Books on Russian History
An entire section of the exhibition is devoted to the history of Russia in the 19th century. Foreign literature on this period is diverse and covers a wide range of issues. We shall mention only some. It is known that the most important event in the history of Russia in the early 19th century was the war with Napoleonic France. The Czech historian Paul Elbl dedicated his monograph
General Bagration: The Legend of the Russian Army to one of the main heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812 Bagration / Elbl P.B. Generál Bagration: Legenda ruské armády.T?ebí?, 2010 /. The British explorer Alexander Bitis conducted a study to explore Russian policy in the Middle East in the first third of the 19th century. His book is called
Russia and the Eastern Question: Army, Government and Society, 1815-1833 / Oxford, 2006 /. The centerpiece of the book is analysis of the 1826-1828 Russo-Persian War, the 1828-1829 Russo-Turkish War and the Adrianople Peace Treaty of 1829.
The book by American Professor Philip Pomper
Lenin's Brother: The Origins of the October Revolution / Pomper P. Lenin's Brother: The Origins of the October Revolution. New York, 2010 / examines the problems of the
revolutionary movement and development of terrorism in Russia post reforms. The position of peasants during the late 19th - early 20th centuries is explored in the book by Corinne Gaudin
Ruling Peasants: Village and State in Late Imperial Russia / Gaudin C. Ruling Peasants: Village and State in Late Imperial Russia. DeKalb, 2007 /. The folk culture of this period is investigated in the work by Leonid Heretz
Russia on the Eve of Modernity: Popular Rreligion and Traditional Culture under the last Tsars / Heretz L. Russia on the Eve of Modernity: Popular Rreligion and Traditional Culture under the last Tsars. Cambridge, 2008 /.
The multinational society of the Russian Empire is the subject of two books published by Cornell University Press. One of them is a collection of essays
Of Religion and Empire: Missions, Conversion, and Tolerance in Tsarist Russia / Of Religion and Empire: Missions, Conversion, and Tolerance in Tsarist Russia. Ithaca, 2001 /.
Another was written by professor at the University of Virginia Robert Geraci and called
Window on the East: National and Imperial Identities in Late Tsarist Russia / Geraci R. Window on the East: National and Imperial Identities in Late Tsarist Russia. Ithaca, 2009 /.
A new biography of the last Russian emperor
Nicholas II- The Last Emperor of All the Russians. The Study of Personage and the Evolution of Power was published by the well-known Polish historian and specialist in Russian and Polish history Jan Sobczak / Sobczak J. NicholasII - The Last Emperor of All the Russians. The Study of Personage and the Evolution of Power. Olsztyn, 2010 /.
The eight volume anthology on the 1904-5 Russian-Japanese war was issued by the British publisher Global Oriental on the centenary of the 1904-1905 Russian-Japanese War / The Russo-Japanese War, 1904-5. A collection of eight volumes. Folkestone, 2003 /. It includes books, articles, testimonies from the witnesses and people directly involved in those events as well as diplomatic and military documents. Two volumes of the anthology contain the diary of Jan Hamilton, a British lieutenant-general, in 1904-1905 military attache at the British Indian Army in Manchuria. His story covers the period from March 1904 to February 1905. Being among the Japanese troops and occupying an important position, Hamilton had the opportunity to contact the Japanese officers of the highest ranks, but that did not stop him from giving his own evaluation of all events. His diary is considered to be the most authoritative, important and well-written report of a foreign military observer of the time. Another Briton, the young lieutenant Ellis Ashmid-Bartlett was in Manchuria during the war and wrote articles from the front line for the newspaper Times. Unlike Hamilton, he spoke with the rank and file officers, was critical about the Japanese military bureaucracy, and had to rely on his own strength for collecting information. After the war, he published a voluminous book on Port Arthur / Ashmead-Bartlett E. Port Arthur. The Siege and Capitulation. London, 1906 /. The book reflects his personal perception of these events, which makes his narrative alive and authentic. Another British military journalist Charles Repington in the book The War in the Far East 1904-1905 openly took the Japanese side, and even dedicated his six hundred page work to Emperor of Japan.
In contrast, the British journalist Maurice Baring was during the war in Russia. His story positively differs from anti-Russian sentiments that prevailed in the British press, and the book is even called With the Russians in Manchuria / Baring M. With the Russians in Manchuria. London, 1905 /.
