A valuable reinterpretation of Russian history in the light of the
dissolution of the Soviet empire, by Hosking (History/University of
London). His theme is that the building of the empire obstructed
the flowering of the nation and is more fundamental in explaining
what happened than either autocracy or the backwardness of the
country. The tsarist regime, for example, believed it more
important to conquer Siberia than to exploit it. Hosking even
interprets the response of the peasantry at the time of Napoleon's
invasion of Russia less in terms of their nationalism than as a
response to Napoleon's brutal methods and a reflection of their
belief that, if they served, they would be freed. Hosking
illustrates how, time and again, the needs of empire took
precedence over actions that would have ameliorated growing
divisions between the classes: The efforts of Peter the Great to
develop an administrative elite by cultivating Western manners and
adopting the French language separated that elite further from the
Russian peasantry; the emancipation of the serfs left the peasants
with abiding grievances and in some respects reinforced their
segregation. Even the opportunity to link the monarchy more firmly
with the people in resisting the Germans during the First World War
was thrown away by the refusal of the tsar to appoint a government
of public confidence. The final success of the Bolsheviks owed
little to their ideology and everything to their readiness to
grant, however temporarily, what the peasantry actually wanted.
This theme has, as Hosking notes, profound contemporary
implications: If Russia can find a new identity for itself, then
autocracy and backwardness may well fade. Often more thematic than
descriptive - the details of the 1917 Revolution itself are given
only cursory attention - and better perhaps at the start of the
period than at the end, Hosking nonetheless gives a thoughtful,
often penetrating review of a complex and important perspective.
(Kirkus Reviews)
'It is unlikely that a clearer, more stimulating account of the
Russians' extraordinary period of imperial history will be
written.' Philip Marsden, Spectator Geoffrey Hosking's landmark
book provides us with a new prism through which to view Russian
history by posing the apparently simple question: what is Russia's
national identity? Hosking answers this with brilliant originality:
his thesis is that the needs of Russia's empire prevented the
creation of a Russian nation. The Tsars, and before them the Grand
Dukes of Moscow, were empire builders rather than nation builders
and, as consequence, profoundly alienated ordinary Russians.
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