Through the centuries, Russia has swung sharply between successful expansionism, catastrophic collapse, and spectacular recovery. This illuminating history traces these dramatic cycles of boom and bust from the late Neolithic age to Ivan the Terrible, and from the height of Communism to the truncated Russia of today.
Philip Longworth explores the dynamics of Russia’s past through time and space, from the nameless adventurers who first penetrated this vast, inhospitable terrain to a cast of dynamic characters that includes Ivan the Terrible, Catherine the Great, and Stalin. His narrative takes in the magnificent, historic cities of Kiev, Moscow, and St. Petersburg; it stretches to Alaska in the east, to the Black Sea and the Ottoman Empire to the south, to the Baltic in the west and to Archangel and the Arctic Ocean to the north.
Who are the Russians and what is the source of their imperialistic culture? Why was Russia so driven to colonize and conquer? From Kievan Rus’ —the first-ever Russian state, which collapsed with the invasion of the Mongols in the thirteenth century—to ruthless Muscovy, the Russian Empire of the eighteenth century and finally the Soviet period, this groundbreaking study analyzes the growth and dissolution of each vast empire as it gives way to the next.
Refreshing in its insight and drawing on a vast range of scholarship, this book also explicitly addresses the question of what the future holds for Russia and her neighbors, and asks whether her sphere of influence is growing.
PHILIP LONGWORTH is the author of seven books including
ALSO BY PHILIP LONGWORTH
R U S S I A
PHILIP LONGWORTH
St. Martin’s Press
RUSSIA. Copyright © 2005 by Philip Longworth. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Longworth, Philip, 1933-
Russia : the once and future empire from pre-history to Putin / Philip Longworth.
p. cm.
Inlcudes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-36041-2
ISBN-10: 0-312-36041-X
1. Russia—History. 2. Soviet Union—History. Russia (Federation)—History.
I. Title.
DK40.L66 2006
947—dc22
2006048494
First published in Great Britain by John Murray (Publishers), a division of Hodder Headline, under the title
First U.S. Edition: December 2006
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Introduction
1. The Russians: Who are They?
2. The First Russian State
3. Reincarnation
4. The Foundation of an Empire
5. Ivan IV and the First Imperial Expansion
6. The Crash
7. Recovery
8. Peter the Great and the Breakthrough to the West
9. Glorious Expansion
10. The Romantic Age of Empire
11. Descent to Destruction
12. The Construction of a Juggernaut
13. The High Tide of Soviet Imperialism
14. Autopsy on a Deceased Empire
15. Reinventing Russia
Conclusion
1. Saints Boris and Gleb: their martyrdom in 1015 was used to legitimate the Grand Princes of Kiev
2. Fresco of Emperor Constantine VII receiving Princess Olga at his palace in Constantinople,
3. Model of the St Sophia Cathedral, Kiev
4. Miniature of the construction of Moscow’s Kremlin, 1491
5. Ivan III
6. Sixteenth-century Russian cavalryman
7. Punishments for recalcitrant natives
8. Reindeer-power in Okhotsk
9. Ceremonial show of force to greet the submission of an important chief
10. Nineteenth-century lithograph of Tiflis
11. The Darial Pass
12. A Tatar encampment
13. A Yakut shaman treating a patient
14. Kalmyks
15. A Russian embassy approaches the Great Wall of China, 1693
16. A Lapp shaman’s view of the world
17. SS
18. Bashkirs
19. An Estonian girl
20. An Ostiak ermine-hunter
21. A Chukchi in armour with his family
22. A Mordvinian woman
23. Circassian princes arriving for a conference, 1836
