The Tsar's Colonels

The Tsar's Colonels PDF Author: David Alan Rich
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674059641
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 328

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this impressive study, David Rich demonstrates how the modernization of Russia's general staff during the second half of the nineteenth century reshaped its intellectual and strategic outlook and equipped the staff to play a strong, and at times dominant, role in shaping Russian foreign policy. Rich weaves together several levels of narrative to show how the increasingly sophisticated, scientific, and positivistic work attitudes and habits of the general staff acculturated younger officers, redefining their relationship with, and responsibilities to, the state. In time, this new generation of officers projected their characteristic notions onto the state and onto autocracy itself; professional concern for the security of the state eclipsed traditional unquestioning loyalty to the regime. Rich goes on to show how divergence between diplomatic and military aims among those responsible for making strategy cost the state dearly in terms of economic stability and international standing. The author supports his findings with original research in Russian foreign policy and military archives and wide reading in published sources. The Tsar's Colonels contributes to a number of debates in Russian military and social history and offers new insights on the structural roots of the Great War, and on the theoretical problems of modernization and professionalization.

The Tsar's Colonels

The Tsar's Colonels PDF Author: David Alan Rich
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674059641
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 328

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this impressive study, David Rich demonstrates how the modernization of Russia's general staff during the second half of the nineteenth century reshaped its intellectual and strategic outlook and equipped the staff to play a strong, and at times dominant, role in shaping Russian foreign policy. Rich weaves together several levels of narrative to show how the increasingly sophisticated, scientific, and positivistic work attitudes and habits of the general staff acculturated younger officers, redefining their relationship with, and responsibilities to, the state. In time, this new generation of officers projected their characteristic notions onto the state and onto autocracy itself; professional concern for the security of the state eclipsed traditional unquestioning loyalty to the regime. Rich goes on to show how divergence between diplomatic and military aims among those responsible for making strategy cost the state dearly in terms of economic stability and international standing. The author supports his findings with original research in Russian foreign policy and military archives and wide reading in published sources. The Tsar's Colonels contributes to a number of debates in Russian military and social history and offers new insights on the structural roots of the Great War, and on the theoretical problems of modernization and professionalization.

Tsars and Cossacks

Tsars and Cossacks PDF Author: Serhii Plokhy
Publisher: Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute
ISBN:
Category : Cossacks
Languages : en
Pages : 136

Get Book Here

Book Description
Ukrainian Cossacks used icon painting to investigate their relationship not only with God but also their relationship with the Russian tsar. In this groundbreaking study, Serhii Plokhy examines the political and religious culture of Ukrainian Cossackdom, as reflected in the Cossack-era paintings, icons, and woodcuts.

The New Tsar

The New Tsar PDF Author: Steven Lee Myers
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 0307961613
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 594

Get Book Here

Book Description
"The epic tale of the rise to power of Russia's current president-- of his emergence from shrouded obscurity and deprivation to become one of the most consequential and complicated leaders in modern history." --

The Battle of Konotop 1659

The Battle of Konotop 1659 PDF Author: Oleg Rumyantsev
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788867050505
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Exploring alternatives in East European history. The battle that took place near Konotop in late June 1659 was a continuation of the Muscovite-Cossack war, which began in the fall of 1658, soon after the signing of the Union of Hadiach. Cossack and Tatar detachments trapped a significant portion of the Muscovite army, leading to enormous Russian losses.

Sherlock Holmes and the Plot to Assassinate the Tsar

Sherlock Holmes and the Plot to Assassinate the Tsar PDF Author: Richard Krevolin
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
ISBN: 1787059243
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 246

Get Book Here

Book Description
The recently discovered diaries of the young Arthur Conan Doyle contain the startling adventures of Doyle, Sherlock Holmes and the Edinburgh surgeon, Joseph Bell in Russia during 1881. At the time, Holmes, a medical school dropout, had become a skilled anatomist, diagnostician and surgeon. Even his most devoted admirers are unaware that Holmes was an undercover agent for Her Majesty’s Secret Service before he became a private detective. Holmes and Doyle accompany Dr. Bell when he travels to St. Petersburg to lecture on antiseptic surgery. Doyle’s diary of their adventures reveal the origin of Sherlock Holmes’s addiction to cocaine as well as the plots by Prussians and Americans to assassinate Tsar Alexander III. The British are particularly concerned about an ex-officer, driven mad by torture during the Afghan-British war, who is determined to assassinate the Tsar. Holmes, with his uncanny ability, solves a series of murders by observing seemingly insignificant clews, such as the position of chess pieces, a cigar band and a sick dog. Doyle’s attraction to a radical young woman leads to his involvement with students who manufacture bombs. He is thrown in prison and when he visits a bawdy gentlemen’s club, a sword-wielding Cossack challenges him to a duel. Doyle meets famous Russians such as Dostoyevsky and Rasputin. This latest diary will enlighten and enchant all lovers of the Great Detective.

