Making Sense of Russian Imperialism: Warfare, Domestic Reform, and Absolutism, 1700-1856

Abstract

Historians often establish a link between wars and ensuing domestic reforms when defining imperialism. Drawing on older and newer historiography, this paper evaluates the importance three major wars in Russian history that precipitated internal reform: The Great Northern War (1700-1721), the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-74, and the Crimean War (1853-1856). Ultimately, this paper seeks to eschew a widespread misperception amongst specialized Western academics that the Russians have always had an unrestrained drive to expand and dominate the world, regardless of domestic considerations, dynastic or otherwise. The point is not to make an overarching and holistic judgment, but to draw in the arguments made by historians (including major 19 th -century historians of Russia) and make conclusions concerning the concrete mechanisms of imperial governance in Russia.