Download Free Peter The Great Changes Russia Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Peter The Great Changes Russia and write the review.

Many books chronicle the remarkable life of Russian tsar Peter the Great, but none analyze how his famous reforms actually took root and spread in Russia. By century's end, Russia was poised to play a critical role in the Napoleonic wars and boasted an elite culture about to burst into its golden age. In The Revolution of Peter the Great, James Cracraft offers a brilliant new interpretation of this pivotal era.
Aims to provide an exciting and psychologically penetrating account of the life of Russia's 18th century tsar/reformer and the theme of progress through violence in Russia.
Accessible to students, tourists and general readers alike, this book provides a broad overview of Russian history since the ninth century. Paul Bushkovitch emphasizes the enormous changes in the understanding of Russian history resulting from the end of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since then, new material has come to light on the history of the Soviet era, providing new conceptions of Russia's pre-revolutionary past. The book traces not only the political history of Russia, but also developments in its literature, art and science. Bushkovitch describes well-known cultural figures, such as Chekhov, Tolstoy and Mendeleev, in their institutional and historical contexts. Though the 1917 revolution, the resulting Soviet system and the Cold War were a crucial part of Russian and world history, Bushkovitch presents earlier developments as more than just a prelude to Bolshevik power.
" A chronicle of the year that changed Soviet Russia—and molded the future path of one of America's pre-eminent diplomatic correspondents 1956 was an extraordinary year in modern Russian history. It was called “the year of the thaw”—a time when Stalin’s dark legacy of dictatorship died in February only to be reborn later that December. This historic arc from rising hope to crushing despair opened with a speech by Nikita Khrushchev, then the unpredictable leader of the Soviet Union. He astounded everyone by denouncing the one figure who, up to that time, had been hailed as a “genius,” a wizard of communism—Josef Stalin himself. Now, suddenly, this once unassailable god was being portrayed as a “madman” whose idiosyncratic rule had seriously undermined communism and endangered the Soviet state. This amazing switch from hero to villain lifted a heavy overcoat of fear from the backs of ordinary Russians. It also quickly led to anti-communist uprisings in Eastern Europe, none more bloody and challenging than the one in Hungary, which Soviet troops crushed at year’s end. Marvin Kalb, then a young diplomatic attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, observed this tumultuous year that foretold the end of Soviet communism three decades later. Fluent in Russian, a doctoral candidate at Harvard, he went where few other foreigners would dare go, listening to Russian students secretly attack communism and threaten rebellion against the Soviet system, traveling from one end of a changing country to the other and, thanks to his diplomatic position, meeting and talking with Khrushchev, who playfully nicknamed him Peter the Great. In this, his fifteenth book, Kalb writes a fascinating eyewitness account of a superpower in upheaval and of a people yearning for an end to dictatorship. "
Peter the Great, whose reign saw the explosion of Russia onto the European scene, has become a legendary figure in history, as well as the subject of abiding controversy over the past two decades. Does he deserve the title 'The Great'? Was he 'enlightened' or 'barbaric'? Were his domestic reforms planned, or introduced as a direct result of the needs of war? Peter the Great answers key questions about his territorial expansion and domestic reforms. It reflects existing controversies and allows the reader to consider the views of a range of historians - Russian, English and American. The author avoids a narrative approach in order to focus on analysing issues that students are expected to address in their essays.
"This book is an important contribution to an understanding of the development of the Russian political tradition." -- Choice "... the fullest and most extensively researched narrative available in a western language on Peter III... " -- Slavic Review "... packed with information and convincing analysis... those familiar with eighteenth-century Russian history will find it most rewarding." -- Journal of Interdisciplinary History "A provocative reexamination of legislation and foreign policy under Peter III. Utilizing archival and published sources, Leonard shows this brief reign to have been a significant turning point in the evolution of economic and social policy. This work represents an important contribution to our understanding of eighteenth-century Russian monarchy." -- Richard Wortman "Leonard's convincing reassessment of the reign of Peter III squarely places it in the reformist tradition for which Catherine II claimed to have served as exclusive midwife. This is an impressive departure from received notions about the contrast between Peter's reign and that of his ambitious spouse."Â -- Michael F. Metcalf "... a well-drawn scholarly study... " -- Library Journal Portrayed as "a libertine, a halfwit, and a drunkard" by his wife, Catherine the Great, and the victim of a coup engineered by her, Peter III has received short shrift from historians. Carol S. Leonard challenges these interpretations and argues that his policies were firmly rooted in the traditions of Russian absolutism and the intellectual climate of his times.