A Matter of Honor

A Matter of Honor PDF Author: Jeffrey Archer
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312933548
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 372

Get Book Here

Book Description
When ex-army officer Adam Scott's father passes away he leaves Adam a puzzling letter that leads him to a Swiss bank and a priceless 14th century icon.

Russia in Flames

Russia in Flames PDF Author: Laura Engelstein
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199794219
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 866

Get Book Here

Book Description
Laura Engelstein, one of the greatest scholars of Russian history, has written a searing and defining account of the Russian Revolution, the fall of the old order, and the creation of the Soviet state.

The Russian General Staff and Asia, 1860-1917

The Russian General Staff and Asia, 1860-1917 PDF Author: Alex Marshall
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134253796
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 287

Get Book Here

Book Description
This new book examines the role of the Tsarist General Staff in studying and administering Russia’s Asian borderlands. It considers the nature of the Imperial Russian state, the institutional characteristics of the General Staff, and Russia’s relationship with Asia. During the nineteenth century, Russia was an important player in the so-called ‘Great Game’ in central Asia. Between 1800 and 1917 officers of the Russian General Staff travelled extensively through Turkey, central Asia and the Far East, gathering intelligence that assisted in the formation of future war plans. It goes on to consider tactics of imperial expansion, and the role of military intelligence and war planning with respect to important regions including the Caucasus, central Asia and the Far East. In the light of detailed archival research, it investigates objectively questions such as the possibility of Russia seizing the Bosphorus Straits, and the probability of an expedition to India. Overall, this book provides a comprehensive account of the Russian General Staff, its role in Asia, and of Russian military planning with respect to a region that remains highly strategically significant today.

The Patriarch and the Tsar

The Patriarch and the Tsar PDF Author: William Palmer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Church and state
Languages : en
Pages : 746

Get Book Here

Book Description


Secret Lives of the Tsars

Secret Lives of the Tsars PDF Author: Michael Farquhar
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0812985788
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 369

Get Book Here

Book Description
“Michael Farquhar doesn’t write about history the way, say, Doris Kearns Goodwin does. He writes about history the way Doris Kearns Goodwin’s smart-ass, reprobate kid brother might. I, for one, prefer it.”—Gene Weingarten, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and Washington Post columnist Scandal! Intrigue! Cossacks! Here the world’s most engaging royal historian chronicles the world’s most fascinating imperial dynasty: the Romanovs, whose three-hundred-year reign was remarkable for its shocking violence, spectacular excess, and unimaginable venality. In this incredibly entertaining history, Michael Farquhar collects the best, most captivating true tales of Romanov iniquity. We meet Catherine the Great, with her endless parade of virile young lovers (none of them of the equine variety); her unhinged son, Paul I, who ordered the bones of one of his mother’s paramours dug out of its grave and tossed into a gorge; and Grigori Rasputin, the “Mad Monk,” whose mesmeric domination of the last of the Romanov tsars helped lead to the monarchy’s undoing. From Peter the Great’s penchant for personally beheading his recalcitrant subjects (he kept the severed head of one of his mistresses pickled in alcohol) to Nicholas and Alexandra’s brutal demise at the hands of the Bolsheviks, Secret Lives of the Tsars captures all the splendor and infamy that was Imperial Russia. Praise for Secret Lives of the Tsars “An accessible, exciting narrative . . . Highly recommended for generalists interested in Russian history and those who enjoy the seamier side of past lives.”—Library Journal (starred review) “An excellent condensed version of Russian history . . . a fine tale of history and scandal . . . sure to please general readers and monarchy buffs alike.”—Publishers Weekly “Tales from the nasty lives of global royalty . . . an easy-reading, lightweight history lesson.”—Kirkus Reviews “Readers of this book may get a sense of why Russians are so tolerant of tyrants like Stalin and Putin. Given their history, it probably seems normal.”—The Washington Post