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A Military History of Russia - From Ivan the Terrible to the War in Chechnya (Hardcover)
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A Military History of Russia - From Ivan the Terrible to the War in Chechnya (Hardcover)
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This book brings to light Russia's undeservedly-obscure military
past, rectifying the tendency of American and Western military
historians to neglect the Russian side of things. Russia, as both a
Western and non-Western society, challenges our thinking about
Western military superiority. Russia has always struggled with
backwardness in comparison with more developed powers, at some
times more successfully than others. The imperatives of survival in
a competitive international environment have, moreover, produced in
Russian society a high degree of militarization. While including
operational and tactical detail that appeals to military history
enthusiasts, this book simultaneously integrates military history
into the broader themes of Russian history and draws comparisons to
developments in Europe. The book also challenges old assumptions
about the Russian military. Russian military history cannot be
summed up simply in a single stock phrase, whether perennial
incompetence or success only through stolid, stoic defense; it also
shows numerous examples of striking offensive successes. Stone
traces Russia's fascinating military history, and its long struggle
to master Western military technology without Western social and
political institutions. It covers the military dimensions of the
emergence of Muscovy, the disastrous reign of Ivan the Terrible,
and the subsequent creation of the new Romanov dynasty. It deals
with Russia's emergence as a great power under Peter the Great and
culminating in the defeat of Napoleon. After that triumph, the book
argues, Russia's social and economic stagnation undermined its
enormous military power and brought catastrophic defeat in the
Crimean War. The bookthen covers imperial Russia's long struggle to
reform its military machine, with mixed results in the
Russo-Japanese War and World War I. The Russian Revolution created
a new Soviet Russia, but this book shows the continuity across that
divide. The Soviet Union's interwar innovations and its harrowing
experience in World War II owed much to imperial Russian
precedents. A superpower after the war, the Soviet Union's military
might was purchased at the expense of continuing economic
backwardness. Paradoxically, the very militarization intended to
provide security instead destroyed the Soviet Union, leaving a new
Russia behind the West economically. Just as there was a great deal
of continuity after 1917, this book demonstrates how the new
Russian military has inherited many of its current problems from
its Soviet predecessor. The price that Russia has paid for its
continued existence as a great power, therefore, is the
overwhelming militarization of its society and economy, a situation
it continues to struggle with.
General
Imprint: |
Praeger Publishers Inc
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
August 2006 |
First published: |
August 2006 |
Authors: |
David Stone
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Dimensions: |
235 x 156 x 27mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover
|
Pages: |
280 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-275-98502-8 |
Categories: |
Books
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LSN: |
0-275-98502-4 |
Barcode: |
9780275985028 |
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