Author : August H. Nimtz
Publisher : Springer
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 13,58 MB
Release : 2014-03-13
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1137389958
This book is the first full-length study of Lenin's party building project and writings on elections, looking in detail at his leadership of the Bolshevik wing of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party in the four state Dumas from 1906 to the beginning of the First World War.
Author : Michael Hughes
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 349 pages
File Size : 37,28 MB
Release : 1997-07-01
Category : History
ISBN : 1441127909
The twentieth century has been fundamentally shaped by changes in Russia, where disaster in the First World War was followed by the fall of the Tsar. Nicholas II's replacement first by Kerensky's liberal government then by the Bolsheviks, and the subsequent Civil War and foreign intervention, led to the erection of a system of state tyranny previously unthought of. The Bolshevik regime, with its ideological hatred of other regimes, was a threat to the west where developments in Russia were watched with both horror and fascination. Britain's information about this series of extraordinary events, and about what might be about to happen next, was largely dependent on the small number of British officials, mainly diplomats, posted in Russia. Inside the Enigma gives us a view from an unusual and privileged angle of the history of Russia between the turn of the century and the beginning of the Second World War. The discomforts and privations suffered by British officials were matched by their frustration. Impenetrable Tsarist court intrigue was replaced by a wall of disinformation and suspicion after the Bolshevik seizure of power. Nevertheless, what they saw and reported makes remarkable reading.
Author : Jack Beatty
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 401 pages
File Size : 18,64 MB
Release : 2012-02-22
Category : History
ISBN : 0802779107
In The Lost History of 1914, Jack Beatty offers a highly original view of World War I, testing against fresh evidence the long-dominant assumption that it was inevitable. "Most books set in 1914 map the path leading to war," Beatty writes. "This one maps the multiple paths that led away from it." Chronicling largely forgotten events faced by each of the belligerent countries in the months before the war started in August, Beatty shows how any one of them-a possible military coup in Germany; an imminent civil war in Britain; the murder trial of the wife of the likely next premier of France, who sought détente with Germany-might have derailed the war or brought it to a different end. In Beatty's hands, these stories open into epiphanies of national character, and offer dramatic portraits of the year's major actors-Kaiser Wilhelm, Tsar Nicholas II , Woodrow Wilson, along with forgotten or overlooked characters such as Pancho Villa, Rasputin, and Herbert Hoover. Europe's ruling classes, Beatty shows, were so haunted by fear of those below that they mistook democratization for revolution, and were tempted to "escape forward" into war to head it off. Beatty's powerful rendering of the combat between August 1914 and January 1915 which killed more than one million men, restores lost history, revealing how trench warfare, long depicted as death's victory, was actually a life-saving strategy. Beatty's deeply insightful book-as elegantly written as it is thought-provoking and probing-lights a lost world about to blow itself up in what George Kennan called "the seminal catastrophe of the twentieth century." It also arms readers against narratives of historical inevitability in today's world.
Author : Hugh Ragsdale
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 484 pages
File Size : 49,25 MB
Release : 1993-10-29
Category : History
ISBN : 9780521442299
Imperial Russian Foreign Policy aims to demythologise a field hitherto dominated by suspicions of diabolical cunning, inscrutable motives, and international plots using unseen forces of the gigantic, fear-inspiring empire of the tsar. The contributors, leading historians from both Russia and the West, examine Imperial foreign policy from its origins to the October Revolution, revealing a policy that, as in other countries, had a complex of motives - commerce, nationalism, the interests of various social groups - but an unusual origin, coming almost exclusively from the entourage of the tsar. The work is based largely on original research in Soviet archives, which only became possible after Soviet glasnost.
Author : George Gilbert
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 348 pages
File Size : 48,52 MB
Release : 2015-11-19
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 1317373022
The revolutionary movements in late tsarist Russia inspired a reaction by groups on the right. Although these groups were ostensibly defending the status quo, they were in fact, as this book argues, very radical in many ways. This book discusses these radical rightist groups, showing how they developed considerable popular appeal across the whole Russian Empire, securing support from a wide cross-section of society. The book considers the nature and organisation of the groups, their ideologies and polices on particular issues and how they changed over time. The book concludes by examining how and why the groups lost momentum and support in the years immediately before the First World War, and briefly explores how far present day rightist groups in Russia are connected to this earlier movement.
