Russian History: A Very Short Introduction PDF Download

Author: Geoffrey Hosking
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199580987
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
A leading international authority discusses all aspects of Russian history, from the struggle by the state to control society to the transformation of the nation into a multi-ethnic empire, Russia's relations with the West and the post-Soviet era. Original.

Author: Geoffrey A. Hosking
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674004733
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 776

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Book Description
Chronicles the history of the Russian Empire from the Mongol Invasion, through the Bolshevik Revolution, to the aftereffects of the Cold War.

Author: Abraham Ascher
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1786071436
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
Distinguished Professor Abraham Ascher offers an impressive blend of engaging narrative and fresh analysis in this perennially popular introduction to Russia. Newly updated on the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, Russia: A Short History begins with the origins of the first Slavic state, and continues to the present-day tensions between Russia and its neighbours, the rise of Vladimir Putin, and the increasingly complex relationship with the United States.

Author: John Thompson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429977158
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
This lucid account of Russian and Soviet history presents major trends and events from ancient Kievan Rus' to Vladimir Putin's presidency in the twenty-first century. Russia does not shy away from controversial topics, including the impact of the Mongol conquest, the paradoxes of Peter the Great, the "inevitability" of the 1917 Revolution, the Stalinist terror, and the Gorbachev reform effort. Tackling those topics and others, the new edition is updated to discuss the Russia-Georgia war of 2008, the 2013-2014 Euromaidan protests in Ukraine, the war in eastern Ukraine, and the Russian annexation of Crimea. Distinguished by its brevity and amply supplemented with useful images and suggested readings, this essential text provides balanced coverage of all periods of Russian history and incorporates economic, social, and cultural developments as well as politics and foreign policy.

Author: John M Thompson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000310566
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
This book is a brief, lucid account of Russian and Soviet history from ancient Kievan Rus' to the present day. Equal attention is paid to the early and the modern periods of Russian history. The author has revised this new edition to include the dramatic changes in the Soviet Union and its foreign policy during Gorbachev's first five years in office. The text is supplemented with maps and illustrations and includes bibliographies at the end of each chapter. Designed for use by students in either a one- or two-semester introductory course in Russian history, Russia and the Soviet Union will also be valuable to any reader seeking to become acquainted with the story of the Russian people—their tribulations and courage, tragedies and triumphs, and their remarkable contribution to world culture.

Author: Yegor Gaidar
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262304384
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 563

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Book Description
An important Russian economist and politician takes a long view of economic history and Russia's development. It is not so easy to take the long view of socioeconomic history when you are participating in a revolution. For that reason, Russian economist Yegor Gaidar put aside an early version of this work to take up a series of government positions—as Minister of Finance and as Boris Yeltsin's acting Prime Minister—in the early 1990s. In government, Gaidar shepherded Russia through its transition to a market economy after years of socialism. Once out of government, Gaidar turned again to his consideration of Russia's economic history and long-term economic and political challenges. This book, revised and updated shortly before his death in 2009, is the result. Gaidar's account of long-term socioeconomic trends puts his country in historical context and outlines problems faced by Russia (and other developing economies) that more developed countries have already encountered: aging population, migration, evolution of the system of social protection, changes in the armed forces, and balancing stability and flexibility in democratic institutions. This is not a memoir, but, Gaidar points out, neither is it “written from the position of a man who spent his entire life in a research institute.” Gaidar's “long view” is inevitably informed and enriched by his experience in government at a watershed moment in history.

Author: Orlando Figes
Publisher: Metropolitan Books
ISBN: 1250796903
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
“This is the essential backstory, the history book that you need if you want to understand modern Russia and its wars with Ukraine, with its neighbors, with America, and with the West.” —Anne Applebaum, author of Twilight of Democracy and Red Famine Named a Most Anticipated Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews From “the great storyteller of Russian history” (Financial Times), a brilliant account of the national mythologies and imperial ideologies that have shaped Russia’s past and politics—essential reading for understanding the country today The Story of Russia is a fresh approach to the thousand years of Russia’s history, concerned as much with the ideas that have shaped how Russians think about their past as it is with the events and personalities comprising it. No other country has reimagined its own story so often, in a perpetual effort to stay in step with the shifts of ruling ideologies. From the founding of Kievan Rus in the first millennium to Putin’s war against Ukraine, Orlando Figes explores the ideas that have guided Russia’s actions throughout its long and troubled existence. Whether he's describing the crowning of Ivan the Terrible in a candlelit cathedral or the dramatic upheaval of the peasant revolution, he reveals the impulses, often unappreciated or misunderstood by foreigners, that have driven Russian history: the medieval myth of Mother Russia’s holy mission to the world; the imperial tendency toward autocratic rule; the popular belief in a paternal tsar dispensing truth and justice; the cult of sacrifice rooted in the idea of the “Russian soul”; and always, the nationalist myth of Russia’s unjust treatment by the West. How the Russians came to tell their story and to revise it so often as they went along is not only a vital aspect of their history; it is also our best means of understanding how the country thinks and acts today. Based on a lifetime of scholarship and enthrallingly written, The Story of Russia is quintessential Figes: sweeping, revelatory, and masterful.

