Граф Н. С. Мордвинов о перспективах российской политики на Тихом океане 1810–1820-е гг.: торговля и новая имперская география

The article is based on archival materials on the activity of the New Archangel (Sitka) Magnetic Observatory, which are being introduced into scientific use. The sources (materials of official correspondence, registers of scientific instruments, texts of contracts, observation dairies) have been identified in the Russian State Archive of the Navy (RGA VMF) and in the Russian State Historical Archive. The observatory was established as a part of the worldwide net of observation stations created in the 1840s. It was a logical continuation of A. von Humboldt’s experiments in syntonical registration of angle and force elements of geomagnetism. The main initiator of Russian participation in this international project was academic A. Kupfer strongly supported by the minister of finance E. F. Kankrin and other high-level officials, mining engineers, businessmen, representatives of army and Navy commanders. The New Archangel Magnetic Observatory faced all the difficulties common for Russian America: stuff shortage, problems with supply of food, scientific instruments, books, journals, and correspondence. Nevertheless, it worked over twenty years. The most Eastern observation station of the Russian Empire played an important role in the development of sciences in Russia and worldwide. Systematic observations form different points of the planet paved way to solving one of the most important navigation problems of the period: determination of terrestrial coordinates in open sea using magnetic instruments, without astronomical methods and devices. Revealed and analyzed documents contain valuable data on the details of the observatory organization, its instruments and devices, its stuff members. Original project was modest in its terms and research objects. First two navigators sent from St. Petersburg to New Archangel spent there seven years instead of the planned three. Besides magnetic, they took systematic meteorological observations, made conclusions on local climate and perspectives of agriculture development. Permanent observatory stuff included director, two assistants from lower ranks; periodically, they had help from mechanic and clock-master sent there from St. Petersburg by the Russian-American Company. Collected data became a valuable contribution to the development not only of geomagnetism, but also of meteorology, climatology, geography, and astronomy.

The purpose of this study is to describe the characteristics of the Leadership preparation of the Chair of the Study Program in the development of human resources (HR) based on Minangkabau culture, the characteristics of leadership implementation Chair of the Study Program in the development of human resources (HR) based on Minangkabau culture, and leadership control characteristics in the development of human resources (HR) based on Minangkabau culture. The type of research used is qualitative using ethnographic design. The source of research data is the chair of the study program, lecturers, educational staff and students. Data collection techniques are carried out by interviews, observation, and documentation. Data were analyzed through the stages of data collection, data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawing. The results of the study can be concluded that (1) preparation for the development of lecturer human resources, refers to the implementation of the quality of lecturerstheoretically and practically. The activity prepared for the development of humanresources education personnel is through training in the administration of workthrough the development of educational human resources, HR mentoring and HRCoaching. Preparation of activities in the development of student human resourcesis through intra-curricular and extracurricular programs, (2) the implementationof lecturer human resource development, carried out in the form of curriculumevaluation, implementation of the Higher Education Tridharma, collaboration withother institutions or agencies, and further study of the lecturer Doctoral Program.The implementation of the development of human resources in human resources is carried out through the development of general competencies, the development of functional competencies, and the development of managerial competencies ofeducation personnel. The implementation of activities in the development of student human resources is through intra-curricular and extracurricular programs, and (3) controlling the development of lecturer human resources, carried out through the lecturer workload (BKD. Control in the development of human resources education personnel is through review and control of the work of educational staff in managing the correspondence, filing, and making work reports of education personnel every day Control in the development of student human resources is through PBM monitoring documents provided by education personnel Other controls are required for students to make reports, after extracurricular activities have been completed.

The article is devoted to the experience of using the funds of Russian archives by researcher Alexey Romanovich Levaskin. He was a professional orchestral soloist – a tubist with a wide experience of diverse orchestral practice. A touring musician and the soloist of the orchestra, the researcher for several years dedicated all his free time to the exploration of the history if the tuba in Russia and its influence on Emperor Alexander III who was genuinely interested in studying it. The archival survey was based on the sources of the State Archives of the Russian Federation (GARF), the Russian State Archives of Literature and Art (RGALI) and the Russian State Historical Archives (RGIA). In the State Archives of the Russian Federation (GARF), A.R. Levaskin identified Fund 667 “Alexander III” (1845–1896). In the Russian State Archives of Literature and Art (RGALI), heascertained Fund 659 “The Moscow Bureau of the Imperial Theaters” (1806–1917) and the journal “Yearbook of the Imperial Theaters”. In the Russian State Historical Archives (RGIA), the researcher identified Fund 500 “The Court Orchestra of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs” (inv. 1, 1882–1917), where he detected the documents on the history of creation and the activities of the Court orchestra.

