:Russia, 1762–1825: Military Power, the State, and the People.(Studies in Military History and International Affairs.)

Abstract

There is an abundant literature on the reign of Catherine II (1762–1796), but that of Alexander I (1801–1825) has been much neglected. Military affairs have not received much attention in Russian historical scholarship, despite the fact that this long period of nearly three generations witnessed more wars than any other in modern Russian history. Therefore, we have every reason to welcome Janet M. Hartley's new book, which covers considerable ground. It begins with an examination of the size of the Russian army, about which it remains difficult to reach an agreement, if only because it is not always clear what constituted the military establishment. The book moves on to describe the conscription system and army life; the officer corps and its “challenge to the state”; the costs and the impact of the military on civil society; the army and civil administration; the army and frontier life; military ideology and the monarchy; and a final chapter on the military colonies. It amounts to an excellent doctoral dissertation, with a superabundance of facts which every student of the period and topic will find very useful, especially those interested in Gizhiga, a forlorn outpost in Chukchi and Koriak country on the edge of Kamchatka, strangely called “truly Russia's Wild West” (p. 151). I found chapter five discussing the military burden on townsmen and peasants the most interesting, because the army was an important factor not only in the borderlands but in Russia as well. Chapter eight on the “expansion of the State” is a collection of clichés, and chapter nine is so much padding. The conclusion asks an important question: whether the Russian system of government and Russian society had become militarized or modernized by 1825, as if the two concepts were mutually exclusive. A mention of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk might have been helpful to show that they were not. At any rate, the author does not really answer her own question, and the reader is left to guess what was really achieved during those three generations.