A concise but comprehensive exploration of Russia's military past, this book traces the course of Russia's wars, both victories and defeats, showing how war has shaped Russian society and how the nature of Russian society has shaped Russia's military and the wars it has fought.
List of Maps Acknowledgments Introduction 1 The Rise of Muscovy 2 The Time of Troubles 3 The Early Romanovs 4 Peter the Great 5 After Peter 6 Catherine the Great 7 The Napoleonic Wars 8 Repression and Defeat 9 Reform and Recovery 10 The Russo-Japanese War 11 World War I 12 The Soviet Experiment 13 The Great Patriotic War 14 The Soviet Superpower 15 The Emergence of a New Russia Suggested Reading Index
David R. Stone is Associate Professor of Russian history at Kansas State University. His first book Hammer and Rifle: The Militarization of the Soviet Union, 1926-1933 , was a History Book Club selection, winner of the Historical Society's inaugural Best First Book prize, and co-winner of the Shulman Prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies. The author of numerous articles on Russian and Soviet military and diplomatic history, Stone is currently working on a study of Trotsky's role in the creation and development of the Red Army.
Stone provides a relatively brief but commendably well-balanced
survey of Russian military history from the earliest years of the
Kievan Rus state to the present. Whereas most studies of the
Russian military concentrate on the events of the past two
centuries, this book offers a cogent account of earlier years,
including military innovations and wars during the time of Ivan the
Terrible and the complicated military history of Peter the Great's
reign. Moreover, the author succeeds admirably in his intention not
only to include descriptions of the major battles, campaigns, and
wars fought by the Russians, but also to discuss the
interrelationship of military affairs with the development of the
Russian state and society….The book can be read with great profit
by anyone interested in Russian military history. Recommended. All
levels/libraries.
*Choice*
Stone does an artful job of recounting over 500 years of Russian
military campaigns and explaining the complex and reciprocal
relationships between the military and society in Russia, as well
as Russia's role in Western military history (e.g., the triumph
against Napoleon), enacted at the expense of its economic and civic
gains. He clarifies Russia's place in the ebb and flow of alliances
among emerging nation states in Europe. Every Russian history
written in the past 20 years contains much of the same information
that Stone presents, but he has a notable ability to clarify
military history and thereby Russian history generally….[h]is style
will catch the eye of students and casual readers. Recommended for
public, high school, and college libraries.
*Library Journal*
[A] first-rate, crystal-clear history of five centuries of Russian
military operations, from which I have learned a great deal.
*The International History Review*
This textbook - the first to appear in forty years - should prove
invaluable to students, while specialists, too, will learn a great
deal.
*SEER*
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