This article studies serf ideas about their regions at the turn of the nineteenth century. Paul I’s reforms changed Russian realities, especially affecting serfs, who became true imperial subjects and found new hope that landlord oppression was going to decrease. Although serf complaints about their masters remained formally prohibited, Paul himself examined more than a hundred during his reign. The author aims to reveal how serfs described their regions in petitions. In this article, serf regional identity in eighteenth-century Russia is examined for the first time. The study refers to published and unpublished materials from the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts and the Russian State Historical Archive, which contain legal proceedings on serf petitions filed to Paul I in 1797. That year saw a phenomenal increase in peasant unrest, as well as in serf petitions to the monarch. Entire communities often took part in drafting complaints. This study uses methods from regional history, including the analysis of mental maps, ideas about the region, and territorial identity. The author studies the structure of addresses in petitions, serf ideas about the administrative and territorial structure of the Russian Empire, and their reaction to Paul I’s provincial reform. The author also analyses how peasants described the world outside of their place of residence, developed their regional identity, and constructed collective memory. Additionally, the author identifies seven complaints whose authors were worried about the fate of their region. They represented the interests of historical regions and not administrative-territorial units. The author concludes that serfs considered themselves residents of a unified space meant for everyone under the rule of the emperor, not just for an autonomous estate.

The article examines the views of one of the most authoritative officials at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries on the subject of constructing his own image of a public politician in memoir reflection. The main sources are Sergei Witte’s “Memoirs”, unpublished archival materials stored in the Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA) and the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI), and periodical press materials. The methodological basis of this study is the interdisciplinary research paradigm of the performative turn. The results of a comparative analysis of the images of S. Witte during different periods of his government service are discussed. A significant difference is revealed in the self-presentation of S. Witte as the Finance Minister and as the Prime Minister. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the author’s tactics in the struggle for his own positive reputation in the public political space of the Russian Empire. The questions related to nuances of S. Witte’s appointments and resignations to the positions on civil service presented by him in the extremely subjective optics are considered. It is concluded that the author of the memoirs seeks to strengthen the positive components of his own image, constructs a reputation for himself as an outstanding civil servant, the “Savior of Russia” who surpassed the managerial talents of other statesmen. At that point, S. Witte tried to dissociate from the image of a power lover widely spread in the public opinion. Describing the short period of his premiership, the memoirist presents himself as a victim of general bullying, which did not allow him to fully realize his managerial abilities. Depending on external conjunctures, S. Witte built his own image through victimized narrative, alternative view of the situation or strengthening of his own positive characteristics.

The most important military-strategic resource to this day is gunpowder, the basis for the production of which is cotton. Due to the difficult geopolitical situation, as well as global climate change, attempts to replace it with other types of raw materials of domestic origin do not stop. In this publication, we would like to refer to the experience of the past, because in the late 19th — early 20th centuries the Russian Empire was forced to face similar problems. The country faced a similar dilemma — to use foreign-made cotton or to develop its own raw material base in Central Asia. The realization of this goal was achieved through the use of previously unpublished archival materials from the Russian State Historical Archive, the Russian State Military Historical Archive, the Russian State Military Archive, the State Archive of the Tambov Region, the scientific archive of the Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineering and Communications Troops. Historical-genetic and systemic methods were used to prepare the publication. Mathematical and statistical methods were used as auxiliary research methods. Thanks to this, it was possible to fully recreate the picture of various origins cotton use for the production of gunpowder in Russia in the late 19th — early 20th centuries. The historiography of the problem under consideration is characterized. The key factors influencing the use of foreign raw materials in the production of gunpowder in the Russian Empire have been identified. Repeated attempts have been made to use Central-Asian cotton for these purposes. The results of the work of the domestic powder industry during the First World War (1914—1918), as well as the main difficulties associated with providing it with cotton of both foreign and Russian origin are considered. Thanks to the appeal to historical experience, it was established that Russian bureaucracy and inertia were negatively manifested when trying to use domestic cotton for the production of smokeless gunpowder; it was revealed that at a critical moment foreign supplies may stop, which emphasizes the need to develop their own raw materials and production base; it is proved that the "cotton problem" has become one of those delay mines which led to failures at the front and the subsequent collapse of the Russian Empire.

