Russian Conquest Research Articles

Heretics and Colonizers: Forging Russia’s Empire in the South Caucasus by Nicholas B. Breyfogle, and: Herrschaft, Recht und Islam in Daghestan. Von den Khanaten und Gemeindebünden zum рihād-Staat by Michael Kemper (review)

517 Ab Imperio, 1/2007 Wim van MEURS Nicholas B. Breyfogle, Heretics and Colonizers: Forging Russia’s Empire in the South Caucasus (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2005). 376 pp., ill. Maps, Index. ISBN: 0-8014-4242-7. Michael Kemper, Herrschaft, Recht und Islam in Daghestan. Von den Khanaten und Gemeindebünden zum рihād-Staat (Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 2005). 480 S., 2 maps. (=Caucasian Studies; Vol. 7). ISBN: 3-89500-414-6. By the mid-1990s, when interest in the post-communist transition in Eastern Europe and especially in the former Soviet Union was waning, Russian studies at Anglo-American and German universities seemed doomed. Since then, a spate of highly sophisticated studies has been published, opening up new fields of enquiry. One of the most prominent new fields is the study of Russia’s borderlands and the encounters between locals and immigrants. These authors no longer understand “area studies” as the privilege to ignore theoretical insights from the political and social sciences. At the same time, they have made good use of the opening up of archives, not only in Moscow and Petersburg, but (in the case of the two monographs under review) also in Tbilisi and Makhachkala .Although Breyfogle’s footnotes are full of references to archival and other unpublished sources, the actual text hardly offers the reader an inkling of the sources’ content: most of the lengthy quotes are from official documents after all. Nicholas Breyfogle and Michael Kemper share a bottom-up perspective . They are both interested in nineteenth century Russian empire building, but avoid the bias of the official Petersburg perspective by focusing on the realities of daily life in the imperial periphery of the Caucasus: “embed[ding] people and their communities in the most abstract of historical processes without losing sight of what it was like to live through those processes” (Breyfogle, P. 7). Breyfogle looks at Slavic heretics (non-Orthodox Christians) who were used as colonists , ironically becoming the face of tsarism for the indigenous Islamic populace, and thereby playing their part in the consolidation of the empire that failed to tolerate them in the core regions of the state. Conversely , Kemper looks at Islamic forms of indigenous social organization and interaction with the interfering Russian colonial power. Although both authors sympathize with their object of research as underdogs in fated defiance of the Russian Empire , the grey zones of local realities rather than the ex post construction of bilateral confrontation between Russian colonial agents and local 518 Рецензии/Reviews resistance determine these studies. As Breyfogle argues: “[W]hether they supported or opposed tsarist power, the sectarian settlers … performed a range of military, economic and administrative functions essential to Russian empire-building – sometimes unwittingly” (P. 3). In sync with recent studies of Western nineteenth century colonialism, his assumption is that metropole and colony/periphery co-produce each other. In fact, the tsarist policy of “heretic colonization” actually produced the heretic communities by concentrating the scattered groups from all over the empire in a fairly small region. Kemper for his part demonstrates that the various forms of societal organization and rule in Dagestan prior to Russian conquest were by no means static or primitive – debunking the typical view of a civilizing colonial power. The argument is well stated, even though two hundred pages and a historical narrative starting with the earliest recorded political histories from the seventh and eighth centuries may be somewhat overdone with regard to demonstrating the dynamics of autochthonous developments and the role of Islam.1 Strictly speaking , Kemper’s argument, that this golden era was later used to legitimze new rulers and regimes, does not very convincingly explain two hundred pages worth of historical reconstruction. “What actually happened ” is essentially irrelevant for a better understanding of the later instrumentalization of historical legitimization (Kemper, S. 65-66). Kemper also underlines that in Dagestan (unlike in the Southern Caucasus) the dynamic relations between princedoms and free communities were not swept away by the Russian conquest of 1750 – 1828, but rather redefined: for some rulers the Russian advance proved to be the right opportunity to restore authority over unruly communities (S. 211-216). Breyfogle’s choice of the heretic colonists is partly...

The Siberian Frontier between “White Mission” and “Yellow Peril,” 1890s–1920s

The Russian conquest of Siberia was not only a remarkable event in world history like the conquest of the New World by the Western European nations, but also a decisive step in Russia's empire-building. Through territorial enlargement the empire became multiethnic. This process resembled the expansion of the white settlers in North America. Like North America, Siberia represented an “open frontier.” Harsh nature and the encounter between the white settlers and the “savages” formed the identity of the frontier. From the perspective of modern cultural anthropology the frontier also shaped reflections on the self and the other. There existed, however, a decisive difference to the American frontier: Siberia became a meeting ground for Russian and Asian cultures. Whereas the American frontier—except in the encounter with Mexico—remained isolated, Russians early came in contact with Asian nations. From the early emergence of a modern state in Russia during the era of Enlightenment, Russia came into manifold contacts with “civilized” Asians (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans) and with “uncivilized” Asians, i.e. the tribes of Siberia. At the junction between Europe and Asia, Russia as a Eurasian empire was the sole country in Europe which was so near to Asia. It was therefore logical that Russia felt a kind of mission toward Asia and required the role of a mediator between Europe and Asia.