Back coverSEMINAR STUDIES IN HISTORYEdited by Roger Lockyer(Emeritus Reader in History, in the University of London)This famous series examines key themes in British, European and World history in short, succinct volumes. The text is supported by primary material in a Documents section, a full bibliography and an index; where appropriate there are maps, chronologies and glossaries. All the books in the series are written by experts in the field who are not only familiar with the latest research but have often contributed to it. Works of scholarship in their own right, the books also provide a survey of current historical interpretations. Longman has now inaugurated a major programme of renewal and expansion for Seminar Studies, with many new titles and new editions in the pipeline. Existing books are being re-presented in a larger, more reader-friendly format as they reprint; and new books and new editions are being reset into an entirely new page design.____________________________________________________________________________Peter the Great was an unusual man and a most unusual tsar. His reign (1682-1725) had a momentous impact on the development of modern Russia and a study of it is crucial for an understanding of Russia's development from backwater to twentieth-century world power status. This brand new Seminar Study looks at all aspects of Peter's reign and considers the complex personality of the man himself, a man who was 'constantly at boiling point, possibly on the verge of breakdown and madness'.Peter's reign saw major changes in every possible sphere of Russian life as he sought to remodel Russian institutions on Western lines. The author takes the reader through Peter's administrative reforms; his efforts to revitalise the economy - in particular the development of the iron industry; his attitude to the Church; his educational reforms; his modernisation of the army; and the creation of a navy. An entire chapter is devoted to St Petersburg, the city built to order by Peter and which epitomises Peter's policy of westernisation and his phenomenal energy and enthusiasm. As one would expect space is also devoted to Peter's foreign policy, most notably his important wars against Sweden and Turkey which resulted in the expansion of the Russian Empire. The text is supported by primary source material, maps, glossaries and a comprehensive bibliography. Readers are sure to welcome this accessible account of one history's most colourful personalities.William Marshall was formerly Head of History at Millfield.Cover:LongmanLogo
In 1700 the armies of the Russian Tsar Peter the Great and Charles XII of Sweden met at Narva to fight the first battle of what was to be known as the Great Northern War. Although this first engagement was to result in a humiliating defeat for Peter, it marked the start of a struggle that twenty years later would see Russia emerge as a major power and radically alter the balance of power in Europe. This work examines the changes in the balance of power in Europe in the early eighteenth century as a result of the Great Northern War and the War of the Spanish Succession through the writings and career of Charles Whitworth, the first British Ambassador to Russia, and Minister in The Hague, Berlin, Ratisbon and Cambrai. Whitworth was an acute, witty and indefatigable writer. His long and detailed dispatches and reports comment on Russian, Prussian, Austrian and Dutch domestic and foreign policy, on trading and commercial matters, on leading personalities and events, and on the diplomacy of the Great Northern War and the War of Spanish Succession. He was in Russia from 1705 to 1712 and witnessed the growing military, naval and commercial power of the state and was acutely aware of the potential threat of Russia to British interests. The period of Whitworth's diplomatic career, from 1702-1725, witnessed a dramatic shift in the balance of power in the North, and the nature, and timing, of Whitworth's postings made him uniquely qualified to chart and analyse this development. Drawing on a wide variety of manuscript sources, Dr Hartley has produced a compelling account both of Whitworth and the momentous events taking place in Europe at the beginning of the eighteenth century.