Based on the new archival materials from the Russian State Archive of the Navy, Russian State Historical Archive, and St. Petersburg Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Archive, the history of the organization and operations of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences’ Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory in Alaska (the city of Sitka / Sitkha) was analyzed for the first time. This Observatory operated from 1839 until the sale of Alaska in 1867. The themes from the history of the Observatory reviewed in the article are the background for its creation, the participation of the international scientific community (Royal Society of London) in its founding, and the contribution of the Russian-American Company and its leaders, primarily Arvid Adolf Etholén, to its construction and operations. The archival data relating to the observations conducted at the Observatory (mean daily temperature) are provided for the first time. The fact that the Observatory, being officially subordinate to the Mining Department of the Ministry of Finance, was scientifically managed by the Academy of Sciences, helps to better understand the specifics of interagency links and communication in the Russian Empire in the 19ʰᵗ century. The article also sheds light on the personal contribution of Director of the Central Physical Observatory, A. Ya. (Adolph-Theodor) Kupffer, to the formation of the Observatory in Sitka, briefly reviews the instruments and devices employed by the Observatory, and, for the first time, provides the names of its directors and other staff.

The features of the sea level changes and the related dynamics of the coastal zone are the subject of the discussions in the economic planning as in the regionally as in globally scale. The work’s purpose is analysis of changes of World Ocean level under the influence of different factors from the viewpoint of physical geography – the interdependence of nature of the ocean and continents, large-scale connections between oceanosphera and other elements of the Earth’s environment and evaluation of the modern established knowledge about thetendencies of the development of processes in the coastal zone. The object of research is the dynamical system of the World Ocean in the period of current climate’s changes. The subject of research is the changes of the World Ocean level for whole observation period. During the work the averaging by data series of annual level heights for 172 stations separately for the Atlantic (37 stations along the west coast and 31 – along the east), Pacific (35 and 36) andIndian (33 stations) oceans has been done. The results of researches of long-term changes of level according to different authors have shown that the observed modern sea level rise is not uniform. Our evaluation of temporal variability of the fluctuations in the level of Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, and the whole World Ocean during 1880 – 2010 years period has shown their coordinated behavior. It is noted that the trend of ocean levels grows uneven with alternating stages of the weak and intense increases it. There is a slight difference in levels’ increasing in different oceans: the trend in the Atlantic Ocean was 1.85 mm·yr-1, in the Pacific and Indian oceans smaller – respectively 1.71 and 1.79 mm·yr-1 and in general for the World Ocean – 1.76 mm yr-1. The maxima of level rising in the generalized series of average annual heights of oceans (which displayed with approximately quasi decade cycles) are due to the peculiar display of the El Niño phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean. The satellite measurements of sea level have not shown increasing of the World Ocean level in 2002-2008. The falling of level on observation data in separate coastal areas of the World Ocean in the early 21st century is consistent with our estimates. The situation with the ocean level and its prognosis is not unambiguous so constant monitoring of the coastal processes is needed.

The article gives a detailed description of the Glodnevsky estate of the mid-late XIX century, based on the involvement of little-known documents in the personal funds of Counts Kushelev-Bezborodko and Counts Orlov-Davydov, stored in the Department of Manuscripts of the Russian State Library, in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts and in the Russian State Historical Archive, and also used the materials of the Central State Archive of Moscow. On the basis of archival sources, the economic model of the Glodnev estate development is traced, including the economic activity of the estate is sufficiently reflected. At the end of the XVIII century, the owners of the Glodnevsky estate were the illustrious nobles Bezborodko, then the Kushelevs-Bezborodko, representatives of this family served the Fatherland faithfully for many decades. In this regard, their private life, including those related to the management of the estate, deserves attention. The next owner of the Glodnevsky estate was Count A.V. Orlov-Davydov. For the period of ownership of the estate by Count Anatoly Vladimirovich, the estate turns into a high-yield economy. The relevance of the article is also determined by the fact that a significant part of the land of the Glodnevsky estate was located on the territory of the modern Bryansk region. Despite the fact that most of the buildings on the estate have been lost, the main manor house, fragments of the park have survived to this day, so it is quite fair to pay more attention to this manor and highlight its historical past.

