Cognella History of Europe Series Modern Russian History The Search for National Identity and Global Power Roxanne Easley, Mark Davis Kuss, and Thomas Pearson Central Washington University, University of Holy Cross and Monmouth University SAN DIEGO Bassim Hamadeh, CEO and Publisher David Miano, Senior Specialist Acquisitions Editor Michelle Piehl, Senior Project Editor Christian Berk, Production Editor Jess Estrella, Senior Graphic Designer Trey Soto, Licensing Coordinator Natalie Piccotti, Director of Marketing Kassie Graves, Vice President of Editorial Jamie Giganti, Director of Academic Publishing Copyright © 2021 by Cognella, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted, repro- duced, transmitted, or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information retrieval system without the written permission of Cognella, Inc. For inquiries regarding permissions, translations, foreign rights, audio rights, and any other forms of reproduction, please contact the Cognella Licensing Department at rights@ cognella.com. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Cover image copyright © 2017 iStockphoto LP/letty17. Printed in the United States of America. Brief Contents A Note on Transliteration, Dates,and Acknowledgments xiii Chapter 1 Introduction: The Russian Empire to 1855 1 PART I. Late Imperial Russia 21 Chapter 2 The Renovation of Autocracy: The Great Reforms and Expansion of the Russian Empire 23 Chapter 3 Opposition to Tsarism: Young Russia and the Imperial Regime Under Attack, 1861–1881 47 Chapter 4 Fateful Reaction: Autocracy Retrenched and the Empire in Flux, 1881–1904 67 PART II. Russia in Revolution—The First Stage, 1905–1921 87 Chapter 5 The Disintegration of the Imperial Regime, 1905–1917 89 Chapter 6 Cultural Developments, 1855–1917: From the Social and National to the Abstract and Personal 113 Chapter 7 The Russian Revolution and the Making of Soviet Russia, 1917–1921 137 PART III. Russia/USSR in Revolution—The Second Stage, 1921–1941 157 Chapter 8 The New Economic Policy and the Experimental 1920s 159 Chapter 9 Apotheosis of Stalin and Stalinism as a Way of Soviet Life, 1928–1941 175 Chapter 10 Soviet Foreign Policy, 1917–1941: New Designs on a World Stage 191 PART IV. The Other “Superpower” and the Last Empire, 1941–1991 211 Chapter 11 Triumph and Tragedy: The USSR in the Great Patriotic War and Reconstruction, 1941–1953 213 Chapter 12 Last Empire: From De-Stalinization to Stagnation, 1953–1968 237 Chapter 13 The Last Empire II: Stagnation and the Collapse of the Soviet Empire, 1968–1991 267 PART V. Post-Soviet Russia 289 Chapter 14 Post-Soviet Russia Since 1991: The Search for National Identity, Political Order, and Global Power 291 Chapter 15 Epilogue—Whither Russia? 313 Glossary 319 Index 323 vi Brief Contents Detailed Contents A Note on Transliteration, Dates, and Acknowledgments xiii Chapter 1 Introduction: The Russian Empire to 1855 1 The Physical Setting 2 The Autocratic State 3 The Institution of Serfdom 8 The Multinational Empire 11 The West 14 Suggested Additional Reading 17 Russian and Soviet Films for the Period Before 1855: A Short List 17 Notes 17 Figure Credits 19 PART I. Late Imperial Russia 21 Chapter 2 The Renovation of Autocracy: The Great Reforms and Expansion of the Russian Empire 23 The Emancipation of the Serfs 24 Monetary and Credit Reform 31 Reform of Local Administration, Rural and Urban 32 The Judicial Reform 33 Higher Education and Censorship 34 Military Reform 35 Assessing the Great Reforms 36 The Growth of Russian National and Imperial Consciousness: Foreign Policy 37 End of an Era 41 Suggested Additional Reading 42 Notes 42 Figure Credits 45 Chapter 3 Opposition to Tsarism: Young Russia and the Imperial Regime Under Attack, 1861–1881 47 First Stirrings: The “Women’s Question” and “Fathers” and “Sons” 48 Emergence of the Revolutionary Circles of the 1860s 51 The Polish Rebellion of 1863 and the Genesis of Russian Jacobinism 52 Populism and “Going to the People” 55 Ascendancy of Terrorism and the Crisis of the Autocracy, 1878–1881 58 Suggested Additional Reading 62 Notes 62 Figure Credits 65 Chapter 4 Fateful Reaction: Autocracy Retrenched and the Empire in Flux, 1881–1904 67 Alexander III: Bureaucratization and the Counter-Reforms 68 Russification in Late Imperial Russia 72 Witte, Industrialization, a New Alliance, and the Last Tsar 74 New Revolutionary Challenges and the Witte System in Crisis 77 Suggested Additional Reading 81 Notes 82 Figure Credits 85 PART II. Russia in Revolution—The First Stage, 1905–1921 87 Chapter 5 The Disintegration of the Imperial Regime, 1905–1917 89 Growing Unrest 89 Military Disaster in the Far East 93 The Revolution of 1905 95 The New Political Order 99 The Last Years of the Monarchy 100 The Great War 104 Toward the Revolutions of 1917 109 Suggested Additional Reading 110 Notes 110 Figure Credits 112 viii Detailed Contents Chapter 6 Cultural Developments, 1855–1917: From