Of particular interest is a book of Japanese researcher Naoko Shimazu
Japanese Society at War: Death, Memory and the Russo-Japanese War / Naoko Shimazu . Japanese Society at War: Death, Memory and the Russo-Japanese War. Cambridge, 2009 /. The author demonstrates that the Japanese society of that time was not monolithic, and in it there was disagreement about the war and the imperialist ambitions of their government. Based on the diaries and letters of ordinary soldiers, author proves decisively that the Japanese soldiers did not strive valiantly to die for their emperor, as the official propaganda tried to show, but instead, they wanted to return home to their families and were no different in this respect to soldiers of other armies. The myth about samurai heroism of the Japanese warriors and their sacrifice became especially popular after the Japanese invasion of China in 1937, a special section of the book is dedicated to the treatment of the Japanese to the Russian prisoners of war. The fact is that Japanese officials aimed to have an image of a civilized country in the world, which carries out war in keeping with the modern principles of humanism and international law. And though in reality not everything went so well, using the camp in Matsuyama as an example , the author shows that the local people treated the captive Russian soldiers friendly and also received the economic benefits from such neighbourhood.
World War I was an ordeal for our country and ended with the revolutionary explosion. Among exhibits is the book by the American researcher Laurie Stoff
They Fought for the Motherland: Russia's Women Soldiers in World War I and the Revolution / Stoff L.S. They Fought for the Motherland: Russia's Women Soldiers in World War I and the Revolution. Lawrence, 2006 /. This topic has remained largely unexplored in Soviet historiography, and this book successfully fills this gap. According to by the author's observations, if in the first years of the war, women mostly worked in hospitals and served in auxiliary units, and very few of them fought on the front, in 1917, about 6,000 women took up arms and joined the then-established women's battalions, the best known of which was the first Russian women's battalion of death, led by Maria Bochkareva.
Events of the revolutionary year of 1917 and the subsequent civil war have always attracted and continue to attract the attention of foreign historians. The exhibition presents new research on this topic. The Serbian historian Sawa Zhivanov's two-volume publication
Russia in 1917: from the Fall of the Autocracy to the Establishment of a Democratic Republic / ?ivanov S. Rusija 1917: od pada samodr?avnog Carstva do progla?enja demokratske republike T.1-2. Beograd, 2009 / detaily describes the development of revolutionary movements and political power in Russia in this crucial year of life. The French scholar Remy Adam in the book
1917, a Revolt of Russian Soldiers in France / Adam R. 1917, la révolte des soldats russes en France. Pantin, 2007 / talks about the impact of revolutionary events in Russia upon the Russian troops, who during the First World War, fought on the Western Front. Sarah Badcock chose the development of the Russian revolution in the province as the subject of her study, taking for example, Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan. Her book is titled
Politics and the People in Revolutionary Russia: A Provincial History / Badcock S. Politics and the People in Revolutionary Russia: A Provincial History. Cambridge, 2007 /.
The American researcher Aaron Retish turned to the study of the basic category of the Russian population - the peasantry and its relations with the state for eight years. His book
Russia's Peasants in Revolution and Civil War: Citizenship, Identity, and the Creation of the Soviet State, 1914-1922 / Retish A. Russia's Peasants in Revolution and Civil War: Citizenship, Identity, and the Creation of the Soviet State, 1914-1922. Cambridge,2008 / was published in the Cambridge University Press.
In a number of books depicted the situation in the
Soviet state during its first decades. The lecturer of the University of Kansas (USA) David Stone in his book
Hammer and Rifle: the militarization of the Soviet Union, 1926-1933 / Stone D. Hammer and Rifle: the militarization of the Soviet Union, 1926-1933. Lawrence, 2000 / studies the period of important transformations in the USSR. Along with collectivization, Stalin launched its accelerated industrialization. Military industries became the dominant sector of the national economy/ central place in which is occupied by the establishment of military industries. The author even talks about the military-industrial revolution and believes that it had far-reaching consequences, which can be compared only with the events of 1917. Due to this revolution, the Soviet Union in a short time turned into a powerful military machine, in which the army began to play the leading role, and civil society was controlled by security forces.
e initial stage in the history of Soviet diplomacy and foreign policy is examined in the book of Jonah Jacobson
When the Soviet Union Entered World Politics / Jacobson J. When the Soviet Union Entered World Politics. Berkely, 1994/. The author shows how the foreign policy of Soviet Russia was closely linked to the struggle for power among the Soviet leaders and their plans to industrialize the country. Another American historian Norman Saul has focused on Soviet-American relations in the interwar period. He titled his book
Friends or Foes? The United States and Russia, 1921-1941 / Saul N. Friends or Foes? The United States and Russia, 1921-1941. Lawrence, 2006 /, thus emphasizing the contradictory nature of the relationship between the two countries at this time.
