia except for "prince,"
lies. The more relaxed atmosphere of Elizabeth's no orders of knighthood in a land that had known
reign encouraged frivolously conspicuous spend- neither the crusades nor the traditions of chivalry.
ing, notably by the tsaritsa hersel[, whose credit- Even the books of precedence, razryadnye knigi,
worthiness began to wear thin as the state fınances had been destroyed under Tsar Fyodor IIJ. in the
became shakier. The one thing most people seem to absence of primogeniture personal landholdings
know about Elizabeth is that at her death she left were subdivided from generation ta generation,
15 000 dresses (though who botlıered to count?). and to keep out of actual poverty most gentry fami-
More permanent and admirable were the results lies were dependent on service-linked land grants.
of a building spree that, beginning under Anna, Many "nobles" sank to peasant !eve!: a whole class
took off spectacularly in Elizabeth's middle years. of such, the odııodvortsy ("freeholders"), particu-
Tlıe sobriety of Petrine Baroque architecture was larly numerous in the south-central regions, strug-
lightened through rococo detail, yet in Rastrelli's gled to little effect throughout the 18th century to
vast and intricate palaces the bones ofa grand clas- maintain some vestiges of special status. At the
sicism show through. This age is known above ali same time commoners could, and at first frequently
for the palace architecture that produced, most did, become ennobled through service, auto-
splendidly, Tsarskoye Selo and the Petersburg matically so, once Peter's Table ofRanks was estab-
Winter Palace, but Elizabeth was in her own way lished. The 18th-century Russian hereditary
pious, and her reign also witnessed a signal rev ival nobleman could easily feel insecure, threatened by
of Orthodox church building, marking incidentally arnbitious "new men" (especially sons of clergy)
the reinstatement of the dome as its culminating who might be mentally betler equipped to rise in
feature. service, impoverished (despite Peter's salary scale
far ranking servitors, pay was low and not always
Tlıe 18th-century gentry regularly received), remote from the country estate
Both Anna's government and Elizabeth's under- he was in no position to watch OYer and from the
standably but fundamentally subverted the Petrine farnily he might seldom see, alienated by virtue of
heritage in their tinkering with the balance inher- education and "foreign" ways from sıirrou nd i ng
ent in Peter's severely just service state. A series of society and its age-old values.
measures, none very decisive in itself, had the
cumulative effect of making life considerabl y Jess The serfs
onerous far the servitors and simultaneously Changes in one part of the serv ice statc naturally
harder for the peasants. Maybe Anna was repaying affected its other elements. The good fo rtune, such
the gentry class for the support it had given her as it was, of the l 8th-century gen tr y class was
against the privy council. The unpopular Petrine matched and to some extent occasioned by a
law of undivided inheritance was abolished; the tightening-up of the conditions of serfdom. Some
length of compulsory service was reduced; Jong of this was simpl y thc effect of greater efficiency: it
leaves far landowners to live on their estates were became harder far serfs who ·wishcd to evade their
awarded in rotation; one male member ofa land- !ot simply to fade into the countryside. Those who
owning family could avoid service altogether; it took in such serfs and gave them wo rk-there has
became possible to inscribe the children of the always been a manpow cr shortage in many parts of
nobility in elite regiments from early childhood , at Russia- would be prosecuted . Scrfdom was alsa

ıoı
THE E-.MPIRI: AI-Tl:.R PETER

if~ ~:;r 00
IYLarı
RussıAıı EMP{RE n

-~aırwa

~ rıom,rıalsoveı-eıgnlJ'
~
Tl)RKEST~N
1111 ~uısıltons ol Cattıer rıe ın.t Greaı ıo 1800
--- ~OO\lııd.aryı800 scaıe 1 1assoooo

•43 d aıe oııourıcı.ıwı 800=

• fortresst()1111
/
much extended in this period. Anna started the extra work and risk; he might with varying success Expansion ofthc Russian
habit of handing out large areas of state land as institute quasi-military rules and routines. cmpire in the 18th century.
ünce Peter the Great had secured
rewards to servitors: the inhabitants, state peasants More insidiously damaging to the old fabric of the Baltic lands of Estonia and
w ho had been bound to the soil but who other- society in the 18th century was the uprooting of Livonia and had moved his
wise, given that the y paid their sou l tax, were free more and more serfs from the land. In the fırst capital to St Petersburg, thc hasis
was laid for prosperity arising
to arrange their own lives, found themselves over- place there was the enforced military recruitment from increasing trade with the
night turneci into personal serfs, at ıhe command of instituted by Peter. Recruits admittedly became Vlest. Thc greatest tcrritorial
and strategic gains however
their landowner. Anna's successors enthusiasti- freemen after service, but at too high a price; they were achieved un der Catherine
ca1ly continued the practice: it was a tempting would already be old and probably alienated from the Great. Acccss to the Black
resource in a country where cash, even at court, their former lives. More generally there was ıhe Sea was fınally secured for the
fırst time since the l 2th century.
was in short supply, but where there was stili unwelcome uprooting of serfs far domestic service The Crimca was annexcd in 1783
much territorial expansion taking place, including, in the towns, for factory work and other non-agri- and quickly Russified under
cultural employment. Life in the ancestral village Potemkin's program for settling
in the west, across well-populatcd and fertile and incorporating newly
lands. With the slackening of gentry service might be monotonous and laborious, but at least acquired territories. \\.hen
requirements, serfs everywhere had to face the one would be surrounded by one's own people, hostilities with the Ottoman
empire ccased in 1791 the port of
likelihood of their landlord's considerably greater living in one's own house, to a large extent manag- Odessa was founded as the
interference in their lives. The landlord would be ing one's own life. in the 17th century, when serf- southern complement to St
physically present for much of his life, while under dom first formally appeared in the law code, the Petersburg. The enornıous
expansion to the west resulted
Peter his enforced absence led to a decline in pro- government stili regardcd the serfs as people un der from the partition of Poland
ductivity; the landlord might meddle with time- its special care, even if bound to a Jocation and its between Prussia, Austria and
landlord. As the 18th century progressed the serfs Russia .
honored agricultural practic~s, causing the peasant

Q various Russian and foreign observers noted, hada
To the east the Kazaklı tribes
accepted nominal Russian
sovereignty once its power was
embodied in the visible might of
the for-ıress towns along the
River Yaik. it was not until the
following century that firm
j ~~;~~'. was established in this
were put more and ınore into the landlords' power.
They could be, and were, bought and sold- in
theory only with land and in families, in practice
sometimes like chattels. Landlords could physi-
cally punish serfs for disobedience, though to kili
them remained illegal. Late in Elizabeth's reign
( 1760) a decree permitted the exile to Siberia, with
government assistance, of insolent or recalcitrant
peasants. This has been described by Vernadsky as
the nadir of the serf's legal status, even though it
should be noted that rather little use was made of
it.
Such a pattern of social relations had become,
potentially if not actually, a corrupting force. Not
only foreigners but Russians quite often referred to
serfs as "slaves" around this time: agitation for the
abolition of slavery in the Western world made the
terminological point a delicate matter. Nevertheless
!here was always a dividing line between serfdom
and slavery, tenuous as it might at times have
seemed: it was not so evident in legal status,
though serfs and slaves were never legally
identical, as in the attitudes involved. The serf, as
dignity, humor and sense of self-worth that did not
seeın to suggest slavery. More to the point,
perhaps, is the facı that serfs did not belong to an
exclusive and identifiable caste: they were of the
same race, language and religion as their masters,
not to mention as clergy, tradesınen and indeed the
free peasantry (peasants are called in Russian kres-
tyaııe, a variant of the word for "Christians," and
were regularly referred to as "souls"]; there was
movement, even if not much, into and out of the
eondition of serfdoın. it would seem that the serfs
eonsidered that as well as their houses and movable
possessions, in some fundamental sense they
owned the land they worked, even while accepting
that the landlord owned them: in both assumptioııs
they were actually mistaken.
The most fuııdaınental advantage of the serf over
the slave, however, was that the former was able to
dispose of the products of his work. The signifi-
cance of this was to a considerable degree affected
by the ways in which service obligations to the
landlord could be discharged. These most often
took one of two forms: barshchiııa (known in
Western Europe as "corvee"] and obrok ("quit-
rent"). Barshchina involved obligatory labor on
certain days each week in the landlords' fields;
obrok commuted this obligation to a fixed payment.
Barshchiııa predoıninated where the land was ıııost
fertile, particularly towards the south; this was
"classic" serfdom, with the landlord able to exer-
cise close control over the peasants, who would
have little time or opportunity far further econo-
mic activity save far some basic cottage industries
pursued largely in winter.
Obrok peasants, comprising three-quarters of the
serf population in many northern regions, were in
a very different situation. They could till the soil if
they wanted, but because in the forest zone this
was unlikely to be remunerative they would more
often seek and gain permission to travel- while
remaining "inscribed" in their native villages- in
search of paid work, often in Moscow or Peters-
burg. They ıııight join one or another artel, or
cooperative guild of skilled workııı en; they might
sublet their land to other peasants, or employ serfs
THE EMPIRI:. AFTER PETER
themselves; considerable riches were sometimes
thus amassed, and even serf millionaires were not
uııknown. Talented serfs might be seııt by their
landlords for professional training: among their
number were several leading painters, nıusicians,
actors and architects of the 18th and early 19th
centuries. Those who achieved such fame might
purchase or be granted their freedom, but if not
would stili remain at the arbitrary command of the
master. Indeed it was the arbitrary nature of the
serf system, rather than the exceptional cases of
outright cruelty, that made it generally objection-
able. in other respects the later 18th century seems
to have beeıı a time of comparative prosperity for
Russian peasants, whether enserfed or not: their
condition was often favorably compared by wit-
nesses at the time with that of, for example, the
lrish and Scottish rural poor or English factory
workers.
The events of 1762
This remarkable year opened with the death of
Elizabeth on Christmas Day 1761 (Old Style;
S January 1762 New Style]. She had been canny
enough to choose her successor nearly 20 years
before: it was a choice that looked good but turned
out badly. Peter of Holstein-Gottorp was the son of
her elder sister, yet another Anna, and more sur-
prisingly the ııephew of Charles Xll of Sweden, the
old antagonist of his grandfather Peter 1. He might
have had either throne, but was brought to Russia
at the age of 14; nevertheless Germany kept its hold
on his fairly limited mind, and Frederick the
Great's Prussia fascinated him boundlessly.
in 1745 a wife was chosen for him, Sophie of
Anhalt-Zerbst, another small German principality.
At 15 she arrived in Russia, the match was
arranged, and she was instructed in Orthodoxy
and baptized uııder the new name of Catherine.
At 16 she was ıııarried to Peter. The marriage
brought no joy; Peter, marked physically and men-
tally by a near-fatal attack of smallpox, proved
boorish and uninterested. UnUke him, Catherine
ıııade the effort to adapt herself to Russia, quickly
attained a good colloquial knowledge of the
language and gritted her teeth to endure her lonely,
rather insignificant and even insecure position at
Elizabeth's court. After years of childless-ness it
was indicated to her that an heir should be pro-
duced, with or without Peter's assistance; in 1754
Paul was dcıly born, and to this day it remains
uncertain, as presumably it was to Paul h i ııı self,
whether he was actual1y Peter's son. A second son,
certainly illegitimate, was in facı born to Catherine
in 1762, and lived an uneventfu l life under the
name of Aleksey Bobrinsky. (Repor ts of later
children are unsubstantiated and improbable.) Both
sons, to Catherine's sorrow, wcre immediately taken
away from her to be brought up undcr court aegis.
Meanwhile it was begin ning to look likely that
Peter would somehow contrive to repudiate Cather-
in e and marry his own fa,:orite, Elizabeth
Vorontsova.
When Peter succeeded to the throne his
enthusiasm far Prussia led him soon to pull the suc-
cessful Russian forces out of the Seven Years' War
w ithout territorial or other compensation, so
saving Frederick the Great from annihilation.
Thereafter he embarked on an unnecessary war
l05
THE EMPIRE AFTER PETER
against Denmark in pursuance of his Holstein
interests. His Gcrman, or at least Protestant, sym-
pathies had an even more palpable impact on his
su bjects when he began to confiscate church
property; his lack of respect for Orthodox ritual
was evident, and it was rumored that he was abouı
to burn almost ali religious images and to force the
clergy to shave and dress in the Western manner.
Despite having alienated the army and the church,
he does not seem to have bcen totally stupid-
insensitive, rather and two of the measures he
promulgated in February 1762 have gone down in
history as strikingly progressive. The more unam-
biguously liberal was the closing down of the
"Secret Chanccry," the much-feared office that had
charge of all investigations into treason and related
crimes. lts brief had been wide, its po\•vers great
and its methods depended usually on verbal
denunciations and routinely involved torture.
Security organs continued to exist but carried out
their tasks in a bettcr-regulated and more humane
manner.
The other decree- one of the most famous in
imperial Russian history, promulgated on 18
Fcbruary, though anticipated in a spcech in
January liberated the entire class of the gentry
from obligatory service. The document is a curious
one. Jts preamble attempts to place gentry service
in the historical context of the Petrine rcforms, and
sonorously bestows "on the whole Russian noble
dvoryanstvo !gentryJ freedom and liberty ... for ali
time and for ali generations," even to the extenl (a
strange throwback to Kievan Rus) of permitting its
members to go into the service of foreign rulers.
Then it starts to back-pedal: if "particular neces-
sity demands" (probably war is envisaged) the
sovereign can still decree compulsory service, and
arrangements arc made for the obligatory
education of childrcn. [t ends with a curious appeal
that mcmbcrs ofthe gentry out of gratitude should
be inspired "not to absent or hide themselves from
service": if they "spend ali their time in sloth and
idleness" they must be despised, scorned and
excluded from court and public events.
it is impossible to know ıhe extent to which
either or both of these February decrees represent
Peter III's personal initiatives or, as is likely, swift
moves by the gentry-bascd bureaucracy to
improve its lot. Certainly the liberation of the
gentry, and the extent to which it should be econo-
mically privileged, wcre under high-level discus-
sion towards the end of .Elizabeth's reign; the
decree as pu blished looks like the result of uneasy
compromises. But it probably took a ncw, not ovcr-
sensiti ve ruler, much in need of gentry support, to
gamble on gaining ll v. ,ith these measures.
Peter ili personally lost this gamble, since he
lasted less than halfa year more, but in the longer
term it paid off far Russia; the liberation decree
achieved, more or less, its apparent objectives of
increasing the gentry's sense of self-worth and
expanded opportunity while preserving a linger-
ing sense of moral obligation to do somcthing
useful for socieıy and to educate its progeny.
Though by and large the gentry continued to
serv e, it did so from a new position of strength and
choice . Provincial life and agriculture gained, as
mo re landowners put down roots in all parts of the
country side; sa too did intel1ectual and artistic life,
106
at least among those who could afford to devote
themselves to it. Such people could now travel
abroad at will and no longer be regarded as curiosi-
ties, or themselves regard al] they saw with naive
wonderment. New standards of comfort and inter-
national levels of aesthetic taste were to make the
!ast third of the 18th century ıhe golden age of the
Russian country mansion and landscaped park.
There were other sides to thc liberation decree,
howcver. When it was promulgated it was thought
of by some, including evidently Peter lll's wife and
successor Catherine, asa dangerously destabilizing
measure. Destabilization indecd ensued, and on
two separate fronts, though it only slowly made
itself felt. The sudden dissolution of the tie
between ruler and service class hastencd the alien-
ation of the laller from the former. The most fatal
rift occurred however between state and pea-
santry. Not only the Russian intellectual class but
equally and more immediately the huge class of
serfs came to feel that Peter III's decree had gone
only half way. Serfdom after ali was in its origin
and essence but another form of state service:
equity demanded that the serfs be freed and given
!itle ıo their land if the landlords' compulsory
services were na longer reguircd. When a comple-
mentary decree about the freeing of the serfs failed
ta materialize, rumor was rife: perhaps the power-
ful landowners had banded together to stop such a
decree's publication. When Peter III was shortly
afterwards first deposed, then killed, it seemed like
confirmation of such a conspiracy. ln the end, of
course, the decrce of full emancipation came-on
19 February 1861, 99 ycars anda day late. in the
in terim every Russian ruler and government had to
face, sol ve or shelve the ever-growing problems
that continuing serfdom entailed. Peter l[l himself
lived an extraordinary consequent "after-life" as
the most popular guise far Russian pretenders, and
rallying point far their revolts, in the remainder of
the 18th century: this totally Prussian-orienıated,
Lutheran-minded ruler ofa land to which he never
adapted became a symbolic figure far thosc who
had not accepted Petrine Westernization. it was in
the person of "Peter ili" that Ycmelyan Pugachov
unleashed his peasant war in 1773 74.
Mean\·\ 'hile the real Peter III's days were num-
bered as the summer of 1762 drew on. Dcspite his
wooing of the gcntry, he had antagonized too many
people and interest groups, had threatened worse
changes and had struck thosc who knew him as
capricious, tactless and unstable. The return of the
Germanization of Anna's days looked ali too likely.
Worse still, he had alienated and threatened the
person whose support he most needed, his popular
and strong-minded wife Catherine. lt proved
absurdly easy for Catherine's supporters in the
Guards regiments, notably the Orlov brothers, to
isolate him and force his abdication on his name-
day, 29 June. Put under guard at a counıry estate
of his choosing, he was killed a week later, appar-
ently in a drunken brawl: a frantic scribb]ed note
from Aleksey Orlov ıo Catherine, throwing himself
on her mercy for the deed, survives, suggesting the
new tsaritsa did not instigate it. Peter's death was
publicly ascribed to "hemorrhoidal colic," but its
violent nature was no great secret, and it cast a
shadow over the start of Catherine fl's reign both at
home and abroad.
THE FLOWERING OF IMPERIAL RUSSIA
This group portrait ( 17 56) by the
Polish-Germ,m artist R.M.
lisiewska, now in Stockholm ,
shows three future monarchs of
Russia in a formali2t"d harmonv
that was not borne out by '
en·nts. 11 \Vas painted towards
the end ofElizabeth's reign . .ı
long period of waiting far Peter
l1! [standing) and his \·vife
Catherine il (seated), who two
years beforc had produced their
only son Paul (reigned
1796 1801 ). The Germanophilc
Peter- a singularly unappcaling
Lharacter, at lea-.t by Catherine's
.ıccount -s ucceeded Elizabeth in
December 1761 (OS.)onlytobe
deposed six mont hs later in a
palace revolution engıneered by
the Orlov brothers, ,:ınd killed
thereafter in a drunken brawl
Ca therine the Great
Between 1762 and 1825- the re igns of Catherin e II
" the Great" (1 762- 96), of Paul (1796- 1801) and of
A lexander l (1801 25) thc Russian empire reached
almost its maximum territorial extent (a good deaI
more than the extenı of the Soviet Union in ıhe 20th
century). it also attained the status ofa great world
power, playing a decisive part in the Napoleonic
wars. Jts prosperity and level of ed uca ti on rose dra-
matica ll y and its artistic achievements were consid-
erab le. lt rem ained however an overwbelmingly
peasan t, and largely illiterate, society; no system-
atic i ndustrialization had yet taken place, and the
economy was crudely managed; the more anachro-
nistic and arbitrary fcatures of the tsarist system
were becoming steadily more evident; the growing
intellectua1 class was asking more and more awk-
ward questions; and nobody could work out a
solution to the admitted problem of serfdom. But
despite at times violent social discontent, it was an
outward-Jooking and on the whole optimisıic
epoch, in which Russia culturally came of age.
Catherine II's sudden elevation to the throne
with the coup d'ctat against her husband Peter ııı
is often dcscribed by historians as "usurpation."
This seems unjust. ünce the Guards officers had
secured Peter III's abdication wiıhout a designated
successor, the idiosyncratic Pctrine succession law
meant that no one had a foreordained right to the
imperial title; Catherine \'\'as on past precedent the
obvious choice. Her onlv serious riva] was thc
child Paul, whose regent "she would anyhow ha\'e " progressive" motivation was only superficial,
been. but Peter ili had refrained from nominating that any real will to improve the system they
h im while in power. As Paul grew up, howcver, inherited was lacking. The reputation of Catherine
there was much tension between mother and son II has particularly suffered from such views. The
on this score: it was clear that if Catherine were truth is that these monarchs, in theory all-power-
ever to be deposcd Paul would be waiting to step ful, \'Vere themselves caught in a mesh of circum-
forward as emperor. [n fact theirs \-v ere very stances from which they could never wholJy
different personalities, and Catherine silently disentangle themselves and which hampered their
demonstrated her reservations about him by every political movement.
refraining in her turn from declaring him as her \ıVars were an obvious external constraint upon
official successor. in her last davs, indeed , it was to their freedom of action: Ivan !\\ Catherine il and
become clear that her choice ,;,as likely to fal] on Alexander I were all, though in varied circum-
one of her already almost grown-up grandchildren, stances, deflected from the restructuring of their
and Paul's eventual succession \'\'as secured only society by one or more wars. But domestic con-
thanks to ıhe facı that she ended her life in a cama straints were more pervasively probleınatic. As
after a stroke. A document expressing Catherine's Richard Pipes has neatly observed, these monarchs
wishes for thc succession was probably destroyed realized "as he or she accumulated experience that
by Paul or his supporters at this stage. they simply lacked the capacity to lead their
Th e reigns of both Catherinc II and Alexander I empire where they wanted and that the best they
can easily be seen to divide into a "good," liberal could hope for was to keep it from sliding into
or at least reformist and modernjzing first part and chaos." Any just assessment of the Russian
a "bad," reactionary or illiberal later period. ln political situa.tion in the period under considera-
this the two monarchs would seem not only to be tion will have to ta.ke account of such factors.
foJlowing a common human progression from radi- No Russian ruler, hmvever, managed to keep
caHsm to conservatism with age, but alsa a pattern national buoyancy and a sense of gradual social
particularly noticeable aınong some other strong- progress going longer than Catherine the Great: for
minded Russian rulers: Jvan IV and Boris Godunov nearly 30 years, until in her lası half-dozen years
before, Alexander II later. Such observations can things began to go sour. Most of the negative
be extended to moralizing conc1usions about the evaluations of Catherine's reign among her
Russian monarchs themsclves: that their younger contenıporaries and among later historians
107
THE FLOWER!Nl, OF IMPERJAL RUSSIA

stem primarily from features of the years after
1790 91: the turn away from Enlightenment phil-
osophy, the sanctions against free-thinking Rus-
sian intellectuals, the cynical, high-spending cou rt
dominated by unworthy favorites and hangers-on,
the amoral foreign policy that led to the extinction
of independent Poland, the general sense that the
empress's flexible mind and ready sympathies
were becoming rigidifıed. in ıhis unsatisfactory
coda to a generally successful reign, Catherine did
not so much lose her grip or change her principles
as face new situations to which therc were no
ready-made responses.
The lengthy main part of Catherine's reign
perhaps also had a turning point within it, at the
year 1774. The years before were years of promise;
the years after were the time of achievement,
though with sights set lower than had earlier been
expected. The year itse]f was eventful in varied
but inıportant ways. üne war ended, but the civil
war against Pugachov reached its climax. Phil-
osophy encountered practical politics when, with
the arrival of Diderot in St Petersburg, Catherine
fınally met a major plıilosophe face to face over a
period of several months. Most significantly for
Catherine's private and indeed public life, she
embarked on her liaison, probably marriage, with
Grigoriy Potemkin (c.1739-91). This was immeas-
urably the most significant of her dozen or so love
affairs over 30 years that have exercised the fanta-
ance--years in which the French revolutionary
crisis cast its shadow across all Europe.
Though there was goodwill towards Catherine in
many guarters, the facı and the manner of her
accession were not universally popular. Only one
plot to unseat her had public conseguences,
however: a strange and reckless endeavor by a
young Ukrainian officer, down on his luck, called
Vasiliy Mirovich. Stationed at Schlüsselburg, he
learned about the "nameless prisoner" held
there-the sad former infant-Tsar !van VI, by now
in his twenties. Catherine, who had interviewed
him, hoped to persuade him into a monastcry.
Mirovich, apparently gambling on achieving
personal glory, led a group of baffled soldiers to
release Ivan and proclaim him ruler. But Ivan's-
jailers had orders, issued under Peter III, to kili
their captive in such an eventuality- and immedi-
ately did sa. Mirovich was executed; the whole
episode, though in one sense strengthening Cather-
ine's position, put another weapon in the hands of
her detractors, particularly abroad.
Church and government under Catherine
in the first couple of years of her reign Catherine
was learning how to rule, taking advke on insti-
tutional reform and setting up committees ta
examine recent measures such as the Jiberation of
the gentry and the secularization of ecclesiastical
land. The latter point was delicate. She needed the
The Razin rebellion.
The greatest Russian popular
rebellion before Pugachov's in
tbc 1770s was that of Stepan
(known as "Stenka") Razin
during thc reign ofTsar
Aleksey. Razın was a Don
Cossack who with a band of
followers engaged in daring
exploits as pirate and freebooıer
on the lower Volga and along the
Caspian to Persia. Early in 1670
his flotilla sailed up the Volga,
stopping to slaughter officials
and landowners and to proclaim
liberation. His band grew bugely
until govcrnment forces inflicted
a heavy defeat on it at Simbirsk.
His base at Astr.ıkban held out
fora time, but then Razin was
captured and subsequently
executed at Moscow. His name,
and that of his supposed "son,"
lived on m countless folk
legends and songs asa deliverer
who would bring freedom and
jusıice.

sies of romantic biographers to an absurd degree. it

is na derogation of her achievement ta say that s
Potemkin's complementary gualities of personality G
~.,,,,.il
and statesmanship were as necessary for Russia's
prosperity and future destiny as hers. He was a
remarkable blend of man of action, intellectual and oNo"90roa
dreamer: his strange and moody temperament
ensured they could not live together long, yet he
·r
remained her closest support and effective "prime '- · J
1 ·...,
minister." He died in 1791, and his death coincided
with the passing of the best years of Catherine's /
reign and ofthe Russian 18th century.
POf.•No'--•
Certain personal gualities helped set the tone for ı
Catherine's reign. Her basic temperament was
tough-minded but cheerful, notably kindly and
optimistic (unusual enough gualities in rulers of
any time ar p1ace). She was an instinctive learner, a
role that stood her in good stead during her long
and tedious years waiting in the wings during
Elizabeth's reign, but did not desert her after her
coronation: it shaded into her self-perceived func-
tion of teacher of her society. She was also a glut- ı<.aza\<.hS
ton for hard work, sıarting her day normally at 5
a.m. Lasıly, and perhaps unexpectedly in view of
her intellectuality, she was a natura! politician.
This implied a care for public relations that would
nowadays be taken as the most normal political
prudence, but in the past has led to the freguent
charge of hypocrisy: more importantly, she devel-
oped a decp sense for politics (in Bismarck's famous
phrase) as "the art of the possible." This meant she
was by nature a gradualist, that her reforms were
unspectacular, not aimed (as Peter the Great's
were) at changing the appearance of things, but at
transforming their essence. Although later
reproached for halfheartedness, she ensured that
what was done was done well, and with general
consent. Only in her !ast years did her political
skills turn sometimes ta bossiness and intoler-
/08

The Pugachov rebellion .
Yemelyan Pugachov. a Don
Coss.ıck like Razin a century
before, led the greatest of the
Russian peasant rebellions. Thıs
time the source ofthe revolt was
among the Yaik Cossacks who
held specifıc grievances against
the Russian authorities. Further
strength was gathered among
Old Believers and in the
populous mining communities of
the Urals, where there was a
plentiful supply of fırearms. As
pretender to the thronc ofthc
tsar, Pugachov also won
allegiance from non-Russian
tribes in the east, notably the
Bashkirs. Bv the summer of l 774
he was abli at times to muster a
huge force and seemed poised to
attack Moscow. But the
commitment of his followers was
always uncertain and his
fortunes waned. Before long he
was forced to turn south toward~
his homeland, but was unable to
drum up support among the
better-off Don Cossacks. Almost
alone no\\' in his venture, he was
eventually handed over to the
authorities by his erstwhile
adherents.
Bashkırs ıntıe
- - - poktıcaltıourı:iary'773
~ skiy sobo r) in thc spiril of l 7th -century Muscovy. a
• towncapıuredbyPugachov
)', banle.ıııthdate
routeolPııgilClıov
-
•
areao!revotı
ıronmırııng
OTTOMAN
"lı ırıcıease ııı ooputatıor1719-95
EMPIRE
250
,Sil
100
scaıe120 000000
50
il
c=Jdataı.navaılable
church's goodwill, which had already accrued to
her as supplanter of thc Lutheran-inclined Peter
lll ; though she wore religion lightly, she seems to
have becn a sincere convert to Orthodoxy. Yet asa
"Voltairean" she could hardly be an uncritical sup-
porter of an organized religion that at the time was
a byword for ignorance and sloth; moreover, it had
a great deal of land without much in the way of
educational activity or other socially useful rcsults
to show for it and on this land there was consider-
able peasant unrest. Many intcrests in Russia stood
to gain from secularization. When, in 1763, it went
ahead, only the bishop of Rostov denounced it, in
terms altogether too thunderous for his or the
church's good; he was unfrocked and, when he
persisted, imprisoned. Catherinc tried to softcn thc
blow, but the fact remaincd that thc loss of its land,
following on Peter J's secularization of ecclesiasti-
cal administration, spelled the end of two-and-a-
half centuries of the "Josephite" compact betwecn
church and state.
From the spiritual point of vİe\'\' this may have
been no bad thing for Russian Orthodoxy, which
underwent something ofa renaissance in the later
18th century. Hesychast mysticism revived, pro-
ducing the notable fıgure of Paisiy Velichkovsky,
translator into Russian of the vcry influential
Philokalia, and a little later St Serafim of Sarov.
Intellectuals began to play a role in Russian Ortho-
doxy again: notabl y St Tikhon Zadonsky and ıhe
Asuaıı~and
"' ~
"'- CASPJAN
a """""'SEA
Balı~d Zt>ıloo
""""'
-·
~ vened (though su bcommi ttces on various topics
o continued to meet). Some commentators have
\ RaS-"I
THE FLOWERING OF IMPERIAL RUSSIA
Ukrainian Grigoriy Skovoroda. The lattcr, famou s
as teacher, philosopher and religious poet, took to
thc life ofa wandering sage and ascetic, digging his
own grave before dying (in 1794) and leaving his
haunting epitaph on himself: " The world hunted
but could not catch mc" (Mir /ovil menya i ne poy-
mal). The sectarians began at the same time to
recover from decades of persecu tion: in 1769 Cath-
erine in effect restored their citizcnship by pcrmit-
ting thcm to testify in court. A new mid- 18th-
cent ury sect were the Dukhobors or "spirit-
wrestlers," formcd partly undcr ıhe influence of
Quakerism and similarly p ersccuted for disobe-
dience to the state.
The main reforms ofCathcrinc's ea rly years were
in thc apparently humdrum but important area of
loca! government. The vast country, 90 pcrccnt
rural, with a low lcvel of literacy and tenuous com-
munications, was undergoverned and haphazardly
policed: the ccntral administration not only had
little idea what was going on, but h ad no ccrtainty,
for example, that its decrees would even be pro-
mulgated throughout the land. With thc libcration
of the gentry in 1762 the govcrnment could no
longcr rcgard it as a conscripted class of its own
agents in the countryside. Catherinc had to sccure
its coopcration by p ersuasion and reward, culmi-
nating in a Charter oftlıe Nobility in 1785 (thc fırst
ever to r ecognize outright title to land). Catherinc
upgrad ed and rcgularized loca! government
administration; subscquently in her reign thcre
would be a deliberate policy of instituting ne w
regional urban ccnters and market s. Thc chicf
series of reforms, including the setting-up of
judicial institutions independent of the administra-
tors, came in the wake of the greatest cxplosion of
rural di scontent, the Pugachov rcbellion, in 1775.
But qucstions connected with serfdom proved
intractab le. Catherine hersel[ prefcrred the pros-
pect of a gradual ending of peasant bondage,
perhaps by granting freedom w hen estates changed
hands or by freeing ali children bom after a ccrtain
date. The general su bject of peasant rights was
publicly discussed not l eası by the Frec
Economic Society, set up in 1765 and the first su ch
autonomous socicty in Russia.
Late in 1766 Catherine made the most dramatic
political announcement of her carecr. She sum-
moncd the various social estates in all parts of h er
realm, together with government offı c es , to send
representatives to a huge gathering, over 500
strong, in Moscow . There they wo uld explain the
situation and needs of thci r comm unities and
participate in the drafting of a n ew law code. Tlıis
gathcring is known as t he " Legislative Conımis­
sion," though it was really a great assembly (:em
curious political throwback, hinting that the whole
style of Catherine' s politics was a dcvclopmcnt
more of the tradi t ions of Alekscy Mikhaylovich
than of Petcr the Grcat.
In a sense n othing came of it. No law codc
emerged, n a r did th e assembly reach any conclu-
sive point in its deli berations, since it was sus-
pended sine die w h en T urkey declared war on
Russia in the summer of l 768 and never rccon-
thercfore considered the \.\' hole business a sham,
!09
THE FLOW l:.RJNG OF IMPERIAL RUSSIA
completely extraneous to Russia's socio-political
development. Certainly the asse mbl y was never
intended to be a step on the road to parliamentary
democracy: the representatives, though ch osen by
ballot, were not elected delegates. As in Muscovite
assemblies, thcre were representatives of the free
peasantry but not of the serfs; n on-Russian nation-
a]ities were well represented, the church scarcely
at ali.
What thc ıneınbcrs of t hc asscmbly (who were
paid a salary and granted other privileges) did was
talk. Three types of document resulted from the
exercise. First, each representative came equipped
with a ııakaz or "instruction" from his place of
origin, ,vhich could broach any topics save
personal grievances (or might decline to do so: the
town of Jı.1urom clainıed it had no needs, suffered
no oppression and needed no new la-ıvs). Then
!here were the records of t he debates, oftcn chaotic
or inconclusive, yet a new and intriguing pheno-
menon in Russia. Most remarkably, t he empress
drew up her own Nakaz, the "Great Instruction,"
an immense document in 22 chapters and m ore
than 500 articles, the fruit of over 20 years' reading
and reflection on the main political philosophers of
her day. Its aim was to set before Russians an ideal
of what their society could or should be likc. it was
not the anticipated law code, still less a constitu-
tion; it was more an educationa1 text, and was used
as such for decades w hen it would be read out, pas-
sage b y passage, on Saturday mornings to civil
servants. Its libertarian sentiments seemed so
subversive that it was banned in France, though it
should be said that Catherine never pretended that
Russia should be governed ot hcrwise than auto-
cratically (on account of its great size).
An allegorical engraving of
Catherine the Great, made early
in her reign, depicts her in
triumphal progress across her
empire. Above her are the
figures of Peace, who offers to
bestow garlands upon the
empress. and Fame. who
trumpets her virtues; prosperity
is symbolized by the child
dropping coins. Applauding
peasants line the chariot's route,
while from the clouds above
Peter the Great. seated next to
Jupiter, looks benevolentl y
down.
Ch·il and foreign wars
The w hole exercise of the Legislative Commission
was richl y informative to the empress. What
seemed to emerge was the lack of any general
opposition to the way the country was ordered,
but a good deal of class antagonism and many prac-
tical ideas for regularizing social relations, tax obli-
gations and so on. Only half-a-dozen y ears later
such antagonisms and grievances exploded with
the Great Rebellion led by Yemelyan Pugachov.
Like Razin a century before, Pugachov was a Don
Cossack, but he found his focus of rebellion in the
remotest of the Cossack hordes, that of the Yaik
(north of the Caspian Sea- the Yaik River was
renamed the Ural after the rebellion). Razin, the
riverboat pirate, had kept to the Volga; Pugachov,
a runaway soldier and general rolling stone, ranged
more widely, as far as the factories and iron foun-
dries scattered from Bashkiria to the Ural foothills,
where he sought fırearms. The Yaik Cossacks not
only had specifıc grievances, but a generalized
unease about their growing social marginalization
and decline of privilege.
Unlike Razin, Pugachov was a pretender, who
from the start gave himse]f out to be the miracu-
lously saved Peter III. The phenomenon of the
countless pretenders who emerged, and often met
unpleasant ends, from the 16th to the 19th century
in Russia has only recentl y begun to receive tr.e
anthropological attention it deserves. [t accompa-
nied the exalted Byza ntine-derived concept of tsar-
dom (there were no grand-princely pretenders 1) as
a God-bestowed condition, unrelated to personal
worth. it was believed that a true tsar could be
recognized by certain marks on his bod y-usuall y
a cross or an eagle- and such, apparently, Puga-

Th e socia l co m position or
Russia in the la te 18 th
century.
Large-scale soda! upheaval
rhrough the 18th century
brought a changing demographic
pattern by the end or Catherine
the Great"s reign . Much
migration resulted from the
flight ofserfs from central
Russia, despite continual
government attempts to halt
this. Some joined the Cossacks of
the Dnieper, Don, Volga, Kuban
and Ural regions, whose control
or the southern and eastern
w nes was rapidly growing, they
prized their independence and
often set themselves up as
mercenaries . The German
element in the papulation
increased considerably as
Catherine invired Germans to
colonize the area north or the
Black Sea, to which they
brought social stability and
effıcient agriculture. Ahhough
urban communities were
beginning to grow around
factorıes and mines, 95 percent
ofthe papu!ation was stili rural.
., ,.; rd
Fi nn s ' <
Baıuc L Pe,,,ı,s
Gemıans
Rıga
Livonians
f Sevastopoı 0
percentageolserfsmnorthern
andcentra1Russia.17B2
(:=Jover80
□•,...,,
□ •,_..,
[:=J21-40
(:=l under21
chov had. Proclamations with stra nge seals and
even stranger language wcrc issucd, and give an
idea of t h e simple, archaic political ideology of the
re beis.
None of the peasant rebellions, even Pugachov's,
became true wars of liberation. it has often been
observed that, of the two Russian words for
"freedom," the peasantry hada strong attachment
to volya ("existential freedom," unconstrained
exercise of will), but little concept of svoboda
(political freedom). Hugely successful Pugachov' s
rebellion may have been for almost a year, but its
appeal to the common people is hard to judge:
anyone who did not declare allegiance to him was
liable to be put to death on the spot. The commit-
ment of the Bashkir and other non-Russian
peoples, where tribal leaders werc involved, was
probably deeper. Some intrepid government com-
manders managed to withstand sieges: eventually
Pugachov withdrew southwards, failed to takc
Tsaritsyn and could not mobilize the better-off
Don Cossacks. After exactly a year of rebellion he
was handed over by erstwhile followers to a "just
judge" at Yaitsk. He was subseguently executed in
Moscow. Thc emprcss ensured that torture was not
used, that he was beheaded rather than mutilated
(to the surprise of the crowd) and that reprisals
against his followers were kept to a minimum.
Among the factors !hat enabled the government
to deploy effective forces against the Pugachov
LOrıega
,,._
""~
□ Novgorod
RUSSIA
Yaroslavla
KazanTatars
Great
Moscow
R~ssians (f /
ı<azan°
azan ✓
oSmolensk
0 Bryansk
Ry1 ' ~
✓
Penza o
Sımbırsko
Sywm o
Kalmyks
rkasslı
C Kuban
" . ı,.,.
~ -.../~- ......
Novorossı:s~~~
BLACK SEA c-<1s
01..ııı,
. dırectıonofpeasants' nıgtıt
Fn ~ff/:~~~500
C) :ıto~~;~ck
~:~e=tt~ı~an
C) Russıa, 1782
---boundaryo!Russıa.1796
THE FLOWERING OF IMPERIAL RUSSIA
rebellion was the ending of the war with Turkey;
thc rebellion in turn helped to persuade Russia to
bring that war to an end. Until then Russian suc-
cesses, though not overwhclming, had been
considerable. Thc Crimean khan was declared inde-
pendent of Ottoman vassalage, and Russia estab-
lished a toehold on the Black Sea for the fırst time
since the 12th century. Thc Russian fleet (with two
Scots among its admirals) sailed from the Baltic pası
Gibraltar to score a remarkable naval victory at
Çeşme ( 1770) against the much larger Turkish
navy. Though many Greck islanders swore allegi-
ance to Catherine, it provcd impossiblc to organize
a general Grcek uprising against the Turks, and the
fleet did not try to force the Dardanellcs to Con-
stantinople. So passcd the Russians' besi chance of
sponsoring a Balkan uprising that would bring
down the Ottomans and recapture Constantinople
for Orthodoxy. it was only later in thc 1770s that
Potemkin's vision would crystallizc such id eas into
the "Great Projeci," for a Russian revival of the
Byzantlne empire. As it was, he organizcd "New
Russia" out of the vasi, potentially rich lands,
haunt of disorderly Cossacks, frontiersmen,
nomads and pirates that Russia inherited from the
Turkish war, becoming "Prince of Tauris."
Russia annexed the Crimea in 1783 and thc
Turks declared war again in 1787. Events assumed
a worrying aspect far Catherine when Swcden,
backed by Prussia and Great Britain, entered the
hostilities. Diplomatic complications. deriving ulti-
mately from the Frcnch revolutionary ferment,
madc ali parties ready for peace in 1791, but not
0
beforc Russfa was menacing Constantinople aftcr
50ıııı.amsk taking the key fortresses of Ochakov and Ismail,
voıvaıı.s
had confırmed posscssion of the Crimea and estab-
lished protectorship over Georgia. This peace led
O\(_Ul'lgıJT
immediatcly to the founding of the great inter-
national seaport of Odessa, southern complement
to St Peters burg.
··" sashlı.irs
The Turkish gucstion was, at least at the outset,
cntanglcd with thc Polish qucstion. Both countries
containcd largc numbcrs of pcoplc whose religion
n sarııara
and language differed from those of their rulers,
and whom outsidc powers considered it their duty
to protect. As Muscovite and Petrine Russia had
strengthened central autocracy and homogenized
society, so opposite processes were at work in the
unitcd state of Poland and Lithuania. There the
landowning class (some 8 percent of thc popu-
lation) immensely strengthened its own autonomy,
while central authority was weakened by the
notorious right of "free veto," whereby a single
1
'¾.. dissenting voice could paralyze the business of the
Ası sejm or governing diet. The elected, often non-
Polish kings could seldom act as more than military
leaders. it is probable that the Polish example
considerably affccted the l 7th- and 18th-century
Russian rulers' attitude to their own exercisc of
power.
CASPIAN The first partition of Poland came in 1772. For
SEA
Russia it mcrcly mcant rccstablishing approxi-
-tv,.., ;,-,q I
mately ıhe frontiers that had obtained under Tsar
'vs
Aleksey; Prussia took the small but important
"Danzig corridor" that had scparatcd its two parts;
Austria however took a rich and populous slicc of
scale 1 ıa 60000'.l
o 400km the Polisli heartland at thc foot of the Carpathians.
JOOnı Thc shockcd Polcs, among whom thcrc wcrc sharp
political divisions, notably into pro- and anti-
lll
THE FLOWERINC Of IMPERIAL R U S!ı,IA
Ru ssian parties, t hen made an effort to put their
house ın order. Reforms would have included a
hered itary monarchy and a proper parliament with
middle-class representation. Though its neighbors
scarcely preferred a strong Poland to a weak one,
ali might h ave been well far Poland but far the dis-
t ur bing facto r of the spread throughout Europe of
Fren ch revolutionary ideas. The Polish constitu-
tion, promulgated in May 1791, seemed altogether
too Jaco bin for Catherine's taste and even for some
Poles, w ho farmed the Confederation of Targowica
to defend the old system. Russia, invited by the
Confe deration, occupied a great swathe of eastern
and souıhern Poland (most of the farmer Russo-
Lithuanian lands).
The second partition of Poland, in 1793,
followed, with Prussia advancing almost to War-
saw. in 1794 the Polish national uprising led by
Kosciuszko attempted to resist the annexations; its
defeat led to thc third partition, or end of indepen-
dent Poland, in 1795. As a resul! of the final parti-
tion Russia obtained ali Lithuania, Courland and
ıhe ancient Kievan province of Volhynia: "not a
single Pole," as Catherine wrote in self-congratula-
tion. Catherine undoubtedly saw her conquests
partly in terms of restoring the Old Russian patri-
mony, though it meant the incorporation into the
Russian empire of Lithuanians, Latvians and in
particular a large Jewish population, mostly but
not wholly urban. Catherine's successor, Paul, for-
bade any use of the term "Kingdom of Poland";
after the Napoleonic wars the rump Duchy of War-
saw, still with a few individual institutions, was
given to the Russian crown, and in l832 was incor-
porated into Russia,
Western pu blic opinion was roused to the
support of the Poles only after Kosciuszko's upris-
ing; the general mood of the Enlightenment had
been hostile to what was seen as the oppressive
Catholicism and anarchy of the old Poland. Polish
revolts in the 1830s and 1860s further mobilized
European sympathies in favor of Poland and
against the whole tsarist regime.
The empress and the Enlightenrnent
it has become conunonplace to speak of Catherine's
rule and that of other contemporary monarchs
such as the Austrian Joseph il as "enlighıened
absolutism." Certainly Catherine saw herself
throughout as autocrat- the proper type of ruler
far Russia, as the Nakaz makes clear. Nevertheless
she quickly grasped the facı that ultimately power
rests on persuasion: "\ı\Then I am already con-
vinced in advance of general approval, then I issue
my orders, and have the pleasure of observing
w hat you cali blind obedience. And that is ıhe
foundation of unlimited power . . . ," as she once
told a questioner. She also tried to train others in
responsibility: often, when a problem was reported
to her far decision, she would send it back with the
comment that it should be decided according to the
law. Obviously she was "enlightened," in the
sense of trying at Ieast to apply intelligence and
flexi bility to questions of government. But "the
Enlightenment" is altogether too fluid a concept
far use as some kind of yardstick by which to
measure Catherine's Russia. Enlightenment
thought in any case traveled far between a Monte-
quieu, Beccaria or Voltaire and a Diderot, Hume or
Rousseau: Catherine made her own synthesis of
ideas. She carried on a copious correspondence
with several philosophes: with Voltaire (who had a
great interest in Russia as supposedly a "new civil-
ization"), with Grimm (editor of the enlightened
rulers' "house journal," Correspondence Litteraire)
and with Diderot, whom she saved financially at a
critical moment in his career by purchasing his
library, lending it back to him and installing him as
its permanent salaried curator,
Diderot was the one famous philosophe with
whom she talked at length, when, after long hesi-
tation, he went to Russia to signal his gratltude in
the winter of 1773- 74. The ful! story of this great
encounter between intellect and politics is richly Two remarkable self-made men
from the Russian north carne
comic, sad and revealing. Their discussions ranged together in this fine portrait
over every kind of social topic, without the philo- bust: its sculptor. FJ. Shubin
sopher ever being able to persuade the empress (1740-1805) and his subjcct,
Mikhail Lomonosov {I 711---65),
that his enlightened observations represented any who mcidentally was long dead
kind of practical politics. Eventually, by Cather- when it was made (1792). Shubin
ine's account, she pointed out to him that "You grew up among pcasant bone-
and wood-carvers, to become the
work only on paper, which can stand anything ... greatest neoclassic Russian
whereas I, a poor empress, work upon human skin sculptor. Lomonosov, from a
fisherman's family, was an
which is very different: irritable and quick to take astonishing "Renaissance man,"
offense." Diderot meanwhile, holed up in chilly St sırong-willed and pugnacious:
Petersburg, feeling ili and homesick, found it the outstanding baroque poet, he
was also liıerary ıbeorisı,
impossible to get straight answers when he wanted historian, economist, artist,
to find out statistical infarmation about Russia, but geographer, but most notably a
was not blind to his surroundings: "lt seems to me polymath scientisı, far ahead of
his time in physical chemistry.
that your subjects err on the side of one extreme or He wa.s inspiration ıoo for the
the other, either in believing their nation too considerable scientific,
advanced or too backward . . ." Outside in the exploratory and scholarly
activity of 18th-century Russia.
wide world the Pugachov revolt was reaching its
climax, and St Petersburg jumpiness was heigh-
tened by a news blackout. Though the visit was
hardly a success, Diderot and Catherine were both
too good-natured not to part as friends; but it is
likely that thereafter she decided to be her own
philosopher.
"Enlightenment" in Russian implies also
education, and Catherine, working with an excep-
tional minister, 1. Betskoy, vast!y increased educa-
tiona1 levels and opportunities. Already under
Elizabeth the Academy of Arts and Moscow
University had rather uncertainly got under way,
following Peter's Academy of Sciences, and Russia
managed to produce its first great modern scholar,
Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-65). His achievements as
poet, literary theorist, physicist, chemist,
mosaic-maker, geologist, astronomer and more
besides made him a "one-man university," an
emblematic figure of great signifıcance--the more
so since he was from a state-peasant family in the
far north, who had to go by foot to study in the
capital and pass himself off as a nobleman. Under
Catherine a rather modern concept of education led
to some forward-looking experiments, including in
the education of women. üne of the great female
inte1lectuals of the time, Princess Dashkova, was
appointed as director of the Academy of Sciences
in 1782 and president of the new Academy of
Letters the following year. Education alsa implied
book pu blication, which increased dramatically,
and the formation of public opinion. Catherine
gave an energetic lead, promoting satirical journals
and hersel[ writing at least 30 plays (mostly com-
edies, mild satires and scenes from Russian
history). She wrote her adopted language ungram-
matically, but fluently and colloquially, as well as

The Senate Square in St
Petersburg, wıth the monurnent
to Peter ı {Fakonet' s Bron=.e
Horseman, completed I 782). This
great central square. just
downstream from the Admiralty,
is lined by the fine Senate and
Synod buildings by K. Ross
{1829} a latf' {Russian-born}
neoclassicist. it fronts the Ne\'a,
with the Academy of Arts (1765}
bevond. Here 3CNJO soldiers drew
up~ in the failed "Decembrist"
revolt of 1825. The Brorı::t'
Horseman has had-----since
Pushkin's narratiYe poem-a
central role ın the "myth of
Petersburg." ıts great granite
plinth, mostly undcrground,
suggests a breaking wa\'e.
writing copiously in French.
As the reign progressed, the founders of modern
Russian literature and pubJic opinion began to
emerge: the playwrighı Denis Fonvizin (1745- 92),
ıhe novelist Fyodor Emin (c.1735- 70), a poet of
great rough-hewn genius Gavriil Derzhavin (l 744-
1816), the publicist and publislıer Nikolai Novikov
(1744-1818), a proto-Roınantic poet and prose-
writer, Nikolai Karamzin (1766- 1826), who became
also Russia's first great lıistorian, and tlıe most
widely known of all, Aleksandr Radislıchev (1749-
1802). Radishchev's Jounı ey from St Petersbıırg ıo
Moscow is an unclassifiable work: its imaginary
journey is punct uated by stops where the aut hor
observes, expatiates on and digresses from scenes
of country life, which add up to a generally grim
picture of serfdom. His appeal aims to touclı tlıe
heart, in Rousseauesque manner; his journey ends
ratlıer unexpectedly witlı a paean of praise to
Lomonosov, representing tlıe geni us of the people,
and an "Ode to Freedom." The book is often naive
and ill-coordinated- thc fastidious Pushkin dis-
liked it - yet powerful in its warnings of simmer-
ing popular rebelliousness. This aspect of it
particularly riled Cat herine when she read it in the
tense summer of 1790: her copy wiıh marginal
notes has survived. The book was seized, its
anonymous author identified, arrested, at first sen-
tenced to death for treason, then exiled to Siberia.
Five years later, under Paul, Radishchev returned
to take some part in public life, then to commit sui-
cide for what seem to have been ideological
reasons.
Among intellectuals who crossed Catherine's
patlı in those final years, Novikov too was arrested,
in 1792. Here the trouble seems to have stemmed
from his involvement in freemasonry, specifically
THE FLOWERlNG OF IMPERIAL RUS5JA
with the sccret Rosicrucian order, largely
controlled from Prussia and excessively interested
in the heir to the throne, Paul. The immense spread
of freemasonry and fringe religion of various types
in late 18th-century Russia was remote from Cath-
erine's sympathies: the irritating hints of menace
from her increasingly eccentric son's "small court"
at Gatchina, outside St Petersburg, were probably
worse. But it would be a pit y to leave discussion of
the intellectual atmosphere of Catherine's time ona
sour note. There was in her reign an unprece-
dented explosion of the arts, particularly in the
peaceful decade from the mid-l 770s on, that make
it one of Russia's best moments of cultural efflor-
escence. Catherine's tastes in personal life were
relaxed and modest, if not spartan, but she likcd a
party, and court entertainmcnts were splendidly
done . The court theater was free and open to ali
who \vere respectably dressed, as were the palace
parks. Music flourished under Potemkin's patron-
age, with a series of composers, from Galuppi to
Paisiello, making their names in Russia. A native
school of composers began cautiously to develop a
national style, whether in church music, in key-
board folk-tune variations or in comic operas, long
before G linka.
Catherine hersel[ claimed to have no ear for
music, but her visual sense was acute. Slıe founded
the coJlection of paintings that forms the core of the
great Hermitage collection in St Petersburg. Russia
produced three major portraitists (Dimitriy
Levitsky, F. Rokotov, \'. Borovikovsky), catering
for the newly built country houses and city man-
sions of the gentry rather than the grand aristo-
cracy, who stand conıparison with any in Europe.
Sculptural portraiture flourished too, notably in the
person of F.I. Shubin, who grew up among peasant
tll
TH E l· LOW ERI Nr. OF IMPERIAL RU~SIA
wood-carvers in the far no rth.
Build ings were the great visua] expression of the
age. Thc Petcrsburg Baroque of Rastrelli and his
school endcd raıher suddenly at t h e beginning of
the 1760s, and Catherine's Russia d eveloped an
unusually clean-cut, proportionate and unclut-
tered version of international neodassicism,
cqually adaptablc to the grandeur of Pavlovsk or
the Tauride Palace as ıo humbler porıicoed provin-
cial town houses or market rows. An early neo-
classical practitioner was the Frenchman J.-B. Val-
li n de la Mothe, and oıher immigrant architects
includcd the Scot Charles Cameron. There was a
galaxy of native talen t, among whom two demand
mcntion: Matvey Kazakov (1738- 1813) and Vasiliy
Bazhenov (1737 99). The former worked only in
and ncar Moscow, building copiously and setting
his seal on t he calm i nformaliı y of Moscow classi-
cism. Bazhenov, a leading freemason, became as
famous for his unrealized projects as for his hand-
fu l of stan ding buildings. The best-known plan
was for a remodeling of the Moscow Kremlin
(arou nd thc old cat h cdrals) featuring a colonnade
as grand as t hat of Diocletian's palace at Spliı: work
was st arted on its foundations. What he acıually
built includes the in comparable Pashkov House in
Moscow, and St Michael's Palace in St Petersburg,
commissioned by Paul in 1797- a strange manner-
istic interpretation in classical terms of a moated
castle.
But perhaps the period 's most worthy architec-
tural memorial is St Petersburg itself, "one of the
most consisten tly neoclassic cities in the world," as
it has becn called. Catherine gave it an aesthetic
foc us unmatch ed for its simplicity of concept
combined w ith multiple sy mbolic resonances: the
equestrian statue of Peter the Great, executed over
16 years (l 766- 82) under the supervision of E.-M.
Falconet, w ho was recommended ıo Catherine by
Diderot. The rearing horse crushes a snake-
Peter's enemies- und er its hooves; beneath is a
250-ton block of red granite, shipped in a huge
operation from lower down the Gulf of Finland. Its
top suggests a breaking wave. This is the statue
known universa1ly as the Bron ze Horseman, from-
Pushkin's finest narrative poem.
Th e reign of Paul
W hen, after his long and sometimes tense wait,
Pau] came to the throne in 1796, it was made clear
that t he st yle of his reign was intended to differ
from that of his mot her's in every way he could
thin k of. This was good news for dissident exiles
such as Radi shchev, Novikov and Kosciuszko, who
were freed , but there was no great emptying of the
prisons, sin ce Paul himself was ali too ready to
mete out pu nishment on whim. He distrusted the
gentry, whom his mother had made partners in
running the country ; conversely he was rather
popular with the peasantry, though the nearest he
got to mitigating serfdom was to lay down the
principle that peasants should not do more than
t hree days' barshchina work for landlords in a
week. He was a well-read and cultivated man, who
had worked out his own organic and authoritarian
model ofa proper society, but continually under-
mined anything positive in his vision by his
capricious, irascible and neurotic temperament.
Foreign policy was dominated by the aftermath
of the French Revolution, and marked by Paul's
abrupt changes of mind. First having proclaimed
p eace, he then joined the anti-French alliance:
Russian forces under the great undefeated com-
mander Suvorov (already nearly 70) had total
success cam paigning in Italy, then managed a
remarkable crossing of the Alps. His fleet (in
alliance with the Turks) seized the Ionian islands,
and, as the 19th century dawned, Russia had an
empire thaı stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the
west coast of North America. What Paul really
wanted, however, was Malta, where he had been
elected Grand Master of the Knights of St John in
l 798. Napoleon had occupied the island and, to
Paul's disgust, his own allies the British then cap-
tured and held it. Paul, coming round to the idea of
Napoleon as a bastion of strong rule and orderli-
ness, abruptly changed sidesin 1800, and sent off a
Cossack arnıy southeast wards- without maps or
proper supplies- on a lunatic mission to conquer
British-protected India. They were lucky not to ali
perish in the desert, but the adventure had a last-
ing side result in the annexation of the ancient
kingdom of Georgia, which had been irregularly
under Russian protection since the 16th century.
British popular suspicions about Russia's Asiatic
intentions (stili going strong 180 years later when
Brezhnev occupied Afghanistan) presumably date
from this episode.
The disgruntled and scared aristocrats around
the court had been plotıing Paul's overthrow since
1799. Catherine had once told him that if he
planned to counter ideas with gunfire his reign
would be short, and short it was. üne of Paul's first
actions had been to commission Bazhenov to design
the remarkable St Michael's Castle. At its gate he
placed a baroque statue of Peter 1 (by C.-B. Ras-
trelli, father of the great architect) inscribed "To
great-grandfather from great-grandson"- an
"answer" to Catherine's Bronze Horseman.
Anxious to shut himself away from his enemies, he
moved into the castle before the walls had dried
out: ıhere, in the chilly damp, his enemies tracked
him down a few weeks later and in a scene worthy
of opera pulled him out from behind a screen, cere-
monially deposed him and, in unclear but brutal
circumstances, killed him. His eldest son Alex-
ander, then in his early twenties, though warned
by the governor of St Petersburg that Paul was to
lose his throne, was unprepared for murder; he was
peremptorily told "Enough childishness: now go
and rule." Paul's end saved the bewildered Cos-
sacks looking for lndia from a thirsıy death, as they
were promptly recalled.
Alexander 1
Alexander, as soon as he had been persuaded
actually to accept the throne which he had gained
in so shocking a way, went out to reassure the
Guards that the days of his grandmother would be
restored. Certainly he then acted with suitable
magnanimity, rehabilitating some 12 000 people
punished by Paul and relaxing censorship, restric-
tions on travel and other circumscriptions of
liberty that Paul had introduced.
The momentous war with Napoleonic France
dominates the historical perspective of Alexander
I's reign; however, it occupied quhe short periods
within it (1805--07 and 1812-14), and Alexander
Right: The Napoleonic wars.
Up to 1807 the war against
Napoleon had becn fought by
Great Britain and its allies in a
series of coalitions against
France. Both Austria and Prussia
had become pawns in a power
struggle whose ramifications
affected even such distant lands
as Egypt and India. Russian
campaigns inıo the Balkans and
Italy were a warning to
Napoleon of the powcr thaı lay
to the east, but in 1807, after the
heavy losscs inflicted on the
Russian forces at Ausıerlitz and
Friedland, Tsar Alexander I
withdrew from the war. This
tcmporary withdrawal left him
frcc to invade Finland (1808),
forcing the Swedes to cedc the
territory to him. Another
Russian gain as the result ofthe
Napoleonic wars was Bessarabia,
wrested from Ottoman rule.
Napoleon used his satcllitc
Grand Duchy of Warsaw asa
base from which to rccruit large
numbers of Poles into an
intcrnational force of o ver halfa
million men (thc majority of
them non-French) for his
invasion of Russia . Thc taking of
Moscow, with its disastrous
com,equcnccs for Napolcon's
army , was the decisive turning
point in the protracted war;
within 18 months of his rctrcat,
Ru ssian troops were in Paris.
Portrait of the Emperor Paul, by
V. Borovikovsky (1757- 1825)
Borovikovsky, from the Ukraine,
was the !ast in thc trio of finc
chamber portraitists (the others
were F. Rokotov and O.
Levitsky) who made the mosı
!asting contributions to Russian
L8th-century painting. A touch
of Romanticism or
sentimentalism characterized his
best work (of thc l 790s); he
portrayed Catherine informally
asa comfortable matriaTch
strolling in the park. The
ncurotic and ill-fated Paul,
however, cannot be prcttifıcd
eithcr by Borovikovsky or in
Shubin's remarkable bust; he
stands on his dignity as
military-minded emperor and
Grand Master of the Knights of
Malta.
 THE FLOWERING OF lMPERlAL RUSSIA

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had plenty of time to concentrate on domestic
issues. At the start of his reign he made a method-
ical attempt to work out what needed to be done,
in the company of an unofficial committee of
reform-minded friends. Na minutes were taken,
but it is clear the ending of serfdom and even of the
autocracy \\!as discusscd. Such momentous
measures would have required a degree of state-
craft and patient preparation that Alexander
lacked: by 1805 he had lost interest. Measures to
improve government were nevertheless under-
taken, and the freeing of serfs by landlords was
facilitated, though not widely practiced.
The war with France that Russia joined in 1805
was not the only one in Alexander's reign. HostHi-
ties with Persia (1804 15) and with Turkey (1806-
12) both resulted from the annexation of Georgia.
In each, as in the two previous reigns, Russian mili-
tary skill was able ta deliver notable successes:
from the Persians, much of the Caucasus area was
gained (though it was to be dccades before the wild
mountain valleys would yield tlıeir independence),
from the Turks, Bessarabia and part of the eastern
Black Sca littoral. Further successes against Sweden
(1808--09) gained the whole of Finland. The first
French war however went a lot less well either
than these ar the campaigns of Suvorov under
PauL After Austerlitz and Friedland, Alexander
realized how great his losses threatened to be. and
pulled out of the war. The legendary conference
and treaty negotiated at Tilsit followed (July 1807).
Napoleon and Alexandcr decided to confer person-
ally and secreıly ona raft in the rniddle of the River
Neman, with a show of bonhomie that could
scarcely cover their differences . At least thcy
readily agreed on their dislike of England. Who
outwitted the other? Alexander salvaged some
concessions from the Napoleonic debacle, and
gained time. Napoleon thought Alexander a "cun-
ning Byzantine," and his devious charm seems
generally to have been deployed to besı effect in
foreign policy.

115
THE FLOWERING OF IMPHIAL KUSSJA

The five-year breathing space after Tilsit

~ - - - -- )
allowed attention to be redirected to domestic
concerns. Alexander followed and perhaps outdid
1812
his grandmother in his far-sightcd _investment in
education, both at school and unıversıty level.
Particularly famous is the elite Lycee at Tsa~sk~ye
Se]o wherc Pushkin and other litcrary lumına rı es
wcre cxcellently taught. But the most remarkable
The events of 1812 and their consequences for Russia Bottom /eft Prince Mikhail
event of thosc years was the first coherent attempt Kutuzov, Russian military
can only properly be appreciated in the context ofa
to produce a constitution for Russıa. Thıs was commander in 1812, already had
society whose educated class was intensely Franco- (at 67) a distinguished career
worked aut in 1809 by Mikhail Speransky (1772-
phile, irrespective of political inclinat\on. Russia had behind him. Napoleon continued
1839). Speransky, of humble clergy origin, was a from Vilnius not towards St
vacillated in Paul's and Alexander Is reıgns m ıts
firm monarchist who believed equally firmly ın t he Petersburg. the capital, but
attitude to Napoleonic France. When Napoleon and Moscow, Russia's heart. Russian
rule of law and participation of socicty in govern-
Alexander concluded peace at Tilsit (1807), it is public opinion was alarmed, and
ment. This would have been the chance for a Kutuzov was put in command.
unlikely that either felt secure in the alliance; what One battle was fought, at
reform-minded empcror to direct the gradual
each got was a breathing space. When Napoleon's Borodino (which Napoleon seems
liberalization, or at least modernization, of the to have thought was for
assault eventually came he set aut, disastrously, at
state: but Alexandcr hesitated, and meanwh ile Moscow, though well over 100
nıidsunımer, ta be caught in autumnal Moscow. The kilometers away). it was
anti-Speransky forces built up. in 1812 Speran sky,
retreat from the empty and incinerated city in early indecisive, with great slaughter,
thought to be a Francophile, was dismissed. Later though ultimately worse for the
winter reduced the "Great Army" to a twentieth of
he was to come back to the political scene to some French with their extended
its initial size. supply-lines. The wily Kutuzov
cffect, but his grand scheme was never revived.
Napoleon's war on Russia nıight have been a war of continued to retreat, luring the
The story of 1812 is well known, not least to French into a trap. For the
Jiberation . It was quite uncertain how the enserfed deterministic Tolstoy it was the
readers of War and Peace. Tensions between
population would react ta a self-proclaimed lib~rator, down-to-earth Kutuzov, not
France and Russia had been building up in many
particularly in the extensıve west~rn areas reınc?r­ Napoleon with ali his
different areas, and the renewal of war could only pretensions, who understood
p orated into Russia only a generatıon before. Polish the march of history .
be a mattcr of t ime. Napoleon's "Great Army
irredentism was a strong politıcal undercurrent of
numbered nearly halfa million- more when re!n-
the Napoleonic venture, and Poles fought betler ,~han
forcements came--against a far smal1er Ru ss ı an
h is other t roops (under halfwere French). Some Old
force, at least at the outset. Over half Napoleon's
Believer " schismatics became Napoleonovtsy ("Napo-
men came not from France but from willing or
leonites"), on th e basis that the man declared
reluctant allies: there was a largc Po1ish contingent,
'i\ntichrist" by the Orthodox must be their salva-
hoping the war would lead ta a reintegrated Polish
tion . But the bulk of the population held firm to the
state. Napoleon advanced, and later retreated,
tsar. The psyc hological and political consequences
along the traditional highway into Russia, the great
for Russia of defeating Napoleon were great. It was
series of moraine ridges that lead through Smo-
Russia's most "European" moment: Alexander, con-
lensk towards Moscow, striking at the country's
vin ced of div ine approval, attempted to order
heart rather than at its administrative capital.
Europe's destiny.
Outside Moscow the indecisive battle of Borodino
was fought in a misi, with huge losses (ultimately
worse for the French) on both sides. Though Mos-
cow could not be held, Alexander, his old and wily
commander Kutuzov and the Russian people at
large had no intention of suing for peace. Napoleon
had left his entry into the deserted and soon mcın­
eratcd city too !ate: he was undersupplied, and it
was already September; no anti-tsaris_t peasant
uprising had materialized; he could not lıve off the
Iand, even though there was no systematıc
scorched carth policy. The retreat, starting in mid-
October at the onset of the Russian winter was
disastrous; disease was even more effective than
Russian partisans at reduciııg the Great Army, of
which scarcely a twentieth reıurned home. By the
cnd of the year Russia had been cleared of the
invaders. The Russian army continued in pursuit
of Napoleon, and in 1814 occupied Paris where
they left, supposedly, a linguistic memento bchmd
in the word bistro, a drinking-place (from Russıan
bystm!, "quick!").
The saga of 1812 has remained high in ıhe Rus-
sian historical consciousness; it was termed ote-
chestvennaya vovna, "the l'atherland War" {often
mistranslated "Patriotic War") from the facı that it
unrolled on Russian soil. Hitler's invasion in 1941
was ta be given the same appellation. As for Alex-
ander, he was awarded the title blazhenny, "the
Blessed," with the implication that he was a living
saint. in the general euphoria of the conservative
16
Ufı Great artists were moved by
the pathos ofthe retreat from
Moscow: thıs ıs Gericault's
drawing of wounded French
soldiers Napoleonic veterans,
however, were few, even at the
outset: thc Great Army consistcd
largelyof allies.

Aboı:e Tsar Alexander at Tilsit,

by G. Serangeli (1810). For two
years Russia had grimly resisted
the Napolconic ırulitary machine.
despite Austerlitz and other
allied reverses; finally rhe battle
of Friedland forced tbe tsar to
sue for peace. Russia avoided rhe
humiliation meted out to Prussi.a:
at the border town ofTilsit on
the River Neman Alcxander and
.N'apoleon agreed in person to
terms that, while committing
Russia to the support of France,
left ita free agent. Ale:ıcander. a
channing. shrewd and devious
diplomatıst. must havc known
he was buying time. A dynastic
mınriage between his sistcr and
:--Japoleon did not matenalıze,
and a whole series of diploına.tic
irritations led inexorably
towards 18)2_ Mcanı.ı;hiJe the
Russians were able successfully
ro rake ona series of other
cnemies, from ~wcden to Persia

Left The retreat ofthe Great

Army from the useless goal of
Moscow, burnt out- probably
ddiberately and empty of
population. began on 19
October The Russia.n forces
barassed ıt more and more as the
retreat became chaotic. DiYsters
such as ıh.at of the crossing of
the Berezına River in Belarus
reduced both numbers and
morale but in the end disea<;e
and hunger took the greatesı
toll. B\' the end of 1812 the
entirt,-remn.ants of the Greaı
Armv had left Russian soıl. The
retre'a.t, wiıh 'Sapoleon at lts
he.ad. is romantic.ı.lly portraved
in this latcr 19th-tenturv
painting bv E. Meıs~nier

117
 Below The Decembrist re beis

D ecembrists, Anarchists assembled in Senate Square, St

Petersburg, by the statue of
Peter the Great. There they were
surrounded by loyal units, who
and Terrorists fired upon them and dispcrsed
them. The pr:int shows the
Decembrists fleeing to the left,
with troops loyal to Nicholas I in
formation around the square.

The all-encompassing pretensions of ısa rist auto-

cracy meant that opposition to it was often revolu-
tionary in character- even when its proponen ts
were liberals or mild socia1ists. Such were most of
the 1825 Decembrists, who had greaı symboli c
resonance far later Russian opposition.
Because of l 91 7, Marxism may well be seen as
the main impulse behind Russian revolutionaris m .
During most of the preceding ccntury however this
was far from the case. The characteristic Russian
trend was anarchism of various kinds. Its greatest
proponent, Mikhail Bakunin (1814- 76), was active
throughout Europe, and managed to destroy
Marx's First International; his successor, Peter
Kropotkin (1842- 1921), gave anarchism intellectual
stuffing. Both, perhaps surprisingly, were revered
more than a century later under the Soviet regime.
Russia's social peculiarities, notably the self-
helping peasant commune, meant that anarchism
blcnded easily with the populism dominant from
the mid-l 9th century. Politics tended to polarize,
and revolutionaries increasingly resorted ta terror-
ism (see Dostoyevsky's hostile picture in The
Devils). Lale l 9th-cenıury revolutionism, marked
by complexity and duplicity, achieved the assas-
sination of Alexander il but little else: after a lull,
leadership passed to the methodical Marxists.

Mikhail Bakunin (far left),

greatest of anarchists, emigrated
aftcr ımprisonmcnt (1851 57)
and achıeved fame in the West
Originally nike many Russıan
thinkers) a Hegelian, he came to
loathe all politıcs, religion and
the slavery implicit in authority,
upholdıng "the sacred insti nct of
revolt." He and similar theorists
were lionized by the educated
elite, whose tolerance of
terrorism was sufficicnt to
ınlluence a JLiry's acquıttal of
Vı:ı;a Zasulich (leji), who shot
and wounded the mılitary
govcrnor of St Petersburg in
1878.

