On a New Version of Russian History

Authors

  • Sergey Krasilnikov
  • Ivan Kuznetsov

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2015.1.091

Abstract

The author analyzes A History of Russia: A World-Systems Analysis, a textbook by B. Yu. Kagarliczkij and V. N. Sergeev. It is noted that in their interpretation of Russian history, the authors of the book rely on academician Mikhail Pokrovsky’s concept that prevailed in Soviet historiography until the 1930s. The textbook recognizes all the principles of the concept including the constitutive role of commercial capital in the historical processes of the country. Referring to the pattern put forward by M. N. Pokrovsky, the authors consider the main processes of Russian history, such as the introduction of serfdom, Peter I’s reforms, and the modernization of the country in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries. However, the world-systems analysis used by the authors is quite often merely declarative and is not substantiated by factual material. Nor does the book take into account the geopolitical context of the establishment and development of the Saint Petersburg empire; additionally, it ignores the problem connected with the preservation and consolidation of the state’s independence, and the military-defense factor. The description of the Soviet period is even more schematic as it quite often overlooks the influence of intersystem factors.

References

Kagarliczkij, B. Yu. & Sergeev, V. N. (2014). Istoriya Rossii: Mirosistemny’j analiz: uchebnoe posobie [Russian history: World-system analysis: a manual]. Moscow: Librokom.
Kondrashin, V. V. (2008). Golod 1932–1933 gg.: Tragediya rossijskoj derevni [The famine of 1932–1933: the Tragedy of the Russian village]. Moscow: ROSSPE’N.
Koval′chenko, I. D. & Milov, L. B. (1974). Vserossijskij agrarny′j ry′nok XVIII – nachala XX v. [All-Russian agricultural market of the 18th – early 20th century]. Мoscow: Nauka.
Milov, L. V., Bulgakov M. V. & Garskova I. M. (1986). Tendencii agrarnogo razvitiya
Rossii pervoj poloviny′ XVII v.: istoriografiya, komp′yuter, metody′ issledovaniya [Trends in agricultural development in Russia in the 1st half of the 17th century: historiography, computer, research methods]. Мoscow.
Mironov, B. N. (2003). Social’naya istoriya Rossii perioda imperii (XVIII – nachalo XX v.) [Social History of Russian Empire period (18th – early 20th century)]. (Vols. 1–2). 3rd ed. (Vol. 2). Saint Petersburg: Dmitrij Bulanin.
Mironov, B. N. (2012). Blagosostoyanie naseleniya i revolyuciya v imperskoj Rossii: XVIII – nachalo XX v. [Welfare and revolutions in Imperial Russia: the 18th – early 20th century]. 2nd ed. Moscow: Ves′ mir.
Ostrovskij, A. V. (2014). Sushhestvoval li sistemny'j krizis v Rossii v nachale XX v. (Kritika koncepcii B. Mironova) [Was there a systemic crisis in Russia early 20th century. (Critics of B. Mironov)]. Obshhestvenny'e nauki i sovremennost', 2, 124–135.

How to Cite

Krasilnikov, S., & Kuznetsov, I. (2015). On a New Version of Russian History. Quaestio Rossica, (1), 277–287. https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2015.1.091

Issue

Section

Vox redactoris