After the downfall of the communist system and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, a reevaluation and new interpretation of its history, as well as the history of the communist movement in general, began in the country. Efforts were made to comprehend what has happened in Russia and in the world after the collapse of the Russian monarchy and the October Revolution of 1917. In the process of reconstruction and reform that began in Russia in the late 1980s and early 1990s, many of the former state and Party central archives changed their previously strict rules and opened their doors. A large number of documents that were earlier restricted for study and publication were made available for scholars and researchers. Among them were numerous invaluable documents on the history of the world communist movement in the twentieth century. For those involved in research on the history of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the so-called Comintern Archive, which is incorporated into one of the central archives now opened, is very important. Several such archives exist in Moscow: the State Archive of the Russian Federation (the former Central State Archive of the October Revolution), the Russian State Military-History Archive, the Russian State Military Archive (the former Archive of the Soviet Army), the Archive of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Historical Archive, the Center for Preservation of the current documents, the Presidential or Kremlin Archive (both reorganized from the former Archives of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union [CPSU]), and so on. One of the most essential is the so-called Central Party Archive. In October 1991 it was reorganized into the Russian Center for Preservation and Study of Documents of Contemporary History (RCPSDCH). The Center has three departments: the Department of Social History of Europe, containing historical documents and materials dating from the beginning of the nineteenth century to its end, including papers of Marx and Engels; the Department of Political History of Russia, with a section that includes Lenin's documents and the personal files of other communist leaders; and the Department of International Labor and the Communist Movement, including a section on the Communist International (Comintern) and the Communist Information Bureau (Cominform). The Center is now the largest depository of documents on the international communist movement, as well as on the history of the CPSU. It has preserved more than 1.5 million written documents, 9,300 photographic materials, and 1,600 meters of movie tapes gathered in 551 collections.

The study dwells on the barshchina (corvée) in the landlord estates of the Southern Urals (in the first half of the 19th century, part of the Orenburg Province) in pre-reform Russia. It is shown that during the pre-reform period in the 19th century, the majority of landlord estates of the Southern Urals had corvée as the dominant form of obligations: over 85 % of the landlord peasants in the region performed this type of obligation for their masters. Based on archival materials from the Russian State Archives of Ancient Documents, Russian State Military Historical Archives, Russian State Historical Archives, Department of Written Sources of the State Historical Museum, as well as documents from volumes 2 and 3 of the Proceedings of the Drafting Commissions of 1860, the article analyses the reasons behind the dominant role of corvée in the landlord estates of the Southern Urals (relative abundance of land in the colonized region, tight market of free workers, economic considerations of landlords, economic capacity of peasant farms, etc.). The author determines the dynamics of the intensity of corvée during the first half of the 19th century. To characterize corvée, the working time of corvée peasants as well as the monetary value of their corvée labour were calculated, which made it possible to contrast corvée with the obrok (quitrent) that had been paid by the quitrent peasants in this area. It is noted that, compared to the landlord estates of other Russian regions, per capita corvée in the Southern Urals was generally relatively low due to the specifics of this predominantly agricultural region. It is emphasized that further research into the problem appears promising, since the potential for studying the institution of corvée labour at a regional level is far from being exhausted.

The article characterizes archival sources on creation and improvement of legal framework governing the manufacture of military goods in the mining industry of the Urals in the first half of the 19th century. The chronological framework of the study is determined by the fact that it was during this period that special committees and commissions of military and mining departments representatives were preparing rules and instructions to govern the production and acceptance of military products. The development of legal and regulatory framework for military contracts is one of the least studied issues in the history of the Russian military economy. The sources are fragmentary; they are stored in the fonds of both federal and regional archives. Therefore, the purpose of the work is to identify archival materials on normative work of military and mining authorities in the field of military contracts. In the federal archives, documents devoted to this problem are stored in the fonds of central bodies of military and mining administration of the first half of the 19th century. The Berg Collegium materials from the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA) and those of the Mining Department from the Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA) enable the study of the activities of committees created in 1804 and 1808 for the development of military products acceptance procedure in the state-owned factories of the Urals. Participation of the military command and control bodies in the preparation of these normative acts can be traced in the documents from the Russian State Military Historical Archive (RGVIA). Moreover, the correspondence of military and mining authorities testifies of unsatisfactory fulfillment of military contracts by mining plants, which was the reason for creation of rules for acceptance of military products and their processing. The fonds of the federal archives also store documents on the Artillery and Mining Departments activities in improving regulatory framework in the 1820s–40s. New rules for the acceptance of guns, shells, and metals were outlined and approved in 1831 and 1846. In the fonds of regional governing bodies and industries from the State Archive of the Sverdlovsk Region (GASO), documents have been identified on the development of rules for military goods acceptance procedure, their delivery to mining plants, use in manufacture, military receiving clerks’ activities. Materials of the GASO fond of the chief artillery inspector at the factories of the Urals provide data on his participation in the work of the committee created in the 1820s.