the Social and National to the Abstract and Personal 113 Education and Social Change 114 Literature 115 Music 122 Painting 123 Popular Culture 126 The Silver Age of Culture 130 On the Eve of 1917 132 Suggested Additional Reading 132 Notes 133 Figure Credits 135 Chapter 7 The Russian Revolution and the Making of Soviet Russia, 1917–1921 137 Collapse of Tsarism and Russia’s Turn to the West: Initial Crises of the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet 138 Descent into Anarchy and Lenin’s Influence 141 Lenin’s Return and the Provisional Government’s Descent into Anarchy 144 Friends and Foes of the Encircled Soviet Union—Spring 1918 146 Crucible of Civil War and Allied Intervention, 1918–1920: Militarization of Soviet State and Society 148 War Communism and the Comintern in Practice: A Soviet Reality Check 151 Suggested Additional Reading 153 Notes 153 PART III. Russia/USSR in Revolution—The Second Stage, 1921–1941 157 Chapter 8 The New Economic Policy and the Experimental 1920s 159 Origins and Impact of the NEP: An Economy Resurrected, a Party Divided 159 Struggle for Lenin’s Succession and Stalin’s Rise to Dictatorship 162 The Great Industrialization Debate, 1924–1928 163 Detailed Contents ix Soviet Culture, 1917–1928: From Proletarianism and Experimentation in the Arts and Education to the Party Line (Partiinost’) 165 The Formation of the Soviet Union: The Affirmative Action Empire 169 Suggested Additional Reading 172 Important Films of the Period 172 Notes 172 Figure Credits 174 Chapter 9 Apotheosis of Stalin and Stalinism as a Way of Soviet Life, 1928–1941 175 Stalin in Command: 1928–1929 175 “The Great Turn”: The Stalin Revolution in Industry and Agriculture 176 Development of the Great Terror of the 1930s 179 Stalin’s Revolution in Political Culture and its Impact on Soviet Life and Society 180 Socialist Realism and Mass Culture 183 Stalinization of the Soviet Empire at Home and Abroad 184 Stalin and the Legacy of the Traumatic 1930s 186 Suggested Additional Reading 187 Notes 187 Chapter 10 Soviet Foreign Policy, 1917–1941: New Designs on a World Stage 191 The Two Faces of Soviet Diplomacy: Accommodation and World Revolution, 1917– 1927 191 Lenin’s Diplomacy 192 Chicherin 194 Building Socialism in One Country and Neo-Isolationism, 1928–1933 196 Collective Security and Popular Fronts, 1933–1939 200 The Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact: Reasons and Consequences, 1939–1941 206 Suggested Additional Reading 208 Notes 208 Figure Credits 210 x Detailed Contents PART IV. The Other “Superpower” and the Last Empire, 1941–1991 211 Chapter 11 Triumph and Tragedy: The USSR in the Great Patriotic War and Reconstruction, 1941–1953 213 Operation Barbarossa 214 To Leningrad, Moscow, and the Caucasus 216 First Victories and the Turning Point 218 Stalinism in War 219 Planning for Victory 220 Into Eastern Europe 221 Soviet Wartime Achievements—and Their Price 224 Creating New Soviet Citizens 225 Reconstruction 228 The Cold War Heats Up 229 Crackdown on Culture 231 Death of a Tyrant 232 Suggested Additional Reading 233 Notes 233 Figure Credits 235 Chapter 12 Last Empire: From De-Stalinization to Stagnation, 1953–1968 237 Khrushchev’s Rise 238 The Power Struggle 239 First Steps Toward De-Stalinization 242 Economic Reforms 244 The Thaw 249 Advance and Retreat in the Cold War 252 The Ouster 255 Brezhnev and Collective Leadership 256 The Nomenklatura 257 Stabilization 257 Cultural Crackdown 259 Foreign Policy 260 Invasion of Czechoslovakia 262 Suggested Additional Reading 263 Notes 263 Figure Credits 265 Detailed Contents xi Chapter 13 The Last Empire II:Stagnation and the Collapse of the Soviet Empire, 1968–1991 267 Retrenchment, Stability, and the Development of Soviet-American Détente, 1968–1975 268 A “Sick Soviet Society” and the Demise of Détente, 1976–1982 271 Gorbachev and Perestroika from Above: Seeking “Socialism with a Human Face,” 1985–1989 275 “Runaway Train”: Perestroika from Below and the Implosion of the USSR, 1989–1991 278 Suggested Readings 283 Notes 283 Figure Credits 288 PART V. Post-Soviet Russia 289 Chapter 14 Post-Soviet Russia Since 1991: The Search for National Identity, Political Order, and Global Power 291 A “Time of Troubles:” Economic Trauma, Political Confrontations, 1992–1993 292 Chechnya, the Oligarchs, and Yeltsin’s Re-election, 1994–1997 297 Diplomatic Tensions, Financial Crisis, and Putin’s Rise to Power 299 “Managed Democracy”: Putin’s Russia, 2000–2004 302 Putinism, the “New Russia,” and Anti-Western Policies (Since 2005) 305 Suggested Readings 309 Notes 310 Figure Credits 312 Chapter 15 Epilogue—Whither Russia? 313 Suggested Readings 317 Notes 317 Glossary 319 Index 323 xii Detailed Contents A Note on Transliteration, Dates, and Acknowledgments ransliterating Russian words into English and synchronizing the dates of Russian and T Western calendars prior to February 14, 1918, present special challenges to historians.