Author : Robin Higham
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 493 pages
File Size : 12,37 MB
Release : 2003-12-30
Category : History
ISBN : 0313017204
World War I was the greatest cataclysm Europe had ever known, directly involving 61 million troops from 16 nations. Yet the history of the war and the reasons it started and spread so rapidly were vastly more complex than the players realized. Written by highly respected authorities, this book discusses the literature on all aspects of the war, making it an excellent starting point for anyone seeking guidance to the immense, and often daunting, body of World War I literature. The struggle mobilized manpower from home, troops from the colonies abroad, and—in most countries-women as well as men. Governments increasingly intervened in everyday life. New weapons and organizational structures were developed. Yet the history of the war and the reasons it started and spread so rapidly were vastly more complex than the players realized. Written by highly respected authorities, this book discusses the literature on all aspects of the war. Dennis Showalter's opening chapter covers the controversial issue of the war's origins—a complex subject that has been much debated by historians. Ensuing chapters consider the literature on each of the participating countries. The broader subjects of the war at sea and the war in the air are also covered. Daniel Beaver's final chapter discusses the mobilization of industry and the new military technology. This book is an excellent starting point for anyone seeking guidance to the immense, and often daunting, body of World War I literature.
Author : Marian Kent
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 254 pages
File Size : 19,27 MB
Release : 2005-07-27
Category : History
ISBN : 1135777993
How far was the end of the Ottoman Empire the result of Great Power imperialism and how far the result of structural weaknesses within the Empire itself? These studies of the foreign policy of each of the Great Powers and the Ottoman Empire examine these fundamental issues.
Author : Gordon Martel
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 205 pages
File Size : 31,5 MB
Release : 2016-10-04
Category : History
ISBN : 1134857101
Origins of the First World War summarizes the policies, issues and crises that brought Europe to war in 1914. Examining the strategic and political problems that confronted each of the great powers and the way in which social and economic factors influenced the decision-making process, Martel discusses the position of each power and their place in the system of alliances which dominated international politics. The fourth edition has been revised and updated throughout to incorporate the body of new scholarship that has appeared since the hundredth anniversary of the outbreak of war. In a clear and accessible manner, it explains: how and why the alliance system was created how alliances led to a network of complicated strategic commitments how an escalating series of international crises from the turn of the century fuelled preparations for war why the peculiarities of the Balkan situation are essential in understanding the outbreak of war in 1914. This book also includes an updated Guide to Further Reading, Who’s Who of important figures and Glossary of key terms, and the selection of documents has been expanded to include the key treaties as well as evidence of popular militarism and nationalism. Concise, accessible and analytical, it is essential introductory reading for all students interested in the origins of the First World War.
Author : Richard Sakwa
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 853 pages
File Size : 11,23 MB
Release : 2020-08-16
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1000097765
Fully revised and updated to reflect the considerable changes in Russia over the last decade, the fifth edition of this classic text builds on the strengths of previous editions to provide a comprehensive and sophisticated analysis of Russian politics and society. The new edition incorporates the latest debates about Russian politics, analysing recent institutional and political developments, and examines the electoral cycle and prospects of the president elected at the end of the process. New to this edition: an evaluation of Putin’s leadership and the country's political performance under him; updated election results and demographic, social, ethnic/national statistics to include results of the 2010 census; changes in the party system, to electoral legislation and to the composition of parliament as well as the relationship between the executive and legislature; coverage of the constitutional changes and governmental appointments under the various prime ministers; more analysis of economic performance including discussion of the energy sector and pipeline politics; changes in Russian foreign policy since EU enlargement, its relationship with NATO since the ‘reset’, as well as its relations with post-Soviet states; assessment of the military reforms and security and defence policy; debates over the question of democracy in Russia today, the nature of the system, and its future prospects. Written in an accessible and lively style, this book is packed with detailed information on the central debates and issues in Russia’s difficult transformation. An unrivalled textbook on the subject it is essential reading for all those concerned with the fate of Russia, and with the future of international society.
Author : Carol S. Leonard
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 419 pages
File Size : 41,3 MB
Release : 2010-12-06
Category : History
ISBN : 1139491385
This book examines the history of reforms and major state interventions affecting Russian agriculture: the abolition of serfdom in 1861, the Stolypin reforms, the NEP, the Collectivization, Khrushchev reforms, and finally farm enterprise privatization in the early 1990s. It shows a pattern emerging from a political imperative in imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet regimes, and it describes how these reforms were justified in the name of the national interest during severe crises - rapid inflation, military defeat, mass strikes, rural unrest, and/or political turmoil. It looks at the consequences of adversity in the economic environment for rural behavior after reform and at long-run trends. It has chapters on property rights, rural organization, and technological change. It provides a new database for measuring agricultural productivity from 1861 to 1913 and updates these estimates to the present. This book is a study of the policies aimed at reorganizing rural production and their effectiveness in transforming institutions.