The article, dedicated to the 250th anniversary of the birth of the founder of Kharkiv Imperial University Vasyl Karazin, details little-known episodes of his life and traces the genealogy of the entire Karazin family. Based on a thorough study of archival materials, the author for the first time discusses not only the Bulgarian, but also Ukrainian, Greek, and Polish roots of the Karazin family, calling into question the one-sided views that have long dominated the literature on the subject (for example, regarding the alleged Greek roots of the founder of Kharkiv University). The author’s arguments and observations are rooted in the analysis of the records of the Department of Heraldry in the Russian State Historical Archive in St. Petersburg and personal papers of Nazar Karazin preserved in the Russian State Military Historical Archive. The article provides a wealth of biographical information on all members of the Karazin family, starting with Oleksandr Karazin, who settled in the lands of the Sloboda regiments and whom the author considers as the family’s founder. The biography of Vasyl Karazin’s father, Nazar Oleksandrovych, a colonel in the Russian army during the time of Catherine II, is explored in more detail. On the basis of archival records, the author describes in particular Nazar Karazin’s military and diplomatic service during the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774. New light is shed on the life of Vasyl Karazin’s grandson Mykola Mykolayovych Karazin, a well-known artist, member of the Russian Academy of the Arts, and writer, who left to posterity a diary and reports from the frontlines of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. These writings are published by the author of the article in a separate edition. Furthermore, research in the Russian State Naval Archive enables the author to flesh out little-known episodes of the life of one of the sons and another grandson of Vasyl Karazin – Filadelf senior and Filadelf junior, who served in the Russian Navy. The author has also discovered new facts from the lives of descendants of the Karazin family currently living in Ukraine and abroad.

The review examines content and features of sources published in the three-volume collection “Russia and the Independence of Finland” (2021), prepared by the Russian-Finnish team of authors (compiled by M. V. Zelenov and P. Hakala) headed by the head of the Federal Archival Agency, Doctor of Historical Sciences A. N. Artizov, with participation of the National Archive of Finland. The publication presents documents from the Russian federal archives: State Archive of the Russian Federation (GA RF), Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA), Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI), Russian State Archive of Economics (RGAE), Russian State Archive of the Navy (RGAVMF), Russian State Military Archive (RGVA); from departmental archives: Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire (AVPRI), Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation (WUA RF), Archive of the President of the Russian Federation (AP RF); and from the National Archive of Finland (NAF). From the NAF fonds have been chosen for publication mostly Russian-language documents of Russian institutions and officials. The collection contains documents revealing the development of political process starting with the Grand Duchy of Finland’s struggle for autonomy and ending with Finland’s movement for the state independence. Commentary, nominal and geographical indexes, chronicle of events, appendices with a list of resolutions of the Russian and Soviet institutions in Finland are of independent scientific significance. Absence of illustrative materials is compensated by lists of photographic documents, including photographs and documentary newsreel footage, with indication of the archives. The collection materials expand the source base of research, reflect specifics of the source base on the history of Russian-Finnish relations, where prevail documents on the legal status of the Grand Duchy of Finland within the Russian Empire. The authors pay considerable attention not only to the legal controversy of the parties, but also to documents revealing the complex political relations between Russia and Finland, especially in the period of 1917–20. Introduction into scientific use of documents containing information on the underlying causes of confrontation between the Russian and Finnish political elites of the Russian Empire and on interaction of the Soviet and Finnish structures give credit to the team of Russian and Finnish archivists. Among documents published for the first time, stand out documents of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia on the support of revolutionary movement in Russia in 1905–07 by the Finnish left-wing political forces. The documents point to diverging positions of Russian bureaucracy on the Finnish issue and search for compromise solutions. Introduction into scientific use of documents containing information on the underlying causes of confrontation between Russian and Finnish political elites and their publication are associated with difficulties in deciphering handwritten texts and their translation from French, Swedish, and other languages. It is noted that some documents on the essence of the Russian-Finnish contradictions during the First World War have already been introduced into scientific use by Russian researchers, indicating presence of research interest and need for further work on the publication of sources.