118

Bottom Sofya Perovskaya. from a
fam.ily in the highest
administrative class. was a lea der
of " People's Will," the terrorist
group dedicatcd to assassinating
government officials . lts ultimat e
ıarget was Alexander II, but
their repeated attempts at
regidde failed .
Far left Alexander Il was killed
by a bomb thrown by an isolated
terrorist. He \'\•as simultaneousl\'
stalked by the "People's \\'ili"~
gr oup, ,vho had been
respansible for unsuccessful
earlier assassination attempts.
The day he died , the emperor
was due to fi nalize a
prodamation of constitutional
reform.
Left This photograph of women
terrorists board ing a train for
exile in Siberia illustrates the
class d ivitle confronting the
revolutionaries of the late 19th
century. The women are ali
conspicuously u p per d ass; the
railway workers are indifferent
to them. and fascinat ed at being
photographed.
forces in Europe afte r 1815 A lexander w as on top
of the world. Though stili by inclination a constitu-
tiona1ist, Alexander was a moving spirit be hi nd t he
fantastical Holy Alliance (by w h ich crowne d h eads
of Europe pledged th emselves to !ive in Ch ristian
brother hood) and t h e more practical Congress
Sy stem of political allian ces intended to maintain
the European order an d crush revolution. H e pro-
posed an internation al law-enforcing a rmy, cou-
pled with disarmanı e nt, b ut h is parıners overruled
him. The Greek rebellion against th e Ottoman
empire placed t h e Congress system in a q uandary:
should this be considered revol ution, ora Christian
war of liberation agai n st the infideJ? (Eventually,
un.d er A lex an d er's successor, the Russians \vere to
come dow n d ecisively on the side of the Greeks.)
Similar p ro blems were to d isıurb the "Concert of
Europe" up to \Vorld War I.
At h ome, movement toward s reform ca me a]most
ıo a hal t with Alexander's conviction of his special
Go d-given destiny and absorption both in high
internationa l politics and in fringe religion.
Anot h er. decentralizing, constitution was drafted,
t his time by Count Nikolai Novosiltsov, but again
Alexander \'aci1lated. Little more was done
toward s alleviaıing serfdom, though in the Baltic
provinces peasants \'\·ere liberated, vı.rithout land.
The Decem bri sts
On I December 1825 (O.S.) Alexander suddenly
d ied offever in the remote southern port ofTagan-
rog. He was 48; he had confided not long before
that be intended to abdicate at 50. Several odd
factors combined to rouse later suspicions that the
d eath was faked: a wandering hernıit called Fyodor
Ku zmich was subsequently thought to be the late
eın peror. News of the death took a week to reach St
Petersburg. An extraordinary period of uncer-
tainty began: Alexander had left no sons, and by
Paul's succession law the throne should have
passed to his brother Constantine. Some years
before, Constantine, comforıably installed in \Var-
saw and married to a Polish ladv, had renounced
h is r ights; Alexander confirmed the succession
must now pass to his youngest brother, ~icholas,
but kept the change secret. Hasty correspondence
passed betwen St Petersburg and \Varsa\,· to estab-
lish Constantine's current intentions; Nicholas and
his troops meanwhile swore pubJic allegiance to
him. But Constantine \.vould not even accept power
and then abdicate, so Nicholas's formal accession
day was set for 26 December. These baffling and
secretive goings-on alarmcd educated opinion,
while those who hoped for refonns were discon-
certed at the prospect of rule by the stern Nicholas
rather than the more amenable Constantine. lf any-
one could act swiftly enough the cfrcumstances
seemed right fora coup d'etat.
Those readv to hatch this have been named by
posterity "De~embrists." They constituted a rathe'"r
extensiYe net\'\'Ork of mostly young army officers,
organized in ıhree main groupings, of which the
most radieal was the "Southern Society" led by
Colonel Pawl Peste!; they were well organized but
based at the southern army headquarıers, far from
t h e capital. Their plan was to assemble the troops
u nder their cornmand in the great Senate Square,
by the Bronze Horseman, and with this show of
force somehow to compel Nicholas to stand down
THE FLOWERlI\"G OF 1.MPERJAL RlJSS.IA
in favor of Constantine. About 3000 soldiers were
drawn up in ıhe lale morning ofa cold winter's day,
shouting for " Con stantine and Constitution." Leg-
end has it ıhat ıhe men thought "Constitution"
(Konstitııtsiya) was Constantine's wife. But Nicho-
las, forewarned, had loyal troops surround the
square. A messenger was killed; the rebels' pro-
posed regent disappeared from the scene. Both seıs
of troops waited, watched and froze as hours
ticked by. \Vhen darkness was approaching,
Nicholas overcame his reiuctance to baptize his
reign in blood and ordered his arıillery to fire.
Some 50 men were killed, the rebellion collapsed
and its leaders were arrested.
\Vhat the Decenıbrists alI wanted v,·as consti-
tutional government and an end to serfdom:
beyond that ıhere was little agreement, and their
schemes ranged from a mild liberalism to Pestel's
rigorously centralized Jacobin republic. These
plans had been maturing for some time, since the
native roots of Decembrism stretch back at anv rate
fora decade, and mavbe to Radishchev in ıh~ 18th
century. Equally irri'portant was the example of
similar political organizations in \Vestern Europe
(the ltalian Car·bonar·i, the German Tugendbıın d).
The masonic lodges ıhat proliferated in the late
18th and early 19th centuries in Russia pro,,ed a
fertile breeding ground for unorıhodox --often
unworldly- political thinking. Historians often
point to the facı that the large numbers of Russian
soldiers who pursued Napoleon ıo Paris broadened
their mental horizons by experiencing foreign
wavs at first hand. This may be so, but ne,·ertheless
mo~st of the Decembrist officers were too young to
have participated. What bound their disparate per-
sonalities together were certain behavioral modes
and habits of evervdav life: thev believed in action,
in blunt words, iil a ,;'Roman" ~traightforwardness.
There is a splendid literary portrayal of the
"Decenıbrist type" in the hero of Alexander Gri-
boyedov's notable satirical verse play IVoe from H'it
(1824). Since ıhey were recognizable in any gather-
ing they \-vere not -..ery good conspirators: Alexan-
der's go\·ernment knevç quite well what was afoot,
but hardly bothered to respond, save by closing
masonic lodges.
The Decembrists' revolt was essentialh· svm bo-
lic: some of its leaders assumed its failure' be°fore it
had even taken place. lts symboli c narure made the
image ofthe Decembrists, their fr an k ness and cour-
age, ali the more powerful to later generations of
revolutionaries, and indeed of li berals, in a societv
where indecision or cunning de,·iousness weie
notably pen·asive among the progressi\·e intellec-
tuals. But what particularly im pressed and alarmed
the autocracv at the time was the fact that the
Decembrists ~onstit uted a moı:ement, and one that
had spread widely amo ng officers and intellectuals
of the gentry, t h e most privileged class of the
nation, the class on which its government
depended . Ewn if they had little rapporı with the
mass of the people, the Decembrists ne,·ertheless
co uld not simply be dism issed as isolated dreamers
or fanaıics. They also had ıhe intellectual power of
a firmly Russian-based ideology, a view of history
that centered on the ancient liberties of KieY and
Nm·gorod, on bold ant i-tyrannical figures such as
Prince Kurbsky, a vision, in fact, of an "alternative
Russia.··
119
THE LAST FOUR EMPERORS
Reaction and stagnation
Nicholas I came to the Russian throne in his thir-
tieth year, and reigned anothcr 30: the period has
entcrcd thc Russians' consciousness as an age of
reaction, of political stagnation and social
repression. it ended in the fırst war the Russians
had lost since the ill-fated Crimean campaigns of
the 1680s, with Nicholas aware at his death of thc
crumbling of ali he had stood for. The black
picture we get of the period is largely the work of
the regime's eloquent opponents, notable among
ıhem the amiable emigre Alcxander Herzen (Gert-
sen). From the point of view of Russian culture,
however, there was much remarkable achieve-
ment: above ali in literature, to some extent in the
other arts and also in the sphere of socio-political
thought.
Nicholas was a soldier and ıhe chief engineer of
his own army. Countering any threat to Russia 's
good order and discipline was his life's work. He
had the "parade-ground" character that with
startling regularity revealed itself in each alternate
monarch from the mid-18th century to the end of
the dynasty. Queen Victoria summed him up in
1844: "He is stern and severe with fıxed principles
of duty which nothing on earth will make him
change ... he is sincere even in his most despotic
acts, from a sense that is the only way to govern. "
Nicholas was certain ly not by nature brutal, but
ruled in a way that encouraged a general brutaliza-
tion. A notorious episode was the mock execution
of the Petrashevsk y Circle, an informal discussion
group of vaguely utopian-socialist inclinations: 21
ofthem, including the young Fyodor Dostoyevsky,
were sentcnced to death in 1849. When the first
batch had alread y been tied up to be shot, a stage-
managcd reprieve was granted; one victim was per-
manently deranged. Dostoyevsky remained in
Siberia until 1856.
The beginning and end of Nicholas l's reign
were marked by wars against Turkey: the first was
successful, the second unsuccessful, though only
after the British and French had joined in on the
Ottoman side. The war of the 1820s, in continua-
tion of Alexander' s policies, eventually brought
guaranteed independence to Greece and autonomy
to other Balkan Christian provinces. In between
came peace and good relations with the Ottomans,
to the extent of Russia's helping to defend Constan-
tinople against the Egyptian rebel Ibrahim Pasha in
the 1830s. in 1848-49, the European "year of revo-
lutions," Russia helped another foreign empire,
Austria, to crush rebellion, this time the Hungarian
national uprising led by Kossuth. The French revo-
lution of 1848 and subsequently the accession of
Napoleon IIl made a clash of some kind with France
unavoidable; the Crimean war was the outcome.
in domestic policy, Nicholas's pursuit of good
order had many negative resu1ts and one or two
more positive. Speransky (who had been Alex-
ander I's "prime minister" 20 years before) accom-
plished the task of codifying ali the Russian laws
since 1649. Order was brought to the chaotic state
finances. There was growth in the economy, and
grain exports (largely through Odessa) gained in
significance, particularly after the repeal of the
British corn laws. The lot of state peasants- nearly
half the total-was improved; when they were
given title to their land, they were effectively
freed. Serfdom itself remained untouched, though
in anticipation of its eventual end landlords quietly
transferred over half a million serfs from the land
into domestic service during the 1840s and 1850s,
in the hope of minimizing the effect of any share-
out of their own estates. Meanwhile Nicholas's
personal commitment to the maintenance of social
discipline, not to mention mistrust of the gentry
class that had spawned the Decembrists, meant that
he preferred to rule not through the established
state organs, but less formally through special
committees of a few like-minded assistants. "His
Majesty's Own Chancery" grew in size and power:
its Third Department (headed by Count Bencken-
dorff) was effectively Nicholas's political police,
existing in rivalry with the real police, highly
intrusive in all areas of life, recipients of countless
anonymous denunciations, yet at the same time
ludicrously inefficient. Censorship of print and
tight restrictions on foreign travel were
characteristic.
Nicholas made it his personal concern to investi-
gate the whole Decembrist revolt and its rami-
fications. Ovcr a hundred participants were
brought to trial, five were executed (including the
considerable poet Kondratiy Ryleyev) and most of
the rest sent to Siberia. The Decembrists, always
rcad y to speak their minds, spelled out their hopes
and beliefs in answer to long questioning under
arrest, and in some cases in personal missives to the
emperor. When Nicholas behaved mercifully there
was sometimes a catch. Pushkin, friend of many of
those arrested, told Nicholas personally that had he
been in St Petersburg at the time of the revolt he
would have been with his friends on Senate
Square. Nicholas responded that he wo uld pardon
Pushkin and acı as his personal censor: the poet
was delighted at this show of magnanimity till he
realized he would in fact have to take his works to
Benckendorff, a more alarming prospect than the
ordinary censorship. Later he was appointed humi-
liatingly to a minor court post, subject not just to
boredom but to ultimately fatal intrigue.
The Decembrist uprising differed profoundly
from previous Russian rebellions, elemental explo-
sions of popular discontent, in having an ideologi-
cal basis. Thus the authorities were greatly
concerned ta counter its ideas with ideas of their
own: out of this immediate need, and aut of the
more general early l 9th-century European effort to
harness the new revolutionary forces of national-
ism in the interests of established order, was
hatched the doctrine of " Official Nationality." lts

This French engranng show-.
"1icholas I (tsar 1825- 55)
re\'iewing his troops. Like Paul
and Peter 11T before him,
Nicholas was militarily mindcd.
with a "parade-ground" attitude
not JUSt to hıs army but ıo the
go\·ernmcnt ofRussia; he was
known as the "Gendarme of
Europe." After thc ''ycar of thc
re\'olutions" (1848), hıs cocrcıon
of Rus-.ia was particularl)
stringenı. Russian armıes \\'ere
successful throughout his reign
untıl the major confhct ın the
Crimea (1851 56), whıch had
begun asa Ru:ı.so-Turki:ı.h war.
The defıciencıcs that were
shown up after the
Anglo--French in,,olvement
darkened Nicholas'!> Jast d.:ıy:ı..
chief proponent, who hada long spell ( 1833 49) as
Nicholas's minister of education, was Count Sergey
Uvarov. Its principJes were embodied in three con-
cepts: Orthodoxy, Autocracy (the foundation of
the whole structure) and the untranslatable Narud-
nosl usually rendered as "Nationalit y," but
eınbodying certain presuppositions about the
popular spiril and will as upholders of the idea of
tsardom. Nat·odnost ı..vas to pop up unexpectedly
again in the 1930s as one of the three principlcs of
Soviet Socialist Rea1ism. "Offıcial Nationalit\'" was
forcibly propagated in schools and universitİes, yer
was not an entirelv artificiaJ construct, since it
seemed to many t~ articulate that characteristic
l 9th-century intellectual yearning for Gemein-
schaft, "communality," the sense of the nation as
an orgaııic whole, held together by bonds deeper
than merely laws or social conventions.
The particular Russian gloss was supplied by the
attempt of the autocracy to take over popular
myths about the relation between tsar and people,
THE !.AST FOL'R E.\IPF.RORS
despite thc facı that each generaıion since the mid-
18th century "Germanized" itself further, until by
the 20th century ,carcely a drop of Russian bloo<l
llowed through the imperial veim. ln particular it
tricd to absorh the famous concept of "Holy Rus-
sia." This is first recor<led in Kurbsky's letters to
Jvan lV in the mid-16th century, bccomes comınon
from the Time of Troubles and seems to indicate a
concept of the Russian land distinct from, and
sometimes in opposition to, its sovcrcign rulcrs; it
may have arisen from the phonetic similarity
bet wcen s,:vatoy, holy," and S!'et(v, "bright"
(used, for example, in the ! 3th-century Tale of the
Ruın of the Russian Land). The 18th-century
"gentry culturc" had no time for it, but after 1812,
which was seen by many Russians asa ı..var of Orth-
odoxy against the Antichrist, it was on everybody's
Jips. For tsarism to take up thc concept indicated an
atteınpt to bypass, or marginalize, not just the val-
ues of the Enlightenment, but the whole inde-
pendent gcntry class so feared and despised by
Nicholas 1.
it should not be thought that these and related
idcas were propagated only by thc creatures of the
autocracy. The writer Nikolai Gogol (1809 - 52) in
later years largely gave himself ovcr to their expo-
sition, in crazily extravagant form. Subsequently
they would be powerfully voiced in Dostoyevsky's
huge "polyphonic" novels aııd journalism. They
infuse certain works by leading poets of the time,
nıost notably Vasiliy Zhukovsky ( 1783 1852), who
was chosen to tutor the future Alexander 11, and
Fyodor Tyutchev (1803- 73). The quite false
assumption is sometimes made that a1J signifıcant
19th-century Russian writers v\'ere opponents of
tsardom. ln fact there was a diverse streaın of arti-
culate "conservative" thought in Russia dating at
least as far back as Prince M. Shcherbatov, who was
an effecth·e speaker in thc LegisJative Commission
of 1767, and later published polemical essays; it
runs through figures such as the historian Kar-
amzin and the "archaist" poet Alexander Shishkov
(1754- 1841).
The Slavophiles and mid-19th-ccntury culture
The most notable debate to which the age gave
birth was that between the Slavophiles and their
various opponents, generally referred to as \ Vester-
nizers (though unlike the Slavophiles ıhey did not
constitute any self-acknowledged group ). \Vhat
seems to have set the Slavophile enterprise in
motion was the publication in 1836 of the first
Plıilosoplıical Letteı· by Pyotr Chaadaycv (1794-
1856). He had Deceınbrist connections, an interest
in the "Lovers of \.Visdom" ( Ly ubomudr;.·, a mysti-
ca11y minded discussion group disbanded after thc
Decembrist uprising) and a s y ınpathy with
European Romantic religious and historical
thought. The burden of his letter was a rhetorical
evocation of what he sav,· as Russian cultural aiın­
lessness, lack of spiritualit y and absence of charac-
teristic \Vestern virtues such as a sense of duty,
justice and logic. hı suc h a country there could be
no progress and n o true history. Chaadayev's
Letter caused an uproar, an d he was. declared mad.
The Sla\'ophiles, in contrast, rallied to the
defense of Russia's rich and a ncie nt cu lture, which
they saw as different in es.sence fro m t hat of the
\Vest (it has been a besetting sin of Russian
121
Pushkin and Gogol

When foreigners speak ofthe classics ofRussian litcr-

ature, they are likcly to have in mind Tolstoy and
Dostoyevsky, perhaps Turgenev and Chekhov . Many
Russians however considcr their rcal classics to be
two writers who were dead before the great age of
the Russian novcl had cven begun: Alcxander Push-
kin (1799 1837) and Nikolai Gogol (1809-52). They
knew each other: Pushkin welcomcd Gogol' s ca rly
stories; Gogol hero-worshiped the already famous
Pushkin. Both came from thc down-at-heel landown-
ing class, but in ali othcr respccts they were uttcrly
different.
Pushkin called himself a Romantic, by that mean-
ing mercly that he was a modern and admired Byron:
his deeper instincts, likc Byron' s, were classical. He
senscd responsibility to tradition and to society: Rus-
sia, he thought, needed "Shakespearcan" drama, and
Boris Godunov resulted. He alsa produced "thc best
novel Walter Scott never wrote," The Capıain's
Daughter. He turned his hand to ali literary forms,
investing each with balance, tacı and wit. Wary of
rhetoric and even metaphor, he can sound "flat'' (as
Flaubert complained) in translations wherc the
linguistic prccision, range and sparkle are missing.
Pushkin was the Mozart of literature; not just their
art but their personalities and livcs have uncanny
rescmblances. Pushkin sensed this, and anticipated
Schaffer's Amadeus in his "little tragedy," Mozart
and Salieri. Like many of his besi works (Queen of
Spades, Bronze Horseman), it is both a study in
obsession and a "problem-piece" whcre readers have
to formulate not only answers, but the questions
themsclves. Pushkin was much aware of the limits of
literature, teasingly brcaking off his great "novcl in
verse," Yevgeny Onegin, in mid-scntencc at its climax.
Gogol, the country boy overwhelmcd by St Peters-
burg, capitalized on his Ukrainian background in his
early stories. Their knowing folkiness was considered
hilarious; Pushkin spotted that Gogol' s gaiety was "at
once naive and cunning." Subscquent tales-How
the Two Ivans Quarreled, the Petersburg stories·-
revealed alarming depths under a surface of comed y
and pathos. A few years on either side of his 30th
birthday, mostly spent abroad, witnesscd his master- Above A sketch drawn by
pieces: a play The Inspector General, The Overcoat, the Pushkin to illustrate a story in
first part of Dead Souls. in detail these works are his Tales of Belkın.
uproariously funny: overall they terrify in their Left An illustration ofa Pushkin
haunted soullessness. Critics took them as socio- folk tale by 1. Bilibin
political satire; Gogol objected violently, wishing (1876-1942), associated \•:ith the
Symbolist "world of Art" group
them to be read in rcligious terms. But Gogol' s idio- and one ofthe best turn-of-the-
syncratic rcligion had little place for God, though the century graphic artists
Pushkin's writings have hada
Devi! was cverywhere-operating above ali through rcmarkable "after-life" as
posh/osı, pretentious vulgarity. Gogol's unruly genius maıerial for man y Russian
deserted him, his projected "Divine Comcdy," Dead operas. songs and ballets and
also for artists.
Souls, remained a fragment and he died in pitiful
dejection. Whereas the suave and fastidious Pushkin
stimulatcd the whole Europeanized and intellcctual
vein in Russian writing, cvcrything in it that is
perversc, facctious, capricious, colloquial, in- or over-
articulate, from Dostoyevsky to Zoshchenko, is
Gogol' s progeny.

Below left Portrait of Pushk.in by
O.A Xiprensky (1782- 1836).
Kiprensky wasone ofthe last in
tbe unpretentious yet
distinguished line of Russian
l8th-century portraitists. This,
one of the fınest Russian
portraits. invests the poet with a
subdued Romantic tension and
loneliness.
::~o~ ~;:~:~~~ l~~!~~n
0
1941 but restored) was the
Pushkin family's estate and the
poet's burial place. Here he was
exiled fora couple of years in
the mid-l820s (thus avoiding the
Decembrist uprising in which
friends were involved), with
little company save his old nu.rse
Arina Rodionovina, from whom
he acquired his lasting interest
in folklore; like two or three
other periods of isolation, it was
a most productive period in his
writing.
over manuscripts, and beyond
that a deft producer of album
verses, sketches and carkanıres,
not aver~ to mordant or bawdy
,,·it. His own face, often
emphasi:ring the "African"
features he inherited from one of
his forebears, Peter the Great's
Ethiopi,m sen·itor Hannibal,
constantly recurs.
Uft in contrast to the dashing
Pushkın, Gogol. perhaps
flatteringly portrayed here, was
unpn:possc-ssing, gauche, scared
of women, unself-confıdent yet
manically egotistıcal. Unsure of
his own superabundant but
uncontrollable talent, he
attributed to Pushkin the ideas
for hıs best works.
THE LAST FOUR EMPERORS
thinkers from Chaadayev to Solzhenitsyn to talk
sweepingly of "the West" as if it were a single
entity). "Slavophile" does not necessarily imply an
interest in fellow Slavs, or "Panslavism" rather a
con cern with Russia 's non-\Vestern individuality
and irs deep religious and historical roots. The
movemcnt's leading writers. lvan Kireyevsky
(1806- 56) and Aleksey Khomyakov (1804-60),
developed a theory of history that saw the \Vest's
rationalism as having fatally "atomized" society,
rendering social relationships sterile and legalistic.
By contrast, the Russian pcople werc and arc in
posscssion of "inner truth" and freedom, values
inherent above all in the village commune (mir or
obshchıııa) and the Orthodox Church. Khomyakov
went on to develop his famous concept of sobor
nası, "communality" an attempt to define the
essence (rather than the mundane reality) of Ortho-
doxy, which stood for voluntary agreement and
brotherhood, as opposed to papa! auıhoritarianism.
A practical consequence of Slavophilism was the
methodical investigation of folk culture and creati-
vity, manifested notably in the great collection of
folksong made by Kireycvsky's brother Pyotr.
After its "heroic period" in the 1840s and 1850s,
during which it championed the cause of the eman-
cipation of the serfs as essential to the revival of
Russia's unique soda] and cultural heritage, Slavo-
philism was fragmented and to some extent passed
into common currency; some of its survivors
bccame establishment fıgures. Cnder Nicholas 1,
however, leading Slavophiles were often subject to
censorship on account of an undcrlying note of
anarchy and libertarianism in their ideology.
Censorship, not surprisingly, clamped down
harder stili on radical thinkers of the period,
including several of those considered to be \Vest-
ernizers. Even a \'\·ork of an earlier generation,
Griboyedov's l\"oe frnın \\'it (1824), was unpub-
lishablc, though it circulated in thousands of
manuscript copies and has become as quotabk as
Shakespeare. Alexander Herzen ( 1812 70), one of
the great liberal thinkers of Europe. emigrated to
England in 1847--not that he found "the West"
wholly congenial-and issued a stream of uncen-
sored writing, notably his vast discursive auto-
biography .Hy Pası wıd Thoughts. The fırst great
Russian revolutionarv anarchist, Mikhail Bakunin
(1814-76), also emig;ated. it was characteristic of
the period that social thouııht and literature o,·er-
lapped: partly because of the diffıculty of express-
ing heterodox \'iews directly in conditions of
censorship, but alsa becausc of a general Russian
sense of the indivisibility of culture .
Social determinists, however, might fınd diffı­
culty in explaining how the period 1820-40, politi-
cally so unpromising, came to be considered the
Golden Age of Russian literature. The phenomenon
can be seen in two perspectives: either as the
beginning of the modern flowering of Russian liter-
ature that continued after mid-centurv with the
classic age of the novel, or as thc culmfnation ofa
long time of preparation. The latter vicw has much
to be said for it, since the leading genre of the
pcriod is lyric (and to some extent narrativq
poetry, the· end product of a tradition that bd
been developing from the 1750s onwards. The
forging of the Russian literary language into a thor-
oughl_ı- modern, yet Jlexible and multivalent
123
Tlff LAST tOL:R E- \.1PERORS

Left This propaganda

broadsheet whose character iı,
clcarlv akin to similar Greck
politiCo-religious püpular prınts
o f the ı 9th and 20th ccnturics
invokcs divine blcssing on the
Hussian mılitary endcavor in thc
war agdinst the Turks. it
commemorates a ,ıdc ofthe
so-called Crimcan War Httle
ml·ntioned in Western
textbookı.: a serics of Russian
battle successcs and acts of
individual heroism in 1853-54,
immcdiately bcfore and after the
Anglo-French entry into the
war. The ı.cenes are dispüsed on
a Greek eros<: frame, as if ona St
Gco rgc medal (with the saint
himsclf at the centerJ. The lowe,;;t
cross arın shows the action that
moı.t alarmed the \Vcstcrn allics:
thc destruction ofthe Turkish
fleet at Sinope, on the north
coast ofTurkcv . The cross drms
show the relative geographic
disposition of the actions
(clockwise from Sinopc: thc
Balkans; Odeı.sa; Guria, i.e.
Transcauca<:ia). Thc Crimea itself
was not invaded until late in
1854.

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medium far poetry is above ali the work of Alex-
ander l'ushkin (I 799- 1837), stili considered the
greatest of Russian poets. Yet in his day he was
only the leading luminary of a whole Pleiad, of
wh om the greatest is probably Yevgeny Bora-
ty nsky (1800 -44), a gritty, paradoxical pessimist.
in his thirties Pushkin turned to prose, writing the
first n otable Russian short stories (The Queen of
Spades being outstanding) and doing serious
research into the history of the Pugachov rebellion.
Gogol developed prose in a different and idiosyn-
cratic way, but Pushkin both as poet and prose-
writer had a su ccessor of remarkable brilliance in
Mikhail Lermontov (1814-41 ). Trying ta avoid
.~·"'-·--:t ~
SERBIA
·,·J·:~
/.✓
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;>
, __ __ ..__...._'-•
Russ ian Byron, Lermontov substituted biting wit
and rhetorical seJf-projectjon for Pushkin's cool
ironies and delicacy of feeling. But his single
mature prose work, H ero of ou ,· Time ( 1840), is his
masterpiece, and one of the first great truly
OTTOMAH
European works in Russian literature, a psyc holo- EMPIRE
gical novel that looks forward ta the 20th century.
The visual arts in this period did not match the
efllorescence of literature: the !8th-century
tradition of portraiture continued to flourish, but
the grander visions of Alexander Ivanov (1806- 58)
and Kari Brynllov (1799-1852) did not quite live
up either ta the foreign works from which they
scale180ll0ll
o .,,.,, --
derive or ta their own ambitions. The long-lived ı sı nı

Pushkin's long shadow, and seeing himself as a late neoclassicism of Russian architecture was still
 THE LAST l-OUR EMPERORS

The Crimean War.
Since the 182lh the major
European powers-Au!ı.tria.
Britain. France and Russia-had
become increasingly concerned
about control ofthe Balkan
region as the Ottoman empıre
began to lose its grip there.
Russia w.ıs particul.arly
concerned to establish its access
to the Mediterranean through
the Black Sea. lt also saw itself as
the natura! protector of its
Orthodox corelıgionists undt'r
the Ottoman voke.
When RusSian troops marched
into the Turkish provinces of
Moldavia .ınd Walla chia in 1853,
Britain and France sent a large
expeditionary force ıo the aid of
the sultan . The Turkish fleet
suffered heavy losst's at the
h.mds ofrhe Russian n.ı,•y, and
the Anglo-French force s.ıiled to
attack Sevastupol on the
southern tip of the Crimea, home
base of the Russian fleet. ünce
the expeditionary force had
landed it was pınned down by
the Russian arm\' anda stalemate
de,·eloped. with heavy ca!ı.u.ıltie!ı.
on both sides. However. Ts.ır
:Sicholas I died in 1855 and his
!ı.uccessor realizt'd th.ıt he could
not realisticallv continue the war
in ıhe face of ğro,·ııing social
dısconıenı at home. The Treat\'
of Paris, concluded in 1856, \\·-.ıs
very unfavorable to Russıa.
producing masterpieces of laconic grandeur in
Alexander I' s reign, such as the Admiralty in St
Peıersburg as remodeled by Andreyan Zakharov in
1806. it gradually faded ouı into the eclectic styles
characterisıic of ali Europe in Nicholas i's time; a
highly visible example is the Great Kremlin Palace
in Moscow by Konstantin Ton, dated 1838. Music
was splendidly represented in ıhe person of Mik-
hail Glinka (1804-57); he was not, as is sometimes
assumed, the fırst Russian composcr but rather the
summation of much thaı had been prepared during
the 18th century. His ıwo great operas, stili very
much in the repertory, use folksong imitation in an
"international" musical context. However, it is the
instrumental Kamarınskaya. which, in its approach
to the transformation of folk-derived material, is
the em bryo from which the later 19th-century
national school ofRussian music grew.
The Crimea n W ar a n d its conseq u e nces
The Crimean War served as caralyst far the most
profound political and social changes introduced in
Russia during the 19th cenıury. Perhaps ironically,
its causes, course and resolution were a11 peripheral
ta the internal condition of the em pire. The back-
ground and general causes of the \Var were ali
bound up in the Eastern Question, the complex
international power struggle beıween the major
states of Europe in connection with the decline of
the Ottoman empire. The chief participanıs were
Austria, Britain, France and Russia; each was
concerned ta secure its influencc ovcr certain parts
of the Ottoman domain in Europe in order to facili-
tate its wider imperial interests. For Russia these
interests wcrc the neutralization ofa centuries-old
cnemy in the Turks and the dream of securing a
passage from the Black Sea into the Mediterranean.
The struggle began in the mid-1820s, was convo-
luted in the extreme and had by the early 1850s
created a volatile atmosphere of mutual suspicion.
The immediate cause of the war was connccted
with events in the Holy Land. in 1852 the French
persuaded the Turks to give the Roman Catholic
Church cusıodianship of the Church of the Nativity
in Bethlehem, a right traditionally held by thc
Greek Orthodox. Nicholas 1, as the patron of the
Orthodox population under Ottoman rule,
demanded thaı the righı be returned ta the Onho-
dox. When the Turks refused, Nicholas ordered
Russian troops into Moldavia and Wallachia.
Britain and France suspected that Nicholas I might
next launch an ali-aut war ta destroy Turkey.
When in 1853 Turkey declared war on Russia,
Britain and France quickly came ta the sultan's aid
and dispatched a large expeditionary force ta take
the fighting ta Russia.

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THE LAST FOUR EMP[ ROR<.;
The force sailed !Or Se, ,astopol in th e Crimea,
home base of the Russian Black Sea fleet , w hi ch
had inflictcd a major defeat on the Turkish fleet
soon after ho,tilitie, bcgan. T he Ru ssiam ,cuttled
their fleet and mounted a stubborn Lınd resi stance
against the expcditionary force w h en it lande d in
1854. The war that follo\.ved was essentia1lv a sta]e-
mate, with terrible casualties on both si deS.
In 1855 Nicholas I died and was succeeded bv
Alexander IL Almo . . t . . imultaneously the Ru ssiaTls
suffered new reversals in the Crimea and, d espite
initial determination to continue t h e vvar, the new
tsar soon accepted that Russia at all costs needed
peace. The Treaty of Paris, conclu ded in 1856,
proved very unfavorable: Russia lost territori es on
the Balkan frontier, naval rights in the Black Sea,
right of sea passage into the Med iterranean a nd
protectorship over the Orthodox Chri stians in the
Ottoman lands. T h e damagjng loss of i ııflu ence a nd
prestige was greeted with pub lic resen tment in
Russia. ln reality, as A lexander ır and his advisers
recogııized, it was n ecessar y to eııd the w ar in
order to easc t he severc social and po1itical strains it
was generating.
The war had witn essed growing social unrest
among the peasa n ts of r ural Russia. This was dir-
ected not against th e wa r and t h e government, but
against serfdom an d th e landowners. Thc condition
of serfdom had grown espccia lly oppressive in the
decades before the Cr imcan \,Var. üne of the fcw
ways out of serfdom was t hrough long nıilitary
sen'İce, upon com p leti on of which a soldier serf
waı, made a freemaıL The war was therefore
popular among the serfs, but at the same time
fueled wild rumors to the effect t h at new forms of
recruitment and civil gu ard duties \'\'ould give
more ty pes of freedoms. These rumors caused pop-
ular mectings and e,,en mass migrations, which
had to be stopped by force . üne rumor in
Signed on 3 March 1878, the
Treary of San Stefano concluded
the Russo-Turkish war of
1877 78. Although a loca)
confhct, the war was entangled
in great-power diplomacy, and
the settlement of San Stefano had
to be redrafıed ata subsequent
European congress in Berlin. The
Balkan terntones of the Ottoman
empire were emancipated, with
Bulgaria gaining independence.
and Bosnia and Herzegovina
coming und er Austrian
suzeraınty. The contemporary
prınt sho ws the Russian
negot iatıng contingent entering
San Stefano, a srnall village near
lstanbul.
particular spread like w ildfire; this was that the
new t sar, w hose open-mindedness and goodwill
ha d becom e w id ely k nown prior to his accession,
had p roclaimed an end to serfdom but that the
news had b een sup pressed by the landowners.
Popul ar up risings against landowners ensued.
\Vh en th ese were p ut d own, the peasant s were
seized w ith rumor s of a "promised land" without
serfdom tha t existed somcwh ere in Russia; large
spon tan eous m igrati ons in search of it disrupted
th e coun try side .
The p olitical strain brought on b y the war
affected the opposite end of Russia's social
spectrum , the urban intelligentsia j ourna1ists,
edu cators, bureaucrats and the lesser nobility.
H ere t he cause was t\vo-fold: first, the intelligent-
sia's awareness of how badly the war was going and
how badly Russia 's pres6ge was suffering,
and , second, the heavy wartimc taxation imposed
on t he cit ies, w ith resulting economic disruption
and p rice rises. Thc intelligentsia's disillusionment
and anger erupted jnto popular demonstratjons in
Mo scow. The liberals were having their first
experien ce of shaping reasoned literary comment
on pressing p olitical mat ters. Much of this took the
form of extended articles and letters which were
circulated in samizdat form, and exercised a strong
influence on the liberal wing ofthe press.
Alexander TI was aware of these social and
political strains and sensed that Russia's well- bei ng
depended on their being defuscd. The tsar's per-
ceptivity was matched by reso]ution, and in h is
proclamation announcing the end of the Crimean
War, he hinted clearlv at his determ ination to
abolish serfdom. This a'nd other reforms which he
initiated during the early 1860s were t h e most
ambitious attcmpt to transform Russia's po)itjcal
and social structure undertaken before the revolu -
tions of 19 17.
 THE LAST FOUR EMPERORS

A lexa nd er II a n d the "Great Reforms" without simultaneously undermining the rural

Beginning in 1857, Alexander appointed a series of
commissions to start preparatory work on reforms
of serfdom, loca! govcrnmcnt , the judiciary and the
mi litary , This work progressed with dispatch,
despite complcx consultative and drafting pro-
cesses, but with thc tsar's closc pcrsonal involvc-
ment and encouragement. Thc result was a serics of
four reform acts promulgated from 1861.
The fırst reform dcalt with thc abolition of scrf-
dom. Of immense conıplcxity, the statute tried t o
give the peasants a mcasurc of indepcndcnce
nobility and gentry. it provided fora gradual and
partial emancipation of the scrfs, togcther with
indemnifıcation of their formcr masters. Emancipa-
tion was to be gradual, going through a numbcr of
stagcs over 20 years. Whereas the peasants would
get their pcrsonal frcedom immediately, thc
question of dividing land betwen formcr master
and serf was extremely complicated and entailed
provisions for protracted handover. The peasants
were entitlcd to an agreed proportion of the land
thcy had worked as serfs, but thc land had to be

The Eastern Qucstion.

As the might of the Ottoman 26"
empire slowly declined, the
Europcan powcrs strugglcd to
gain control of the Balkan
peninsula and with it territorial
access to the Near East. It was an
arena in which Russia tried
RUSSIA
Budapesı .
throughout the 19th century to
exert its influence. Turk ish
atrocities against the Bulgarians
in the 1870s provided Russia
with a pretext for dedaring war
on the Turks. Russia's victory
AUSTRIA·HUNGARY
enabled it to compel Turkey,
under the Treaty uf San Stefano,
to .ı.gree to the creation ofa l.ı.rge
independent state of Bulgaria
(which Rus.">ia would naturally 4.5'
expect to be its ally in gratitude
for liberation). However, Britain,
Germany .ı.nd Austria-Hung.ı.ry
together overru led this plan at
the Congress of Berlin three
months later and a much smaller
Bulgaria was agreed, with
adjacent territory being giwn to
Romania, Serbia, Jvtontenegro
and Greccc. in thc 1913 Balkan
\\' .ır mu~t uf the remaining
Europcan territories under
Turkish domination became BlACK SEA
independent, though wıth a
large measure of Austrian
ınfluence. Bv 1914 Serbia was
Russia's marn allv in the Balkans,
.ı.nd it was on Se;bia's bchalfthat
Russia entered \Varid \,\'arı. ADRIATICSEA
Bos parus
Consıanbnoplell
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GREECE

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Aussıanad'ıance 1877

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127
THE LAST 1-Ol'R EMPERORS

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baught at prices effectively fıxed by the existing Right This Romanov family
portrait shows Emperor
o·wners. The freed peasants, having no capital of Alexander il seated oppüsite his
their own, had to accept unreasonable repayment empress, -"laria Alexandrovna of
conditians stretching aver a 49-year periad. the ducal house of Hesse.
Standing behind them is the
Besides, the freed peasants were not permitted to Tsarevich and future Empcror
own land individually: land was sold lo pcasant Alexander III. His father's
assassinatıon made a rowerful
communes or villages, who took on callective
impression on Alexander IJl,
respansibility far repayments and had the right ta whose reign was asa result
redistribute the land bel\-veen their members. Thus deeply conservative, in contrast
to hıs fathcr 's reformism .
the peasants were free in principle, but economi-
cally dependent in practice; alsa communal awner-
ship deprived them of individua] control over thcir
land.
The high principle guiding the reform was thus
a bscured and, ta a large extent, nullifıed by the
provisians of its enactment. The peasants remained
dependent and impoverished, abligcd ta seek tran-
sient wark during the ,-v inter in order ta meet the
repa yment debts which their agricultural wark
alone could not mcet; this transient work taok
them to the cities, where they became politicized ta
a new degree. The emancipatian of 1861 managed . .,,. ..
,..,..
~

bath ta disappaint the Russian peasantry it was

.!
intended to benefit and to alienate thc intelligent- -....._
. --
}

----~-·~~~-
sia w ha had championed it.
The secand reform (1864) instituted the fırst real .---
system of lacal go vernment in Russia since the
~luscovite period . This rested on the zemstvo, an
institution consisting of an assembly plus exec u-

28

ıOO"
•.<c!!olasU Laod
ARCTIC QCEAN
S i beri a
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>JR
Be ~•rıg
+- -+
D KOREA
P~ıt AJ\hur
•~93-1»4
t-
1 tıouııda,ı o1 R u ss, aııer-p, r e 1 9' !
The Russian cm pire at it s
greatest extenı , mid-l 9th
century.
By the mıd-19th ccntur}' the
Russian empire exıended round
nearly halfthe world, occupying
incidcntally a considerably
greater terntory than its 20th
century successor, ıhe Sovieı
Union. Adding to thc formcr
Polish tcrritories that it had
acquired by the partitions of
Poland in the 18th century,
Russia was confirmed in
possessıon of the Grand D11chy
ofWacsaw in 1815. TheGrand
Duchy of Finland was ceded by
the Swedes ıo Russia in 1809;
Bessarabia, Dagestan and some
other parts ofTransca11casia and
the Black sea littoral wcre also
gained from the Ottoman enıp ire
and Persia early in the ccnrnry.
A foothold on the Mcditerranean
Sea with protectoraıes over
Montenegro and the lonian
Islands did not howe.,..er survive
the Trcaty of Tilsit (1807).
Rather haphaz.ırd expansion
in central Asia, generall y filling
power varu11ms, brought Russia
to the edge of Afghanistan. and
in thc later 19th cenıurv the
khanates of Bukhara an·d Kh iva
became protectorates. in the
east, Chincsc wcakness alluwcd
R11ssia to establish the naval base
of Port Arthur (lost ın 190'> aftcr
ıhe Russo-Japanese \Var ). On ıhe
\\'Cstern fringes of America,
Russian colonists tempor.ırily
csıa blishcd tbcmselves as far
south as Fon Ross in northcrn
California. Alaska was
cventually sold to the Amcricans
for S7. 200,000 in 1867.
00- ..,.
,Aıeut , an l s
JAPAN
oS':!Oul
c=JRus.s.arem.ııre 1 796
c=J acqusııons 17:36----1855
[:==Jatı:ııı,:Mtıor s.1 856-191 4
c:::J sp~ere of ıııfiuerce
oaıeolaCQ u ısıtıon
oırıerC()lıı,c.a ı oou rı daı)-
Traııs-S·:ıerıanra•oao
tive board, elected at county level. Representatives
were elected from the landmvners, the peasant
communes and the local tm,·n population, each
group electing its represcntatives separately. The
county representatives in turn constituted a
provincial asseınbly, which elected its own board.
The zemstvos had no executive power, but
d epended on the police and central government to
enforce their decisions. The authority assigned to
them \•\'as largely in loca] economic and civic
administration: public works, communications,
industry and commerce, agriculture, education,
public health and welfare. The effectiveness of the
.:emstuos was further limited through severe
underfunding and bureaucratic interference from
central government. The local government reform
was initially vvelcomed by liberal and radical
publi c opinion, but this coole d to indifference
,vhen ıhe new institution's Jimitations became
apparent. Again, a reform intended to give more
political participation at local government level
managed to frustrate and alienate the intended
benefi ciaries.
The third reform, also in 1864, concerned the
judic iary, and ,.-..•as more substantial and Jonger
lasting than the preceding ones. The Russian legal
system had for years been confused, arbitrary and
corrupt, and the need to reform it had been recog-
nized for some time. The reform passed in 1864 w.ıs
based on the model of Western jurisprudence.
Judicial procedures were systematized, the jury
system and a forma! bar instituted, judges of the
lower courts became elected, defendants gained the
right to representation and the duty of preliminary
THE LAST FOUR EMP[RO RS
'40' HJO'
__ .,.-
utıı.ı1r.o
s1ı..1r.s
PAC!FIC OCEAN f-lY;t•.O';f DO
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' 91 4
examination was passed from the police to examin-
ing magistrates. A system of law courts based on
competences was introduced, extending from the
zemstvo assembly level to the Imperial Senate as
the supreme court. There were, however, serious
omissions in the equitablc legal structure at which
the reform aimed. Separate courts werc created for
the peasants. The reformed legal systeın also
suffered from a certain measure of go,Ternment
interference and c ircumvcntion. Nevertheless, the
juridical reform was on balan ce of much greater
and more lasting impact than its predecessors.
An indirect meas ure of the reform's success was
the rising stature and influence of the legal
profession.
The lası reform, iııtroduced progressively from
1863, concerned the army, whose performance in
the Crimean \ Var had cJearlv shown th e need for
reorgaııization and modcrni;ation. Th e armv had
in the past drawn on mass recruitmen t from the
lower classes, especially the scrfs; it aJso func-
tioncd as a penal sen' İce for crim inal s. The
conditions of service were inhurnan e, brutal and
long (although many peasan ts \\ere stili eager to
endure them to escape from serfdom). The new
reform \vas perhaps the most d emocratic of all
those introduced by Alexander iL It provided for
universal conscription wi t h a much shorter tcrm of
sen:ice than before; dra ft prior ity classification
geared to fam ily obligations; shortencd terms of
service for tho ,;;e with elementary or higher
education; a pervasive hu manization of disciplinc;
basic education for illiterate conscripts; and the
elimination of class d ifferences as a critcrion for
r:Tc::::o~l'st_
o_y_t~
h-e ~R:--e-
v-o~
lu-tı. o_n_a_r_
---=-- y_-;=======================::: :

No Russian of the 19th century became sa colos- Right Powerful and active still in
sally famous and revered, both outside his country his sixties, Tolstoy took his
populism to an extreme
and within, as Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. By the end conclusion, attempting to !ive by
of his long life (1828- 1910) he was the "uncrowned peas.-ı.nt values and emulate
peasant labor. Clearly Uya Repin,
tsar" of Yasnaya Polyana (his estate, south of in this portrait of Tolstoy
Moscow), much as the elderly Voltaire had become plowing in 1891 the year he
renounced his literary royalties -
"uncrowned king" of Paris on his final visit in painted him as he wished to be
1778; in each case they were names that abroad seen. But Tolstoy's rural
were taken as emblematic of their country's cul- interests were no mere
publicistic fad of his old age: he
ture, while each was a thorn in thc flesh of a had plunged himself deeply in
nervous government and established church at the rural concerns, particularly
threshold of revolution . educational efforts, from the
1850s.
Tolstoy was one of the great subversives of the
19th century. rating in this respect with Darwin, Belou• Less familiar than the
Marx or Freud, yet unlike them (though like flowingly bearded patriarch is
the dapper young man-of-
Nietzsche and his fellow countryman Dostoyevsky) the-world and army officer in
in rejecting the pretensions of modern scientific his mid-twenties, immedlately
before the harrowing siege of
progress. lf he was a revolutionary. he was a Sevastopol
strange one: loathing violence, socialism, even
liberalism and bourgeois values with the contempt
of the aristocrat he never ceased to be, yet
denouncing the state, the established church and
the whole artificial fabric of modern society in
terms whosc virulence fevı.' left-\ving revolution-
aries could match. His rhetoric was denunciatory
rather than constructivc, often sounding like
anarchism; his vision of a just society patriarchal
and populist; his terms of argument moral. his
yardstick of evaluation the clear vision and simple
values of a natura! and uncorrupted life.
Eventually he came to propagate what was in effect
his own religion: a stripped-down Christianity,
shorn of obscurantism, extracting from the Gospels
a few essential precepts (notably "Judge not, that
ye be not judged"; "Render to no man evi! far ~ - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - ~ Left By his lası ful) yea r of life,
evi!"). There are "Tolstoyans" to this day. ,. - when Repin painted a more
Somewhat unusually, Tolstoy moved towards •; -';., sedentary Tolstoy, serenity
seemed more elusive to the
ever more extreme and in effect revolutionary 80-year-old writer than ever.
views with advancing age. Asa young man he had Never easily ahi~ to
accommodate tbe idea of death
led the conventional and rather dissolute life of a into his view of the universe, he
young aristocrat and officer: brilliant, well traveled found its cheerless approach
and well read, but never at home in intellectual. rendered yet more discomfiting
by ineradicable family tensions
freethinking ar artistic circles. Service in the and bitterness. His penetrating
Crimea and Caucasus not only roused his literary insight into life's problems,
public and private, brought their
talent, but stirred moral repugnance towards war solutions no nearer, serving to
and curiosity about the fundamental values of emphasize the unanswerability
human character. There followed marriage. the of questions he could not help
raising. ln the autumn of 1910 he
births of many children and settled life in the left home secretively. intending
country: this was the period of War and Peace to fınd monastic peace, but fell
(1860s) and Anna Karenina (1870s). the vast novels , ili and died after 10 days in the
stationmaster' s house at
on which his reputation was built, both largely Astapovo, on which the world's
concerned with family themes yet including much eyes were fıxed.
material that might seem incompatible with Rıght Tolstoy and helpers
imaginative literature (a fully fledged theory of organize Camine relief in a village
history, devaluing the pretensions of "great men," in Ryazan province in 1891. A
consıstent bdiever in personally
in the forrner; theorizing on rural topics in the putting his ideas into practice,
latter). These pillars of the l 9th-century European Tolstoy immersed himself in
direct charitable action on many
novel are themselves in literary terms subversive: occasions, from his organizing
pushing the form beyond its bounds, launching a the viliage school at Yasnaya
deep and ultimately anti-novelistic investigation of Polyana (1859) onwards.
causality.
 TH E LA ST FOU R EMPERORS

advancement. The unexpectc d result was to makc

thc Russian army into the most democratic in sti-
tution in Russia.
The reforms of ıh e 1860s were concei ved on a
grand scalc, introduced in somcwhat less promis-
ing form and implemcnted un evenl y and haltingly.
They served ta raise hopcs of changc w hich were
n ot full y satisfıe d. Flawe d as thcy were, Alex-
andcr's reforms dcmonstratcd that a v isio n of fu n-
damental p olitical and social change could be put
into action.

Populism and the revolutionary movement

The emancipation of the serfs drasticall y alter cd
the political thinking and sentiment of the Russian
intelligentsia. The cause of the serf had in the 1840s
and 1850s bcen championcd by t h c Slavo philes,
who had been a legitimist for ce far major social
reform. The limitations of Al exander's legislation
ensured tha t the daim to represent the peasa nt ry.
the prepon dcrant mass of Ru ssia's pop u lation,
passed into the hand s of the rad ical intelligentsia,
w hich w as intcnt on revolut ionary changc.
Thc new radicalism which cmerged in Russia
during t he 1860s and 1870s was catalyzed by two
fo rces fro m t he West. üne was thc popularity of
the major scientifıc achicvements of the 1840s,
w h ich su ggested that man and society could be
understood and changed ıhrough application of
scie n tifıc method. The othcr was ıhe idcas of
Frcnch utopian socialism, togethcr with those of
such individual Russian publicists as Pyotr Lavrov
and Nikolai Mikhaylovsky. The main strand of
ncw radicalism was narodnichestııo, a form of socia-
list rcvolutionary populism. This was bascd on the
bclief that a mass socialist revolut ion was needed to
overthrow thc existing ordcr; that Russia's uniquc
, social structurc would cnsurc an immediatc intro-
duction of socialism. bypassing capitalism; that the
1 communal institutions common to Russia's pea-

santry were cssentially socialist; and that pcasants

wcre thcreforc the natural rcvolutionary forcc
ready ta be activated. Beyond this, the narodniki
("populists") disagrecd about what meıhods were
appropriatc for sctting the revolution in motion.
Some favored terrorist acts (Nechayev and Tka-
chov). others were far lctting the revolution start
organically (Lavrov), but the majority eventually
decided on activating the pcasants personall y.
Thc attempt at personal contact came with the
"To the People" movcment of 1873- 74. Large
numbers of young na,·odnikı, who wcre mainly
urban studcnts of comfortable background.
donned peasant clothing and dispersed into the
\ countrysidc in order to prcach the revolution to
thc peasants, presuming the latter ta be ready for
ıheir message. The resul! was total failure: the
narodniki werc ignorant of the rcalities of village
life and of pcasant mcntality and rnotivation; thc
pcasants in turn werc bafflcd by and suspicious of
young people of an cntirely different class speak-
ing in unfamiliar tcrms. The movemcnt faltcred,
with many narodniki arrestcd and put on trial, and
the peasantry lcft unmoved. A ncw "To the
People" movement was launched in the lale 1870s,
but again without success.
The failure of populism in the 1870s had a two-
fold effect. Some of the participants retained a faith
in peasantry as a revolutionary force: they would

l3t
TH, A'- O R .\1P!.ROR'-
learn by theır mistakes and become th e progenitors
of the Socialist f{cyo ]ut ion ary Party. Others con -
cluded that laurn..:hing a revolution req uired more
than ju~t rabing popu lar con sciousn ess among the
mas,es; thcse people turne d partly to terroric;m,
and partly to the ratio nalized revolutionary
politics of which Lenin was th e prime practitioner.
The decline of pop u li sm was parallcled by the
rise of terrorism. The underly ing perception of
revolutionary dyna mics, h ov,;ever, remained the
same; once the rig ht method was found to stimulate
mass rebellion, the e~tablished order \vould inevi-
tably collapsc. T h e method resorted to was public
terror, and above all a~sassination.
T he campaign of terror lasted during the !ate
1870s and into t he early 1880s. it was organized by
a small secrct society ca llcd Land and Freedom
(Zem/ya i Volya ), which was based in St Petersburg
an d consisted mostly o f radical students from the
p r iYileged classes. The membership was tiny but
fa na tical. and could rcly on syrnpathy and fi.nanda)
h elp from many in the elite \'\ 'hich raised them.
From 1878 on ward Land and Freedom succeeded in
a~c;assinating numerous senior police and govern-
ment officials throughout Russia. Their campaign
cu lminated with the assassination of Alexander II
in 1881 , but the consequences spelled the end of
terroric;m. Land and Freedom was rooted aut in a
securit y clampdown. but, more significantly. its
method was discredited: even the tsar's assassina-
tion did not lead to any uprising, the government
remained stable and the imperial succession
w orked smoothly. The radicals began searching for
other revolutionarv methods.
The search took" roughly two decades. The 1880s
sa\<\' Marxism emerge asa new reı:olutionary theory
in Russia. The founding father was Georgiy
Plekhanov, an ex-populist who studied German
Marxism in Switzerland and adapted its theory to
Russian conditions. His principles were that Rus-
sia, like ali countries, had to pass through a period
of capitalist development before moving on to
socialism; that the traditional peasant institutions
had no socialist potential; that the urban prole-
tariat was the social force for revolution in Russia;
and that a disciplined and organized working-class
party was needed to galvanize the proletariat into
action. Plekhanov established the first Russian
social democratic organization in 1883, and a
network of affiliated groups spread through Russia The ass,ıssin.ıtion of Alexander
soon afterwards. üne of the young recruits joining in 1881 in St Petersburg
stimulated a conservative re\·ivaJ
the Marxists in the !ate 1880s was Vladimir Ulya- j n Russia. H.ıs funeral ,.,·as made
nov, better knov,m as Lenin. into a massive public occasion
Lenin was born into a civil servant's familv in reaffirming the imperial
princıple and dynastic mystique.
the Volga region in 1870. He became politicize"d in An orn.ıte neo-medieval
1887, whcn his elder brother was executed for cathc::dral, the so---called "Churcb
complicity in a plot to assassinate Tsar Alexander on the Blood," ,,•as built on the
spot of the assassination. The
IlI. After some flirtation with 11arodnichestvo, he contemporary photograph shows
developed an interest in l-ı.1arxism and became a fol- the funeral procession with
imperial catafalque crossing the
lower of Plekhanov. in 1895 Lenin was put in ~eva River, with the Academy
charge of the fırst Marxist operational celi in St of Arıs in tht' background.
Petersburg: its objective \\'as to propagandize the The far quayside is thronged
with crowds, probably marking
capital's workers, but the celi was discovered and the previous route of the
Lenin arrested. He was sentenced to three years' cortege.

Siberian exile (1896 99). The conditiuns of exile
were very knient, and Lenin spent the time writ-
ing hi, major political tracts and developing his
own variant of Marxist theory. Immediately upon
relcase, he was allowed to travel to Europe. The
Russian social democrat emigration there was in
discord. Plekhanov's position had wcakcncd and
lenin succceded in rising to a position of joint
leadership with his formcr mentor. Significant
differences were cmcrging between thc two men
about the nature and pace of revolutionary stra-
tegy. These differences led to a clash at the second
convention of the Russian Social Democratic Party
in 1903, with Plekhanov's camp tıeing labeled the
1'vlensheviks and Lenin's ıhe Bolshcviks (from the
\•vords men~he, "lcss" and bolshe, "more").
\\lhile the Russian Marxist movemcnt was devel-
oping abroad, other movemcnts for political
changc were becoming active in Russia. Among thc
revolutionaries, remnants of the old narodniki
metamorphosed into the new Socialist Rcvolu-
tionary Party in 1900, and revived political tenor
opcrations in 1901. More iınportantly, it developcd
througlıout ruraJ Russia an extensive organization
dedicated to propagandizing the idea ofa sociahst
revolution among the peasantry. Thc Socialist
Revolutionaries made an effort to convey their
message in tcrms suited to the peasant, tailored it ta
the peasant's grievances and becaıne t he dominant
revolutionary party in rural Russia.
The first years of the 20th century also saw the
liberal opposition to the government organize into
a political force. The prime movers \'\'ere liberal
politicians who doıninatcd the :emstııo loca!
govcrnment systeın, the auıhority and develop-
ment of whicb were severely cut back in the ear1y
l 900s. These were joined by liberal landowners in
the countrvside and liberal academics in the cities,
who had hoped that the 2emstvos would lead to a
gradual spread of parliamentary government in
Russia. ln 1903 the liberals formed a Union of
Liberation, which formulated a program deınand­
ing full civil liberties; equality of ali citizens before
the law; democratization and expansion of the
:emstvos; \-vithdrawal of recently introduced
restrictive legislation; full political aınnesty; and
the crcation of a truly representative legislative
asseınbly. Their aim ,..vas to convert Russia into a
constitutional monarchy with a social order resting
on the principles ofa liberal democracy.
The government reacted to the revoJutionaries
with further repressive measures, and to the liber-
als with indifference. The latter response was
largely due to the personality of Nicholas il, who
ascended the throne in 1894; he saw little differ-
ence between the two challenges and particularly
disliked representative governınent of any kind.
Consequently, the revolutionaries were streng-
thened in pursuing the cause of violenı revoJution,
while the liberals became increasingly hostile to
the established order.
The arts in the later 19th centurv
The cla<ısic age of the Russian no{·el was short, in
fact almost coincident with the reign of Alexander
11. Since the literary Golden Age of the 1820s and
1830s, the reading· public had becoınc larger and
better educated: in addiıion to ıhe gentry, the intel-
ligentsiya (a quasi-Latin word coined simply to
11--11: LA~ l t-OLI< H,H'LKOlo._
indicaıe educated people) also ıncluded significant
numbers of ncnochintsy those who wcre neithcr
of gentry origin nor pcasant':ı, in ot her words a nas-
ccnt middle class. Politics had become more polar
ized, with thc radical thinker-.. impatient of the
liberal compromises of their predcces":ıors. The
great wave of populism that powered the "To the
Peuple" movement in the 1870s variuuslv affected
nıany major fı.gurc,;; in the arts, from İobtoy to
M usorgsky. The younger generation characteristi-
callv had, or affected, a no-nonsense attitudc that
dispenscd with ali mctaphysical baggage, precon-
ceivcd ideas and cven ordinary politern:<ı<ı in a
search far worthwhile secular and <ıcientifically
based values. Thc elassic portrayal of this menu-
lity is Jvan Turgenev\ Fatheı·s cııul Chi/Jre,ı (1862),
which popularizcd thc word "nihilist."
There were still excellent poets writing, includ-
ing the veteran Fyodor Tyutchev (1803 73); the
"civic poet" N. Nekrasov (1821 77); a rare propo-
nent of "art far art's sake," Afanasy Feı (1820 92);
and the interestingly versatile Aleksey Tolsıoy
(1817 75). But they formed no school and pro-
jected na sense of common purpose. Thc fir~t truly
professional Russian playwright, Alexandcr
Ostrovsky (1823 86), wrote copiously throughout
the period. Several tine storywriters Vscvolod
Garshin (1855 88), the satirist Mikhail Saltykov
Shchedrin ( 1826 89), and bcst of ali Nikolai
Leskov (1831 95) also bccame known.
The novel emerged as the grcat Russian art form
with pecuJiar suddenness at this time. Its senior
practitioncrs wcre h·an Goncharov (1812 91) and
lvan Turgenev (1818 83). The former, though he
wrote three novels, is remembered far one master-
piece, Oblom01' (1859). üne of the great "plotless"
works of European fiction, it explores the inner
landscape of a hero whose retreat into apparent
idleness and seediness assumes the character of a
metaphysicaJ crusade again<ıt the pain of activity.
\Vas there anything specifically "Russian" in such
a character? Certainly contemporaries thought so,
and took up the term "Oblomovism." Turgenev
came gradually to thc novel, through early poctry
and the Spoı·tsmaıı's Sketches (1845-52), a series of
brief scenes from rural life that at their publicaıion
were seen ta carry a strong message against serf-
dom. His relatiwly short, delicately crafted nowls
of humarı relationships, notoriou<ıly featuring
strong-willed heroines and ineffectual men, were
the first works of Russian litcrature widelv read
abroad (a <ıeminal influence, far exampie, on
Henry James).
Fyodor Dostoycvsky (1821 81) was a rather can-
tankerous and unstable personality, a compulsİ\'e
gaınbler, the ideologist ofa right-wing Slarnphile
tendency. He used certain personal experience-.;
his near-execution and ,;,ubsequcnt exile in the
Petrashcvsky affair, his epilepsv, his fathcr s
violent death, a turbulent love affair ta great
effect in his fiction, most extraordinarily in writing
The Gamble,· (1867). To nıeet a publisher's deadline
(in what was his own most colo~~al gamblc \,·ith his
present and future finances) he dictated thc work
in a month, then married his stenographer. He or.;
chiefly remembered far his "big four·' novels.
Crime lmd PımiçJımerıt (1866; the best known and
ınost straightforward), The Jdiot (1868 69), The
Det·ils (1871; sometinıe~ called The Po.\<;t~,;;scJ, a
\\
TJ-11: LAST 1-0UR l:MPFRORS

fierce political satire) and The Brothers Karamazov

( 1880; thc la,ı, longcst and richest). Religious,
psychological and social threads are woven into an
claborate tapestry of idcas, wherc no one ideology
/.
has the lası word - thc "polyphony'" of Dosto-
ycvsky's noveb, much cxplored by recent scholar-
:ı-.lıip. To his great novel" thcre is a bricfer curtain
rai,cr in thc form of Notes from Underground (1864).
Unlikc Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky only slowly gained
the reading public's affection: his time really camc
in the Symbolist period at the turn of thc century,
and s0011 afterwards he was being extravagantly
hailed asa prophct thruughout Europe.
During the first half of the 19th century the
Academy had becn excrcising an ever more dcad-
cning cffcct on creativity in the visual arts. in 1863
a group of 14 ,ıudeııts walked out of it in protcst at
thc setting of "The Fcast of the Gods in Valhalla"
a, ıhe anııual prize subject in history painting. The
uccasion may havc been relatively trivial: the
underlying dbsatisfactions \'\'ere profound, and led
ıo the founding uf the peripatctic cxhibition
"ociety known as the \Vandercrs ( Peredui=lmiki).
They wished to engage with the actualities, pası
and prcsent, of their own culture, and ta communi-
cate with a wide, not mcrely mctropulitan and
moneycd public. They were fortunate in the
support of the leading critic and acsthetic idcolo-
ght \ ' . ~tasov (1824 1900) and of a Moscow
mcrchant collcctor, P.Tretyakov (1832 98), who
\•vas tu fuund ıhe grcatcst gallery of Russian art
around thc \Vanderers' canvases. Their leader was
lvan Kramskoy (1837- 87), their best-known (and
longest-lived) representative was ll ya Rcpin (1844
1930). The outstanding artist and indeed harbin ger
uf future developınents among them was Vasiliy
~urikov (1848 1916).
in music this period saw a burst of innovative
creation. It is associatcd primarily with a group of
friends known as "the Fivc," alternativcly Mogu-
chaya kuc/ıka, "thc Mighty Handful." in order of
agc they wcrc Alexandcr Borodin ( 1834-87), Cesar
Cui (1835 1918; of Frcnch extraction), Mily Bala-
kirev (!837- 1910), Modest Musorgsky (1839-1881)
and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 1908). Only
Ralakirev among thcm was a conventionally
trained composer, and at fırst dominated thc
group. Borodin was a chemist, Cui a military engin-
cer, Musorgsky a civil servant and Rimsky-
Korsakov a naval offıcer, \ıvho became a Conscrva-
tory professor and simultaneously ırained himself
in the musical disciplines he had lacked. He com-
pm,ed far morc than his friends, and aftcr Borodin's
and Musorgsky's untimely deaths he undertook ıo
order and orchcstrate their ınajor uncompleted
scores (not always to their advantage).
The "non-professionalism" of the Five contri-
butcd to thcir originality, as they were uncon-
strained by preconceptions of musical form and
decorum. They followed Berlioz (much loved in
Russia) in a rather belated Romanticism that \Vas
frce-ranging, orchestrally colorful and strongly
prograınmatic in impulse. From Glinka they inhcr-
ited and dcveloped a commitment to Russian folk
music, sometimes spiced with a dash of orientalism.
Alexander Dargomyzhsky (1813- 69), a living link
with the age of Glinka, through his friendship with
Musorgsk y inspired a rare intensity of seriousncss
in the besi music of the Five. They and their suc-

l1
 THE LAST FOUR EMPLRORS

cessors gencrally avoided abstract insırumental Left The Rooks have Retumed Be/ou.• A group of porıers and
(l871), by A. K. S.ıvr.ısov lkfore pe.ısants rcla x o ver a game of
nıusic and classical forms (Borodin's two string the W.ınderers, landsc.ı~ had cards in the ouıer aısle ofa
quartets are a splcndid cxception), culti vating not been much developed ın ı.·ovcred markt·t ın a provıoôal
Russıan art; Savrasov { 18 lO g7)
instea d song, programnıati c tone poems and piano Hussian town. The porters wcar
was one of the earliest lcather shcx:s, whıle the peasanı~
p icces, but above ali opera. Thcy chose their librct- exponenıs. The return from .ıre ın bast ~hppers wıh lcggıngs.
tos with care, sometimcs from Russia's history mıgr,Hıon ofrooks and starlıngs
tradııion_a lly ~eralds sprıng in
(Musorgsky 's Bo,·is Godıınoı, and Khovanshchına, the Russıan vıllages
Borodin's Prince Igor), somctimes from its classic
19th-ccntury literaturc; Pushkin is ıhus probably
bettcr known operatically than poetically outside
Russia. Not only the Five, of course, are respon- ... . , . _ 1

siblc for this: credit must particularly go to thcir ·- J

grcat contcmporary Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1..ı

·rn·
11

(1840 96), whose grcatest operas derived from

Pushkin 's Yevgeny Onegin and The Qııaıı of Spad<'s. ~.. ~✓•- ~....
By somc of his nationalist-minded contemporarics,
Tchaikovsk y was considcred irrcdccnıably ~-~
\ıVestern and even frivolous: he was properly
trained, wrote chamber music, concertos and sym -
phonics, idolized Mozart and was appreciated by
European audienccs. Yet he was just as capable of
employing folk inOections, intricatc rhvthms and
instrumental color as his contemporarieS.

Social and economic changes in the latcr

19th century
Russia's cconomic fabric aJtercd profoundly
bctwccn thc l 860s and the beginning of the next
century, with cities and factories as the centers of
change. Thc cities of Russia nearly doublcd in
population over this period, and most ofthc indus-
trial growth of thc time occurred there. Thc pace of
industrialization and urbanization mounted
gradually, accelerating in thc lası quarter of thc
19th century. This growth was initially hampercd
by the lack of a skillcd working class, thc lack of more Lcvantinc than Europcan. Their talents,
industrial and managerial expcrtise and thc entrcprencurial but unsystematic, wcrc thc start-
absence ofa capital base and capital development ing point of Russia's modern industrialization in
skills. These resources were developed quite the 1860s. By 1880 the ncw class had grcatly
quickly, and with thcm an urban proletariat andan expanded Russia's devclopmcntal basc. Ovcr 20
urban commercial class, dcstined to play differing years, discouııt bills incrcased four-fold, short-
rol es in Russia' s history. term secured loans grcw a staggcring 2S times over
Thc proletariat was rooted in thc peasantry. Thc and long-term loans rose by a third. At the samc
incomplete emancipation of I 861 coincidcd with time, the total number of entcrprises and vvorkcrs
the first wave of industrial modernization employcd rose by about a third. Productivity and
following the Crimcan \,Var. and many peasants profitability werc, howevcr, lowcr than in thc
"vere drawn to the cities in search of the ncw work. \ıVest. Nevertheless, this start created a climate of
Thcy initially came on fixed-term cmployment, confidence for forcign investmcnt, and a
returning to their villages and not intcgrating into succession of major Wcstern conıpanics divcr,;;ifıcd
city life. This soon changed, and the ex-peasanl into Russian industry during the 1880, and 1890s.
became a novice worker, resident in the city but The urban commercial class becamc invokcd in
stili a peasant by habit and temperament. Thc politics only in relation to thcir business interests.
working conditions \vere vcry hard, and the law This involvement took thc form of consulting and
stringently forbad trade union organizing of any lobbying ministers respomiblc for thc economy,
kind. The protests which occurrcd werc largely particularly Ivan Vyshnegradsky (minister 1887
apolitical and concerned specifically with working 92) aııd Sergcy Wittc (1892 1903), who introduccd
conditions. By thc I 880s the government intro- extensive fiscal and administrativc reform~ aimcd
duced Jabor refornıs, which eased working at stimulating furthcr industrial and busincss
conditions somewhat. Further limited reforms development. Thc businessmcn did not participate
followed in the I 890s, ı he first irade unions were in po1itical movements, nor wcre thcv ven· activc
legitimized in 1902 and accident compcn~ation in party politics when those emcrged'. Cult-ure was
introduced in 1903. The condition of the prole- a diffcrent mattcr. !'v1any of thc urban commercial
tariat improved gradually, though not dramati- class werc sons of illiteratc merchants, and there-
cally, and the working class remaincd largely forc put a vcry high prcmium on education and the
outside the interest of the revolutionary move- arts. Soıne bei.'ame major patrons of the arts and
ment, except for thc nascent Social Democraıs. theater, as well as collectors of Russian and
The urban commercial class derived largcly from Europcan art: many of thc major Soviet collections
the earlier merchants, who were highly d.ccom- today, including the Tretyako\" Gallery, were
plished traders with business methods and habits originally privatc collcction'i of such men.

135
fHI .A', I F R ."-11'1-RORS
~\ mbolism and Russ ian arts
ı,:; thc 1880s ıt bccamc apparent that the artistic
impctus that had led to -.uch ,plendid n.-,ulı.. in the
post-Crımcan \Var pcriod wac; slowing down. Dos-
toyevsky and Musorgsky died in the samc yea r as
Alcxandcr il; Turgcnev and Borodin soon
followed; Tolstov undcrwent an inncr crisis at the
cnd of thc 1870s, producing thcrcalter only one
more novel (Re,,urrecıion). lntcllectual life under
the tough regimc of Alcxandcr III (1881-94) gavc
little scope lor intcrmcdiate positions bctwccn
conservaıives and rcvolutionaries. The 1890s
brought a change of atmosphere, with a sense
among thc new intellectual generation that it w as
time far Russia to look to w hat was going on in the
rest of Europc. Thc young poet Valcriy Bryusm'
(1873 1924) began publishing in 1894 a series of
\'Olumc, callcd Ru-ısian Symbolist.'ı, contai ning
translations from (and poems in the spirit of) the
Frcnch Symbolist movement that had crystallized
in the 1880s. Symbolism had enormous impact
acros, the spectrum of the arts and intellectual life
in Russia, leading not just to new, and di vergent,
artistic paths, but to a reassessment of Russian cul-
ture overall. Literary Symbolism in Russia is
usually considered to have produccd two genera-
tions. The younger Symbolists provided thc most
brilliant talents: Andrey Bely ( 1880 1934), whose
fragmcntcd, allusive and alarming novel Petersburg
( 1913) is the climax to nearly a century of evoca-
tion of that ambiguous city's spectral qualiıics; and
Alcxander Blok (1880-1921 ), who at 20 burs! upon
thc literary world with his mystical Verses about
the Beautıful Lady. Blok died prematurely, worn
out and dispirited, but not beforc providing revol-
utionary Russia \Vith its fırst two great poems, The
Scyıhiarıs and The Twelve (1918).
Musical life, however, was less inspired than in
the 1860s and 1870s. Rimsky-Korsakov continued
to develop, while remaining a master of colorful
orchcstration and spiky melody: his !ast opera, The
Golderı Cockere/, banned by the censor as political
satire, is pcrhaps thc best. The most notable new
composer of the pcriod was Alexander Scriabin
(1872-1 915), A post-Symbolist generaıion only
slightly youngcr (Stravinsky, Prokofıev) would
again put Russians among the forcmost European
composers, just before World War J. The strong
development of Russian hallet gave great composi-
tional opportunitics (already exploitcd by Tchai-
kovsky), and performing standards were high;
Russia produced one of the world's greatest
singers, Fyodor Shalyapin (or "Chaliapine,"
1873 1938),
The remarkable rcinvigoration of the visual arts
was signaled by the establishment in 1898 of World
of Art (Mil" Iskusstva), the name both ofa group of
painters, led by Alexander Benua (or "Bcnois",
1870 1960), and ofa luxuriously produced jour-
nal. The latter was the brainchild of Sergey Diaghi-
Righc V. K,mdinsk y, Skeıchfor
Composıtıon IV, Battle (1910).
Kandinsky (1866 1944) came late
to art, after qualifying in law
and taking part in ethnographlC
expeditions. Aman ofmeans, he
settled in Munich where he
studied and developed his own
posr-lmpressionist, symbolist
style. His links with Russia
remained strong; he returned in
Y.'orld War 1 and rernained after
the Revolution until it was dear
ıhat his pedagogical ıdeas were
unacceptable.
After his Blue Rıder a\manac
and his manifesto On the
Spıntual in Art his figuratiw
painting moved rather suddenly
into abstraction; others were
going in the same direction, but
Kandinskv was trailblazec.
FigurativC:: elements from his
intense, emotional, folkloristic
wodd dissolve into writhing
shapes, yet vestıges ofthem can
stili be detected here; lances,
riders, a rainbow bridge, a city.
Lefc A photograph, taken in
1914, of Uya Repln painting the
celebrated singer Fyodor
Shalyapin {1873 1938).
Be/ow nght Sergey Prokofiev
(left), Dmitriy Shost.ıkovich and
Aram Khachaturyan together in
a photograph of 1945. The three
internaıionallv known Sovieı
composers {Kh.ıch.ıturyan was
Armenian), tuneful, papular and
prolific. were far from immune
from criticism. Prokofıev
(1891 - 1953), known before the
Revolution, had emigrated but
reıurned when Stalin .ıppeared
ıo have reesıa blished order and
prosperıty in the 1930s.
Shostakovich, 15 years younger,
enJoyed a precocious triumph in
the 1920s, but ran into St.ılin's
personal displeasure in the late
1930s with the4th Symphony
and UJ.dy .\facbeth of M.tsensk {an
opera based on LeskO\··s grim
tale). His 5th and 7th
Symphonies, however. \'\'OD
public adulation. A general
.ıssauh o n "formalısm" (roughly,
any modernist techniques) ın ehe
music, as in literature, followed
in the !ate 1940s.
 Tfl[ LA'ı.T fOUI{ 1 Ml'l ·l{O KS

!ev (1872- 1929), who before d e voting him sclf to

ballet was a rcmarkablc artistic imprcsario, intro-
ducing recent Westcrn art to Russia, Russian ar t to
thc Wcst and also their own hidd en artistic pas t to
thc Russians. Russian artistic Sy mbolism also had
its own homcbrcd prccursor in Mikhail Vr u bel
(1856- 1910). The Wo,-/d of Aı·ı j ournal closed in
1904: by that time a w ealth of di vcrse talent of
gencrally Symbolist oricnt ation had emerged not
only in the capital, but also in Moscow and various
provincial centers. Two major paintcrs, scarccly
kn own outsid c Russia, wcre Viktor Borisov- Musa-
to v (1870 1905), fronı Saratov, and P . Ku znetsov
(1 878 1968). Non-Russian subjccts of thc tsar
bcgan to makc an equal contribution to modern drt.
üne of the colossi of modern ,-vorld art emergcd
ou t of thc artistic milicu of Ru ssian ~ymbolism:
Vasi liy Kandinsky (1866 1944). Kandinsky ncver
forgot his Russian roo ts, and his progrcss ta his
epoch -making experiments in abstraction around
1910 came logically o ut of hi s p receding develop-
mcnt. H is cssay On the Spirıtual in Art (1912), onc
of t h c most influcntial books on art bv an artist
ever written, was fir st con ccivcd as a~lecturc in
Russia. Anothcr notablc artist who was a product
of the etlıo s of Russian Sy mbo lism, but wlıo made
his name in Paris, was Mar c Chagall (1887 1985),
whosc origins, n ever forgotten, werc in thc Hasidic
Jewish small-town life of Bclorussia.

ll7
Peasant Life
before the Revolution
Russia's population was always overwhelmingly
rural: in 1914, 85 percent of the total was stili in
the countryside, though many northern peasants
sought seasonal work in the cities. Around half the
peasants (proportionately more in the central
regions) were serfs, emancipated only in 1861. The
terms of emancipation werc rcstrictivc: the pea-
sants gained neither full ownership of land nor any
real economic assistance. Agricultural production
was diffıculı and inadequate to sustain the rural
populace. Handicrafts were an important second-
ary industry, and temporary work in cities outside
the farming seasons was necessary to make a living.
Extensive self-government was granted to the
peasantry, but this was kepi separate from higher
regional and central governments. Economic and
political frustration led to widespread peasant
destructiveness during the Revolution of 1905.
Between 1906 and 1912, a series of fundamental
reforms dramatically improved the peasants'
condition. Agricultural productivity rose sharply,
and many peasants rose from a state of marginal
economic survival to rudimentary well-being.

Abot>e \Vood was a universal

material for the Russian peas,mt.
Three generaıions ofthe s.ıme
family are seen carving wooden
spoons for sale. Tnınk secıions
like the one before the elder are
worked inıo the fınished spoons
seen in the basket at the right
The family home is a large log
cabin, made entirelv of \•,:ood.
The time is probabİy late
autumn, after han•est, when
peasants turned to handicrafts as
a source of additional income.

Left Traditions of Christian

chariıy were strong in
pre-revolutionary Russia, and
especially respected in rural
areas. The peasants here have
positioned themselves next to
the entr,rnce ofa public
building. The old man is seated,
preserving a measure of dignity.
with a single hand exıended in
traditional pose of supplicaıion.
The boy is a learner. perhaps the
clder's guide. The woman giving
alms is a member of the loca!
gentry or urban middle class.
Church\"ards were the mosı
commoi"ı settings for almsgiving.

Rıghı Many Russi,ms ofpeasant

background became fırst­
generation industrial workers in
factories such as ıhis, here
engaged in wartime production
of shrapnel shells. Their personal
and emotional ties to the vlllage
remained strong, and
impressions and attitudes
as!>imilatcd in thc cities thus
passed on ıo the rural world
Revolutionary ideas and moods
were spread in this ,,:ay as much
as through the efforts of
propagandists and agitators
operating in the countryside.
 PEA~ANT LIJ'E Bf:FORE THE Rl::VOLUTION

{,efı This ]ate 19ıh-cenıury scenc

• ıllustratcs both thc rooıs of

pcasant pıcty and the diffıcultıcs
of lanJ u<,age facing many
Russian pcasant-.. Thc chapcl,
placcd over thc sprıng thaı gives
rise to thc Vol~a, Russıa's
grcatt:st rivcr, probably cchııcs
an ancicnt pagan culı at thc 'iİlc.
Worship of watcr spirits was
strong among early l:ası Slavs,
wiıh '>pcufü culı-. a,;sociatcd
wıth rıvcn, l.ıkcs, whirlpools
and springs Thesc cults
survived as simılar Chrıstian
ones, dcdicaıcd ıo minor sainı-.
Pca,;anı cuhurc was gcncrally
pcrmcatcd with rituaı ..,
supcrsıition<, .ınd ır.ıdıtıons
dcrivcd from pre-chrisıian
Slavic paganism. Thc landscapc
here ıs ıypıcJI of much of central
and north(·rn Russi.ı: forc'iıcd
and marshy, it provides
proportinnately :ıttle land ıh.ıı is
e.ısv to cultıvaıc and harvcst
l:::v;n land suited to cultivatioıı
givcs low yiclds .:ınd ıs
vulncrablc ıo clımatic
flucıuatıon

Beluu· Pcasant nutritıon and

hygıcnc wcre oftcn poor, lcading
ıo much dısc.ısc and frequent
epıdcmics ın bad ycars. Thc
grcaıest harvest failure of thc
19th ccnıury occurrcd ın 1891,
c.ıusing a m.ıssivc faminc ıhaı
vcar and in 1892. The
i,hnıograph shows. the inside of
an ımpoveri';;hed pcasanı housc,
with two vicıims oftyphus (a
dıscas.e oftcn tr.ınsmıııcd by
body licc) lying on slceping
bunks. Such ,;ır.ı,-.-covered
bunks wcre normal slccping
places. for adults and childrcn;
cldcrs ,;lcpı on !ı.ımilar bunks
adjoining thc single hearth stove
in a hou,e. The !ı,t'ttıng i~ nt'.ar
'.'J11.hnıy ~ovgorod whc::re thc
faminc was parrıcularly --evt"rc

"'
 Below Terrorism continued also commanding officer of the

1905 through 1905, adopted

particularly by the Socialist
Revolutionary party. Thcir
Moscow military region.

"Battle Organization"
assassination unit, operational
since 1902, succecded in early
1905 in killing Grand Duke
Sergey, the ts.ır's second cousin
and brother-in-law, who was

The turbulent events of 1905 set the political stage

far thc rcvolutions of 1917 and far Russia's
subsequent 20th-century history, A ycar of exten-
sive but disjointed civic disruption, 1905 ended
with thc introduction ofa constitutional monarchy
and an unsuccessful attempt at revolution in Mos-
cow. Liberal and revolutionary movements had
recently farmed into political parties, with hosti-
lity between libcrals and rcvolutionaries immedi-
ately apparcnt. Economic difficulties and the
failurcs of the Russo-Japanese War combined with
disruptive agitation by thc rcvolutionaries to
creatc grcat social volatility by !ate 1904. in
January 1905 the bloody suppression ofa loyalist
protest demonstration in St Petersburg, known as
"Bloody Sunday," ignited widespread protests.
The radical disruption was directed by Marxist
parti es, especiall y the Mensheviks and the Socialist
Rcvolutionaries. Thc progressive opposition was
directed by liberal parties, especially the Consti-
tutional Dcmocrats, whose objective was a con sti-
tutional monarchy with rcpresentative parlia-
mentary government. The imperial administration
eventually capitulated to the liberal demand, and
issued the October Manifesto, which promulgated
parliamentary government in the form of an
elected national assembly (Duma). Popular support
for the revolutionaries declined. Their cali for
national revolution resulted only in an armed
uprising in Moscow in December, which lasted a
week before being suppressed. The stage was set
for the parliamentary experiment in Russia, with
the revolutionary parties marginalized but waiting
for other opportunities to seize power.

Lefı Many of the uprisings of

1905 saw rebels building
barricades in their battles with
the police and military
detachments. The remains ofa
recently dismantled barricade
are strewn in tbc foreground: it
had been built ofwagons and
pushcarts, like those seen
behind.

Right in 1905, Trotsky was a

leader ofthe Menshevik wing of
the Social Democratic part y, as
opposed to the Bolshevik one
under Lenin, and he organized
the fırst revolutionary Soviet
council in St Petcrsburg. By 1917
he had joined the Bolsheviks,
and his refıned version of the
Soviet enabled them to
coordinate and manipulate the
radical forces of revolution.

Far nght Pyotr Stolypin, chief

minister under the fırst Dumas,
introduced far-reaching reforms
aimed at stimulating Russian
industry and improving the
position ofthe peasantry. His
measures to curb revolutionary
terrorism made him a target for
the extremists. After many failed
attcmpts, likc thc one shown, he
was assassinated in 19 l l.

