Warriors and Peasants: The Don Cossacks in Late Imperial Russia by Shane s> O'Rourke (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS I63 the changing relationship between Finland and the Russian Empire.Jussila explains the nature of the government of Finland and the country's development as a nation and as a state. He shows how changes in the government of Russia, with the emergence of pluralistinstitutionsthere, had the effect of firstreducing and then practicallyending Finnish autonomy. In contrast to Jussila's part, those of Hentila and Nevakivi have no particular conceptual framework. Hentila provides a clear and balanced narrative of politicaland foreignrelations,though one would likea littlemore information about why things happened and, indeed, on how the republicanconstitution worked.The depressionat the end of the 1920S is mentioned but not how the government responded to it; perhaps this was thought beyond the remit of political history. Nevakivi, on the other hand, does give the economic background to political events. His part is almost remorselessly chronological -from governmentto government -but isgood on theradicalization of the I96os and on foreignpolicy. The authorsattemptedin the originalto cover a number of points in depth without interrupting the balance and flow of the narrative by introducing supplementarysections, 'box features',clearlydistinguishablefrom the restof the book. The translationhas inserted these into the ordinary text, often as separate chapters; this occasionally disturbs the logical progression of the work. In general the translationreads fluently, but poor editing has failed to remove a number of inconsistencies, odd usages or points unclear to a nonFinnishreader .Thus we have the 'SmallWrath'(p. 5) and the 'LesserWrath' (P. 17), 'autumn field practice' for 'autumn manoeuvres' (p. 2I8), 'war expedition' for 'campaign' (p. 220), and the literal but mysterious 'forest guards'for 'armedbands of deserters'(p. 20 1). Some Russianpersonalnames have been transliteratedin the Finnishway and some Finnishformsretained forplace-names in Russia. The table of MinisterState Secretariesomits those for 1905--I8. Careless proofreading is evident throughout the book. Part of the Finnish army was apparently 'demolished' rather than demobilized after the offensivephase of the Continuation War (p. 203). Perhapsthe most unfortunate misprint ever seen by this reviewer refersto the 'high morality' instead of 'high mortality' of the Red prisoners in I9I8 (p. 112). There is much to correctif the book is reprinted. An impressionremainsof the narrownessof the concept of politicalhistory. How much more rewardingthe book would have been had it ranged more widely into social, economic and culturalhistory.But it must be accepted on its own termsand it is undoubtedlya valuable addition to worksin Englishon modern and contemporaryFinnishhistory. London J. E. 0. SCREEN O'Rourke, Shane. Warriors andPeasants.TheDonCossacks inLateImperial Russia. Macmillan, Basingstokeand London, and St Martin's Press,New York, 2000. XiV + 200 Pp. Glossary.Maps. Notes. Tables.Bibliography.Index. /42.50. THE dissolution of the Soviet Union in I99I stimulated a short-lived enthusiasm for Cossack nationalism and a more lasting revival of interest in I64 SEER, 79, I, 2001 the Cossackpast. The resulthas been a risingnumberof publicationson their historyboth in Russia and the West. Shane O'Rourke's Warriors andPeasants is concerned with the Cossacks'economic and social condition ratherthan with their military role, and focuses squarely on the Don rather than telling the storyfrom the perspectiveof St Petersburg. O'Rourke drawson recordsin the oblast' archivein Rostov-on-Don as well as material in the Central Archive of the Ministry of War and an array of publishedsources.The book begins with a conspectusof Don Cossackhistory from I549 to I920 which is based on secondary sources, tinged with romanticism, and occasionally misleading. Cossack hatred of the Russian state (on which they were always dependent) is overstated; the claim that early Cossacks insisted that recruits profess the Christian faith is improbable (the very first Cossacks were renegade Tatars), and the assertion that sixteenth century Don Cossacks 'created a state that was independent of Muscovy' (p. 32) cannot be sustained. By contrast, the remainder of the book, which concentrates on the Don Host in the later nineteenth century, is a worthy and welcome contribution to the literature. Like T. M. Barrett in his recent study of the Terek Cossacks (At theEdge of Empire.7The Terek Cossacks andtheN'orth Caucasus Frontier I700-I86o, Boulder, CO, I999), O'Rourke adopts an ecological approach. There is a good chapter on soil characteristics, land-use, climate, woods, water and...