From the Principality of Moscow to the Russian State: A New Understanding of a Historical Path

Abstract

This review analyses the structure and content of The Birth of a State. Moscow Rus’ between the 15th and 16th Centuries published by M. M. Krom in 2018, in which the author applies the concept of the modern state to understanding the history of the Russian state in the 15th and 16th-centuries. The review describes the main features of the early modern state singled out by Krom and tries to expand on this list. The reviewer also considers the main arguments which Krom uses to define the Russian state of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as an early modern one. It is argued that the work partly follows the Russian historiographical tradition of studying the early modern Russian state. The review concludes that the attempt to adapt the concept of the modern state allows the author to synthesise trends formed over the past few decades of study and helps us take a fresh look at the results of research on the early modern period in Russia.