40
Lt')! Tlııs ı.:ontcmporary frendı
print .,hows the dı.,pı:r!,al ol thc:
dt·ınun<;tratıon ın St l't·tt-r . . burg
on 22 J.ınuary l 90"i, the
ınf,ımou-. "Bloudy ",unday." Thc
~o!Jicrs arc firing upnn ,1 crowd
leı.l by tlıc pricsı C:t•or~y G,1ıxııı
(cro<;-. upraıM.·d). A co~<;,ıt·k
dıargc .ıcro-.s ı ht• briJgı.­
Ji-.pen,cs more dcrııoıısıraıors.
H(·low l,:ft Nıkolai lluk/ıarin
cmcrgcd asa Bol,;/ıcvik aclivıst
during 1905. By thc carly l920s
he bccame a ıcadıng ıhcorctiı.:ıan
ofthe car!y Comıııunist -.tatc anı.l
cdıtor ol t!ıc ncwspapı:r /'rı.Jl'Ja_
J xccuted fnr allc~cd ıd<:olo~ıcal
trcathcry aftcr .ı 1938 ..,Jıow trıal,
he wa, graııted po..,thumous
rchabılıtatıon by Prcsidcnı
(~orb,ıchcv on 4 Fcbruary 1'-IRK.
lfrluw Thc ınsurrcctıon,ı; ol 1905
cxtt·ndcd ıo thc armcd fon.es,
aııJ ındudt·d tlıc cclcbratcd
~'ızurc of thc l'otmıkin by its
crcw. Tlıe Potemkm wa'> an old
rc..,crvc battlcshıp ol thc Black
\ca llcct; undcr Mcnshcvık
Jcader'>hıp, it-. crcw scizcd
wnırol ol thc ship and sailcd ıt
ıo Rom.ını.ı, whcrc tlıcy
surrcnJt·rcd ıt ıo thc Jocal
.ıuılıoritieı. Thc Po!cml..m
bccaıııc thc objccı of .ı
rcvoluıionary cult asa rcsult of
riscnstcm's famous movıc
(1925). Tlıis work, mt(•ndcd to
cn·aıc .ı hcroic myıh,
sub,tantıally dıı.torts thc lacı-.
141
REVOLUTION AND THE BUILDING
OFTHE COMMUNIST STATE
Thc Ru"'so-Japanese \Var and Revolution government's credibility declined further wiıh the
ofl905 news of the Tsushima disaster. Discontent peaked
The undcrlying tensions in Russian society in October 1905 with Russia's first general strike.
rcmained in check until 1904 05, when the The strikers' original demand was fara constituent
cam bination of a foreign war and social eri ses at assembly, the repeal ofrepressive emergency legis-
homc set off Russia's fırst rcvolution. The Russo- lation, civil liberties and reduced working hours.
Japanese \\'ar (1904 05) was a thorough failure for However, the control of the strike soon passcd to
thc Russians. Its causes lay in Russia's and Japan's radicals, and the demands wcre changed to revol-
conflicting aspiration~ to establish control over utionary ones. in St Petersburg lcadership was
i\tanchuria and Korea aftcr thc colla psc of Chinese ıaken by a newly created Soviet of Workers' Depu-
authority following the Boxer Rcbellion (!900 Ol). ties, an extremist council claiming to be representa-
Hostilitics bcgan when Japan attacked Port Arthur, tive of the proletariat; it was dominated by the
thc ne\\' Russian naval base on the Liaodong Penin- Mensheviks under Leon Trotsky.
sula, in north China, without declaration of war. in October, despite the tsar's stubborn oppo-
The war which followed was from the start un pop- sition, the impcrial government acceded to the
ular in Russia, largely because Russia's strategic main demand of the majority of the opposition by a
intcrcsts in the Far East did not fire the popular proclamation transforming the autocracy into a
imagination. constitutional monarchy. The work of the eminent
The land campaign in Manchuria resulted in a statesman Sergey Witte, the October Manifesto
string of Russian defeats, but aftcr Mukden (Febru- provided for basic civil liberties (including those of
ary 1905) the Ru,;;;sian \\·ar machine succeeded jn the person, frcedom of thoughı, assembly and
stopping further Japanese advances. The sea organization), democratic franchjse and legislativc
campaign, in contrast, was disastrous. The Russian power vested in a new national assembly. The
llcet, blockaded at Port Arthur, tried to break out
and was largely destroyed by the Japanese navy.
The tsar ordered a quixotic and foolhardy expedi-
tion to relieve Port Arthur. This invo]ved sending
Russia's Baltic Sea fleet to Korea, via the Atlantic
and Indian Oceans and the Souıh China Sea. The
flcet set sail in October 1904, reaching its destin-
ation in May the following year. 1\1eanwhile, Port
Arthur capitulated in December 1904, so when the
Baltic fleet arrived, it had no refuge whcn con-
fronted by the Japanese navy. The ensuing sea
battle in thc Straits of Tsushima ended with the
cntire R ussian fleet sunk. The war ended in
September I 905 with the Treatv of Portsmouth,
where the tsar's chief negotiatof, the redoubtable
Count ~ergey \\'itte, succeeded in extracting
reasonable condition5. Hov..·ever, acute domestic
disappointment with the war had before then
helped set off thc 1905 Revolution.
The capitulation of Port Arthur sent shock
waves throughout Russia and coincided with a
wave of indu5trial strikes in St Petersburg. These
strikes \\·ere initially concerned with working
condition5 and related to <;ocial, rather than
political, issues. [n January l 905 a huge loyalist
demonstration concerning the conditions of the
proletariat massed at the \Vinter Palace \\'İth the
intent of pre~enting a petition to the tsar. The
troop<; cordoning the palace fired into the crowd,
killing l 30 and wounding many morc, on a day
that became known as "Bloody Sunday." The
security disaster led to a national calamity.
A wave of revulsion swept all leYels of Russian
society, inflaming the simmcring consternation
OYer goYernmcntal slo,vness \'\'İth reforms and the
failures of the war. Political opposition of varying
shades intensified its activity and found much
greater public receptivity to its message. The

42

Left An outstanding Russian
staıesman at thc turn of thc
cımtury . Count Sergcy \ıVittc
(1849 1915) held difTerent
ıninisterial appointmcnts and k ft
his mark in many areas. His
achit>Yt>menıs ranged from
economic reforms and thc
creation of the Duma at h omc, to
successful negotiation of thc
Treaty of Portsmouth wh ich
concludt>d the Russo-Japanese
\-Var on reasonable terms for
Russia.
Below Eoris Kusto die v's
paimıng , The Bol~heı-ik, 1905,
r:om·eys ıhe romantic image of
the Eolshevik revo lution aries
cdoptcd by man y Russian
intellt'ctuals and ar tists.
Kustodi ev is n oted for hı s exotic
treatment of prov incia l Russian
scencs and peasant an d merchant
life , rnffused wit h an u nderlying
sense of life forcc and the
dynam ism ofnation al charactcr.
The allcgorical gian t in tht>
painting rc presents Bolshe,·ism
asa ty pical worker, striding
with red bann er and detcrmincd
exp ression ove r a selccti,·ely
assembled to vrnscape of
Moscow, w hosc strceıs are
shown fi lled wit h sw irling
revolut ionary masses.
assembly, to be called t hc Duma, was to be na t ion-
ally elec tcd on the basis of party political affıliation
which ex te nded ta all parties, including the most
radical revolutionary ones This innovation gavc
Russia a rep resentative democracy on a par vvith
the best con stitutional monarchies of con tempor-
ary Western Europe. The first elections werc schc-
duled far spring 1906.
Th e maj orit y of Russia's population responded
with great excitement to the Octobcr Manifesto
and to the prospect of the Duma. The general strike
lost mome nt u m and support, both becausc it h ad
cau scd mass unemployment and hardsh ip an d
because the Duma promised tangible change ofa
kind the revolutionaries had not formulatcd. Also,
the mood of the country had calmcd \.vith ncws of
t he unexpectedly favorab le terms of the Treaty of
Portsmouth.
The revo lutionary leadership decidcd. despite
losing its hold over the proletariat, to intensify its
activity. A new general !'.>trike called for November
failed, as did forcib le attempts at prcventing
,,v orkers from returning to \'\'ürk. The St Petersburg
soviet led these disruptive measures, and in
December was disbanded by thc police. An
attempted protest strike failed totally. The final,
rearguard act of the revolutionaries was an arıned
workers' uprising in 1\ı1oscow, which lasted for a
week in December. The Revol ution of 1905 fa iled
because its revolutionary leadership was ou t of
tu ne with the more liberal an d gradualist political
aspfrations of the great majority of R ussia's people.
Co n se q ue n ces of 1905
The collapse of the Revolution of 1905 was
foll owed by a nine-year period of major evolution-
ary, rather than revolutionary, change within the
political structure of the Russian empire, simul-
taneously with considerable diversifıcation in most
forms of culture. The reforms en\· İsaged in the
October Manifesto of 1905 were not eas y to
imp lement; the revolutio n vva s still in full swi ng,
the imperial administratio n r emaine d wary o f shar-
ing p ower with the Du ma an d the liberal poli-
ticians dr avı.ı n into th e n ew legi slative i n stitut ion
had little experience of actual p ower. H owever,
most p eople were essentialJy satisfıed with what
the man ifesto pr onıised, the revolutionary momen-
tum declined and the government was able
gradua ll y to reestablish full authority.
The first Duma was elected in March 1906 and
com ·ened the following month. Over 40 political
parties and groupings were represented, with
do minant control held by the liberal Constitutional
Democrats (Kadets). The Duma proved too liberal
for the tsarist administration and for the right-
w ing parties which supported it. \'\'hen the Duma
proposed ta pass fundamental land-law reforıns, ta
the detriment of the conservative nobilitv, the tsar
exercised his preroga ti ve to dismiss the aSsem bly.
The second Duma was elected and convened in
1\!arch 1907. it proved e\'en more hostile ta ıhe
imperial government than the fi~st; this was in pa_rt
because Lenin and the Bolshe,·ıks were present ın
this assemblv. The second Duma was dissoh·ed
even more quickly than the first. after which the
government, acting contrary to thc pronsıons oJ
t h e manifesto, changed the electoral system so as. to
gi ve greater representation to the consen·atı\'e
REVOLUTIO-.; A!'ı.D Tl-ff BUlLDl'\IG Of T HI:: COMM U'\IIST STA'I
parts of t he electorate .
The t hird Du ma, as a res ult, was do minated by
thc parties of th c r ight, and comfortably served ou t
its fu l! Jive-year term ( 1907- 12). Despitc its
conservative bias, this Duma introduced many
reforms, for example by ex tending full civil right s
to the pcasants, by improving local j u sticc and by
cx panding the educational sy stem. The fourth
Duma (1912 17), stil! morc conservative than the
third, was occupicd largely with wartime matters
an d the beginning ofthe 19 17 revolutions.
Dcspite constant govcrnmcnt intcrfe rencc, t h c
idea of th c Duma as a nluable participatory forum
was widel y a cce pı e d. The politi cal parti cipation
rema incd broadly basc d, as evidenccd by the large
number of partie,, spanning the ful! spectrum of
political views and also somc representi ng
particular cthni c and reg ional group!'.> . The results
may have becn pat chy, but thc commitment to par-
liamcntary govcrnmen t was manifest. This
c-..olutionary mood of thc count ry was illustratcd
in another way by a dramat ic d ccline in re\·olu-
tionary activity an<l a sharp increase in cconomic
productivity betwecn 1905 and 1914.
The samc yea rs witnessed a con si<l er able di vcrsi-
fı. c ation in all form s of Russian culture . The un pre-
cedented varicty of choice available to the culturcd
Russian rea<ler is illustrated by thc cxisten cc in
1912 of 2 167 p eriodicals, spanning virtually e,·ery
shade of opinion. Cen sors hip was lax , cvcn
towards those calling far re \'olution : th e Bolsh e-
\'iks and Menshev iks alone legally pu blish cd 3300
titles between 1906 and 1914.
Literature was pcrhaps mo,t affectcd by the
failure of revolution, esp eciall y in poetry. The
Symbolists, as exemplified by A lexander Blok and
Andrey Bely, shifted from p oliticized messianism
to my stical introspection and aestheticism. Symbo-
list prose-writers su ch as Dmitriy MerezhkoYsky
(1865- 1941) and Leonid And reyev (1871 1919)
turned from curren t realit v to historical noYels and
d eca den t fi ctio n res pectiv~ly. The realist movement
grew in influence , with th c novels of Maxim Gorky
(1 868-1936) building on his reputation as an acuıe
social crit ic, an d especially with the emcrgencc of
Jvan Bu n in (1870 1954), whose short stories and
novellas abo u t the declinc ol the genıry combined
real ism with deep psychological insight. Other lit-
erary developments ranged from the growth of lit-
erary and political monthlies, comparable with the
best in Western Europe. to the appcarancc of sen-
sualist, even voluptuary, fiction, the most popular
writer of the genre being ;ı.-1ikhail Ansy bashcv
(1878 1927).
The rnost creatİ\'e and diYersified areas of culture
in thc period 1905 14 were the arts of the ,tage
Theatcr grew in influence and popularit~,
following the inno\'ative lcad of the ~\1oscow Art
Theater under Konsıantin ~tanislavsky (1863
1938) and the lmperial Alexandro\'sky Theater ın
St Petersburg under \'sc\'olod .\leycrhold (1874
ı 942). Ballet also grcw in stature and inventi\"cncss,
inspired by the choreography of \!ikhail Fokine
(1880--1942) of the St Petersburg Ballet and epiıo­
mized by the Ballets Russes of Sergey Diaghile,.
Both thcater and ballet ga\'c unprecedented atten-
tion to decor and c;;tage sets, thus stimulaf ng a
flowcring of the decoratiYe arts. The paıntcrs
drawn to stage art were largely connectcd \dth the
r:::: Below A page ofStanislavsky's Rı8,ht Though the MAT was to

Chekhov and the working copy of Chekhov's

Seagull (end of Act 2J, showing
his intricately detailed notes on
make its reputation with modern
drama, its first season opened
with the historical play Tsar

Moscow Art Theater the production. Fyodor ftranovich by the vers.:ıtilc

mid-19th-ceııtury poet A.K.
Tolstoy. Painstak.ingly accurate
detail in costumes and properties
became a hallmark of
Stanislavsky's productions.
Anton Chekhov (I 860 1904 ), from remote Taganrog,
grandson ofa ~erf, studied medicine in Moscow and
simultaneously earned money through brief comic
journalistic sketches and playlets. He qualified and
practiced as a doctor, but devoted ever more time to
wriüng. His stories became longer and more serious,
depending less on "point," more on character and
atmosphere; in the 1880s he pa"ed through a "Tol-
stoyan" period (Tolstoy however, though friendly,
disliked his work). His full-length plays, ostenta-
tiously "undramatic," met no initia] success. Only
when he was taken up by the new Moscow Art
Theater (MAT) did he become, in his )ast years, a
dramatist of international stature.
The MAT was hatched by Konstantin Stanislavsky
(1863-1938) and Vladimir Neınirovich-Danchenko
(1858-1943) at their fıımous meeting (1897) in the
Slavonic Bazaar restaurant for a dinner and discus-
sion that lasted over 12 hours. Dissatisfied with
current theatrical life, they founded a company that
was to be without "stars," avoiding cheap and
melodramatic effects, demanding total dedication
and inner truth. Looking for new talent to suit their
approach, Stanislavsky and Nemirovich produced
Chekhov's Seagull in 1898 and had instant success.
Thereafter they encouraged Chekhov, though seri-
ously ili with tuberculosis and forced to !ive in
Yalta, to write his three masterpieces (Uncle Vanya,
Three Sisıers, The Cherry Orchani). Apparently incon-
sequential "slices of life," these plays are carefully
structured tragicomedies.~---------~

Above Much depended on the

final productiorı ofthe 1898
season. Chekhov's Seagull had
flopped in St Petersburg, but
Nemirovich read the play and
saw its potential. lts triumphant
success in Moscow ensured the
survival of MAT, which in
gratitude adopted a stylızed
seagull as its emblem; to this day
it adorns thc safety curtain.

Rıght Chekhov reads through

tbe text of The Seagıı.II to the cast
at tbe Moscow Art Theater.
Stanislavsky peers over his right
shoulder.

Left Chekhov (left) and Gorky in

1900. Chekhov, at 40, was
already in poor heaJth with the
tuberculosis that was to k.ill him
four years later. Maxim Gorky
(born Aleksey Peshkov), eight
years younger, was the "coming
m.an" of Russian literature: the
year before he had published
his first novel Foma Gordeyev; in
l 902 his "Chekhovianly"
plotless play Lower Depths was
to appear at MAT. in that year
his election to the Academy was
annulled because of his
revolutionary sympathies, and
Chekhov, though no
revolutionary himself, resigned
in protest.

144
 Rrvoı UTIU N ,-\NLJ fHE BUILJ)JN(; Ol f!IL CüMMUNl~T srA1,

.\lir l skuss tı•a group, thc forcmo~t among whoın

were all lcading mastcrs of new .ınd cxperimental
palette painting. The succcssful collaboration
bctween im.ıginativc produccr~, choreographcrs
and paintcrs gave the Russian public a stage art
which wa~ cxciting and d.ıring, and harmonizcd
old clemenb of national culturc with pure
innovation.
Thc stage bcncfıtcd greatly from the sinıulıan ­
eous cnrichmcnt of Rus~ian mu~ic. An uncom
monly varicd group of co mpo~er~ camc to
promincnce and a nıajor parı of 20th-ccntury Rus-
sia's renowned nıusical rcpcrtoirc wa~ creatcd thcn.
Lcading the innovators was lgor Stravinsky
( 1882 1971 ), whose Fiı·eh in/ was premicred in
19IO, followed by Pctrıı .,hka in 1911 and Riıe uf
Spriııs in 1913. A symbolically innovativc line of
development was pursucd by Scriabin. Thc
classical tradition was dcvelopcd above ali by Ser-
gcy Rachmaninov (1873 1943).
The cultural sccne, for all it~ richnös, was at
be~t indiffcrcnt, at worst ho~tilc, to thc cvolution
ofa pluralistic pclitical proccss in Russia. The hos-
tility was strongcst among pocts, who mostly took
an allegorical view of the reality about them, and
longed for ıhc rcvolution as ıhe apocalyptic cata-
lyst which would metamorpho~e Ru ssia into a mes-
sianic nc\•V age. Prose-writer~ wcrc pronc to the
saıne visionary fatalism. lt was, to a real extcnt, thc
jaundiced view of Russia cultivaıed by thc literary
elite in the years 1905-14 ıhat h as fostered dismis-
sive attitudes to the period. Political evolution and
cultural diver~ification did not interact ~ufficit"ntly
to cultivate common civic valucs and aspirations
within Russia 's ed ucated cla~scs.

lınperial twilight
Political and cultural ırends after 1905 lcft Nicholas
il and the imperial court increasingly alienaıed
from the mood of Lhe time. The causes lay largely in
Nicholas's own personality and in the ecccntric
life-style of the imperial family. The ısar was
throughout his life a man of limited iınelle ct and
vision, strongly conscrvative by inclination and
susceptible to like-minded influences and manipu-
lation. He bowed to the incvitability of the 1905
October Manifesto without grace and without
goodwill towards the institution of parliamcntary
nıonarchy. The nıinisters he appoinıed ali shared
his \•v ariness of the Duma and were people of
limited abilitics v,rho failed to deliver inno\'atıve or
succe~~ful leadership on domestic or foreign
policy. The single, striking exception to this rule
was Pyotr Stolypin, prime minister from 1906 until
his assassination in 1911, who intruduced major
land reform regulations not unrelated to changes
ad,•ocated bv ıhe first Duma. Politicallv, the ısar
became inCrcasingly identificd with exıreme
conservative forces. Pu blic sentiment gener.Jlly
favored the constitutional cxperimcnt and ~et much
hope in the Dunıas , im_pcrial hostility towards
which only rebounded againsı ıhe tsar
and his admini stration. The tsar'~ image tarnbhed
badly over this period, with indifference graduallv
giving \\'ay to contempt throughout most of Russia.
The wani ng of Nicholas II's popularity was ex-
acerbated by the dome~tic circum~tanccs of the
imperial family, above ali by ıhe eccenıric beha-
vior of the tsaritsa, Alexandra, born a Gcrman
14)

L
REVOLUTIO~ A!'.D TH- BUILDII\'G OF THE COMI\.WNIST STATE
princess, was a woman of strong character and
personality, who exercised a powerful influence
over her weaker husband in ali matters, including
affairs of state. Her personal interest was not in
politics, but in fashionable cultic mysticism,
psychic phenomena and the occult. Through her,
the royal household was suffused with seers,
mediums and oracles. The tsaritsa's predilection for
such charlatans became the subject of widespread
gossip and ridicule even before her infamous dis-
covery of Grigoriy Rasputin. Rasputin, a Siberian
peasant supposedly possessing spirituaI powers,
became the dominant personality in the impeda]
household and at court from 1905 onward. His spe-
cial position was due primarily to his ability to stop
the internal bleedings of Aleksey, the hemophiliac
tsarevich. The crude and salacious Rasputin
enjoyed Alexandra's full confidence. His manipula-
tive ha bit of commenting on matters of state meant
that his views were indiscriminately imposed upon
the tsar by Alexandra. Rasputin came to interfere
directly with the running of the state when his per-
sonaJ favor or disfavor determined minsterial
appointments. The Rasputin presence at court did
untold damage to the Romanov image, already
diminished by the dullness and weakness demon-
strated by Nicholas Il; among the people, however,
he became something ofa folk hero.
Russia and World War I
Russia's entry into World War I resulted from its
complex involvement in Balkan affairs and its obli-
gations within the Triple Entente alliance with
France and Great Britain. Russia's foreign policy in
the Balkans was guided by its determination to
check the extension of Austro-Hungarian influence
over the Balkan states, recently emerged from Otto-
man domination. When Austria-Hungary threat-
ened Serbia's independence, Russia felt compelled
to come to its aid. A full mobilization of Russia's
army was decreed, but without declaration of war.
146
Germany, as Austria-Hungary 's stronger ally, Right: Europe: alliances and
chose this action as a pretext far declaring war on frontiers in 1914.
There were two main power
Russia, and immediately thereafter precipitated the blocs in Europe in 1914: the
full-scale world conflict by declaring war on Central Powers {Germany,
France. Great Britain was consequently drawn in, Austria-Hungaı-y) and the Triple
Entente (Britain, France a.nd
and Russia's commitment to the conflict was final- Russia, soon to be joincd by
ized by its treaty obligations to the allies. The out- ltaly). The foreign policies of
both Russia and Austria at this
break of war was greeted with a great ,,vave of time ,-vere directed towards the
patriotism throughout Russia. Party differences BaJkan peniıı.sula. The 1913
were set aside (by ali except revolutionary parties), Balkan War saw the end of
Turkish domination in the
social differences overlooked, strikes called off and region, and Austrla stepped into
even the tsar regained a measure of popularity. the resulting power vacuum,
War began in the first week of August, and over annexing Bosnia and
Herzegovina. The independent
the rest of 1914 Russia experienced both defeats South Slav Onhodox kingdoms.
and victories. A major offensive against the Serbi.ı and Montenegro, were
fearful of Austria and had
Germans in East Prussia ended in a crushing defeat Russian support. The
at the battle of Tannenberg, but the other big assassination of thc heir to the
offensive against the Austro-Hungarians in Galicia Austrian throne in Sarajevo,
capital of Bosnia, by a South Slav
was successful. In addition, a German offensive nationalist thus precipit..ated
aimed at Warsaw was checked by the Russians. Austro-Russian conflict and
Fortune swung against Russia in 1915. The consequently, on account of the
system of alliances, World
Germans heavily reinforced their armies in the \\'ar I.
east, and in the spring a massive offensive soon
forced the Russians into general retreat: by the
autumn they were driven aut of Poland and the
Baltic areas and had lost Iarge parts of the Ukraine
and Belorussia. Fortunately far the Russians, the
Germans soon outran their supply lines, and their
advance therefore came to a halt. The following
year the Russians' counteroffensive against the
Germans brought na results, but another against
the Austro-Hungarians was successful. The latter
was the famous summer offensive under Brusilov,
which drove deep into Galicia.
The war put a great economic and social strain
on Russia. The Russian armies suffered heavy
losses and were chronically undersupplied in
every way- weapons, munitions and food. The
government's inability to anticipate the demands
of war caused dissatisfaction in the ranks and alsa
on the home front, whose well-being deteriorated

Far /eft Russia's popular mood
was generally stable and assured
on the eve of World War I. High
society events such as the Ros.e
Bali, given by the Countess
Shuvalov, brought together the
Russian elite whose lıfe would
be disrupted by the war and
then destroyed by rev olution.
The seated guests inc\ude
military offıcers and civılians,
probably both civil servants and
industrialists. Younger offıcen,
like these would, after ehe world
war, have joined the \Vhite
movement to fight the
Communist regime during thc
cıvilwar.
Left The foreign view of Russia
before the world w.ır was at
times skeptical. The French
political cartoon show~ Russia.
in the person of Nıcholas ır,
accepting financial aid from
France, in the person ofa
caricatured governmental
minister: their cozy exch.ınge is
obs.erved by Germany,
represented by the Prussian
eagle.
20·
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"'"'"'
RLVOLUTION AND THL RUILDING Of, THF COMMUNIST STAT l
sharply. Russia's economy was quickly distorted as
of leadcrship in thc tsar; nor did it arrcst what was
it was put on a war footing. Manpowcr shortagcs by now thc terminal dcclinc of thc Romanovs and
resulting from the huge mobilization meant that the venerable concept of tsardom.
military production could not deliver thc combat
The intcrnal state of Russia at the end of 1916
equipment and supplies. Similarly, food supplics was dangerous. The tsar wa, politically isolated
divertcd to thc front meant ~hortagc~ in citics. Tax and the object of widespread disdain. Thc Duma
revcnues declincd as mo~t men wcrc at the front, was moving, without sufficicnt confidcn cc and still
statc cxpcnscs incrcased whilc incomes fcll and within thc frJnıcwork of constitutional monarch y,
inflation acceleratcd a~ shortagcs intcnsifıcd. toward thc role of ccntral govcrnment. in socicty at
Social morale began breaking down in 1915, in largc, cconomic hardships and insecurity, di~cn-
part from economic difficultics and in part from chantmcnt with thc war and di~may ovcr the con-
political ones. Thc military failurcs of 191 5 meant fusion in the country's political lcadership spelled
that thc Duma began effectively ta usurp the a brcakdown in national morale. Liberal and lcft-
impcrial administration's role in managing thc \var wing politician~ could anticipatc a fundamcntal
cffort, and ta makc morc insistcnt dcmands that the political transformation; they planncd far it,
administration assemblc a crediblc ca binct to hcad assuming that thc changc would be in thc dircction
the government. Nicholas sought ta sidestep the ofpluralistic, parliJmentary govcrnmcnt. A smaller
political crisis by assuming thc mantle of com- group of radical politicians, committcd to violcnt
mandcr-in-chicf: his indccisivcncss in this role revolution and including thc Bolshcviks under
diminished his imagc stili further. A despcrate Lenin'~ control, wcrc cultivating the defcatist
loyalist attempt ta purge the court was madc with a sentimcnt in public opinion and organizing thc
plot ta murder Rasputin; although successful as an ~trikc movemcnt which rccmcrgcd and intcn~ificd
assassination, it did not stimulatc any new qualitie~ in 1916.
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 RFVOLUTION A:ı.O THF BL.:ILDl",G or THE COM.\1L"!':1ST ST A, f

Right A Russian Orthodox priest

blesses the wounded in a
Russian fıeld hospital on the
German from during \Vo rld \'Var
L The conditions ,He pnmitive.
wıth seriously and lightly
wounded cases laid in fO\•ts on
nothing more than scattered
straw. Only a single nurse and
few attendants are in sig ht. The
priest is either giving indi\·idual
blessings or performing lası
rites. ~lortality was high ın such
conditions, and disaffection
among survivors contributed to
the breakdown of milıtary
morale on the eve of revolution

Left: World War l.
Russia was drawn into the war
under the obligation to support
its allies, Great Britain ,md
France. At fırst successes
balanced defeats and sustaıned a
morale that was temporarily
boosted by the unifying effeLl of
a patriotic w.ır. But after
Germ.my sent rein forcements to
the eastern front and inflicted
crushmg defeats in 1915 the war
brought enormous economic and
social strain . Bv the autumn the
Russians had been dri\·en out of
Poland and the Baltic an·as and
had lost parts ofthe Ukraine and
Belorussia. ın spite of some
successful counteroffensives in
the following year, notably
under Brusilov into Galicia
heavv losses on the battlefıeld,
coupled wıth severe food .ınd
,ınımunition shortages,
demoralized the Russian armv to
the point of mut im·, a situatiÔn
encouraged by Bolshevik
propaganda, and there were
massive desert ions. Once the
Bolsheviks came to power on a
palicy of endmg the war, vast
tracts of Russia were conceded to
Germ.ın,· bv the Treat,· of
Brest-LiiovS.k (March i918). The
Ukrainian republic. which h.ıd
been decl.ıred in July 1917, came
under German and Austri.ın
influence in its bid to defe.ıt
Bolshevism. With the same end
in view, the British forces,
originally sem to guard
munitions dumps at Murm.ınsJ...
and Archangel against German
attacks, stat·ed on in 1918 in a
vain attemf't to help the
anti-Bolshe,·ık Russı.ın generals
The February Re,·olution and the pro,·isional
go,·ernment
Civil disorder increased sharply in th e capital,
Petrograd (St Petersburg Russified), during the
winter of 1916 17. The Duma again demanded of
Nicholas the formation ofa new cabinet, acceptable
ıo itself, which could aspire to popular confid ence.
Thc tsar issued a decrec disbanding the Duma, but
ıhe latter refused to comply and on 27 February
effectively assumed the role of government. :--Jicho-
las, isolated and powerless, abdicated on 2 March.
The Februarv Revolution \Nas thus an cssentiall v
nonviolent r"'esolution of the struggle for contrô'J
bet,veen Duma and tsar ,,vhich began in J 905, and
v;hich culminated in the triumph of parliamentary
government over the monarchy. The Duma
assurned for itself a caretaker's role, paving the
way fora completely new and directly elected par-
liamentary government, and therefore reconsti-
tuted itself as the provisional government. But its
ability to govcrn was severely hampered by the
emergencc of a parallel form of government , the
network of councils called soviets.
The provisional government consisted mostly of
the liberal and moderate conservative forces which
had been dominant in the Dumas. Representatives
of the socialist forces, espccially the more radical
t ype, Jooked for anot her base from which to exer-
cise pm\ı·er. Such a base existed in the emerging
Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Depu-
ties, a looselv structured and fluid popular council
espousing a ~ radical socialist form of government.
The Petrograd Sodet became effectively an altern-
ative government. The provisional government
was supported largely by the educated and com-
mercial classes, whilc the soviet dcpendcd on thc
marginally literate factory \Vorkers and soldiery.
The provisional government set about formulat-
ing a series of fundamental reforms. The most
important of thesc created thc foundations for thc
convening of a constitucnt assembly, the freely
electcd and fully represcntativc national parlia-
ment which would institute the structure ofa new
democratic governmcnt in Russia. The electoral
reforms provided for a universal and equal voting
franchise, together with a secret ballot. This con-
trasted with the election of the Dumas, which had
been indirect and on the basis of a limited fran-
chisc. The system of local government, or zemstvos,
was reorganized and charged with drawing up
electoral registers for the elections to the consti-
tuent assembly, planned for the autumn of 1917.
Throughout, the pro,·isional govcrnment was
concerned with strict observance of legality in the
political process and exact observance of parlia-
mentary procedures in the conduct of its business
The sadet ,,·as an entirely different political
institution, a haphazard assembly of representa
tives choscn by popular acclamation; its composi-
tion was highly fluid, it operated without any
declared jurisdiction and it lacked any fıxed rulc~
or procedurcs. Scssions of the soviet tcnded to be
chaotic, with the real control and the administra-
tion being concentrated in a small group of leaders.
The political composition of thc sovict was almost
exclusively socialist, together with a few small
radical groups that claimed to represent thc real
interests of labor. The soviet's aims were two-fold:
first, the creation of an exclusivclv socialist order
in Russia; second, thc undermining of all non-
socialist political forces, which were labeled "bour-
geois'' or "capitalist," and which included ali thosc
participating in the provisional government.
The largest group in the soviet were the Socialist
Revolutionaries, a radical populist party strongly
attached to the peasantry. ::\fext in importancc wcrc

149
REVOLL'TION AKD THE BVILDI!\'G OF THE COMML'1\'1ST ST ATE
the Social Democrats, a party split into two groups,
the majority Mensheviks and the minority Bolshe-
viks. in the spring of 1917 the Bolsheviks under
Lcnin's lcadership broke away to form an indepen-
dcnt party. The Bolshcviks \Vere a small minority
in the soviet, but. being better organized and more
dynamic, they began exercising infl uence aut of
proportion to their numbers. They consistently
took thc extremist line that thc soviet should scizc
all power immediately,
The soviet concept spread rapidly through Rus-
sia, with local soviets appearing in virtually every
city, town and village, as well as within the ranks
of thc army. All these bodies acknowledged the
ultimate national authority of the Petrograd Soviet.
By mid-1917 the soviets effectively constituted a
functioning prototype of national, regional and
loca] government apparatus, spanning Russia in its
entirety. By comparison, the provisional govern-
ment rested on a much narrower base of support in
Petrograd and exerciscd a far more tenuous
authority over the cstablished zeınstvo loca]
government in the country.
The soviet movement's potential as a national
government was confirmed with thc All-Russian
Congress of Soviets in June. Thc Bolshevik Party
accounted for only 16 percent of more than 650
delegates; their extremist positions were repeat-
edly rcjected, and Lenin was unable to impose his
views on the assembly. Indeed, it was not Lenin
but another socialist politician, Alexander Keren-
sk y, a v ice-chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, who
emerged as the leader in Russian government and
po litics until October 1917, and who brought about
a temporary convergence between the soviets and
the provi siona] government.
Late summer saw two major threats ta the
provisional government. The fırst was an attempt
at a v iolcnt coup d'etat launched in Petrograd
during J uly by the Bolsheviks under Lcnin's
.50
leadership. He was able to mobilize only a group of The revolutıons of 1917 Si.lW
many popular ass.aults upon
sailors and soldicrs from the Petrograd garrison, prisons. ın order to release
and this was defeated by a cavalry division from detainees. This prison in thc
the front. Lenin and Trotsky, thc co-organizers of imperial capital of Petrograd has
been stormed and left a
the uprising, fled the country ta await another burnt-out shdl. it was probably
opportunity of seizing power. The second crisis a minor transit prison: the
came with a revival within the disorganized Rus- location directly on a city street,
without any surrounding
sian army under its new commander-in-chicf, compound, suggests it could not
General Lavr Korni]ov. Kornilov was a dynamic have becn a high-security
establishment. The collapsc of
and successfu] front-1ine commander, with views municipal services during 1917
that appea]ed to the co nservative and moderate ele- meant that largc areas of
ments in the provisional government. Kerensky, Petrograd and Moscow were
guttcd in this way, leaving
who was made prime minister after the suppression widespread urban dereliction.
of Lenin's uprising, was increasingly packing the
provisiona] government with socialists, and Korni-
lov's rapidly growing popularity and political
involvement threatened Kerensky's position. ln
September Kerensky tricd to dismiss Kornilov, but
the general rcfused to comply, appealed for public
support and dispatched an armed force towards
Petrograd. Kerensky turned for help to the socialist
organizations, aJI of whom came to his aid; thanks
especially to the transport workers, he was able to
impedc the movement of Kornilov's forces and
therefore to survive as prime minister.
Kerensky's proved a pyrrhic victory. He had lost
credibility with the moderatc !orces in thc
provisional government and by overreliance on the
socialists had fatally undermined the government's
independence. By rebuffing Kornilov he alicnated
the only force which could have defendcd his
governrnent. Mean\vhile, the Soviets were gaining
new momentum, popular opinion had swung mas-
sively in their favor and by Scptcmber the Bolshe-
viks were dominant in the Petrograd Soviet.
The October Revolution and civil war
Lenin 's plans for seizing power \\'ere timed in such
a way as to undermine the consti tuent assembly,
whose election and convocation were the

The revolutions of 1917,
especially the one in October,
,-..•ere accompanied by
wide-ra nging looting a nd
,-..·anton destruction. Middle- and
upper-class homes were a main
target of such attacks, and the
fabric of their way of life was
i rretriev.ıbly shattered. Family
possessions, heirlooms,
collections, libraries, archives
and records perished or were
dispersed; the fragments that
survive are now anonymous
collectors ' items, popular in
Western antique markets. The
photograph shows a ransacked
room in the Winter Palace, not
stripped b.ıre of larger items but
probably pilfered of smaller
ones. Many fıner items such as
sculptures and paintıngs were
systematically sold abroad by
the Communist state during the
l 920s to raise hard currency for
its treasury.
provisional government's main objective. The elec-
tions were scheduled for early Novcmber, and the
convocation for the first week of January 1918.
Through carly October Lenin, working closcly
with Trotsky and Stalin, finalizcd the plans and
means fara coup d'etat, which took place on 24~25
October. The Red Guards, select detachmcnts of
Bolshevik workers and soldiers, scized alJ govcrn-
ment buildings and communications ccnters in
Petrugrad. The provisional government, meeting in
the Wintcr Palace and virtually undefended, was
quickly dispersed and its leaders arrested. A
second All-Russian Congress of Soviets was con-
vened within hours: the program tabled by the
Bolsheviks was approved, as was a cabinet headed
by Lenin. Kcrensky ignominiousıy flcd Petrograd.
The October Revolution was accomplished and the
government was entirely in Lenin's hands.
The change in Petrograd could not, howe ver,
stop the clections to the constituent assembly. The
turnout was high, particularly given the turmoil of
the time: about 42 million out of an estimated 90
million clectorate cast their votes. Out of the 703
known delegates, over 50 percent represented the
Socialist Revolutionaries, 24 percent the Bolshe-
viks, 13 perccnt the Constitutional Democrats and
11 percent various nationalist parties. The Bolshe-
viks and their sympathizers controlled less than a
third of the delegates. If the constituent assembl y
were allowed to function freely, Lcnin's regime
would have had little chance of survival. He was
determined not to alJuw this threat to his powcr.
Under Lenin's direction, the new government
immediately promulgated a number of radical
reforms. Some were constructive and widely
popular. These included the abolition of private
ownership of land and the opening of negotiations
for peace without annexations or indemnities.
Others werc ominous. Thcse included the creation
of the Cheka (from which the KGB derivcs), a state
RLVOLUTION AND THE BUILDI NG OF THL COMrı.tUNJST 'ffATE
securit y organization w hich rclied on systematic
terror to eliminate opposition, and thc outJawing of
the Constiıutional Democratic Parıy, which pre-
saged the extcrmination of all political parties
exccpt the Bolsheviks.
The constituent assembly convened in Pctrograd
on 5 January 1918. The non-Bolshevik majoriıy
faced pcrvasive intimidation from thc Rcd Guards,
but despite this and Lenin's declarcd hostility to
the assembly, the delcgates turncd down by almost
two to onc a doctrinairc reform packagc proposed
by the Bolsheviks. The Bolshcviks did not accept
the majorit y dccision and walked ouı. La ter that
night thc delegates werc forcibly cvicted by the
Red Guards, and the Bolshevik governmcnt
formally dissolved ıhe constituent assembly the
following day. Thus, ovcr 12 ycars' cvolution
towards a ful] parliamentary democracy in !{ ussia
was negated in one day. However, the ideal of thc
constituent assembly lived on, and was sharcd by
virtually ali of Bolshcvisnı's opponcnts during thc
civil war.
Thc causes ofthe civil war lay in the repugnance
to the Bolsheviks and their mcthods which grew
during the October Revolution and spread widely
in early 1918. This alicnation was strongcst in
Petrograd and Moscow, where the Bolshcviks'
refusal to cooperate with othcr partics and their
strong-arm tactics in gaining power finally dis-
gusted ali other political forces, including effec-
tively thc entire socialist movemcnt and thc
general urban population, who saw the Bolsheviks
seize privileges, particularly in terms of food sup-
plies. in the countryside it grew as the Bolshcviks
incited class divisions in the peasantry and in~ti-
tuted a program of forcible food confiscation, in
order to divert food supplies to thcir power base in
the cities.
As it became clear that the Bolsheviks werc
determined to use any means to climinate oppo-
nents, the opposition swung into action. it was too
late to contest control of the capital citics, Petro-
grad and Moscow, where Bolshevik rule was cstab-
lished strongly and irreversibly. The history of the
civil war was logistically a struggle between ıhe
Bolshevik central region and a wide periphery of
disparate anti-Bolshcvik governments. Being at the
center, the Bolsheviks controlled Russia's war
industry and communications network, giving
them a military capability and logistical superiority
w hich the opposition could never match.
AlJ the main anti-Bolshevik governments
emerged in early 1918. The most important area in
this respect was the south ofRussia, w hich was the
base of the White (anti-Bolshevik) movement. This
included the Voluntcer Army, created around a
core of non-socialist Russian army offıcers, under
General Kornilov, and Const itutional Dcmocrat
politicians. The area wa s also the base for nvo
newJy emerged autonomous Cossack governments,
one in the Don and t he other in the Kuban area.
After some time and effort, ıhe \Vhites and Cos-
sacks managed to combine their anti-Bolshcvik
operations; their common political objectivc was to
reconvene the constituent assembly. Othcr govern-
ments emerged in eastern Russia and the Urals
region. The Socialist Revolutionarıcs set up one ın
Samara, consisting of deputies from the disbanded
constituent assembly. A Constitutional Democrat
151
RF.VOLL'TJO"'l" AND T HF BL'TLDING OF TH[ CO
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Thc re, o luti o m, anJ ci , ·i l \\ar.
The Revolution of 1905 fmset)
broughı a strung upwrıe of
n.ıtionalisı fı..-clıng ın sc,·eral
p.ırıs of Russia, as well as
widespn:ad revolts by ehe
peasantry againsı their
landlords. Ruıhlcss suppression
bv the tsarist forccs as wdl as
ıhe apparent promıse of
constiluıional changc held out
by the Duma defused the
situation. Howe,·er, aftt:r vears
ol conflict with the Duma ·and
his dısastrous kad~nhip during
\\'orld \\'ar I, Tsar , icholas il
was linallv forced to abdicate b,
the Februarv Revolution of 1g1-.
The lack ofSırong central
government allowed the new
political phcnomcnon of loca!
sm·iets ıo gain influen(t'
throughout the country. The
well-organized, dynamic and
uncompromising Bolshevil-s won
ıncreasıng power in spite of
relativeh' small numbers
Crvsıalli~tion of varied
anİ:i~Bolshe,·ik forces
(collecth·elv termed "\\'hites")
undcr leadCrs sucb as Denikin
and Kokhak maınly took place
in remoıcr arcas, while the
" Reds" beld the central ciıies ,
where they controlled Russia's
war industries and
comrnunications nctwork. The
\\"hites in some parts of ıhe
north and south of the c:ountrv
were aided bv ıhe British and-
thei r allıes, f~arful of ıhe ,;pread
of Bolshevbm, but this
intervention was half-hearted.
Even Polısh intcn·ention in
t:kraine "as insufficient ıo
defeaı ıhe Rcds.
go\'er nment eınerged in Omsk, .ınd J. similar one in
Yekaterinb urg . The Samara and Omsk gm·ern-
ments were eventually merged to form .ı ~ingle
anti-Bolshevik authorit,· under Adnıiral Kolchak.
Thc CaucJsm, also ~rcjectcd Bol~heYi~m. with
socialist governments being establishcd in GcorgiJ,
Armenia and Azerbaijan. Ali backed thc reinstate-
ment of the proYisional govcnımcnt and recall of
t he constituent assembly. Evcntually thc thrcc
governments united into a singlc Transcaucasian
Federal Republic, stili dedicated ıo the ideal of
feder.ıtive affiliation with a democratic, non-
Bolshe\'İk Russia. Ukraine wcnt a separatc patlı,
procl.ıiming an independent nationalist republic,
but in fact heaYily dcpendent on German support.
Some local governments and mo\'emcnts tried 10
survive by flirting simultaneously with the Reds
and the \\ı'hitcs. The most notable of these was th e
Green Army led by the chari'>matic Ncstor
Makhno. /\!akhno's territory spanned souıhern
Russi.ı .ınd northern Ukraine, and his forces com-
prised Cossacks and peasanb. ;ı.ıakhno, an anar-
chist leaning towards socialism, was dedicated
primarily to t h e idea of loca! autonomy. Len üı
made an unsuccessful personal attcmpt to conYcrt
him to Bolshevism in summer 1918.
The Bobhe,·iks in mid-1918 rena med themsdves
the Communist Part y and moved the capita1 from
Petrograd to Mo,co\\. Through the firsı half of the
vear, fortune fa\'ored the \Vhites. Their forces,
rhough much smaller than th e Reds, were much
more professional and betler led, under the overall
command of the experienced General Anton
Denikin. T he Coın m un i sts, althoug h experienced
in urban coınbat, had difficulty adapting to the
complexities of campaigning and warfare outside
t h e cities. Finallv, the Whitcs benefited from some
equipment and ~ssistance from the Allies, with the
British, Americans, Japanese and French sending
!-> mali cxped itionary forces into Russia. The Com-
munists wcre meanwhile deflected by the attempt
to defuse the German offensiYe still under wav on
t h e Russian front. in mid-Jul\' the former tsa/ and
his familv, who had been fntcrned for months,
were muidercd at Yekaterinburg by their Comınu­
nist jailers.
Bv late 1918 the Communists were in thc
asce"ndant. lnitial successes bv the \Vhites had
faltered, exposing their nıilitar)'. and logistical limi-
tat ions. For the Reds, an armistice with the
Germans freed front-line troop!-> under Communist
influence, and Leon Trotsky succeeded in trans-
forming the Red military into ıhe highly organized
and efficient Red Army. in September the Cheka,
under Lenin's guidancc, instituted thc "Rcd
Terror," a highly organized program of extermi-
nation of all political opposition , relying on syste-
matic mass arrests, interrogation under torture,
hostage taking of family and children and sum-
mary and mas'> executions.
The South Russian go\'ernment. which had
eyoh·ed aut of the Volunteer Armv, achic\·ed some
nıajor advances againsı t h e Red Army during the
winter of 1918- 19, but this was a lası success.
Unable to sustain t h eir effort, the Whites fell inıo
retreat in southcrn Russia and collapsed in Siberia.
The socia1is t o pposition go,·ernments in Russia had
perished by the n and the Transca ucasian Republic
was in peril. The South Russian go\·ernment made a
Rl : \'01 .. L:TIO'\" A "\D TH i: Dl\.l, ,)F IH L CO~tML:',;J:-, i A
sustaincd la~t ~tand under \\' rangel's command in
the Criınea, but wa.., lorccd to eYacuate to btanbul
in .' lowmbcr I Y20. With thc opposition go,·ern-
menı, gone and the Ia,ı \\'!ü te bastion abandoned .
the Communist regime hdd undi<-.puted authorjty
in Rus~ia.
Thc Communi,t, ,till had to suppress popular
resistance mo\·cment.., in thc countryside. The pea-
sants had suffcred greatly from thc forci ble foo d
expropriations, a~ ,;seli as fro ın the extcn!->ion of
Red Terror into the countrvsidc; th e lattcr wa 5
cspecially se, ere because nlo~t peJ.sants f.ıvored
the Socialist Re\'Olu t ionarİ e <:, , whom the Co mınu ­
nhts were intcnt on cxterminating. Numenıu.., anti-
Communist resi~tance mo,·ements emergcd, culmi -
nating in ınassi\·e reyoJts in H.us~ia 's cen tral pro -
vinces, thc Volga rcgion and in ı.,ihcri a during
1920- 21. These were well organized and led. the
biggest bcing in western Sibcria aııd the Tambov
area of central Russia. The full force of th e Red
Army and Red Terror was neccs,;;ary to suppre,;;s
and cradicate the..,c popular uprising ~. \ı\ ' ith thb
completed in 1921, the Communi'ıt govcrnmcnt
was tinally in complete control.
Fol1owing thc October Re\·olution J.nd cİ Yİl ·war,
there v\·as a wave of emigration from Rus~ia. it con -
sisted of the broad anti-Bolshe,·ik , cctor o l the
population- thc \\' bite militan•, liberal and
conservati\'e politicians, writcr.-, ·and j ournalists,
lawyers and academic..,, scientists and cngincers,
officials and professionals, numbering probably
over a million. The greatcst concentrat ion settled in
Berlin up to tlıe mid-1920s; the center later sh ifted
to Paris.
A snıall part of the emigration, particularly the
scientists and enginecrs, as~imilated read ily into
the foreign enyironment. The intellectual majori ty
':reated a Russian !->Ociety and culture in d iaspora .
Emigre Russian literature developed w ith Yİ t ali ty,
the leading authors being h·an Bunin (w h o wo n ıh c
:-lobel Prize for Literature in 1933), Boris Zavt sev.
I \'an ShmelyO\· and tlıe young Vladimir :-JabokoY. A
few writers, including 1ly a Ehrenburg, cho!-> e to
return after a fe,,.
years abroad.
Some e'ınigre's rcmained st aunchly anti-Commu-
nist, perceiving their mission as preser v ing prc-
re,:olutionary Russian culture while it ,,._•a s being
rooted out at home. The more ambitious formed
organizations to infiltrate anti-Commu n ist \"İC\\"S
into the So,·iet Union. Of th ese, th e most resilient
was the NTS (;'>;ational Labor A lliance), lounded in
Belgrade in 1930. Others ca me to belie,·e that the
Communist rcgime was mcllow ing into a bcne\·o-
lent successor to tsarist Russia, and some there!0re
chose to rcturn; of t hese manv werc '.:-ıent ımmcdi­
ately or c\'cntually to conccntfation camps.
The divid ed attit u de towards modern Rus~ia was
epitonıized in 192 1 by a split in the emigre Russian
Orthodox Church over whether to continue to
accept the au t hority of thc metropolitan of \los-
cow, who, in thc face of brutal persecution, had
made some accommodation with the Communısts.
üne faction opted to continue acccpting ,\loscow's
primacy; thi, became the so-called ~ynodal
Church , dominant in the European emigratıon The
other faction decided that Moscow had abrogated
its rcligious mhsion and declared itsclf solc custo-
dian of Russian Orthodox,; this Church n [x le
dom inated the emigratıon in America
RE\'OLUTION AND THE BUILDING OF THE COMMUNIST STATE
Building the Communist state: first attempt
The fırst attempt to create a new Communist order
in Russia spanned the years 1918- 21, under a
program called "War Communism." lts aims were
to exterminate ali vestiges of the old order, to
introduce sweeping and radical institutional
changes in accordance with an extreme vision of
socialist utopianism, and to concentrate a11 power
in the hands ofthe Communist Party. The old order
was destroyed with the abolition of the existing
governmental institutions, administrative organ-
ization, legal system, money and banking, commer-
cial system, trade, educational system, ali non-
socialist political parties and family rights. People
who served the old order in any way were
identified as enemies of the new and subjected to
wide-ranging persecutions, including regular
summary executions. These, together with a large
part of the peasantry, werc officially classified as
lishenısy (disfranchised people) and stripped of ali
civic and political rights.
Simultaneously, the new order was introduced.
This brought a total nationalization of industry, a
total communalization of property, a system of
ration cards to replace money, political education
and the creation of political agencies to perform
intermediary and service functions. Economically,
the overall aim was far the government ta control
ali national production and ali distribution of
54
goods to the population, thereby introducing a
socialist non-profit operation to replace the market
mechanisms of capitalism. All organizations admin-
istering the new order were staffed by Communists
chosen on the basis of their gualities as revolu-
tionaries; it was assumed that the new order could
not fail to succeed, and that the skills of govern-
ment could easily be picked up. The Communist
functionaries were accorded extensive special
privileges, making them from the start into an elite
class separate from the rest of the population.
The new order was intended to be highly
centralized, under the administrative control ofthe
Soviet government, which in turn was to be fully
controlled by the Communist Party. The public
structure of government consisted of the same
soviet councils which had been the main catalyst of
the revolutions. Even though controlled by Com-
munists, these somewhat unpredicta ble assemblies
included in their membership a residue of Menshe-
viks and Socialist Revolutionaries. The Communist
Party and Lenin were intent that ali real power
should be held by them, and Lenin was equally
determined that, within the Communist Party, full
authority and power should be vested in a small
elite. Ta achieve this, he created an institutional
pyramid of ascending authority: an irregularly
convened national Supreme Soviet assigned the
function of national government ta the Communist
Above The closeness between the
two early Communist leaders is
seen in this photograph, tıken
on Red Square in .Moscow
during 1919 fesıivities marking
the second anniversary of the
Bolshevık Revolution. Lenın
strikes a Napoleonic pose, while
Trotsky salutes, probably in
acknowledgment ofa passing
contingent ofthe Red Army. The
scene is posed, with the cleared
opening in the crowd focusing
on Lenin; the opening is lined
with security men watching the
phoıographer and ıoken children
are placed near the leaders to
create an informal mood. The
poster at the left reads "Radiant
glory to those who died for
Communism."

Below The 1917 revolutıon lcft
great dcstruction throughout
Russia, and t'~pecıally ın ib
cities. Repafrs and clearances
were usua!ly piecemeal, and in
crucial places performed by
units ofRed Armv out of
securitv consideraıions. Thıs Red
Guard detachment is at work
inside the Moscow Kremlııı, the
seat ofthe Communbt
go\•ernment. The rampart \-ıı all in
the distance overlooks Red
Square; the domes ofSt Basil's
cathcdral loom beyond the
smaller tower to the right. The
small neo-Gothic chapel near the
larger gatc at the lcft, a famous
sanctuary, was soon torn down.
REVOLUTlON AND THE BUILDING Ol· l"HE COMMUNIST STATE
Party, immediately in the form of its permanent and the sailors there were a major pro-Bolshevik
Ccntral Committee, which w as in turn supcrvised force during the revolutions of 1917. By 1921 the
by the Party's permanent Politburo (Political same sailors were inccnsed at thc Communists'
Bureau ). Ali ultimate power and decision-making abuse of power and disregard of their revol-
rested with the Politburo, a tiny group of thc top utionary pledges. Thc rebeb' program callcd for
leadcrs: thc first Politburo consisted of seven, new elections to the sovicts, on thc ba<;is ofa sccrct
headed by Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin. ballot; frecdom of speech and press for ali revolu-
Ideologically, the new order was justified by the tionaries and radicals; release of all socialist
conccpt of the "Dictatorship of the Prolctariat." political prisoners; a relaxation of tradc rcstrictions
This posited that thc Communists werc acting in to help fced Petrograd; and a lifting of restrictiom
thc name of thc proletariat, which was stili fluid in on the peasantry. The program was essentially a
the post-revolutionary situation, and therefore broad socialist protcst against the Communists'
necdcd dcdicated rcvolutionary cadres to assist it repressive monopoly on power. The latter
along the predestined path towards workers' responded by labeling the rebels as counter-
socialism. The Communist Party thcrcfore assigned revolutionaries, and the uprising was brutally sup-
itself the role of ıhe "Vanguard of the Proletariat." pressed by forces undcr Mikhail Tukhachevsky,
Economically and soeially, "War Communism" la ter the Red Army' s chief of staff.
proved a disaster. The removal of market The famine and thc Kronshtadt inciden! spelled
incentives spelled the death of work incentive and the cnd of "War Communism." Lenin decided that
hence the effective collapse of industrial and agri- less doctrinaire and more practical means were
cultural production. This lcd to critical shortages, needcd in the short term to halt the slide into chaos
runaway inflation and social disruption, all intcnsi- and revivc the nation's economy. In 1921 he pro-
f ying just as the civil war drew to a close. The claimed the abolition of "War Communism" and
Communists safeguarded their privileged position introduced instead the New Economic Policy, NEP
in the cities by reguisitioning the scant supplies for short, a series of economic and rclated insti-
and launched systematic requisitioning cxpedi- tutional rcforms which replaced the impracticali-
tions into the countryside in order to seize food ties of "\,Var Communism" with more conventional
from the peasants. These expeditions and droughts measurcs. Economically, a modicum of private
resulted in a massivc rural faminc in 1921, initiative was reintroduced into agriculture and
probably the greatest famine Russia had experi- manufacturing, whilc thc govcrnmcnt maintaincd a
enced until that time. monopoly over heavy industry, foreign trade and
Hostility towards the government grew in both fınance. Peasants were given limited rights to sell
cities and countryside, mccting with increased produce privately, and small-scale private manu-
rcpression and tcrror from the Communists. A facturing conccrns werc pcrmittcd. Conventional
wave of peasant uprisings swept the country in trading practiccs wcrc rcvivcd, banking rcintro-
1920-21, and in March 1921 the Communist regime duced and normal fınancial instruments and trans-
actions returned.
faced its greatest threat in the Kronshtadt u prising.
Kronshtadt was Petrograd's principal naval base, Private initiative was applied effectively to
small-scale manufacturc, rctail trade and service
industry. Thcsc scctors accounted fara minor pro-
portion of the total economy, but their spectacular
growth helped stabilize the national economy and
generale some social tranquillity by meeting at
least part of starved consumer demand. The small-
scale entrepreneurs, nicknamed the "Nepmen,"
who catalyzed this growth, were essentially a final
incarnation of thc traditional Russian mcrchant,
who had flourished particular!y in the !ast decades
before the October Revolution. The state monopoly
sectors showed at best marginal improvements
undcr NEP.
Thc flcxibility introduccd into cconomic mattcrs
under NEP was not matchcd by any similar politi-
cal changcs. The rcvcrsc was in fact true. Cor.ımu­
nist control and power werc extendcd and sevcrcly
tightened in 1921 - 22. The !ast remnants of non-
Communist socialist parties, the Mcnsheviks and
Socialist Rcvolutionaries, w crc abolishcd in 1921.
lntcrnal control became m orc rigid within the Com-
munist Party, w hich h ad until then becn relatively
tolerant of intcrnal d cbate. Mcmbcrs whose views
differed significan tly from Lenin's werc accused of
"factionalism," a chargc tantamount to ideological
ıreachery. The summer of 1921 saw the first syste-
matic political purgc of the Communist Parıy. The
membership of the party at this time was less ıhan
l pcrccnt of thc total Russian population; cvcn thc
total proletariat, in whosc name thc Communists
claimcd to rulc, accountcd for only about 15 pcr-
RF\'OLL.TIU'.',;" A'.'.D THE BUI LDl"lG Ol· TH E COMMU NIST STAT!:.
cent. Thc Communist ,;;;ccurity police were strength-
cncd to safcguard the party's minority position and
intcrnal discipline; in 1922 the Cheka was reorgan-
ized as the GPU, w ith much greater puwcrs, a remit
to operatc outsid e the law and responsibility for
sccurity with in thc party, including the arrcst and
interrogation of part y members. Thus, security
policing was extcndcd to thought policing.
It 5eems clear that Lenin saw increased flcxi-
bilit y in thc economy and increased repression in
politics a,;;; two sidcs of thc samc necessary coin: the
former was a temporary, regressive measure to
shore up the economy , whilc thc latter would guar-
antee absolut e power for the Communists. But
Leni n did not clarify his thinking about what to do
after NEP, and in May 1922 he suffered a stroke
w hich left him partly paralyzed; in early 1923
an oth er took away his speech and in January 1924
he died. This was effectively a period of interreg-
num in the Communist Party, with NEP continuing
on borru\ved time.
Among aspiring successors, Stalin and Trotsky
were the leading figures. Stalin had risen to power
through exceptional organizational a bility and
loyal obedience to Lenin, who had cultivated hirn
as heir apparent. Trotsky had risen as a charismatic
leader, especially of the military, andan ideologue
whose views could complemcnt and at times
diverge from Lenin's. St.:ılin inclined towards con-
centrating on the development of a Communist
order in Russia, while Trotsky was dedicated to the
belief that Russia should catalyze worldwide Com-
munist revolution. Both men \Vere, however,
equally committed to monopolistic Communist
pm•ver, doctrinal unity and discipli ne within the
party and intense security policing.
Stalin had thc advantage from the start, due both
to Lcnin's favor and to his own con trol over all
appointments within the Communist Party. Shortly
before his death, Lenin rejected Stalin as his suc-
cesor, but without indicating who should be
ch o,;;en instead. it is unclear whether thi s repudia-
tion was the last f1ash of Lenin's insight ora sign of
confusion in his terminal illness. in either case, it
had no effect on the Communist Party. Stalin
strcngthened his position vdth a masterful orches-
tration of Lenin's funeral and a memorable oration
in which he established himself as sole custodian of
Leninism.
Building the Communist state: Stalin the
creator
The actual content of Lenini sın was far from clear.
Lenin had shown himself to be an authoritative
theoretician, a successful revolutionary leader and
an effective crisis mana ger d uring the ci vil war.
However , he had proved an inept state builder.
Stalin proved to have the vision and determination
to shape the Soviet state and system as we know it,
adapting Leninism to that image.
Stalin consolidated his position gradually
betwee n 1924 and 1927, while the Communist
Party debated about what course it should take
after Lenin. One group, headed by Stalin as leader
and Bu k harin as ideologue, favorcd contin uing a
program of pragmatic compromisc, as exc mplified
in NEP. Another, led by Trotsky, favored a ra di-
cally doctrinaire program, not unlike a rct urn to
"\.Var Communism," together with increased cen-
56
tralization of the party organization and increased
disciplinc within its ranks. The first group
controlled the Central Committee and thc Politburo
of thc party; the second was labeled the Left Oppo-
sition. Trotsky's Left Opposition tried to mobilize
the Moscow proletariat, but this failed due to the
workers' indifference. The failure proved that
Trotsky was no Ionger a charismatic mass leader,
even though he commanded strong influcnce
within the party's ranks. Stalin succceded in erod-
ing that influence by launching a new recruiting
drive, which nearly doubled party membership to
over a million. By controlling the selection pro-
cesses bchind the recruitment drivc, Stalin was
able greatly to strengthen his power within the
expanded party. in mid-1927 Stalin accused the
Left Opposition of plotting to split the Communist
Party and organized a purge of its adherents,
including Trotsky, from the party's ranks. Trotsky
was sent into internal exile and deported from the
Soviet Union early in 1929. With this masterstroke,
Stalin became the sole and undisputed leader of thc
Communist Party, and therefore of the Soviet
Union.
At the end of 1927 Stalin proclaimed his design
for the future economic development and social
engineering of the Soviet Union. This \vas based on
the concept of a planned economy: strategies and
targets for national dcvelopment were to be formu-
lated by centralized planning bodies, with imple-
mentation and fulfillment of the plans being passed
as orders to industry. The planned economy was to
operate on the basis of successive fivc-year plans,
which applied to every sector of Soviet industry
and enterprise.
The First Five-Year Plan, authorized in early
1928, centered on two radical objectives: the intro-
duction of an industrial revolution and the collecti-
v ization of agriculture. The industrial revolution
w as to include a total restructuring of the country's
industrial base, an intensive expansion of heavy
and manufacturing industry and a concentration of
new industrial development in thc Urals and
western Siberia. The ultimate aim was t\•v o-fold.
First, the Soviet Union was to become a modern
and self-sufficient industrial state. Second, the
accompanying growth of the proleıariat would
expand that class base in whose name thc Commu-
nists claimed to rule. The latter consideration was
cspecially important since Russia was still predomi-
nantly a peasant country.
The collectivization of agriculture was to
rcshapc peasant Russia to conform with the Com-
munist order. The peasants had not responded
favorably to either Bolshevism or Communism and
were treated with suspicion by ali Communist
ideologues. They had reacted with particular
enthusiasm to NEP, and the increase of their
private production under those conditions allowed
normal food supply and provisioning to be reestab-
lished. The fıve-year plan now did away with the
private initiative permitted under NEP. Ali peasant
communities and landholdings were to be mcrged
into collective farms, which wcre to be run as
industrial complexes under centralized Communist
Party administration. All indigenous social and
administrative institutions were to be abolished,
and any slight differentiation of wealth that
remained in peasant society was to be erased. The

Consulidation ofthe Soviet
Unio n .
The Sl'izure of puwt·r by the
Bolsheviks in Jq17 sparked off
several similar attempts at
revolution in othı:r Eurnpean
cuuntrics: Hungary.
Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, e\'en
Gernıanv, all looked at om· time
as thouğh they might bccume
ideological allies of Red Russia
But the must serious attempt to
export re\'olution had endt·d
disastrouslv: the Cossack RcJ
Cavalrv had moved from the
ci,·il "~ar in the Ukraine \traight
into Poland, but had bı;-en
repulscd near \'Varsaw . in ıhe
subsequent settlement Poland
t'xpanded far tu the east. B,·
1922 the new state of the SÜviet
Union had lost a great sweep of
pre-revolutionary Russia to the
west. Not only Pol.:ınd, but
Fınland and the Baltic states
declared themselves
independent; Bessarabia had
been annexed bv Romania. ln
the Caucasus an'unsuccessful
attempt was made to form an
independent Transcauc.ısian
Federation in 1917 18. After a
brief pcrioJ under ınJcpendent
socialist govemments, Georgia,
Armenia and Azcrb.ıyj.:ın were
incorporaıed piecemeal into the
Sovict Unıon .:ıs autonomous
repub!ics.
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.
v" LLsdog~
Perıogıaı:i
Taııırın
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BLACK SEA
TURKEV
ultimate aim was again two-fold. First, the new
agricultural industrial complex was to increase
production and rural food-supply potential.
Sccond, the greatest passive resistance to Commu-
nism in Russia would be eradicated by destroying
ıhe established way of peasant life and replacing it
with a quasi-industrial one under the party's ful!
control. The foundation ofa Communist order was
ready far building on. The cost of doing this was
horrific beyond any expectations.
The arts in the revolutionary period
Even before 1900 the Russian artistic avant-garde
had vigorously taken up thc idea of the "Modern
Movement" in the arts. Ta the poets and painters
in thc guite capacious Symbolist category, to be
part of this movement was ta procl.aim onesclf
internationally minded, anxious to ventilate a
stuffy provincial culture with bracing foreign air.
Marxists were internationalists almost by defini-
tion, but there \'\·ere others, like the post-Symbolist
writer Osip Mandelshtam, w ho in a haunting
phrase describcd his poetry as "nosta lgia far \ı\'Orld
culturc." Many artists, writers and particularly
musicians however saw modernism quite differ-
cntly, in specifıcally Russian terms, as a way of
exploring and extending their national heritage. In
music the popular Sergey Rachmaninov (1873
1943) continucd to compose through nearly half
the 20th century as if Musorgsky and ll.imsky-
Korsakov had never cxisted. Similarly in painting
followers of the Wanderers, notably Jlya Repin.
were still going strong in Stalin's time, whcn they
again camc into their own.
REVOLUTION A:-l"D TH[ BL'ILDlNG OF THE COMMU;'il~T STATL
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The Russian Sym bolist movcnıent bcgan to fail
apart aftcr 1905. The crisis was onc of confidcncc:
the revolution of 1905 jolted their somewhat rare-
fıcd and apolitical artistic milieu, forcing them to
pay attention to social problems. üne consequence
was a conservative reaction that crystallized
around the almanac Landmarks ( Vekhi), whosc con-
tributors questioned the general previous adher-
cnce ofthe intelligentsia to revolutionary or at least
liberal positions. A new generation, born mainly
bctwcen the mid-1880s and 1900, superseded the
Symbolists as leaders of modernism rathcr
suddenly and comprehensively in the years around
l9IO. in ali ıhe arts ıhe new post-Symbolist mood
was ınarked by a down-to-earth approach, reject-
ing what seemcd the over-refinement of Symbol-
ism, its elitism and cosmic pretensions.
ln Russian post-Symbolist moderni,;;m the visual
arts made the running during the l 910s and 1920s.
in particular thcy exported their methods and ter-
minology to literature (a notable exaınplc is the
concept of faktura, "facture" or surfacc tcxturc).
Even t he music of the leading composer of the new
generation, Igor Stravinsky, had the spcctacular
visu..ıl impetus of Diaghile\·'s hallet in his greatest
innovative scores of the period; thc paintcr Nikolai
Roerich alsa had a great and specific influcnce The
greatest fıgure in the cinema of the period, Sergcy
Eisenstcin ( J898-1948), was a visual artist bv train-
ing and instinct. -
A great, perhaps surprising. e\'ent in thc art
sccnc was the redisco,Try of the Old Russian
heritage of icon and fresco painting. Both had becn
quite literally obscured by o\'crpainting, dirt or
RH'OltJTIO~ A'.',ı, rHt-, BlJIJ.DJ'.','G OF THE COM.\tt::-ı;JST STATE-

darkencd varnish to thc point that thei r very

existence was in doubt. The cleaning of Ru blyo v's
Old Testament Trinity icon in l 903 signa led the
Communism
start of this rediscovery: 1913 saw a re markable
exhibition of restored ancient icons. The effect was
ovcnvhclming. Russian artists, howevcr they
might feci about thc Orthodox Chur ch, under stood
that they possessed a rich and sop histicated paint-
erly tradition that owcd noth ing to the post- For much of the 20th century people spoke of "the
Renaissance West. It was an art of transcendental Communist countries," and throughout the world
spiritual purpose, yet alsa one of every day use, not there are "Communist parties," but from the 1920s
prod uced for commcrce or for the enjoyment of to the 1980s neither the Soviet Union nor its allies
connoisseurs. A bove ali it was Russian , a heritage claimed to live under Communism. Communism is a
to be built upon. future order of society, postulated in the theories of
Together with the impact of icons, there came to Karl Marx, wherein means of production will be
Russian art in the years around 1910 an interest in under communal contro l, social distinctions wiJI
neo-primitivism, in a range of uncanonical forms have been obliterated and each will receive accord-
(children's and peasant s' art, woodcuts , shop ing to needs. Marx was understandably imprecise
signs), a movemen t only partially inspired by Gau- not only about details of this desired condition, but
guin, l'viatisse and other Vv'estern artists. The about how it would be attained, though believing
younger generation , notably Dav id Burly uk (1882- that laws of history predicated its development. He
1967) and Mikhail Lariono v (1881 - 1964), enjoyed thought Russia an unpromising location far revoJu-
not j ust the direct expressi v ity but the consider- tion, though Russian followers later interested him
able public sho ck value of " crude" primitivism. in the traditional peasant commune. Lenin's Bolshe-
Burlyuk bccame one of the founders of Russian viks, suddenly attaining power, had to make theory
Futurism; Larionov went on in the l 910s to deve- practicable. Far from "withering away," the state
lop an abstract manner that he called "Rayism" was fortified into Stalinist totalitarianism; perhaps
(Luchizm ). a Iogical outcome, perhaps a hideons aberration.
The history of Russian avant-garde artistic
movements becomes complicated after 1910 as the Right Kari Marx (1818- 1883},
"left" (that is, experimental) artistic forces subdi- with Friedrich Engels, worked
out the historical, economic and
vided further, depending on how extreme or how political theory that inıplied
anti-\ı\'estern the artistsin question saw themselves Lenin's revolutionary action:
to be. Leading nev. r talents were those of Kazimir "'Philosophers ha\'e only
interpreted the world; the point
Malevich (1878- 1935), Pavel Filonov (1883-1941) however is to change it." Out of
and Vladimir Tatlin (1885-1953). Ali three went their jdeas Lenin developed his
through a complex evolution in which French theorv of" dialectical
m.ıterİ.ılism.
Cubism played a part. These artists and some of
their contemporaries, such as the Burlyuk Befow "Long !ive Worldwide
Red October.': .ı poster of I 920.
brothers, can ali with some justice be termed The left panel sho\'•s Bolshevik
"Futurists," at least in the early 1910s. But in a triumph over domestic enemies;
Russian context the name is more genera11y applied the right reflect.s a naive
expectation that Red Guards
to the avant-garde writers associated with the would lead a workers' revolution
painters, the best-known group of which called across Europe.
themselves "Cubo--Futurists." The extent to ·which
ltalian Futurism influenced them remains conten-
tious, but the Russians could fairly claim that their
Ieading poets, notably the ascetic and eccentric
Velimir Khlebnikov (1885-1922), had developed an
independent post-Symbolist manner by 1908.
Literary Futurism as a movement was hatched
(by his own account) when a young art student,
Vladimir Ma yako vsky (1893- 1930), walked out in
disgust from a concert of Rachmaninov's isle of the
Dead and met David Burlyuk who had done the
sam e. The cross-arts contacts were strong: the
ot her maj or poet of the same tendency, Boris
Pasternak (1890-1960), was the son ofa Ieading
paın t er , w ho studied philosophy and then became
a composer under Scriabin's influence--s\-\' İtching
sudd enly to poetry chiefly because of Maya-
kovsky's example. Both were major fıgures in
20th-century Eu ropean terms .
Poetry also flo urished clsewhere. A school of
"peasant poets," a specifically Russian pheno-
menon, had as its senior fıgure Nikolai Klyuyev
(1887- 1937): his work is complex, modern, yet
rooted deeply in the countryside and in the folk-
songs and hymns of Old Believer sectarians. His
 Aboı 1e "Pro!itari.ıno; of ıhe world
unite!" The famou~ slo1a1;an from
the communıst Manıfesto (1848)
appcars, perhaps unexpcctedly,
ona plate made in Lenıngrad (St
Petersbur1a1;} in 1921. After 1917
it emerged that a va~t stock of
tılank unglazcd porcelain was
hcld at the lmperial F.ıcıory:
leading artists (even abstract
Suprematists) produced new
designs, often prop.ıgandistıc.

Left Lenin addresses ıhe Second

Comintern Congress, 1920. Marx
founded the Cornmunist
lnternational, an .ıssembly of
workers' delegates: it
disintegraıed under anarchıst
pressurc. The Second
lmernational crumblcd in 1914
with the general resurgence of
wartime patriotlsm. it was a
priorıty of lenin's to vindicate
Marx's inıernationalist vision
with the Thırd lnternational
(1919)-for which Tatlin's
projecıed "Tower" {p.165) was
to be both monumcnt and
headquarters.

Lefl Leon Trotsky (1879--1940)

was a crucial Bolshevik kader in
the civil war (1918-20), who
forged ıhe disciplined Red Army
out of the unorganized,
officerless Red Guards
Afterwards, though a political
he.ıvyweight, his influence
waned. His belief in "exporting
revolution" dashed with Stalın's
"socialism ın one country." Hıs
left Opposition f.ıiled by 1926
There followed exile, thc
founding of .ı rival
"lnternational" and evcntualiy
murder in Mexico at Stalin's
behesı.

