Encyclopedia of Russian History

The Encyclopedia of Russian History is designed to help dispel the mystery of Russia. It is the first encyclopedia in the English language to comprehend the entirety of Russian history, from ancient Rus to the most recent events in post-Soviet Russia. It is not aimed primarily at specialists in the area but at general readers, students, and scholars who are curious about Russia, have historical events, dates, and persons they wish to explore or papers to write on the widely varying topics and individuals contained herein. Contributors include top scholars in history, Russian studies, military history, economics, social science, literature, philosophy, music, and art history. The 1,500 entries have been composed by over 500 scholars from 16 countries. All were instructed to “historize” their entries, thereby placing them in the larger context of Russian history. Each entry is signed and feavii

tures carefully chosen cross references to related entries as well as a bibliography of print and Internet sources as suggested additional readings. The four volumes contain over 300 black and white maps and photographs illustrating the text, and each volume contains color inserts portraying the beauty and scope of Russian peoples, art, and architecture, as well as important military and political pictorials. Entries are arranged alphabetically, and the first volume includes a topical outline that organizes articles by broad categories, thereby offering teachers and students alike an informed map of Russian history. A comprehensive subject index offers yet another entry point for the set, encouraging readers to explore the four volumes in greater depth.

The encyclopedia is the product of recent scholarship. Russian studies began as a significant field of study in the United States and Europe only during the Soviet era. Although a small number of scholars were active before World War II, particularly in England, the field began to grow in the United States with the onset of the Cold War in the late 1940s. When the Soviet Union launched the first earth satellite, Sputnik, in 1957, a concern for national security became a driving force for development of Russian area studies. All fields grew especially rapidly in the 1960s and 1970s, for it was recognized that study of the contemporary Soviet social system would require in-depth knowledge of the language, history, and culture of Russia. In the United States, for example, both the federal government and private foundations such as the Ford Foundation and the Carnegie Endowment funded graduate Russian studies on an almost “crash” basis. Whereas the Russian Institute of Columbia University and the Russian Research Center at Harvard dominated the field initially, by the end of the 1960s all major research institutions had Russian studies programs and were producing new Ph.D.s in the field. In fact, most of the scholars who have ever received Ph.D.s in the various fields of Russian history, social science, arts, and so forth, are still active scholars. The field of Russian-Soviet studies now has better coverage and higher quality than ever. The 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union ended the ideological constraints that communism had placed on scholarly publication, allowing scholarship to blossom in post-Soviet Russia as well. Researchers now have unprecedented access to archival and other historical materials-and to the Russian people as well. The editors and I have been fortunate, therefore, to be able to select as our contributors-the most outstanding scholars not only in the United States, but also in Britain, Europe, and Russia. Twenty years ago it would not have been possible to produce such a balanced, high quality, and comprehensive encyclopedia. The last five decades or so of intensive scholarship have greatly increased our knowledge and understanding of Russian history.

As one views the length and breadth of the Russian historical experience certain continuities and recurring patterns stand out. Autocracy, for example, has ancient and strong roots in Russian history. For most of its history, Russia was led by all-powerful tsars, such as Peter the Great or Nicholas I, who served willingly as autocrats, seemingly conscious of the difficulties inherent in ruling so large and diverse a country. Even those tsars who sought to modify the autocracy, such as Alexander II, who emancipated the serfs, reversed course when confronted with revolutionary or nihilist opponents. Soviet communism lapsed into autocracy under Josef Stalin, who was perhaps the most complete autocrat since Peter the Great. More recently, Russian President, Vladimir Putin, appears to be tolerating a drift back toward autocracy in reaction to the democratic impulses of Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin. He seems to relish comparison of his rule to that of Peter the Great.