Author: CHRISTOPHER J.. THOMPSON WARD (JOHN M.)
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9780367858889
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 398

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Book Description
This lucid account of Russian and Soviet history presents major trends and events from Kievan Rus' to Vladimir Putin's presidency in the twenty-first century. Directly addressing controversial topics, this book looks at issues such as the impact of the Mongol conquest, the paradoxes of Peter the Great, the "inevitability" of the 1917 Revolution, the Stalinist terror, and the Gorbachev reform effort. This new ninth edition has been updated to include a discussion of Russian participation in the War in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, Russia's role in the Syrian civil war, the rise of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin's confirmation as "president for life," recent Russian relations with the United States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the European Union as well as contemporary social and cultural trends. Distinguished by its brevity and supplemented with substantially updated suggested readings that feature new scholarship on Russia and a thoroughly updated index, this essential text provides balanced coverage of all periods of Russian history and incorporates economic, social, and cultural developments as well as politics and foreign policy. Suitable for undergraduates as well as the general reader with an interest in Russia, this text is a concise, single volume on one of the world's most significant lands.

Author: Gilad James, PhD
Publisher: Gilad James Mystery School
ISBN: 9220210142
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 107

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Book Description
Russia, officially known as the Russian Federation, is the largest country in the world by land area and spans two continents, Europe and Asia. It is located in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia and shares borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, and North Korea. The country has a diverse geography, from the frozen tundra of Siberia to the sunny beaches of the Black Sea coast. Russia is known for its rich culture and history, which includes famous poets, writers, composers, artists, and scientists. The country has a population of approximately 144 million people and is considered a federal semi-presidential republic. Russia's economy is one of the largest in the world and relies heavily on natural resources like oil, gas, and minerals. Its political system is often described as authoritarian due to the concentration of power in the hands of the president and the ruling party. However, the country has a complex and dynamic political landscape that includes a diversity of opinions and viewpoints. Despite its challenges, Russia continues to play a significant role in world affairs, including its involvement in Syria, Ukraine, and other global hotspots.

Author: Ellen Mickiewicz
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199977844
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
How will the future leaders of Russia regard the world scene? How will they regard the United States, democracy, free speech, and immigration? What do they think of their current leaders? And what sorts of tactics will they bring to international negotiating tables, political and otherwise? No Illusions: The Voices of Russia's Future Leaders provides an engaging, intimate, and unprecedented window into the mindsets of the next generation of leaders in Russian politics, business, and economics. In this book, one hundred and eight students in Russia's three most elite universities, the training grounds for the nation's leadership, reveal their thoughts on international relations, neighboring countries, domestic and international media, democratic movements, and their government in focus groups; they speak candidly, passionately, and sometimes sardonically about America. As well, Ellen Mickiewicz, one of the world's foremost experts on Russian media, politics, and culture, shows how their total immersion in the world of the internet-an immersion that sets them apart from the current generation of Russian leadership and much of the rest of the country-frames the way that they think and affects their trust in their leaders, the media, and their colleagues. Their worldviews are complex and often contradictory, reflecting complicated personalities that are adaptable yet also subject to much internal strife and "splintering." For example, while many of them are planning to go into politics, they express ambivalence about voting; they have favorable views of democracy, but not of the American model; they are shrewd critics of government propaganda and yet have clearly absorbed residue of Cold War defensiveness. Mickiewicz also looks at the nation's massive protests and nascent political movements to show how they came about and to consider what promise they might hold even in times of narrowing opportunities. She profiles several of Russia's up-and-coming leaders, including charismatic and controversial activist and politician Aleksei Navalny, who, even during his legal trials and house arrest, remains the face of the opposition to the Putin regime. As this book shows, the next generation of Russian leadership promises to hold a rather different worldview from that of the current one, yet it is not a worldview that readily embraces American democracy. No Illusions is a thought-provoking and often surprising glimpse into the future of Russia's foreign relations.