Rıght The Bolsheviks, fired both

by theory and by leııin's
personal hostiliıy, aimed to
sweep away religion as part of
the old order. Many substıtute
secular rıtuals were introduced,
as happened during thc Frcnch
Revolution; some attempted to
instill a quası-relıgıous reverence
towards the Soviet ınotherland.
Thı~ "S.oviet baptısm" involves a
pledge of loyalty to thc rcgime.
Rf \ 'O 1)'\ · " M "ILDl '\ L, OF THI co.,1:-..ıt· :-,,;ıc;T "ıTAT I

successor Sergey Yescnin (1895 1925), a village

1 boy, became immensely popular far his delicate yet
powerful lyric poems. He was notorious for an
unrul y life, including a stormy marriagc to the
great danccr lsadora Duncan, that ended in alco-
holism and suicide.
The major non-Futurist group, however, were
the cultivated and sophisticated poets dubbed
"Acmeists." Thcir leader, Nikolai Gumilyov
(1880--1921), shot far supposed involvement in an
anti-Bolshevik plot, was a man of action, with a
strong sense too of the ambiguities of history. His
poem .ıtu:hik memorably invokes, without naming
him, the fıgure of Raspuıin. Gumilyov's former
wife, Anna Akhmatova (1889- 1967), was supreme
as a poet of love. The third great Acmeist, Osip
Mandelshtam (1891-1939), was a diffıcult and
subtle literary craftsman. His work and the hard Far left Thc leading carly Soviet
circumstances of his life are evoked in two justly movic-maker, Sergey Eısenskin
(1898 1948) directing ıhc
famous memoirs by his widow Nadezhda. shootıng of Thc Old and the 1\'eu:
Prose and drama marked time somewhat after (1926). Eisenstein lefı few
completed mastcrpiece!); his
1900. A founder poet of Symbolism, D. Merezh- apparenıly spontaneous realism
kovsky ( 1865-1941), turned ta novels on historical ıs the result of sıylization and
themes, and won a European reputation. There meticulouslv controlled
directıng. -
were worthwhile storywriters, particularly Alex-
ander Kuprin (1870--1938), Aleksey Remizov Belou· Natalva Goncharo\"a's
(1877-1957) and Ivan Bunin (1870--1953), the fırst sccncr\' for kimskv-Kors.ıkov's
!ast op.era, The Goİden Cockerel.
Russian literary Nobel Prize winner (1933). The based on a tale bv Pushkin
standard-bearer of thc Russian novel was Maxim Goncharova (18fll 1962} \,:as
pcrhaps the most brilliant of the
Gorky (1868 1936), a powerful, uneven writer of half-dozen maJOT women artists
humble upbringing, imbued with an ambiguous in early 20th-ccntury Ru!)sia

Çı ,

~ -#ı.
A:

' .
~

1. -..a-J t' !i!&

·- ~ ~ ~_\
re
l~ J <. ~-
\ ti

' 't t\ \

Lejt Sergey Rachmaninov
(1873 1943) in a photograph ol
1908. Almost ali his major
compositions predate the
Revolution, arter which he
found fame in emigration asa
virtuoso pıanist.
Belou· As great a pioneer of
modernism as Malevich or
Tatlin, yet even less known,
P. Filonov (1883 1941) lived in
Leningrad as an ascetic visionary
and teacher. In a scries of
paintings between about 1915
and 1920 he developed his
principle of "universal
flowering," discarding normal
composition in the anempt to
represent every atom of natura!
processes through minuıe
brushstrokes.
sense of the Russian people's potential for both
goodness and anarchic villainy. His revolutionary
novel The Moıher (1907) becamc a Soviet classi c.
His autobiographi cal trilogy ( J 91 3 23) was made
into three of the most memorable ea rly Soviet
movies by Mark Donskoy. In music too there was
something ofa pause until two composers of world
staıure, Jgor Stravinsky (1882 1971) and Sergcy
Prokofiev (1891 1953) burst precociously upon th c
scene.
World War l di<l not, as in somc Wcstcrn
European countrics, bring Russian artistic inno-
vation to a halt, though some leading figures were
calle<l up for military service. Thcsc ycars saw the
beginnings ofa "prolctar.ian movcment" in litera-
ture, with A. Gastcv's strange prose pocms, cxalt-
ing the toiling masses, published in 1917. The
revolution of that ycar neither disconccrtcd nor
surprise<l the Futurists; sevcral fig urcs from the
Symbolist generation emigrated (but not Blok or
Bely). Stravinsky was abroad during the war, and
stayed; Prokofiev emigrated but returned in the
1930s; both Kandinsk y and Chagall left in the
l 920s. Other major artists to emigrate were Lario-
nov and Natalya Goncharova.
The 1920s were a period of complexity and
excitement in Soviet cultural life: the promisc ofa
new order attracted many ,.vho were not necessar-
ily Bolsheviks. The broad-ranging Constructivist
movement partly took its cue from Tatlin's "cul-
ture of materials" (though Tatlin himself did not
1 utionary from a possibly unpleasant fate. Thc art
REVOLUTION AND THE BUILDING OF THE COMMUN!Sl STAT!
like Constructivism), partly from Malevich's gco-
metricity: it put its stylistic stamp on architecture,
on stage, book and poster desi~n, on objeL b of
cveryday usc (including clothes), on photography
(with th e development of photomontage) and on
sculpturc . Constructivist arch.itccture was of
particular interest for its integrated plans in which
factories, housing, clubs, shops, schools and trans
port wcrc d esigned as a whole. Other tcndcncics
were oftcn strongly opposcd to Constructivism's
utilitarian aims: the spiritual concept of art rcalizcd
in Malevi ch's Suprematism and the "Jı.ı1 akovets"
group; Filonov's "Analytic Art," which allracted
many pu pils in the !ate 1920s; the Realists; younger
"Proletarian" groups. The hub of activity was the
new anistic organization startcd in Mo~cow in
1920 undcr the acronym Inkhuk: thcrc were other
newly established or reorganized art schools in
Petrograd and in Vitebsk, where thc dominating
spiril was L. (El) Lisitsky (1890 1941). Therc was
considerable contact with the West, notably w ith
the German Bauhau s.
Prose revived in the l 920s. üne of the greatest
20th-cent ury masters of th e short story vı,as Isaak
Babel (1894- 1941) who made his mark with the
cycle known in English as Red Cavalry (1926);
Babel's uncompromising objectivity in the fa ce of
the brutalities of war ca used an uproar. Less
known, but very subtle and strangc, are ıhe short
stories of Andrey Platonov (1899- 1951), the finest
authentically proletarian writer to emerge. Yevge-
niy Zamyatin (1884- 1937), a naval engineer and
committed revolutionary, had written his master-
picce, the anti-utopian fanta sy We , by 1920. Whcn
!ate in the decade it appeared in the West, it was
fur.iously denounced as anti-Soviet satire: Zamya-
lin, boldly appealing ıo Stalin, was able to emi-
grate. We clearly influcnced George Orwell's 1984.
Zamyatin was earlier an organizer of the uncom-
mitted group of excellent writers fancifully named
the "Serapion Brotherhood. " An important aspect
of the literary scene was the development of a
modern critical theory in the hands of the so-called
Formalists, whose liveliest spiril was Viktor
Shklovsky (1893 -1 985).
The Soviet governmenl (with bigger worrics to
contend with) d id not comm.it itself to any faction
for over a d ecade. Censorship was mild, but at the
end of the 1920s it became clear that the balance of
approval was tilting against "left art" and towards
the "proletarians" (RAPP). Experimentalism was
still not dead: a new wave of Sovict-educated
writers, notably the poet Nikolai Zabolotsky
(1903- 58), formed the witty and anarchic moder-
nist circle OBERIU in Leningrad in 1928. Thca,er
too was full of innovation, notably under the
inspiration of Meyerhol<l. The fırst important
Soviet playwright to emerge was a doctor turned
writer Mikhail Bulgakov (1891 1940). His c,·en-
handed drama of the civil war, Days of ıhe Turbins
(1926), somewhat surprisingly attracted Stalin
(\vho sa,N it some 20 times), thus saving Bul-
gakov whose sympathics were far from rc\'o]-
form most encouragcd by thc- Snviet government
(because of Lenin's enthusiasm) was fılm: early
Soviet d.irectors, notably Scrgey Eiscnstein, <lcvcJ-
oped thc powerful "montage" techniques ıhaı
influenced cinema throughout the world.
161
 Below Nijinsky in Petrushka

Diaghilev and Stravinsky (1911), one of his greatest roles .

The idea of the puppet come to
life was Stravinsky's. The score
was a collage of popular melodic
fragments; the "Petrushka
dissonance" (simultaneous
chords of C and F sharp) became
notorious.

Sergey Diaghilev (1872- 1929) and Igor Stravinsky

(1882- 1971) were batlı forceful creative personalities
who, had they ne ver met, would each stil! ha ve left
an important legacy. Their fortuitous collaboration
from 1909 however resulted in several hugely famous
and innovative works.
Diaghilev irrupted dynamically into the Peters-
burg World of Art circle in the 1890s; he edited their
joumal, and arranged a string of exhibitions. in 1906
he organizcd a Russian art exhibition in Paris, and in
succeeding seasons brought there Russian music (the
Five), opera (Boris Godunov) and ballet. During his
lası 20 years, ballct became his defınitive contribu-
tion: not only did he have great dancers but he paid
the most stringent attention to the dramatic inte-
gration of decor and music. Caught by war and revo-
lution, he and his company remained in the West.
His genius was not of personal creativity, but of orga-
nization and appreciation. His questing temperament
led him ta a new generation of composers (Prokofıev, Left Portrait of Sergey Diaghilev
Poulenc) and artists (Larionov, Goncharova, Pevsner), with his nanny (1903) by Leon
{Lev) Bakst. Bakst (1866-1924),
Stravinsky, a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov, was pro- nowadays well known
fessionalized as a composer by Diaghilev's commis- thoughout the world for stage
sions and enthusiasm. Stranded moneyless in and costume designs, was, like
several World of Art painters,
Switzerland in 1914, he devised a contemporary initially an accomplished
version of Russian popular mobile entertainment (Les portraitist: he captures Diaghilev
on canvas as half-barbarian,
Noces, The Soldier's Tale). After the war he renewed half-dandy. Part ofWorld of
collaboration with Diaghilev (Pulcinella), but the Art's mission was to reinstate,
short Pushkinian opera Mavra (1922) was his lası spe- within a "modernist" context,
the artistic discipline and
cifically Russian work. He lived long enough to revisit technique which had been
the USSR, to ecstatic acclaim, just before his death. somewhat dissipated in the
he yday ofth e Wanderers.

Left Diaghilev and Stravinsky. Above The ugly, small, dynamic

No greater physical contrast
could be imagined than bet ween
the stocky, dominating Diaghilev
and the mercurial shrimp-like
Stravinsky. Both escaped into arı
from tedious legal studies, and
were full ofa self-assured energy
that bypassed several of their
talented but languid colleagues.
Stravinsky, with animated
egglike face, disproportionate
hands and natural aristocratism,
was a gift for artists, and was
sketched by both Picasso and
Jean Cocteau. The latter shows
him watching while the
phenomenal dancer Nijinsky
makes up for Carnival

lh2
 DlAGHILEV A~D STRA\'INSKY

Below Costume design by Bakst
for Firebird(I910). With a
mastery of line not inferior to
(and probably influenced by)
Beardslev, Bakst turned
utilitaria·n the.ı.trıcal design inıo
high, if jovial, art: this costume
skeıch is an exquisite small
sıudy in gou.ı.che and gold paint.
He and other World of Art
painters were masters of eclectic
stylization, with a liking. ın
Bakst's case, for orient.ıl motifs.
Golovin. Bakst's collaborator on
Firebird, produced with \'rubel a
remarkable narrative ceramic
frieze that stili adoms the
Moscow Metropole Hotel.
The production of FırebirJ in
Paris in June 1910 marked the
emergence of Stravinsky asa over the preceding wınter in
major composer and of the close colla boration wiıh the
Diaghile\' Ballets Russes in its designers and with Diaghilev 's
true originality. The greatest choreograpber, Mıkhail
score--intensely Russıan, as Fokine .
befıtted a folk tale, but also
thoroughly modern, alre.ı.dy
leaving Borodin and
Rimsky-Kors.akov ¼·eli
behind-was hammered out

Below Costume sketches by

Benois for the Rıte of Spring.
This hallet staged in Paris on 29
May 1913 marked the cliınax of
Stravinsky's and Diaghilev's
collaboration. This was the
composer's most daring score, a
landmark in modern music.
Scraps ofunrelated melody,
often linle more th.ı.n rh ythmic
patterns, but including a
Liıhuanian folktune in an
incredibly high bassoon register,
weave in and out. The gruesome
plot, of ritual and sacrifıce in
pagan Rus (seen bdouı in a
Bolshoy company producı ion).
was largely cooked up by the
well-read artist N. Roerich
(Rerikh, 1874- 1947).
Unfonunately Nijinsky as
choreographer could not cope
with the musical complexities.

163
Two Paths to Modern Art:
Malevich and Tatlin
Russian artists played a considerable part in the
history of the European modern movement in the
early 20th century. Vasiliy Kandinsky (1866-1944),
working in Munich, simplificd the forms of his apo-
calyptic late-Sym bolist paintings to the point of
abstraction before 1910, and was probably the first to
do so. Several other Russians were almost as radical,
but possibly the strangest and most spectacular
painter of ali was Kazimir Malevich (187&-1935).
From folksy art-nouveau decorativeness he passed in
rapid succession through coarse primitivism , Cu bism
and Futurism to what he called "alogism," a rnanner
anticipating thc Surrealists. In 1915 he developed a
purely abstract, geometrical manner w hlch he called
" Suprematism ." By about 1920 he w as engrossed in
constructing idealized "archltectonic" models; before
his death he returned to figurativ e painting with
strong Suprematist overtones.
Vladimir Tatlin (1885~ 1953), Malevich's colleague
and rival, developed under futurist and cubist
influence; after visiting Picasso (1914) he launched
into a series of abstract sculptural constructions of
metal, wood and " found objects," developing his
"culture of rnaterials."
164
Above Malevich: Gir! wich Rake,
1930s. M.alevich r eturned t o
fi gurative, but not anecdotal
rnode in the 1920s and 1930s.
Peasant t oil is a frequent theme.
Suprematism has left its mark in
the forma] simplificatio n of these
works and in the frequent
comrositio nal element of the
cross. Most characteristic is the
uncomprom ising dualistic
d ivisio n of the human face and
fıgure into light and dark hal ves.
R ıght Malevich : The
Knife-Grinder, 19 12. Th is
dazzlirıg work is doubtless the
culmina tion of Ma levich 's earl y
dev elo pment, d uring whic h he
underwent the very disparate
influenc es of Matissean
pri m itivism, Russian icons,
Cubism an d Futurism . Cubist
dissectio n of the object into
" metallic" segments (as with
ıeg er ) combines here wi th
Futur ist dy namism . But there is
no cult of modernit y or of the
ma chine--as so often, lvt.alev ich
is concerned w ith the age-old
rh ythms of peasant life. The
painting's geometricity and clear
patches of color look forw ard to
Suprematism .
Below Malev ich: Sııprematist
Composition, 1916. At the
Zero-Ten exhibition of 1915
Malevich revealed his
Suprematist works: free-floating
geometric fonns in white, black
and unmodulated primary hues.
High in a corner {the location for
an icon) he hung a simple black
square, the "zero of form"
through which the new an. had
to pass.

Right Tad in: T he Saıfor,
191 l - 12. This is a pro ba ble
se lf-portrait: Tatlin earned his
li ving at sea till nearly 30 . The
sailing ship was perha ps his
ideal work of art (beautiful an d
fun ctional, dynamic. curv ilinear,
in harmony with natura! forces).
His paint ings and drawings are
bold , simple, with iconic,
TWO PATHS TO MODERN ART : MALEVICH AND TATLlN
primitivistic and subseq uenı ly
cubist elements. At Zero-Ten he
broke viole nıl y w ith Malevich;
while Malevich's Suprematis m
was "dematerialized," Tatlin
was fascinated by the mater iality
of objects, and ex hib ited
abstract three-di mensional re liefs
cxploring the potcntialities of
wood and meta l.
Lefı Tatlin's project for the
monument to the Third
lnternational (1919). it was to be
a gigantic double skew spiral,
open-ended (and angled on the
Po le Star ) like a telescnpe,
supposed ly bestriding the Neva.
Below Malevich; An Englishman
ın Moscow, 1914. Ch.aracteristic
of Malevich in his "urban"
perimi (c. 1913 14), this painting
seems an "alogistic" assembl.age
of disparate objects, but a
private, supr.arational order is at
work. The maın lettering,
reassembled, reads "P ARTI AL
ECLIPSE.''
165
Religion in Russia and the Soviet Union

Russian religious culture is rooted in Eastern Ortho-

dox Christianitv, to which Russia com·erted in
988 '9. The co..;ntry's mcdicval culture was suf-
f u,ed with a unifıcd Orıhodoxy until the grcat
,chhm of the l 7th centurv. Since then, Ru~sian
Orthodoxv has folluwed tvvÖ main currents, onc of
instıturional church worship and ıhe other of sec-
tarian piety. But among peasants duoyeı•en)·e
coexistence of Christian observance with elements
of prc-Christian belief system -never fully disap-
pcarcd. After 191 7 religion was repressed and pcr-
sccuıcd in ali its forms, from Orthodoxv and
Catholicism to Judaism and Islam. "
Among Christians, thc most active denomina-
tion, arc ıhe evangclical, cspecially Baptists and
Penıecostals. The Orıhodox Church preserves its
millennial tradition, centered on the spiritual com-
munality of liturgical worship and cultivation of
reflecti \'e introspection. Its influence is strong
throughout Russian culıure, from medieval arıs to
the wriıings of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. in ecclcs-
iastical art Orthodoxv has concentrated on icons
and unaccompanied Choral music, whose transcen-
dcnt cxpressi\'eness is integral ıo Russian worship.

Li'ft Archbishop Pitirim. who
subsequently bec.ame .a le.ading
Orthodox Church figure: editor
of the Journal of the ~ıoscow
Patriachure anda People's
Oepuıy (I98i)
Aboı·e The intense antircligious
fervor culth:atcd bv the
Communist state d~ring the
1920s is encapsulated by this
cartoon enıiıled "The Holy
Ghosı descends upon ıhe
Aposıles." Framed as an icon, it
mocks tbe major faiths in the
So\·iet Union by depicıing ıheir
spiritu.al leaders as grotesque
and avarıcious. The Holv Ghosı.
depicted asa flying purSe under
a capitalist top hat, showcrs
coins upon a scrabbling mullah,
Orthodox priest, Catholic priest
and r.ıbbi. E.ıch ıs caricaıured
according ıo sıereoıypcs used to
stir loathing and hatrcd.
Righr The Torah being read in
one of the few synagogues
allowed to functıon during ıhe
Sovieı era. Jewısh settlement
was encouraged in Belarus .ınd
UkTaine under ıhe laıe-medıeval
Polish- Lithuanian state, and
large communities grew up. In
imperial Russia Jews were
restricted ıo specific areas of
senlement, where ıhey enjoyed
relatıve religious freedom. In the
Soviet l.Tnion, settlement
restrictions were lifted, but
Je\'\'İsh worship and culture
were represscd and tcaching of
the Hebrew l.anguage and
religion was forbidden. Despite
this, th e Jewish tradition
endured and revived somewhaı
during ıhe 1970s and 1980s.

Beloıv Buddhism was the least
significant world faith in Russia
and the Soviet Union, but under
Communism it suffered
persecut ion along with the rest.
Buddhists in ıhe Russian cmpire
cxisted along the southcrn edgc
of easıern Siberia, adjoining
Outcr Mongolia. Thdr ncarcst
holy city was Urga, with its
great monastcry and lamas,
whose stature north of China
was similar to that of the Tibetan
lamas to ıhe souıh. Urga was
destroyed after the Communists
sei2ed power in Mongolia in the
!ate 1920s. Buddhism survivcs
among the Turkic and Mongol
populations of Soviet Sibcria,
particularly Buryats.
Boııam Friday prayer in the
Khajezud Murad mosque in
Saınarqand. Most of thc
worshipcrs are in traditional
drcss, but one man in the front
row ıs in modern garb. in thc
post-Sovict cra Islam remaıns
very strong in Ccntral Asia and
in the eastern Caucasus.
Communist attcmpts to supprcss
KELIGION iN TJ-I E SOVIET UNJO'.\
it were much lcss effective than
in thc case of other faiths.
Ccntral Asian Islam derivcs from
the medicval culture of
Transoxanian cıties such as
Samarqand, Bukhoro and Khiva
Reccntly Shiite inlluence has
grown among Muslim group'>,
lcading ta a major rcvival of
lslamic cuhurc.
167
REUGION !.~ TH ,OVII T ı : 'IION
The Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church was t he main target
ofa militanı athcist drive launch ed by the Commu -
nist state after the revol ution and sustained during
the 1920s and I 930s. By 1921 over half of Russia's
monasteries were closed, countless chu rches de-
stroyed or desecrated and converted to secular use,
and nearly 30 bishops and over 1000 priests
arrested or executed.
Du r ing World War il Stalin found it expedient
to allow a rev ival of the church, as part of his plan
ıo rekindle nationalist patriotism. This policy
permi ıted the church to make a partial recovery
from virtual annihilation, to expand the numbers
of priests and to elect a patriarch. Repressions
returned under Khrushchev, who was determined
to eradicate the church while he loosened restric-
tions on secular culture. During the 1970s govern-
ment hostility lessened, although restrictions on
worship and proselytizing were left essentially
unchanged until the mid-1980s. Simultaneously,
the government allowed a new degree of care for
religious art as a national heritage. Many churches
were architecturally restored, but most were ear-
marked as historical monuments rather than
returned as places of worship.
With the reforms of the !ate 1980s and the su bse-
quent collapse of the Soviet regime, the Orthodox
Church has once again become a powerful and
cohesive force in Russian society, with many closed
churches now being reopened to worship.
Left A work detail compleıes the
demolition ofa church during
the 1920s, breaking up its
frescoed vaulting. The power
drill is operated by a Red Guard
vetecan ofthe civil war, wearing
a cavalry cap of the period.
Demolition of this kind was
widespread, culminating with
Moscow' s Cathedral of Christ tbe
Savior, which in the 1990s was
rebuilt .
Botıom lefc Churcbes not
destroyed were usııally
converted to secular uses, as
social clubs, movie theaters and
warehouses. This cburch is
being converted into a grain
store. A laddcr and rough
scaffolding to the right sbow
that the building's ecclesiastical
interior is being torn out.
Below Restoration of churches as
works of art became widcspread
in tbe 1960s. Such work
concentrated on exteriors, since
most intt!riors were fully gutted.
in a few cases, where interiors
retained significant frescoes and
mosaics, internal rcstoration was
undert.ıken. This picture shows
a r.ıre case ofrestoration in the
church of the Danilov Monastery
in Moscow, returned to thc
Moscow patriarch.ıte by the
Soviet rcgimc in 1983 to become
the headquarters of the Russian
Orthodox Church.

Hefow The vitality or
contemporary Russian
Orthodoxy is illustraıed by large
gatherings or the faithful for
special services, such as this
outdoor consecration of new
priests. A consecrated priesı
stands ona rug before the
officiatıng prelate. The clerics
holding dome-like hats are
bishops; those holding black
hats are parish priests. Behınd
the former stand bareheaded
monks in black; behınd the
lattcr vcilcd nuns in black
habıts. The surrounding
congregation shows a wide r,mgc
of agc and !ı.ocial background.
The phoıograph was probably
ldkcn from o church belfry.
tr.ıdıtion, \\'hich strı:!ı.Ses mutu.ıl
humility and c harity in relations
within the commuııity. Maııual
l.ıbor was important for ali, lcs!ı.
for m.ıterial sustenance than aoı;
on aıd ıo intrnspcction and
humılitv. Nunncries cxistcd
since the e.ırly Middlc Ages dnd
werc numcrou s beforc the
revolution, but suffered grcatlv
during subsequent persecutions
These nuns .ıre harvesting \\Jth
tradıtional long scythc'>
RELIGION iN THE SOVIFT l!NION
Alıot·e The choır of thc greaı
Pskov-Pechcrv Mon.ısterv, lcd
by ib choirmdster. sing~ in a
St~rvice cclebrating the
community's 500th annın:rsary
The Pskov-Pechery \1nn.ı'>lery,
locatcd west of Psko, aııd ncar
the Fstonian border is a rnajor
center ofmona .. tic culture in
Russia today. Pecherr is old
Russian for."cave'>" suggcsting
that the original community
scttled in loca[ c.ıves. Thc hrst
and most revered monasıerv ol
Rus ..ia, thc Kicv Pcchcn· ı;
known to have staned (n hill
caves in Kiev
lb9
The Art of Propaganda

Propaganda was a major priority far the Com-

munist state from its inception till near its end.
Organized asa state monopoly activity, propaganda
was used to shape and direct mass consciousness in
accordance with Communist objectives. Many f'------'
genres of propaganda were developed as instru-
rDJ\DBDTAnDB
ments of political indoctrination, closely linked to
ıhe expansion of mass education and literacy. The
DA D
" BPEA"TEAEfl
main objectives of Soviet propaganda were the glo-
rification of revolutionary history, excitation of a
PA60'-1Ero
socialist work ethic and vilification of ali non-
Communist forces and values.
The main genres of Soviet propaganda were
CHAliHiEHtUI
always visual, favoring large-scale sculpture,
posters and murals intended for mass viewing and
accompanied by inspirational slogans. The estab-
lished canan was modified and developed
over time, but its basic themes remained constant.
The most immediate, didactic one called far harder
work and greater productivity. The more sub-
liminal, inspirational one cultivated a eyde of
myths about ıhe early Bolshevik founders of the
Communist state. The cult of Lenin was the single
dominating heroic myıh in Soviet propaganda. it
included quasi-religious adoration of his embalmed
corpse in a mausoleum designed for reverential
viewing. A "totalitarian" architecture, similar to
that developed under Hitler in Germdny and Mus-
solini in Italy, characterized the Stalinist 1930s and
1940s.

Left An imperial ro5ter, dating
from \Varid War I, announces
the salc of war bonds. Thc
caption reads, "Tf you are not
repelling the enemy with your
body, then buy war bonds at
5°.,;, interest." Early Soviet
propaganda owed something to
the simplcr and less artistic
propaganda of imperial Russia;
both display a similar
xcnophobia and fanaticism. Thc
obsessed faces of Russian
soldiers going inıo attack
antkipate similar imagcs on
Soviet propaganda posters
during World War ll. The lcvel
of artıstry is incomparably
inferior to Soviet posters,
evidence ofa low appreciation of
propaganda's potential for
influencing public sentiment.
AboL:e "Away with muddlers Right "Let us meet fully the
and wreckers in the indusırial grain collectioo plan in specified
supply sector." This early Soviet time! .. The positive ca\l for
poster was part ofa constanı industrious agricultural work
propaganda campaign against which dominates this poster is
bureaucratic inıerference, either set in the context of the
as the real or the ımagined collectivization ofthc early
culprit responsible for industrial 1930s, The colossal toiler
and consumer shortages. An emptying a full sack is backcd
obese burcaucrat. clutching a by a field crew of hMvesters
huge official file, guards supplics bringing in more grain for
of fruit and vegetables for threshing.
speculators, wbo are carrying off
for personal gain crates of goods
intended for the state supply
system. A huge spade, guided by
a worker's boot, is poised ready
to uproot the bureaucrat. Posters
like this were intended for
display in public places and,
especially. factories and
warehouses.

Belou.• Communıst propaganda
oftcn adapted Russian folk art ıo
immediatc political themes, as in
this dvil war Bolshevik
rccruiting poster. The
conventions of peasarıt lacqucr
decoration are used to show a
charge of the Red Cavalry
agaınst the background ofa
burning tm\'n.
Far ngh, ,op An appı::al for
increased metal production, thıs
poster depicts a massive
ironworks, with the slogan
"More metal!" repeatcd thn.·e
timesin receding formation ıo
convey thc echoıng ol thc cali
through the metal labyrinth of
the plant. Thc poster was
printed in 40 000 copies.
r'ar rıthı cen,,·r "\Vhcrc's my
money"' WhJt's for my family?"
Soviet propaganda fought a
nevcr-endıng campaıgn again,;t
akoholism. The drunkard
fumbles for money, having
alrcady spcnt on drınk everythıng
intcndcd for hıs family. The
huge bottlc symbolİ7es the scale
of thc prob!cm.
THE ART or PROPAGA!\DA
Bo ıtom Porc claın commemora-
tıvc plates \\'ere very popular
propaganda nemsin thc Soviet
Union during the )920s. Thc rim
of this one is ınscribcd "Long
!ive "'oviet ru!t:." Thc central
motıf combines the conventional
hammı::r and sickle emblem with
plicrs, ali set against a
background ol factorit's
Lefı "Knowlcdgc will bre,~;__ thc
chains ofsla,·cry."
Encouragement of learnıng
accord ing to communist
precepts, was a vital theme in
early Soviet propaganda. In thıs
poster of l 920, an allegorical
hand presses a stack ol books,
symbolizıng leaming. upon a
reı;trictivc chain, hung between
two old-fashioned factories,
stretching ıt to breaking poim
n
FROM STALIN TO YELTSIN

sants, as a precondition for enforced mass lnd us triali :,.atio n ,

Collectivization, fam ine and terror
The collectivization program was launched in
19 30 During ıhe two preceding years the pea,-
antry was deliberately weakened by increased
ıaxation and direct levies. The program was
announced asa campaign to exterminate the "rich"
peasants (kulaks), who were at besi marginally less
poor than ı he rest but normally influential in the
community. The term kulak extended to women,
chil dren and infants. These peasants were expro-
priated and forbidden to join colleclive farms, ıhus
bcing instantly reduced to abject poverty. They
were then deported to concentration camps in out-
lying parts of Russia. The conditions of transport
emured that many sıarved on the way. Simulta-
neou~ly, expropriation was cxtended to ali pea-
urb aniz.atio n and
reorganization into collective farms. Even with tbe co llectivization.
kulaks gone, many peasants resisted coilectiviza- After the resource drain of
World War I and the civil War,
tion, both actively and passively, slaughıering followed by famıne ın the early
their livestock rather than surrender it to collec- 1920s, the economv was
tives. Many simply fled their homes and went sıabılized under NEP. When
NEP was ended (1928), Sta.lin
wandering. embarked on the sociO"-Cconomic
The government adopted a new stratcgy, intro- transformation of the country
ducing a system of internal passports to fix the under the first Fıve-Year Plan. A
vast belt of farnıland from the
peasants to their place of residence and then deli- westem border right across to
berately starving them into submission. The south ofthe Urals was devoted
to schemes of collectivizatıon.
Terror-Famine, run as a \vell-organizcd military New coalfields were exploited to
campaign, began with total expropriation of all fire new ıron- and steelworks
foodstuffs within peasant regions, which were then and electricity-generating
slatioru. These in turu supplıed
shut off from any external supplies. The campaign the engineering sector, which
concentrated most strongly in the rich soutbern provided for the farmıng.

_.J,,•.,_,. -- ARCTIC OCEAN

- ~ ----">' / " Pıedvwıs,,

'•,-: O -
~
d,.. /--,~,Sl"_y

C:=J coa!tıek!ııJJ"OOuct.on
~-- -- ~ ıııeııploıle(j coal'ıeld

□ ~·"""" - -ı,oltcal tıoone.ary193B

--
- -lurtiıesı Germana(!varce 1942
MONGOI.IA
1oocpıoc.essng - - =:°ıJso1,,~~

Hı nıclıel . , ____ ·-·--... ~maınareacıletılect<W:atıon __,-

p ~ ...... _ C]soarsetyı,oo,Jaıl:Ca•e~ ~~_;..-.--

food-proccssing Jnd tcxtile
industrics. New rail links wcrc
madc, mainly numiııg west-eası,
while ıhc long sout h ·north
rivers could ca rry the exchangc
of rJw m.ıtcriJl s and fınished
products bcıwccn the
mineral-rich Arcıic and ıhc
ncwly dcveloped m.ı.nuf.ıcturing
regions. The thrcJt from Hitler
in tlıe early l 940s for ced ıhc
p.ıce of economk growth east of
ıhc Volga. Hundreds of f.ı.rtorics
and .ıssoci.ı tcd new towııs were
moved from wcsıcrn Russi.ı to
the Urals, central Asia and parts
ofSibc ri.ı , though most ofSibcria
remains sparsely inhabitcd .
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~ were executed. The purpose of these early trials
! was to create scapegoats for the inherent failures in
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farmland reg ion of European Russia. The resul! was
a massivc and unprecedented famine, deliberately
sustained from 1930 to 1932. The areas most
affectcd were t h e Vo lga, Don and Kuban regions of
Russia proper, and also Ukrainc, where the fanıine
was used to exterminate Ukrainian nationalism as
well as the traditional peasantry.
The human cost of collectivization and the
Terror-Famine was immense. l<..ecent estimates put
the "excess" deaths of the period 1926 39 at 3· 5
million , though some specialists go much highcr.
As a result numerous villages, towns and entire
rcgions were 1eft uninhabited. The economic cost
was also enormou s. Agrku ltural production col-
lapsed both in terms of crops and livestock, culti-
vation contracted and food shortages intensified
nationally. Despite this, the Communists were tri-
umphant: t h e peasantry were subjugated, and
rural d esolation provided ideal building ground for
new collective farms.
Systematic terror during the l 930s was applied
with equall y devastating effect in the realm of
politics and government. The successive purges
that culminated in the Great Terror of l 936- 38 dis-
rupted the entire fabric of Soviet society and the
Communist Party itself. The first purge trials
occurred in the autumn of l 930. Government
officials, technicians and economists were accused
of counterrevolutionary activity in Jeague with
nonexistent subversive organizations. The accused
confessed to improbably fabricated charges and
the industrial development provisions of the First
Five-Year Plan.
The major pllrges began in 1934 and reached
their peak in 1936- 38. The assassination in 1934 of
Kirov, a prominent Politburo member, signaled the
beginning of the Great Terror; the murder was
probably instigated by Stalin, fearful of Kirov's
popularity. There followed a wave of arrests in the
upper levels of the party, inclllding Kamenev and
Zinovyev, two other Politburo members. They were
brought to court in 1936, in the first of the
great show trials. They were accused of sabotage
and state treachery, on the basis of a fabricated
charge of inte rnaıional conspiracy, supposedly
designed to topple the Communist government and
replace it with a semicapitalist order; th e conspira-
tors were allegedly supported by the German
government and led from exile by Trotsky. Kame-
ncv and Zinovyev were condemned on this ch arge
and executed. Purges ıh en sprea d through ali
levels of the government and party, from the Krem-
lin to the most provincial level. These always
involved fabricated accu sation s of sabotage and
treacherous conspiracy, arrest and interrogation
under torture and sentcnces of cith er execut ion or
long-term pena! labor- with or w ithout a staged
trial. This mass terror was crowned with two
further great show trials of leading Commun ists: of
P yatakov an d Radek in 1937 and of Rykov and
Bukharin in 1938. Another distinguished victjm
was Tukhachevsky, appointed onc of the first five
marshals of thc Soviet Union in 1935 and shot three
years later on charges of leading a military conspir-
acy. The purges cut a swathe through the upper
ranks of the Red Army and the professions, rang-
ing from industrial managers to academics, and
FROM STALIN TO 'ı'LLT S I N
indeed every part of society.
Statistics originally prepared for Khrushchev
and only recently published record that 3·75 mil-
lion people werc sentenced for countcr-revolution-
ary crimcs in 19 30--53, of whom nearly 800,000
were shot; but these figures cannot be verified.
Half the membership of ıhe Communist Party,
about 1 ·2 million individuals, werc purged, and a
large number of these died in the camps. With the
fail of the police-chief Yczhov in the summer of
1938 thc terror eased somcwhat.
The dynamics and purpose of t he Greal Terror
derived from Lenin's use of extensive political
terror against ali non-Communist opponcnts: the
party had extended this in repeatcd internal
purges during the 1920s. in this sense, the Great
Terror and its purgcs wcre a logical extension of
and sophisticated improvcmcnt on Leninist prcce-
dent. The party had deliberately cultivated
political paranoia concerning domestic and foreign
e n emies, so public opinion acccpted the fabricated
ch arges of sabotagc and conspiracy and willingly
joined in wild denunciations rather than in protest-
ing against the excesses. Stalin's own purpose in
launching the Great Terror was to rid the Commu-
nist order of ali potential opposition to his sole
control of it. Mass d estruct ion of the hostile peas-
antry and massive bloodletting in th e infrastruc-
ture were means to id eologica lly correct state
building. But whatever further extremes of state
building Stalin may have envisaged, they were
shelved with the advent of World War il.
Stalin and World War il
The Soviet prelude to World War il did not pre-
sage what followed. Stalin's foreign policy of the
late l 930s centered on increasingly close relations
with Nazi Germany, cu lminating in the Nazi-Soviet
Pact of 1939. This was effectively an alliance, for-
mulated as an agreemcnt of n onaggression and neu-
trality, and linked with a trade treaty plus
extensive exchange of raw materials and arma-
ments. The pact also provided for the two powers
to carve up Eastern Europe between them.
Germany was thus frec to overrun western Poland,
while the Soviet Union simultaneously took control
of eastern Poland and the Baltic states. Finla nd
proved a failure for the Soviet Union. The tiny
country fought the much larger Red Army to a vir-
tual standstill during the Winter War of l 939 40,
and the Soviets had to settle for limited territorial
gains by way of a treaty. The Nazi-Soviet rapport
was brokcn only by Hitler's personal decision t o
invade Russia.
Thc German invasion began on 22 Junc 1941.
The attack was launched secretly, catchi ng th e Re d
Army unprepared; what resistance it could offer
proved woefully inadequate . The Germans'
advance was on a massive scale, and by NoYember
their troops had capturcd thc ent ire Ukraine an d
were thrcatening M oscow and Leningrad. Only
desperate rearguard action by the Red Army and
the early onset of a severe winter checked t he
German stcamroller. Threc facto rs howeyer
ensured that the German s woul d not regain ful!
momentum. The first was th e German policy
towards conquered population s. T he Ru~sian an r..l
Ukrainian populations of occupied areas mostly
greeted the Germans as li berator~ from Communist
173
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Wor ld War l L
in Junc ı 94 l Hitler rcncgcd on
the Nazi-Sovict Pact of 1939 and
invaded Russia. Thc Red Army,
still rccovering from Stalin's
purgcs and from a costly war
with Finland, was
undcrcquippcd to offer any
effcctive resistancc. Thc German
forccs advanced relentlessly: by
December thcy had marched
through the territories of eastern
Poland and thc Baltic states,
assigned ta Russia under the
1939 pact, had captured the
enti re Ukraine and werc on thc
outskirts of Moscow and
Leningrad. Many Russians and
Ukrainians greeted thc Germans
as \iberators from Communism
untit thcy were presscd into
hard labor to service thc German
war effort. Many others fled or
were movcd en masse eastwards.
Latc in 1941 the German advance
slowcd, and blitzkrieg becamc a
war of attrition: Leningrad was
besieged for two-and-a-half
years.
Military aid from the Allies
was channcled via thc Arctic
and the Pcrsian Gulf, and slowly
the tide began ta turn. The
German thrust eastwards was
resistcd, thcn repelled, at
Stalingrad in late 1942. The \ast
major German assault, around
Kursk, was defcated the
following summer. Thereafter an
inexorable German retrcat wa~
cnforced until the Russians
captured Bcrlin itselfin 1945.
Thc war was won at enormous
cost to Russia: up to 20 million
lives were lost and huge
industrial and agricultural
rcsourccs dcstroycd.
ru lc. Nazi policy, however, classified all Slavs as
su bhuman, and the loca] population was su bjected
to atrocities and forced labor conscription littJc
different from that mctcd out by the Communists.
Popular sentiment, in desperation, shifted back to
its own kind and national patriotism was rekin-
dled. The second factor was Allied lend-lease,
which gave the Soviets massive supp lies of military
technology and munitions which thc Rcd Army
lacked and which the Soviet war industry could
not at first manufacture sufficiently. This meant
that the Red Army was fully rcsupplied soon after
the initial debacle and the Soviet war industry
given breathing space to gear up to ful] produc-
tion. The third factor was Stalin's own leadership.
He had not at all expected the German attack, and
suffered a short nervous collapse when it
happened. Recovcring qui ckly, he assumed the
posts of commander-in-chief and head of the war
effort. in these rolcs, he proved a most able wartime
leader, choosing good subordinates and delegating
cffectivcly, analyzing situations astutely and mak-
ing decisions which subsequent events mostly
proved right.
Stalin sensed that old-fashioned nationalistic
patriotism, as opposed to Communist principles,
would inspire the Russian people to a united
defense of their homeland. Many traditional Rus-
sian institutions, previously suppressed, were now
reintroduced; the Russian Orthodox Church,
heavily repressed since the revolution, was
permitted a partial revival. Stalin astutely dubbed
the war as "the Second Great Fatherland War"
(rather than World War 11), invoking the precedent
of Russia's resistance to the Napoleonic invasion of
1812. The result was a massive wave of popular
patriotism.
The Soviet Union was revived and rearmed, pre-
senting the Germans with severe opposition in the
east at the same time as the Al1ies were registering
their first successes in the west. The need to fight a
multifront war sapped Gerınan capacity in Russia,
which was also handicapped by Hitler's inept
decisions. The farthest German thrust reached
Stalingrad on the Volga in mid-1942, with disas-
trous consequences. Thcreafter the German armies
were in steady, if slow, retreat before the Red
Army, whose capture of Berlin in May 1945
brought the war to a close. lts cost to the Soviet
Union was huge. About seven million Russians
were killed in battle, while the total mortality may
have reached 20 million. Industrial and agricultural
destruction was a]so catastrophic. in two important
respects, however, the benefits of victory out-
weighed the costs.
First, the Soviet Union acquired a really modern
industrial base in the form of German industry
seized as assets and war reparations. A great many
German industrial plants, especially in Silesia,
were dismantled and shipped to Russia for reas-
sembly. A large number of German engineers, tech-
nicians and industrial managers were taken as
prisoners to Russia to man the booty industry.
Thus, the destruction of war cleared out much of
the Soviet Union's ineffective industry, whiie thc
spoils of war gave substantial, piecemeal
modernization.
Second, the Soviet Union succeeded in extend-
ing its control over the countries of Eastern and
FROJ\I ST ALIN TO Yf I TSlN
Central Europe. The Tehran and Yalta conferences
agreed to an effcctive partition of Europe bctwecn
the Allies, with the Sovicts given ad ıninistrative
control over thc castern parts, on the understand-
ing that they would supervise frec elections allow-
ing cach country to dctermine its d esti ny. in fact,
the Soviets used loca! Communist parties eithcr to
manipulate clcctions or to scizc powcr whcn clec-
tion rcsults went against theın. By 1948 almost ali
Eastcrn Europe (except Greece and Finland) was
under Communist governments loyal to Moscow,
and the Soviet Union had cxtended its domain over
half of Europe. World War il thus left the Soviet
Union morc powerful than before, with a betler
industrial base, and with Stalin enjoying an unpre-
cedented popularity and total power.
Imınediately the war ended, Stalin reimposcd
upon the Soviet Union a rule as rigid and cocrcive
as any during thc 1930s, but with major new inno-
vations geared to t he conditions of thc time. Un der
the repatriation policy agreed by the Allies, Soviet
prisoners of war and civilian forc ed labor held in
Germany were all repatriated, all declared traitors
and mostly shipped directly to distant concen-
tration camps. Large numbers of Russians and
Ukrainians, who had either fought against the
Communists during the war or had resided as
emigrCs in Europe since the rcvolution, were for-
cibly repatriated by the Amcricans and British into
Soviet hands. Many of these were either executcd
or incarcerated in concentration camps. Well over
two ınillion people were repatriated in this way.
Far Stalin, this was a great security coup, cauter-
izing the nation of Western im pressi ons and exter-
minating many representatives of the non-
Communist Russian tradition surviving in the
emigration.
Another concern was to check the modest
measure of initiative and indepen dence which the
Russians, and especially the educated elite, had
developed in wartime conditions. To this end,
Stalin authorized a new campaign of purges, plac-
ing this under the direction of Andrey Zhdanov.
Launched in 1946, these purges targete d the world
of the arts, the theater, academics and th e creative
professions. The aim was to root out "cosmopo1i-
tanism," seen as any hint of disposition towards
contemporary European culture. Zhdanov died in
1948, but the campaign continued, extending
deeper into academe to include such specialized
disciplines as linguistics, archaeology and theoreti-
cal natura! sciences. Simultaneously, Stalin built on
the rekindled Russian patriotism to create a fabri-
cat ed history of scientific achievement that would
fire nationalist sentiment into chau vinist ic pı ı de.
The fabricated history presented Russia as a nation
of great inventors during the 18th and 19th
centuries, whose discoveries pre date d Wcstern
European ones; only t he backward ness of pre-
revolutionary Russia prevented exploi tation of
those inventions. The conclusion wa s that the Rus-
sian!-. were brilliant enough to d o w ithout \ Vestern
Europe, and under Communist leadership their
brilliance would be fully rcalized .
The nationalistic bu nker mentality was well
suited to the expanding membership of the Com-
munist Party. The party, d ecimated by the purges
of the 1930s, had cxpanded its intakc during thc
war in order to broaden its base of support.
!ROM STALI"-; TO YI fSIN
Betwcen 1940 Jnd I Y47 membcrship doubled, but
thc <.JUJlity of ncwcomcrs, particularly in tcrms of
cducation, was 'i-ignific,ıntly lower than hefore.
This was hoth had and good: bad in the sense that
thcy nccdcd training, good in the sense they were
mallcable. Thc ~talinist precedent seemed safe with
,uch people.
The Soviet Union'ı:; pm,twar econoınic problcms
werc ,evere. 1ka.vy industry was in relatively good
,h.ıpc ,ınd growing, owing to the acquisition of
CermJn pla.nt Jn<l cxpert ise and thc development
of !-ıovict capacity in v,;.:ır-related production. Agri-
culturc, however, was in .ı parlous state, both
bccause nıuch of the war was fought in thc farming
arcas and bccausc thc peasantry was demographi-
cally crippled due to governmcnt po licics of the
1930s. All othcr sectors of thc economy were also
precarious. Stalin addressed thesc problems by
rcimpo:ı.ing thc planned economy w ith a degree of
severity as great as du ring the 1930s. The first
postwar fıve -ycar plan was launched in 1946: it set
uDJchievably high industrial prod uction ta rge ts,
couplcd with scvcrc restrictio ns an d pc naltics
upon thc work forcc, and aimed to reform agricul-
turc by merging co llcctive fa rms int o much greater
agro-industria l coınplexes. Resul ts were ta show
that the plan was u nrealistic.
A second wave of emigration fo llowed World
War 11, and consisted of Russians and many other
Saviet nationalities va ri ou sly determined to escape
the Soviet Union. In general, these were people of
lower edu cation a nd standing than the first wave,
but with few romantic delusions about the realities
of Co mnıun is m . Many had been victinıs of
repressions and terror during the 1930s, had wel-
co nıe d t he Germa ns as liberators in 1941 and ended
up as fo rced or menial labor in Nazi Gerınany. At
the war's end, th ey chose ta flee westward in hope
of fı n di n g free dom. Those who chose to go home,
or were forc ibly repatri ated by the Western Allies,
were sh ipped d irect ly to concentration camps. in
the West, t he second wave fırst publicized the
terror of Stalin's ru le and brought fırst news of the
Gulag. This ncws shocked the Western Allies,
whose iınage of the Soviet Unian until thcn was
shaped by offıcia l Soviet propaganda and distorted
reportage by Western socialist sympathizers, such
as Sidnev and Beatr ice We bb. While the fırst wave
of emigr;tion was based largely in Western Europe,
the second went mostly ta America.
The G ul ag: co n ce nır a ti a n camps and forced
labor
Thc Soviet system, as devised by Lenin and dcve l-
oped by Stalin, \•vas d epen d en t o n can centration
camps and forccd labor. Th e first conccntration
camps were lcgalizcd by Leni n in 191 8. Their
purpose was to isolate and aften to exterminatc the
civil war opponents of t h e Communist regime . Th e
first truc death camp, intend ed for extermination
only, was established in 1921. The number of
camps and inmates grew as th e government elimi-
nated ali socialist opposition, as in ter na l party
purges grcw and as the practice of arresting ali
relation ı:; and associates of detainees accelerated.
The Khrushchev fıgures (see page 173) g ive the
numbers in camps at 179,000 in 1930, 510,307 in
'934, 1,296,494 in 1936, and 1,881,570 in 1938.
The maximum (2,561,351) was reac hcd in 1950--
earlicr western estimates of t h e numbers in camps
were considerably high er. Th ese numbers cavered
the full sweep of society: kulak.,·, intellectuals,
cngineers, technicians, scientists, p rofessionals,
scholars, affıcials, Cammunist Party members. The
mortality rate in cam ps was Jıjgh; ınany consider
that thc average li fespa n was abo u t t wo years. Few
prisoners were actu ally released at the legal end of
thcir sentenccs.
Until 1930 the camp system was administcred
directly by the NKVD (w hich s ucceeded the GPU
and indirectly preccd ed the KGB). in that year a
Special Ad m in istratio n of Camps (Gulag far short)
was established to cantra l w hat was effcctively a
separate ad m inistra tive region. The camps were
located primar ily in t he north of European Russia,
Si beria, Cen tral Asia and the Far East. Living
co n ditions wc re deliberately kept primitive and
bruta l, prison ers were treated inhumanely and
deprived of ali rights and food rations were fıxed
at star v ation lev els. Mast people were quickJy
broken, in body or spiril or batlı, and reduced to
su bhuman !eve! before perishing.
Politically, the camps served to break whatever
real or imagined opposition the Soviet governmcnt Above A relaxed, informal
could perceive and to isolate opponents from the meeting between Stalin and
Churchill at Yalta reveals the
rest of society. Economically, the camps proved of humarı side of Stalin's
great value as a large and constantly replenished personality. Quick and astuıe
supply of slave labor. The heavy industry in the mentallv, he could be humorous
and cha.rming at will. His smile
Urals and the nıajor transportation systems in the at such moments was famous,
Russian north created during the 1930s were ali and was repeatedly depicted by
both official portraiture and
built with work forces from the camps. The camp Wesıern cartoonists. The latter
population was assigned primarily to heav y con- saw behind its immediate
struction work- underground and surface mining, beneficence a sharp cunning
which can be detected in Stalin's
lumbering, excavation, building- which was done bonhomie on this occasion.
manually, without technological aids. The cost of
such work was almost nil, being no more than the
sustenance supposedly provided for the workcrs,
and the labor supply was inexhaustible, given that
high mortaJity among the prisoners was more than
outweighed by their increasing numbers.
During World War il the camp population was
put to work at the war effort. Many of the
country's leading designcrs were by now in camps,
so specialist design teams were founded. The lead-
Right: the Sovict bloc.c.1950.
ing Soviet aircraft of the war were designed by Al the end of World War II the
Tupolev, who headed a prisoner design tcam in a Soviet lJnion was givcn by the
camp. The T34 tanks which proved superior to Allies administrative control
over Eastern Europe, having
German armar were manufactured by slave labor agreed to ovcrsce thc
in the Urals. establishmcnt of freely elecıed
Thc camps swelled stili further after the war. governments. ln practice, loca!
Communist parties cither
Foreign captives (including German prisoners of manipulaıcd elections or seized
war, rcpatriatcd Russians and Ukrainians, citizens power. By J 948 Bulgaria.
and politicians from Central and East Europcan Poland, Hungary, Romania,
Albania. Yugoslavia and fıııally
countries) and Soviet citizens swept up in the ncw Czechoslovakia were under
purgcs added to the nunıbers. By 1950 the number Communist governments loyal to
Moscow, and the Sovict Union
of prisoners in the Gulag had reached a maximum. had cxtendcd its effective
The !ate 1940s and early 1950s saw a succession of d omini o ıı over half of Europe.
camp uprisings, ali of which were brutally sup- Thc independent Baltic states
which the Soviet Union had
presse d, with mass punitive executions following. annc xed bctween l9J.9 and 1940
Co ntrolling this burgeoning population was but h.ıd subsequently lost to
Genn.ınv wcre now
becoming a problem; one solution tried by Gulag in rein corpürated . Gcrmany,
1950 was a blanket execution of 5 percent of the Austria and Berlin had each bcen
camp population. divided inlo :ı- o ncs between the
four vic torıou s powcrs: the
W ith Stalin's dcath, the camp population Soviet zo nc of Gcrmany becamc
sto pped growing, but thc Soviet leadership real- ıhe GDR . An attempt to deny
ized t hat t he subject was highly damaging to their Western a cccss ıo Berlin was
thv,.•arted by the Berlin airlift of
co untry's image abroad. Until recently, the Soviet 1948. Finland became a neutral
Union cla imed that Western images and estimates independenı statc, and in 1955 a

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similar arrangement was reached
for Austria when the four
powers agreed to end their
occupation.
in southeasıern Eurnpe the
situation was volatile: the
Yugoslav Communıst leaders
broke \,·iıh Stalin in 1948;
Albania_ subsequently allied
ıtself wıth China, in isolaıiorı
from the rest of Europe; the
Greek government, v,rith Briush
aid, defeated a prolonged
Communist challenge in a bitter
civil war in the 1940s.
10·
wHıTE
sEA
,}
i,
EST O-.A
ussR
SEA
of the Gulag were wildly exaggerated. However,
the writings of Solzhenitsyn and investigations of
Academician Sakharov have shown that the system
was even more developed and less humane than
even pessimistic observers had assumed. The taboo
on these topics was only 1ifted in the Soviet Union
in 1985; since then the media have been allowed to
investigate the subject critically and the Russian
people are beginning to come to grips with the her-
itage of camps and forced labor. How and when the
system began ta contract remains far from clear.
FRO.\of STALl:\' TO YELTSI:-.
The Khrushchev era and the "Thaw"
Stalin's death was announced unexpectedly in
March 1953. The shock was profound: he had kept
so tight a grip on the Soviet regime for a quarter
centurv that a future \'\'İthout him was scarceh·
imagin~ble. His funeral was an awe-inspiring
occasion, with an ominous partent: clumsy police
crowd control meant that dozens of Muscovites
were trampled to death. His corpse was laid beside
Lenin's in the Mausoleum on Red sı.:ıuare.
Shortly before his death Stalin was seemingly
planning a new purge of the leadership. There was
a brief but intense struggle between the contenders
for power: Stalin's Georgian compatriot, the inef-
fably sinistcr police chief Lavrentiv Beria, was
apparently shot dead by apprehensi;,e rivals at a
Central Committee meeting. Others of his entourage
disappeared. A small but important sign of chang-
ing times was the dropping of charges against
during a fiı";aı paranoid episode (worthy of the
court of lvan iV) of the late leader's life.
was a rather colorless figure who less than two
years la ter pu blicly admitted to failures in
economic management and resigned, being
eventually dispatched to manage a power station.
Nikita Khrushchev, who had been strengıhening
his at first peripheral position in the leadership,
now took the crucial role of Party general
secretary; 1\larshal Nikolai Bulganin, an amiable,
less dynamic figure, became head of state. The two
became well known abroad, improving the image
of the Soviet Union in their frequent travels.
Khrush chev himself, of southern peasanı back-
ground, knO\-vn chiefly as an agriculture manager,
struck o bservers as quick-witted, frank, rather
voluble and mercurial.
ln 1956 rumors ofa remarkable speech delivered
by Khrushchev to a closed session of the Twentieth
Party Congress began to circulate. The "secret
speech" (soon an open secret) comprehensively
denounced aberrations of Stalin's rule, his purges,
trickle, then flood, of prisoners released under
"amnesty" brought firsthand testimony of the vast
concentration-camp realm that the press stili
ignored. Awkward questions were raised in Party
circles and beyond about the new leader's own
complicity in the Stalinist regime and the overall
legitimacy of the Party's rule. Meaffwhile a notice-
able loosening-up of the political and inıellectual
climate began to be apparent: the period known
(from Ilya Ehrenburg's novel of 1954) as the
"Thaw." Genuine debate on a variet\' of ;ssues
emerged, censorship became less stringent, literary
and artistic life (moribund in the early 1950s)
revived. Foreign tourists began to arrive in
considerable numbers from 1957. Khrushchev's
rather unpredictable diplonıatic initiatİ\•es gave
other nations the feeling that Soviet leaders were
prepared to discuss matters of world concern.
Khrushchev's political life was marked by crises.
Within a few months of the "secret speech" the
Hungarians rose up in what the Soviet Union
considered to be counterrevolution; Soviet troops
withdrew, then returned to O\'erthrow Imre ~agy
and install the longlived Kadar government. By
summer 1957 Khrushchev was facing a massive
177
FRü.',1 '> 1A ~ )lN
challenge to h is powcr in the Politbu ro; h e just
saved hımself by ap pealing to thc 300-strong
Ccntral Committcc . far a fow years thc do mestic
omcns sccmcd good: industrial productivity rose,
the despcratc housing shortage began to improve,
consumcr goods (but not yet automobilcs) beca nı c
availablc at reasonabk prices. Food produ ctio n was
tcmporari ly improved by extcn ding cultiva tcd
stcppcland, and t hc miscrable lot of t he collectivc
farmcrs undcr Stalin was eased . National morale
rodc hig h in the wake of the aston ishing la unch in
1957 of an artificia l satellite (sputnik, "com-
panion " ) and of the first manned spacc fli ght by
Yury Gagarin (1961 ). " Dc-S talin ization" was
resumcd and intensificd
Abroad things went Iess wcll. Hungary put the
Wcst on its guard . "De-StaJinization" led to an
acrimonious break w ith China in the carly 1960s.
Sovict adventurism led to th e Cuban missile crisis
!ate in 1962; fro m this confrontation with the
Amcricans Khrush ch cv only just manage d to extri-
cate himself. Despite hi s boasted economic suc-
cesses, agricu ltu ral rcalities fo rced him
h umiliatingly to buy Cana dian w h eat. Thes e
factors contributed to t he su ddc n vote fa r his
removal in October 1964. Comp lctely stripped of
po\vcr, Khrushchev li ved on for more than a
dccade; h e read, educated h imself, apologized to
w riters h e had criticized (" but I made sure not a
hair of your hcad was tou ch ed") and produced a
volume of remark able memoirs. His period of
dominancc left a curiously ambiguous heritage,
raising expectations without fulfilling them.
Khrushchev's rule remaincd authoritarian, and
there were some extremely illi beral phcnomena,
such as a tough an tireligious policy that closed
down nearl y h alf the operational Orthodox
churchcs. But thc pcriod saw the demise of tota1i-
tarianism- at lc ast in the strict, Sta1inist sense--an
cvent whose psyc hological jolt to the Soviet system
cannot be overestimated.
Po litics and society in the Brezhnev years
Leonid Brezhncv camc to power as the kader ofa
conservative reaction against Khrushchcv's policy
of dc-Stalinization and his attempts t o weaken the
official bureaucracy. T he bureaucracy was politi-
cally strongly pro-Stalin and socially hostile to
Khrushchev's popul ist attempts to create social
homogeneity. Brezhnev himself belicved that an
iron discipline needed to be reimposed on the
country an d v iewed social critics as political
deviants and renegades. Khrushchev's liberal-
ization policies were replaced by a sustained and
systematic persecution of the people of the
" Thaw," beginning with t he arrest in 1965 of
Andrey Sinyavsky an d Yuly Daniel, two writers
who had published pseudonymously in the West.
in 1966 the authorities staged a show trial, the first
since Stalin's time, where the authors w ere con-
victed of "anti-Soviet propagand a." This charge,
taken from t h e criminal code an d previo usly not
used against inte lJectuals, was thereaftcr uscd frc-
quently against dissidents. The criminal code was
cxtc ndcd, also in 1966, to cover "violations of
public ordcr," a clause alsa to be used exten sively
against the dissidents- as they came to be called.
in 1966 67 a wave of show trials swept the
·ountry, with major ones in Moscow, Leningrad (St
Petersburg), Kiev (Kyyiv), Lvov (L'viv), Gorky Above An early atteınpt at
(Nizhniy Novgorod), Riga, Tashkent and Omsk. detente diplomacy has
Khrushch ev addressing Richard
The dissidents set up monitoring of such trials Nixon, th en the American
and associated legal abuse; the results were vice-president. Khrushchev was
w ell known for thc blinkcred
reported in underground (samizdat) publications, fm cefulness with which he
most notably in the periodical Chronicle of Currenı argued his case, and the impact
Events, which appeared from 1968 onwards. Also is clear upon Nixon, who is left
with no choice but to listen
in 1968, the dissidents initiated regular contact mutely. The entourage includes
with Western journa1ists in Moscow. In so doing, th e y oungish Leonid Brezhnev,
the dissidents exposed themselves to another second from the right. ln thc
earl y 1970s he and Nixon, both
severe provision of the criminal code, which by thcn presidents, were to
dcfined as subversion any link with the Western pursuc a more substantial
attenıpt at detente.
media which was detrimental to the officially pro-
jccted imagc of the Soviet Union.
Thc dissidcnt movcment was formcd of many
strands, chief of which wcre: a Lcninist rcvivaHsm,
which argued fara return to the supposedly pure
form of Communism that had existed in Lenin's
time; a humanistic liberalism predicated on non-
ideological politics; and a Russian nationalism
linked to pre-revolutionary Russian culture and
the Orthodox Church. in addition, strongly natio-
nalist dissident movcmcnts existed in most
republics, with the strongcst in Ukraine; there
were also fundamentalist religious movements,
such as Baptists and Pentecostalists. The Jews
formed a distinctive movement, concerncd primar-
ily with thc right of Sovict Jews to emigratc to
lsrae1. There was close cooperation and 1iaison
bctwecn the various groups, creating an integrated
if varicd movemcnt of opposition.
lntense Western interest in the dissidents frus-
trated Soviet attempts to solve the problem with
traditional Stalinist methods. lndirectly, it alsa
secms to have defused a movcment within the
Soviet bureaucracy towards a full rehabilitation of
Stalin. However, the crushing of dissent remained
a top priority, and in 1972 the government
launched a ncw and more effecti ve canıpaign of
repression, based on different methods far break-

1/ IET Ul\1101\1_.~
Aboı.·eThis poster illustrates the
new replacing the old in Moscow
during the Stalinist period. The
building being erected ıs one of
the ornate skycrapers scattered
around the periphery of central
Moscow to create a grandiose,
thrusting horizon for the city.
The skyscrapers were
surmounted \•.itb pinnacles in a
style partly classical and partly
17th-century Russian.
ing up the dissident movcment. who~e succe~s
until then relied on good interna] organization and
communication. The campaign was planned by the
KGB chief Yury Andropov, who was elected to ful]
Politburo nıenıbership in 1972 and in due course
followed Brezhnev as head of state. Dissidents were
subject to intense and overt personal surveillance
by the KGB, whose methods included intimidation
and physical violence directed against individuals,
their families and associates. Sinıultaneous]y, they
were encouraged to cnıigrate, often after the com-
pletion of a jail term resulting from a staged trial.
One method of separating and isolating dissidents
wa~ interna] exile to provincial towns, where
detainees liYed under blanket ~urveillance.
Another was to expel people from their jobs while
ensuring that they would be unable to find
another; then they could be accused of "parasit-
ism," a jailable offense. Finally, dissidents were
subjected to thc old practice of long sentences to
hard labor in the camps of Gulag.
An ominous new method of repression was pio-
neered by the KGB in the early l 970s: the use of
mental hospitals to imprison dissidents. Fabricated
diagnoscs were used to certify dissidents as insane:
the victims were then isolated in mental hospitab
and treated with mind-altering or physically debi-
litating drugs. This method bypassed the legal
system: no term of sentence \'\'as imposed and the
prisoner could be detained indefinitely. Soviet
psychiatry was internationally ostracized for com-
plicity in such repression and in 1983 was forced to
withdraw from the World Psychiatric Association.
By the end of the l 970s the dissident movement
was reduced and fragmcnted; its members either
isolated in interna1 exile, or terrorized into passiv-
ity or public recantation. By far the greatest num-
ber, however, ,vere incarcerated in prisons and
camps or assigned to pena] labor elsewhere; the for-
mer numbercd at least three million and the latter
two million. These especially included nationalist
and re1igious dissidents, such as Valentin 1Vloroz
among the Ukrainians and Anatoly Sharansky
among the Jews. The dissident movement and the
government's reaction illustrated two salient
points. First, it showed the resilience and variety of
opposition to doctrinaire Communism that sur-
vived in the Soviet Union through decades of Stal-
inist repression and extermination, and which had
manifested itself quickly under Khrushcbev's
"Thaw." Second, it showed that the Communist
practice of governing continued to rely on repres-
sion, ingenious new methods of which could be
invented in changing times.
The forces that deposed Khrushchev were
guided by three main concerns: to reestablish the
preeminence of the entrenched bureaucracy in
government and within the Communist Party; to
pursue administrative efficiency within the frame-
work of administrative stability; to rationalize and
make permanent the responsibilities of officialdom.
The domestic policies pursued by Brezhnev were
formulated primarily to ensure stability by appeas-
ing the vested interests of the bureaucracy and
other entrenched interest group~ such as the mi1i-
tary, and to justify thi~ conservatism, Brezhnev
developed the ideological doctrine of "developed
socialism" to describe the time and to guide policy.
in practice, it meant a con~ervative deference to the
FRO!ı-1 STALIS TO \'EL TSI..,_
cntrenched bureaucracv, combincd with reformist
momentum aimcd at industrial modernization to be
achieved with only logistical administrative
changcs.
The political stabilit y of the Brezhnev era was
achicved at the cost of social stratitication and stag-
nation. The uppcr elite within the burcaucracy
attained a position of unpreccdented influence and
privilege. Known as the nomenklatura (the list of
nominees), it remained effectively a political and
social oligarchy, living separate from the rest ofthe
population and enjoying luxuries and privileges
unavailable to others. Their total number in 1970
was slightly over 400 000, or O· 35 percent of the
total population. The other social groups favored
un der "developed socialism" were the ınilitary and
the technical intelligentsia, the latter only so long
as its political loyalty was absolute and actively
demonstrated. The rest of the population was in
contrast restricted.
The Brezhnev vears saw an intensification of
existing re~trictiö'ns on social and gcographic
mobility. The system of internal passports and liv-
ing permits, introduced by Stalin during the 1930s,
\Vas made more rigid. People were more tied than
before to their original place of residence or to their
work, so that moving to major urban areas, above
ali to Moscow, Leningrad (St Petersburg) and Kiev
(Kyyiv), became increasingly difficult. The major
centers were ahvays magnets to the population, pri-
marily because they were much betler supplied
with food than elsewhere, but also because thev
provided the few opportunities for job mobility
availab]e. The severest restrictions were imposed
on the agricultural workers on collective farın,,
who were deprived of ali right of unsupervised
movement.
The leaders of the Soviet economy knew already
in 1965 that development prospects were ominous.
Agriculture was tbe major problem area. Organiza-
tional and administrative innovations were intro-
d uced by Aleksey Kosygin, Brezhnev's virtual
co-ruler in the late 1960s; these failed to produce
results, due in part to their limited scope, in par! to
bureaucratic opposition. The Kosygin approach
was abandoned in the wake of the Prague Spring of
1968; the government never attempted any innova-
tive reform, however mild, thereafter. Food pro-
duction and agricultural developnıent declined
sharply in the late 1960s.
Jn contrast, sustained heavv investment in rni1i-
tary production allowed the SoYiet Union to
expand and modernize its armed force~ on a mas-
sive scaJe, achieving superpower parity with the
United States bv the earlv 1970s. The milıtarv
simultaneously g;ined much higher influence than
before within the government and the Communbt
Party. The increased military might of the ~oviet
Union became a major factor in SoYiet foreign
policy, with important domestic implications too.
Within tbe Soviet sphere of influence, the practice
of military intervention ·was revived along lines
followed during the 1950s. Du bbed the "Brezbnev
doctrine," it began with the \Var~aw Pact invasion
of Czecboslovakia in 1968. The object was to crush
the social and economic experiments launched by
Dubcek's innovative brand of Communism. The
lesson, both for the East European Communist
states and for the Khrusbchev liberals and dissi-
179
fRO.\1 STALIN 0 YF.LTSIN
dcnts at home, was that any deviation from
conservative doctrinaire Communism would be
supprcssed. Thc "Brezhnev doctrine" was alsa
used to justify the intervention in Afghanistan in
1980.
On the international scene, Soviet military m ight
wa"> put to diploınatic rather than operational use
in thc dctente process of thc early 1970s. Detente
was devised by Brczhnev ta encourage economic
cooperation with the West, in order ta accelcrate
internal Soviet modcrnization by the acquisition of
Western tcchnology and exper tisc. The diplomatic
incentive offered was arms limitation ta lks.
Western willingncss ta pu rsue dctcntc on this hasis
brought the Soviet Union considcrable techno log i-
cal benefıts at small military cost. Conscrvative
Soviet instincts, however, underı ni ned d eten te.
The process ended in 1975 whcn th e America ns
insisted on linking further economic cooperati o n
with humarı riglıts in the form of freer emigration
far Soviet Jews.
A th ird wave of emigr atio n occurred in the
1970s, largely in co nnection with th e process of
detente. These were mainly ur ban members of the
educated and professional elite, bom and raised in
the Communist system . The majority were Soviet
Jcws wh o settled e ither in l srael or America. Th e
Russ ians included leading d issidents, such as Alex-
ander Solzhenitsyn and losif Brodsky- both of
whom settled in the United States- Andrei
Almarik , Vladimir Maksimov and Vladimi r
Bukovsky. The third wave has been extremely pro-
ductive in literary terms, with political and polemi-
cal writings being the favore d genres. Their
in-depth personal account s and firs t-hand analyses
of conditions in t he Soviet Union gained much
greater circulation in the Western press than the
writings of the p receding waves. The full -scale and
per vasive habit of Soviet human rights violations,
from the Gulag of the 1940s t a psyc hi atric abuse of
the 1970s, became widely known in the West from
their w ritings.
At home the civilian economy was catered far in
a n ew five-year plan launc hed in 197 1. Its ma in
objective was ta achieve faste r growth in produc-
tion of consumer goods t han in indu strial produc-
tion . The plan failed in ali its objectives, with the
greatest shortfall in food production and consumer
goods supply. The advent and conclusion of the
plan were marked with mass food riots against had
working conditions and poor housing in nearly a
doze n major Soviet cities. These were forci bly bro-
ken up, a nd attempts ta establish independe nt
trade unions in 1977 and 1978 were extinguished
by the KG B. The Soviet Union was reduced ta
importing grain fro m t he United States.
Towards the end of Brez hnev's reign it looked as
if "developed socialism" had su ccee ded politically,
by instilling continuity and stability in the appara-
tus of government, bu t econ omically it had proved
a total failure. Disregardi ng the evidence, Brezhnev
continued ta declare success after spect ral success
in the Soviet economy. The b ureaucracy, co mfort-
able in its power and privilege, prov ided h im with
bedrock support. This support w as, however, aging
with its leader. The average age of Politburo mem-
bers rose from 55 to 68 during Brezhnev's time, and
nearly half the members of the 1966 Politburo were
stil there in 1981 .
Shortly before Brezhnev's death, sharp criticism
of his leadersh ip began appearing among yo unger
Soviet economists. Their gen eral view was th at th e
traditional, ce ntra lize d mechanisms of planned
economy were too rigid to generale the required
results and were beyo nd hope of improve ment. By
implication, they hinted tbat the bureaucratic sta-
bilit y cultivated by Brezhne v was antithetical ta
thc country's nee d of ec onomic development. In a
few years, wit h Gorbach ev in power, su ch cri tics
wcre to be drawn into the state's attempt ta refo rm
fundamentally it s ailing economy.
The 1980s : fro m co n se r vatism to c hange
Brezhnev 's tw o immediate successors were in a
simila r mold, old men dedicated ta the perpetu-
ati on of th e established order, suppression of di s-
se nt and cautious experimen t ai med at improving
the effi ciency of t he system. Tbe first was Yury
Andropov, who mastermined the crush ing of the
1956 Hungarian uprisi ng. Andropov intensified
stat e repression of dissidents and religion, while at
the same time culti vating an appearance of
persona l Iiberali sm d esigned largely far the
Western media. With its ex-chief as the country's
lead er, the KGB attained higher status and
influ ence t h an ever before. Economi c and agricul-
t ural p roduction continued ta decline. There was
hal f- hearted talk of economic reform, and while
Andro pov himself was probably the first Soviet
lead er ta recognize the depth of the economic crisis
and the need far change, he was already ili and
lacked the authority ta carry his ideas through. He
died in early 1984, only 14 months after assuming Ma ssive orchestrated ceremonies
marked eve ry anni versary of the
p ower. revolu tion , w h ic h w as th c So vi ct
Andropov's protege far the Ieadership was Mik- Unio n's most important national
hail Gorba che v, a youngish senior bureaucrat holiday . Th e 70th anniversary
in 1987 was especiall y im_portant.
whose ba ckground was in provincial administra- The scene shows massed
tion. But the Communist Party leadership chose contingents with banner s lined
instead Konstantin Chernenko, a frail and anony- u p at rhe end of Moscow' s Red
Sq uare, re ady far a marc h-past
mous leader who had been deputy batlı ta Brezh- befor e t he governm ent leaders'
nev and Andropov. His year in office was marked rev iew tribunal ato p Lenin's
mausoleum . The photo is taken
by confli ct within the leadership and ali thought of from near the foot of th e
reform was frozen. When he died in March 1985, mausoleum . March-pasts of this
!here was again conflict over who should become kind incl ude d civilian
continge nts and military u nıts,
general secretary. This time, Gorbachev emerged often d isplaying up-to-dare
victorious, but only by the slimmest of margins. weaponry.
His ele vation appears ta have been assisted by
A ndrey Gromyko, the Soviet Union's veteran
foreign minister, who was subsequently rewarded
w ith the post of state president (until 1989).
Gromyko's removal from the foreign ministry
alsa free d Gorbachev ta start reformulating Soviet
fore ig n po licy and correcting some of the political
errors of th e Brezhnev era which had been so
costly ta t he Sov iet U niorı's reputation abroad. in
particu lar, h e announce d Moscow's intention of
withdrawing troo ps from Afghanistan ifa satisfac-
tory agreement co uld be achieved. This was
reached in April 1988, and the troop withdrawal
was completed on schedule in February 1989.
Gor bachev alsa embarked on restoring relations
with the United States. Under Andropov the
rela t ionship had reac hed its coolest point since the
cold war over the question of NATO's plans ta
deploy new mediu m-range nuclear missiles in
Western Europe. T he superpower thaw led ta a
series of summit meetin gs inaugurated in Geneva in
Nove mber 1985. Gorbachev alsa showed that his

Lejt A Moscow commuter
studies Mikhail Gorbachev's
Peresıroika: New Thınkıng for
Our Councry and the \-\'orlJ
Gorbachev showed himself
willing to gamble with his
popularity; one of his first
measures in 1985- 86 was to
restı-ict the a\·ailabilitv of
alcohol and to launch ·a
campaign against corruption.
interests went beyond the establishment of an
equal relationship with the United States. While
negotiating with President Reagan, he also speeded
up the Soviet rapprochement with China, attenıpt­
ing to bridge the political and ideological schism
which nearly led to war in the early 1960s. The
resunıption of ful] party-to-party relations was
sealed in May 1989 when Gorbachev traveled ta
Beijing far the first Sino-Soviet summit far 30 years
(involuntarily instigating student antigovernment
demonstrations there).
in domestic policy, Gorbachev began cautiously.
His first two big set-piece occasions, the 26th
Communist Party Congress in February 1986 and
the 70th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution
in November 1987, disappointed those who
believed that he was a radical reformer in that they
produced no radical blueprint far change. Only at
the Central Conımittee plenum of June 1987 did he
give a glimpse of the changes to come, announcing
a comprehensive program of decentralization for
industry and removing from the leadership the
more outspoken members of the old guard. There-
after he more than made up for his initial caution
and introduced into the Soviet and Western voca-
bulary t\.ı..'O Russian words which were to become
shorthand for his policies: perestroika and glasnost.
Peresıroika referred to his program to reform the
Soviet econonıy, increase efficiency and improve
Soviet living standards. Glasnost referred ta the
opening up of Soviet cultural life and the media, to
his plans to limit censorship and encourage freer
discussion of political and cultural questions. He
alsa argued far the introduction of greater demo-
cracy into Soviet society, including the principle
that more than one candidate should contest each
party and government election.
The reasons far Gorbachev's apparent change of
heart are uncertain: it may have been the accident
at Chornobyl' nuclear power station in April 1986,
which opened the eyes of the leadership ta the
dangers of secrecy and dishonesty. It may have
reflected the leadership's gradual realization of
how far the Soviet Union lagged behind not only
the developed world, but even some of the deve-
loping countries of Asia, and the scale of its
economic stagnation. Or it may have reflected Gor-
bachev's steady gain in authority over opponents.
\Vhatever the explanation, ]ate 1987 and 1988
saw Gorbachev embrace the need far political
reform in parallel with economic reform and mount
a swingeing attack on the Brezhnev era as the
"period of stagnation." At a special Communist
Party conference in June 1988, he introduced new
constitutional mechanisms providing for elections
ta a new Congress of People's Deputies and a new-
style Supreme Soviet, ar parliament, designed ta
give more people an interest in government and
stem widespread disaffection. The hallmarks of
Gorbacbev's economic reform program included
self-financing for factories, permission for indi-
viduals to start cooperative enterprises in produc-
tion and service sectors and permission for
peasants and collective farmers to lease their land.
There was also a drive to improve Iong-neglected
welfare and medicaJ provisions.
V\Thile economic reform was impeded by wide-
spread bureaucratic and ideological opposition,
Gorbachev's advocacy of glasnost-widely seen as
FROM STALIN TO YELTSII\'
a means of winning intellectual opinion over to his
side--enjoyed greater success. in Moscow, Len-
ingrad (St Petersburg) and other Soviet cities infor-
mal groups sprang up representing diverse
inıerests, including those of different ethnic groups
and environmentalists. Stalinism was bitterly
attacked and many prominent purge victims,
including the Bolshevik theorist Bukharin, were
rehabilitated by the Parıy leadership.
In humarı rights, too, Gorbachev showed a more
liberal face than his predecessors. The numbers of
Jews and ethnic Germans permitted to emigrate
rose sharply; individuals who had become symbols
of the 1970s dissident movement, such as the Jew-
ish campaigner Anatoly Shcharansky and the
nuclear physicist Andrey Sakharov, were released,
as were many of those imprisoned for political and
religious offenses. Regulations were introduced to
attempt to outlaw psychiatric abuse.
in a reversal of previous Soviet policy, the
Gorbachev leadership also made overtures to
prominent members of the emigration, especially
those cultural figures who had left the country
during the Brezhnev years. Asa result, a number-
including the ballet dancers Rudolf Nureyev and
Natalya Makarova, the stage director Yury Lyubi-
mov and the writer Andrey Sinyavsky- were
permitted to return on visits. It also became easier
for artists, musicians and indeed ordinary citizens
ta travel and work abroad.
üne consequence of greater freedom of expres-
sion was the resurgence of nationaHst sentiment
across the SoYiet Union. The dismissal of the
Kazaklı party leader in 1986 led ta rioting in the
Kazaklı capital, Alma-Ata (Almaty). in 1988 old
hostilities revived in violence in the Caucasian
republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan; in the Baltic
states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, popular
front organizations, which had been encouraged by
the authorities as a controlled outlet for nationalist
feeling, called far independence from Moscow.
Simmering nationalism also gave rise to nationalist
and anti-Soviet demonstrations in Belarus,
Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia, with people
demanding the right ta use their native language
and preserve their culture.
These pressures were to be among the most pow-
erful ingredients in the complex of forces that
would eventually cause Gorbachev's downfall-
particularly since they were matched by a new
spirit of self-assertive independence in the former
"satellite" countries of Eastern Europe. With star-
tling suddenness (and little social upheaval) Com-
munist governments were forced from, or simply
withdrew from, office during the latter part ot 1989
in Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany,
Bulgaria, Romania and a little later Albania. The
Soviet Union did nothing to help them survive,
and in consequence the \Varsaw Pact ceased to
exist.
Meanwhile parliamentary processes began in
.M oscow and were avidly followed on teleYision
and radio by the mass of the population, who
seemed ta find little difficulty in adapting ta a
spirit of democracy. ln the early stages there was
complete freedom of debate but na effective new
political parties. Public figures called more and
more insistently far a radical rethinking of the eco-
nomic policy (e.g. through the shock therapy ofthe
ısı
so-callcd "Shatali n plan") rather than a mere tin-
kcring with discredited ~oviet methods: proposals
tha t put in qucstion the entire Party and burcau-
cratıc rwmenklatura systems.
Gorbachev himself, evidently in sympathy with
thc spirit of freedom he had so dramatically con-
jured up, but alarmed by the possibilities of chaos,
seemed foı several months in l 990 91 to be look-
ing for a lcad while cvents overtook him. in the
,;;ummer of l 990 the first price rises fora generation
began a period that led within a year to galloping
inflation. At the same time, a "hard currency"
economy was operating beside, and eclipsing, the
rouble cconomy. Stories of batlı an organizcd and
an opportunistic crimc-wave alarnıed the inhab i-
tants of the big cities. The conservatİ\"e forccs that
drcaded the breakup of the Soviet Union most
cloquently represented in parliament by the Lat-
\'ian Colonel Viktor Alksnis cvidently gained
some sway over policy early in 199 l. Half-hearted
repressive measurcs in Lithuania and Gcorgia were
(as usual in such cases) counter-productive. Befare
the year was aut batlı together with the other
Union Republics were to be independent: in
Lithuania, against the wishes of its Polish m.inorhy;
in Georgia, v,.rith ciYil strife in Abkhazia, Ossetia
and in the streets of Tbilisi itself.
ln Russia, the tough populist Boris Yeltsin, a
reformer more ready than Gorbachev to move
against the Party, was elected President after a close
ballot. The conservative forces realized that time
was ruııning out. in August 1991 a motley alliance
of old guard politicians (including ıhe deputy pres-
ident, Aleksandr Yakovlev) took advantage of Gor-
bachev's summer absence in the Crimea to rnount a
coup d' etat. The plotters appeared to have little
positive policy and made no attempt to appeal to
Communist principles. Their precautionary mea-
surcs \•vere so defective that Yeltsin was able to
voice his defiance, and that of the Russian parlia-
ment, to the worl d's assembled media in the heart
of Moscow-while the bulk of the population
looked on to see wb at would happen. The putsch
collapsed ignominiously within three days, and
Gorbachev returned to office: it was soon clear
howe,·er that cent ral pnwer was ebbing away to the
Repu blics. in December 1991 Russia, Ukraine and
Belarus simply sidestepped the Soviet Union by
setting up a loose "Commonwealth of lndependent
States"-soon joined by ali the Republics save the
Baltic states and Georgia; by the end of the month
Gorbachev had resigned, central institutions-
even the Communist Party-were dismantled and
the Soviet Union came to a quiet end.
For Russiarıs it ,vas curiously hard to drav,, up a
balance-sheet of these dramatic events. On the one
hand they could congratulate themselves on the
political maturity and good sense that had enabled
them to wind up the 70-year Soviet experiment
almost without bloodshed or social disruption, on
their strengthening the prospects far world peace
by voluntarily renouncing " superpower" con-
frontationalism, on their magnanimity in letting
subject peoples go their own way. But the other
side \•vas grim: the acceptance of national humilia-
tion (particularly far the once-proud army); eco-
nomic turmoil and, far many, impoverishment; the
realization that the market economy \.vas no "g uick
'ix" and that the West would help aut only grudg-
iııgly; the eruption of ethnic tensi ons in many parts
of the old USSR. In the aftcrmath, the "stagnation"
under Brezhnev began to seem a "golden age" of
stability and rising middle-class living standards.
The arts from Socia list Realism to the 1990s
Thc ending of NlcP, the inauguration of the five-
year plans and the growing ascendancy of Stalin
marked a change in mood in Soviet cultural life. in
1929 Anatoly Lunacharsky, the fırst commissar far
enlightenment (that is, minister of education and
the arts) resigned; a cultivatcd and benign figure,
he had bcen appointed by Lenin to gain the confı­
dence of the intellectuals and had himself been a
Symbolist playwright. The 1930s began with the
undisputed dominance of the "proletarian" organ-
izations, RAPP in literature and AKHRR in art. ln
1932 however the Central Committee unexpectedly
issued a decree banning ali literary and artistic
groupings, including the proletarians. To those
who wanted simply to get on with their work,
without propagandist commitment, this seemed to
offer welcome re lief.
it soon became clear that the arts were to exist
under a mu ch tougher regime, with co ntinual
scrutiny and far-reaching censorship. From 1934 a
single artistic method vvas promulgated, known as
Socialist Realism. Three abstract, scarcely translat-
able principles underpinned it: ideynosı (presence
of identifiable ideas), partiy nosl (agreement with
Communist Party principles) and naı-odnost
(popular spirit). What Socialist Realism meant in
practice is not a]ways easy to see; it has been cyni-
cally defined as "praise of ıhe leaders in terms they
can understand."
Real talents continucd to flourish, even to
emerge. The novel revived, with Mikhail Sholo-
khov (1905- 84) undoubtedly its best exponent:
The Quiet Don (l 928-40) represents an authenti-
caUy epic treatment (from a Cossack viewpoint) of
the civil war period. in poetry, Pasternak fara few
years became almost the Soviet poet Jaureate.
Music saw the brilliant rise of Dmitriy Shosta-
kovich (I 906-75). The most abstract of the arts,
music was naturally the hardest to define in Social-
isı Realist ıerms (though it was clear that melo-
diousness was required); it suffered considerably
in the latc 1940s, when virtually every composer of
originality underwent harsh critkism. In the visual
arts the revival of figuration delayed the impact of
the new doctrine, with several artists, veterans as
well as newer talents, doing inventive, sometirnes
exciting work. Theater and cinema retreated
graduaJly into conventionality, v. rithout ever
becoming wholly uninteresting, but Meyerhold,
bold and outspoken, was arrested and shot.
in the traumas of 1937- 38 the besi thing writers
or artists could do was to keep their heads down.
Literary victims included Mandelshtam, Babel and
the novelist Pilnyak; Zaboloısky was alması the
only established writer to experience a prison-
camp sentence and live to teli the tale. The 1941-45
war brought a slackening of conırols, with real
instead of imaginary enemies; some good poetry
was writte n. But further attacks on writers
(notably Akhmatova and the satirical storywriter
Mikhail Zoshchenko) in 1946-48 "froze" the situ-
ation until after Stalin's death. Aesopian language
or fantasy could sometimes be successfully