344 SEER, 8o, 2, 2002 unfortunately not all the maps have been provided with scales. There is a usefulsummaryin English. London J. E. 0. SCREEN Barrett, Thomas M. At theEdgeof Empire.The TerekCossacks and theNorth CaucasusFrontier,I700-i86o. Westview Press, Boulder, CO, I999. xv + 243 pp. Plates. Notes. Appendix. Bibliography. Index. ?42.50: $55.00. UNTILthe end of the eighteenth century Russian army garrisoning and peasant colonization of the Northern Caucasus were limited and tentative. The taskof holding the Caucasusfrontierreliedmostlyupon the serviceof the TerekCossacks,who had been registeredin Russianserviceand subordinated to the War College in 1720. In return for certain privileges and immunities theypatrolledand defended the region againstraidingChechens, Ingush, and other unsubjugated'mountainpeoples'. Thomas Barrett'slucid and exhaustively researched book examines these Terek Cossacks as a distinct culture, subaltern to the Russian state but preservingsignificantautonomy and drawnto the materialcultureand values of the Muslimmountain peoples theywere commanded to fight.Barretttreats the Northern Caucasus as a 'middle ground', an edge habitat in which cossacksandMuslimmountaineersinteractednot only througharmedconflict but throughtrade,defection, intermarriage,religiousconversion,and cultural imitation. Under these circumstances the Terek Cossacks developed only 'weak attachment to the institutions, economy, and culture that supposedly defined Russia' (p. I90). Fornearly a centurythe imperialgovernment had to accommodate to this fact in variousways, as reliance upon cossackcolonization was the most cost-effectivestrategyforholding the Caucasusfrontierthen available to it;but once the Georgian MilitaryHighway had been completed (i 8o i) the government shifted to a new strategy of brutal warfare by the Russian army, which ultimately resorted to tactics of ethnic cleansing and even eco-warfarein order to breakthe Chechen and Ingush resistanceled by Shamil (1859). The author makes extensive use of materials from the Russian State Historical Archive and Russian State Military History Archive as well as published sources to explain why the Terek Cossacks had reason to be ambivalent servantsof the Empire. The Terek Cossacks'strongestallegiances were to regiment and village; their collective identity as members of a Terek Host and loyalty to the Empire and Orthodox church were less firm because their population had been formed from such diverse ethnicities, estates, and confessions: free immigrants, fugitives and drifters, the forcibly resettled; Russian and Ukrainians, Chechens, Ingush, and Kabardians;Orthodox and Old Believers. Their ability to establish a viable agriculturaleconomy was hampered not only by the challenging environment of the lower Terekbut by the policies of the Imperial government. The state imposed on them a heavy militaryserviceburdenleavingthemwith too littletime andlabourto cultivate their lands;its excise taxes ultimatelydestroyedtheirviticultureand distilling industry; its campaign of deforestation -a tactic in its war against the REVIEWS 345 Chechens led to soil erosion, siltation, and the spread of malaria; and its efforts to provision the cossack settlements with grain from the lower Volga were inadequate.This forcedthe TerekCossackstojoin in the more developed economy of their ostensible enemies, the Muslim mountain peoples, for their grain, lumber, livestock, cloth, and even their horses and guns, which they obtained throughlegal tradeaswell asthroughsmugglingand raiding.Barrett shows how such exchange 'drewthe Cossacksinto the world of the mountain people, nativized their materialculture, and occasionally led them to subvert state policy', as when cossack trade and smuggling undermined the government 's effortsto tame the mountain people by making them dependent upon the state saltmonopoly (p. II4). Barrett'saccount turnsespeciallypoignant when it describesthe change in Russian military strategy on the North Caucasus frontier in the early nineteenth century. The traditional mode of mountain warfarepractised by the Terek Cossacksagainstthe mountain peoples had been waged for limited objectives containment, retribution, booty, and ransoms. By contrast the war of conquest waged by General Ermolov's army denied mountain communities the opportunity to choose neutrality or mediation and it employed increasingly savage tactics against an ever-widening range of enemies united in defense of theirfaithand culture. Department ofHistory BRIAN DAVIES University ofTexas atSanAntonio Bolkhovitinov, N. N. (ed.) IstoriiaRusskoiAmeriki,I732-I867. Mezhdunarodnyeotnosheniia ,Moscow,3 vols. 1997, 1999, I999. 479, 470, 558 pp. Maps. Illustrations. Tables. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Price unknown. ACADEMICIAN Nikolai Nikolaevich Bolkhovitinov, the doyen of historians of Russian America, acts as general editor for this large-scalecoverage of a vast theme as well as introducing all three volumes and writingsome of the text in all three. All the contributors,includingJames R. Gibson from Canada...