The History of Bosnia: From the Middle Ages to the Present Day, Marko Attila Hoare (London: Saqi, 2007), 520 pp (original) (raw)
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MODERN RUSSIAN HISTORY: A TEXTBOOK
Every century in every country and every history has its own specifics, originality and distinctiveness. The special time in modern Russian history belongs toto the 20th century. This century in Russia, which went through a number of revolutions, formation of the first-in-the-world Socialist state, the temptations of totalitarianism, enormous sufferings and great victories has been especially outstanding and unique. In order to understand this let’s delve into the Russian twentieth century, doing this through the spectrum of different points of view, evaluations and interpretations.
2011
Accessible to students, tourists and general readers alike, this book provides a broad overview of Russian history since the ninth century. Paul Bushkovitch emphasizes the enormous changes in the understanding of Russian history resulting from the end of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since then, new material has come to light on the history of the Soviet era, providing new conceptions of Russia's pre-revolutionary past. The book traces not only the political history of Russia, but also developments in its literature, art and science. Bushkovitch describes well-known cultural figures, such as Chekhov, Tolstoy and Mendeleev, in their institutional and historical contexts. Though the 1917 revolution, the resulting Soviet system and the Cold War were a crucial part of Russian and world history, Bushkovitch presents earlier developments as more than just a prelude to Bolshevik power.
Introduction to the Centenary of the Bolshevik Revolution
Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 2018
Introduction to the Centenary of the Bolshevik Revolution This special issue of the Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies is devoted to 'One Hundred Years of the Bolshevik Revolution: Contested Visions for International and Regional Order'. The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 has been a matter of utmost importance for world politics. It is a well-established fact that the history of the twentieth century cannot be understood without taking account of the transformative power of the Bolshevik Revolution on international and regional politics. It provoked a confrontation between the Soviet Union and the major capitalist states and challenged the West in the field of welfare, civic and economic reforms, exposing the inadequacies of free market capitalism to deliver social justice and equality. This confrontation lasted throughout the twentieth century, although it took different forms and shapes according to the states and societies in which it developed. Not only did the actual conflict affect the lives of millions throughout the twentieth century, but its demise also had tremendous impacts on world politics. The primary objective of this special issue is to foster an academic debate on the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 as well as to shed new light on its implications for international and regional order, with a special emphasis on the Balkans and the Near East. The five papers which are collected in the special issue as a result of the regular peerreview process address some, but by no means all, important aspects of the Bolshevik Revolution. This introductory essay attempts to portray the main question each paper raises, to show the overall contribution to our understanding of the Bolshevik Revolution and finally to point out new research questions that may be inferred from this special issue as a whole. Before highlighting each article's major concerns and contributions, let us proudly state that all of the contributors made extensive use of published and unpublished archival documents from the related archives and/or the primary sources that are essential to examine the subjects in question and substantiate the arguments put forward, and are all well equipped with theoretical debate on the subjects. They are all strictly academic. Needless to say that each contributor has relied on a specific analytical framework within which they worked. We open the special issue with Olga Aganson's paper, 'The Versailles Order and Perplexities of the Comintern's Policy in the Balkans in 1930s: Departure from the World Revolution'. Aganson raises the important question of 'how multi-variable trajectories of interaction between the Soviet Union and the Versailles order projected at the level of the Balkan politics'. She assiduously consulted Soviet archival sources in Russia. Aganson claims that the Soviet Union had a dubious status regarding the Versailles order. She points to the difficulties that the Soviet policy makers faced: on the one hand they were ideologically against the international order, and on the other hand they had to have some sort of
This review of Professor Boris Mironov's monograph highlights the discussion in his work of the most important parameters of economic development and social life in Russia in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The book covers the period from Peter the Great to the October 1917 Revolution, when the ripening of individualistic aspirations and the gradual extension of civil rights occurred. Boris Mironov's book examines the social structure of Russian cities and rural areas, means of communication, the evolution of legislation and institutions, demographic changes, etc. Considerable attention is devoted to the discourse of the erosion of the formerly rigid social hierarchy in the post-Reform period. The review noted that the author introduced a considerable array of documents into scientific circulation, mainly from RGIA. The comparative approach, which considers Russian history from the perspective of European and American models of development, is an advantage of the book. The review noted the great contribution of Boris Mironov in the analysis of recent historiography; especially valuable in this regard is his reflection of the most important academic discussions of the last forty years.
This review essay focuses on the new monograph by S. A. Smith Russia in Revolution: An Empire in Crisis, 1890 to 1928 (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2017). As a leading expert in the social history of the Russian Revolution of 1917, Smith provides a comprehensive political, social, and cultural narrative of one of the central events in the global history of the twentieth century. Directed at a general readership, the book offers an excellent overview of existing Russian and Western scholarship, outlines the main course of events, introduces most important actors, and contains thought-provoking conclusions about the revolution. As seen from the title, Smith takes a longish view on the political rupture and includes a comprehensive analysis of social and political life of the Russian Empire, a brief overview of the First Russian Revolution (1905–1907) and the economic and political crisis of the First World War (1914–1918) before discussing the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Russian Civil War, and the period of the New Economic Policy (NEP). The book’s conclusion is a comprehensive essay attempting to comprehend the revolution and its consequences as a whole. As a nuanced social, political, and cultural history, Russia in Revolution: An Empire in Crisis, 1890 to 1928 outlines the Revolution of 1917 as a tectonic shift which cannot be reduced to a simple change of the elites in the Russian imperial formation. Smith’s brilliant work will be invaluable for the students of history, both in Russia and abroad, and all those who are interested in global history in general and the Russian Revolution in particular.