Right Russians guc-ue patiently
in the snow to taslc the delight,;
of McDonald ·s hamburgers and
frencb fries. The American fast-
food chain was one of the first
\/V estern comp,rnies, along with
Pizzd Hut. to set up outlets in
the former Sovict Union after the
collapse of communism, with the
fırst branch bcing opened in
Moscow. Thc American
hamburg(·r, whilst bc:ing .1 far
crv from the traditonal Russian
faİ-e, has been a huge success
with those who can afford to
splash out on :-.uch luxurı es. For
the average Russian, onc lrip to
McDonalds is equivalent to a
weck's wages; for thc bcmuseı.l
Russians who first found JOhs
there, it was an introduction to a
wholc ne,,•, American-stylc
workethic.
employed : Yevgeny Shvarts (1898- 1958) wrote
attractive plays for children, loosely derived from
Hans Andersen's tales, which carry adult su b-
texts. Few writcrs wanted evcn to writc "for the
dcsk drawcr" in the hcrmetically isolated atmos-
phere of the Soviet Union. Two reınarkable excep-
tions, published much later, are the novels Master
aııd Margarita by Bulgakov and Docıo,· Zhi vago by
Pasternak.
Althouglı the novel called The Thaw by veteran
survivor llya Elırenburg gave its name to tlıe
period that began in the mid-1950s, and lasted
around a decade, his memoirs published in the
1960s are actually a more significant "Thaw" docu-
ment. The optimism of the cultural atınosphere
stemmed partly from a feeling that tlıere was a
world of experience waiting to be explored, a
public anxious to explore it and that the Soviet
Union could be part of the cultural world again. it
was often assumed abroad that Soviet writers or
artists could be categorized as "official" or " unoffi-
cial," but th e situation was never quite like that.
Khrushchev blew lıo t and cold by turns, but took
care not to instigate fulls cale repression.
The "Thaw" encouraged new talent, reinvigor-
ated those who had lived through the Stalin years
and led to rediscoveries. The new writers were led
by poets: a remarkable phenomenon was the
growth of mass poetry readings by such as Yev-
geny Yevtushenko (b. 1933) and Andrey Voznesen-
sky (b. 1933). New prose followed soon, notably
short stories by Yury Kazakov; other writers
included V. Soloukhin, V. Aksyonov and
V. Shukshin (also a /ine movie-maker). In art, redis-
coveries were singularly important, particularly of
the great modern French collections in Moscow
and Leningrad (St Petersburg), but Russian mod-
ernists such as Malevich remained in the store-
rooms. Shostakovich, battered throughout his
career by public adulation followed by denuncia-
tion, was "reborn" for the new age: by his death he
had coınpleted an impressive corpus of 15 sym-
phonies and the same number of string quartets.
The stagnation under Brezhnev set in gradually
l-RO/ı.-1 STı\LIN TO YLLTMN
in the la ter 1960s. Among the gloomicr symptoms
were the trial and imprisonment ( 1966) of Andrey
Sinyavsky and Yury Daniel and the expu lsion
( 1974) of Alexander Solzhenitsyn (b. 1918), who
had sprung to fame when his story Oııe Day iıı the
Life of l va ,ı Denisovich, breaking the taboo on
prison-camp literature, was published in 1962 in
the important "liberal" monthly Novy Mir. A
series of long works, located at the intersection of
fiction with recent history, had already won him
the Nobel Prize (1970). Under Brezhnev ali forms of
"dissidence" (a new term of the period) began to
be treated with harassment and, increasingly fre-
quently, with deportation and deprivat ion of citi-
zenship. Soınetimes those forcibly expelled
llourislıed abroad, as did the Nobel prize-winning
poet losif Brodsky (1940 -96); sometimes they sank
without trace, but the result was if nothing else a
public relations disaster for the Soviet regime.
Aınong the notable talents lost were the movie-
maker Andrey Tarkovsky (1932-87) and the
notable director of the Moscow Taganka Theater,
Yury Lyubimov. However, the Brezhnev govern-
ment was never remotely as oppressive as Stalin's,
and a thriving "underground" culture, in ali the
arts, could exist- so long as it did not become too
prominent. Ballad-singing was one of the activitics
that continued to llourish, while the "official"
press nurtured the school of "village prose," deeply
concerned with both old and new problems of the
countryside.
Intellectual life witnessed a growth of disinter-
ested scholarship even before Brezhnev's death.
Soviet ideology had long ceased to have positive
meaning, and became little ın ore t han a set of irri-
tating but circumventable obstacles to art and
thought. From 1985 a " thaw" fa r more comprehen-
sive than Khrushchev's set in, and by 1990 there
was effectively no more censorship. "Taboo"
works, by literary figures such as Zamyatin and
Solzhenitsyn, or painters suc lı as Maleviclı and
Filonov, entered public consciousness, while a
lively artistic avant-garde emerged. Important fig-
ures who emigrated or were exiled under Brezhnev
183
fRO!'-i STALl:-0 O YELTSI~
could come an d go freely, while travel abroad
became possible for ordinary citizens. Splendid as
the prospects for Russian cultural life looked, how-
ever, they were clouded by the realization that
most activities had been heavily subsidised by the
Soviet system. lnstitutions and individuals alike
now faced a risky if exhilarating future in the mar-
ket-place.
Politics and Society sin ce 1991
in the half dozen years between the dissolution
of t he Soviet Union and the time of writing there
has been greater stability in the territories of the
former USSR than most commentators could have
dared expect, or hope. Boris Yeltsin survived fears
for his health and considerable unpopularity to
win the Russian Presidential election of 1996. The
old constituent Repu blics of the Union managed,
by and large, an effective transition to independent
nationhood- with civil strife erupting only in
Georgia, Tajikistan and to a small degree in
Moldova. The most serious inter-republic border
dispute, between Armenia and Azerbaijan over
Nagorno-Karabakh, settled down into a de facıo
ceasefire (advantageous to the Armenian claims).
The dispute between Russians, Ukrainians and
Ta tars over Crimea did not descend into vioJence.
Apocalyptic Western European visions of the mass
invasion of its frontiers by millions of hunger-
crazed Eastern refugees have not yet materialized.
it has nevertheless not been an easy time for
ordinary Russians and other former Soviet citizens.
The rouble was made convertible and the state
monopoly on economic power and land-ownershlp
slackened- but all this proved to be at the cost of
nightmarish inflation and the unaccustomed spec-
tacle of widespread unemployment. Both industrial
productivity and the overall standard of living
swiftly declined. The flimsiness, undercapitaliza-
tion and inflexibility of the Soviet industrial
achievement became apparent; sa did serious eco-
logical problems, notably concerning water sup-
plies and the shrinking of the Aral Sea in Central
Asia. "Rustbelt" and single-industry cities were
especially vulnerable to the new circumstances,
while the possibility of major disasters involving
nuclear power had been apparent ever since the
notorious accident at Chornobyl' (1986), which
itself had played a part in precipitating the Gorba-
chov reforms. Public employees, from teachers to
miners, were particular!y hard bit not only hy
inflation but by the tardy and irregular payment of
state salaries. Protection-rackets and similar orga-
nized criminal activities (loosely attributed to the
"Mafıa"-a n imprecise term) moved in ta take
advantage of a general weaken.ing in law enforce-
ment and indeed of legal uncertainties. Privatiza-
tion (masterminded most notably by Yeltsin's
deputy premier Anatoly Chubais) made bumpy, in
some respects over-hasty, progress; much priva-
tized industry remained in the hands of the old
nomenk/atura.
On t he political front the most extended and
traumatic crisis concerned Russia's relations with
one of its own autonomou s regions, Chechnya. A
small nation (u nder a million) on the northern llank
of the Caucasus, the Chechens have loomed dispro-
portionately large in the Russian irnagination, if not
demonology, over the !ast 200 years or so: they
were famously fierce fighters, hindering Russian
imperial expansion in the Caucasian area. Their
present territory straddles the main road, railway
and oil pipeline from Russia to the Caspian region.
At the dissolution of the Soviet Union the Chechen
leader, the wily ex-Soviet General Dudayev,
claimed full independence. Protracted negotia-
tions, clumsily handled, got nowhere, and led
eventually to a fullscale Russian military assault on
Grozny, the capital. Dudayev was killed, but the
insurgents could not be defeated, and eventually
the tough General Lebed settled far terms that left
Russia with no more than nominal sovereignty. The
Cbechen war was deeply unpopular in Russia itself,
and demonstrated the demorilization of its largely
conscript army. The Russian authorities had feared
a knock-on effect from Chechnya among its many
other national groupings, but this did not fully
materialize: important autonomous areas such as
Tatarstan and Yakutia (Sakha) settled for a large
degree of self-government and econornic control.
The Russian parliament (duma), suspicious ofthe
precipitate reforms, quickly became alienated from
the president. Yeltsin responded in spectacular
fashion, increasing his powers, demanding compli-
ance and in the autumn of 1993 (in a strange rever-
sal of the events of two years before) actually
bombarding the "White House" in Moscow (seat of
the duma) to get his way. Despite this monstrous
demarche, political culture in Russia made steady
progress. The 1996 election was conducted with
remarkable efficiency and fairness, with evident
pu blic appreciation of the issues as well as person-
aUties. For the reformed communists, whose presi-
dential candidate was Gennady Zyuganov, this was
clearly a crucial moment: he was defeated through
the solidity of Moscow and St Petersburg for
Yeltsin. General Lebed did well in the old north-
central heartland (e.g. Yaroslavl); the extreme
nation.ist Vladimir Zhirinovsky made little iınpact.
Despite governmental attempıs to inlluence the
media, a vigorous and uninhi bitedly free press
remains characteristic of 1990s Russia. The other
former Union Republics have generally adhered to
democratic processes (sometimes freely electing
former communists}-but some, in particular
Belarus (Belorussia) and Turkmenistan, have
entrusted their destiny to dictatorial strongmen.
The cıs (Commonwealth of Independent States;
SN G in Russian) proved rather inert as a political
entity, though the continuing economic and cul-
tural interdependence of the Soviet Union's succes-
sor states provides a rationale far its existence.
in the second half of the 1990s Moscow, and to a
lesser extent St Peterburg, were clearly recovering
from post-Soviet chaos and impoverishment. Batlı
had vigorous elected mayors intent on giving them
a face-lift. The gap between capital and provinces
widened, however (though even remote places had
their share of "new Russians", grown suddenly
rich in the wake of the economic reforms). Even as
the vast bulk of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour
(a replica of that demolished in the 1930s) was
being rushed up for the 850th anniversary of
Moscow's foundation ( 1997), provincial restoration
work had almost come to a halt. Smallscale artistic,
theatrical and publishing enterprise continued to
flourish throughout Russia, nevertheless- a pledge
of its apparently unconquerable vitality.
 PARTTHREE
REGIONS AND COUNTRIES
OFTHE
FORMER SOVIET U NION

Russ,a
pp204-205

Georg ıa _/
pp19&-199 .
Armenıa_/ Kazakhstım

pp19.!;,'.:ıjan ~ pp216-2ı7

pp196-199
_,---Uzbek,sıaon
/ pp216-217

Turkmen,sıan .-/
pp216-217
'-- Kyrgyzı.tan
'y~i pp216-217
Ta,.ı,.,sıanJ_,.,
pp215--217

The final section of this atlas turns from the specifi-
cally Russian concerns that have occupied most of
the volume to examine the republics that until
recently constituted the Soviet Union, and can still
be regarded as a geographical unit, whose economic
interdepen dence is unlikely to disappear in the fore-
seeable fut ure. Russian remains the lingua franca
th roughout this region, in which well over 100 lan-
guages are spoken.
The Soviet Union inherited most ofthe territory of
ıh e former Russian Empire (less Poland and Finland).
But unHke ıhe Empire it was constitutionally a feder-
ation of---,,ventually-fifteen separate republics.
each with its own governmental structures and theo-
retically able to secede from the Union. To most
Western eyes this arrangement looked merely like a
typical bit of Stalinist window-dressing, and it came
as a surprise when political developments in the !ate
1980s brought the republics' legal status into sharp
focus. The Gorbachev government struggled unavail-
ingly to keep some sort of union together, and in
1991 the Soviet Union simply dissolved into its con-
stituent republics- most of which came together
again in the much looser "Commonwealth of Inde-
pendent States". The national situation the republics
inherited, however, was complex and full of poten-
tial for strife, both between republics and within
them: the many "autonomous republics" (ASSRs)
and "autonomous regions" (A üs) of the former
Soviet Union had helped to preserve or foster a sense
of national identity among ethnic groups too small to
have a union republic.
Special considerations apply to the transliterations
used in maps and text of this section of our \'Olume·
see !ast paragraph on p. 229 for full descripti\'e notes
on this subject.
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 BELARUS, MOLDOVA
ANDUKRAINE
Re public Belarus M o ld ova Ukraine These three republics, former ly the western border-
AREA 207 600 sq km 33 700 sq km 603 700 sq km lands of the Sov ieı Union, are agric ulıurally fortu -
nate, w ith a ]ess extremc contin e ntaı climate and a
POPULATION I0·4m (esı 1997) 4·4m (esı 1997) 51·4m (est 1997) better pattern of rainfall : much of Ukraine and
CAPITAL Min sk Chişi n au (Kishinev) Kyy iv (Kiev) Moldova also has the benefit of fertile chernozem,
" black earth." [n Belarus steppe gives way to the
POPULATION 1 67 1 000 753 500 1 895 000
OFCAPITAL (1997) (1991) (1996) poorer soils of the mixed forest. Where Ukraine and
Belarus meet is a huge area of lakes, rivers, wood-
LANGUAGE Bela rusian; also Moldovan, i. e. Ukrainian; Russian lands and swamps, known as the Poiesye or Pripet
many R ussian Roman ian; Russian dominant in Crimea, marshes whi ch, since the di saster at the nuclear
speakers around R. Dncster Odessa and east of
power stations of Chornobyl' (Chernobyl) in 1986,
R. Dnieper
have sadly become severely polluted.
The Ukrainians and Belarusians are East Slavs,
who differentiated ıh e m sel ves from the Muscovite
Russians only from the l aıer Middle Ages; they share
__ _ _ _ with th e latter the heritage of Kievan Ru s, of w hi ch

----- --r - ali three were integral parts. They shared ıoo ı h e
legacy of Orthodoxy: aft er the Tatar invasion,
however, they passed for several centuries under the
The upland sccncry of the conırol of Lith uania and subsequently Poland , and
Carpathian rcgion (rıshtJ, typical
their upper classes became largely Catholic. Moldova,

l
of the mount ai n zone of much of
Central Europc. contrasts wit h by contrast, lived through centuries of Ottoman Tur-
the more open, rolling
ki sh rule and remained Orthodox; its inhabitants are
~:r~~:?:~~~('!;;l~;r:i;h~·)
Trans-Carpathıan "Ruthcnia"
not Slavs, but Romanians in la ng uage. it was li ber-
ated fro m the Ottoma ns a nd incorporated into the
was rncorp.oratcd into Ukr~ine
by the S ovıct Govcrn mcnt m Russian empire as "Bessarabia" in the early 19th
1945 century, but it was made part of Romania between
the two world wars. in the same period the newly
ind e pendenı Polish state took ba ck large parts of

v--"· \ western Ukraine and Belarus (ali these territories

"""·&u~:·e were thus spared the worsı excesses of Stalinist ıerror

in the 1930s). After World War il the Soviet Union
moved its frontier westward again to inclu de ali his-
" .,J toric Ukrainian and Belarusian land s.

""' - ✓ ~
StaUıana.- L~ 1
a ,;---c-z:.7 • •:
Komunarslı

l-
SHARU':>, MOl!HlVA ASD t: KRAINE

B elarus
Belarus (or "White Russia" the signifıcance of the
name is uncertain) is a country of rolling plains and
forests. To the south it is closed off by the dense
forests and waterways of the Pr ipet marshes: to the
north a series of glacial moraines g ive higher eleva-
tion and drier soil, while the Western Dvina provides
a historic waterway to the Baltic. On the Polish fron-
tier lies the remarkable Belovezha primeval forest and
nature reserve, the last home of the great European
bison.
Historically Belarus is heir to the important and
effectively independent Kievan principality of
Polotsk. After th e Tatar invasion of 1240 it passed
into the hands of the grand princes of Lithuania.
After the union of the Lithuanian and Polish crowns
in 1386 Belarus participated in the Renaissance cul-
ture of Poland in the 16th and 17th centuries; per-
haps a quarter of the population became Catholic,
although the peasantry remained predominantly
Orthodox. Only with the !ate 18th-century partitions
of Poland was most of &larus incorporated into the
Russian empire.
Lying on the direct route between Berlin and Mos-
cow Belarus suffered greater loss than any other area
of the Soviet Union at the hands of the invading
Nazis. During their occupation (1941-44) l ·5 million
Belarusians were evacuated east of the Volga River, a
large section of the Jewish population fled or was
murdered and over three-quarters of the towns and
cities were destroyed. But perhaps the tenacity of the
people played a part in the revival of this devastated
nation which grew rapidly in the post-war years,
only to suffer the ili effects of the devastating pollu-
tion of 25 percent of its territory after the Chornobyl'
(Chernobyl) disaster.
The traditional occupations of lumbering and Moldavian ASSR of the Ukrainian SSR. This consid-
potato--growing are stili important. Damp surnmers erably increased the proportion of ethnic Moldovans
and sandy soils make ideal conditions in which to within the state to 66-5 percent. Since then, imm.i-
grow potatoes, mainly used for anlına! fodder and the grating Ukrainians and Russians have furthered this
potato--alcohol industry, although these crops are heterogeneous trend, so today more than one-third of
now exposed to contamination. One-third of the ter- ali families living in towns are ethnically mixed.
ritory is forested and the numerous lakes and water- Moldova became the most densely populated,
ways are used to float timber to factories for the though the smallest, of ali the former Soviet
manufacture of furniture and building materials. republics. The lack of mineral resources puts great
Sand is used to make silica bricks and glass. With the pressure on the land to sustain the economy, with the
pollution of much agricultural land, Belarus now majority engaged in highly intensive agriculture. For-
concentrates on the manufacture and export of agri- tunately, the fertile black earth covering gently
cultural machinery, such as tractors and trucks pro-- rolling lowlands combines with probably the best cli-
duced ata major motor works at Minsk. mate for cultivation, making Moldova now a major
international producer and exporter of wine. The
benefıts of long warm summers, mild winters and
moderate rainfall are supplemented by irrigation sys-

Moldova tems channeled from the Prut and Dniester rivers.

The undulating steppe country of Bessarabia,
behıveen the rivers Prut and Dniester, passed from
the Ottoman to the Russian empire in the early 19th
century. Jts indigenous people, the Moldovans, are
lingı.ı.istically and culturally indistingu.ishable from
Romanians. They have had a separate state only since
1940, when Bessarabia was parted fro m Romania,
under the German-Russian pact, and joined w ith the
Other typical produce is frı.ı.it, vegetables, nuts,
maize, winter wheat and sunflowers. Industry tends A boııe W ine-production, here
seen in Kıshlnev, is a major
to follow agriculture: food-canning, meat-packing, growtb indusrry in the small,
textile manufacture, sugar-refıning, fertilizer produc- land-locked republic of
tion and woodworking {timber comes from the Moldova. where the countryis
temperate elim.ate is ideal for the
wooded steppe of the northern region). Despite a cultivation of grapevines.
perceptible transition from a traditional agricultural Grapes, along with grain and
sugar beet are now the countryis
economy towards light industry in recent years, eco- most impartant source of
nomic progress has been interrupted by continuing revenue.
unrest and conflict between Moldova's various eth-
nic communities.

188

Left Springtime at Tsybulyovka,
in the Dubossarsky region of
Moldova. Fertile soil anda
kindly climate encouragc
Moldovans to produce a wide
range of crops.
Rıght The 18th-century exterior
of St Sophia, Kyy iv (Kie\·), with
its on~on-shaped domes and
baroque detailing, conceals the
cathedral's I Ith-century
Byzantinesque struct ure.
Below Tradtional methods of
farming are still prevalent in
many of the former republics of
the Soviet Union. in the
struggle to adapt to a market
economy, and more efficient
methods offarming. many in the
villages stili use the traditional
mcthods of threshing corn, as
seen here in Moldova .
BELA RUS , MO LDOVA A N D UKRAI NE
Ukraine
The name "Ukraine" implies " borderland" and was
first applied to the territories to the east of the
Dnieper, the wild and largely unpeopled steppe that
was only slowly subdued for settled habitation. in
this, and in the formation ofa specific Ukrainian con-
sciousness, a key role was played by the Cossacks,
frontiersmen who lived on the lower reaches of the
Dnieper and Don. Only from the 1780s was the
steppe fully secured by Russia to the Black Sea, and
thereafter exploited properly for agriculture. For a
time Odesa became a great grain-exporting port.
Sta1in's collectivization of agriculture, virtually a war
on the peasants, had a devastating effect in Ukraine,
leading to fa mine and millions of deaths and deporta-
tions. From these and the depredations of World War
il, it has slowly recovered. Kyyiv (Kiev) has again
become one of the great cities of Europe.
Ukraine, with over 51 million inhabitants, is by far
the most populous republic of the former Soviet
Union after Russia. Out of more than a hundred
nationalities present in Ukraine, the great majority
count themselves ethnic Ukrainians, and most of the
others speak closely related Slavonic languages such
as Russian and Polish. Ukraine is now a major indus-
trializing nation, where the traditional pattern of
mining coal for use in the loca] steel furnaces has
broadened to involve other industries associated
with the republic's vast agricultural resources, such
as flour-milling, sugar-refining and sunflower oil
extraction. The rolling lowlands of wheat, barley and
other cereal crops, sugarbeet and sunflowers support
a largely indigenous and settled rural population. By
contrast, the Donets-Dnieper basin in the east is
heavily urbanized and is now struggling to maintain
189
BELARL:S, .I.H.JL[.ı0 , A A~l.ı L"KRAI!\'E

its industrial primacy in the face of competition from Left House decorating at Odesa.
Built in the neodassical style of
chcaper and higher-grade resources in Siberia. The St Petersburg, Odesa enjoyed its
industrial heartland of the Donets-Dnieper basin with heyday as a free port in the first
its 400 or so coal mines and its huge deposits of iron half of the 19th century. l t
suffered much damage after 1918
ore, manganese, salt and oil, is now one of the largest during the civil war and was
industrial complexes in the world, but towards tbe captured by the Germans in
end of the twentieth century was suffering from the World War II, but many older
buildings and quarters survive
effects of severe poUution. The steel plants, of which as reminders of its cosmopolitan
Kryvyy Rih is the main one, though no longer able to past.
produce the quality necessary for precision engineer-
ing have now put Ukraine ona par with China, as the
world's fourth largesı producer of steel, for the mak-
ing of combine harvesters and in canning processes.
Natura! gas from vast deposits at Shebelinka and Ye-
fremovka supplies many cities in Ukraine and Russia.
Nuclear power was also a major industry in
Ukraine, until the accident at Chornobyl' (Cher-
nobyl] in 1986 brought a halt to development. The
cost of cleaning up over 30,000 square miles of conta-
minated farmland severely damaged Ukraine's econ-
omy. in 1997 Western nations committed $3 billion
worth of aid to close the planı by the year 2000.
 HHAKUS, MOLDOVA AND UKRA INI_

Below Holidaymakers pack the

bf'.ıch at the Black Sea resort of
Yalta in the Crimea . The dry
Mediterranean dimate of this
strip of coast, sheltered from the
north wind by the limestone
Yayla mountains. has long been
a magnet for visitors; Chekhov is
among the famous in valids who
have sought health here
Numcrous large holiday
complexes belonging to trade
unions and institutes are a
featurc of thc coast; earlier
palaces with their magnifi cent
gardens are kept up as muse ums .
The indigenous Crimean
Tatars ofthe interior were
deported by Stalin during World
War II, and most ofthe
peninsula' s permanent residcnts
are now of Russian stock. in
1954 Krushchev made the
Crimea part of the Ukraine. Since
the collapse of Communism some
Russians have campaigned ta see
it restored to Russia, while many
Tatars have returned .

Above Cabbages piled high in a

Ukrainian ficld. Thc period of
harvest in September brings
fevered activity, since crops like
cabbages cannot stand out in the
fields to overwinter as they can
m more tcmperate dimates .
Ukraine owes much of its
prosperity to its cxceptionally
fertile chernozem (black earth).
The enormous extent of fıelds in
Ukraine arose aut of Stalin's
policy of turning agricultural
land into huge collective farms
(kolkho.:y ). These farms were
acıually owned by the members
ofthc collectivc and their
forrunes depended upon the
productıvity oftheir land.
Un der perestroika in the I 980s
Ukrainian agriculture was
slowly restructured and the
kolkhozy were broken up int o
small er, independent farmıng
units . Continuing privatization
of the old state collective system
is part of thc dri ve towards
establishmg a market econvmy.

Left This road sign on ıhe

outskirts of thc now desertcd
town of Pripyat, ın Ukraine is a
stark reminder ofthe aftermath
of Chornobyl', the world's worst
nuclear po,..-er accident. Here
motorists are warncd of the risks
they take by entering a
radioactıve zone. The fallout
from the accident at Chornobyt'
in 1986 was so severe that the
wholc of ncarby Pripyat's
population had to be evacuated.

191
 GULF OF FtNLAND

Hııumaa KaipSalı,,

Muhu

Saa,ernaa

..
'"'
, ,., Kı.,asıaare o

K ı h rı u ,

Ruhnu

o "'
ııo-,suııor

.... GULFOFRIGA

-
P ııeaıc:.ııı.,g

BALT/C SU,

Z~ aos.,o

Rural an_d u~b~~r:~~~~~~

havmakmg ) h B.ıltic coas5
me"thod~ nea:~dea general vıew
(above rıg~ıJ I Tallinn (right).
2SOC.OOO of thecapıta ~r val buildings
Some firıe me ~en as reminders
,ca,e

survive in Tal!m in the days of

ofits pms?:rıc?'ommunity.
the Hanseatıc
 THE BALTIC REPUBLICS

Republic Esto nia Lit hu an ia Since the early Middle Agcs the east Baltic littoral
AREA 45 100 sg km 64 600 sg km 65 300 sg km has attracted successive conqucrors and adventurers,
whilst the interior continued to suppart the indige-
POPULATION 1·5m (est 1997) 2·5m (est I Y97) 3·7m (est 1997) nous inhabitants- Lithuanians, Letts and Estoni-
CAPITAL Tallinn Riga (Riga) Vilnius ans whose distinctivc languagcs and way of life
POPULATION 499 000 917000 593 000 survive to the present. Ali three employ Roman
OFCAPITAL (1994) (1996) (1995) rather than Cyrillic script. The Swedes cventually
incorporated most of the area into their east Baltic
LANGUAGE Estonian; also Latvian; also Lithuanian; also em p ire in the 17th century. The Russian Tsar lvan iV
many Russian many Russian a Polish minority struggled in vain far a permanent Baltic foothold;
speakers speakers
Peter the Great was finally successful. Lithuania and
Courland (southern Latvia), allied to thc Polish
crown, became Russian in 1795. Betwccn the two
worl d wars all three countries were independent
states; the Soviet Union annexed them in 1940, was
driven out by Hitler's invasion in 1941 and reab-
sorbed them at the end of the war. But the nationalist
instinct here was always strong and they ,vere the
first rep u blics to press far independence from the
Soviet Union in the !ate l 980s.
Though t he elevation of the region reaches no
great h eights, t lı e underlying rocks are older and
harder than in central Russia. The shelving sandy
beaches of the Baltic give way to many cliffs, inlets
and rocky islan d s bordering the Gulf of Finland .
Timber from the extensive forests is important, as are
shi pbuilding, precision engineering and the fishing
industry in the coastal cities. lmportantly, modern
icebreakers can normally keep the Baltic ports open
in w inter. There are peat deposits and oil shale in the
north. An ancient source of wealth is amber, in
which the eastern Baltic coast is rich.

193
THf BAL'J'IC R[P RI JP,
Estonia
fstoni.ı's capital is Tallinn (meaning "Danes'
Town"), a I Jth-century Danish foundation and one
of thc best-preserved cities of the Hanseatic Commu-
nity in the Baltic region. After perhaps a third of the
populaıion had been lost during ıhe German occupa-
tion and the Stalinist purges, the farming community
was collcctivized and a rigorous development plan
set in progress. Today Estonia is a highly industıi a l­
izcd economy. Despite the facı ı hat it ha d to grapple
with high inflaıion raıcs in the early 1990s it is now
thc riche,ı of ali the former republics of the Soviet
Union.
The high standard of living att racted many ethnic
Russians to the region after World War n, and
nationalistic feeli ngs have been fierc e. Estonians con-
stituted only 60 percent of ıhe population by the
1990s, and they have one of the lowest birthrates in
thc country. Their determination to preserve their
cultural heritage was rcflected in the reduction in
numbers using the Russian language during the
l 970's and the country preser ved a strong ethnic tra-
dition in its music and literature. Play wrights dared
to be more outs poken than those in j\ı1oscow or
Leningrad (St Petersburg). Modernist painters and
musicians were attracted from other areas, and the
ballet and symphony orchestra established a strong
reputation. Fashion design, always enhanced by
access to Western media via Finland, feeds off a
sophisticated textile industry with its center at
Narva.
Ethnically, Estonians share a common descent with
ıhe Finns. Due to their pası links with the Germans,
who controlled a great deal of the territory up to
1917, most are Lutheran (a characteristic which they
share with the Letts from neighboring Latvia) with a
strong commitment to work and the family. in spite of
a land that is stony and damp---though the climate is
less extreme than that of its neigh bors further east-
fa rm production is high. The predominant dairy
industry exports 90 percent of its output to neigh-
boring republics. The other main sources of wealth
are centered in the north around the oil-shale
deposits, which are put to a variety of uses: the gen-
eration of thermal electrk power, conversion into gas
for facıory and home consumption and the manufac-
ture of petrochemical and chemical products. Tex-
tiles, shipbuilding and precision engineering have ali
prospered as a result.
Shops are well stocked, the people smartly dressed
and cosmopoJitan, and cafes, restaurants and hotels
are learning to cater to the developing tourist indus-
try. Educational levels are high; Tartu (formerly Dor-
Below Sunbathers on a sandy
pat) has one of the great universities of Europe, beach near Tallinn. The Gulf of
originating in a college founded by the Swedes in the Finland is a popular summer
17th century; since World War II, this has made a holiday destination which, since
the co llapse of Communism, is
unique contribution to Russian as well as Baltic intel- now being opened up to foreign
lectual life. tourists
 THE BA LTIC REPUBLJC~

Left Thıs phosphate mine at
MJardu ın E!ı.tonia is a ı.ymbol of
Estonıa 's industrial growth since
ıhe collapse ofCommunism The
counıry is now the riclıest of ali
the formcr rcpublics and it
t•xıensive deposm of high-
~ı~:~~b!.7~~~~~::~::ıılı.
Below Folk dancing ata
sıudents' Gaudeamus festival at
Tallinn. Thc word "gaudeamus"
is Laıin for "!et us rejoice."
Estonians arc particularly
attached ıo their riclı heriıage of
folksong and to other tradiııo~l
aspccıs of thcir culıurc which
thcy ıealously maıntain ın ıhe
face of whaı they sec as alıen
Slav influences. Culturally and
lınguı stically, ıheir affinitıes arc
with thcir northern neighbors,
ıhe Finns.
Bdo w r-i>;ht The freedom
monument ın Rlga, capital of
Laıvia , dates from l 915 . Lat\'İa
was ındcpcndcnt m ıhc pcriod
b{,l\..,ecn the two world wars,
and R1ga playcd an ımportant
~rt in thc- Baltic independence
mO\"t• mı.·nt of the 1980s
Latvia
Latvia, like Estonia, has come under the domination
of successive external pO\•vcrs: of the German knights
in the 13th century, ıhe Swedes in the 17th, then the
Poles, until the Russians annexed the counıry at t he
end of thc 18th century. At this time large numbers
of Germans settled in thc rcgion; many camc at the
invitation of Cathcrinc thc Great , and have left their
mark on Laıvian society through the predomination
of the Lutheran church. At the turn of the ccntury
Germans made up nearly half the population, with
only 23 percent Latvian (i.e. Letts).
Latvia remained pan of the Russian empire up to
1919, after which it cnjoycd, with the othcr Baltic
rcpublics, a pcriod of indcpendence until 1940. Dur-
ing the Nazi occupation hal f a million Latvians lost
their lives and almost thc cntire Jewish communiıy
was wiped out.
Wholesale rebuilding ofthe economy was required
aftcr World War il, and an in0ux of labor from the
Russian Federation, Ukraine and Belarus gradually
altered the ethnic composiı ion of the population to
the extent that nearly a third were non-Latvian. Of
thc present population 32 percent are ethnic Rus-
sians and the question of their continuing citizcnship
of Latvia has become a contentious one since thc
demise of the Soviet Union. The Latvian language,

Lrft A street flower market aı

T .ıllinn . Pro~perous and
~ophisıicatf'd, Tallınn retains a
disıinctly northern European
as oppo~cd to Russıan
appearance and aımospherc. The
old dıv walls with their
numerOus ı.urvivin~ ıowers add
ıo iıs charm.

J9S
T!ff BAI.Tll RE:I BLIC~

which trıgetlıcrwith Lithuanian and the extinct Old

Prussıan form,;; a separate Baltic group within the
Indo-European family, is now assuming precedence
over Ru~~ian in ali aspects of Lat vi2n life and culture.
Indu~trial expansion ha~ heen rapid but ovcrcon-
centrated around Rıga, which has long been far the
large~t and most international of the Baltic cities. It
has a long tradıtion of trade, both seaborne and
internal, via ıhe Western Dvına (Daugava) river,
which flows to Latvia from Russia and Belarus. Tim-
bcr and fürniture, dairy products and flax are ali
exported, while sugar, industrial equipment, fertiliz-
crs, coal and othcr raw materials needed far local
industrie~ are inıported. Asa Baltic port, R1ga is an
important center for shipbuilding and fish process-
ing, but it now has an advanced engineering industry
producing tracıors, buses, railroad rolling stock and
electrical and radio equipment. Elcctricity is cither
generated from loca) peat supplies or cabled !rom the
oil-shale plants in Estonia. Tourism is now growing
in importance: the beaches along the Baltic coast
attract tourists from many parts of Europe and
ensure good sea~onal trade.

:k

.
~
---
- ---.x-.i/r,:/

')'-."'
- c-J.

Left A Latvıan wooden w indmill

Much of Latvia's terrain is
marked by glaciation and the
soils are cold and waterlogged;
damp springs and summer
rainfall milıtate against crop
growing, and mixed forest, with
a hıgh percentage of conifers,
covers large areas of the land.
Timber is therefore an important
resource, both for loca! building
and for export.

Rıght A legacy of the Soviet era,

Juknaichai village housed 1800
pcople ona statc f.ırm in
Lıthuanıa, called after the 25th
CPSU Congress. The dırector of
the farm and the architect
in volved ,,·ere awarded a Lenin
Prize ın 1988 for their
imaginative design. The dourly
rectangular and functional
accommodatıon blocks in the
foreground give way to a more
irregular arrangement of
dwellings constructed in a loca!
idiom, mimickıng the organic
growth ofa real \·illage.

Uft The docks at RTga, sıtuated
near where the Western Dvina
(D.angava) Rivcr flows out into
the southeastem end of ıhe Gulf
of RTga. The major porton the
e.astern B.ahic, RTga is linked via
thc Dvina and c.anals wiıh
the basins of the Dnieper and
Volga rivers.
Below left RTga has for cenıuries
been thc mctropolis ofthe
e.astenıB.altic. it suffered heavily
in both w-orld wars but retains
much of its ınedie val heart
Below House building in the
1980s ona collective farın in the
Kapsuksky region of Lithuania.
Housing shortages were endemic
in many parts of the Soviet
Union; here an effort is being
made to improve both the
quantity and quality of available
accommodation.
Lithuania
The Lithuanian language, part of the Baltic group in
the Indo-European family, is the most archaic Indo-
European language stili spoken. The Grand Duchy of
Llthuania began ta extend its pawer aver west Russia
from the 13th century and survived as a separate
entity until I 569, when it was linked in a binational
state with Poland; this lasted until the end of the
18th century. Although a long period to 1918 was
spent under Russian suzerainty, ties with Poland and
other European states were maintained through trade
and through the Roman Catholic Church. The
Lithuanians were the last pagan nation in Europe,
accepting Catholicism in 1385, though most of their
subjects were Orthodox Russians, and pagan sur-
vivals have remained strong in the countryside.
Today, 80 percent of Lithuanians are Roman Catholics
and the religion is a strong part of ıheir national
identity.
A whole religious heritage is evoked through the
arts- in music, painting and architecture. Up to
1940, when Lithuania was reannexed to Russia after
THE BALTIC REPUBLICS
22 years of independence, much of daily life, includ-
ing schooling, involved ıhe church. in league with
the Popular National Front, formed aut ofa number
of human rights movements in 1974, the church
became the foremost institutian for natianal self~
assertian during the, at times violent, dissident
mavement which campaigned for independence.
Under the Saviet regime a relatively larger number
of interfarm cooperative enterprises was set up here
than in the other two Baltic republics; this had the
effect of depopulating rural areas and flooding the
previausly insignificant urban ones, whose grawth
became very rapid. Until 1961, when a gas pipeline
was laid ta the region, indusıry was dependent on
either its peat supplies or coal inıports far electricity
generation. A new period of growth began in which a
range of gas-based chemical plants opened up, and
marshlands were cultivated more effectively. Condi-
tians are best suited ta dairying and livestock rear-
ing, and modern intensive farming methods
maximize fodder crop yields producing grazing
meadaws ta support these enterprises. After strug-
gling with hyperinflation in the early 1990s, the
economy has begun to grow again and Lithuania is
now an important machine-tool praducer. Two-
thirds of the world 's anı ber can alsa be found here.
trade has ahvavs bcen an
imporıant com.ponent of tbe
nauons economy. Commercial
traffic and the transponation r[
freight has increased
dramaticallv in ehe lası lift\"
years Here-at ıhe maJOr pOrt of
Kl.aiped.a fısh-processing ıs stili
an important industry
Uft A political rall~- i □
Gedıminas Square Vilruus.
rapital of Lithuania. in
'.'ı.ovember l 9flfl lt was
organized bv the lıthuaman
movement ~ajudis to
demonstrate support for the
prınciples of pere~ıroı,:-u.
',"ationalist sentiment and ..ınre-c;t
ın Litbuania and E<:ton:a grew
throughout the !ate 191-iOs. AU
three S.ıltic States achıeved
independence in 1991 and \.\ere
admitted into ıhe t: :'\
197
 / TRANSCAUCASI A

~ ./

BLACK SEA
.,.

~ u •• •
.........I
ARMENIA \.....
\. ,

'
b_ ♦ ,ı',>,f
Zn

, .\~'
..._
- Ç IVAN • '
Lejt Thc Transcaucasian region
has for centurics cnj oycd a
rcputation for iıs fine sadd lc
~
" horses. Particularly prizcd
among thc loca! breeds was the
Karabakh, which hada
characteristic golden colo r; ıhe
Cossacks of the Don and Volga
regıons formerly bought largc
numbers of Karabakhs to
improve the quality, speed and
stamina of their own horses. In
the hilly Transcaucasian terrain
horses have stili a uscful role- to
play in a pastoral economy.
 TRANSCAU CASIA

Republic A rmenia Geo rg ia Azerbaij an The geophysical tension between the Russian shelf to
AREA 29 800 sq km 69 700 sq km 86 600 sq km the north and the Arabic shelf to the south has pro-
duced the mountainous landscape of Transcaucasia
POPULATION 3·6m (est 1997) 5_-4m (est 1997) 7·6m [est 1997) and reflects the historical conflicts that have domi-
CAPITAL Yerevan T'bilisi [formerly Baku (Baki) nated the peoples of the three republics: Armenia,
Tiflis) Georgia and Azerbaijan. Successive empires- Hel-
POPULATION 1 283 000 1253000 1 700000 lenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Khazar, Arab, Mongol,
OFCAPITAL (1991) (1994) (1993) Ottoman, Persian and Russian- have ali coveted the
region for its wealth and strategic location. A neck of
MAJOR LANGUAGE Armenian Georgian Azeri (a Turkic land between the Caspian and Black seas, on the old
language); also
spice and silk routes, Transcaucasia links the
many Russian
speakers in Baku Mediterranean with Central Asia, the steppe country
with ıhe Near F.ast. This comparatively small region
has a cultural and artistic diversity reflecting both
exposure to numerous outside influences and the
tenacity of nati ve traditions; vırithin the three main
republics there are enclaves of other nationalities,
several of which are clamoring for autonomy.
The rich valleys and plains of Armenia and Geor-
gia are intensively cultivated. Their wines are now
becoming famous around the world. An ancient and
patriarchal way of life characterizes panicularly the
high valleys of ıhe Caucasus, where to ıh.is day ıhere
is an amazing profusion of languages. To the west the
river systems drain down to the humid, subtropical
lowlands of ancient Colchis at the eastern tip of the
Black Sea; eastwards they flow t hrough the arid
plains of Azerbaijan, with its far greater extremes of
climate and its need for extensive irrigation.

Z h iloy

.....
'""""' . C J ~rau,gl,t-rı ca'.'.;e

·'.ı~-"\.. C:=J '!ı-~~.c:ı:;.ı;-ı:0-.;:ze,aMgrawg

~ ''.
/
CJsub.ııtıan cult-;a'.OO

prFOOalcashtıOOi

~ comın

□-­
~ o G::J ıooao::o

.) ~ '""' ı,. ""'

- ~

<: '·Le<'"D ~-.__, ~

~-ea
~ 1uıgırees
~ .......tıerı-yırees
o ~
V ,.,

5Cile 1 1200000
o
.., Mnrr aııgaı,ese

199
 Belou· Two young men enjoy a Bottom A demonstration in Below Geotectonic activity
drink of hass, bought from a Yerevan. Conscıous pride in makes Armenia vulnerable to

Armenia sıdew.ılk vendor ın Yerevan,

capital of Armenia. Thıs low-
akohol drink is immensely
Armenia's long, iftroubled,
history and the ethnic
homogeneity of the repu blic's
dev;ıstating earthquakes. ln
December 1988 an earthquake
devastated much of northern
popular in the regıon. it is made populatıon made Armenian Armenia, killing 25 000 people.
from a fermentation of cereals nationalism ;ı force to be At Spitak, its epicenter. it
Armenia is a land ol ancicnt civilization, as the strik- and ryebread, sometimı:s wıth reckoned with under the Soviet measured over force 10 ;ınd it
ing remains of Urartu culture (7th 8th centuries ııc) the addition of fruit as flavoring regime. virtually wiped out the town.
at Arinbl'rd, Karmir-Blur and elsewhere testify.
"Urartu" is a name cognate with ''.Ararat," the great
mountain that dominates the plain of Yerevan and is
tbe hcart of historic Armenia. Tantalizingly far
Armenians, it, likc the ruins of their great medieval
capital Ani, is just on the far side ofthe Turkisb fron-
tier. Armcnia has waxed an d waned frequently over
its long history, at some periods (notably I st century
ııc) extending over parts of tbe former Soviet Union,
Turkey, Iran, lraq and Syria. Armenia claims ta be
the first state offıc ially ta havc accepted Cbristianity,
at tbc bcginning of tbe 4th century: its distinctive
alpbabet may date from the same period. lts national
churcb, tbe Armenian Apostolic Cburcb, which has
doctrinal differences with other churcbes of tbe
Orthodox co mmunion, is vigorous, with the seat of
its catbolicos (primate) at Yejmiadzin (Ecbrrıiadzin).
The fragment of ancient Armenian territory that
constitutes the modern republic of Armenia is tbe
smallest in tbe former Soviet Union, thougb not in
population. Almost as many Armenians live else-
wbere---notably in tbe enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh
in Azerbaijan which saw bitter fighting between
Armenians and Azerbaijanis in tbe early 1990s.
Armenians famous as merchants and traders- are
indeed today scattered throughout the Near and
Middle East, Europe and the Americas.
The republic is etbnically extremely bomoge-
neous, with over 93 percent Armenians. Their lan-
guage is lndo-European, witbout close relatives.
Their vibrant culture is rich in folk and liturgical
music, in stone carving and in iilum.inated medieval
manuscripts. Their architecture is notab]e, among
other tbings, far employing the pointed ("Gotbic")
arcb as early as tbe il tb century. The tradition of
viticulture in the Armenian highlands is ancient and
the area may even be its original homeland.
Although the average altitude ofthe terrain is 1800
meters above sea level, it can bear a great variety of
produce. A mainly equable climate, combined witb a
soutberly latitude, allows large quantities of fruits,
such as figs, pomegranates and almonds, ta grow on
the terraced hillsides, as well as nurturing extensive
industry of wines and brandies. Wheat, barley and
maize are grown on the Iower plains, and cattle and
sheep can graze on tbe higher plateaux. Armenia's
major agricultural district in tbe Araks valley, pro-
duces high-quality, Egyptian-strain cotton, grown
under intensive irrigation.
Tbe whole farming system is now served by
hydroelectric generating stations, especially the
Sevan-Razdan projeci. Hydroelectric power was
instrumental in rapid economic deve1opment; enor-
mous financia1 investment under the Soviets diversi-
fied industry and developed the infrastructure,
exploiting the rich mineral resources. Armenia is
now a major producer of chemicals, machine equip-
ment, precision instruments, textiles and canned
food. The development of pipelines ta carry oiJ from
Azerbaipn's oil fields on tbe Caspian across ta Turkey
"o promises economic rcnewal after several years of
i J upheaya and hostilities with Azerbaijan.

Armenia's economy will lake .ı
long tıme to recover from the
severe damage to its
ınfrastructun,.
Azerbaij an
Much of Azerbaijan, the largcst of the Transcauca-
sian republics, is scenically clo~cr to Central Asia
than to Georgia or Armenia. Culturally, too, there are
similarities, since its people are Islamic and it has for
much of the last millennium bccn an arena whcrc
Turkic and Persian influcn ccs have struggled for
suprcmacy. Since ancicnt time~ it has been strategi-
cally imponant, controlling the passage between the
cnd of thc Caucasus and thc Caspian Sea. The present
Azerbaijanis are a Turkic people, hence relative ne\v-
comers to the Caucasian scene: nonetheless their cul-
ture crystallized (in the upland rcgions, including
Karabakh) well before the Mongol invasions, with
notable poeıs and singers. A little later the modern
capital of Baku on the Caspian began to flourish
un der the khans of Shirvan, who built the surviving
palace and citadel there (14th -15th centuries).
Though Persian influencc, somctimes control, was
strong- with a preponderance of Shiite over Sunni
Muslims - the population remained aware of their
dis tinctive Azeri culture. Several loca! khanates came
under Russian protection. Thc country was fully
incorporated into the Russian empire in the late
Rıght Cıvic building in Baku,
capital of Azerbaijan. with a
statue of Lenin in front. Baku
suffered se,·ere damage in the
pcriod following the October
R(;volu tion when it \·ı:as brieflv
(1918-ll)thecapıtalofan
,rnti-Bolshevik republic.
Below Row upon rmv of nodding
donkeys and oil platforms havc
now become a f.ı.miliar feature
along thc co.ıst of ı he Caspian
Sea ın Azerbaijan . Thc rıch oil
resen•es ofTranscaucasia will
pro\'id<.· new~found wealth for
ıhe till now impO\·enshed former
So\•iet republic:ı. ofthb region
TKA"\'SCAlt' A~IA
1820s after a successful war aga insı Persia. The Rus-
~ians soon realizcd the economic inıportance of the
Baku area, where the naturally occurring naphtha
had been known since ancicnt times; by thc begin-
ning of the 20th century it had become the largest
oilfıeld in the world. Since the collapse of Commu-
nism Western investment in Azerbaijan's oil has
resulted in its cxport through two major pipelines
from Baku.
Industry in the environs of Baku~ a great Russian
as well as Azeri city-built up around its oil produc-
tion during the Soviet era and attention has now
turned to exploitation of offshore reserves in the
Caspian Sea, which is now the largest oil field in the
world after the Middle East. Azerbaijan's major com-
modity is cotton. Extensive irrigation schemes in the
Kura lowlands provide a splash of green in an othcr-
wisc largely semiarid cnvironment. Breeding of
sheep. cattle, pigs and riding horses can be sup-
ported on unirrigatcd stcppes in winter; tran~hu-
mance takes t he animals to the adjoining
high-altitude pastures in summer. The cultivation of
fruit, tobacco, tea and vines that is common to Tran-
scaucasia is also practiced, Azcrbaijan's once
renowned fisheries, along the Caspian coast, from
which top-quality caviar is obtained and exported
arc under threat from pollution and uncontrolled
exploitation.
~
......
~~!!--~,;:;,,;,-:;,;,.;;,~?
,, ...
.
';;t ,fi
ij~- ::-: ı:-:- ---- - -
201
TRAN\c:At L A ~ A

Georgia
Gcorgia, between the Greater and Lesser Caucasus, is
80 perccnt mountainous. Fast-flowing mountain
rivcr!> providc huge energy resources foran economy
\vhich i~ now recovering after the hyperinflation of
the early 1990s. ln T'bilisi, the capital, hot hydrogen
sullidc watcrs arc tapped for their mcdicinal proper-
tics. The population hasa reputation for longevity.
The Georgian language is non-lndo-European and
apparcntly unique, providing a focus far national
cultural identity; it is written in a distinctive and
andcnt ~cript. Like thc Armenians, the Georgians
.ıccepted Christianity as their state religion in the 4th
ccnturv; their traditıon of finc architccture in stone
has lelt churches and fortresscs from almost ali sub-
!-.equent pcriods. Thcrc i~ a comparably ancient liter-
aturc, including the notable medieval cpic The Man
m a Ti:,:er\ Skin hy Shota Rustaveli. To the Georgians
thcir land is "Kartveli" (in Russian "Gruziya").
Contacts with Russia go back to Kie\'an times. in
thc l 780s Georgi.ı voluntarily canıe under Russian
protcction and was fully annexed under the Emperor
Paul. Frnm 1918 to 1921 it was independcnt, under a
Mcnshc\'ik government; it was then incorporated
into the Transcaucasian SFSR, becoming a union
republic in 1936. Stalin \,:as Georgia's most famous
,on. The beauıiful city of T'bilisi which grew into a
great muhinational city and cultural center, with
large populations of Russians, Arnıenians and others,
sadly became the location of bitter fighting, along
with the brcakaway regions of South Ossetia, Min-
grelia .:ınd Abkhazi.:ı, in thc three years of civil war
which followed thc collapse of the Soviet Union.
The landscape is varied and beautiful, from per-
nıancntly snow-capped nıountains to the reclaimed
farmlands of the swampy delta of the Rioni, wiıh
dense forests and fertile valleys. Although only 16
percent of the land is arable, there are intensive irri-
gated cultivation schemes, and Georgia supplies
tobacco, tea and citrus fruits to many neighboring
republics. Thc ccntral lowlands, watered by thc
rivers Rioni and Kura, produce fi.ne grapes, one of
Georgia's oldest crops, particularly around K'ut'aisi,
,vhere silk\'\'ornı cu1ture also still flourishes. Among
unusual crops .:ıre the groves of tung trees, whose oil
is used in hardcning steel. At the end of the Soviet
era, Gcurgia's economic grmvth, above all in the
engineering. maı.:hine building and chcmical indus-
trics \\·as interrupted by the instability of civil war.
Georgia hasa cultural richness and continuity of
which its people are justly proud. Traditions of
metalworking in bronze, gold and sil ver are of partic-
ular notc: icons often took the form of metal plaqu es .
Tcxtiles are stili embroidered in gold and silver
thread. Much medieval fresco painting and sto ne
car\'ing survi ve, and Georgia has produced good
modern painters.

it _t' .\1t.'>l-.. ~na . sıtuatcd at the Aragvi valley contributed to

::l:ıt· H. , he Ara~vi and Mt<;kheta's former emınence, it
•rth of the modern was the capital or the ancicnt
kingdom of Georıı.ı between the
2nd and 5th centuries AD. lts fine
l Ith--ccntury cathedral was
formerly the seat of t he prımates
of Georgia.
 TRA~!>CAVCASfA

Ujr Moun ı Jin scencry in Bt'iou• 1 ootb.111 ıs now cnJoying

S\'dnctıJ, northwc-.tt"rn Gı::orgid
The dıstJnt towcrs, doubling J'>
dwcllinp .ınd dcfcnsıve
strongpoınts, charJctcriZt" m,rny
older vill.ıgt--s in GeorgiJ's
up ldnds Thc J ll uvial gold of
'wJnctiJ m.ıy hJVt" given rhe ıo
thc lcgend of tht• Golden J·lcc,l·
thl· attr.ıcıion of many ncw .ınd
t.ılcntcd nation.ıl teams on the
intcrn.ıtıonal '-Cene. \-Vith ıhe
formcr rcpubhc s now frcc ıo
ficld theır own n.:1ııon.:1l 'Sidcs,
ıhc g.ımc, alwa ys a focal point
for herce n.ııion.:11 pridc c\'Cn
undcr thc ~oVİl'IS, ıs under~oing
a m.ıjor resurgcnce.

ı "! Youn~ Janı.:cı'> m T'bilı'ı-.

~how of! their '>kills in
tr.ıditional drc!>'> <.ieorgi.ın folk
d.ın(c İ'> renowned throughout
thc ı,orld lor ıb ri..::hne'ıo'ıo .ınd
,·arien·, .ınd thc C.leorRİJn'ı- .ırc
.ıho ,·C'-r_v proııd of ıheir ,mdt·nt
.ınd dhtin...:tı\T mu-,k.ıl tr.ıdition

Rı:,:iıı A .:obblcd strect in .rn lıld

~u.ırtcr of T'bili'>ı. o,·erlookt·d
bı- the ruins of the lormcr cıt.ıdd
cıiı the summit oi thc bili Thl'
1->.ıkonies ıviıh ıhcir inıri~.ııelv
,.ın ed pdttcrns .ınd ,;.tylıTed
.ınım.ıh reflcd J \"Cner.ıble
tradıtıon of Cicorgian wood
~-Jf\ ıng

ıo,
RUSSIA
•
-~-
o
I "
<t~~ - · -
-::o • ; ·
.,,,,,,, ~

•
/b \ '1,

~
.
.~ ~ '\
\°" ~
r!
. t

..
,.~
~/,.,.,//J.r.+.
o t>
t;
I

l,,
-
. •c
.

_//'2_;~
fj/:1
Russia is the world's largest country in area, covering
1D percent of the total land maşs of the Earth. it
includes not only Russia in EuroP" but the whole of
Siberia and some smaller non-Russian regionS such as
Finno--Karelia, part of former East Prussia, Tuva in
the Altay, and others- in total alınası 160 minority
groups. Far 74 years the vast buılaucratic machinery
of the Soviet st.ıte, administered from the political
heartland of Russia, provided a secure, if rigid,_"cra-
dle ta the grave" existence far its citizens. With the_
demise of Communism and the loss of many of its Republic Russia
old, secure trading ties with the rest of the Soviet
Union, Russia now finds itself with lower levels of AREA 17 075 400 sg km
economic prosperity than many of its iıeighbors, POPULATION l47·7m test 1997)
w ho are now reaping the benefits of their vast, CAPITAL Moscow
untapped oil and natura! gas reserves.
Russia's extent is interestingly similar to that of POPULATION 8717000
Muscovy just before its transformation into the Russ- OFCAPITAL (1996)
ian empire in the first decade of the 18th century. MAJOR LANGUAGE Russian; also a large number of
The Russians' main direction 9Lexpansion since the other lang uages
ARCT/C OCEAN
RUSSIA

I>
I>
t>o
I>

ıoughgraıır,gremdeerhfeedıng
D ardtrappıııg __ ,,,.,
D
luMtıenıgv,,ıtıprıc~eıs
otsubs:s1ence!amı,rıg
- •a•oad
□ 9 ·aıng
0 1~1ı ~;;,~r suga•ı:ıeeı Fe •r :re

D .. atıon ,ıMa1 mı,-e• ""l

ceıe;ıı c~~
sun'lov,erssugarbee'a"llsor,,eg,az.rw;
3 exır;ıc1,'!'

Osucıvrtıano.ııı,.,aııon , ~ea,,
._

~-
cı;•ıc,•.,.a•.;.

p,ıncıpacasncrops
I' s.e-ı,,ce

◊ c,:,.esıa·
g •n.rıs
P ;;,ea• •• ;
Ll'"""" S S~tt

e fıshw,gpen • o.a·:•::"ıe.c
Rl''ı'ilA

,\ bo n· : The .\lostow region.

R ı_.;:ht The roofline and dom es of

thc Cathedral of thc '.\',nivitv of
the \'ırgın at 'iuzdal hnc bCen
somcwhat altcrcd but its fabric
ı,; basıcally pre-Tatar (1222 .'! 'i).
in total stylistic contr.ıst is thc
rccrccıcd woodcn :-.:ikolsk.ıv.ı
church, datıng from 1766. ·
Bet\\'l't:Il thc two churchcs is thc
l 7th-century epıstopal palalc,
now a muscum. Thc thrcc
buildings rcpresent major. but
ver\· diffcrcnt traditions of
architccturc in Russia

Far nght Dccorativc window

~urrounds (nalıchmki) atta in ıhc
status of folk art; they arca
fcaturc of manv oldcr woodcn
house.-.. especı.illv in castcrn
R: sıa and Sıbcria. Woodcarving
•.Js a ıraditional pcasant skili.
"ldrt ulariy practiccd in thc
n1 er when the harsh climatc
d wo•k outside
 RUSSI A

mid-l6th century has been eastwards: in the process hundreds of square kilomctcrs of forest- passcd
C::J ;:c:=ı .. --~ they have become thoroughly cthnically mixed, with unreported at the time. Much taiga is doubly unex-

.
. C] ~~~-:ımg
□-­
....,,..
physical characteristics ranging from the Scandin-
avian to the Asiatic. The basic distinction made was
traditionally not between raccs but, medieval-fash-
ploitable through having large patches of permafrost
in its subsoil. Along the great rivers there are mead-
ows and some pockets of fcrtile land, notably around

---
--
ion, between Orthodox and non-Orthodox. Russia's
non-Russian and non-Orthodox peoples include
numerous relict populations of Finnic and Turko-
Tatar origin scattered across north-centra l and east-
ern Russia--such as the Bashkirs- the Buryat
the middle Lena, in Yakutia. For ıhe sparse popula-
tion the age--0ld occupations offur-hunting, reindeer-
hcrding and the growth industries of lumbering and
wood pul ping otfer employmcnt.
These remote rcgions alsa have areas of great
Buddhists of southern Siberia, a far north-eastern gas, oil and mineral wealth which are now attracting
unexpccıed Turkic "island" of Yakuts and a western investmcnt. Under Stalin huge complcxcs of
kaleidoscope of peoples in the northern Caucasus. prison camps aroıınd such places as Vorkuta and
Some, like the Chechen and lngush Muslims have a Magadan attempted to exploit these resources,
tradition of fiercely resisting Russian and Soviet though inefficiently in economic terms as well as at
Rule, a resentment which boiled over into bloody vasi humarı cost. Thc usc of Siberia as a placc of cxilc
civil war in the 1990s. goes back to the 17th century. but becamc a major
. .......
◊ --
ı:. ...
Geographically Russia has three great regions: the
undulating plain of European Russia, ıhe tangled
phenomenon only in thc 19th. it was opened up to
full-scale settlement and industry with the construc-
mountainous eastern part of Siberia from the Lena tion of the Trans-Sibcrian Railroad ( 1893- 1903).
ıcııı, 3$00000
Rivcr to thc Pacific, and west-central Siberia, most of The metals and precious stones of the Urals. by
o - it very flat and lowlying. Addiıionally there are thc contrast, have been known and exploited for
""" mountain barriers that close otf Siberia to ıhe south,
and the less prominent but economically important
centuries, although thc main industrial devel opment
of the southern Ural arca did not take place until
range of the Urals separating Siberia from Europe. after 1917. Communications un der the Soviet govern-
But the real contrast is between ıhe coniferous for- mcnt were improved so that iron from the vast indus-
est- thc vasi taiga- and everything else. it is so trial complex at Magnitogorsk could be smelted with
empty of habitation that the "Tunguska event" of coal from the Kuzbass (Kuznetsk basin) in middle
1908 - probably the result ofa mcteorite, destroying Siberia and Karaganda in Central Asia. The tendcncy
Riglıt \'Vinter festival at
Kolomenskoye. on the banks of
the Moskva River.

Befou., \\'ooden house at Suzdal,

which is virtually asın.ali
"museum town" of various
types of Russian archıtecture.

&lou.ı righr The oval hail at

Arkhangclskoye, a former estate
of the Golitsyn famıly. The
pal<1ce used for receptions ,md
visits, not permancm residence
- dates from the earlv l 9th
centurv ,md was largC'ly the
work Öf loca! scrfs. The wealthy
collector Prince N B. Yusupov,
who bought the estate ın 1810,
completed the buildings in theır
prescnt form, part of hıs art
collecıion is stili housed there.

207
}{l 'ı',IA

in much of Rmsıa propcr, but

r,; abo\'e thc
horıı ıg thc mid\vİnteı
monıh, Jl"uw rool!> arf" stı:ı:pl~·
,1 ,pcd ltı pr,·\ t·nt ıhe
a, l umulaııoıı of ,no\,· Rurdl
dcpopul.ıııon ha-, heen a problem
risıng .ıuıomobılc owncr">h ı p ha:.
madc parts ofthe ı.:ountrysidc
rea::.onablv aı.:ı.:ı:ssiblc from the
ıown<, and mav a .. sıst
rcı..ııalııatıon.·

of Ru~~ia'~ indw,trial heartland to move eastwards

bccanıe a matter of straıegical urgency in World War
il. The primacy of ıhe Volga-Urals oilfıeld has since
ıhe 1920, yielded ıo Siberian reservcs of oil and nat-
ural gas, concent rated in Tyumcn province.
Since thc dissolution of the Soviet Union in I Q91,
Siberia ha~ witnessed cxtensivc cxploration for oil,
natura! gas, diamonds and gold, bringing with it
much damage to the environment. The Tyumen
ticlds, for example, sited far to the north, are diffıcult
and cxpensive ıo exploit and long-distance pipelines
have had to be laid. The extreme conditions associ-
ated with thc tundra make life very hard for the labor
force who havc now scttled there. Another remote
~ite h Norilsk a.t the mouth of the Yenisey where a
nonfcrrous metal mining and smelting complex pro-
cessing copper, nickel, cobalt and platinum is a major
contributor to Russia's mineral production and
sourcc of potcntial economic prosperity. Yet its only
link with the countrv is via the northern sea route
which requires nucle;r icebreakers to keep up opera-
tions ali the year round. The 3000-kilometer-long
Baykal-Amur Main-line (BAM) railroad, which was
planned to open up export through Pacific ports, is
not yet fully viable and is unlikely ever to justify its
greaı cost (Stalin's political prisoners began it in thc
1930s). in the central "black earth" region a high
proportion of the land is arable. Good soils in the
Aınur valley support mixed farming of wheat, sugar-
beet, sunflowers, meat and dairy products. The north
Ca.ucasus is also predominantly agricultural, the
warmer climate a.Ilowing semitropica.l produce, such
as vines, fruit and tobacco.
in recent years international pressure has mou nted
over the nced to decommission Russia's aging an d
dangerous RBMK nuclear reactors. Meanwhile, east-
ern Siberia remains the major power base for the
country: the immense hydroelectric power resources
of the Angara and Yenisey rivers attract industries
needing high levcls of power, such as aluminum
smelting. The Angara has a hydroelectric store
equivalent to the combined output of the ıhree
largest river~ in European Russia: the Volga, Don and
Kama. The Far East is now being opened up; exten-
sive diamond mining in the Vilyuy vaIIey around
Mirny is now rivalling South Africa's industry and
the gold of the Lena valley and Barguzin river is
attracting settlement in the areas.
Like ali the ncighboring former Soviet republics,
Russia had to grapple with hyperinflation and falling
standards of living in the years after the dissolution
of the Soviet Union. it has to deal with the pressing
issues of heavy industrial pollution in its urban
areas, where the drinking water is frequently unsafe
to com,ume and the air has become dangerous to
brcathe. Social necds are also pressing, with a plum-
meting birth rate and lower Ievels of life expectancy
than in Soviet times. A mushrooming bla.ck market
cconomy, much of it controlled by organized erime, is
aho ha.mpering the tran~ition to a Western-style mar-
ket cconomy
 Le}.' Inhabitants ofa taiga
s.eıtlement posc in thcır homc.
Alıhouı?h clc..:tri<:itv has reached
thıs panıı:ular villa~e ı.:onditions
in the remote !>eıtlcmenıs in this
\·a,;t nonhern fon~,;t can stili bc
har!>h and İ!>olated for mu'-·h of
the \'ear and dome<,tic life
dcinds heavily upon the
pickled or prcc;crvcd produce of
tht.' short '>Ummer c;ca,;on

Belou Com·entioıul whl'ckd

vehich:s ha,·c thcir limıtatıons ın
the trackless and marslı\"
northern wa,;te<;. and d(;~ power
ın this ca'ie harnc,;'¼'d to a light
bU,1?2\ rathcr than a !>led, ,ull
has it!> U!>CS.

Left A hunting pany on Sak.halin

Island in the Sea of Okhotsk, in
the far east of Russia. Ethnı.:-alJ,,
the population is mixed .md -
ındudes Russi,ms {some of them
descendants of com·icts sem to
the pena! settlements on
S.ıkh.ılin in the 19th centur\').
Japanese, Koreans, Ainus arld
others.

Rıglıt Hundreds of skiers ta ke

pan ın a wınter e\·ent at
Murm,msk Cross-countr~· skiing
is enormously popular.

Far riglıt R.ıfıs of timber .ıre

floated downstream from a
Siberian forest . The great nvers
like the Yenisev and Lena
providc the e.ıSiesı access to the
remote intcnor; in wınter man\
rivers freeze so solidlY th.ıı ıhi\"
c.ın be used as road,;_.Tht' ta iga.is
not entırel\' undifferentiated: the
height .ınl closeness of its t ret'S
,·ary , d'i dves its composition fto
thc west firs, to the ea st larches.
predominate).
Moscow

Since the 1960s, Moscow's boundary has been a 150--

kilomcter beltway thoug h a forest stili penetrates
to the inner su burbs. The Ordynka and other high-
ways with ancient names converge on the Kremlin.
This area, with the adjoining Red Square, may
monopolize a visitor's attcntion, but Moscow has a
rich collection of buildings identified as pre-1700,
including the leafy, rather rustic neoclassical quar-
ters, rcbuilt after the fire of 1812. in thc Soviet period
Moscow underwent much reconstruction in the
attempt to turn it into an ideal Soviet city. The center
was opened au t far parades, and several churches
and other monumcnts were demolished- among
them the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, built to com-
memorate victory over Napoleon. in the late l 990s
this cathedral was rebuilt, and Moscow was given a
fııce-lift in honor of its 850th anniversary in 1997.

Above The grandio,;c GUM

emporium in Moscow, for long
the prescrve ofthe rich and
privileged apparatchiks ofthe
Soviet bureaucracy and foreign
tourists, whilst now opening its Far right Produce vendors in
doon, to swish fashion outlets Moscow's ccntral market offer
from thc West and offerıng a fish, fruit, vcgetables and dairy
wider range of luxury goods in products from the provinces.
its shops, is stili very mucb the
domain ofthose with money.
 MOSCOW

Below The Church of OvedeafThe Kremlin, viewcd

Lerın;ıracı \: Ya/atıon l ntercessıon on the Moat, known from the northeast by night. The
Belorussian
Sıation sıaııon - as"-' Basil's Cathedral from its fantasıic onion domes of St
GarollnRLnQ
Gq"1e,, '9ıııg Kazan· Staııon association ı,'İth the "Holy Fool" Ba!>il's Cathedral forma sıriking
Moscow Basıl the Blessed, was foreground focus. Among the
1
Cırcus

..._.,,,, commissioned by I van lV to

commemorate his capturc of
Kaz.an (1552). Nine churches in
floodlit buildings are (left to
right) the Archangel Cathcdral,
the OClltower Ivan Velikiy, the
Planetarium • Dormıtion Cathedral and the
Supreme one, it remains unique of its
.,court kind. Spassky Tower.
z'!"r
ıt~~; . 1 Kursk

'
Statıon

f /Hıstorıcal

• .... ~ seum
,~
a... White
....- House l Lerna# '1,- GUM
s !J ~ '1, I
~
Mausoleum
lenin
Library f' ,r;;.r ,·~•"'
rı
:f...,?

St Basifs Cath9dral
r..,
ıl}
ö

~,<;;,\'Pushkın Fine
\
L-
• ~reıgn Arttı Museum I
Mınıstry
• Tretyakov
Tolstoy ~
I Museum
Gallery

"'"'"'¾,
StNicholas·
Church♦

1km
" ~,., StateArt
Ganery
• Novospassky
Monastery
• Paveletskry
, Station

Aboı•e The Moscow skyline in a

winter twllight is dominated by
the huge bulk of the government
offıces on Smolensk "-guare, 26
stories or 171 metcrs high. Such
skyscrapers, erected during the
!ate Stalinıst period on the
periphery of central Moscow,
are often facetiously called
"Stalinist Gothic."

Above nght A Russian woman

struggles to squeeze a brand new
<;ony TV set into the back of her
Lada. The end of Communism
opened the floodgatcs to the
import of much-desired and
unobtainable luxury electrical
goods from the West.

Right Russian womcn, many of

them elderly, frequently
undertake clearing operations
after snowfalls. This woman, in a
tram-lined city street, wears
characteristic village footwcar:
bulky fclt boots called valenkı.

211
St Petersburg

St Pctcr,burg ("Petrograd" 1914 24; "Leningrad"

1924 91; colloquially, "Piler") is uncompromisingly
spcctacular. hom thc Winter Palace bridge cndless
18th and l 9th-century facades, baroquc and neo-
classical, ,tretch into the distancc, But the breadth of
thc Rivcr Neva and the speed of its dark water~ are a
rcmindcr of the forcc~ of naturc which so much arti-
fıce challcngcs; likc Yenice, St Petersburg rests on
countless wooden piles ta prcvent its subsiding into
it~ mJrsheı; and it was built at the cost of many thou-
sands of human !ive,. A trio of golden spires (on the
Pctcr-Paul Cathedral, the Admiraltv and St Michael's
Castle) punctuatc thc skyline, together with the
golden dome of St lsaac's; thc absence of any loftier
buildings preserves the visual integrity.
,t Petersburg was founded as part of !'eter the
Great'~ drive to modernize Rus~ia and ta rival old,
traditional Moscow. in thc 1800~ it overhaulcd
Mo~cow in population and became a great l 9th-cen- Ahoı •c Tbe Peter-Paul Fortrcss,
tury industrial mctropo1is. Jt is no less remarkable for \t Petersburg, built on Hare
its cultural life and its great art collections, notably Island in the Rıver Neva bv
order of Pctcr the Great, sl;urtly
thc Hermitage, attract many Western tourist~. after he had captured thc sıte
Dc~pitc \•V csternizing encroachments in the l 990s, it from tlıe S;vedcs in 1703. Over ıt
rıses the slender gıldcd spirc ot
rcmain~ ~trange1y mutcd, over-spacious, haunted. lts the cathedral. the burial place of
high latitude (60°) gives strange "white nights" in Petcr and of most subsequent
Junc and early July. lntended as a "window into cmperors and cmpresses. Thc
bastıons of thc fortress arc
Europc," it feel~ neither quite Western nor quite named alter Peter and his chief
Ru~~ian. commanders.

