Awards

• Runner-up for Der Mugrdechian Armenian Studies Book Award (United States).
• Runner-up for Der Mugrdeckian Armenian Studies Book Award (United States).
• Short-listed for Council for European Studies Book Award (CES) 2022 (United States)
• Winner of Ab Imperio Award (United States).
• Winner of Ab Imperio Award 2020 (United States)
• Winner of Dr. Sona Aronian Book Prizes for Excellence in Armenian Studies (United States).
• Winner of Dr. Sona Aronian Book Prizes for Excellence in Armenian Studies 2020 (United States)

Overview

Russia's Entangled Embrace traces the relationship between the Romanov state and the Armenian diaspora that populated Russia's territorial fringes and navigated the tsarist empire's metropolitan centers. By engaging the ongoing debates about imperial structures that were simultaneously symbiotic and hierarchically ordered, Stephen Badalyan Riegg helps us to understand how, for Armenians and some other subjects, imperial rule represented not hypothetical, clear-cut alternatives but simultaneous, messy realities. He examines why, and how, Russian architects of empire imagined Armenians as being politically desirable. These circumstances included the familiarity of their faith, perceived degree of social, political, or cultural integration, and their actual or potential contributions to the state's varied priorities. Based on extensive research in the archives of St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Yerevan, Russia's Entangled Embrace reveals that the Russian government relied on Armenians to build its empire in the Caucasus and beyond. Analyzing the complexities of this imperial relationship-beyond the reductive question of whether Russia was a friend or foe to Armenians-allows us to study the methods of tsarist imperialism in the context of diasporic distribution, interimperial conflict and alliance, nationalism, and religious and economic identity.

Full Product Details

9781501750113

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Reviews

This informative book offers a history of the place of Armenians within the tsarist empire in the long 19th century. It adds to a burgeoning scholarly literature on Russia as a multiethnic empire, drawing on careful archival research to sharpen the understanding of the ways in which the vast empire managed its remarkable diversity. * Choice * A must-read for anyone interested in the history of the Armenians or the Caucasus, of Russian domestic and nationalities policy, and of Russian foreign policy. Of interest to academic and general readers alike. * The Russian Review *

This informative book offers a history of the place of Armenians within the tsarist empire in the long 19th century. It adds to a burgeoning scholarly literature on Russia as a multiethnic empire, drawing on careful archival research to sharpen the understanding of the ways in which the vast empire managed its remarkable diversity. * Choice *

This informative book offers a history of the place of Armenians within the tsarist empire in the long 19th century. It adds to a burgeoning scholarly literature on Russia as a multiethnic empire, drawing on careful archival research to sharpen the understanding of the ways in which the vast empire managed its remarkable diversity. * Choice * A must-read for anyone interested in the history of the Armenians or the Caucasus, of Russian domestic and nationalities policy, and of Russian foreign policy. Of interest to academic and general readers alike. * The Russian Review * Stephen Badalyan Riegg's case study of the Armenians within the Russian empire clearly demonstrates the fluidity and complexity of imperial policies and relationships. In so doing, this work provides a powerful illustration of the new imperial history's desire to understand empire as a myriad of tensions and inconsistencies, and challenges the reader to think comparatively about the relationships in a multi-ethnic empire. * The Middle Ground Journal * Armed with a rich arsenal of primary and secondary sources, Riegg methodically explains the evolution of this relationship from 1801 to 1914, which is not an easy feat. This careful study will make readers wonder how the Russo-Armenian relationship evolved from then on. * Slavic Review *

Author Information

Stephen Badalyan Riegg is Assistant Professor of History at Texas A&M University.

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