The Plow, the Hammer, and the Knout

The Plow, the Hammer, and the Knout
Author: Arcadius Kahan
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 460
Release: 1985-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780226422534

The eighteenth century was crucial in Russian history, marking the nation's emergence from a preindustrial society and the onset of a modernization that would make Russia a great European, and eventually global, power. Kahan writes social history of this century to reflect that Russia accomplished this transformation through the coercive power of the state, and the strength and skills of its labor force.

Russia's Great Reforms, 1855–1881

Russia's Great Reforms, 1855–1881
Author: Ben Eklof
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 322
Release: 1994-06-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780253208613

The Great Reforms undertaken during the reign of Alexander II represented a unique attempt by the tsarist government to restructure virtually every aspect of Russian life, beginning with the emancipation of the serfs and continuing through reforms of local government, the judiciary, the military, education, the financial system, censorship, and other domains. This volume, the work of an international group of scholars that includes historians from Russia, maps out the major landmarks in the conceptualization and implementation of the Great Reforms during the reign of Alexander II and proposes a variety of perspectives from which to view them. -- From publisher's description.

The Russian Peasantry 1600-1930

The Russian Peasantry 1600-1930
Author: David Moon
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 445
Release: 2014-07-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 1317895185

This impressive work, set to become the standard history on the subject, offers a definitive survey of peasant society in Russia, from the consolidation of serfdom and tsarist autocracy in the 17th century through to the destruction of the peasant's traditional world under Stalin. Over three-quarters of Russian society were peasants in these years, and David Moon explores all aspects of their life xxx; including the rural economy, peasant households, village communities xxx; and their political role, including protest against the landowning elites. In the process he presents a fresh perspective on the history of Russia itself. A big book in every way xxx; and compellingly readable.

Charles Whitworth

Charles Whitworth
Author: Janet M. Hartley
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2017-07-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 1351952609

In 1700 the armies of the Russian Tsar Peter the Great and Charles XII of Sweden met at Narva to fight the first battle of what was to be known as the Great Northern War. Although this first engagement was to result in a humiliating defeat for Peter, it marked the start of a struggle that twenty years later would see Russia emerge as a major power and radically alter the balance of power in Europe. This work examines the changes in the balance of power in Europe in the early eighteenth century as a result of the Great Northern War and the War of the Spanish Succession through the writings and career of Charles Whitworth, the first British Ambassador to Russia, and Minister in The Hague, Berlin, Ratisbon and Cambrai. Whitworth was an acute, witty and indefatigable writer. His long and detailed dispatches and reports comment on Russian, Prussian, Austrian and Dutch domestic and foreign policy, on trading and commercial matters, on leading personalities and events, and on the diplomacy of the Great Northern War and the War of Spanish Succession. He was in Russia from 1705 to 1712 and witnessed the growing military, naval and commercial power of the state and was acutely aware of the potential threat of Russia to British interests. The period of Whitworth's diplomatic career, from 1702-1725, witnessed a dramatic shift in the balance of power in the North, and the nature, and timing, of Whitworth's postings made him uniquely qualified to chart and analyse this development. Drawing on a wide variety of manuscript sources, Dr Hartley has produced a compelling account both of Whitworth and the momentous events taking place in Europe at the beginning of the eighteenth century.

Greek Maritime History

Greek Maritime History
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2022-05-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004467726

This volume presents Greek Maritime History to a wider audience and unravels the historical trajectory of a maritime nation par excellence in the Eastern Mediterranean: the rise of the Greek merchant fleet and its transformation from a peripheral to an international carrier.

The Ashgate Companion to the History of Textile Workers, 1650–2000

The Ashgate Companion to the History of Textile Workers, 1650–2000
Author: Els Hiemstra-Kuperus
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 861
Release: 2016-04-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1317044290

This impressive collection offers the first systematic global and comparative history of textile workers over the course of 350 years. This period covers the major changes in wool and cotton production, and the global picture from pre-industrial times through to the twentieth century. After an introduction, the first part of the book is divided into twenty national studies on textile production over the period 1650-2000. To make them useful tools for international comparisons, each national overview is based on a consistent framework that defines the topics and issues to be treated in each chapter. The countries described have been selected to included the major historic producers of woollen and cotton fabrics, and the diversity of global experience, and include not only European nations, but also Argentina, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, Uruguay and the USA. The second part of the book consists of ten comparative papers on topics including globalization and trade, organization of production, space, identity, workplace, institutions, production relations, gender, ethnicity and the textile firm. These are based on the national overviews and additional literature, and will help apply current interdisciplinary and cultural concerns to a subject traditionally viewed largely through a social and economic history lens. Whilst offering a unique reference source for anyone interested in the history of a particular country's textile industry, the true strength of this project lies in its capacity of international comparison. By providing global comparative studies of key textile industries and workers, both geographically and thematically, this book provides a comprehensive and contemporary analysis of a major element of the world's economy. This allows historians to challenge many of the received ideas about globalization, for instance, highlighting how global competition for lower production costs is by no means a uniquely modern issue, and has b