- p
,,ı Arıılery Museum
PeterPau ; faundePalace

Lenınijrad ''""" ~
SıateUrır-ıersıty ~ / ,
f' 'lt\.
Vasır,'fvs~• lsland ~ ./ Summer Palace f\
Meııslııko~Paıace .. // \"'- sı.ateHerm,tage
✓ ı
Bror1ze Horneman Admıratt,r
fWinlerPalaceJ
/=- Stls.ı;ıc's

Uft The "Church on the Blood"
(1882 1907), buılt on ıhe site of
ıhe ass.assİndtİon of Tsar
Alexander il. Designed by A.A.
Parl.md, this is a lone
ecdesiastical n:presentatıve of
the sD--l'..ılled neonaıionalisı sıyk,
which drew upon specıfically
Russian motifs .ınd architectural
agaınsı the Wesıern l:uropean
neodassical c.ınons ıhat had
domınated post-Petrine
architecture.
lJdou• The present Winter
Palace, the fourth on the site,
was begun in 1754 on ıhe orders
of the F.mpre-ss Eliz.ıbt'lh; it is
one of the lası and finesı palaces
ST PETERSBURt,
by ıhe architect B F Rastrelli .
The Hermıı.ıge and subsequem
buildings were added to the
complex latt-r, bt-gmnıng wıth
Catherinc the Grcaı's Small
Hcrmitage (1764 67) The
buıJdings house one of the
world's grt'ate-st art collections.
started by Catherine.
Af,,,:·,' A veaı \ ı Pc-tershuq,!
lanJm.ırk: ıhe ~ıldcd spırt' o•
Admiralt,· buıldin~ scc.·n fron'
Pala..::t' \ q"uare. Althuugh a
buı dıng ı::>..lstcd n the
Admıra"ı.t\· 'iıte lrom ı -o.ı. thc
spirc wa; not put up u (l ı -
The work of I t..:,1roh11,· ı: ,..,
topped h~ a \\eaıher ,·anc n
form ofa sailing ~hıp Whcn ·he
Admira~t\' was remodekd h\ \
Zıkharo\· in l ı.; ()f, "ht· spırc ·
thc earlıc.T buı dıng wa),
preserved.
ommısswnt'd B.f Ra~ı ,., ,
enlarıe and imı,trO\ e the
Among tht· s..::u rwr~ wh
·.lntributed <,t,u ar\' t t
,:as..::ade and gra\ l\' <!d
fountaıns were Shuhın and
\1 artos
21'i
 ...
.,,.-,
·--.
...,--- ..J·-·
C
-
·'
1

o
_/ Malı;.ııslı
C

-,.r .,
~ ~1 -- \
~
A ..,_

Totgtıay 0

0 /rgız

s,,.;;.;

o
,,.,
s,
o o

O-'
o-'
ESeııgı.tı Aı,,.
..:. ·-

(
 . ,ıs

CENTRAL ASIA
CENTRAL
/ ASIA

1 Central Asia is a vast tcrritory, covering nearly 3. 9

million square kilometers. lts hve constituent, pre-
dominantly Muslim rcpublics share many fcatures,
and are separated by desert, semidesert or the Cas-
pian Sea from ıhe rest of ıhc former ~oviet Union.
Some of the world's highest mountains also isolate
them from the rest of Asia; despite this, considerable
populations arc closely relaıed to ethnic groups in
lran, Afghanistan and China. in four ofthe republics
J the languages are Turkic and similar enough to be
largely interconıprehensible; in Tajik.istan an lranian
(hence lndo-European) tongue is spoken.
Zn Central Asia's history is characterized by the conti-
ensky
nual interaction of settled agriculturalists, nomads
and passing conquerors, including -Alexander the
Great and Timur (Tamerlane). it straddled the
traditional caravan routes betvveen China and Europe
known as the Silk Road. Arab im·aders of the 8th
century broughı lslam. Turks formed a settled popu-
lation from the early Middle Ages-hence the name
"Turkestan" applied until 1924, when the Soviets
redistributed the area into five republics. Asa result,
the boundaries of the modern republics are rather
artificial, interlocking curiously to give each a share
usr:ooe
of productive land. Oases and well-watered river
valleys, benefiting from the long, hot summers, are
extremely fertile. But irrigation schemes have had
deletarious side-effects, leading to salination of agri-
cultural land and the shrinking of the freshwater
Aral Sea. The major agricultural development of the
tseliııa ("Virgin Lands") during ıhe 1950s took place
in the feather-grass steppe of northern Kazakhstan
where the climate is more humid.
Republic Kazakhstan Uzbekistan Turkmenistan ,,
AREA 2 717 300 sq km 447 400 sq km 488 100 sq km
POPULATIO~ 16·8m (est 1997) 23·6m (cst 1997) 4· 2m (es! 1997)
CAPITAL Aqmola (Astana) Tashkent Ashgabat
POPULATJ0'.',1 1 172000 2 121 000 416000
OF CAPITAL (1995) (1993) (1991)
1-!AJOR LANGlJAGE Kazaklı, Russian Uzbek (a Turkic Turkmen (a
language) Turkic language)

Tajiki ... tan KyrgyLstan

141 IOO sq km 198 500 sq km
6·0m (est 1997) 4-4m (es! 1997)
ı:, Dushanbe Bishkek ...
o 592 000 641 400
(1991) (1991)
'v
Au '"
,,,
Cu
.,., Tajik (an lranian
languagc)
Kyrgvz (a
language)
Turkıc
prıneıf)ale«s~crops
Fe
LJ co::orı Hg .,
=ı Pb
~hıd :, ""~ Sb
L=:J -r~berr,••ees , -:~'Jfl"'il."~1a::lııf"'Ç
Su
I
D
Zn

21""
CENTRAL ASTA

Kazakhstan
Kazakhsun guards the westem end of the pass
known as the "Dzhungarian (or Jade) Gates," the
high road into China, and its people are culturally
and lingıristically close to the Uighurs of Xinjiang .
The bulk of the land is desert or semidesert, with an
extreme continental climate. Thus, the Kazakhs were
traditionally nomads (the name means "rider" in
Turkish) who herded sheep and horses from one
small rural settlement to another. Grouped into three
hordes, they dominated a vast tract of Central Asia.
in the 18th century they passed first under Russian
protection and then rule. The Russians set up forts in
this sparsely populated land and in the ınid-19th
century established the capital of Vemy, now called Right Tashkent originatrd .as an
Almaty ("Father of Apples"), n otable for its earth- oasis on the Chirchik River,
CODVf'nicntly sited on ;ı major-
quake-proof wooden architecture. Between 1959 and tr.ııdı- routr. Under the Russi.uı
1970 the population increased by 40 percent with the Below left Thesc childrm .at cmpir" it w~ developed as the
Lıskelen represent the second strongpoint ofTurkest.ın.
immigration of large numbers of Russians, Ukraini- generation of communities that Elements or its ancient p;ıst:
ans and Belarusians (many other ethnic groups are grew up in the 1950s .uıd 1960s remain in the ba:aHs, but much
also rep resented); despite some subsequent eınigra­ with the --virgin Lands'" pro_jcct. of the city is thoroughly
Under this scheme, 35 million modem, witb Western--style
tion, Kazakhs stili make up scarcely half of the popu- h=res of wild sıeppc. largely buildings like this "'1-loııse oftbe
lation. in 1997 govenment offices were transferred in K.azakhstan, were tumed over Press... Following tbe
from Almaty, the main centre of culture and popula- to lhc cultivalion of wbeiiıt, with cau.m-ophic carthquakr of l 966,
mixed sucı:ess. With the ınusurrs h..ıv" becn tak."11 to
tion, to Aqmola (formerly Akmolinsk, Tselinograd) departure of many Eırropean design new buildings to
in the northem " Hungry Steppe". Rus.siaııs in lhc 1990s, there h.ıs witbstand seismic stnss.
During the Soviet era huge tracts of steppe in been .a distinct shift over to the
study of K.ız.akh history, Below Tbe Zeravshan mountains
northem Kazakhsun were hrought into cultivation liter.ıture and culture in the in the southeast of Uzbelristan
of w heat under Khrushchev's "Virgin Lands" pro- schools, wher" instructioo is .ıre the source of the 1.n.ıvshan
oow given in ~ .and not River which flows w~ards to
ject. Strips of land along the southem Syr Darya and Russian. inigak the Samarkand are.ı until
Chu rivers are irrigated for rice, tobacco, sugarbeet, it loses itself in the desert ı:ıear
g rapes and cereals. Further east, where the land the Amu Darya..
begins to rise, vegetables are grown and dairyiııg,
sheep-rearing and horse-breeding are important.
Large reserves of coal have been found, and
exploited at the opencast mines of the Ekibastuz
basin in the northeast. The Tengiz oilfield is one of
the largest in the world. But the country is now pay-
ing the costly legacy of ill-considered initiatives of
Soviet technology and in dustry. The Aral Sea shrank
disastrously with the diversion of the water of its
main inflowing river, Syr Darya, from the 1970s; it is
being stabilized, but with a smaller area, and its sur-
rounding land has been badly affected by salinity.
Kazakhstan also contains the former Soviet Union's
major nuclear weapons testing site and the fumous
Baykonyr space centre. Despite their effects on the
environment, bowever, Kaz.akhstan remains an
exceptionally rich and interesting land ecologically.

Abovt- A citizen ofSa.marqa.nd .
The Turk.ic inhabitants of
Central Asia stili wear the
time-honored dress of the
M..iddlc Eastern peas.ınt, whicb
has bt.-eo banned in Turkey itsclf
since Ataturk's Westemizing
refonns.
~;t~~~ o~h;z:t~::~!n
5
a "monoculture", however, it is
harmful ecologically and
cconomica.Uy. Pickers bere
gather to celebr.ıte the harvest
according to ancient traditions.
CENTRAI. ASIA
Uzbekistan
Between the Fergana basin and the Amu Darya
(Oxus) River lie most of the richest oases and ancient
cities of Central Asia. Here the westem end of the
Tien Shan range reaches out towards the fiercest of
the region's deserts, the Kyzyl Kum. Beyond, saltpans
and stony wastes stretch eventually to the Caspian.
Uzbekistan was the homeland of some of the early
tribes that migrated to the fringes of Kievan Rus: the
Pechenegs, Kipchak and Oghuz. When the Mongols
overran Central Asia in the 13th century, the White
Horde established a powerful base at Bukboro
(Bııkhara ), which became one of the main trading
links between Russia and Central Asia and, farther
afield, Europe and the Orient. The Mongols
destroyed Central Asia's greatest city, Afrosiab, and
in the !ate 14th century Timur (Tamerlane) founded
Samarqand beside the huge empty bili that marks the
site of the earlier metropolis. Since the !ate Middle
Ages, when Samarqand (Samarkand) was one of the
great intellectual and artistic centers of the world,
the area has been the heartland of thc Uzbek elan.
They have multiplied to the point at which Uzbek-
istan is now the third most populous of the former
Soviet republics, and their rise has been paralleled
by the relative decline of their erstwhile dominant
ncighbors, thc Kazakhs. Today the Uzbeks remain
the least Russified of all the Turkic peoples of the
region, with 98 percent having Uzbek as their pri-
mary language. Uzbekistan is also a region of consid-
erable historical interest, with three magnificent
meclieval cities in Samarqand, Bukboro and Khiva, all
of which are now being opened up to the tourist
trade, with large programs of restoration from the
1970s on.
219
el

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -- -- - - - - ~

Tashkent was taken by the Russians in 1865 and

became a major administrative, commercial and
industrial center. Large numbers of Russians settled
there, but relations were soured by dreams of "Pan-
Turkism" on the part of the indigenous peoples:
nationalist disturbances continucd beyond the Re\'o-
lution. The Uzbek SSR was the first republic in Cen-
tral Asia to declare its sovereignty as the Soviet
Union disinıegrated in 1990.
Tashkenı is alsa a great lslam.ic center. Mullahs go
there for their training, and the spiritual directorate
also oversees most Islamic publications. The resur-
gence of Islam in the post-Soviet era has seen a return
of religious instruction in schools and the
changeo-..er to instruction in Uzbek.
Although much of Uzbelustan is desert, it is rich in
reserves of natura! gas and oil such as thc oilfıeld at
Kokd umalak. The rivers in thc more nıountainous
southea sı pro\'ide hy droelectric power; ıhis suppHes
energy for large-scale irrigation of cotton, of which
Uzbekistan is ı he world 's ıhird largest producer.
HoweYer the country's desperate water shortages
ha\'e led ta serious depletion of the rİYers feeding
ınto ıhe Aral '>ca, which has !ast 60 percent of its
"ter and 40 pcrcent of its area since 1961, creaıing
ennronmental and economic pro blems.
 CJ NTRAL ASJA

Lejl A mınarct domınaıcs thc

skylinc of Khiva ın Uzbt'kİ!<.tan.
From ıhc carly 16th ceııtury
Khiva was tlıc capit.ıl ofa
khanatc of the saml' name; ıt
beçarne a Russian protcctoratc ın
1871. Although mul"h of Khıva
was rebuilt in ıhc 19th century.
it remaincd tr.aditionallv hlamk
in sıyle. The minarct aıid ~ome
ofthe domes .ıre decoratt'd witlı
the brilli.ıntly colorcd ccramıc
tiles whidı are charactcristic of
Central Asian lslamk
architec ıure .

Risht A gigantıc bank of mirrors

at .ı helio sıaıion at Tashkent
gencraıes power by focusing
sunlight onto an array of
photovoltaic cells. in rcccnt
ycars and iıı particular sınce
the Chornobyl' (Chernobyl)
nuclcar accident-safcty and
em•ironmental factors have
incrcasiııgly inlluenced thc
cnoice of energy sources. Solar
JX)lVCr, being safc, rcnewable
.ınd non-polluting, is an
attractive option in suitable
localitics.

'ft An imam and hıs assıstaııt

neel in prayer .ıt the Central
Mosque in Margil.ın,
Uzbekistan. There has been a
ugc resurgence in Islam across
Cenıral Asia since ıhe demıse of
he Sovıet Union. in Uzbekıstan ,
,•here 88 per cenı ofthe
popul.:ıtion arc Sunni Muslims,
digious practice which was
uppressed under the So,•iets is
ow becoming a focal point of
veryday life ag.:ıin and thc
tducational system is being
structured to t.ıkc in
bscrvance oflslamic tr.ıdition
nd religion.
CENTRAL ASIA

Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan was occupied by Parthians and Sasa-
nids, Huns, Arabs and Ghaznavids; it contains Mary
(Merv), one of the oldest city-sites in the world, of
great arachaeological importance. The Oghuz from
Mongolia in the 11 th century gave the region its Tur-
kic character, which it has retained to the present
day. Despite Persian incursions, the Oghuz coalesced
into a single people, albeit with elan distinctions. The
southern section of the region fell un der Persian Safa-
vid rule between the 15th and 17th centuries, but it
was reunited by the Russians with the north in 1881.
The struggle for power at the time of the Revolution
involved the British army, concerned abouı Russia's
southward advance towards India.
As 90 percent of Turkmenistan is occupied by
desert, irrigaıion is essential for cultivating the land,
but great problems of insufficient supply and of sali-
nation reınain . Cotton is the main crop, but varieties
of grain (wheat, barley, maize, sorghum and millet)
are alsa important. Carpet-making remains a major
industry, with its famous Karakul sheep being reared
to supply the wool; equally famous are its horses, and
the Turkmenis remain great riders. The Caspian Sea,
bordering on the west ofthe republic, supports a cer-
tain amount of fishing. More important in this vicin-
ity are the sulfur and sodium sulfate deposits, whkh
are the largest in the world. The republic alsa has
huge resources of lead, zinc, copper, mercury and
gold. Oil extraction is a growth industry in the west-
ern Caucasus and on the Cheleken peninsula of the
Caspian Sea, with Turkmenistan now being dubbed
the "Kuwait of the Caspian." Turkmen has now been
designated as the country's official language.

Above nght This arid featurcless

expanse of salt flats at the
Karakum Canal zone in
Turkmenistan is typical of this.
thc most undcrpopulatcd rcgion
of Ccntral Asia. Much of the
republic is uninhabitable dcscrt
and the Karakum Canal was
constructed to bring irrigation
across to the barrcn dcscrts in
the east of the country from thc
more fcrtilc rivcr arcas to thc
south and wcst.

Rıght A Turkmen patrıarch

poses wıth hıs unvcilcd
womenfolk and other members
of his extended family. A large
family is the norm in Central
Asıa, and in Turkmcnistan the
population increase is such that
the authorities arc hard prcssed
to provide enough housing,
schools and jobs. Turkmenis
have always hada reputation far
a fierce. unorthodox piety.
Women do not ,,..ear thc veıl, but
work- and have sometımes
fought alongside the men.
 CENTflAL AS1A

Tajikistan
Tajikistan is 90 percenl mountainous and is one of
the poorest and most rural of the republics in the
region. Until recenıly many villages had no piped
waler oc electricity and comnnınications were difli-
cııll. üne of the earliest Soviet waler-manageınenl
projects was the Greal Fergana Canal, which, together
wiıh the enormous hydroelectric potential of ıhe
republic's rivers, provides irrigation for ıhe cııltiva­
tion of the characteristic lerraced hillsides.
The history of Tajikistan in ıhe lası cenlury is an
extension to tha1 of Uzbekistan; il was ruled first by
ıhe Bukhara emirate and ıhen by ıhe Russian tsar.
The Tajiks are however ethnically distinct and speak
an Iranian Ianguage raıher ıhan ıhe prevailing Tur-
kic, having strong ties with northem Afghanistan.
Having established a national entity befoce the
arrival of ıhe Turks, they represenl one of ıhe earlier
layers of Central Asian civilization. Their prolonged
resistance lo the Russians between 1921 and 1925
was comparable 10 resistance in Afghanistan; in ıhe
1990s the country wimessed a violen1 power sırug­
gle afler ıhe collapse of Comnnınism, with many call-
ing for the establishmenl of an Islamic State.
The monntainous geograpby temis to dictate ıhe
character of economic life. Pastures support livestock
reared for wool and meal, rather ıhan dairying.
Hydroelectric power provides energy to manufacture
machinery adapted to hillside cııltivation. Fine-fıber
cotton, silk and carpets make up a developed light
industry, and schemes foc extracting brown coal,
petrolenm and natural gas, together wiıh nonferrous
metallurgy, are ıhe importanl heavy industries.
There are also steam power plants in Dushanbe.

Aboııc- kft Carprt-mak.ing was

esublished in T.ıjik.istuı .as
ıh< n,sult o( conLKt with .,.,.,.._
Soınc stili follows tr.ıdit:ioml
lines. involving entitt umilies in
.ıcottage industıy in wbıch
spcrializcd skillsar< pa,><d
down through th<gcn=ruons.
Wbnı tbe ı:-egion W2S annıexed
by RUSSU in tbe 19th ccııtmy a
huge ııwrket ~ up in tbe
West, DKI ~ y s many
Ccıtnl Asulı arpelS MC
ıru55-pı:oduı:ed in uctoriıes.

Left This ttxtile f.Ktoı-y in

Khudjmd in Tajiksuıı
rq:ıresmts tbe ıq:,ublic'-s mou
import,nt. gr<>Wth ındustry -
rottoıı. Undc:r Coımnunism.
Tilikisun was ,;ı au_jor produett
of sced cvtton fCJr" tbe ttSt of tbe
Sovicl Unioıı. but now DO kxıgn
shKk1ed to .ı sc.ııc ınonopoly. it
i:s Sttking ,ili pbu in tbe open.
c.omprtitivıe 1IWU1 wnh ns bıgh
qıulity rottoo .md textilıes.
Th<><, tog<tlxr withth<
tndiı.ioı:ı.ı.l ~ t of arpM
w,e;ııviııg nt .all ~ to tbe
a:ooooric survıv~ of ;ı rouııtry
which is brgdy mouııuinou:s
.ınd
1us ~ productivt terT.lin.

ıı,

Kyrgyzstan
Tht' hhtor~ of Kyrgyz<,tan cxplains a certain warinc'>S
to\\Jrd, outc,idcrs that peP.bts to the present, the
n:.,ult of intcrference, often violcnt, in the affair'> of
the arca b\' outsidc forces. Ruthless rule bv the
klı.ınate of İ<okJnd (in Uzbekistan), massacres by the
Russıaııs in l 'I 16 that forced 150 000 Kyrgyz to fke to
China and the purges of the 1910, havc forged a cast
of mind that is distrustf ul of powerf ul neighbors.
it'> .,ccncry j., spcctacular. \.\'İth the mountain lake
hwk and the Tien-~han range, containing the high-
est peaks of thc fornıcr Soviet Union. But its complex
gcugraphy le.ıds to a certain lack of uni t y. Thc south
b a fcrvent center of Jslam; the so ut her n capital, Osh,
is called "the sccond Mecca," and the rural popula-
tion İ'> 90 percent 1\.lu':,lim. Sufi.sın cxerts a strong
hold on thc people; it probably has more holy places
there thJn anvwh cre else in Central Asia, the throne
of Suleyman "( Solomon), ncar Osh, being a popular
pilgrimagc ccnter. The northern areas, by contrast,
were not Jsla mi zcd until thc 18th centurv, and then
only superficially, leaving a minority even.., today with
shamanistic and totemistic beliefs. it is here that the
majority of Sov iet irnmigrants, especially Russians,
settled. T he indigcnous Kyrgyz remained a minority
in their ow n countrv until the 1990s.
By th e I 9 70s Kyrgyzstan had beconıe the Soviet
Union's main producer of antimony and mercury. Its
oth er resources, such as uraniwn, coal, oil, natura)
gas, Jead, zinc, copper and gold are now being more
heavily exploited to fund the changeover to a market
eco nomy. Expanded production of building materi-
als, and prefabricated buildings has become impor-
tant. Stock-breeding, especially of fine-fleeced sheep
and pigs, and agriculture are ali practiced within the
linıitations of the terrain, but econonıic hardship is
reflected in the republic having the lowest standard
of living in the region.
Bclotı: Kyrgyz men queue wıth
their fleeces;; once collected, the
fleeces will be graded, \\'İth the
infcrior wool being used for felt
and thı: better qualıty for woven
items. The strongly Mongoloid
ieatures of the men .ı.re a
reminder of the proximity
ofChina. The hardy horses of
the region were always
important to the Kyrgyz in their
nomadic past and feature
prominently in their folklore; on
a more practical ]evci they are
stili us;ed in the tending of sheep
and cattle and even far meat.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A bibliography of Rus sian histo ry a nd culturc could it sclf
fi li many volumes. W ith in this vast territor y it will
pe rhaps be of most use to thc '>tudent or othcr intert'stcd
rea der to provide a highly sdcctiYC a nnotatcd lisr,
particularly of bac kground works (wıth a few mert'
detailed studies), concent rating on thosc that lo ra vari ety
of reasons h,we proved useful in writing this book and
are (with a few cx ce ptions) av.ıi l ablc ın l:nglish. Tlıc
selec tion isarra nged th cmatically.
Genera l h ist o r ies
The fo unda ıio ns of modern Rus-,ian hi-,ıoriography are
thc great l9th-ccntury Kuss i an -1.ıngu.ıg e multivolumc
work s by N. M. Kar.ım zi n (History of tlıe Rus s ıan State,
uncompleted at his dea th ın 1826; notc also hı s Memowon
Ancient and Aloderıı Russia, trans . ,md cd. H. Pipes, Cam-
bridge, Mass. 1959); V .O. Klyuchev sky {Course of Ru ssıan
History ); and <; . M . Solovyo v, History o} Russia Jrom ı lı r
Eadiest Times ). To these c.ın be .ıdded the m,ın y indi -
vidual w ork s o n l6th- to l8th-century hıstory, and
History of Russia (La ndon, 1925) by ">.F. Platonov. These
works const itute the basic "reference points" against
which other analyses or ınterpretations measurc them-
sclves, and ar e thenısd ves landnıarb in Rm,sian cult ural
history. The only equi valeııt mu ltivolumc study in
English was unde rta ke n by G Vern.ıdsk y in associaıion
with M. Kar povic h: u nfortunatel y the deaths of both
interrupted ıhe project at ıhe e nd of the Mm,covıte
pcriod . The fi ve ex ta nt vols . remaın indispen s.ı.b le.
There .ır e m.ın y usefu l single-volume histories of Rus -
sia in English. Among them B.H. Sumner, A ~ım•ey of
Russian H istory (La ndon, 1944), unusu;ıll y arran,ı?.ed,
rem.ııns stimul ating after oVt·r half a century; G. \'er-
nadsky's single-volume A History of R ussia (5th edn.,
New Haven , 196 1) is sound and readable; L. Kochan and
R. Abraham, Th e M akins of ı"\,lodem Ru ssia (Harmonds-
worth, 1983), is strongest on reccnt history; P. Dukcs, A
History of Ru ssıa (3rd e d n., Landon, 1998), usdully com-
pares many variant interpretations; the Camfıridge Com-
pa n io rı to R ussiarı St udies, vol. l (Cambrid_ge, 1976), eds. R
Auty ;md D. Obolen sky, by a varieıy of authors, st rikes a
good balance bchvl·en e.ırl y .ı nd mo dern history , withsep-
arate studies of geography, the Ch urch, pol ı tic:. and eco-
nomics . The fullest and probably best such history is N
Riasanovsky, A Hıswry o} Russia (3rd cdn., '.'Jew York,
1977), incid e nıall y \'-/ İth a useful an notated lht of Russıan
historians.
G. Vernadsk y et al. (ed . ), A Source-book for Russıan
Hı story (3 vals ., New Ha ven a nd London, l'-172), is an out-
standingly rich collection of documents relating to
palitical and culıura l h istory up to 1917 in English trans-
lation. D. Kaiser and G . Markcr (cds.), Remte'Pretmg Ru ss-
ian History: R eadıngs 860-1860s (Oxford, 1994) has
source-materiab and intcr pn :tat ive artidcs. Nnte alsa P.
Dukes, Russicı under Cathenne the Great: Select Documı:nts
(2 vals., 1977- 78), indud ing a transl;ıti on of C.nherine ll 's
Nak a=.
The most ambitious interpretative cultur.11 hi stor y of
Russi;ı is J. Billingto n , The lwn arıd the A.w (Lond oıı,
1966), with much curious and detailed inform;ıtion in ıt s
notes. The Cambridge Encydopedia oj Russııı, l·d. A . BrO\vn
et al. (new edn . Cambridge, I IJIJ4), is very ful!, partıcul~ırly
o n modern subjects, though, with its many contrihu tors,
rather fragmented . K. Milner-Guiland, The Russians (Ox-
ford, 1997) is a study of thc ıraditions of Ru ssian cu lıurc.
The ouhtanding ~ oc ıo-po l itical histor y of Russia up ı o
the !ate 19th century, pungent and opinıo natcd , is K
Pipes, Russia uııder the Old R egıme (Landon, 1974). it has
a _good opening chapt er on the gcographic.ıl setti ng, as
alsa does th e Ca mbridge Compamon to Russı.ın Studıes
(sec above; by D.J. Hooson); Sl"C also l[oo~on':. Tlıe SoL•iet
r rnio rı : Pecıples and Regions (London, 1966). A fundamen-
tal work among the rnan y tcxt books on Russi,rn
geography is W .H. Parker, An H ısıoıical Geography o}
Russıa (Londo n, 1968 ). On some other broad topics. 1
Blum, Lord anJ Peasant in Ru <,<,İa (Princeıon, 1961); R.E .F.
Smith and D. Christ ian , BreaJ and Salı {Cambridge,
1984)-food in soci.ı l hi sıory; A.G Cross (cd.), Ru ssıa
under W estem Eyex (La ndon , 1971 ), t he besi anthology of
travelers' accounts of Russia.
Historical topics and peri o<l:.
On Ol d Ru ssi.ı's civilizat ional "location": D. Oholensky,
The By zantine Commonu:ealth (Lan don, 1971); see too hı:.
important article "R ussia's Byz,ıntınc 1-krit .ı_ge" (ın
O,foni Slaı-oııır Papı'rs, \ 'Ol. 1, 1950). On the earlv c; ı avo­
nı c world : 1- Dvornık , The Slavs, Theır Early Hii!OI)' arıd
Civilizaııoıı (Landon, 1'.15Y) and The ,\ Iakm<~ of Cerıtral arıd
Eastenı Curope (Landon, 194'.l); A. Vl.1:.to, 11ıe Ent,y of the
Slaı•s ınto Christendom (C;ımbridgc 1970) . M. Gimbuta~,
Th e Slavs (Landon, 197 1); I'. Dolukhanov, The l;aı·ly Slavs
(Landon , 1996).
On thc history and :.taıu:. of thc H.ussian langu.ıgc : G.
\'ın okur, The Ru ssıarı Language a Bnej Hıstory (CJm-
hridge, 197 1): W K rı.ıa ııhews , Tlll· Strıuture a,ıd Dı'l'elop­
meııı o} Ru ~sıan (Cambrid~e, 19 53); B. Unbcıaun, ~t'leaed
Papeı·s o,ı Russian and Slauoıııc Ph ılologv (Oxl ord, l'H"ı<J);
D. Ward, Tlır R ussıaıı L aııgııagt' Today (Loııdoıı , 1965). G .
Corbl"lt (cd.), The Sl,wonic Langucıges (Lan don, 199 "\).
On pre-Tat,1r Russı.ı: G. Verıı.ıd:.k y, Anrıeııt Ru ssia
(New Have n, l 943) .ı.nd Ku:mn Russia (Ne \'-,' llaven, 1948)
are fundament.ıl (howe vcr his Origınç of Rw.sia (O xford,
l 959) is high lvspcculative). S. Fra nklin Jnd J . ~hepard , The
Emı?rgt'nce o} Rıı s 750 1200 (La ndon, 1996), widc•r.ınging
and up- to-d.ı h' . J. Martın, ı\I edieval Ru ssıcı 980 I 584 (Cam-
bridge, 1995) concentrates on political hist ory. A wry
dctaile<l .ıccounl of ~oci eıv , irade, international relation:.
ete i:. given in B. Greko\;, Kieı•an Rus (rvloscow, 1959
u nfortunate ly in an inadequ,ıte tr.ıns l ation); note too M .
Tikhomirov, TJıe Tow,ıs o} A,ı cieııt Rus (Mo:.cow, 1959);
K.E.F. Smith, TheOrıgmsoj Farmmg ın R ussia (Pari s, 1959).
Original :.ources ma y be fo und in \'ernadsky (ed.), Source-
book (sce above), and in~- Zenkov:.ky, Me,lı eı·al Ru ss ıan's
Epıı..s., Clıroııides arıd Ta/es (Landon aııd New York , l 96j)_
The Ru ssıarı Pııma r.' Ch romde, trans. and ed. S.H . Cross
(rev. edıı., Cambrid~c, J'ılass. 1953), is scarcely up--to-daıe
but hasa serviceable commcntary; the dassic commenury
by D.S . Lıkh ac hov (rı.fo:.cow and Leningrad, l 950) Is unfor-
tunaıely avail.ıble only in Russian. Constantine Par-
p h yrogeııit u s , De Admım stra ndo l mpem, tra ns. and ed .
G. M or.ıvcsik and R. Jenkins (London , 1962 66), has
det ;ıiled commentary concerning Rus by D. Obolensky.
On Russia under ıhe Tatars : G. Vernadsk y, The
Morıgols and Russia (New Ha\·en , 1953). C. Halpcrin
stimulatingly rcıntcrprcts the psychological ımpact of
Tatar conquest in Russia and the Golden Hoı·de (Landon,
l9R7). Scvcral important sıudies ofthe political hi:.tory of
the tim e bv J.L.l. Fennell indude Th e Emergerıce oj ı\,fos­
cow ı 304 ·, 359 (Lando n, ı %8) and Tlıe Crısıs of Medieual
Russia 1200-130-l (La ndon, 1983)
On post-Tata r .Muscovy: G. Vernadsk y, Russia at the
Dawn o} lht' Alodenı A,ı;e (New Ha.ven, 1959) and The
Tsa rdom o} ı\l uscop\' (2 vals., ::ı-ı-ew Haven, 1969); R.H.
Crummcy, Th e Formaııcın ofı\.lıı scOL')" 1304 161 J (London,
1987). Apart from J.L.l. Fcnndl, l van the Gn·at of .\Icıscow
(London, 1961 ), there is a dearth of goo<l ~pccializcd
studies in English of individual Muscovite reigns and
rulers unlil we rcach P. Longworth's conci:.e and readable
Alet:is (landon, Jqfl'f). S.F. Platonov's works on The Time
of Troubles and Boris Godunoı· ;ıre now howl·ver ,ıvaılahle
m Engli sh (Gulf Brecze, l '-170, l 972). A remarkahle original
source for lvan IV's rei_gn is the tsar's corre~pondence with
Princc Kurbsk v, which bJ:. hcen translatedand edited with
notcs hy J.L.l . Fe nnell (Cambridgc, 19 55 ). See too Martin
(above); n oıe P. Bushkovic h, R eligiorı and Svcıety in Russia
(16th- 1 ithn.)(Oxford 1992)
On the Petrinc period, much literature is available in
English, but prohably thc bcst modern stu<ly of Peter, by
R. \.Vittram, ,., in ,;erman. There are good condse bio--
graphies by Iı-1.S. Aıı<lerson, Peter tht' Gn'O! (London,
1976), and A de Jongc, Fire and Wcıter (La ndon , l '-179); .ı
compreheıısive bıography by L.A. J. Ilughes is in the prc~s.
The long account by R. Massie , Peıer the Great: Hıs Life
and W orld (Landon, 1981), is best on the Petrıne vvars
Diverse views on the "Petrine revolution" .1re collatcd ın
M. Racff (ed .), Peter the Great: ReJOrmer or Rerolutionary?
(Landon and New York , 1%3). Thc remark.ıble short
study of Peter's self-image hy B. U:.pensky, Hısıorıa sutı
specie semio!icae, has been translated in D. Lucid (ed.),
.Soı·ıet Semıotics (Baltimore, 1977).
On the 18th centurv after Petcr, mosı English-language
hterature concentrates on the reıp,n of Catherine il Here
.-ıll ot her general studics have been superseded by the only
full-scale modern biography: 1. de Madariaga, Rus .,ıa in
ıhe Age of Catlıerıne !he Great (Landon, 1981), which di~-
poses of many myths. c;everal important aspcct\ of Cath-
crıne's reign cduc.ıtion, enlightenment, Diderot"s visıt,
frecmasonry, ıown-planning are the subJeCb of essays
by varıou:. hands in J. Garrard (cd.), The Eighw:nth
Cerıtury m R.u ssıa(Oxford, 1973). The hook's \COpt' is
widcr th.ın JUSt C.ıtherıne':. reı_gn, a:. is P. Duke:., The
Makıng o} Ru ssıan Af-ısoluıısm 1613 1801 (Lon<lon, 1982);
P . Longworth, Tlıree Empresses: Catlıemıe 1, Anne arıd
Eli::._af-ıeth of Russia (Landon, l '-172), CO\'Cr:. the 1725 62
period; noıe a lso hı:. The Cossac:ks (London, 1969); J
Brennan, Cnliglııt'ned Despotımı m Russıu (New York,
1987), conccntrates on Elizabcth's reign. r-.ı. Raeff, Orıgın~
of the Ru ssiaıı lmelligemsıa (London, 1%6), dı:spıte ıts
tıtlc, ıs a rcm.ırkable "psychohı-,ıorıcal" stud y of the
18th-ccntury ge ntry. H . Rogger, Naııonal Consciousness in
18th-centun• Ru ma (Ca ıııbridge , rı.ıass. 1960).
On l 9th-cemury l<u:.sia therc i:ı. a va:ı.t literature ın
En}!lish. Kiasa novsky ,rnd most general hi<.toriam aln·ady
mentio ned havc much detailcd ınformation. Among other
works: ~1. Raeff (ed.), Tlıe Decemfırı st .\frıvement (Fngle-
wood Cliffs, 1966) a nd Michael Spı:mnskv (Thc Hague,
1957 ). N. Ria~anov-,k y, Nirholcıs l anJ Ojficial Nıııionality
irı Nu ssia (Berkdcy, 1959). '>. Mona-;, The Tlıird Secıion
(Cambridge, Mas~. 1961). Thc memoirs of the ;l,farqui:ı. de
Custinc, The Empire oj tlıe C=ar {London, 1843 and
sub<.equenı edns.], ,;;h;ı rp -\-ı.'ı tt ed but dısıngenuou:., arc J
much-quoted sourcc o n N i c ho l as'ı-, Ru ssia. On Alex
ander',;; rcforms : Vı/ E. Mosse, Alexarıder II anJ the
,\-fodenıizatıorı of R ussia (Landon, 19S8); T. Emmons (cd.),
Emanı.:ipation of the Russian Sufs (London and New York,
1970). C.L. Hlac k (ed.), The Trarısformatıon o} Russıan
Socıety: Aspec:ts o} Socıal Change sınce 1861 (Cambridgc,
.\fa~s . 1960). ">ome broader studies: 1-1 . Scton-\.Vatton, The
Ru ssiaıı Empıre 1801 1917 (Oxford, 1967); G.T. Kobın­
son, Ru ral Ru.,sia urıder tlıe Old Regime (Ncvv York, ı 912)·
H. . Charques, The Tu:ili;<hı oj Imperial Russiıı (Landon,
1968): G. Katk O\' et al. (eds.), Ru ssıa eıuers ılıe Tu;erıtıeth
Ceıırury (London, 197 1); also rı,l. Kacff, Plans for Polıtical
R efomıs m lmperial Russia 1730 1905 (Englewood Cliffs,
1966). G. Hosking, R ussia: bmpıre and Nation 1552 1917
(Landon , l 9Y7) opens up important theıııes.
On the revoluıionary aııd c;o\'iet periods, the held is
even bro.ıder. M.l. Florinsky, Tlıe End of ılıe Russian
Empire (new edn., Ncw York, 196 1); L. Kochan, Ru~sıa ın
R eı•olution, 1900-1 8 (London, 1%6); \.V.H. Charnberlain,
The Rıı 5sıan R evolutıon (2 vals., New York, 1935); ~-
Harcave, First Blood: The Ru ssian Raoiuııon oj 1905
(Landon, 1970); B.J. V,' illiams, The Russian Ret'olution
1917- 21 (Oxord, 1987) a concise introduction G.A
H osk ıng , The Ru.,.,ian Constitııtioııcıl Experiment: Got'em,
mmt arıd tlıe Duma 1907- 14 (Cambridge, 1975) .ınd A
Hıston' of ıhe Swiet Unıoıı (Landon , 1961), D. Footman,
Tlıe Cıt'il \Var in Russia (London, 1961): A. Ulam, Lenin
and the Bolsheı·iks (Landon, 1909); B. Woolfe, Three who
Made a Ret'olution (New York, 1%0); :ı.ı. Levin, The
Making vf ıhe Soı'İet Sysıem (London, 1985); :ı.ı. Hellcr,
Cogs ııı t/ıe Sovieı Wheel: the Making of Soı•ieı Man (New
York and Landon, 1987); M. Faınsod, How Russıa ıs Ruled
(Cambridge, Mass 1953); L. Sch.ıpiro, The Communisı
Party oj ıhe Soı-ıet f'nion (Landon, 1970); R. Conquest, The
Great Terror(London, 1968)and Kolyma(London, 1978). 5
Fitzpatrick, The Commissariat of Erılıghtenm ent (Cam
bridge, 1970), on early c;oviet education and culture. rı.ı.
r-.tcCaulcy, Politics in the Soı'İet Pnıoıı (H.ırmondsworth,
1977); D. Dyker, Sovıeı Economics (Landon, 1976). E.H.
Carr, History of Soı-ıet Russıa (14 vols., London, 1952 7~ 1.
is a ma}!ısterıal ınvestig;ıtıon of the early ">O\'İet perıod.
On l.ıter developments, il Arendt, The Origıns oj Totali-
tarianism (New York, 1951), is a classic text. TH Righy
(ed.), .Stalin (Englcwood Cliffs, 1966); R. .\1:edvedev, Leı
HısW')' Judge: The Onxms anJ Consequemes of Stulınism
(New York, 1971); A Dallin and T B. Larson (cd!'..), Soı•ieı
Poliııt .\ sınce KhmshL·lıeı· (Washmgton, 1958); .\.1
McCaulcy , The Soı·ıeı Uniorı under GorfıachoL· (Landon,
19R7); M Gorbachov Pere.'>tmıka (1.ondon, 1987). Thcre
ha\'€ bcen m.ınv rncmoir:. by eyev.-itne:.~es a.ııd partici-
pant~: hy foreigİ-ıers such as John Reid, 8. Pares, :,...,. Djilas;
by Rm~i.ıns including Trotsky ;ınd Khrushche\·
Histor\·ofidcas
On reli~ion. ıhac ı<.noı yet a comprehensive history ofıhe
H.us:.ian Cburch in any lan_gu.ı_ge. \'aluable substitutcs
includc G. rcdotoY The Russıan Relıgıous .\lmd (2 vok,
Cambrid_gı- \la~~- 1%6) .ı.nd A Treasmy of Ru.~.swrı Spırıt­
ualıty (:,..:cw York, 1%1); alsa J. reııncll, A Hısto,;· o} the
Rus.Han Chun:h ıo 1448 (London, 1995). Convcnient introA
ductions to Orthodoxy are pro\·ided in T \\'are, The Ortho-
225
BIBLIOGR !-'H
.ıox Chunh (Harmondsworth, 1964), and J. Meycndorff,
The Orıhodox Church(Ncw York, 1965); note too V. Lossky.
The Mystıcal Theologyofthe Easurn Church (London, 1957).
On some specific topics: W.K. Medlin, Moscow and East
Rome (London, 1952); F.C. Conybcarc, Russian Dissenters
(Landon, 1921); D. Stremoukhoff, Moscow the ThırJ
Rome Sources of the Doctrıne in Speculum, 1953:1; A.V.
Soloviev, Holy Ru ssıa: The Hıstory ofa Relıgious-Social
idea (The Hague, 1954). On folk belief, M. Balzer (cd.),
Russian TraJitıonal Culture (Ncw York, 1992) has scveral
impartant recent Russian studies in translation.
On general thought many books already mentioned
(e.g. Billington, Cherniavsky, Pipes) arc vcry uscful. A .
Walicki, Hıstory of Ru ssian Thuught (Oxford, 1980), char-
acterizes significant idcas and thcir propanents from thc
!ate 18th ccntury to the Hevolution. M. RaeIT, Russian
Iruellectual History An Anthology (London, 1966),
rcachcs turthcr back. Note V. Zenkovsky. A H istory of
Russian Philosophy (2 vols., Landon. 1953). On political
thought. f. Venturi, The Roots of Revolution (Landon ,
1960); E. Lampcrt, Sons ag.ıinst Fathers (Oxfor d, 1965); S.
Utechin, Russıan Political Thought (London, 1963); E.C.
Thaden, Conservaıive Nationalism in 19th-century R ussia
(Seattlc. 1964). Partıcularly impressive are the essays on
19th-century thcmcs and figurcs (c.g. Bclinsky. Herzen,
the Populists) brought together in l . & rlin, Russian
Thınkers (London, 1977) . For the early period , note The
Pr-oblem of Old Russian Culture, a symposium to whıch N.
Andrcycv, J. Bıllıngton, G. Florovsky and D . Likhachov
contributed in Slavic Review 21 22 (1962- 63). M . Cher-
niavsky, Tsar and People (Ncw Haven, 1981), is a semin al
work. Two vols. titled Medieml Russian Culture (vol. 1,
lkrkcley, 1984, ed. H . Bimbaum a nd M . Flier; vol. 11,
Berke ley, 1994, ed. M. Flier and D. R o\•,ıl and ) contain a rich
medley ofscholarly articles, above ali o n rcligion, literat ure
and art.
Some most valuablc contnbutıon s to Russ ia n " ps yc ho-
history" and cultu ral se miotics h ave becn madc sin ce the
1960s by the "Tartu sc hool," nota bl y Yu . Lotman and B
Uspcnsky. Selcctions of t h cır st ud ies (on such topi cs as
l 7th- and l 8th-century prctcnd ers, Peter the Great , the
Decembrists in cveryday life) havc bee n translate d in A.
and D. Niakhimovsky (ed.), The Semiotics of Russian Cul-
tural History (New Yor k, 1985), and A. Shukman {ed.),
Semiotics of Russian Culture (Ann Arbor , 1984). On th e
great cultural theoretician Bakh tin, K. Clark and M. Hol-
quist, Mıkhail Bakhtin (Ca mbri dge Mass . 1985).
Literaturc
Therc ıs a lack in Eng lish of a cornprehensi ve unified
history of Russian literature (the older volumes b y D.S.
Mirsky and M. Slonim arc outdatcd ). Encyclop edi c and
collcctive volumes hclp to fiil t hc gap . A .K. Thorl by (ed .),
The Perıgum Comparıion to Literature: Europe (Harmonds-
worth, 1969), includes nea rly 200 Russian en tries. H.S.
Webcr (ed.), The Modern Encyclopedia of R ussian and
Soviet Literaıures (many volu mes, in progress), has more
detailed essays. Companion to Russian Studies, vol. 2, e d.
R. Auty an d D. Obolensky (Camb ridge, 1976), is st rong
on pre-Petrinc literature and in its sectio ns o n language,
writing and printing. Better stili are V. Tcrras (cd .), Hand-
book of Russian Literature (New Ha ven, 1985) and N. Corn-
well (ed.J, Re/erence Guıde to R ussian Lııerature (La ndo n,
1998).
On early litcrature the most stimulati ng and dctailcd
work remains D. Cizevskıy, History of Russian Literature
from ıhe 11th Cemury to the End of ehe Baroque (The
Hague, 1960); nete also J.L. l. Fennell and A. Stokes, Early
Russiarı Lıterature (London, 1974). Thc on ly va ried and
comprehensive collcction of carly t exts in tran slation is
by S. Zenkovsky (see above). 1t is even h arder to track
down translations of 18th-century literaturc, savc in H .
Segal's anthology, The Liıerature of l Bth-century R ussia
(New York, 1964), though Russian Literature Triquarterly
devoted a recent number (20) to it. Somc of thc chief
works of e.g. Fonvızm, Radishchcv and Kara mzin have
been publishcd individually. Note the cri t ical essays in
A.G. Cross (cd. ), Russian Lıterature ın the Age of Caıherine ıhe
Greaı (Oxford, 1976).
From Pushkin's time thıngs are different : there is a
nge of translations of nearly all important w r itcr s. and
graphs ın English on most of them; pocts howevcr
t,. 'VC St'.:rved in both respects than prose-writers.
ı..ı :-nany tra□ slations exist; iN. Ar ndt, Pushkin
~~;:l°ı~:J:;;,h:0 ~~:~~'.
Noı•el
~:~t:!,~~;:~e
0
a~~e;::s;
in Verse (Lond on , 1964), hasa plain translation and
rcma rkable commen tar y. Charles Johnston's püetic trans-
lation of Eugene Onegın (Lo ndon, 1977) has superscded
previous att empts. T . Wolff (e d .), Pushkin on Literature
(Lando n, 1972), is an antholog y of texts wiıh continuous
comm enta ry. J . Bay lcy, Pushkın (Cambridge, 1971), is a
dctaılc d an d authoritative stud y; A.D.P. Briggs, Alex-
ander Pushkin (La nd on, 1983), is shorter and more
accessible.
Gogol : few if any translations can be unreservedly
recommend ed . Therc is much critical litcraturc from a
bewilder in g v ariety of v iewpoints : R. Maguire (ed.),
Gogol Jrom the Twenıieıh Cerı tu ry (Princcton, 1974), gives
a good sa mple of th e se. V . Nabokov, Nikolay Gogol (Lan-
d on , 1944). is one of the most idiosy ncratic and fascina-
ting literar y stud ies ever writte n.
Lermontov: th e translation of Hero of Du r Tim e by I.P.
Foote (Harmond sworth , 1966) is highly rcadable; there is
also onc by V . Nabokov. The besı dose study is C.J.G.
Turncr , Pechorin (Birmingham, 1978); J. Garrard, M. Ler-
monwv {Baston, 1982), is a scrviccable general
introduction .
Dostoyevsky: as hard as Gog ol to translate, for somc-
w hat si milar rcasons. Thcre is a vast literature on him,
i ncludıng th e multivolume biography by J. Frank (1977 ).
An anth ology of 20th-ce ntury v iews (1962) has been
ed ited b y R. W cllek; n ote too V. Seduro, Dostoyevsky ın
R ussian Literary Criticism (New York, 1957). M . Bakhtin,
Problems of Dostoyevsky's Poetics (Ann Arbor, 1975),
twice translated, is a seminal work opcning up cultural-
hı storı cal pcrspcctiv cs going far beyond its title.
Tolstoy: again , much critical litcraturc in English (more
on his literary than his publicistic role). A. Maude. his
English disciplc , not only madc translations chcckcd by
the author (thus "canonical") but wrote a Life of Tolstoy
(2 vols., La ndon, 1929- 30). On his vicw of history, L
Berlin, Th e Hedgehog an d the Fox (London , 1953); of art,
T .J . Diffey, Tolstoy's What is Art? (London, 1985). On his
imaginative writing R.F. Christian, Tolstoy: A Critical
lnırodu ction (Cambridge, 1969); J . Bay icy, Tolstoy and the
Novel (lo ndon, 1966). V. Shklovsky 's unusual discursive
biography (M oscow, 1967) has been translated.
Chekhov : some widelv available translations are
unsatisfa ctory. Outstandinğ is the near-complete collection
of stories and plays in the multivolume Oxford Chek-
hov (l 964- ), trans. R. Hingley; note also his critical biogra-
phy (landon, 1950, 1974); there is very full new Life by D.
Ray fi.eld (La ndon, 1997). Recent vcrsions of individual
play s by M. Fray n are alsa commendablc.
A selcction of other individual monographs and trans-
lations worth y of notc follows. A .G . Cross, N. M. Karam-
zin: a Study of his Literary Career (Canıbridgc, 1971 ). V .
Set chkerev, /varı Goncharov: a Study of his Life and Works
{Wurzburg , 1974). R. Frecbom, Turgenev {Westport,
1960). N. Leskov, The Enchanted Pilgrim, stories trans-
lated by D. Magarshak {London, 1946). R. Grcgg, F. Ty ut -
chev: the Evo lut ion of a Poet (Ncw York, 1965); Versions
fro m F. Ty utche~•, translated by C. Tomlinson (Oxford,
1960). R. Gustafton, The lmag ination of Spring (Ncw
Havcn, 1966) on Fct; translatıons from him in I Have
Com e to You to Greet You, trans, J . Greenc {London, 1982).
A. Bely, Petersburg, ne w (full) translation by R. Maguire
and J . .Malmstcad (Hassocks, 1978). J. Elsworth, Andrey
Bely (Letchworth, 1972). A. Blok , The Twel ve and Other
Poems, trans . P. France and J. Stallworthy (Landon,
1970); A. Pyman, The Life of A . Blok (Oxford, 1979- 80).
A . Akhmato va, Selected Poem s, trans. R. McKane {Oxford,
1969). O. Mandelshtam , Selected Poems, trans . C. Brown
and W . Merw in (London, 1973); The Prose of Osip Man -
delsta m , trans . and cd . C. Brow n (Princcton, 1965); C.
Brow n, Ma rıdelsta m (Cambridge, 1973); N. Mandelstam,
Hope against Hope (la ndo n, 1971) and Hope Abandoned
(Lond on , 1974), b oth trans . M . Hay ward, V. Khlebnikov,
The Kıng of Tım e, trans, P. Schmidt (a sclection from
v arious areas of his w ork, Cambridge, Mass. 1985); R.
Cooke, Velım ır Khlebn ikoı•: a Cntical Sıudy (Cambridge,
1987). V. Shklovs ky, Zoo, or Letters not about Loııe {novel,
trans. New York, 1971), A Sentımental Journey (mcmoırs,
Ncw York , 1970), Third Factory (criticism, Ann Arbor,
1977), ali trans. R. Sheldon, W . Woroszy lsky, The Life of
Mayakovsky (told through documents; Eng. edn. Landon,
1972); 1. Stahlberger, The Sy mbolic Sy stem of Mayakovsky
(The Hague, 1964); V . Mayakovsky, The Bedbug and
Selected Poetry, trans. M. Hayward, G. Reaves and P.
Blakc (London, 1962) mest English translations of
Mayakovsky's poetry are totally inadequate, though the
Scots versions by Edwin Morgan are good. J. Falen, lsaak
Babel: ,\taster of the Short Story (Knoxville, l 974); Babel's
Collecıed Sıories in new trsln. by D. McDuff {Penguin,
1994). A. Platonov, The Fierce and Beautıful World, stories
trans. J. Barncs (Lem-don, 1971) and The Foundation Pit
(trans!. R. Chandler, London, 1996). C. Bearne, Sholokhov
{London, 1969). D. Richards, Zamyatin (New York, 1962).
G. Mcvay, Esenin: a Life (London, 1970). Pastcrnak: thc
paems have been translated by many hands, oftcn inade-
quately, but with some success by P. France and J. Stall-
worthy, Selected Poems (London, 1983). The translationof
Doctor Zhiv ago by M. Hayward and M. Harari (London,
1958) needs to be supplemcmed by D. Davie, The Poemsof
Doctor Zhivago (Landon, 1965). Note Pasternak's important
Essay in Autobiography (London, 1959). Thcre is a
remarkable mcmoir of Pasternak (and Akhrnatova) in I.
Bcrlin, Personal lmpressıons (London, 1980). Thc fullcst
biography will be that b y C. Barnes, ofwhich one volume
has so far appeared {Cambridge, 1989). E. Proffer, Bul-
gakov {Ann Arbor, 1984). Solzhenitsyn's One Day of lvan
Deniso vich reads betler in the translation by M. Hayward
and R. Hinglcy (New York, 1963) than that by R. Parker;
M. Scammell, Solzherıitsyn (London, l 985), is a dctailed
account. N . Zabolotsky , Scrolls, trans . D. Weissbon (Lan-
don, 1971); note too N . Zabolotsky The Lıfe of Zabolotsky
(Cardiff, 1994). D. Kharms lncidences (Landon, 1993). A .
Vozncsensky, Antiworlds {Oxford, 1967}-- outstanding
translations by M. Ha yward with sevcral paets, including
W.H.Auden.
lmportant modern litcrary autobiographics and
mcmoirs include those of 1. Ehrenburg, V. Kataycv, K.
Paustovsky (scc also Shklovsky, Pasternak above).
Highly ımusual is M. Zoshchenko's autobiographical
fragmcnt "Before Sunrise" (in Dissonanı Voices in Soviet
Literature, see below). Prison memoirs by literary figures
include N. Zaboloısky, "Thc Story ofmy Imprisonment,"
trans. R. Milncr-Gulland (Times Literary Supplement,
9 Oct. 1981), E. Ginzburg, lnto the Whirlwind (Landon,
1967) and Within the Whirlwind, trans. 1. Boland
(London, 1981); and Solzhcnitsyn's lightly fictionalized
novels .
Somc studies of broader areas in l 9th- and 20th-
ccntury litcraturc: H. Gifford, The Novel in Russia (London,
l 964)- a concisc critical account, R. Poggioli, Poets
of Russ ıa (Cambridge, Mass. 1960). J . Wcst, Russian Sym-
bolism (London, 1970). V. Markov, Russian Futurism
(London, 1969). P. Stciner, Russian Formalism (London,
1985). R. Hinglcy, Nightingale Fever(London, 1982), on the
pacts Akhmatova, Mandelshtam, Tsvctayeva and Paster-
nak, C.V. James, Soviet Socialist Realism (london, 1973). V.
Dunham, Jn Stalın's Time (Cambridge, 1976)- a witty
account of "official" literature, D. Brown, Soviet
Literaıure since Stalin (Oxford, 1973). G. Hosking, Beyond
Socialist Realism (London, 1980)- particularly strong on
"village" prosc. On contemporary litcrature: R. Porter,
Russia's Alternative Prose (Oxford, 1994).
Anthologies arc often useful for getting to know modern
literature: P. Blake and M . Hayward (eds.), Disso-
narıı Voices in Sovieı Literature (Landon, 1961), reaches
from c. 1930 to 1960. G. Gibian, Russia's Lost Literaıure of
the Absurd (New York, 1971) on the OBERIU Leningrad
,niters, R. Milncr-Gulland and M. Dewhirst (eds.), Russian
Wriıing Today (Harmondsworth, 1977), prose and
poetry c. 1945- 75. D. Wcissbort (ed.), Post-War Russıan
Poetry (Harmondsworth, 1974). S. Massie (ed.), The Living
Mirror (Landon, 1980), good translations by various
hands of modern St Petersburg paets. P. Blakc and M.
Hayward (cds.), Halfway to the Moon (London, 1974)--
exccllent selection of "Thaw" writcrs, C. and E. Proffer,
Contemporary Russian Prose (Ann Arbor, 1982)- "long
short" sıories, E.J. Brown (ed.), Major Soviet Writers
(Oxford, 1973), is an anthology of criticism, particularly
notablc for Roman Jakobson's articles on Khlcbnikov and
Mayakovsky. On social background: J. Andrew, Writers
and Society durirıg the Rise of Russian Realism (London,
1980)
The Art ~
Thc most detailed history of Russian art in English is stili
G.H. Hamilton, Arı and Architecture of Russia {2nd edn.,

Harmondsworth, 1975), though it givcs liulc covcragc to
thc 20th century and is in somc respects out--of- date. R.
Milner-Gulland and J.E. Bowlt, Arı Iııt roduc tion ro Ru s-
sian Art and Architecturt' (Compaııimı to Russian Stııdıt's,
vol, 3, ed. R. Auty and D. Obolcm,ky, Cambridgc, 1980), ıı.
shorter and more recent. W. Brumfie[d, A Hı sto,y oj Russ-
ıan A rchiıecture (Cam bridgc, 1993). T. Tal bot Kice, A Con-
cise History of Russıan Art (Landon, I 963), has copıous
sm.ıll-format illusırations but is factually unreliabk. A
work to be used with c.ıution (a product ofthc Stalin agc)
but valuable in its integrJtcd .ıppro.ı.ch to the vısu.-ıl ,ınd
othcr .ırts is M. Alpatov, Thı: Ru ssıan lmpact cırı Art (2nd
edn., Ncv,• York, 1969). A. Bird, Rus.~ian Painting (Oxl ord,
1987), is strongcst on the 19th ccntury. A g<XJd critical
guide to cxtant monumcnts and muscums cxısb ın
German: E. Behrem, Kurıst in Ru sslaııd (Cologne, 1969). A .
& V. Opolovnikov, The Wooden Architectureof Russia (Lan-
don, 1989), with much information on rural lifo generally.
On Old Russi.ın art: H. Faenscn and V. lvanov, Early
Rııssian Architecıure (landan, 1975), .ı schalarly,
capiously illustrated and detailed, though not cxham-
tive, account, V. Liızarev, Old Ru ssıan ı'vlu mls aııd
ı\Josaıcs (Londı.ın, 1966) and Not•gomdian lcoıı Paintiııg
(Moscow, 1969); K. Onasch, lcons (La ndo n, 1963); B.
Uspcnsky, The Semiotics oftlıe Ru s..,iaıı lt on (Li~se, 1976)-
a concise and subtle study . Thc Byz.ıntin c artistic back-
ground can be studied in man y warks, e.g. A. Grabar,
By=antıum (Landon, 1966), and G. Mathcw, By:;aııtıııe Aô -
ıhetıcs (Landon, 1963). W . Brumfield .rnd J\ıt . Velimirovic
(eds.), Chris tiarıiıy and ıhe Arıs in Ru ssıa (Cambridgc, l 991)
links high art, folk art and music with rcligion. Scc too
Jı.-ledieval Russiaıı Culture I and ır {" History of ldeas,"
abave) and Milncr-Gulland, The Ru ssiaııs ("Gcncr.ıl Histo-
ries," above)
Art ofthc Pctersburg era: J. Cracraft , The Peırme Revo-
luıion irı Russian Archire cıure (Landon, l988J. T. Talbot
Rice, "Thc Conflux of lnf1uen ceı. in 18-century Ru ssi.ın
Art and Architccturc," in J. Garr.ırd (cd.), The 18th
Cmtury m Russia {see .ıbove); A . Kaganovich, Arts of Rus-
.'>ıa,vol. il fGcnev,1, 1964). M,ıny reccnt Ku ssian album~ of
l8th- an d 19th-century artists havc English or Frcnch as
wcll as Kus sian-languagc tcxt : e.g. K. Mikh.ıylova, Roku
toı· (Lcningrad , 1971). On the "Wandcrcn,'' and thei r agc:
E. Valkenicr, Ru ssıaıı R ealıst Art (Ann Arbor, 1977);
B.W . Kean, Al! the Empıy ı~ataCt's (Landon, 198 5), on
patronagc. Scc too P. Rooscvclt, Lıj e oıı the Ru ssıan Counıry
Es/ate [Yale, 1995)
On 20th-ccntury art: C. Gray, The Ru ssian Experiment in
Arı 1863 1922 (only tlıc 3rd eJn. witlı adJitional noıes
can be rccommcndcJ, Landon, 1988): J.E. Bowit, Ru ssıa11
An of the A t'aııt Garde: Theory and Criticisın 1902- J<I
(New York, 1976); V. Mar ca dı: , Le Rt•ııouvt•au de l'urt pıc­
tural russe (Lauı.annc , 197 1) an ımportant study. Thcre
arc too many works in English on individual artist, and
archıtccts to list marc titan a s.ı mplc . Kandinsky studi es
are an induı.try in themsdv e:ı.; the muı.t useful cd n . uf hiı.
Oıı thr? Spiritual in Art is tlıat by J .E. Bowlt and K.C.
\Vashton Long{OxforJ, 1980) P . Wci ss, Kandinskyanı:i Old
Rııssw flondon , 1994) is a hıghly ı.ırıginal study of hımın
thc light ol (largel y) p.ıı:,an imagery. On Malcvich : \\' . Sim-
mon s, Malevich's Black Square (Ncw York, 1981); Male-
ı.:ich, cssays, some ımportant, by various hands in English
and German (Culognc, l 978); K. Malcvich, Essays on Arı,
trans. T . Andcrsen fCopcnhagcn, 1968). J. Milncr, Vladı ­
mır Taıliıı aııd ılıe Ru ssiaıı Aı ·ant-Garde (London, 1983):
L. ZhadO\'d (e d.), Tattın (Lando n, 191'.!8) copiously d ocu-
mentcd. J .E. Howlt and N. Misler, Paııd Fı!onov: a Hero
and Hı s Fı:ıte (Austin, 1983}--Filonov's own writings,
wıth dct.ıilcd biagraphi c .ıl commcnt.ı.ry. A . P.ırson, Lari-
onov (Princcton, 1993). A. Kopp, Town and R etıolution:
Sotıİt't Archıtt'cture aııd Cıty Plamımg 191 7 33 (New Yurk ,
1970). V. Sh\'idkovsky, Building m tht' USSR 191 7- 32
(Landon, 1971). C. Loddcr, Ru ssıaıı Constrtıcrivism (Lan-
don, 1983). S. Bojko, New Graphic Design in R ettolııtionı.ııy
Russia (New York, 1972). M. C. Brown, Socialı.'>t R ealist
Pa iııtirıg (Y die U.P. , 199X).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Miscellancous artis ıic topics: K C. Williams, Artists iıı
R eııoluıioıı: l'orıraiıs of the Jiıı ssıcm Avaııı Ga,·de ( B l ooııı­
ıngt o n ,ln7], brings ıogether studies of writers, politi-
cians, artiı.tı. and ınovie-makcrs in an uneven but
intcrcstingsynthcsis . J.E. llowlt and S. H.ınn(edı..], Russıaıı
Formalism (Edinburg h , l 973), incluJe~ studi es and urigmal
ducumentsrclatıng to litcratun:, ciııcm.ı. and thc visua l arts.
K. Bcrto n, Mos cow: arı Aı·chitectural Hı sıory (Landon,
1976). N. Gosling, Ll'nıngraJ(London, 1%3). A. Voycc, Tlıe
/ı.loscow Kremlin (Norman, 1954). E. l vanova, Rus.'>ıaıı
Applied Arı (Lcııingrad, 1976). Yu . Ovsyannikov, The
Lubok (Moscow, 1963) and Russia11 Folk Arıs and
Cmfts (Moscow, 197';). A. llilt on, Ru ~sian Folk Art (Blorıııı ­
ingto n, 19q J). On cincma: L. andJ. Schnitzcr(cds.), Cinema
ııı Rcvolııtıon (La ndon, 1973); Y. Barna, Eısensteın (Bloom-
ingto n, 1973). On hallet: A. llaskcll, Diaghılejj (Ncw York,
193'l) a nd The Russian Genıus in IJal!eı (Oxford, 1963), a
very con ci;,e introduction; R. Bucklc, Nijmsky (Landon,
197 1). On modern theatcr: K. St.ınislav~ky, M.y Lijc in Arı
(New York, 19 24); A Rıpcllıno, Maıakoı ,..,ı...-ı er le theiitre
ı-usse d'aııant-gurdt• (Parıs, 1965) an ınıport;mt ı.tudy, abo
in ltalian; E. Braun (ed.J, Mıyerhold orı Theatre (Landon,
l 9fi9) rranslations and cxce ll enı commcntary.
On music: a good many mcmoirs (c.g . by c;Jınka,
Rimsky-Korsakav, Stravi nsky) arc availab!t: in Eng lbh,
and thcrc are individual monographı. on thc main conı­
poı.crs. Note too A.J. Swan, Ru ssian l\.fıısic anJ iıs Ongiııs
in Chant anı:i Folk Soııg (Lrındon, 197 3); G K Scaın.ın,
Hı story of Ru ssıan Musıc, vo l. 1 (Oxlord, 1967) up to
D.ırg o myz h s ky; inıeresting .ırıicles by A. and J. Sw,rn
and J . Spicgeim.ın in J. Garrard (cd .), The Eıghtr?enıh Cen
ruıy in Russiu (scc abo\'c); G. Abraham, Slavunic and
R omaıııic Mu~ic (La ndon, 1968). Hut the outı.tanding
sourcc for up-to--datc information is S. Sadic (ed .), Tlıe
Neı...ı Gml'e Dıctıoııary of ı\I usic and Mu sicians, 20 vols.
(Landon , 1980), with detailed articlcs on ali sigmficant
and many insignifıcant conıpasers and selected nıusical
topi cı..
227
GLOSSARY
Thc purpo-.e of thıs glossary is to givc informal
explanations ofsomc important words and concepts that,
though frequcntly encountc-rcd, may cau<,e diffıculty to
readers unfamiliar with their social, hıstorical or
linguio;;tic contcxt. Less common Russian terms that arc
adcquately expl.ained where they occur in ıhc text arc
not inc\udcd. Bold type in thc tcxt indicatcs a
cross -reference.
Hoyar ln broad terms, amale mcmberofthc higher
arıstocracy (boyarstt•o) in mcdıeval Russia. Thc female
cquivalcnt is boyarinya. More specifi.ca lly, a boyar \•vas a
mcmhcr of the boyar cou ncil (Boyarskaya duma), thc
tsar's pcrmancnt ad\•isory commıttee until the time of
Peter 1, chosen by thc tsac usually (but by no means
always) from the highest aristocratic familics .
B) z.ıntinc cm pire The modern name for the eastern
dıvısion ofthe Roman empire, whose capital was
cstablished bv Constantine the Great in 330 at the
ancient Gı-eek colon y of Byzantium, renamed by him
"New Ronıe " and gcncrally known as Constantinople. it
provided early Russia with a focus foı- trade, an object of
envy, subsequenıly a religion, an art, a literature anda
cultural cxaınple
Cossack A dıstinct group of Russian frontiersmen in the
hazardous, undcrpopulated southern steppe . Thc name
(Ka:ak) comes from a Tuı-ki c term for "rider" or
"freebooter," as, confusingly, docs the name ofthe
modern Turkic Kazakhs. Kno,,·n from the 15th century,
thcv formed militarized, democratic colonies chiefly
aroİ.ınd the Dnieper (the Zaporozhian host), Don and
Yaik (or Ural) Rivers; at thcır most powcrful (in thc 17th
century) they played off Muscovy, Poland and Turkey
and intcrvened signifıcantly in the Time ofTroubles.
The attracıions of settled life gradually weakened their
institutions, but thcy retained theiı- role asa cavalry elite
until the Russo-Polish War of 1920.
.,Cross-in-square" The standard Byzantine church plan
aftcr the 9th century, adopted throughout the Orthodox
world and universa\ in Russia until the 16th century .
Three bavs intersect threl' naves, all barrcl-vaulted, with
apses at t-hc cası cnd. Thc ccntral navc and transcpt may
be vaulıed ata higher !evci, forming the "cross element;
there is a narıhex (parch) at ıhe west.
druzhina The immediate retinuc of the princes in
Kievan times, constituting both bodyguard and adYisory
committec, zealous of its independence.
dvoryanstvo The landowning class of tsarist and
imperial Rus sıa , variously translated "gentry " or
"nobility," but not quıte corresponding to Wcstcrn
models [there was no landed aristocracy and no
devcloped fcudalism ın Ru s-.ıa). T hc drnryanin might
hold land hereditarily (votchina) or conditionally
(pomestye), but in practicc thc Muscovite systcm made all
privilege dependent on state service. From J 762 sen,ice
ceased to be obligatory (though n:mained the norm): the
dvoryanin could reside on his estate, to which in 1785 he
gained full title. Thc dvoryanstııo played a ,,ital role ın
maintaining authority and collccting taxes in the
pr0\'lllCCS
dvoyeveriyc "Double belief," the persistence of pagan
customs and habits ofthought alongside Christianıty ın
the Russian countryside until recent times.
Gul,1g A Soviet Russian acronym for "State Directorate
of Camps." controlling the widespread network of prison
camps of various kinds characteristic ofthe 1930s t o
1950s; its quasi-autonomous statm. and geographıcal
spread led Solzhenitsyn to refer to it as an ".ı rchipelag o"
ın the titl e of his work (1974-75) that brought the word
public attention.
ıorde Orıginally dcnoting a Turko-Tatar elan
,;e t [orda), the term used by medieval Russians
tt'. he Yast Westcrn ıerriıoria l division ofıhe
he 'Golden" Horde on account of its
,, O\'erlord.
icun Thc representation of sacred personages or events,
in whatcvcr medıum, from the Greek word for "image."
lt has come to have the narrower connotation ofa
wooden pancl-painting, executcd ın tcmpera ona pla-.ter
ground according to traditional models. lcons were
funda mental to worship throughout the Orthodox world
from the 9th ce ntury, and were ubiquitous in churches,
homcs and shnnes. Stylistically they underwent rich
development on Rus sia n soiL with its climax marked
by much loca! varicty in the 15th century.
iconocla!>m Literally, "image-breaki ng ." A lengthy
episode in 8th-9th-century Byza ntine histo ry during
w hich thc impcrial authorıtıes forbade thc display and
veneration of representational sacred art, following the
Second Commandment against "graven images." Popular
and mona-.tic resistance by rhe venerators oficons
f"ıconodules'') c,·entually triuınphed, and with the
restoration ofimages came their systematic integration
into Orthod ox theology (as symbolızing the lncarnation)
and into the adornment of churches.
iconostasis An icon-screcn. Early- mt-dieval Eastem
churches hada low balustradc separating nave from altar
sanctuary. On this icons were placed. in the later Middle
Agcs it became a multiticrcd wooden framework, the
finesr examples of which survive a ı Zagorsk and in the
Moscow Annunciation Cathedral. Normally the lowest
tier ofthe iconostasis displays locally venerated icons,
the next the Virgin, thc Baptist, Evangclists and othcrs
interceding with Christ on behalf ofthe vımrshipers, the
next thc feastday icons and the highest the Prophets.
intcl ligcntsia Thc "thinking," self-awarc and educated
dass asa whole (with no nccessary implication of
intellectual bı-illiance). it soon acquired oveTtones ofa
critical attitude to the esıablished order; ıhus those who
served the state, however intelligent, would not
normally be considered intelligenty. A loose coinage from
Latin that arose in the mid-19th centurv, the word was
popularized, like other catchwords ofihe time (e.g
"superfluous man, " "nihilist"), by lvan Turgenev .
k n ·mlin The fortificd citadel at the heart ofmost
medieval Russian cities (Russian krem!, rclated to the
modern word for "fünt" (" krem en")- From the carlv 16th
century kremlins were usuall y built of brick. Theie are
notable examples at Smolensk, Tula and Serpukhov ,
generally linked with thc 16th-ccntury system of
fortificaııons south of Moscow ıntended to prevent
incursions from thc steppc.
ku lak A rich peasant (literally, "fist"J. The term had
derogatfre connotations and is assodatcd particularly
with thc "dckulakization," forcible repression of the
wealthier (often only marginally wealthieı-) peasantry
accompanying Stalin's collectivization
mestnic hcstvo The .i\1uscovite systcm of appointments
by precedence: boyars would serve only in posts equal
or superior to thosc of thcir forebcars. and posts had to
be distributcd hierarchically v,•ithin familics. Thc syskm
was complex and inefficıent , lcading to constant
squabbling, and had to be suspended in \\'artime; it
rcpresented nevertheless a constı-aiııt on the ruler. in
1682 Fyodor 111 's government abolished it , and the
ra:::ryadnyc knıgi, books recording details of precedence .
,,·ere burnt .
mir Traditionally, the village communc (sometimes
termed obshchina), an institution significa nt in imperial
Russia as the basic organizing unit of socicty at peasant
Jc,•e\. in modern Russian ınir means either "peace" or
"world." Thc mir was responsıble for the allocatıon of
agricultural tasks, recruitment, the reparıitioning of
comınunal land and payment oftaxes. As an exprcssion
of, apparently, spontaneous grass-roots coopcration . it
was of great interest t o Ru ssian populısts (even to
Marxists].
narodn ic hestvo Russian populism (dcri\'ing from narod,
"people"): the dominant oppositional ideology after the
1860s, with many ramifications from the conservativc to
t he \'İOicntly re,·olutionary , having in common
admiration for the peasantry, their innate wisdom and
communal institutions, A populist is a narodnık.
naro dn os t Literally, "popular quality," though often
loosely rendered "natiunality" (the word is hard to
translatc precisely) . With "autocracy" and
"orıhodoxy," it formed the trinity of principles that
supported the doctrine of "Offıcial Nationality"
propagated under Nicholas 1, and it carried ideological
overtones of supposcd popular support for the tsarist
system. lt was perhaps surprisingly im·oked again as onc
ofthe principlcs ofSocialist Realism in thc l 930s.
NEP "New Economic Policy," introduced by Lenin's
gm·ernment in the summer of 1921 to replace the
ı-igorous regime of "War Communism," which had
brought the country to the point of collapse. The
government, while controlling the "commanding
heights" ofthe economy, permitted small-scale industry,
private tradc and retailing and encouraged peasant food
production: public accountability and taxation returned
NEP quickly pro,,ed a success, though it caused
ideologically co mmitted Communists much disquiet as so-
called "Nepmcn" and kul a k s flourished. Stalin cndcd
NEP, introducing the first Five-Year Plan (Fyatilerka) and
agricultural collccti,·ization latc in 1928.
odn od vo rtsy "Single-homesteaders," a diverse social
group, fairly numerous in the southern provinces. at the
lower margin ofthe landowning dass. Generally too
poor to hold serfs, they differed little from state
peasants, but expended much effort in the 18th century
in trying to maintain thcir separate status. They
originated in the military settlcment ofthc southcrn
frontier.
O]d Be li e ve rs
See staro vcry .
Orth o d ox Church The church of Eastern Europe and
the Near East, deriving from Byzantium, nowadays with
adherents worldwide. in its own eyes it represents the
direct continuation ofthe carly apostolic church, from
which ot her branches of Christendom divcrgcd
Differenccs ofritual and problcms of authority led to
schism betwcen Constantinople and Rome from 1054,
but this had !inle general impact until the 4th Crusade
sacked Constantinople (1204). After the mid-l 5th
century Muscovite Russia identifıed İt!>clf ever more
dJTectly as the true dcfondcr of Orthodoxy
Orthodoxy in Byzantium and Old Russıa was
characterized by the ideal of dose symbiosis (sy mphonia,
"harmony") betweeıı rulcr and church. in imperial
Russia thc church v-:as treated as an arm of state (which
tamishcd lts rcputation among thc l 9th-century
inte llig e nt sia]. Lituı-gically and theologically,
Orthodoxv has much in common v,•ith Roman
Catholicis~; both accept the first seven councils of the
church. They differ over the wording ofthe Crced
("filioque") and somt- other doctrinal points, but more
ımportantly ovcr what Orthodoxy sees as the
authoritarianism and scholastic nature of Catholicism.
The Orthodox priesth0ı..--.d, traditionally Jh,ing close to
the peasantry and often scarcely literate, was obliged to
marry; bishops, beıng celibate, came from the
monasteries: there are no separatc monastic orders. An
Orthodox hcı-itage much valued in ıhe 19th and 20th
centuries is that of "communa!ity" (sobornost). A
tradition of hermits, holy men (startsy), fools in Christ
(yurodivye), mendicants, uncanonized and locally
veneratcd saints is more characteristic of Orthodoxv
than forma! theology, yet mystical Hcsychasm proVided
a specifically Orthodox inıpu l se to belıevers from the
14th ccntury onwards.
p,ırs un a An iconic portrait (deriving from the Latin
persona, via Polish). Examples ofthe pa r sun a probably
go back ıothe !ate 16th century, and become common in
thc 17th: thcy often co mmemorated rcccntly dead people
of distinction. Using thc tcchniques oficon painting, the
paı·suna aıms at rccognizable dcpiction, though without
great individuation or "rcalistic" modelıng; it
neverthcless played a tramitional role betwecn Old
Russian and Westcrn art.

