Author Description

Modern Russian Identity And Historical Experience Has Been Largely Shaped By Russia's Imperial Past: An Empire That Was Founded In The Early Modern Era And Endures In Large Part Today. The Russian Empire 1450-1801 Surveys How The Areas That Made Up The Empire Were Conquered And How They Were Governed. It Considers The Russian Empire A 'eurasian Empire', Characterized By A 'politics Of Difference': The Rulers And Their Elites At The Center Defined The State's Needs Minimally - With Control Over Defense, Criminal Law, Taxation, And Mobilization Of Resources - And Otherwise Tolerated Local Religions, Languages, Cultures, Elites, And Institutions. The Center Related To Communities And Religions Vertically, According Each A Modicum Of Rights And Autonomies, But Didn't Allow Horizontal Connections Across Nobilities, Townsmen, Or Other Groups Potentially With Common Interests To Coalesce. Thus, The Russian Empire Was Multi-ethnic And Multi-religious; Nancy Kollmann Gives Detailed Attention To The Major Ethnic And Religious Groups, And Surveys The Government's Strategies Of Governance - Centralized Bureaucracy, Military Reform, And A Changed Judicial System. The Volume Pays Particular Attention To The Dissemination Of A Supranational Ideology Of Political Legitimacy In A Variety Of Media - Written Sources And Primarily Public Ritual, Painting, And Particularly Architecture. Beginning With Foundational Features, Such As Geography, Climate, Demography, And Geopolitical Situation, The Russian Empire 1450-1801 Explores The Empire's Primarily Agrarian Economy, Serfdom, Towns And Trade, As Well As The Many Religious Groups - Primarily Orthodoxy, Islam, And Buddhism. It Tracks The Emergence Of An 'imperial Nobility' And A National Self-consciousness That Was, By The End Of The Eighteenth Century, Distinctly Imperial, Embracing The Diversity Of The Empire's Many Peoples And Cultures.