Abstract

This article examines military transformations in Russia between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries within the framework of the Military Revolution concept. This concept, introduced by the British historian Michael Roberts in 1955, was originally used to link changes in the purely military sphere (the introduction of gunpowder and the increased number of troops) with changes in state structures in western European countries. However, the concept can also be used to describe modernisation processes in non-European countries. Some historians have pointed out that military reforms often led to a holistic transformation of the socio-economic system. Others, including those dealing with the Military Revolution in Russia, focus primarily on the role of economic, social, and educational backwardness, which resulted in the construction of a modern military system and state different from that found in the West. This article attempts to complement this historical perspective by highlighting the importance of the cultural context in Russia’s military modernisation. It explores the traditional cultural narrative – rooted in Orthodoxy and a patrimonial socio-political system – which resulted in the emergence of specific beliefs about waging war and achieving victory, as well as practices which differed from those in the West. As a result, it is argued that the introduction of similar technological and organisational solutions in the state of the tsars was accompanied not only by different political and socioeconomic conditions, but also by different values, which were reflected in the various ways of reforming the troops and their subsequent use on the battlefield.

Highlights

  • Рассматривается процесс военной трансформации в России в XVI– XVIII вв. в рамках концепции «военной революции»

  • It was in Russia – “the earliest of the non-western countries to undergo that crisis of self-confidence” [Pipes, p. 112] – where military modernisation according to the European model began in the mid-sixteenth century [Paul; Poe, 1996]

  • This article attempts to compliment the historical perspective by highlighting the importance of the cultural context of military modernisation in Russia

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Summary

THE ROLE OF THE CULTURAL CONTEXT IN THE RUSSIAN MILITARY REVOLUTION*

This article examines military transformations in Russia between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries within the framework of the Military Revolution concept This concept, introduced by the British historian Michael Roberts in 1955, was originally used to link changes in the purely military sphere (the introduction of gunpowder and the increased number of troops) with changes in state structures in western European countries. The main allegations concern the legitimacy of the term “revolution” [Parker, 1995], the chronological and geographical scope of the original model [Duffy, 1980; Maroń; McNeill; Parker, 1976; Parker, 1988], and Roberts’ overestimation of the role of technology in the transformation [Adams; Black; DeVries] Despite this criticism, the Military Revolution remains one of the most important and most frequently used historiographical concepts for comprehensively describing transformations in the Problema voluminis war system in the early modern period [cf Jacob, Visoni-Alonzo; Rogers; Parker, 1995].

Military Revolution in the State of the Tsars
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