patriarch Head of one of the five areas ofjurisdiction in
ıhe early church (Rome. Antıoch. Alexandna, Jerusalem,
Constantinople). The Pope {parri,uch of Rome) was
ıraditionally regarded as "first among equals," but came
ıo claim larger authoriıy. Russia, the head ofwhose
church until then had been a rnetropolitan, negotiated
the establishrnent ofa patriarchate in 1589; it was
suspended b_y Peter I and reestablished in 1918.
samizdat "Self- publication"· a parody acronym on the
model ofGosi;:dat, "'State Publıshıng House." The terın
became well known from the 1960s, but the activin· of
deliberately circulating writings that haw been, or
might be, banned by censorshıp is much older and was
particularly \\idespread under ~icholas 1.
serfs Peasants "bound" tothe land they ,vorked (as is
implied by the Russian term, krepostrıye). Serfdom in
Russia developed gradually in the Muscovite period (as
it waned in ıhe rest of Europe) and was not fully
institutionalized until the law code of 16---19 UntH the late
15th century peasant workers could change landlords at
will around St George·s Day (in Xo\'ember): this right
was abrogated ın years of famine or war. ,ınd in the 16th
century it ce,ısed to exist. The Muscovite government
thereby ensured that the est.ıtes with which it rewarded
dvo ryanst,·o were ,·ıable. Serfs worked part ofthe week
for the landowner (barshchina) or paid quitrent (obrok),
or both. but were technically sen·ing the government,
like the landowners themsel\'es. Serfdom was not
slavery. though at nmes the practica.1 distinction was
slight Serfs ne,·er constiruted more than halfthe Russian
population (contrary to received opınion), as there were
substantial numbers of "state peasants," tied to place of
residence but otherwise free to arrange their lives;
serfdom nc\·er took root in remoter parts such as ~iberia,
the Cos~ck lands, the far norıh.
ser\"lce state The social system fully de\·eloped in
~lusc0\'\' un der Ivan IV wherebv all classes were
regarded as the tsar's sen·itors (Cf. d\·oryanstvo , serfs) .
The tsar also exercised general control over the church
and the merchants, holding several trade monopolies.
Tax-gathering was fa~med out (konnl~ıye, literally
"feeding"). Peter I. in modernizing and in some ways
"Westernizing" the sen•ice st,ıte, a.:tually made it more
effident ,ınd oppressive.
Slavo philism An ideology that developed from the
1840s, as ,ın idiosyncratic Russian version of European
romantic nationalism. in \·arious transformations it has
continued to affect Russi,ın socıopolitical thought e\'er
since (most dearly in such \\Tİ.ters as Dostoyevsky and
~olzhenitsyn). ~lavophiles perceived a special and
precious historical destiny in Russian natİ\'C institutions
and religion (particu.Jarly in sobornost (" communaliıy"),
a term they popularized). They are usually conırasted
with "\\'estermzers," theı.r more diverse opponenrs.
Socialist Realisrrı _.._-either a "stvle" nor a "theorv," but
defined by irs proponents as th~ creath·e "methÜd" for
the arts in the Soviet ünion, implying also a critica1
approach to an in general. Thc term seems to ha,·e been
devised in 1932, ifnot by Gorky then with his appro,·al,
and was officıally promulgated, at first in literarure,
from 1934. lts fundamental precepts were nar od n ost,
partıyıosr (agreement with Party principles) and ıdeynost
{intel!ectual qualıty. i.e. identifiable ideas). Since Stalin's
time Socialist Realism, though retaining official approval,
came to be tacitly ignored.
starovery (or staroobryadtsy) "Old Belie\·ers": those
who would not accept the Orthodox Church refonns of
Patriarch _.._-ikon and Tsar Aleksev ofthe 1650s.
confirnıed after Xikon's downfa!İ ln 1666. The reforms
split the country: there are no reliable st.atistics, but
perhaps half of aJl Russians adhered to the Old {in their
eyes, True) Belief. A major di\"lsion soon arose ben\·een
those who retained clergy and those whO--because their
clergy could not be consecrated--did not (be;:poportsy).
b.ır The autocratic ruler ofRussia. The term, an earlv
impon into the Slavonic languages, derives from , components: {l] the first or proper name (imya); (2) the
"Caesar." in the earl_y Middle Ages it referred to the
Byzantine emperor, subsequemly also to the Tatar khan.
Russian rulers were from the 12th century styled "grand
prince" (ve/i;.__-:ı- knyaz). They were inform.ally sometimı:s
calkd "tsar" (perhaps under Serbian ınfluence) from the
!ate 14th Ct:'nturv; the first to be so CrD\"\ned wa!> kan IV
(1547). Peter I upgraded the royal title to "emperor"
(accepted only reluctantly in other European countries),
though "ts.1r" remamed ın popular use.
nc h e The popul,ır assembly, consisting of ali heads of
households. in the towns of Kievan Rut. This
quintessentially democratic, if rather ill-organized,
insıitution was probably of prehistoric origin; it varied in
its power, but seems to have often played a signifıcant
role in deciding large issues, ı::ven ofpeace and war.
zemskiy sobor An "assembly of the l.ınds" or estates, a
~lusco\•ite instirution summoned irregularly for special
and important purposes. The Russian word .:emlya
means "land," and historicallv also denoted the
territorial units or principalides into which Old Russia
was diYided. The first known assemblv was in 1549; the
most famous marked ıheend ofthe T iİne ofTroubles bv
choosing ,\lichael Rornano,· as tsar in 1613. Little is •
;:e~~~:~~f~~-tttcf;~~e::;ı~:!1~~~.:::}e~.!:!e:~ but
elements ofthe population (even on occasion state
peasants).
:\ o t e on dating
Lntil the end of Januarv 1918 Russia adhered to the
Julian calendar-1 l d,ı~·s behind the \\'estern
(Gregonan) calendar in.the 18th century. 12 days in the
19th, 13 days in rhe 20th. The date given is that whıch
applied in Russia at the time referred to, though in some
cases, where it it necessary to be more specific. the
abbre,·iations O~ (Old Style, i.e. Julian) and >.s. (:--;-ew
StyleJ are used. The Russian Orthodox Church continues
to use O.S. dating for linırgical purposes.
;\""ote on transliteration and namcs
>o single system of transliteration from ıhe Cyrillic
alphabet has been generally agreed in ıhe
English-speaking countries, panly because ofthe vagaries
ofEnglish spelling and pronunciation, parıly because of
the varied purposes transliteration has had to sen•e.
\\'e have chosen !he system used in the three-\·olume
Cambridıe Companion cO Russıan Studies, with slighı
modificaıions for the ease ofthe non-specialist reader. it
pro,ides a good idea of how Russian words should be
pronounced. :'\ote that =h (X) represents the -s- sound in
"pleasure, .. kh (X) the -eh sound in "loch." The letter y
has three functions: ( 1) at a consonant similar to the y- in
"yes," it is heard in Russian as the fi~t component of
ye-, yo, ya, yu-, each indicated by a single Cyrillıc letter,
and when -i- follows the palat,ılizing "soft sign" (e.g. in
Ilyich): (2) at an independent vo\-.el it represents the
Russian sound, not found in standard English. but
approximating to the -i- in Scots pronunciation of
"little"; (3) after a \'Owel (e.g. -ay-, -oy- ete.) itfomıs a
~1r:~n~~!i~~:~İ::o~ııe: ~~;::~ı:1~~.t:~s
for
simplicity been rendered as -y in thıs volume {similarly
names in -kiy become -ky). After ;::h. sh. eh, "ye" and
"vo" have been rendered "e" and "o" in accord,mce
":ith pronunciation; following English convention "ye"
has also been rendered "e" ,ıfter other consonants and the
vowel -y-. Tbe "soft sign, .. palatalizing ıhe
preceding consonant, has not been indicated (sa.ve
through-y- where immediately followed by a \·owel)
~on-speakers of Russian should realize tbat Russian
words of more than one syUable carry a single hen·y
srress accent that can theoreticallv fail on anv svllable;
there are few ru.les to provide guidance, andJ ·
unfortunateh· it is not usually indicated
onhographiCally. The vowe(-yo- however is always
stressed.
GLOSSARi
Russian personal names always have three
patronymic (otcheslt•o). derived from one's father's first
name with the termination -ovich, -evich or -ich
(masculine), -ovna, -evna, -ishna (feminine); (3) ıhe
surname f,ımilıya), that arrived ın Russıan society later
than the others, and generally ends in -ov, -ev, -yn, -in,
-sky (masculine), -ova, -t'\'a, -yna, -in,ı, •skaya
(feminine). Anormal polite form of address is bv the first
name and patron:!-·mic "Familiar" forıus of fırst ~names are
common: e.g. Kalya from '.',;ikolai. Sasha from
Aleksandr(<1), \'an\•a from lvan, \lash,ı from Mariva ete
it is interesting io know the national origins or"some
other common types of surname in the region. The ending
-enko is originally Ckrainian; -ko, Belarusian. Georgian
n,ımes commonly end with-shvili, -dze. -ıa Thc grcat
majority of Armenian names endin -yan (-ian). Latviaıı
names often endin -s, Lithuanian ones in -is. Manv
Turkic names have been "Russianized" bv the addition
ofthe termınation -ov to their original foÇm. The
surname endings -ovich, -e\·ich are of \\'est Russian or
Polish origin; so. often, are -o,·sky, -evsky (if sıressed on
the penulrimate syllable).
ln rendering personal and place names for the
purposes ofthis volume we have permitted ourselves
some inconsistencies where a common English usa.ge bas
become so normal that strict transliteration might cause
confusion or irritation. Thus we use the following forms
(correct transliteration and stre-ss in br,ıckets): Potemkin
(Potyömkin). Gorbache\' (Gorbachö\·). Khrusbchev
(Khnıshchöv), Alexander (Aleks.indr), Peter (Pyotr), Tsar
:\icholas j.'\ikoLii in other cases), Tsar Pau.J (P.-ivel in
other cases), St Sergius {Serge"y or Se"rgiy), St Stephen
(Step.in), Soph.ia (Sofi.ya). Some !ate 19th-,ınd early
20th-centur_y public figures hada preferred Western
spelling oftheir names which we follow: e.g. Diaghilev
{Dy.igile,·); Ehrenburg {Erenbıirg); Benois {Benu.i);
Tchaikovsky (Cha_yk0vsky): _.._-ijinsky (l\"izhinsky):
Chagall (Shaga.l); Meyerhold (Meyerkhöld); E.isenstein
(Eyzenshteyn); \\'itte (\'itte). ~ioscow (~losh.i). St
Petersburg (Sankt-Peterbfilg). Archangel (Arkh.ingelskJ,
Dnieper (Dnepr), Pripet {Pripy.it), Crimea (Krym),
Caucasus (Ka\·k.iz). \\'h.ite Lake (BelOOzero).
~lany non-Russian names are also spelt com entionall:,.·
(e.g. those ofmost Cnion Republics). in other cases the
Times Allas spelling is normally followed. A few other
Russian words well known in English are alw affected:
taiga. soviet (taygiı, so,•eı-each oftwosyllables); rouble
(rubl----one syllableJ; chernozem (chernozyoın).
The rendering of names in an atlas such as this has
una\·oidably become a more complex rnarter than it was
in 1989. Then, it was normal simply to transliterate from
the Cyrillic forms gi,·en in Soviet reference-works
according to a consıstent system. using conYentional
English forms \,·here they existed (and the Roman spelling
ofBaltic n.ames in Lithuania. Latvia ,ınd Estonia). \\'ith
the dissolution ofthe Soviet L"nion into independent
Republics the following proces!>es have complicated the
issue. (1) ~lany place-names ha"·e bee-n changed. usually
to a pr!!-Soviet form: it is not alw,ıys easy to establish
when this has officially taken place, and iı can le.ad to odd
results (e.g. there is stili a "Leningrad Pro\'"]nce whose
capital is now ~t. Petersburg). (2) A Latin alphabet with
its own norms, has replaced Cyrillic in official use in some
ofthe republics. , 3) in C"kraine ;md Belaru<; v-.·!ı.ere Sin
l.ınguages closely related to Russian and using the Cyrilhc
alphabet ha,·e official sıatus as 'fırsı lan_guages". many
changes reflecting the modern pronnunication ofthese
languages have modified the accepted orthography. Thı:se
changes are reflected in many· modern English language
atla ses and we ha,·e followed this in the third pan
("Regions and Republics") ofthis \·olume. ~ince the
reader m.ay well wonder e.g .. if "Kyyi,· is thc- same a!>
the more familiar 'Kie...-" or ··Bukhoro ıhe same as
"Bukhara' (they are), we h.aw put the fami iar fornıs ın
brackets where appropriate. in the hrst two pans we ha\'"e
retained earlier spelli □g!>. \\'e areaware th,ıt no solution
to the problem of rendering names in English is perfect
but trust we have struck an acceptable balan.:e in our nev.
edition.
229
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Ab breviations. l - top, ti - top left, ır top right, 1576: Victoria and Al bert Museum. london. Photo:
c center h OOttom ete. Michael Holford, London.
621. The obvcrse ofthe State seal of lvan IV: Thc Central
Statc Archives of Ancient Statements, Novosti, Landon.
Equinox acknowledgc the assistance of Malcolm Day, 62tr. The building ofıhe palace ofthe oprichrııki, from
Landon. '.'-ıchlas Harris, Oxford, Andras BereLnay, the Chroniclc ofNikon, 16th century: National Historical
Landon, and Zoe Goodwin, London, in preparing m.aps. Museum. Moscow. :'.\'ovosti, Moscow .
Maps were drafted by f:uromap, Pangbourne, Alan Mais, 62 be. Dinner for the oprichnıki in the monastcry of
Hornchurch, and Lovell Johns, Oxford. Alexandrov from a contemporary drawing: Novosti,
Moscow.
Fndpapers: l6th--century map ofRussia from S. von 63t. Banner of lvan IV aı ıhe siege of Kazan: Novosti,
Herberstcın, Traı,elsm .\1uSCO I)'• Moscow
63d. kon portrait oflvan IV: Xational Museum,
page Copenhagen. Photo: Lenna.rt Larsen
2 6. Counıry sporu; in l 9th--.:entury Russia from J. 63cr. Garmenı worn by one of the oprichnina: Novosti.
Rıchter and C. G H Geissler, Jeux n diverıissememsdu Moscow.
peuple ru~."it: (Bodleian Library, Oxford). 63hr. Thetakıng of Kazan by lvan iV, 16th-cenıury
8--9. Artwork by John Fuller, Cambridge manuscript: Roger-Viollet, Paris.
IOtl. Vas:!.ily HL from 5. van Herberstein, Traı ·els ın 64. Renaissance-style partal Moscow Kremlin. Photo:
MııSCOI')' Xikolai Rachmanov (Deserıina Verlag, S wiızerland).
IOtr. h"an iV : Michael Holford, Landon. 65. North doorway, Caıhedral ofıhe Archangel MichaeL
IOcr. Peter the Great: ~ichael Holford, Landon. Moscow Kremlin: Linda Proud, Oxford.
10b. Cathcrıne the Great, painting by Erichsen: Bullur. 66. Boris Godunov; :-;rovosti. landon.
Paris. 68bl. Iconostasis ofthe Trin iıy Cathedral, Zagorsk:
11 ti. Alexander l: Fotomas lndcx, London. Vadim Gippenreiter.
11 tr. :-; icholas il: Jean-Loup Charmeı, Parıs . 68hr . Sergiyev Posad churches: Vadim Gippenreiter.
l lbl. Stalin: David King Collcction. London. 68--691. Vicw ofSergiyev Posad: Vadim Gippenreiter.
l lbr. Ycltsin: Steve :\1cCurry Magnum Photos, Landon. 69cr. Serg(yev Posad well-chapel: Vadim Gippenreitcr.
I 'i. From Costumes of ıhe Ru.rnan Empire, 1863 {British 69b. Interior ofthe Donnition Cathedral. Sergiyev Posad:
Library . Landon). .\1.agnum, London.
l7t . Tundra m summcr: Vadım M. Krohin, Moscow . 70-71. Artwo rk bv Dick Barnard and John Fuller
18 19. Reindeer in taiga foresı. Fred Ma yer Magnum. 72bl. School ofTh(!ophanes ıhc Greek, Virgin ofthe
20-2lt. Winter trees: Vadim Gippenrciter. Moscow . Don, ıcon, 86 x 67·5 cm. laıe 14th century: Tretyakov
21 b. Geese in deciduous forest: Vladimir Ryabkov, Gallery, M oscovı,• (Photo: Aurora Art Publishers. St
Moscow. Petersburg).
24. Kara Kum Desert: Vadim Gippenreiıer. 72tr. Andrey Rublyov, icon ofChrist. l 58 x l035 cm.
25 Aral Sea G. Pınkhassov_ Magnum Photos, London. c. 1409: Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow (Photo: Aurora Art
30t. Scvthian ritu.al vessel: 11.useum of Ancienı Publishers, St Petersburg).
Ornamf'nıs, Kiev (Phoıo: Aurora Art Publishers, Sı 72hr. Andrey Rublyov, Old Testament Trinity, icon,
Petersburg). 141·8x112 ·7 cm. 1411: Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow
30c. Comb, reversc side: Hermitage Museum, St (Photo: Aurora Art Publishers, St Petcrsburg).
Petersburg {Photo: Aurora Art Publisbers, St Petersburg). 72 73c. Detail ofLast Judgment fresco from Vladimir:
30b. Shield plaque, srag: Hermitage Museum, St Vadim Gippenreiter.
Petersburg {Phoıo: Aurora Art Publishers, St Petersburg). 73. School ofDionisiy, ln Thee rejoiceth aJl creation,
30-3 l. Pectoral: Museum of Ancienı Ornaments, Kicv icon, 148 5 x IIO cm, early 16th century: Trcty akov
(Photo: Aurora Art Publıshers, St Petersburg). Gallery, Moscow (Photo: Aurora Art Publishers. St
3hr. Badge of fraıernity: Hermitage ~1useum, Sı Peıersburg).
Petcrsburg (Pboto: Aurnra Art Pubhshers, Si PctersburgJ. 76. The reception of foreign ambassadors by Tsa.r
32. Artwork bv John Fuller and John Brennan. Aleksey, from Olearius'slourney to Muscovy, 1660:
33. St Bons and St Gleb, icon, scbool of Moscow, 13th British Library.
century: Russian Museum, St Peıersburg {Photo: Aurora 77. Pon.ra it of Tsar Aleksey M ikhaylovich: Collection
Art Publishers, St Petersburg). Countess Bobrınsky (Photo: Michael Holford).
34. Greek coin found in Kerch: i\ovosti, Landon. 78. An Old &liever, from ·w. Dixon, La Russia, Libera:
39. ~ovgorod bırch-bark document: Novosti . London. British Li brary.
40. A Byzantine philosopher talks with Prince Vladimir, 80. Tsar Fyodor lll: John Massey Stewan, Landon.
from thc Radzıwıll Chronicle, 15th century: 8lt. Gold coin ofSopbia: Michael Holford.
NovostifFrank Spooner Pictures. 81c. Gold coin of Ivan V and Peıer I : Michael Holford.
43. Gold coin ofVladimir 1, c. 980-1015: Novosti, 82-83. The Paıriarch Nikon: Novo.sti, Landon.
London. B4- 8j. R osıov Kremlin: Vadim Gippenreiıer.
44. The defense of Novgorod against ıhe ıroops of 86-87. Ali photographs by \'adim Gippenreııer. Anwork
Suzdal, icon, 171 x 125·8 cm, school ofNovgorod. 15th by John Brcnnan .
century: Museum of Art Hisıory, ?'-iovgorod (Phoıo 88. Godfrey Kneller, Peter the Great: By courtesy of Her
Aurora Art Pubıshers. St Petersburg). Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, The Royal Co1lection,
46. Our Lady ofVladimir, icon, 113 6 x 68cm, 12th Landon .
centul)'. Byzantine: Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow (Pboto: 89. St Petersburg, 18th century: Michael Holford .
Aurora An Pubtishers, St Petersburg). 921. Peter cuning the beard ofa boyar, woodcut, 17th
47. St Demetrius Cathedral. Vladimir: Vadim century: Hulton Picıure Company, Landon.
Gippenreiter. 92r. Anwork by John Fuller.
481. Pl.ans bv John Brennan, Oxford. 93. Mass execution of ıhe streltsy, from J. C. Korb,
48 -49. AnWork by Dick B.arnard, Milverton, Somerseı . Diarium lıineris Moscouiam: British Library.
49. Mossics from sı Sophia, Kiev: Phaidon Archi ve, 95. Peıer ıhe Great wiıh Louis XV at Ver.sailles:
Oxford. Giraudon, Paris.
51d. Prince Yaroslav, fresco from t-;:ereditsa Hill church, 96-97. Peıer ıhe Great's fleeı aı Archangel. from J. C.
'.\ovgorod: Phaidon Archive. Korb, Dıarıum Jııneris Moscouıam: Bmish Library.
5ltr. Genghis Khan enthroned with his son: Sania 97c. Russia's first newspaper. Vedomosti: Library of
Halliday and Laura lushington, Weston Turville. Congress. Vı!ashington.
52 Alexander !\evsky: Novosri, Moscow. 98t. lntercession Church at Fili, Moscow: Photo: Aurora
, Mounı Athos. Russian monasterv: Dr Graham Art Publishers, St Petcrsburg.
!)eake little Compton, Glos. • 98b. Great Palace at Pushkin: Frank Spooncr Pictures,
Dmitriy Donskoy: No\·osti, Moscow London.
':.an f ~6th-century \1oscow: Equinox Archive, 98- 991. Novodevichv Convent, Moscow: Photo: Aurora
cd An Publishers, St Pe'tersburg.
. oys followed by merchants at the court of 99b. Kikin Palace, St Petersburg: \'alemin Baranovsky, St
Wo ıdı ut prtnt by \fichael Peıerle, Petersburg
100. "The Mice Bury the Cat", woodcut, 16th century:
Mıchael Holford.
101. Caıherine l: Novosti, Landon.
102. lvan Vl's place of ımprisonment, Schlüsselberg:
Staatsbibliothek ı Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz,
Berlin.
l03. Empress Elizabeth, by Pietro Rotari: Collection
Coumess BobrinskvlMichael Holford .
107. PeterIII, Cathf'rinc Ti and Paul, by R. M. Lisiewska:
Gripsholm Castle, Mariefred, Sweden.
110. Allegorical portrayal ofCaıherine the Greaı:
Bibliotheque NationalefFrançois Foliot, Faris.
112. Busı ofLomonosov by F. 1. Shubin: John Massey
Stewarı, Landon.
l 13. Senate Square in St Petersburg: Fotomas lndex,
Landon.
I 14. Emperor Pau\: Michael Holford .
116b. Kutuzo\·: Roger-Viollct. Paris .
l 16-17b. The retreat from Moscow by E. Mei.ssonnier:
Orsav Gallerv, Paris. Photo Giraudon.
l l 7tİ. Wounded French soldiers bv Gericaulı: Musee des
Beaux Arts, Rouen. Photo GiraudOn.
I l7tr. Alexander I at Tilsit by Serangcli: Versaillcs, Photo
Giraudon.
l 18cl. Mikhail Bakunin: Hulton Picture Company,
Landon.
118c. Vera Zasulich: David King. Landon,
118b. Assassmation of Alexander TT: Fotomas lndex.
ll8br. Vı'o men terrorists exiled to Siberia: David King.
118-19. Execution of ıhe Decembrists: J . L. Charmet,
Paris
119c. Sofya Perovskaya: David King .
121. Nıcholas land ıroops: 3. L. Charmeı.
l22t. Pushkin: Novosti, landon.
12261. Bili bin illustration ofa Pushkin tale: Aurora Art
Publishers, Sı Peıersburg.
122cr. A sket ch by Pushkin ıllustrating a story in Tales
of Befkin: State Literar y Museum, Moscow.
I 22- 23t. Sceneat Mikhaylovskoye: ~ovosti, Landon.
123cr. Self-caricature bv Pushkin : Novosti, Landon.
123b. Gogol: Novosti, Landon.
124. Crimean propaganda postcr: National Army
Museum, Landon .
126. Treaıv of San Sıefano: J. L. Charmet.
128. Alexa'nder il and family: John Massey Stewart.
130c. Portrait of young Tolstoy: Novosti, Landon.
1 30hr. Portrait of Tolsıoy by 1. Repin: Novosıi, landon
130---Jlt. Tolstoy plowing, a painting by I. Repin:
Novosti, Landon .
131 b. Tolstoy organizing famine relief: Novostj, London .
l 32. Funeral procession of Alexander ll : Hulton Picture
Company, Landon.
134- 35. The Rooks haııe Retumed bv A. Savrasov:
Tretyakov GaUer y. Moscow (Photo' Aurora Art
Publishe rs, St Petersburg).
I35. Russ ian market before ıhe Revolution : Novosti,
London.
136. Shaly apin being painıed by Repin: Novosti,
London.
l37t . Sketch for Composıtwn IV, Battle by Kandiosky:
Phaidon Archive, Oxford.
137b . Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Khachaturyan:
Novosti, London.
IJS-39. Ali photographs by courtesy of Andrey
Ivanovich and Alexander Meledin, Moscow.
140tr. Assassination of Grand Duke Sergey: J. L.
Charmeı.
140b. Barricades: David King.
14Iıl. Cover from Le Pelit Parisien: J. L. Channet.
14hr. Nikolai Bukharin: David King.
14l cr. The battleship Potemkirı: David King.
141 bl. Trotsky: David King.
141hr. Stolypin's room afıer assassinaıion attempt:
Davld King.
1421. S. A. Witte: J. L. Charmeı.
l42-43b. Bolshevik revolutionary pasıer, 1905: Aıırora
Art Publishers, St Peıersburg.
l44bl. Cbekhov and Gorky, 1900: Novosti, London.
144c. Gull emblem of Moscow Art Theater: Novosti,
London.
l44t. Scripı for Stanislavsky's production of The Seagufl,
witb stage directions: Novosti, Landon.
l45t. Scene from A. K. Tolstoy's Tsar Fyodor /vanouü::h,
1898: Novosti, London.

145b. Chekhov reads The Seagullto the cast for the first
time in 1898: Novosti, Landon.
l46tl. Rose Bali, 1914: Novosti, Moscow.
146tr. Le Musee de Sires poster: J . L. Charmet.
149. Priest blessing Rus sian soldiers: Red Cross,
Geneva/ Archives de Guerre de Vienne.
150. Prison in Petrograd : David King.
ISI. Sacked room in Winter Palace: Alexander Meledin,
Moscow.
154. Lenin and Trotsk v: Alexander Meledin.
155. Red Guard clearillg rubble : Alexander Meledin
158c. Kari Marx: David King.
158b. Poster- "Long Live Wordwide Red October":
Fotomas lndex, Lo nd on.
ı 58- 59r. Lenin at Second Comintern Congress: David
King.
l59tr. Soviet plate: Christie's Colour Library, London.
I59bl. Trotsky r eviewing troops: David King
159hr. Soviet baptism: David King .
160tl. Movie directar Eisenstein: Navosti, Landon.
l60tr. Rachmaninov: Novosti, Landon.
160b. Scenery by Goncharova for The Golden Cockerel:
Phaidon Archive, Oxford.
161. Painting by Filonov : Russian Museum, St Petersburg
(Photo: Aurara Art Publishers, St Petersburg).
162tl. Portrait of Diaghilev by Bakst: Russian Museum, St
Petersburg {Photo: Aurora Art Publishers, St Petersburg).
162tr. Nijinsky in Pet rushka: State Theatre Museum, St
Petersburg.
162hr. Cartoon of Stravinsky and Nijiosky by Cocteau:
Equinox Archive, Oxford .
162bl. Diaghilev and Stravinsky: Alex Ukladnikov,
St Petersburg
163cl. Costume design by Benois for Rite of Spnng: Sıate
Theatrc Muscum, St Petersburg .
163bl. Bolshoy performance of RiteofSpring: Novosti,
Landon.
163r. Costume design by Bakst for Firebird: Christie's
Colour Library. Landon .
l64tc. Girl with a Rake by Malevic h, 19 30s, oil on
canvas, 100 x 70 cm: Russian Museum, St Petersburg.
164bl. Suprematist Composition by Malevich, 19 16 :
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
164 65. The Kn ife-Grınder by Malevicb, 1912, oil on
can vas, 79·7 x 79·7 cm: Yale University Art Gallery,
New Ha ven, gift of Societe Anonyme Collection.
165t. The Sailor by Tatlin : Russian Museum, St
Petersburg (Pboto: Aurora Art Publishers, St Petersburg).
165c. Tatlin 's monument to the Third lnternational:
David King, London.
165b. An Englishman in Moscow by Malevich, 1914, oil
on canvas, 88 x 57 cm : Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
166bl. Monk and dog: Fred Mayer/Magnum.
l66tr. Antireligious cartoon : David King .
167t. Buddhist temple: Fred Mayer/Magnum.
167bl. Synagogue: V. ShonefFrank Spooner Pictures.
167hr. Friday prayer in Kbajezud Murad mosque,
Samarqand: Abbas/ Magnum .
168t. Destruction of church: David King .
168bl. Church as store house: Davi d King .
168hr. Reconstruction oft he Danilov Monastery,
Moscow: NovostifFrank Spooner.
169t. Outside service: Fred Mayer/Magnum.
169bl. Nuns at an Orthodox convent: NovostifFrank
Spooner.
169hr. Monks at the Pskov-Pecher y Monastery:
NovostifFrank Spooner.
l70bl. World War I poster: Fotomas lndex.
l 70tr. "Away with muddlcrs and wreckers in the
ind ustri al supply sector": Fotomas Index.
l 7 ltl Bolshevik recruiting poster: Lenin Library,
Moscow.
17ltr. ''More metal!": Fotomas lndex.
17lcr. "Where's my money? Where's my family?":
Fotomas lndex.
l 71 bl. "Let us meer the grain collcction plan in specified
time!": Fotomas lndex.
l 7lbc. "Knowledge wi\l break the chains of slavcry" :
Fotomas lndex .
171hr. Soviet propaganda plate: Christie's Colour
Librarv, London.
176. sialin and Churchill at Yalta: David King .
l 78t. Khrushchev and Nixon at exhibition in Moscow :
Frank Spooner Pictures, Lo nd o n .
179. USSR ın construction: David King
180. Gir! on metro: Frank Spooner Pictures, London.
180-81. 70th Anniversary ofthe Revolution : Frank
Spooner Pictures.
183. McDonalds in Moscow : Robert Hardıng Pıcture
Library, London.
187c. Two girls ona fence, Carpatbian mountains,
Uk ra ine: V. Krohin, Moscow .
187b. Tran scarpathıan region. Ukraine: A.
Gerasimova/ Novosti, Moscow .
188tr. Moldovian spring: A . Makarov/Novosti, Moscm-..•.
189t. Traditıonal farmıng, Kunicha: Bruno
Barbey/ Magnum Photos, Landon.
188-89b. Wine production in Kishinev: Bruno
Barbey/Magnum Photos, London.
189hr. St Sophia, Kiev: Vadim Gippenreiter.
l 90t. House decoration, Odessa: S. Jackson/ Remote
Source.
190b. Yalta holiday beach : William McQuitty, Landon.
19lt. Cabbages: J ohn Massey Stewart.
191b. Radioactivity warning sign: Fred Mayer/Magnum
Photos, Landon.
l 93c. Hay making: S. Jackson/ Remote Source .
193b. Tallinn: Homer SykesJimpact, La nd on .
194. Pirita beach: Homer Sykesfimpact, London.
195tl. Phosphate mine, Maardu : F. Zecchin/ Magnum
Photos, London.
195cl. Folk dancing: V. Tarasevich/ Novosti, Moscaw .
I 95bl. Flower market: Homer Sykesfimpact, Landon.
195hr. Freedom monument , Riga: V. Krohin , Moscow.
196tr. Riga port: V. Krohin , Moscow .
196cr. Riga: V. Krohin, Moscow.
l 96bl. Windmill: V. Krohin, Moscow.
196-97b. Juknaichal village: V. Shustov/ Novosti,
1,,1oscow.
l 97cl. House building ona collective farın: V.
Arutyunov/ Novosti, Moscow.
l 97cr. Tug boat, Klaipeda: Nick Haslam/lfutchison
Library, Landon .
197hr. Demonstration in Vilnius: A. Vloziavilus/ Novosti.
Moscow
198. Georgian horsemen: Bu rt Glinn/ Magnum, Landon.
200tc. Selling kvas, Erevan: SassoonfRobert Harding
Picture Library, London .
200---01t. Armenian ea rthquake: Novosti, Moscow.
20(}--{) lb . Armenian demonstration : Frank Spooner
Pictures.
20lcr. Governmenr building, Baku : D. C. Williamson,
london .
201 br. Azerbaijan ail fields : lan Berry/ Magnum Photos,
Landon.
202-03t . Georgian towers: John EganfF lutchinson
LIST OF lLLUSTRATIONS
Picture Library, Londan .
202bl. View of Mtskheta : Robert Harding Picture
Library, Landon .
203tr. Georgian foo tball play er: Sporting Pictur es,
Landon .
203bl. Folk dancing : Frank Spooner Pictures.
203br. Tbilisi old quarıcr : J ohn Masse y Stewart .
206bc. Cathedral at Suzdal : John Massey Stewart .
206hr. Window. Photo: Bun Glinn/Magnum .
207cr. Winter festival, Kolomenskaye: Frank Spooner
Pictures.
207bl. Russian house, Suzdal: Martin Black/I mpa ct.
207hr. Archangelskoye: Aurora Art Publishers,
St Petersburg.
208- 091. Siberian scene : Fred Ma yer/ Magnum .
208b. Sakhalin islanders: Frank Spooner Pictures .
209t. Old couple in taiga village: Frank Spooner
Pictures.
209c. Huskies: Frank Spooner Pictures.
209bl. \Vinter sports, Murmansk: Frank Spoon er
Picrurcs.
209hr. Logs · Fred Ma yer/ Magnum .
2101. GUM shoppıng arcade: C. Bowman/ Ro bert Harding
Picture Library, Landon.
210r. Red Square: Frank Spooner Picıures .
211 ti. Plan by John Brennan .
2l ld . Moscow skyline: Frank Spooner Pictures.
21 ltr. St Basil's Catbedral, Red Square: J . Allan Cash,
Landon
21 !er. Woman with TV set : Michael Jenner/ Ro bert
Harding Picture Library, Landon.
211hr. \oVoman road cleaner : Frank Spooner Pict ures
2llbl. Central market: Dod Miller/ lmpact, Landon .
212- 13. The Kremhn at night : Nik olai Rachmanov
(Desertina Verlag, SwitzcrlandJ.
214tr. Aerial view ofSt Petersburg : Valentin Barano vsky,
St Petersburg.
214bl. Plan by John Brennan .
214 -- 1Sb. Fountains at Petrodv orets : Robert Harding
Picture Librarv, London .
215tl. The "Cı-iurch on the Blood," St Petersburg : William
MacQuitty, Landon.
215tr. The \'Vinter Palace: Robert Harding Picture
Library, London .
21 Scr. Admiralty building : Robert Harding Picture
Library, Landon .
218t. Beehives: John Massey Stewart.
218bl. Children at Kaskelen: John Massey Stewart.
218-l 9b. Zeravshan mountaıns , Uzbekistan : Robert
Harding Picture Library, London.
218- 19t. Tashkent : Vadim Gippenreit er , Moscow .
219tc. Samarqand man : WilliamMacQuitty, La ndo n .
219hr. Uzbek cotton ceremony: Vadim Krohin , M oscow.
220t. Khiva, Uzbekistan : Vadım Gippenreiter.
220b. imam and assistanr praying, Margilan : James
StrachanfRobert Harding Pictı.ıre Library, l ondon.
221. Tashkent helio station, Uzbekistan : Novosti/Frank
Spooner Pictures.
222t . Salt flats, Karakum Canal zone: Christoph er
RennieefRobert Harding Picture Li b rary, Lond on.
222b. Turkmen famil y: Abbas/ Magnum.
2231 . Carpet-making : NovostifFrank Spooner Picrures.
223b. Textile factory, Khudjand: Robert Harding Pic ture
Library, London.
224. Men with fleeces: Vadim KrohinJHutchinson
Library , Landon.
231
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Sumy,'50' 55 ıı. l-4 49 F iM. 4 11
W~;;gdl. 7f:/'00 N 179°00 W, IJ, lJ.l7. 129,
:,u,.,,..l,.ıd, 40'47 N4<ı lO·Ec. 10~. 199 Tre,·ıso(Jı.,/y).45'40 1' 12 15 E. 115 Va l.ı.ım,61
42 N25"58E. 55
Sunkhanv.40"25"N'>O'0I E.l<J<I Tne-su(/ıaly].45"50!'>11°46 E.176 V•lday.57" 59NH I0 "E. 206
~urguı.61'1TN7l 20T 204
Su,·•!kıjAı/ımJ),540IIN 22 S'IE.152
Tnııity. b2'H N 59 57 E. 55
Tnnil) Mon.uıery, 56'05 N 37°59 E, 55. 56.67
V.ılga ,57' 44N26 '06E . l':ll
V.ıllu.63'18 N« · 13·E. 152
X..çm.ız,41 ° 27N4S 0 50
X..ıık.ıııdı.39 °~8
E,199
N46°45 E, l<ı<ı
Su;«J•I. sı;·:ı& N 40' 29 E.41. 45, 55. 60 Troıtı.k '>4'·10 :,:6J'l5E, 109 \'ılmıcr• 57°J2 N25' 29 E. 192 Xud.,t,41 ° l7N4!!'42E.l<ı'I
~,~nuonn. 55°09 'ı. 26"10'E, 192 Truh<henL.52'.11, "ılll ' 4t.E .67 \'anadU>r,40'49N44'lO·E. l<IH
S"a-dlon~,..,yc-Utcnnbıırg
~,ıno.(<S/).
~ykı)vhr,61
l'l'57N49'57 E. IOl\.109
42N'>0'45 E 29
T"'~eri,42°1'1 'ı. 42'4t)E, 198
T.arıt<yıı s« Volıı,oııra d
TSkhm.-ali. 42··14 N '11'58 E. 198
\l.ınç ouver(C.ın,ıJcıı 4'1°20 N l2l 0 l0 W, 129
\l•rdcnıs.40°1 1 NO°42 E l<ı~
V~rcn.ıı, 5'1°10 S 24 40'E. 192
Y.ıblonovyM11,'>4 ° .lONll5 ° I0 " E .
"
Yaitsk. 5l 0 ll 'N51°05'E, 108. 109
l3,22.23.
Syl.ııon (T~rf-<'l·I-
l7°01 'ıl ll'2<ı L l~ T,ııorı.41'ı.-t·:,:4,;'0l E.198 \'•nu.B' 25N60°5l'E.115. 125. 127 \·lluısk,b2 ' 10N 129' SCl"E. il 74. l2<ı. l72.,
~)..-.ırı"jSyzunl, ~1'12 'l 4M lO E. ili. 204 Tıı.apse.44 06 N l905E. 204 \ 'c- lıkı)~Lukı . 56"19 N 30°ll'E,5b. 60. l74, 206
Tukuııı,;, 56'511 '12310 E. 192 \'el ıkı) Uuyuı:. 60'4~ N 4& 0 15 E, '15. 55, 60. 79
T.ıbuz(fT<ml,38 ' 05 '4b 18 E.50. 148 Tula,54"11 N l7°J8 E.56, 5H,67. ;-9, 108,109, \lclızh. 55° .16N ll 0 11E, 7<ı
T•ıı•ııroı.<17°14 N 38°55 E. 104.125. 152 \lcniccj/raly). 45°2b'N l2°lO'E, f>O, 'iL il~
TaJ1kı<Un". 12.l2,2J,2t. 216 Tu.nıs (To~,s"'~ Jb 0 50'1' I0'IJ· E. il, Vcnı~rıl,. 57°22 N 2l "JI 'E. 192
Talı<,42'U"N72°!4E.217 Turiıı(fıalı"].45 · 04Na"40'E, 115 Va-khıııyUfalcy. 5'1 ° 58 N60°05' E, 204 Y,gor'y~v'lk. ~5°21 "N 39°01 "E. 206
T.ıldyqorı:tuıı.
45°02 .., 76'2l F. 217 Turköı•n• 1~. 128 \'~:"oy.ınskMı,.,65~20N130°00E. ll.22 23, Yei'lk.46 '4 0N]ıı' l2E , 125
Talıt.,.,4117N77"!5 E.217 Tıır kıstan. 4 l"l7NM 16 E.216 \•eJmi.ı.dzııı.40 ° 11 N44° l7 E. l'l~
T'alın.40'2l'ıl4l"H E.1'18 Turkmen ısı.ın ", 12, 22.2l, 2b. 216
Tıırov. ~2 04 N 27'40 E,41. 4~. ~B
V,din (Bu lgaruı]. 44"00 N 22' SO E. 11~
\!~~~ :;:,s:~\!8// Ye~:~:~~t 1~;;~~~::'!L '>6° 50 N bl.f' 10 E.
Ta~ı;~~~;,;;t~~ı!!.~f; ~ 7~ 1~~:~/6· ıs. Turov-Pıns~ •. 41. 45 5~ :~:22 E, 28 , 60, 91, ~·.,-k.ıı.-rınodar,45 °09'N 38 49"E, 151
Tmı.57'18 "22'39E.l':ll TıırtkuJ.41°J(J._6l'OO'E,216 Vıe,.ıtc,5b 0 20' 1'25°JI E.l'12 Yck.ıtcnıı<»Uv . 43·21"N34 '5 SE. ili. 152
Tambo~. 52'<1-1 N41'28 E,67. 7'1, 104,109,152, Tın.,ıny ·.ı ıs Vdpndı. 58"22 N 2 S" lO"E. 1'12 Yenıseıil.58' rN<ı2 ° 1JE,74,105
l~ıııın. V ı lkH•ı< kıs . 54 "3 9N2l '0 2E . l92 Yrrevaıı,40 " 10N44'll E.12. 22. 26,157. 1'11!
""'
Tan.a.47°JIN·ı<ı'M.E.ltı 55
Tvtt Tv~). 56 49'N 35"57 E. 12. 41
45.55.S6,sıı.60,67,7 9,l52.204.20!i Vilkovl'-k.y ,55°00 N2r48E, 148 Yn-m.ık. ~2'3B.Nb7°55"E 217
~:;'."."~~•: ~~!~•;\4~:::.ı 20°0'I E, 14S
Tver",Sfı,58,60
Tvaıu(Tııckn,), li"48N !4 !6-E, l8 Vi~n~-~t!~L~;~ı~.2t;;~ 1~/~~!\~~, 28,
Yc,,•bx,40° 1~ N47°08 E, l'l'l
~-~!'.ı:ıoriy• (Eupmır:ı.ı~4~"12 N n·ıo·E. 125.
T.unıpol.49HN25 l'IE.128.1411 Tyumeıı" (lvumeıı), 57°11 N 6~ 0 2<1 E, 172, 204 Vınny«}• (\'ınııı«.>),4<1°11 N 28 ° lO E. 7<1, 186
T.ımow(Pula,ıd).50°03 "21 OOE, 148 Vırtsu,58°32N21"3l E.1 91 Yezdjfrı,,ıı 31°55 X54 U E. iM
T~rıu. 58'l0 :,: 26'<14 E, 192 Uçl,..,~I. 46·!0-N 80'5'1.E. 217 Vııby(Drt,m.,-,kJ. 55°01 "8 ' 48 E. Jf,,bO Yin Slun (mi>) . (Chma), 41 ' .lO N IOS'OO E. 13
Tuhlr.tnl,41°J6S6<ı 0 !JE.12.22.26..'50. 104. L'dzhM\•.40'2'1N 47°J7E,199 Vıt"<yeb,k ıv,ı~b•kı ~\010 N J(J 014 E, 12, 15 , 41. Yuzhııo'>.akh~hn<k. 46° Sl! N 142°45 E. 13,205
1.!li,172,216 Uü. '>4145 N 55°58 "E. 12, 74 . 79 104. IU, 172, 56.60.67.7'1,115.152,174,IU,206
~~ Tatıshcbev. 52'0l"N '>4"10 E. 108.109 Vladılr...-•lu..l.40'14 N45°24 E. 152 Za.ınd.,m(t•;r,Jıw/aıı.ls).~2 ° 27 ;,;4 '49 E.<ıl
Taw•~~- 55'12 N 22 16 E. 1<12 L'jllıcb.~7°lON ııı·w·E. 55,20fı Vbdıınır. '>11°45 N24 ' 2l E.4~ Z..greb(Croafıa),45 ° 48 N 15° ~SE. 211
T~,olzh.ın, 52°44 N 77"25 E. 2 17 Uıl.4908 N'i4 41 E,2 16 Vladımır. ',1,"011 N 40°25 E, 41. 4~. 50. 55, H>. Z..bk.ıy~ Lınd" s..- Vl.,dımır-Susd•l"
Z..ponzluhy.ı(:Z.pc.-.:ırlıy.-J.47"5-0N35 ° JO"E.
T"~~~;ia~:ı::: ~;:~•/~~_ı !~~
Ukmerı:e, 55°14 N 14 2'1 E. 192 58.60,206
~ 7:~ ~E. 12. 21. Ukr•uı~ •. lı, ı2. 23. 2b, 28, 58. 67, 74. 79. 104. Vl.adımır-SULdaıJ(Z.,J~,k.ı)•lınd)",41.<15 12,104,17<1.186
Tehr•n (Jran). J5'40 1' H'26 E. ıı~. l.ffi \üdımır"Volpı<.k. '50'21 'ıl" 2S' 02"E. 41 Z..porozhyeSttZ..poıuhzhp
TeJen. 37'26 N60 JOE,21b UJ~~b;ı.ıı.ı r .(Mo~galıa~ 47'~ 'ıl 10&·52 E. 1~. Vladi,·osıok.43' 06Nlll ''SO E . n.ı2<ı,112 Z..poro:ı:bye·. 125
Tekelı.44 4; N79·00 E,217 205 Z..qatala.4l ' l9"N46°40'E, 199
T'd•vL41"56"45·JO'E,1% Ulan-Udc. 51'55'N l07'40'E, ll. 172. 20~ \'obm.a.5S'l9N25"2'1'E, 192 :Z.y,.ın.'17"JONM 0 50E.217
Tel,ı.ıı. 55°~8 !'1 22 '16 E.192 Ulb a. 50° 11ı N8l 0 22 E, 21 7 Volgogr.ıd l~ı.,lwgr•d. Tsınısynl,
.ffi 45 N 2b~uzh.49' 40N26°49E. 7'1
Temff.49°09N57°06 E.216 Ulgen(ını). 4 31 4 N41 ' 44 E. 198 44J(J·E.12.67.7<1.79,104. IOl\. 109.lll. Zelcnogn<lı~.60° 15N29' ll E.192
T~m,nrn, '>0°04 N 7J'0J E, 217 Ulyanov>k.S4'l <ıN48° 22 E, 174 128 , 1~2. 172, ı,4. 204 l.e,,ı.,foıu,42°07N4l'0I-E, 1'16
Ttm1M, l7°15N67°Vi E,216
T~mopıl. 4<ı'n ı,; 2~ 0 J<ı"E. ııı6
l'm.ın,48·4~-N lO'IO'E, ]Sı,
Un,tcdPro vım:e,.• .<ıt
\'olh)nı.ı·,41 ,45,58,7'1,l04
\lolkbov, 59°~·--32' 47f.,206
ztwmbyl.42°'HIN71 °2S"E, 216
lha.nıı.aqıtaly 45°48Nt.2°06 E.21b
Th~lonılr.ı(Gro,,u).40._lB.Nll
Th~)",127
\M E, H, ll!, Unk iuSkckssı. <ll "Ol 'N 2'l 22 E, 125
Ur.J Mb.62 'i-ON59'"00E.12.22,23,26.55.
Vokıjı,la.59'10Nl9°55
152.174,2M.206
\'olokol;ımsk.56 ° 021'
E.5 5.5b,60.67, 79
35°56E,55.60
Zhdano,·. 19'46N47"16E. 199
Zlıc-zqazgh.ın,<17 "4!!N67"24 E.216
Zluloı(ıslJ.40 ' 22N50 ° 35 E, 108.109.199
Tbomt,"',ı/ır,-l,ur.l,·J.51'10t,;5'51 E.60 ~·orkuta, 67"27 N 64°00 E, 172,204 Zhmcr)ıılu,49"00N28 °02 E, IS6
Th.-ace · .ın Vomm(u/).59°0!N23°1'1E,192 Zhr~omır(Zhı1<>mırl, 50° 18 N 28 °40 'E,41. 152,
Tıe ~~1ıan[ınrsJ.(CJııııaJ.42''SO r,, 82''50. E, 12.
2 Uraıepp.a,, l<ı'SSN 68 5<ı E,116 \loron,-,J,,51°40Nl'l'll.E28,67,74,7<ı,'ll,
Uttn:ıı oy,6S"5 '1 "N 7S "JOE, 2M l04.Jog,109,Jll.l28.l-ıll.152,172 ll.ıtousı,55° 10/ı,5'! 0 lH E,109
T ıfilı5.er T "bılısi urıı.aıı cb. 41 °1\Nt,0"41 E ll6 \lonı,,l,ılo,ıı.r~d <t!e Luh.ıns'k Znım.'y.ı.nh.4M 0 42"Nl2 " 40E.186
Tı~h.ın.ı.46''50 N2'1 2<ı E. l!lf> Urıı.uı , 19·29 N67"15 E.216 Vonı,57°46N26° 52'E, 1'12 2ugdıdı,42lO"N4! 0 HE.l\l!I
Tıkhvw,59 Vi N U'·29E.,206 L'riLS kı y, H 15NJ4 J0[,216 Vo ılr.ın,k, 5702:,: 51°59 E. 108, 109 2•enıgorod. 55' 40N 16" '50 E.56
Tık>ı,7l'50'ıll29'00'E,ll,l72.l05 Ur,..ıtyc,,k.ıy~. 40 ° 14 N68 46 E.216 Vo mn.cnsL47 " 34 N31 "21 "E, 186 Z yrpıı. 49 °4'1NM "17E. 217
Ury.,,J<lıaı Trıntor y• . 129 Vy.ıtlu IKıro•·~ 58 ° 38 X 49'38 E, 12.. 41 , 55, 56.
T i..ınetAlb.:ı ~ l<JJ. 41 °20 N 19°4'1 E. 147 Ushbı(ınıı 41 ' 09 N4l"4J E, 1'18 60,IOS.109,1\2,174,204
Tira,pol.4<i''i-O'N29"1SE. iM> Usbtobe,45°15N77"5~ E, 217 \')az'ııu (Vynma), ~5 ° I0"N 34 ' 15 .E. 41, S6, t.7.
Tmı.ıtoml<.ın,45'!7"N 37"23 E. 35. !6. 38..41 Usın.an . ~2"4! N !9"58 E. ili 7'1,115. 206
INDEX
Page numbers in italics refer to
illusuations or thdr captions.
Academv of Ans 112
Academ)·ofSciences 112
Adrian. Patnarch 93
Adzharia 20
Afghanistan 129
Soviet intervention in 114, 180
Afroslab219
Age ofıhe Nobility 103
agriculture 16, 17, 21, 24 25
Bronze Age 32; chernozem 17, 23,
24,32, 187, 188.climate2L
collectivization 156- 57, 170,
172 73,172,176,179,181,189,
191. 194; crop rotatıon 21;
experimentation 21, 24; famines
139, 15S. 172-73; five-year plans
156 Si, 172,176,180,181;
Gorbachev'seconomic reforms
181 ; kıt/aks 170; land usage 139;
New Economıc Polıcy {NEP) 155;
precıpıtaıion 17, 23; semidesen
and desert zones 20; slash-and-
burn technique 21; soil types 17,
23. 24. 139; state farms 191;
temperatuı-e 23; Tselına
(Virgin Lands) 217. 218. 218; War
Communism 155; World War il
andafter 175,176
Aınu 207,209
Akhmatova, Aıma 160, 182
AKHRR 181
Aksyonov, V 182
Albanıa 176
alcoholl71, 181
Aldeigjuborg (Ladoga) 37
Aleksandrov 14, 62, b6, 78
Aleksey. Metropolit.ı:n 56
Aleksev. Tsare\•ich88, 92, 95 %, 99,
100:146
Aleksev Mikhavlovich 74. 75, 76, 76,
11, 8·2, 84-ss·
cıvil diso:rder 76; Code of 1649 79;
Greaı Schism 77-78; hortkultural
experıments 2 l; Kolomenskoye
Palace 83. 86. 87; political
administration 79--80; Razin
rebdlion 108; social unresı 78,
succession 80; territori.al gaıns 74.
78; T:reaıy of Andrusovo 78; war
with Poland 78
Alex.mder the Greaı 30,217
Alexanıler l l07, 114- 16, 119
accession 96. ı 14: aıtempt to
produce Russian constitution 116.
ll9; BattleofBorodino 116,116;
Bessarabia 114; Congress system of
palıncal allıances l 19. death ,md
succession 118, 119; Decembrist
movement 118; Holv Alliance 119;
invasion ofFinland-114:
invesıment in education 116,
liberalizing reforms 118;
Napoleonic wars 114- 15,114, 116;
Persian war 115; Russıan
occupationofParis 114.116;
serfdom l IS, 119; Swedish war
114. 115. 129; territorial gains 107.
llS, 129; titleofbla.::he,mv 116;
Treaty ofTilsit (1807) uS-16, 117,
129; Turkish war 115
Alexanderll l07,128
army reforms 129. 131;
assassination of 118. 119, 132, 132:
Crimean War 125, 126; education
121; Great Reforms 126, 127- 29,
131; legal system reformed 129;
serfdom 126; Tre,ty of Paris 126;
universal oonscription 129.
.::emsıro loca! government 128- 29
Alexander IlJ 128
assassinatlon plot 131;
conser.-atism 128; intellecnıa.l and
artısticlifeunder 1]6
Alexander Nevskv. St 52, 52
Alexandra. Tsarils.:ı
ch.ıracter 146; eccentric lifestvle
14s---46; murder 153; anıl RasPuıin
146,147
Alex.mdriıı78
Algirdas 58
Alksnis. Viktor 182
All-jocular {All-drunken] Synod
92-93
A11-Russian Congress of Soviets ı SO.
151
Alma-Ata (Almaty) 181,218
Almarık . Andreı 180
Alıay204
Amu Darya (Oxus) Rıver 218,219
Amurvalleyl7.23,76, 208
Anadvr River 76
A nah~tic Art 161
an.ırChists 118. 118. 119
Andrevev. Leonid 143
Andropôv, Yury 179,180
Andrusovo. Treaty of(l667) 78
Angara Ri~·er 208
Ani 200
animals
bison 181'; reindeer 16. 17
Ann.ı. Ts.ırıtsa8l, l01 02, 10.3
Bıroııonhchina 101--02; bınh ili;
Germanızation 101 02, 106; secret
Police 102; serfs 10)---04; service
class !03: succession 100, 102;
Supreme Privy Council 101
Antes(Antaej26
Antıoch 78
Antonios. Patriarch 54.
Arabs 222
Aragvi River 202
Araksvallev200
Ara!Seal84,201
Archangel 66, 74, 96, 149
archıtecture 124-25, 1%
Christian influence 44;
Construcıivists 161; Eliz.abethan
Baroque 98, 98; Georgiaıı 202;
helmet-shaped domes 56;
iconosı.ı.sis 57; lslaınic 84,221;
Mo:<.CO\\ Baroque 82. 83-84. 98. 99;
Muscovy 56, 65, 65. 75, 8)-84;
No\"gorod 70; Petrıne Baroque 98;
Rus 4.7; Russian Baroque 98. 98. 99;
Sı Sophia, Kıev (Kyyiv) 48, 48, 49,
Stalinist era 170,211; tent churches
83; Trinity Mon.astery 68. 68. 69;
Tsaritsa Eliz.ıbeth l03: Ukrainian
Baroque 98. wooden buildings 39
86, 86, 87,206, 207, 218
Anna Rodionovna 123
Arinberd 200
Aristeas of Proconnesus 32
Arkhangelskoye 207
Armenia 20. 45,184.199. 200. 200
eanhquakes 200; industry and
agriculture 199. 200; language 27,
200; nationalısm 181, 200; rehgion
200; Transcaucasıan Federal
Republic 153. 157; Uranuculture
200
arıııy
Alexander IJ"s Great Reforrns 129.
131; Red see Red Arrnv
Artsikhovskv, A. 39 ·
Ansybashev: Mikhail 143
Ashkhbad 212
Askold 41 , 42, 43
Astrakhan 20, 54
faJls to lvan 1\' 66, 74, 75; Razin
rebellion 108; uprising (1705) 92,
94
Ataturk219
Athos. ,\tount 52. 54
Attila the Hun 34
Augusıus (the Strong), Kmg of Poland
91,94
Austerlitz 114,115,117
Austria 102
Hungarian nationaJ uprising 120;
Napoleonic wars 114; partition of
Poland 104.111; post-\\'orld \\'ar
ll dıvision 176; World WarI 146
Austria-Hungary
Balkan War 146; Central Powers
146; Congress of Bertin 12 7
Avars26. 34
Avvakum, Archpriıc5t Ti. 78. 84
Life82
Azerbaıpn20, 184,199,201.201
clımate 199; indusıry and
agricultme 201, 201; language 26;
natiorialism ısı: religion 201;
strategic lmPona nce 201;
Transc.ıucasian Federal Republic
15.3. 157, 201; vegetation 20
Azov 75, 90, 91, 94
Azov, Seaof34
Babel, ls.-ıak 182
RedCanılry16l
Baghd.:ıd 37
Bakhchis.-ırav 6.5
Bakst, Lfon (Lev) 163
portraıı of Di.:ıghilev 161
Baku 201,201
Bakunin, Mıkhail ll8. 118. 123
Balakirev, Milv 134 35
Balkans · Borovikovskv, V.113.114
Balkan War 127, 146; Crımean War
125; E.ıstern Question 127
ballct 136-37
Ballets Russes 143,157,162,163;
Bolshov B.allet 163; Estonla 194; St
Petersburg Ballet 143
Baltıc Republics 19.3 97
Bashkıria
civil war 94, Greaı Rebellion 109,
111; war ofindependence 78
Bashkırs 76,207
"Battle organization" assassınatıon
uniı 140
Batu, leader ofthe Golden Horde 50,
51,52
Batumi 20
Bauhaus 161
Bavkal. Lake 75, 208
Ba;;kal-Amur ~fainline Railroad 208
Ra~•konyr cosmodrome 218
Bazhenov. Vasiliv 114
Pashkov HousC 114; pl.:ın for
remodeling :ı.1oscow Kremlin 114;
StMı chael"5Palace 114
Beccaria. Ces,are 112
Bekbulatovich, Semyon 59, 90
Beloozero (White Lake) 37
Belarus (Belorussia) l 7, 27, .J0, 4.7,
1]7, 184. 188.188
absorption into Russia 7-l, 75, 188;
agriculture 187; climate 187;
indusll)• and agriculture 188,
Jewish population 166; language
26, 29, 187; natlonalism 181;
religion 187, 188, World War ı 146,
149;\\'orld Warlll88
Belovezha forest 18~
Bely. Andrey 143. 161
Pı:ursbıırgl36
Benckendorff, Counı 120
Benua (Benois), Alexander 163
\fır lskusswa (\\'orld of An) group
136.1]7
Berezina Rıver 117
&ria. Lavrentıy 177
Bering Straits 25 , 74
Berlin
airlift ı 76; capture by Soviet Unlon
175; Congressof 127; post-World
War ll dıvision 176
Berlio2. Hector 134
Bertinian Annals 37
Bess.ırabia 129, 187, 133
s;:e also Moldavia; Alexander 1 115;
.:ınnexed bv Romania 157;
NapoleoniC wars 11-1
Bethlehem 125
Bilibın,l. 112
Biron sre Buhren
black earth see chernozem
Black Sea 74. 91,104,129
Crimean W.ar 125
Blok. Alexaoder 143, 161
The Scythıans 136; Thı: Tu-e/w 136;
Verses aOOut th;: Beautıful Lady 136
Bloody Sunday 140,141,142
Bobrınsk,•, Aleksev l05
Bogolyubsky, Prin-,e Andre4S, 47
Boloıniko\•' s rising ( 1606-0/) 66, 76
Bolsheviks 133,140. 141 . 143, 153.
157
alknation from 151; All-Russian
Congress ofSoviets 150, 151;
atheism and antirelıgious
commitment 166, civil war 151-55,
constituent assemblv 151; Lenin "s
leadership 140. 14.7.- 150; military
capabıliıy and logistical strength
151; October Revolution 138.
150-51, 151; opposition to 151,
153,153; propaganda 171;
publicarions 143; Red Guards I Si;
renamed Communist Partv 153;
second Duma 143; Soci.ıl ·
Democratic Pany 130, 150; Trotsky
joins 140; White (anti-Bolshevik)
movement 151,153,153
Bolshoy Balleı 163
Boratynsky, Yeveny 124
Boretskaya, lı-iarfa 6o
Boris, ~t 39, 44, 47
Borisov Gorodok 83
Borisov-Musatov, Vikıor 13/
Borodın, Alexander 134 35,136
Pnrıcrlgorl3S
Borodıno. B.ıttle of 116, 116
Bosnia • 109-10, 111; liberationofıhe
annexed by Austria 146; Treaty of
San Stef.ı.no 126, 127
Boxer Rebellion 142
Bowır Duma 79
bo\•ars
bcards and dress 92, 92, %
Brest, Umonof(l5%)77
Brest-Litovsk. Trcaıyof(l918] 149
Brezhnev, Leonid 178-80, 178
,md the arts 182; "Brezhnev
doctrine" 179 80; collecıiviz.ıtion
179; criminal code extended 178;
Czechoslovakıa invaded 179; death
180; "developed socialism" 179,
180: dissıdent movement 178 79,
182; economy 180; five-year plan
180; Gulag 179; military influence
179; nomerık!atura (list of
nominees) 179; occupation of
Afghanistan 114, 180; Prague
Spring 179, show trials 178; socıal
and geographical mobility 179
Britain
assistsWhıtearmyl49. IS].15J;
Congress ofBerlin 127; Crimcan
\ Var 125-26.125; Great Emb.:ıssy 91;
~aPoleonic wars 114; tr.:ıde links
with Russia 66, 67, 102. Triple
Ententc 14&, 146.149; \\'orld \\'ar l
146; \"alta conference 175,176
Brodsky, l osıf 182
BromeAge32
Bru.nswick. Prince of 102
Brusilov, General Alehey
Alekseve\·ich 146. 149
Brvullov:Karl 124
BrYusov, Valriv
Rııssiaıı Svmbo!ists 136
Buddhism İ67, 207
Bı1hren, Johann-&-nst IOl--02
Bukhara (Bukhoro) 129, 219
Islam 167; \Vhite Horde 219
Bukharin, Nikolai 141,156.173. 181
Bukhvostov, Yakov 98
Bukovsky, Vladimir I 80
Bulav in rebellion 76, 94
Bulgakov, i\likhaıl
Daysofthe Turbıııs 161; \fasuraııd
Margarita 182
Bulganin. M.ırshal Nikolaı 177
Bulgaria 34
Soviet bloc 176; Tr.-atv of San
Stefano 126,127 · (prıestless) 78; Bolshevik
Bulgars 34, 34, 39, 45, 45
Bunin, iv.an 14.3, 153, 160
Burlyuk, Davıd 158
Burlyı.ık brothers ı 58
Burvaı Buddhists 107
BurVats 167
Buti"ı.rlın , 1 90
bylmy44, 70
Byz.antlnes 34.34. 35-.36. 36. 37. 54
Cameron, Charles 114
Carborıari 119
Carmanhen. Lord 91
Carpathian Mountains 20, 187
e.ırpinı. Plano 53
Cıspıan Sea 16. 37, 45. 50. 201, 217.
218, 222
Catherine 194, 96. 101
d.-aıh 100; IIL11Tıage to Peter 1 %;
Supreme Privy Council 100
Catherine II (theGreat) 100, 102,
107--08. 107,110
access to Biack Sea lCJ.l; Age ofthe
Nobility l03; annexation ofthe
Crimea 104, 111 ; anne-xations in
Poland 104.111-12, 129;.ırt
collection 113,215; B.ı.ttkofÇcşnc
111; ch.ıracter 108; Chaner ofthe
Nobilıty 109; chıldren IOS; and the
church 108--09; Confederation of
~~f°;;~ 11~;2~:::~;:~~:ece
with Voltaire 112; culture aad the
ans 112-14; and Dıdero t 108, 112;
economy 107; Enlightenmc nt
phılosophy 108. 112- 14; foreıgn
policy l08; Free Economic Socıeıy
109; German colonızatıon l ll;
government 109 10; Great
Instruction 110; Great Proj<..'ct l ll;
and Grigoriy Potemkin l08,
Herınıtag ell3,215:Ismaılfortress
111; Legıslatıve Commıssion 80,
gcntry 109; liıerature 112 13: love
affaır~ 108; marrıage to Peter 111
105, 106, .\hrovich plots agaınst
l08; Ochakov fortress 111, Odess,a
e51ablished 111; Old &lievers 78;
Poland 108, 111 12; protectorship
ofGeorgia ili, Pugacho\' rebellion
106. 108, l09.109, ili {il, 112,
124; reforms 107, 108. 109;
sculpture 113. ?>ecub.riz..ıtıon 108;
seizes power 106, 107, 108; and
serfdoml09, lll;socıal
composition of Russia 111.
succession 107; territoriJ.I and
strategic g.a.ins 104, 107; Turkish
warsl09,lll
Caucasus 17. 20
Alexander l"s gains 115; lslam 167:
languages26
Central Asfa 217- 24
Çeşme, B.ıttleoflll
Chaadayev, Pyotr
Phı!osophical Letter 121, 123
Chagall, ,\1arc 1.37, 161,182
Chanccllor. Rıchard 66
Charles X!I, King ofSweden 91, 94-95
Cbarter ofthe Nobılıty 109
Chechnva 184
Cheka isı, 15.3, 156
Chekhov. Anıon 122, 144, 144, 191
The Clıerry Orchard 144; The
Seagu/1144, 144; Three S15ters 144,
Vncle \'am·a 144
Chernenko, ionsıantin 180
Chernigo\•45, 47, 58
Rus 40; Tatar auack 50. 52
Chornobyl (Chernobyl) nudear
accidenı 181. 184,187,221
chernozem (black eanhj 17, 21, 24,
32,187,188
Chernvshevskv. Nikolai 118
ChersÔn44 "
China
Boxer Rebellion 142; anıl
Khrushchev government 178.
Sıno-So\·iet summ.it (1989) 181;
Treaty ofNe rchlnsk (1689) 76
Chır chık Rl\'er 218
Chorny Last Judgmerıı 73
Cl:ınstianity
Armenia·n Church 200: Baptıst
Church 166,178; be.::popovtS)"
Revolution 166; Catherine ll and
l08---09; C.:ıtholiclsm 39. '>2, 54, 54
58. 166. 197; charitable tradıtions
138. 169; choral musıc 166, 167,
169; Christian culture 44; Church
in Exile 153; clergy purged 168;
conversion ofR115sıa to 42. 166;
Council ofFlorence 54.;
Cvrillo-Methodian mıssion 28. 34.
4L and Dıderot 114, Dı.ıklıvfwı-5
109; evangelıul denomina u ons
166, 178; first Russian Bıble 63; fil"$1
Russi,m rnarıyrs 44; "fools in
Christ" 63; Great Schlsm 77-78.
166; hertruts 54, 63; Hesvchast
mvsticism 54. 63, 72, 109: Holy
Aiıı.ı.nce 119; icons see icons;
"Josephites" 63,108,109;
"Judaizers" 63; Kh:rushchev era
178: Kievan pnnces and 42-44:
Lutheran Church 194,195;
rnissionary ınovement 54. 55;
monasıeries see monaster ies;
Mount Athos 52, 54,
Non-Pos.sessors 63; nunneries 99.
169; Old Believers 78. "79, 92. 92,
116; Old Church Slavonıc 28-29
58, paganısm IJ9; Pentecost.al
Church 166. 178; Possessors63;
repression and persecutıon of 159.
166, 166, 168; Russı.:ın onhodox
Church su Russfa.n Orthodox
Church; St.ln'lS 166; Stngolrııki 63;
Synodal Church 153; Taun 54;
Trans--Volga Elder.; 63; Unıon of
 Hı C\t 115% J 77 \' l.ıdı mır 1' s
, n sıon to 40, Zea lots ot Pit'l:y
( h,rııııı.!e
o( (·urrerıt l ıerıt\ l 78
Chrnmd~ oj .'lirko,ı 62
lhu Rı\·cr 21 8
Clıubais, Anatoly 184
r hud 37
C hurch ı ll, W ınston 175,176
U mmeri an Bosphor u~ 34
dnem.ı 161
Bn:zhnc\• er.ı H\2; S ou.ı fü t Re.ılısm
182
c'lvil w.ır 151 55, 153, 172
ant i- Bolshcvık gove rnmcnıs 151,
153
clim.ıtelb , 21
c.ırl y
Middle Age s 24 ; " Littlc ke
,\ge" 24; m omıta in ranges 20;
pr~ ı p ıtaıi on 20, 2 3; teınper.ıture
23
J ean 162
C o..: ıc.ıu .
rnins 34, 43 , 81
ı:olkc ıiviı.atıon 156 57, 170, 172-73,
172, 176,179,181 , 189,191,194
Cominlcm (Communist lntcrn.ıtional)
159
Co mmo rı wc.ılth of lrıd<.'perıdent ~tates
/CIS) 182, 184
Co mmunısm 1 ~8 . 15tJ, 159
.ıtlıeism and .ınııreligiou~
commitmcnı 166, lt.11, glob.ıl
export of rcvolutiorı 158, 159
Comınunist P.ırt y 158,158, 159
anti-Communst organizations 151,
hankiııg .ınd fiıı.ın ce 154, 155;
Bolshe\· ıks change n.ıme ıo l 53;
c.ıpıt.ıl mo \•ed to Moscow 153,
Ce ntral Committee 155,
centr.ılization 154. Chcka 151 , 153,
156, rnlle<.:tivization 170,172 73,
173; Comıntcrn (Commumst
lnternatıonal) 159; con ccntration
camps 153, 172,171 , 207;
Dictatorship ofthe Prokıariat 155 ;
e cmıom y 154, IS'i; existıng
go\'ernmental ınsıitutions
.ıbolished 154; famınes 155, 172-
73; five-year pl.ı.m 156-57 , 17!,
176, 181 ; function.ıries 154, g.ıım
rnntrol 153; GPU 156,176; Grcat
Terroc 173, KGB l'il , 17b, 179,180,
Kronshw.dı uprising 155; Left
Opposition 156; Lenin 154,156;
tı~lrerıtsy 154; ınember,;hip 155,156;
Me nshev ıks abolished l 'i'i;
money replaced 154; as n.ıııon.ıl
government 154 5'i; natıon.ılııatıon
1 54, ~ew Economıc Policy /'lEP)
155 -56; NL\'D 176; Polıtburo
(Polıtı cal BurcauJ 1'i5, palitical
opposition 153; propaganda 158,
159. 170, .170, 171; property
communalızed 154, purges 155 56,
171, 176; Red Armv 153;
repression and terrOr 153, 154, 155;
re si~tan ce to 153, 155; show trials
171, S.Od.ılist Rcvolutionary Party
abolished 155, Soviet government
154; ~t.ılin gaım control 156;
Terror 172 - 73; Trotsky exıled and
departed 156; \V .ır Communism
154 j 5; \•.:oc]dW.ırlll75 76
Communist P.ırty Congress /1988) 80
com:enıra ıion camps 153, 172,
176 r 207
Allıcs' rep.ıtriaıion polky 175, ı 76,
death c.ımps 176; diss ident
mo \•ement 179, {;re.ıt Tcrroc 173;
Gulag 168, 176-77, 179 ;
Khrushchev cra 177; kı.ı.{rıks 172,
mort.ılity rates 176; r cturning
migres 153; uprisings in 176;
\\'nr d\\'.ır ll 176
C·m~tantine (brothcr of Al exander 1)
119
Ucccmbrist ınove ment 111'1 , 119
aaıine Porphnogenitus,
1- .,, "36,3
ır ,ple- 35 Jrı. :x
Tur \ h ;- H.ıgia Sophia
ad ,! ,\<kold and Dir
Co nstru ctivists lbl
Copper Re \•olt (1662) 76
Cos sa,:k -Ukraini.ın papular revolt
(lf,48)7 5. 76
Cossack s 75 . 109, 111 . 189, 198
autonomous governments 151
Courl.ınd 101,112, lY)
Cri ınca 34, 54, 191
.ınn e xed by Catherine il JU4, 111,
G otlıı c population 34; ~cythıans lO,
30; \'egetation 20, 21, Y.ıyla
M o untaıns 20
C'rimc.ın W.ır 121, 125 2tı, 125
c.ıuses of 125; Eastern Qucstion
125, 127; prop.ıgaııda 124, Tn:aty
of Paris 125, 126; Turkıslı flect
destroved at Sinope 124
Cross , L.ıetitıa91
Cub.ın mıssile crisis ı 78
Cub-Futurists 158
Cııi , Cesar 134 - 35
Cıım.ıns see Polovtsıans
Cyril. St 28
Cyrillı<: .ılphabet 28, 39, 39
c)' rıllo-Methodıan mıssıon 28, 34, 41
Czechoslo\·aki.ı
Pr.ıgue Spring 179; Sovict blo<: 176;
\\'ars.ıw Pact inv.ısion 179
Dag!.'l,t.ın 129
languages 26
Daniel. Yuly 178,182
Daniıl of Galıcıa 52
Daniıl (son of Alcxandcr Nevsky) 55
Danilov Monastery 168
Danzig <:orridor 111
Darıı;omyzhsky, Alexander 134
Darwın, Charles 130
Dashkova, Princess 112
DeLcmbrısıs 118,118,119.120, 121,
123
Denikin, General Anton 153,153
Dcrzhavin, Gavriıl l 13
" de\·eloped socıalism" 179, 180
Dczhncv, Simon 74, 76
Diaghilcv, Sergey 162, 162
H.ıllets Russes 143, l 'i7, lt>2, 163;
Mır l skusswa (\\'or/d of A rı)
journ.ıl 136,137,162
Ui c t.ıtorship ol tlıe Prolctariat l 5'i
Diderot, Dcnis 108, 112, 114
Dilc(J_)·e pole (Wild ficld) 75
Dionisiv 56
Fl"rapünto\· Monastl"ry 73; Moscow
Dormition Cathedral 73
diplom.ı.:y
Muswvy 76, 76, Rfl
Dir 41, 42, 43
dbsidcnt movement 178, 178 79
the art~ 180, 182; conı.:entration
,._.ımps 17Y, emigratıon 11\0, intemal
exile 179; literature hlO;
psychiatric abııse 179, 180;
relıgıous d1ssıdents 178, 179;
sumı::.d:H 178
Dmıtrıy, False 66 67
Dmiıny Domkoy , Prınce 54 55, 54,
56, 'i7
Dmitriy (son of l van lV) 66
Dncpropetrovsk 31
Dnieper River 30, 36, 40, 45. 189, 190,
197
mass baptism ın 44; trade route 20,
3b, H.45
Dniester River 188
Doctors' Ploı l 77
Dolgoruky, Yury 45
Dolgoruky family 100, 101
Donarea
aati-Bolshe\•ik government l'il;
Terror,173
Don Rİ\• er 26, ]4, 34, 7'i, 90, 189
defeat of T.ıt.ırs at 56, 57. 57; trade
route 54
Don-Volga ırade route 34
Donba~s 189 90
Donskoy, Mark 161
Dorpat 194
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor 121,122,130,
133--4, 136,166
Cr imeand Punıshmenı 133; ,•,:oıes
Jrom Urıderground 134;
Pctrashcvsky Cirde 120, i33, The
Brothcn Kı:ı.rı:ı.ma::011 1 34, The
Dı"ı· ils (ThePossessed) 133; The
<;.ımb/er 13~; The lJioı 133
Jouble-headed e.ıgle 6'i. Hl
Drevly.ıne trıbe 43
dru:hına 36
Dub Ce k, Alexander 179
Dubossarsky rcgion 189
Dııd.ıyev, Gencr~l 184
Dukhobors 109
Duma 140, 140, 145, 147
first 143; ~econd 143; thırd 143;
fourtlı 143, 149, electioıı of 14Y,
establishment of 141, 143;
Febrıı.ıry Rcvolııtion 149, 153,
reconstituteJ a~ provision.ıl
go\·ernment 149; reforms 143,
\-Vorld \Nar 1147
Dunc.ın, lsadora 160
Dush.ınbe 221
Dvina River, North 66
Dvina Rivcr, v\'est 47, 188, 197
Dzhung.ıri.ın (Jade) Gates 218
!::.ısı Prussıa 197,204
l::.ısıern Quesııon 125, 127
I:chmıadzın 200
economy
Cathcrme il 107; Commuııist Partv
154, 155; "de\'c>loped socialism" '
180; fıve--year plans 156 57,172,
173,176,180,181; Gorb.ıche\' 180,
181; NewEconomıc Policy 155;
Nichol.ıs 1 120; peresıroıkı:ı. 158,
IP.1, 181,197, post-World \\'ar 11
176; $talin 156 57; Wocld \\'ar 1
147
educ.ıtıon
Alexander J's ınve~tmenı ın 116;
Lycee Tsarskoye ~elo 103, 116;
Moscow University 102, 112; Pcter
tlıe Great romotes 97;
Slav-Grcek-Latin Academy 82;
tlıırd Dum.ı's reforms 143; under
C.ııherıne 11112; ofwomen 112
lhrenburg, llya 153, ı 77
Thc Thı:ı.ı.ı.• 177, 182
Eisensıeın, Sergey 62,157,160,161
Bacıtcship Pocemkm 141; The 0/d
aııdıh e Neı.ı., ]60
l::kib.ı.stuz b.ısin
218
Elizabeth, Tsaritsa 102 03, 103,107,
108
A.:.ıdemy of Arts 112, ,._apit.ıl
punishment !02; Moscow
Unıversıty 112, Petrodvorcts
{Peterhof) Palace 215, serfdom 105;
Seven Years' \Var 102, su.:cession
105; v\'inter Pal.ıce 215
ı:::lizabeth 1, Queen of England 61
,,
Elizabeth.ın Baroquc archite<:ture 98,
emancipation ofserls 127 28, IJL
135, 138
emigr.ıtion 180
Allies' repatri.ıtion policy 175.176,
artists 161; Church in [xile 153;
dıssıdents 179; CmigrC population
153; Gorbachev's policy on 181;
Jews 180; post-World war 11 176;
returning emıgres 153; Synodal
Clıurch l'i]
Ernin, Fyodor l 13
Enlightenment phılo~oplıy 108,
112- 14. 121
Fpiphan[os the Wise see Yepılaniy
Premudry
Eskimos 16, 17
Estonıa 96,104.192, 193,194.194,
195
ab~orbed bv Sovıet Union 193;
antı- BolshCvık republıc 157; thc
arts 194; indepcndence 193,
industry and agrkulture 192, 193,
194, 19~, langu.ıgc Jq3; n.ıtionalısm
181,197; ~oviet bloc 176
European Russia. 40, 207
E\•elyn, John 91
expocts 120
F.ılconet, E.-M
Hron::e Horseman 114
f.ımine
ofl891---921J9;ofl921155;Terror
172- 73
Fatherland \",'ar
firsı 116; second 175
February Revolution 149
l·erapontov Mon.ısıery 73
Fergana basin 219
Grcat Fergana Canal 223
Fct, Afaııasy 133
Fil.ırct, Patriarch 67, 80
Fili
lnterccssıon Chur.:h 98
Fı lofev of Pskov 65
FilonÖv, Pavel 158, 161 , 182
Analvnc An 161; "universal
flowCring" principle 161
Finl.ınd 94, 95. 96, 102, 17'i
Alexander I's invasion 114, 115,
129, anıi-Bolshevık ındependence
157; Nazi-Soviet P.ı<:t {1939) 173,
post-World \Var 11176; \Vinter
\Var IH
f>inland, Gulf of 193, 194
Finnk languages 26
Finno-Karclia 20.J
Fioravanti, "Aristotclc" 65
Firsı Novgorod Chronıde 52
Fi\'e, the the Mighty Handful,
Mogı.ıchaya kı.ıı:hka] 1H-35, 162
five-yearplans ISfi-57, 172,173, l7tı ,
180, 181
Florcncc, Coııncil of 54
Fokinc, Mikhail 143, 163
Fonvizin, Denis 113
"fools in Chrıst" 63
forcedlabor
Soviet go\·crnment 176; \""'orld
Warll 176
FortR~s 129
Fran<:e 102
assısts \l\'hıte army 153 : B.ıttle of
Boro<lıno 116; Crımean \Var 125,
125 6, French Re\·olutıon 114;
invasıon of Russia 116; Napoleonic
wars 15,114,114 15,116;
revolution of 1848 120; Russian
oc<:upaıion of Paris 114, 116; Triple
Enıente 146,146,149
Free Economıc Socıcty 109
fret"Jllasonry 113,114, 11 9
fresco paıntmg 47, 51, j2, 57, 83,168
iconic 72; Novgorod 60. 70, St
Sophıa, Kiev (Kyyiv) 48; Trinıty
Monaslcry 69
Freud, ~igmund 130
Frıedl.ın 114, 115, 117
Frunze 224
Fur 25
Futurısm 158
Fyodur 1 66, 66
Fyodor H 66, 66
Fyodor IIl 75, 80 81, 80, 81, 83, 88,
R9, 103
Fyodor Kuzmı<:h 119
G.ıg.ırın, Yury 178
G.ılıci.ı45
Russian offensive in 146
Galici.ı-Volhyni,ı 47
G.ıluppı, Baldassare 111
Gapon, Georgy 141
Garshın, \'sevolod 133
GJslev, A 161
Gatchina 113
Gauguin, Paul 158
Ge<lırııinas 58
Gememschaft (.:ommunalıty) 121
Genıı;hı~ (Chıngıs) Khan 51
fall of Pekinı 50; invasion of
Kicvan Russia 50 52, 50; rcligious
ıolerance 54; successıon 51
Gennadıy, Archbıshop 61, 63
gentry
Ch.ırtcı oft h e Nobılıtv 109,
liber.ıtion of 109; Nichol.ıs 1120,
12l;andPaul 114
Georgia 45, 184, 199, 202,202,203
annexation by Paul 114. 115, 202;
architecmre 202; Catherıne il
establislıes protectocship ovcr 111;
folk d.ınce 203; independence 202;
industry and agriculture 199,202;
l.ınguagc 202; nationalısın 181,
religion 202; Scythians 30;
Tr.ınsc.ıuc.ısı.ın Federal Repııblic
ı 53. 157; union republi<: 202;
vegetation 20-21
Gr'rmany
Battle ofT.ınnenberg 146; Central
Powers l 46; Congress of Berlın
127; Empress Ann.ı. 101--02, 106;
Germ.ın colomes 11 l; Germ.ın
Dcmocratıc Republi c (GDRJ 176;
Nazı-SovietPact (1939) 173,1 75;
and Petcr TJ\ 107; post-World War
rı divisıon 176; Tre.ıty of
Brest-Lıtovsk 149; Tugendbund 119;
World War 1 146
Gertscn, Alexander see Herzen,
Alcxandcr
Glı.ıznavids 222
Glagolıtk script 28
glasnosl 158, IP.1
Gleb, St 39, 44, 47
Glinka, Mıkhaıl 125, 134
Kamarinskaya 125
Glinsk.ıy.ı, Yelena 65
GoJunov, Boris 66, 67, 69. P.0, 107
Krcmlın belfry 66, 83
Gogol, Nıkolaı 121,122,123,114
Dead Sorıls 122; How the Two lııans
Quarrelcd 122; Th ı: lrı spı:r:wr
General 122; TheOııercoat 122
Golden Horde 50, 51. 'i2, 54, 56, 59,
210
Gohtsyn, Prınce Vasılıy 75, 80, 81-82
Golitsyn family 101,207
Golovin 163
Gonch.ırov, lv.ın
Oblomor.' 133
Gonch.ıro\'.a, N.ı.t.ı.lva 160,161.162
Gorbachev, Mıkhalı 180-81, 208
Afghanıstan troop wııhdraw.ıl 180;
akohol availabihty restricted 181;
Chernobyl nııclcar .ıccident 181,
187,221; and Chına 181;
Communist Pany Congress 80;
economy 180, 181; loreıgn palıc
180; glasrıost 181; perestroıka 158.
181. 181,197; p01icy on emigratıon
181; polıtical reforms 181;
resurgence ofnationalism 181;
Soviet leadership 180; and tlıe
United Staıes 181
Gordorı, Gt:'neral Patrick 89, 90, 91
Gorky, M.ıxim (Alckscy Peshkov)
14], 144 , 160--61
Fomu GorJeveıı 14•1, Lower Dcpıhs
144, TheMoıhcr 161
Gotlı~ 34
Goıland 60
GPU 156, 17b
Great Bulgar 34
Great rm assy 90-92, 91
Greaı lnstru <:tion ofCatherine il 110
Great Norıhcrn War 90. 91, 91,93-95
Gre.ıt Rt'bellıon 109. 111
Great Russians 27
Great Xhism 77-78
Great Terror 173
Gree<:e 175
<:İ\'il w.ır 176; rcbcllıon agaınst
ottrım.ın empire 119
Green Army 153
Griboyedov, Alex.ınder
WoeJromı..nıll9,123
Grımm, Frıedrıch Mı:lchıor
Correiponderır:e Lııceroıre 112
Gromyko, Andrey IRO
Groot .A.
portr.ıit ofEli:.ı.abeth l0J
Grozny 184
Gul.ıg {Speci.ıl Adminisır.ıtion of
Camps) 168. 176 -77, l 79
GUM emporium 210
Gumilyov, Nikolai ltıO
Mu;:hık ltı0
gu~lı
71
Gytha (wife ofVladimir il) 45
H;ımartolos, George 41
Hamilıoıı. Mary 75
H.ınseaııc League W, 60
Novgorod 61. 70; Tallinn 192, 194
Hardr.ıdı, Harold 36
H.ıre lsl.ınd 214
H.ırold il, King ofEngland 45
Hcrcynıan ForeM 16-17
Hcrodotus 30, 34
Herzego\· in.ı
annexcd by Austrıa 146, Treaty of
San Sıefano /26, 127
Herzen (Gertscn), Alcx.ındcr I lP., 120,
123
Mı' P.m andThoı.ıghts 123
Hesyc hast mysticism 54, 6 J., 72
Hilarion, Metropolıtan 42. 4'i
Sermon orı thc Law ıınd the Gruce 39
Hitler, Adolf
iııvasion ofSo\•iet Union 173, 175,
175; Nazi-Soviet Pact (1939) 173,
175
 iNDE<

