Forging a Unitary State: Russia's Management of the Eurasian Space, 1650-1850

Awards:   Winner of 2021 PROSE Award Subject Category Association of American Publishers 2021 (United States)
Author:   John P. LeDonne
Publisher:   University of Toronto Press
ISBN:  

9781487542115


Pages:   682
Publication Date:   16 March 2020
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   Temporarily unavailable   Availability explained
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Forging a Unitary State: Russia's Management of the Eurasian Space, 1650-1850


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Awards

  • Winner of 2021 PROSE Award Subject Category Association of American Publishers 2021 (United States)

Overview

Covering two centuries of Russian history, Forging a Unitary State is a comprehensive account of the creation of what is commonly known as the ""Russian Empire,"" from Poland to Siberia. In this book, John P. LeDonne demonstrates that the so-called empire was, for the most part, a unitary state, defined by an obsessive emphasis on centralization and uniformity. The standardization of local administration, the judicial system, tax regime, and commercial policy were carried out slowly but systematically over eight generations, in the hope of integrating people on the periphery into the Russian political and social hierarchy. The ultimate goal of Russian policy was to create a ""Fortress Empire"" consisting of a huge Russian unitary state flanked by a few peripheral territories, such as Finland, Transcaucasia, and Central Asia. Additional peripheral states, such as Sweden, Turkey, and Persia, would guarantee the security of this ""Fortress Empire,"" and the management of Eurasian territory. LeDonne's provocative argument is supported by a careful comparative study of Russian expansion along its western, southern, and eastern borders, drawing on vital but under-studied administrative evidence. Forging a Unitary State is an essential resource for those interested in the long history of Russian expansionism.

Full Product Details

Author:   John P. LeDonne
Publisher:   University of Toronto Press
Imprint:   University of Toronto Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 3.80cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.900kg
ISBN:  

9781487542115


ISBN 10:   1487542119
Pages:   682
Publication Date:   16 March 2020
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Temporarily unavailable   Availability explained
The supplier advises that this item is temporarily unavailable. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out to you.

Table of Contents

List of Maps List of Tables Acknowledgments Note on the Text Introduction Part I. The Western Theatre: The Struggle for Northwestern Eurasia 1. Laying the Foundations, 1650–1775 The Geopolitical Setting Hesitant Integration Trade, Religion, and Law 2. Full Integration, 1775–1815 Territorial and Administrative Integration Religion and Economy The Baltic Provinces 3. Unitary State or Empire? 1815–1855 Civil Administration and the Army Society, Law, and Trade On the Road to Disintegration Conclusion to Part I: The Western Theatre Part II. The Southern Theatre Reaches the Sea 4. Laying the Foundations, 1650–1725 The Geopolitical Setting The Cossacks Society, Religion, and Trade 5. Toward Full Integration, 1725–1796 Civil and Military Administration Ecclesiastical and Legal Integration The Ethnographic Map 6. Unitary State or Empire? 1796–1855 Regional Integration Fiscal and Commercial Integration The First Cracks Conclusion to Part II: The Southern Theatre Part III. The Eastern Theatre: The Advance toward the Mountains Introduction to Part III: The Eastern Theatre 7. Laying the Foundations, 1650–1730 The Geopolitical Setting The Expanding Russian Core Agents of Integration 8. The Progress of Integration, 1731–1782 The Military Structure Land, Peoples, Religions Fiscal and Commercial Integration 9. Unitary State or Empire? 1782–1830 The Administrative Infrastructure Judicial Integration Economic Integration Conclusion to Part III: The Eastern Theatre Conclusion

Reviews

Forging a Unitary State is a sprawling work of immense erudition. - Kira Stevens, Department of History, Colgate University Dealing with complex issues of statehood and government, Forging a Unitary State can be situated under the rubric of a broadly defined institutional history. LeDonne builds upon a profound variety of primary sources and the massive corpus of his previous scholarship in Russian geopolitics, tsarist bureaucracy, and the system of administration. The book poses new questions that challenge widely held narratives about Russia becoming an empire. - Mikhail Dolbilov, Department of History, University of Maryland John P. LeDonne's work, unique in its scale and design, connects the stories of Russia's external territorial expansion and internal political consolidation. A result of many years of research, this book is an encyclopedia of imperial governance that will be indispensable for all historians of the Russian Empire. - Ekaterina Pravilova, Department of History, Princeton University


LeDonne's method is strictly historical, based on the careful reading of vast literatures, with a good dose of old-fashioned physical and human geography. At times this reads almost like the imagery travels of Jules Verne or the real-life accounts of young Petr Kropotkin. -- Georgi Derluguian, NYU Abu Dhabi * <em>Canadian-American Slavic Studies</em> *


Author Information

John P. LeDonne is a senior research associate at the Davis Center, Harvard University.

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