The modernisation of Russia, 1676-1825 / Simon Dixon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dixon, Simon (Simon M.)

Series:

New approaches to European history ; 15.

New approaches to European history ; 15

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Russia--History--1613-1917.

Russia.

History.

Physical Description:

xvii, 267 pages : maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Summary:

This important new addition to the New Approaches to European History series is the first book to place Russia's 'long' eighteenth century squarely in its European context. The conceptual framework is set out in an opening critique of modernisation theory which, while rejecting its linear implications, maintains its focus on the relationship between government, economy, and society. Following a chronological introduction, a series of thematic chapters emphasise the ways in which Russia's international ambitions as an emerging great power provoked administrative and fiscal reforms with wide-ranging (and often unanticipated) social consequences. Russia's kinship-dominated peasant communities were not the casual detritus of government-inspired reform, but rather its direct consequence: the more the tsars tried to modernise their state, the more backward their empire became. Though social and political history are naturally crucial to such a study, the thematic treatment adopted here also permits an unusually full discussion of the intellectual developments that helped to give educated Russians a sense of cultural autonomy even as their minds were opened to an unprecedented range of Western influences. In order to help the reader further, a chronology and a critical bibliography are also provided to allow students to discover more about this colourful period of Russian history.

Contents:

1 Modernisation theory and Russian history 1

Modernisation theory 1

Russian history, 1676-1825 7

2 Imperial great power 27

Ambitions and achievements 27

Military and naval reform 34

The primacy of foreign policy 42

The consequences of imperial expansion 50

3 Finance and taxation 57

Muscovite taxation 57

War and financial modernisation, 1700-1762 61

War and financial modernisation, 1762-1825 67

The burden of taxation 74

The political and social impact of taxation 76

4 Society 80

Social policy 80

Social identities: the peasantry 84

Social identities: the nobility 93

Social mobility 96

Social conflict 105

5 Government and justice 118

The court 118

Central and local government 126

Patrons, clients, and bureaucrats 132

The church in government 139

Justice 141

6 Culture 152

Education and literacy 152

Hierarchies of culture 157

Cosmopolitanism and national consciousness 160

Centre and periphery 170

Science and superstition 175

Religion and secularisation 180

Private and public, amateur and professional 182

7 Ideology 189

Tsar and state 189

State and nation 198

Church and state 209

8 The economy 221

Economic ideas and economic policy 222

Population and natural resources 230

Transport and technology 239

Trade and commerce 243

Agriculture and industry, town and country 248

Economic growth 249.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0521371007

052137961X

OCLC:

40061361