The Uniqueness of Western Civilization

The Uniqueness of Western Civilization
Author: Ricardo Duchesne
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 539
Release: 2011-02-07
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004194614

This extensively researched book argues that the development of a libertarian culture was an indispensable component of the rise of the West. The roots of the West's superior intellectual and artistic creativity should be traced back to the aristocratic warlike culture of Indo-European speakers. Among the many fascinating topics discussed are: the ascendancy of multicultural historians and the degradation of European history; China's ecological endowments and imperial windfalls; military revolutions in Europe 1300-1800; the science and chivalry of Henry the Navigator; Judaism and its contribution to Western rationalism; the cultural richness of Max Weber versus the intellectual poverty of Pomeranz, Wong, Goldstone, Goody, and A.G. Frank; change without progress in the East; Hegel's Phenomenology of the [Western] Spirit; Nietzsche and the education of the Homeric Greeks; Kojeve's master-slave dialectic and the Western state of nature; Christian virtues and German aristocratic expansionism.

European Aristocracies and Colonial Elites

European Aristocracies and Colonial Elites
Author: Paul Janssens
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2017-09-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 1351938770

'Aristocracies', 'Old Regime colonial elites' - from Adam Smith to Karl Marx and beyond, scholars have discussed their role in the rise of the modern world, in economic development and capitalism. Generally speaking and with the exception of the English landlords, the verdict has been always negative. Furthermore, historians have usually viewed the Ancien régime aristocracies and colonial elites as social groups with entirely irrational or completely apathetic attitudes towards the management of their estates. This book constitutes the first attempt to analyse the question in a more critical and historical way. It takes a directly comparative approach, covering countries from Peru to Russia and from Naples to England in the early modern period and up to the end of the 18th century. The rationale of how these elites administered their patrimonies, its political, social and sometime moral dimensions, and the real effects of all this on economic development are considered here as key aspects for a better understanding of economic life. The result is a quite different picture in which economic history is also seen as the outcome of human actions in their own social and political context.

The Life Cycle of Russian Things

The Life Cycle of Russian Things
Author: Matthew P. Romaniello
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 411
Release: 2021-09-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 135018604X

The Life Cycle of Russian Things re-orients commodity studies using interdisciplinary and comparative methods to foreground unique Russian and Soviet materials as varied as apothecary wares, isinglass, limestone and tanks. It also transforms modernist and Western interpretations of the material by emphasizing the commonalities of the Russian experience. Expert contributors from across the United States, Canada, Britain, and Germany come together to situate Russian material culture studies at an interdisciplinary crossroads. Drawing upon theory from anthropology, history, and literary and museum studies, the volume presents a complex narrative, not only in terms of material consumption but also in terms of production and the secondary life of inheritance, preservation, or even destruction. In doing so, the book reconceptualises material culture as a lived experience of sensory interaction. The Life Cycle of Russian Things sheds new light on economic history and consumption studies by reflecting the diversity of Russia's experiences over the last 400 years.

A Life under Russian Serfdom

A Life under Russian Serfdom
Author: Boris B. Gorshkov
Publisher: Central European University Press
Total Pages: 128
Release: 2005-01-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 6155053952

This is a translation of one of very few Russian serfs' memoirs. Savva Purlevskii recollects his life in Russian serfdom and life of his grandparents, parents, and fellow villagers. He describes family and communal life and the serfs' daily interaction with landlords and authorities. Purlevskii came from an initially prosperous family that later became impoverished. Early in his childhood, he lost his father. Purlevskii did not have a chance to gain a formal education. He lived under serfdom until 1831 when at the age of 30 he escaped his servitude.Gorshkov's introduction provides some basic knowledge about Russian serfdom and draws upon the most recent scholarship. Notes provide references and general information about events, places and people mentioned in the memoirs.