Holv Alli.-ınce 119
HolY Russia. concept of 121
Hume. David l 12
Hungary
Kadar go\·emment 177; Sovıet bloc
176; uprisıng(1956J 177, 178;
World War ı 146
Huns.34,222
lbrahim Pash.ı 120
iceages 17
icons4J. 44. 72. 72. 73. 83. 166
"first icon" 63; Georgıan 202,
iconostasis 57. 65, 72; ımpacı on
Modern.\lovemenıarusts 157-58.
Kıevan 56; .\luscovy 56 - 57;
Novgorod 70: silver casing ,r;
Stroganov School 83;
"Tenderness" ıype 47; Trmıty
Monasıerv 69; "\'irgin of
Vladımır47
lgor. Prince ofKıe\' 42
lgor Tale (Tale of ıhe Annameııı of
lgor) 39, 40. 42.45, 57
ıllumınaıed manuscripts 28, 57
Ilmen, Lake37
Imandra. Lake25
lmperial Alexandrovsky Theaıer 143
lndıa 114
lndıgırka River 76
ındustry
five-ye.ırplans 156.172, 173,176.
ISO,ISI. forced labor 176;
Gorhachev's economic reforms 181 ;
ındusırıalız.ıtıon 135, 172;
nationaliz.ııion 154, peas.ant
workers 138; \\'orld \\'ar il and
after175,176
lngria
Great Northern \\'ar 94
lrıkhukorı,:anızation 161
ınullıgerıtsıya 133
loakım. Patrıarch 89
!ona Sysoyevich, .\ktroPolıtan 84, 85
loni.m lslands 129
Irkuısk75
Invsh River 75
ısker75
lslam 39, 43, 16 7, 201,217 , 220, 221 ,
222,224
repression and persecutıon 166,
221; Shiite 167; sulism 220 , 221 ,
224
lsmaillll
lsıanbul
South Russi.m government
evacuatıonto 15l
lsıra78
ltaly
Carbo,ıarl 119; Trıple Entente 146
ltil.34
lvan 111 (the Great) 56
childhood 65; creatıon of !ı.1uscovv
37, 58- 59, firstRussıanBible6J; "
heretıcs 61; Moscow Kremlin 52,
65; Novıı.orod suppressed 57.
59 61; and the OrthodoxChun:h
65 ; secondmarriage65; Tver
suppressed 57. 61; \ '_vatka
suppressed61
lvan lV (tbe Ternble) 56, 59, 61, 62,
63,61.65,107
Baltic republics 191, birth 65;
capture of Asırakh,m 66. 74. 75;
capıure ofKaz.ın 66. 74. 75. 211;
character 62, 65, 66; crowned ısar
65; death 66; early reforrns 65-66;
firstm.ırriage65, 66, 67; foreign
recruits 66: Kurbsky's letters to 61.
121; nıassacre ofıhe :-ı-ovıı.o ro dıan s
66; opnchnına 62, 63, 66; reign of
terror 66; St Basil' s Cathedral
[Church of lntercessıon on thc
.\loat) 211; sıeıı.e ofK.ız.ın 63; sı.ııe
seal 62; terrıtorial ıı.aıns 66, 75;
threatened abdıcauon 62, 66, trade
lınks wıth England 66
Jvan V 48, SO- 81. 81,89
.ıssists \\'hitc army 1 ">\; aıı.ıck on
Port Arthur 142; Batık• of Mukdcıı
142; Russo-Japane~c \\'ar see Russo-
Japanese \\'ar; Treaty of
Ponsmouıh 142. 143
Japanese 209
Jason and the Argon.ıuts ıo
Jerusalem78
Jews
seea/_ço Judaı~m; dıssıdenı
movement 178; emigration 180.
181
John Tzırnisces, Emperor 43
Joseph of Volokolamsk, St 63
Juchı (son of Genghis Khan) 51
Judaism41. 166
repressıon and persecuuon 1&6
Juknaıchaıl%
Kadeıs sec Constıtutional Democraııc
Part,
Kalka R.iver 50. 51
KamaRiver 34
Kamenev, Lev
showırıal171
Kandınsk v, Vasıliy 117,161 164,182
Blue R ıJ'eralmallac 136; On the
Spıritual m Art 116. l 37; Skerch for
Compo~itıoıı 1\1. Baıtle 136
Kapsuksky region 197
K.ıra Kum {"Black <;and~) 25
Karabakh 201
Karabakh horses 198
Karamzın, Nıkolai lll. 121
Karmır Blur 200
Kasimo,· 59
K.ıskelen21X
Kaz.ıkbstan 218. 218
architecture, 218,218. carthquakes
218; industry and agriculturc 217,
219. 219: Kazakhs 219; nationalism
181
Kaz.ıkov, M.ıt vev 114
Kazakov, \'ury !82
Kazan
falls to ıvan lV 66. 74. 75. 21 ı;
sieıeof6J
Kcrch 30, 34
Kerch. Sıraiıof26
Kerenskv, Alex.1nder 150, l~I
KGB 15ı", 176,179.180
Khachaturvan, Aram JJ6
Kh.ız.1riaJ4
Kh.ız.ırs 26. 14 l5. 34. 42. 43
Khıva 129. 167,219.221
KhlebruJ...ov, \'elımır 158
Khmelnitsky, Bogdan 76
Klıol mgor y 102
Khomv.ıko\', Aleksev 121
Khr ushchev. "likita }77 78,178
.ınd Chına 178. Cuban mıssile crısıs
178; fail from PoWer 178. 179;
Hungarıaııuprising 177.1711,
liberalizatıon 178; memoırs 178;
P.ırtygeneral secreıa ry 177:
reliıı.ıonrepressed iMi, 178, "secrct
~pcech" 177; space exploratıon
proıı.ram 178, sputmk saıdlıte 178;
the Thaw 177
K.ıev (Kyyiv) 16. 17. 20, 36. 58, 75, 78,
189 assımılated ınto Muscovy 57,
75, Si, Golden Gate 45; Great
Church (St Sophia) 42. 45. 47:
Kıe, -Pechcry 169, metropohtan of
54. 57; Monasterv ofthe Caves 47;
Ryurıkıd dyna~ty 36, 40, 42 45, 59,
66; s.acked (1169) 45; <, t Sophia 48,
48. 49, lıh, 18Q; Tatar .-ıttack 50, 52;
Tat.1r rule 53; Tıthe Church 47;
unificaııon with Xovıı.orod 42
K ıe,•an Ru ssi.ı see Rus
Kık in, A.V . 99
KıkınPala <.:e 99
K ıpcbak 219
Kıpren~kv. DA 123
K ıprian, Metr0Polit.1n 58
Kırevevsky, !van 123
Kokand, khanaıe of 224
Kola Penmsula 25
Kolchak. Admiral 1 53, 153
Kolomenskoye 207
Church ofthe Asceıısioıı 65; Palace
lıl, 86, 87
Kornı people 55
Koporve 94
Korb. Johannes
Dıary ofa Joımıey to Musccııy 92.
93, 91, 96
Korea l.,12
Korcans209
Kornilo,·. General Lavr 150, 151
Korobo,·. l
Admiralıy building 215
Kosciuszko. Tadeusz 112. 114
Kossuıh
Hungarı.ın national uprising 120
Kosvin.Aleksev 179
KoıOshıkhin, Ğngoriy 82
Kramskoy, l van l l4
Kremlın (Moscow) 62, 65. 65, 110.
114,155,211
Arı:bangel C.-ıtbedral 52, 65. 65,
bclfry 66, 81; Cathedral of the
Annuncıati on 65; Dormition
Cathedral 65; Palace 125; Savior
bebınd the Golden Grille 84, Terem
P.-ılace81
Kre\'O, ünion of 58
Krıv o~• Roıı. sıeel planı 190
Kronstadt uprising 155
Kubanarea
antı-Bol'illevik go, ernment 151;
Terror 173
Kub.ın sıeppe lO, 34
Kul Oba 30
kulahl72
Kulikovo 56. 57. 57
Kuprin, Alexander 160
Kura R ıver 201. 202,202
Kurbsky, Prince Andrey 61. 66, 121
Kursk offenSJve 175
Kustodiev, Boris
The Bolrhel'ik 143
Kutaısi 202
Kuıu zov, Pnnce M ıkh.ııl 116, ll6
Kuzbass207
Kuznctso,, P 137
h•açs200
Kyrg ,•zstan 224. 224
ındustry .ınd agrıculcure 224 , 224;
religion 224
Kyzyl Kum ("Red Sands") 20,219
Lad~a. Lake 36. 37
Lad oga l7, 60
land
Chaner ofthe "lobılııy 109;
ı:ullectivefarrns 156-57, 170 .
172 73. 172; tenure svsıem 61
Land .md Freedom see iroılya 1 Volya
Landmarks ( \ ·ekhi) alm.ınac l 57
lanj!uages 26. 29
Armenian 200; Azerbay,.ını 2h;
Belorussian 26; c aucasian 26;
Cyrıllıcalpbabet28. 39, 39;
D.ııestani 26; Fınnıı: 26, Glaı,:olitic
scrıpt 28, Greck 37. ~I USCO\'ıte
(Great Russıan) 29, Old Church
<;lavonic 28 29, 44; Old Russian 19;
Permıan scrıpı 55; Rus~an 26;
Slavonic 26. 27- 29. 28. 17; Tatar
29, 51; Turkic 26; Ukraınian 26
Larionov, Mıkhai] 158. 161. 162
Latvia 193, 195-%.195.196, 197
absorbed by So, ıeı Unıon 193, 195;
antı-Bolshevik republıı: 157;
Courland 101,112,191,
independence 191. 195; indusıry
and acriculture l<ı1, 196, 1%;
language27. l9l. 195-96;
nationalism 181; Soviet bloc 176
Lavrov, Pvotr 131
Left OppOSııion 1 %
Legislaıl\e Commıssion (1767) 80,
,unstiıuentas,;emblv ISl:cult 170;
death 156; and Makhno 15 3; and
,\tarxısm l 58; mausoleum 170, 180:
:\'c,..,, Economic Polil'v 155- 56;
Ocıob~·r Revoluıion Iso- 51. 151;
Polıtburo 155; se,.;ond Duma 14J;
Supreme Sovıet 15,1; use of terrur
173; WarCommunism 154 55
Leningrad 16. 214. 214,215
sec a/so Peırograd; ~t Petersburı;
sıegeof /'."5
Lermontov, Mılı.h.ıil 124
1-leroofourTımel24
Leskov . Nikol.ıı l 33
Lesnava 91. 94
Letts<J6, JQJ, 194,195
Lentskv, Dmıtriv 11 J, 114
Iiaodol'lg Peninstlla 142
Liboy88
/ıçhenısvl5•1
Lısıewska, R.M 107
Lısıtsky. L (El) 161
literaturel2324,IJ3-J4.ll6,145
Acmeists 160; Brezhnev era 182;
bvlinv44. 70. dbsident mo\·emenı
180; Jukhoı·nyestıkhı 82; emıgre
153; 1--:stoıııa 194, Fo rmalists 161;
luturish 158,Gogol 122. 123;
Khrushche,•era 177,178; literarv
drama 75; Modern Movemcnt !57,
l\iu~cO\ }' 57 58, 75. S2; OBERIU
161; "peasant roers" 158, 160;
"prolet.arıan movement' ' 161;
Pu shkin 122. 122. 123; RAPP 161.
181; revolution of JQ()5 14l; kus
39, 39, 44, 47: Serapion
llrothcrhood 161; Socialist Realism
182;Symbolisıs 136 37, 14J, 157,
ır,o. 161. "village prose" scbool
182
Lithuanıa 58,193.197. 197
absorbed by <;o,•ırt Union 193;
anıi-Bolshevik republic 157,
Catherine ll 111. 112; Gr.ınd Duchv
of 51, 55, 56. 5:", 58. 59. 61. 197, •
inı:orporaıed ınto Russian empıre
193; independenı:e 193. 197;
industry and agriculture 191, 197,
197; language 27. l9l. 197; and
.\tmcovv 59, fil. fil; nationalism
18L 19?; and Poland 11 L 197;
Popular 'lational front 197;
reanne.:ı.ed tu 1<ussia 197; religion
39, 5•1. 54. 58. 197; 'i.ıjudis
movement 197; Sovıet bloc 176;
Unıon of Krevo 58
Lıvonıa 95
Lıvoman Order 66
Lomonosov, Mikhail 112,112
Lopukhina. Yevdokiya 81'. '12.
Lovat16
lııbok 100
Lunacharsky, Anatolly 181
Lyubech conference {1097)4 5
Lyubimov . Yury 181. 183
L;mbomudry (Lo,•ers of\\ ısdom) 121
Magadan 207
Magnitogorsk 2.07
Maıı.yars27 , 14
Makarıv , Meırolıı.ın 65
MakarÖva.:\'ataln 181
l\·lakhno, 'lestor' 15 3
l\lakoveıs group 161
Maksımo,•. \'ladimir 180
Malenk ov. Georgiy 177
Male\·ich. K.-ızimır ı :;s, 161. 164. 18:?
aloıısm iM. Gır/ uıth Rake 164;
Supremamm 161, 164 164;
Sup~ematist Compu~ıııorı 164, The
Kmfe-Grmder 164
Malıall4
Manchuria 142
\landelshtam, Osip 1 )7 160, 182.
Mangnhlv.:ık Penim.ula 218
Manstein.General 101, l02
\-larıa Alexandrovna, Empress 121'
Mayakovsky, Vladimir 158
/\lazl'pa. lvaııcı.ı
.\1ecklenburg, Charles Leopcld of 102
Mcdn·dc\ <;yhesrer 82
Mcissonier, E..117
\knshevıks 111. 140, 140. 141
.ıbolished 155; ıeneralsınke(1905)
140,142, l4J; Georgia 202;
Polemkm 141: <;ocıal Democratıc
Partv l lO, 150; sovıet councıls 1'iti,
<;ovieı of \\'orkers' Deputies 1·12:
Troısky',;Jeadershıpof 140, 142
MenshiJ...o, Alexander 80, !fo. 96. 97,
99,100
\lerezhkonkv. Dmitriv 14l, 160
Mer~•a 37 - •
mestnichestı•rılıl.89
.\le\'erhold \'scvolod 14l, 161,182
.\liCh.ıel lll. Emperor 2~. 41
.\t ighıv Handful ~eethe fı\'e
!ı.lıkh.iıl 1<omanov. Tsar 66. b7, 74.
77, 79, 83
,\likbay]ovsJ...ove 12 J
Mikha\'lovskv'. '\ıkolaı I ll
ıı.tilo~l~nky famıly 80
Mindo,·g. King of Lııhuanıa 58
Minikh see Munnich
,\ l ınin,Kozma67,67
Minsk ISiı
Mırovich. Vasiliy 108
Mıttau!Ol
Mniszek. Marina 66, 67
Modern Movemcnt 157, 164
Moldavıa 1~7.188. l8l!, 189
see also Bessarabia; agriculıure ıı-ı­
climate 187; Crımean War 125, 125;
industry and agriculture l!HI. 189;
naıionalism 181; Russian ürthodox
Church 1S7
monasıeries 169
monastic movement 54, 54, 169;
Mount Athos 52, 54; Time of
Troubles6i
.\tongolia 17, 50
,ıongolsseeTaıars
.\lontenegro 127,129,146
Montesquieu . cbarles Louis. Baron de
112
!ı.1orana.Greater27 28
.\foroz. \'alcntin 179
.\torozo,, Borıs 80
i\torozova, Boyannya teodosiya 78
mosailsl&8
Rus 47; ~t Sophia. Kiev (Kyyı,·) 48
Mos..:ow 17. 24. 57. 84 20&. 210,210,
211
Annunciation Cathedral 72. 72;
Archangel C.ıthedral 211, B.lttle of
Borodino 116. 116; belltower kan
Velikiv 211; Bolsheviks 151. 15.3:
Cathedral of Chrısı ıhe <;.n ior 168
Church ofthe Nativiıv in Puıinkı
83; Church ofthe TriÜit, in the
'\ıkimıkı 83; Communis·ı capıtal
moved tol 53; Cop~r Revolt
(1662) 76; D.-ıniloY \tona,;ten· 158,
Dormıtion Cathedral 7J, 211; Filı
98; GC'!\1 emporium 210; Kremlin
ıee Kremlın. Mo~cow. KrutıtsJ...,
Teremok 84; metropolitaa residc~
at 56; ,\lctropole Hotel 1&3,
Moscow An Theater 141. 144. 144;
\toscow B.ıı:oque architeı::ure /'12
81- M. 98. 9Q; \-toscow Ta:,::anka
Theater 182; "l.ıpoleonıc inYasıon
116; :\o\'odevKh\' Con\'cnt Q9,
,>prıdır.ıkı fil; Ordvnka Hi~hwav
ı 10; origıns 45. 47· Pashko\' Housc
114; Pugacho, rcbellıon 109: ReJ
Square l.'10, 210,210, rin.c rıı.ıd;: 1 1
rise of 53. 55 56. 57· ,ı fla:,lı ,;
Cathedral (Church of ln[,..n ~~ı '!1
onthe.\loat) 155,211 Salt RC\'Olt
(l648j':6; seat0fgo\'ernm,·m
lransferredto',tPetersburg&--
<;Ja,·-Greek-Laun Academv-4
<,m ıjensk <,quare 2 1 ',p.:ı,;\k

daugbters 101 Kıreyevsky . Pyotr 123 109-10, 121 .\I.artos215 To,..,,er211 srre[ı muııoıes(l682
lvan \'l 100,101,103 Kırov. <;erge 173 Lena R ıvcr 207, 208,209 M.ırx . Kari 130. l'.i8 1698)76.Rq.91 92 9J;T.ı.ı,m.~ck
.\1ıro\'ich ploı l08. murder IOS Kıshinev 188 lend-lease 175 Marıı.ismB21 B ">O. ~6· l'nn·eniıv 102 112
lvanov, Alexander 124 Kitezh, lnvısıble Citv of 52 Lenin (Ulyanov). Vladimir ilyich Lenlnand 15Js uprısını l I ll051 140
lzyasl.-ıv , Prince45 Kizhi 132 33,154 ,ıarxıstparties \-1oskva Rner 2()-
wooden buildıngs aı 86, 87 All-Russian Con~ress ofSoviets Bolshe\•ıks 140. 140. 14 \-fsta Ri\·er r
JadeGates218 Kly.ızma Rıver24.45 150, attempted coup 150; J\.kn~he,·ih l·lO, 140 141 ',nda!ı,ı ~Bti\la, Princc4.:J, 4)
J.ıgıello, Grand Duke of Lithuanıa 56. KlyuyeY, '.'ôiJ...olaı l 58 Bolsheviks 133.140. 147,150; Rc,·olutionarv Partv 111 ı .ıı\ 140 \1tskheta 202
S8 Kneller. SırGodfrey Cheka 151,156; Comıntern 159; .\latısse.Henril'i~ \flıkden, B.lttleof 142.

Japan Peuı-188 concenıraıion c.ımps 176; .\latveyev Artamon ~,. sıı 81 .\tunnıch. Burkhard 101 0.2
Murmansk 2J, 149,209
Murom 110
Musco\'y 50 f,7, 88
Akhey Mıkhaylo\'ıch 78; alliance
with Poland (1685) 81, ,m:hııccture
5b, 81 84; arisıocracv 61;
Bolotnikov's rising (İ606 -07) 66,
76, Bovar Duma 79; Bulavın
rehc-Jlfon (1 /07) 76; civil dısorder
7b 77; copper Revolt (1662)76;
Coss.ack-Ukrainı.ın popular revolt
(1&48) 75, 76; diplomacy 76, 76, 80;
eflects of Tatar rulc 53, cxpc-diıions
agaınsı Crimc,;ın T.atars 81;
gathering-in ofıhe Russıan lands
56, 61. Great Schism 77-78, 166;
Jvan 111 58 59. laıc Muscovıte crısıs
24. lıtcrature 82; ,md Lithuania 56,
61, 62; "Lıtıle lce Age" 24;
meanıng 58; me~ınichf"slPo 8l;
ınetalwork 8 >; metropolit.an of Kiev
and Ali Russia 56; Musco\'İte
(Great Russi.ın) language 29; musıc
82; Novgorod 59 ;;ı, 60; Novgorod
brcad riots (1650) 76; paınting 5b,
81; poliıical ~tnıctures 78 80,
pomest_ye6l; religion 63, 65, 77-78,
Romano\· dynastv 67, 74 75; Salt
Revolt (L648) 76; ~edusion .ınd
xenophobıa 75, 76; serfdom 61;
Tatar ınvasion 50 52; ıerritorial
exp.ansion 74, 75 76, 78, Tıme of
Troublcs 59, 66---f,7, 66, 79, 80;
Turkic Bashkirs 76; yas.:ık(fur
tribute) 74: Zemskıy soboı­
(A~sembly ofthe Lınd) 79-80
music 125, 136, 145
ballad-singinı 182; Cathenne U
113; Estonia 194, theFive 134 -35,
162; Modern :ı.ıovemcnt I 57, 161;
Muscovv 75, 82; Socialisı Realism
182: \\'estern ınfluence 82
Musorgsky, ~fodest 133, 134-35, 136
Bons Godı.moP I l'>; Khoııı::ırıshchına
135
:ı..ıbokov, Vl.ıdımır 153
N.ıgorno--Karabakb 184, 200
Nagy, lmre I 77
'.'..apoleonicw;ırs
15, l07, 114 15,114,
116,116,117,129
no.ı-odnicheswo 131. 132
no.rodnıki 131. 133
Narva9/,94. Jq4
Narvshkin fanıilv 80, 81
~:t:a~i;;~~:tiW.~~~; rı~~~· .~8-;
89
Nanier, Jean Marc
parrrait ofCatherine 1101
nalure reserves 191
Nazı-Soviet Pacı (1939) 173, 175, 188
Nechaye\', Sergey 131
Neman Rıver 115
Neınirovich-Danchcrıko, Vladımır
14-4, 144
:-lentsy 16
Neolithic remains 32
Nepmen 155
-..erchınsk. Tre.:ıty of (l68q) 76
Neredıtsa Hill, church on 51
Nesıor (builder)
Church oftbe Transfiguralion,
Kizhi87
Nestor (rnonk)
Prim.:ıry Chronicle (Ta.le of Bygone
Yeı:ırs) 47
Neva Rıver 37, 89, 94, IJ2, 214. 214
defeal of'iwedes ;ıt (1240) 52
New Econoınic Policy {NEP) 155-56,
172. 181
New Jeru,;.ılem 78, 83, 99
Nicholas 1119, 120- 21,121;
censorship and restrictions 120,
123; characıer 120,121 ; Crime.:ın
War 121, 124, 125- 26, 125;
Decembrists 120; defense of
Corutantinople 120; domestıc
policv 120; Eastern Question 125.
127; economy 120; exparts 120;
gentry 120,121; Hıs MaJesty's
OwnChilncery 120; Hungarıan
:ı~tıonal uprisin in Austna 120,
:-tal \;.ıı·onaily doct rinc
2 t~ 120; Petrashevsky
.ıt s witb Ottoman
i.:ır laws codifie d
.: s ı phiks 121,
238
123,124 25; succceds ıo throne
119, 120; succcssion 118; Turkish
w.ırs120; \-\'esternizers 121, 123
NıclıolasII 147
abdication 149, 153; Battle of
Tanncnberg 146; Bloody Sunday
140,141, 142; censorshıp 141;
characıer 145; Duma 140,143, 143,
145, 147, 149; eccentrıc liıestyle
145; i<ebruary Revoluıion 149,
influence ofts.arits.a 146; land law
reforms 145; liber.ıls 133; minısters
145; murder 1 B; Octoher
Manifesıo 142 43, 145; political
isolaıion 147; Rasputin 146,147;
reforms 14l 145; revolution.arv
movc-ment l 32, I 33, 142; kus~
Japancse War 142: Treaty of
Porısmouth 142,143; Triple
Entenıe 146; World W.ır ı 146---47,
149
Nieızsche, Friedrich Wilhelm IJ0
Nijinsky, Vasla\' 162
Nikitnikov, Grigoriy 83
Nikon, Patri.ırch 62, 77-78, 79, 80.
82, 83, 84
ChrorııcltojNilon 62, New
Jerusalem 78, 83, 99
'\/ıl Sorsky, 'it 63
Nıxon, Ricbard M. 17B
""izbniy Novgorod [Gorky) 67, 139
'\KVD 176
nom.ıds 32
nomenklo.tuı-.:ı 179
Non-Possessors 63
"'l'orılsk208
~ormanist issue 37
!'.orth Atlantic Trcaty Organizatıon
(NATO) 180
Nonhern War90, 91, 91, 9J-95, %
Novgorod 26, 56, 70 , 70, 71
arth.acologic;ıl rem.ııns 3q;
architccıure 70; bircb-bark
d ocuments 19, 39; bread riots 76;
decline 39; First Novgorod
Chronidc 52, fresco painting 70;
Gotland 60; government 70; gusli
71; Hanseatic league 60, 60, 61, 70,
icon painting 70; incorporation
into ).lu-.covy 60; inherent
wc.aknesses 60; kontsy 6lJ; lands 60;
literary .ırts 39, 70, 70, 71;
massacre .ıt 66; Novgorod empıre
47; political organizatıon 47, 59;
popul.ır culture 70; princes of 42;
Ryurik dynasty 36, 42---45, 59, 66;
St Soplıia 47, 48, supprcssion by
ıvan III 56, 59----61; Taıar nıle 52,
53, 5':i, 59-60; Time ofTroubles 66;
irade connectıons 45, 60, 60;
unification with Kiev 42; ı •eche 70;
Viking irade rouıe 37; wooden
buildings 87
Novıkov, Nikol;ıi IIJ, 114
Novosiltsov, Count Nikolai l 19
Novy. Alevisio 65
Nory Mır 182
nunnerics 99,169
Nureyev, Rudolf 181
nutrition 139
Nvenskans 94
NYst.ad, Peacc of(1721) 9/, 95
OBERIU 161
Oblomovısm 133
Ochakov 111
October Manıfesto 140, 142---43, 145
OctoberRevolutıon 150--51, 151
Odessa 120, 189, 190
foundationof 104,111
odnodvortsy l03
Oflicial Natıonality 120--21
Ogaday (son ofGenghis Khan) 51
Oghuz 219,222
Ogunsov, Baz.hen83
oikoumerıe44
Oka Rıver 20, 45, 56
Okhoısk, Se.ı of 209
Okovsky forest 36
O]d Bclıevers 78, 79, q2, 92, 109, 116
O!d Pnıssian 27
Olearius, Ad.anı 82
Jounıey to Muscory 76
Oleg, Prince of Kiev 40, 42, 43
Olga, regent of Russi.a 43
Omsk 151. 153
Onega, Lake 37
Kiıhi 86, 87; Murom Monastery 86
Opolye 23, 24, 45
oprichmki 62, 63
oprichnmıJ 62, 63, 66
Ordyn-Nashchokın 80
Ordynka Highw.ay 2JO
Orlov, Aleksey 106
Orlov brothers 106,107
Orthodox Church see Russıan
Orthodox Church
orv..·ell, George
1984161
Osh 224
Osıermann, Count Andrey 102
Ostrovsky, Alexander 133
Ottoman em pire
Bosnia 126; Bulg.ıri.ı /26; Crime.ın
War 125; Eastern Questıon 125,
127; Greek rebellion against 11q;
Herzegovına 126; Treaty of S.ın
Stefano 126, 127
Oxus (Amu Dary.ı)River 218,219
painting and sculpture 124- 25
AKHRR proletari.ın organiıation
181; .ılogısm 164;ytic Art 161;
Brezhnev era 182; Catherine Ti 113;
Constructivists 161; Estonia 194;
faktuı-o. (facturc) 157; frescoes 52,
57; Futurism 158; Georgia 202;
Hermiıage collection 113; icons set
icons; frıkhuk 161; Khrushchev era
177; Kiev.ın frescoes 4/, 51;
).lakovets group 161; Modern
Mmıement I 57-58, 164; Muscovy
56, 75, 83; neo--primitivism 158;
p,ıı-suno. 75; portrait painting 63,
75; " Proletarian" groups 161;
propaganda 170; Rayism (Luchı.:m)
I 58; Realists 161; Socialist Realism
182; ~upremausm 161,164,164,
165; '>ymbolısts 136--37, 157;
theaıer design 143, 145, 160;
Tretyako\' Gallery 69, 182; tbe
W.ınderers(Peredt•ı.:hrııkı) 134,
135,157; \\'esteminflucnce83,
World of Art (Mır Iskussıra) roup
122, 136,137,145,162,162,163;
Zero--Ten 164, 165 ; see .:ılso fresco
painring, icons
Paisicllo, Gimı;ınni 113
Pakhomy the Serb 58
Palaiologina, 'loe 65
Paleolıthic remains 32
Pamir Mount.ıins 20, 2.B
Pan-Turkism 220
Pantic;ıpacum 34
Paris 114,116
Treaty of(l8xi) 125,126
Parland, A.A.
Church on the Blood 215
parliament.ıry governmenı
Decembrıst movement 118; Duma
140,140,143,143,145,147,149;
October Manifesto 140
Parthıans 222
Pasıernak, Boris 158, 182
Docıor Zhwago 182
Patrikeyc-v, V.ıssian 63
Patriotic\Var
first 116; second 175
Paul, Ts.ar !05, l07, 107,113.114,
ll4
ad,·ance on lndıa 114; .ınnex.ıtion
ofGeorgıa 114,115,202;
.ıntı-Frcnch alliance 114; Grand
Master of ıhe Knights of Sı John
I 14, ll4; genıı-y 114; murder 114;
Napoleonic w.ırs 114, pcasantry
114; Poland 112; Russian empirc-'s
terrıtori.ıl extent I07; St Mich;ıel's
Pil.lace 114; "sınai! court" at
Gatchina 113, succession 107;
succession law 119
Pavlovsk 114
Paıyryk 32. 32
peasants 139
see-also serfdom, Alex.ınder II' s
Great Reforms 126, 127- 28, 131;
collectıve farms 15&-5 7, 170,
172-73, 172; Communism 156 -57;
Dum.ı's reforms 143, kıı./aks 172,
Nichol.ıs I 120; proleuriat 135;
Socialist Rev oluti onary party 140,
140
Pechenegs 40, 42, 43,219
Peipus, Lake 52
Peking 50
People's Wıll terrorist group 119
PeresJa,..J-Z.ılessky 24
peresuoiko.158, 181,181, 197
Pereyaslavl 34. 40, 45
Permı.ın script 55
Permians 54, 55
Perovskaya, sofya 119
Persia 50. 95,115
Peste!, Colond Pavel I ı q
Peter l (the Great) 48, 59, 80, Bl, 8B,
95,100
All-jocular (All-drunken) Syncx:1
92 93; Astr.ıkhan uprising (1705)
92, 94; Aıo,.. captured .ınd lost
89--90, 91, 94; Balııc republıcs 193,
Bash kir civil war 94, Batı le of
Poltava {1709) 94, 96; Banle on the
Prut 94, 95; becornes sole ruler 89;
birth .ınd childhood 65, 88; boy
regimenıs 88,90; boyars' beards
and dress 92. 92, 96; Bul.ı.vin
rebellion 94; conscripıion and
forced labor 94, 97; Cyrillic
alpb;ıbet reformed 28; education
promoted 97; emba~sıes to the
West 88, 95, 95; equestrian sıaıue
in St Petersburg 114; Finland 94,
95, 96; foreign experts and
craftsmen 90, 91, 95, 96, 97; Great
Embassy 90----92. 91; Greaı Northern
War 90, 91, 91, 9}-----95; Gu.ırds
regimenıs 96; joint tsardom 81;
Livonia purchased 95; marriage to
Caıherine 96; m.ırriage to
Ye\'dokiya Lopukhin.ı 88, 92; na\'y
88, 90, 91, %, 96; Old Believers 78,
92, 92; Peacc ofNysıad 91, 95,
Persian war 95; person.ılıty 88, 91,
92-9 3, 97; Petrine reforms 96-97,
100; Petrodvorets (Peterhol) P.ılace
215; political org.anization 96-97;
Preobrazhensky Office 90, 92, 93,
102; proclaımed emperor 95; refuge
in Trinıt y Monastery 68; .and
religion 93; St Pctersburg 88, 94,
%, 104,214,215; serfdom 97;
service mer[tocracy 81; sıatue by
C.-B. Rastrelli 114; Stı-tltsy
rebellion 76, 89, 91, 92, 93;
succeeds to tbrone 80-81;
succession 95-96, 100; Table of
Ranks 95, 97, I03; Taganrog n.ıval
b.ıse 90; taxation 92, 94. %;
territorial gains 9b; ıobacco
indusıı-y 91; anı:I Tsaritsa Sophia
81, 88----89, .and Turkey 9/, 93;
Vedomosti gazene 97, 97; victory at
Lesnaya 94; \Vesterniz.ıtıon 89, 97
Peıer II 100, l02
Peıer rıı 105, 107
abdicaıionand death 106, l07, 107;
gentry liberated from oblıgatory
sl:'rvıce 106; Germ.ınophile
tendencies 107; marriage 105;
Orthodox Church 106; "secreı
chancerv" closed 106; Seven Years'
\Var ıo5
Peterle, Mıchael
w<XXicut of boyars 59
PctrashcvskyCırde 120,133
Pctnne Baroque architecıurc 98, 99
Petrograd 214,214,215
set also Leningrad, St Petersburg
Petrograd Sovıet ofworkers' and
Soldıers' Deputıes 149-50
Pevsner, Anton 162
Philip, M..ırupolitan 65, 77-78
Phı/okalıa 109
Picasso, Pablo 162, 164
Pilny;ık 182
Platonov, Andrey 161
Plekhanov, Georgıy 132,133
Mensbe\•iks 133
Pleshchevevo, Lake 88
Plezpurch see Preobrazbenskoye
podıol 23. 24
Poland 58
anıı-Bolshevık interventıon 153;
Catherınc IT I08; caıholic Church
54; Confederation o fTarg owicil
1I 2, Danzig corrıdor 111 ; Duch y of
Warsaw 112; free veto 111; Greaı
Nortbern Wil.r 91, 94;
incorporation into Russı.ı I I 2;
invasion attempt (1920) 159;
Kosciuszko's uprısing 112, ;ınd
Lithuania 56, 58, ll L 197;
monarchy 111; and Muscovy 78;
NapolC'Oruc wars 114,116;
Na.zi-Soviet Pact (1939) 173;
paniıions of 104. 111-12, 129;
Sophi;ı's alliance with (1685) 81;
and Soviet Union 176; Tıme of
Troublcs 66; Treaty of Andruscwo
78; Union of Krevo 58; World War
1146, 149
Polesye (Pripet m.ırshes) 187, 188
Politburo (Political Bure.ıu) 155
Polotsk 47, 188
St Sophia 48
Polotsky Sime-on 82
Polovtsians (Cum.ım) 42, 45, 45, 47
Poltava, Battle of 91, 94, %
Polyane tribe 26
Pomer.ıntsev. A.N. 2IO
Pontic sıeppe 26
Popova, O. 182
papulation 16
Port Arthur naval base 129, 142
Portsmouth, Treaıyof(l905) 142,143
Possessors 63
Potemkin, Grigorly 104, 108, il 3
Great Projeci for revival of
Byzantine empire il I; Old
Belie\'ers 78
Potr!mkın (ship) 141
Poulenc, Funcis 162
Pozharsky, Prince Dınitriy 66, 67
Prague Spring 179
Pıul'dü 141, 21 J
Preobr~zbemkoye 88 89. 92
Preobrazbenskv Office 90, 92, 93, l02
pretenders I IO~ 11
priestless (be.:::poporısy) 78
Primary Chronicle (The Ta.le oJ Bygone
re.:ıı-s) 25- 26, 28, 34. 36, 37, •10-41,
40, 42, 43, 44, 47
prımogeniturc- 100, I03
printcd books, appearance in Russia
18
Pripet marshes 187,188
Procopius 42
Prokofiev, Sergey 136, IJ6, 161,162
Prokopavich, Feofan 93, 97
proktariaıl35,155
propagand.a
Communisı 158,159,170,170,171;
Crime.ın War 124; Leninist 170;
imperial Russ ian I 70; murals 170;
posters 170, 170, 171. 179;
sculpture 170
provisional government 149-50, 151
Prussi.a 54, l02
Dilnzıg corridor ili; Great
Embassy 91; langllilge 27; partition
of Poland 104,111
Pruı Ri ver 94, 9':i, 188
Pseudo--Maurıce 42
Pskov 47, 56, 60
Battle on ıhe lce 52; suppression by
Vasiliv llI 61; Tatar invasion 52
Pskov-Pecbery Monastery 169
Pug.ı chov, Yemelyan 106, 108. 109,
109, 110--11, 112,124
Pushkın, Alexander 113, 116, 120,
122,122,123,124 ,135
Boris Godurıoıı 122; Bı-on.:::e
Horsemo.rı 97, 122, Mo.:art o.nd
Salien 122; Polı.:ıı·a 97; Tales of
&/kırı 122; Yf"(:gt"ny Onegın 122; The
Co.pto.ın's Do.ughıer 122; The Queen
of Spades 122, 124
Pushkin Palace 98
Pustozyorsk 77
Pyiltakov, Grigoriy 173
Qu.ıkerism ıoq
Rachmarunov. Sergey 145,157,158,
161
Radek, Kari 173
Radish chev, Alcksandr 114, 119
Jourııry fı-om Sı Pett!rsbu.rg to
.\1oscow113
Radziwıll Chronıde 40
RAPP 161,181
R..ı.sputin, Grlgoriy 146, 147
Rastrelli, B.F. 83, 103, 114
Elizabethan Baroquearchitecture
98, 98; Peırodvorets (Peterhof)
Pala ce 215 ; TsarskoyeSelo Pa.lace
9B; Winter Palace 98,215
Rasırelll , C.-B.

statueofPeıerI 114
Ra yısm158
Razin, Step.ın (Stenka} 76, 108, 1ıo
ra.:ııochintsy 133
Razumovsky. Alehey 102
Raıumovsky, Kirill 102
R.ızumovsky f.ımily 102
Reagaıı, Roııald 181
Realists 161
RedArmy
c.ıpture of &rliıı 175, foundation
of 159; Greaı Terror 173; World
Warlll73,175
Red Guard 151,1 55,159,168
Red Square 210. 210
relıgion 39,166,166,167
seea/so Buddhism; Christianity;
lslam; Judaism; Russian Onhodox
Church; Caıherine il 113; dis~ident
movement 178,179; Khnısh ch ev
era 178; monastic and mis sionary
movements 54; paganism 19, 43,
54, 139; repression and persecuıion
of 159,166,166,167,168;
substitutesecularrituals 159
Remizov, Aleksey 160
Repin, ılya 134,136, 157
p0rtraits ofLev Tolstoy 130
Reva! (Tallinn) 194, 194
revolution.ıry movement
All-Russian Cong ress ofSoviets
150; .ınarchists 118,11 8,119; arts
157- 58, !60-6i ;ass.assination 132;
Bloody Sunda y 142; constituent
assembly 151; February Revolution
149; general strike (1905) 140, 142,
143; Marxism 132, 133, 140, 140,
141,158; Menshevıks 154,155;
ııarodmki (populısts) 131 ; October
Revolutıon 150-51, 151; Peırograd
Soviet of \\'orkers' and Soldiers'
Deputies 149-50; provisıon.ıl
government 149; revolution of 1905
142-43, 145, 153; and Russo---
Jap.ınese War 142; Sodalisı
Revolutionary Pan y l32, 133, 149,
153, 154 .155; Soviet of\.\'orkers'
Deputies 142; soviets 149; strike
movement 147; terrorism 132,133,
To ıhı- People moverneııl 131, IH,
Zem/ya i Volya 132
Rlg.ı91,195,196 , 197
Rirnsky-Korsakov, Nikolai 134-35
The Golden Cockerel 136, 160
Rioni River 202
Roerkh(Rerikh), Nikol.ı.i 157,163
Rokotov, F. 113,114
Romania 157
Congress of Berlin 127; and Soviet
Union 176
Romanov dynasty 65, 66, 67, 74 ·75,
80, 96, 101 , 102, 147
Romodanovsky, Prince Fyodor
All-jocular (All-drunken} Synod 93;
de facıo regem during Great
Embassy qo; Prcobrazhcıısky
Office 90, 92, 93, 102; suppression
ofstrelısy9 2 , 93
Ros Ri ver 37
Rosicrucianorder 11 3
Rosıov the Great 24, 45
Kremlin 84, 85
Rousseau, JeaIJJacqucs 112
Rublyov, Andrey 56, '17, 65, 68, 69,
72, 72
Lası Judgmeııı (Vladımır Dormıtion
Cathedral} 73; Old Testamcrıt
Trumy icoıı 6q, 72, 158
Rus 25-26, 34-47, 35, 40
buildings 47; Byz.ıntine Empire 34,
35 ~36; capital shıfted to
Peryaslavets 4 3; Christianity 42-44;
conquest of Bulgaria 43;
disintegration 47; early tribes
34- 36, 34; fres coes 47; language
and literature3q,39,44, 47:
ıneani ng 37; mosaics 47; official
conversion to Chrıstianııy 42;
prince (grand prince) of Kiev 40;
R yurikıd d yn.ısty 36, 40, 42--45, 59,
66; sources for history 38-41, split
under diarch y 44; systemaıic.ılly
organized goyernment 43; Tatar
invasion 42 , 45, 50-52, 50; treaty
with Byzantiurn 43; unificatioIJ of
Novgorod and Kiev 42; Vikings 26,
36-37, 36: Vladiınır becomes c.ıpit.ıl
45; Vladimir 142, 43 44; Vladimir
U45, 47
Russia 204----09
Ru ss ıan lanızuage 26
Ru~sian Orthodox Church 39, 3q, 54,
63, 68, 92, 123,149, 166, 166,168,
16q, 178
Alexander Nevsky 52; Church in
Exile 153, emigrant ropul.ıt ion
I 53; "fo:lls ın Christ 63; Great
Schism 77-78, 166; Hesychast
mysıicism 54. 63, 72, 109;
Josephites63, l08 , ! ()q;
Khrushchev era 178; monasterıes
see mon.ısıic movement;
Non-Possessor~ 63, ııuıınerıes qq,
169; oıkoumene 44; Old Hellevers 78,
79, 92, 92,116; Possessors63;
repressıon and persecution of 159,
166,166, 168; revival during
World \Var II 175; seculariz.ıtion
I08;serfs54,anılthestate65;
Synodal Church 153; Trans-Volga
Elders 63; Vladimir 1 accepts 43-44
Russo---Japanese War 140, 142
baıtlc of Mukden 142; Manchurian
campaign 142; Port Arthur 129.
142; Str.ııts ofTsushım.ı 142;
Treaıy of Portsmouth 142,143
Russo-Turkish \Var (1877-78}
Treaty of San Stefano 126, 127
Rusta.lbn37
Rustaveli, Shota
The Maıı in a Tiger's 5km 202
Ruıhenı.ı 187
Ryaz.ın 50, 56, 61
Ryaz.an province 20
Rykov, Aleksey 173
Ryleyev, Kondr.ıtıy 120
Ryurık 26, 36, 42
Ryurikid dyn.ısty 36, 40, 42---45, 59.
66
St P eıersburg 42, 61. 88, 89, 91, 100,
/16,214,214, 215
seealso Lcningrad; Petrograd;
Academy of Art~ 102; Academy of
Sciences 89; Admiralty 89, 125,
214,215, Bloody Sunday 140,141,
142; Bolsheviks 151; Brorıze:
Horsemaıı 114; capital transferred
to 88, 102-03, 104; Church on the
Blood 132,215; Cornmunısı capııal
moved to Moscow 153;
Decembrısts 118,118 . J Jq;
foundatıon 94. 96; Hermitae 132.
215; Irnperıal Alex.ındrovsky
Th e.ııer143; Menshikov palace 89;
militıry governor shot and
wounded 118; Pal.ı ce Square 215;
Petcr-Paul Cathedr.ıl 214. 214;
Peter-Paul Fortress 88, 94,214,
Petrine Raroque archiıecture q8;
Petrodvoret s (Pcterhof} Palace 215;
Petrograd Soviet of \\'orkers' and
Soldiers' Deputies 142, ı4q ; prison
150; revolution of 1905 142;
revolutionary Soviet cou n cil 140; St
ısaac's 214; St.Michael'sCastle214;
St Michael's Palace 114; St
Petersburg Balleı 143; Senaıe
Squarc 11 8, l 19; Winter Palace 89.
98,103,132, ısı , 151, 214,215;
Zfflllya i Volya 132
Sajudis mo..-ement 197
Sakh.ılin lsland 207, 209
Sakharov, Andrey 177, 179, 181
Salı Revolt (1648) 76
Saltykov-Shchcdrın, :O.tık.hail 133
Samandar 34
SamaralH , 153
Samarkand (Samarqand} 36,218, 219 ,
219
Khajesud Murad mosqu e 167;
Regisıan 221; Shir Darrnadras.ı 221
sami:;dat178
San Stefano, Treaty of(l878} 126, 127
Sar.ıJevo 146
Sarav50, 51, 52
Sark-el 34
Sarmatian s26, 34
Sasanids222
Savrasov, A.K
The R ooks haı'e Retumed 135
Sc hlı.isselbergl0 2
Scriabin, Alexander 136, 145, 158
sculpture see painhııg and sculpture
Scythia ııs 30, 30, 31,34
goldsmiıhing 30, 31; Scyı hian
Anıma ! Style 30, 30, 32
secreıchancery I06
Scliger, L.:ıke 37
Semıp.ıl.ıtinsk218
Semyon Bekhulatovich 59
SerafimofSarov, St 109
Seraııgeli,G.
TsarA/e:ı:arıderaı Tılsıt 117
Serapioıı Bıotherhood 161
Serbia 146
Congress ofBerlin 127; World \Var
11 27, 146
Seredka 86
serfdom
agriculıural production 104, 138,
Alexander 111 5, 119; Alexander
ll's Great Reforms 126, 127- 28,
131; b..rı;hchına (corvee} 105;
C.ııherine il Joq; Decembrists 118,
119; 18th-cenıury 103--05, 106;
em.ıncıpauon 127-28, 13l, 135,
138; enforced remoYal from
agricuiture 104; exıle to Sıber[a
I05; Free Economıc Socıety 109;
handicrafts 138, 138; institution of
61; military service 104, 126, 129;
Nicholas ı 120; obrok (quit-rent)
105; Peıer 197; Russian Orthodox
Churdı 54
Sergey, Grand Duke
assassln.ııion 140
Sergıevan perıod58
Sergius ofRadonezh, St 55-54, 54, 57,
63
Lıfe 5 7-58: Trinity Monastery 54
68, 68, 69
~ev.ın-Razdan project 200
Sevastopol
Crimean \\'ar 125, 130
Seven Years' War 102, 105
Shafirov, P. 94, 97
Sh.ıl y.ıpin, Fyodor 136, 136
Sharansky, An.ıtoly l 7Y, 180, 181
S h cerbaıov, Prince .M . 121
Shı-.ırers(Stngolmkı)63
Shebilinka gas fıeld 190
Sheksna 37
Shirvan, khans of 201
Shıshkov, Alexander l 21
Shklovsky, Vıktor 161
Shmelyov, lvan 153
Sholokhov, Mıkha il
TheQuietDorı 182
Shostakovich, Dmitriy 136,182
Lad_y Macbeth of ı\!tseıısk 136
showtrials 178
Shubin, F.L 112,113,215
Shukshin, V. 182
Shuvalov, Countess 147
Shuv.ılov , Ivan 102
Shuvalov family l02
Shuysky, Vasiliy see Vasiliy iV
(Shuysky)
Shv.ırts, Yevgeny 182
Sıberia 16, 66,204, 207-08
anti-Communist revolt 153;
assimilaıion inıo Muscovy 75;
Buddh ism 167; capture of K.ızan 63;
cxilc ofserfs to 105; fur tribute 74,
industry 208, 209; Mongol
p0pul.ıtıon 167; mountaın ranges
20; Muscovy 74; population 172,
208,208, 20q, tundra 16, Turk ic
ropulation 167
Sigismund ili , king ofPoland 57
Sıkhote-Alin Mountaim 20
silkroute50, 217
Simlıırsk108
Sinyavsky Andrey ı 78, 181, 182
skiing209
Skopin-Shuysky, Prince !ı-L 66
SkO\'Oroda, Grigoriy I oq
Slav-Greek-L.:ıtin Academy 74
Slavophileı; 121,123. 124-25, 131. 133
Slavs25-26
&larusians 27; Great Russians 27;
Nazipolicytowards 173,175;
Sl.ıvonıc laııguages 26, 27-29, 28,
37; Ukrainian~ 27; \\'est, South
and E.ıst 27, 28, 34
Smolensk 47, 58. 6L 78, 116
assimilated into Muscovy 75
Smolny 99
sobomost123
Soci.ıl Democratic Pany 132, 133, l 35,
140,150
SocialistRealism 121,182
Socialist Revolutionary Parıy l 32,
133, 140,140,149, 151, l'B
abolıtion 155; B,ıttle Organi ı.ıtıon
140; soviet cou ncils 154
soils 11,21
chernozem (black earth} 17, 23, 24.
32,187, 188, podzol 23, 24
Solokha 31
Soloukhin, V. 182
Solovki M oııas tery 54
Solzhenitsyn, Alex.ınder 123,177,
179,180,182, 183
A Day of lv<1rı [).-,,ıısoı•fr:h 182
Sophia, Electress of Hanover 90-Y ı
Sophia. Tsarıtsa 75, 81, 81, 82, 83,
88-89, 92
Novodevichy Convcnt •Jq
South Russian government 153
Souıhern Socieıy l 19
Sovetsk 117
Soviet bloc 176
Soviet governmenı
bre.ık up 182; Brezhm•v doctrine
ln ·80; cold war 180;
.:ollectivization 170, 172-73, 172,
1 73, 176,179,181,189.191, 194;
Communıst Panv control 153- 54;
concentratıoncimps 172,173, 175,
176 77,207; dc-Stahniz.ıtion 178;
developcd socialism 180; dissidenı
movement 178 79; five-yearplans
176, 180, 181,forcedl.ılıoc 176;
glasnost 181 ; GPU 176; Great Terror
173;Gul.ıg 168, 176- 77, J7q;
industrialization 172, İntemal
passrts 172, 179; intervention in
Afghanistan 180; invasion of
Czechoslovakia 179; KGB 176, 179,
180; lıving perrniıs l7'J; military
influence 179, N.ızi-Soviet Pact
(1939) 173,188; NKVD 176;
ııomenklatı.ı.ra 17q; perestroıka 158,
181,181,197; pastw.ırcconorny
176; p0sıwar partition of Europe
175; purges 175,176; show mals
173; Terror 172-73; theThaw 177;
urb.ıniz.ıtioıı 172; \\'orld \'\'ar Ti
173, 175-76
So,·iet Union sce Union ofSoviet
Socı.ılıst Repulılı cs
Soviet of Workers' and Soldıer~•
Deputıes 142, 149
soviets 149. 154
spa.:e exploration program 178, 218
Spcransky, Nlikhail 116, 120
Spitak200
spıı.tmkl78
Stalin, Joseph 202
and the arts 136, 181-82;
collecıiviz.ıtion 170, 172-73, 172,
173,176,189,191,194; Communist
Party leadership 156;
concenıratıon camps 176, 207;
death 176,1 77; Doctors' Plot 177;
economy 156 57,172; five-year
plans 156-57. 172, \ 76, 181; foreıgn
policy 173; German invasion of
Sovieı Union 173, Gıeat Terror
173; Gulag 176; and lvan thc
Terrible 62, Nazi-Soviet Pact ( 1939)
173, 175; October Revolutıon 151;
and the Orthodox Church 168;
Poliıburo 155; p0stwar paniııon of
Europe 175; purges 175, 194;
reparriatedemigresl7'S;Terror
172-3; WinterWar 173; World
\'Varil 173, 175-76:Yalta
conference 175,176
Stalangrad 175
Stanislavsky, Konstantın
Moscow An The.ıter 143, 144, 144
StarayaRussa 37
starets 166
Stasov, V 134
~t.ıtefarmsl91
Stephen of Perm, St 55, 57
Lıft57-'18
steppe 16, 17,20, 23. 32
wooded 17, 20, 21. 22, 23
Stolypin, Pyotr 140, 145
Stravinsky. lgor 136,157,161,162,
162
Les Ncx:es 162; Mat•ra 162;
ftınıshka 145,162; Pıı.lcmeUa 162,
The Firebird 145,163; Thc Riıeof
lNDEX
Spnng 145, 163; The So/Jırr's Tale
162
streltsy80 81, 88 89
mutınies76, 89, 91, Y1,
suppressioıı of 92, 93
Stroganov family 75
sukhoveyI90
Suleyman (Solomon), ıhrone of 224
Sı.ı.pplicaıioıı
of Damcl the Captıve 39
Suprematısm 161,164,164,165
Supreme Prlvy Council ıoo, ıoı
Supreme Soviet 154
Surikov, Vasilıy 134
Suvorov 102, ll4, 115
Suadal24,45
Cathedral of the '.'fativity ofıhe
Virgin 206; Nikolskaya church 206,
wooden ar chıtecıure 87,206,207
Svanetia203
Svy.ıtopolk, Prince 44
Svyatoslav, Prince 26, 34, 42, 43
Sweden
defeat by River Neva (1240) 52;
!'ast Raltic empire 193; Great
Northern War':XJ, 91, 91, 93 95;
Time ofTroublcs 66; Treaty of
Nysı.ıd 91, 95, Vikings 26, 36-37,
36; war wiıh Alexander 1 115
Svlvesıer
Pl'im.ıry Chroııicle (T.ıle of Bygorıe:
Years)47
Svmbo]r;ts 1)6-37, 143, 160, 161
s}•rDaryaRiver218
T34tanks 176
Table ofRank 9'), 97, 103
Taganrog nav.ıl base 90
taiga (coniferous forest lıelt) 16 17,
17, 22, 23,207, 20q
sub-t.ıiga22
TaJikıstan 184,223,223
industry and agriculture 223,223;
langu.ıge 223
Tute (>f Byxone Years see Primary
Chronidt'
Tale of ılıe Ruiıı of ıhe Russiaıı Land
52,121
Taleofıhe Siegeof A.:oL•82
Taleof Woe aııd .ıı.tısfortuııt' 82
T.ıllınn 192,194,194,195
Tambov 153
T.ıIJnenberg , B.ıttleofl46
Targowica, Confı-deration of 112
Tarkovsky. A . 182
Tartu Umversıty 194
Tashkenı 218, 219 20,221
Tatars 42, 45, 50-52, 50, 50, 56, 21q
and Alexander Nevsky 52; defeat
by Dmiıriy Donskoy 56, 57, 57;
Golden H.:ırde 51. 52, 54, 56, 59;
Lıngu.age influenccd lıy 29;
missioıı.ıry movement 54, religion
54, rise of MO'Scow 53, rule by 53,
Russian Orthodox Church 54; sack
of MO'SCOW 56; trade and mercha.nts
53; tribute payments to 59
Tatlin, Vladımir 158, 164
An Englıshman m ,\.losmw 165;
culture of maıcrials 161, 164;
momıment to the Third
lntcmati on.ıl 165; The Sııilor 165
Tauride Pala ce 114
Tbılisi 202,203
T chaikovsky, Pyoır 136
The Queen of Spadts l 35; Ye~~en_r
Orıegırıl35
Tehran conference 175
Temuchin see Gcnghis K.han
Terek Rıver 34
tcrrorists 118,118,119,132 133,140
140,141
Teutonic Knights 52. 58, qo
the.ıter75, 143,145.161
Actors· \Vorkshop 144. Brezhnev
era 182; Chekhov 144.144: Esıonia
Jq4; lmperial Alexandronky
Theater 143; :\1oscow Art Theater
143. 144, 144; Mosco,... Taganka
Theater 182; Socialist Realism 182;
\\'orld of An (.\Hr lskussıı·aJ
p.ıinters 145
Theophanes (Fcofan} the Greek 36. 57,
65, 72, 72
ThirtyYears'War':Xl
TicnShan Mountaıns 20,219
Tilsit, Treatyof(1807} il) 16,117
129
2J9
J!'.lJEX
Tımc cfTrouble\ 5'1, 66 67 66, '79. 80
T mur (T .:ım.,rlJnel 21 219
lıJ,hu,· P :-.; 1 H
fa-uıcrokan 26 H. 40
,ıht>P..-oplemo\"ement ili llJ
T ıbol~k 7'i. r AleXander 1 115; Ataturk 219;
Tokhtam, sh 56
Tolstov. A. K I B
l\a.rı-vudor l~.,rnot•ıı:h 144
folstov (Leo) 1 t'\' r-.:,kol.ı.yevich 116,
122 ııo. J]O, 133,134,144, 1&6
Anna K..ırenına 1 )O; Re~ıırrecwm
I l6; revolutıonary vıews I JO; \·Var
,ınd Peaa 130
Tolsıo,. Peter 90, 95, J(){)
Ton, Konsıantın
Kremlın Palaı:e. \tosı:ow 125
tr.ıde
with Bnt.ıin 66. 67. 102; Don-\'olga
lrade rouıe 34. llanseaııı: League
60. 60, 6 ı, 70, 192, 194, Novgorod
-'5, 60, 60; Rus 45; silk routc 50,
217: \'ikings 36
irade unions 135. 180
Trans-Siberıan Raılroad 17,207
Trans-\'olga Eldcrs 6 l
Tranu.ıulası a ıos, 199-201. 199
ı:limatc· 23; indur.try and
agriı:ulture 208; Tatar ınvasıon 50
lram,cauca~ian F.-d.-ral Republic 153,
JJ;-
transportatıon 172
Bavk.11-Amur Railroad 208: sea
porls 23; Trans-Sibcrian Railroad
17, 207
Trebizond 21
Tretvakov, P J 34
Treı\·akov Gallen,.• 61l, IJ4, 1 35, 182
Trei"zini, DomeniCo 99
Trinitv Chronıcle 57
Trinıı y Monastery 54, 57. '>8. 67
Peter ı flees to 89; St !ıergius 54, 68,
bo'l. 69
Triple Entente 146,146,149
Trıpclye sulture 32
Trot~ky. Leon (Lev) 154. 156
attempted coup l 50; exile and
depcrtatıon 156, inv.ısion of Pol.ınd
159; joins Bolshevıks 140;
leadership of .\-lı>nsheviks 140, 142;
Leftüppcsition 156; Ocıober
Re\'olution 151; Polithuro 155; Red
Armv 15 ], 159; revolution.ırv
Sovirl ı:ounnl 140; Soviet o(
\\'orker:s' Depuıies 142
,~,
derivaııon oftitle fı5
Tsaritsyn 111
T!,i!rskoye ',l'io , Lyı:ee l03, II6
Ts.ırşkove Selo Pal.ıce <ı8
Tsushirıia, \trans of
Russ o--Jap.ınese \\'.ır 142
Tsvtıuh"ovk.a 189
T.,.\·klef, lvan 90
ru:l?endbımd 119
Tukhachev.,.kv. Mikhail 155,173
tund ra 16, 17, 22
Tungusk.ı e,ent 207
Tupclev, Andrey 17h
Turgenev, Jvan 122, 133. 136
Faıhrrs a.nd chıldr>!n 133;
!Jpvrısman's Sketches IH
Turkestan 217 24
Turkcv
Balkan \Var 127, 146; Catherinc 11
109, ııı;crimeanw.u 125-26,
125; '.'Jicholas l's war.,_ with 120;
Treaı ofSan Stef.ıno 126. 127
Turkic languages 2r,
Turkmenistan 20, 184,222,222
industr_y and agrirulture 222; Kar.ı
Kum 25; languag.- 222; r.-ligion 222;
\'egetatıon 20
Turks 34
Turo, Pınsk 40
Tushino67
Tuva 204
Tver Sh. 56, 61. 65
Tverts.ı Rner 37
ıyphus 139
Ty umen oılfields 20/l
Tyuıchev , Fyodor 121. l)l
Ugliı:h
church ofthe As:sumption in the
Aleheye,• Monaslery p,ıarvelous
Church)8J
Ugra nıonastery ıt,7
Ugra Ri\'l.'r 59
Utomsky, D. 68
Ukraine 17. 27 . 75,187,187,189 90,
189,190. lQl
Allıes' rep.ıtn.ıtıon pclıcy 175; antı­
Bolshevik repuplic 149, 15];
dimate 187; collectıve farms 189;
dedares independenı:e 153;
dissid.-rıt mov.-m.-rıt 178, 179; Great
Schism 77; Green Army 153;
industry and agriculture 187,
189-90. 18Q, 191; Jewish
popul.ııtıon 166; langmıge 2b, 19;
Muscovite rule 74, iM; nationalism
181; Russıan Orthodox Churı:h 187;
Scythian:s 30, 31; Terror 173;
Ukrainıan Baroque arı:hıtecture 98;
\\'orld War I 146,149; \\'orld War
11173
Ulugh Bl'g 219,221
Ulyano,·. Vladimir .<ee Lenin
Union ofLibcration 133
Unıon ofSovıet S.Ocialıst Republics
(USSR) 185
autonomous oblasts (Aüs) 185;
autonomou:s regions 185
autonomous republics (AsSRs) 185,
consolıdation of 157, ı:onstitution
of 185; languages 185
Uniıed Provinces Ql
United St.ıtes of America
assists \\'hıte .ırmv 153; cold war
180; Cııban missüİ> ı:risis 178; and
Gorbaı:he,· 181
Ur.ıl :.ı-ounıaıns 16, 20, 63, 75, 207--08
anti Bolshevik govemment 15 I;
Pug.ııchov rebellion 109
Urartu culturc 200
urbanız.ıtion 111, 135, 172
Ushakov, Simoo
The Plarııms of ıhe Tr«ofıhe
,\1u ~rnviıe Sıatr 83
uvarov. Counı <,ergey 121
Uzbekıst.an 21B. 219· 20,219
ındustry and agrıculture 219. 220;
Pan-Turkism 220; relıgıon 220, 221
Vald.ıy Hılls 36
Vallin de ld .\lothe, J.-B. 114
\'a rangıans see Vikings
Vasılıy I 56
vasılıy il 56, 59, 60
\'aşiliv llI 56, SEi 'i9, 61, 65
Vasilif iV (!ıhuysk:y) 66, 76
Vedomosıı gazette 97, 97
\ eget.ıtion 16-1 7. 20-21, 22
desert 20. 25; mixed
coniferous-decıduous forest 17 . 20.
21. 21, 23; semidesert 20; steppe
(grassland) 16, 17, 20, 23; sub-taiga
22; subtropiı:al 20--21; taıga 16 17,
17, 22, 23, 2ITT , 209; tundra 16, 17:
wooded sıeppe 17. 20, 21. 23
Velichkovsky, Paisiy 109
Venedi trıbe 26
Verny 218
Ves 37
Vıenna 91
Vikings (Varangian:s)26, 36- l7, J6
Vilnius58.197
Vilyuy Rıver 208
Vladimir 17, 24
Alexander Nevsky placed on
throne 52; Dormition Cathedral 4 7,
57, 65, 7]; foundatıon of 45; Grand
Prince of 53; St Demetrius
Cathedral 47. 47; Tatars saı:k 50,
trade45
Vladimir I (St Vladımir) 40, 42, 43
Orthodox Churı:h 41--44; "Speeı:h
ofthe Greek Philo:sopher" to 40, 40.
4)
Vladimir il (Monormakh) 40, 42, 45,
62
lnsırı.ıcııon (Trsıamı·nt) 39. 40, 45;
m.ırriage4~
Vladimir-Suzdal princıpality 45
Volgaregion
anti-Communist revolt 153; Terror
17)
Volga River 24. 34. 34, 36. 37, 45, ,15
50. 139.197
Razın rebellıon 108
Vola-Urals oilfield 208
~::~~!~
Voltaıre,
;]~:. ~ 1}6.
71
François :ı.farie Arouet de MI,
112, 110
VolunteerArmy 151,153
\'orkuta 207
Voronezh90
\ 'orontsova, Elizabeth 105
Voznesensky. Andrey 182
Vrubel. M 163
Vyatıchı tribe 26
Vvatka 60, 61
Vyshnegradsky, Ivan IJ5
Vy shny-Vo]ochck 37
\\'allaı:hia
Crimean \Var 125, 125
Wanderers (Peredı.ıı.:hmkıJ 134, 135,
157
\Var Communism l'i4- 55
\\'arsaw 146
Grand Duı:hy of 112,114,129
\Varsaw Paı:t 179
\Vebb, <,idnev and Beatriı:e 176
Wends 54 •
Wersent, LM.J
Prırr 1 a.nd Lmııs XV 95
Westerniz.ıtion 81, 89, 97, 121. 123
Westphalia, Peaı:e of75
\Vhite (antı-Bolshevık) movement
147,1 49.151, 151,153
White Horde 219
Whıte Lake (Beloozero) 37
Winter Palace 98, 214, 215
Winter W.ır 17J
\Vitte, Count Sergey
Duma 143; fiscal and administrative
refornıs 135; October .\Lmifesto
142--43; Treaty
of Portsmouth 142,143
women
employmenı of 211
wood
woodcarving 206; wooden artif.a,:t:s
39, 39, 138; wooden buildıngs 39,
83, 86, 86, 87,206,207, 218
\Vor[d of Arı (.\1ır l sbsstva ) 122, IJ6,
137,145,162,162,163
\\'orld \•Var l 127, 146--47, 149
armıstıce with Cerm.ıny 153; the
.uts 161; Battle of Tannenberg 146;
Bdorussıa 146; Central Powers 146;
Communisı governmenı 149,153;
ı:onstituenı assembly peace
n.-gotiations 151; Duma 147;
economy 147; food supplies 147;
miliı,ny production 147.
mobi!iz.ıtion of Russi.ın army 146;
Poland 146; Ru:ssıan offensıve ın
G.ıılicia 146; :social and milit.ıry
mor.ıle 147 ,149, Treaty of
Brest-Litovsk 149; Triple Entente
146, 146, 149; Ukraine 146, \-\'hite
(anti-Bolshevik) mo\'ement 149,
153
World War il 173. 175- 76, 175
Allied lend-le.ıse 175.175;
Belorussı.ı 188; capture of Bcrlın
175, 175; ı:onı:entr.ıtion ı:amps 176;
Estonia 194; forı:ed labor 176;
Lalvia 195; Nazi-~vi.-l Paı:t (1939)
173. 175, 18ft Odessa 190; po:stwar
partıtıon of Europe 175,
repatriation by Allies 175, 17b;
Russian Orthodox Church 168;
Tehran conference 175; war
reparations 175 ; Yalta ı:onferenı:e
175,176
Wrangel. Baron P. 153
Yaguzhinsky P. 97
Yaik Cossacks 109, 110--11
Yaık Rıver 104, 1 IO
Yaıtsk i l i
Yakutıa 207
language 26
Y.ıkuts 207
Y.ıılta 191
Yalta conferenı:e 175, 176
Yam94
Yaropclk, Prince of Kiev 42, 4 J
Yarosla,• the Wise J6. 40, 42, 44--45,
48. 51, '>2
Yaroslavl66, 74
frescoes 83
Yasnaya Polyana 130, 130
Yavla Mountains 20,191
Yekaıerinburg
Constitutional Democrat
government l'>L 153; Nicholas il
and his family murdered at 153
Yeliz.ırov house 86
Ydtsin, Boris 11, 182. lM
Yenisey River 208. 209
Yepifanıy Premudry (Epiphanıos the
Wise)57, 18
Yerevan 200, 200
\'esenin, !ıergey 160
Ye\'lush.-nko, Yevgeny 182
Yugoslavia 176
Yury, Grand Prince of\'ladimir 51
Yury Danı]o\'ich, Prınce 55
Yuryev-Polsky 24
Churı:h ofM George 47
Yusupov, Prirıı:.- N.B. 207
Zabolotsky, :-l". 161. 182
Zadorıshchma 57
l.adonsky, St Tikhon 109
l.agorsk 54
Churı:h of th.- Presentation of the
Virgin 69, Churı:h ofsı
P.ııraskeva-Pyatnıtsa 69; Trinity
:ı.1onastery ofSt Sergius 54, 57, 58,
67, 68. 68, 69, 89
7..ıkharov, Andreyan
Admiralty building, Si Petersburg
89,125,215
Zalesska.ya. zem/ya 45
l.alessky reserve 191
Zam yatın, Ye, genıy
!ıerapion Brotherhood 161: We 161
Zapcrozhian Cossaı:k Hesi 78, 189
Zasulich, Vera 118
Zayt:sev. Boris 153
Zealots of 1-'ıety 77
Zrmlya ı Vo/ya (L.ınd and Freedom)
society 132,132
=rm<kiy ~ubor (Assembly ofthe Land)
79-80
.:emsırı:ı loca! government system
128- 29, 113, 149
Zeravshan :ı.1ountains 218
Zer.ııvshan River 21B
Zhdanov, Andrev 175
Lhukovsk)', Vasiliy 121
Zinovyev. Grigon~· 17 3
Zoshchenko, :ı.ııkhail 122, 182
 .MOSCOVIA SIGIS..M..VNDI LIBE.l\_l
.BARQNIS IN HER._BEI\_STEIN,NEIPER._G
ETGVTENHAG ANNO M.D XLIX

IS PA
.
~
_ :.-
~~--="~
NTl

San Jose, CA 95129

 Rohin M ulland is a profcsso r of Ru .ss i aıı
a nd East ,n Stu<lies at the Uni vers ity of
Sussex, I He s penı a year as an excha nge
scholar a w Uni versity in the 1960s. He
has done • . 1 in several fields- particularl y
modern Ru ssian poetry. Russ ian a nd Byzan ti ne
a rt history. and Ru ssian genera l c ultural history.
. -- A mo ng hi s publications are Rııssiaıı Wriıiıı g
TodaY (w iıh M. Dewhirst: Pe nguin Books): A ıı
lııtrodııcıioıı to Rııss iaıı Art a ııd A rclı iıecıııre
►W-INA P (vol.3 of Cambridge Coıııpa ııi on ıo Rııss iaıı
Stııdies. C. U.P., with J.E. Bowle): Tlı e Rıı ss iaıı s
(Bl ackwe ll. ··Peoples of Europe · series): an<l
~====~V: .P.&CZ
many tran slations.

f, ~ i - . "' · ~ PI\QVIN Nikolai DejeYsky is a freela nce consultant on

Ru ssian and Soviet hi story and po l i ıi cs.
He has published articl es on a wide range of
. '
j_,w. p
' Ru ssian hi stori ca l. philosophical and
archiıectural subjects.

Other updated titles in the series:

CULTURALATLAS OF CHINA
Ca ro liıı e Blııııdeıı aııd Mark El l'iıı
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" Ü NE OF T HE HA :\1DSOMEST, MOST ORIG INAL Ai',;D
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