Постсоветская Центральняя Азия: тенденции политического ислама

SUMMARY: In this article the authors discuss the prospects and potential of political Islam in post-Soviet Central Asia. According to the authors, the Soviet regime left an ambiguous legacy in Central Asia. On the one hand, the republics of Central Asia developed their national cultures and acquired institutions of statehood, thus progressing to agrarian-industrial societies. On the other hand, the Soviet regime was detrimental to the region’s development by precluding a market economy and democratic institutions and subjecting its population to Stalinist terror and forced collectivization. One of the results of Soviet rule was the emergence of unstable states. The authors demonstrate that various groups offered solutions to the crises of Central Asian societies. Political Islam was one such solution. As religion became an instrument of influencing a “lost society”, the number of Islamic and Christian missionaries coming to Kyrgyzstan increased dramatically, as did the number of mosques. There emerged Islamic organizations, which became bases for a limited number of Islamic parties. A minority of Islamic groups subscribed to a fundamentalist vision of Islam, demanding a cleansing of the religion from popular traditions and its Sufi legacy and a return to “pure” Islam based on the Koran. The authors also explore the intellectual lineage of Central Asian “fundamentalism”. They argue that fundamentalist Islamic movements were combined with the national-liberation movement after the Russian conquest of the region. Soviet authority unwillingly contributed to Central Asian fundamentalism by fighting against the “superstitions” of popular Islam, thus preparing the ground for the victorious march of “fundamentalist” purist Islam. Drawing on Sergei Abashin’s thesis, the authors explore the role of modernization and increased mobility in the development of new forms of Islamic consciousness in Central Asia. Attempting to forecast possible developments in the region, the authors believe that extremist excesses are unavoidable in a situation of political and economic crisis. At the same time, it is necessary to distinguish between “extremism” and “fundamentalism”: if the latter is the result of centuries-long transformations in Islam, the former is born out of the current post-Soviet crisis in the region. There is no necessary connection between the two, since in the Central Asian republics “extremism” and “fundamentalism” are often used as labels by the old nomenklatura, which preserved power in the post-Soviet era in order to delegitimize political opposition.

In Quest for God and Freedom. The Sufi Response to the Russian Advance in the North Caucasus by Anna s> Zelkina (review)

REVIEWS 747 of a well-organized delegation from Belorussia which secured the Jews' inclusionaftera formalpresentationbefore the Senate. This is an outstanding piece of social history and a major contribution to our understanding of the relations of Jews with the local and national authoritiesin post-partitionEasternEurope. Research librariesshould make an effortto securea copy before it becomes a bibliographicalrarity. Department ofHebrew andJ7ewish Studies J. D. KLIER University College London Zelkina,Anna. InQuestfor GodandFreedom. TheSufi Response totheRussian Advance intheNorthCaucasus. C. Hurst&Company, London, 2000. XXiii + 265 pp. Notes. Maps. Illustrations.Glossary.Bibliography.Index. ?45.??. IN a world galvanized into discussionof Muslim responsesto the challenge of theWest, thisnew historyof Islamicresponsesto the Russianadvance into the North Caucasus could not be more timely. Anna Zelkina examines the religiousrevivalin what is present-dayDagestan and Chechnya, beginning in the late eighteenth centuryand culminatingin the defeatof the 'thirdimam of the Caucasus', Shamil, in I859. Her focus is the remarkablerise of the Sufi Naqshbandiyya order (tariqa),and its impact not only on anti-colonial resistance,but more significantly,on patternsof social and political organization in the region. Hitherto this topic has been researchedmainly in terms of the militaryhistoryof the Russian conquest, as a purely anti-colonial struggle or, in Soviet historiography, through an ideologically skewed view of 'fundamentalism'.Zelkinabrings a new perspectiveto this period in focusing on the religious and social aspects of the Naqshbandi movement, thereby redressing the past denial of a wider Islamic dimension to the Naqshbandi phenomenon. To do so, she draws upon on a wide range of primary sources in both Russianand Arabic, includinghithertountranslatedwritingsof North CaucasianNaqshbandi sheikhs. Zelkinatracesthe development of the Naqshbandiyyaorderfrom Iran and Central Asia, through permutations first in Moghul India and later in Ottoman lands in the eighteenth century. She argues that by adapting Naqshbandi principles to local political prerogatives, Naqshbandi sheikhs increasingly emphasized the legal (/iqh)as well as spiritualaspects of shari?a, and the principle of 'solitudewithin the crowd', implying a more active role for Naqshbandi adepts in social and political matters. This established the Naqshbandi order as a powerful potential force for social and political mobilization. The north-easternCaucasus,home to a long-standingtradition of Islam, proved fertile ground for this increasinglypolitical and revisionist viewv of Muslim priorities. Confronted with military and technological superiority in the form of the Russian Empire, communities in the north Caucasus were faced with an urgent crisis of moral, social and political decline. Zelkina's key and highly plausible thesis is that the Naqshbandi order provided the ideology and organizational structure necessary for a coherent response to the Russian challenge. Over time, the initially separate mystical 748 SEER, 8o, 4, 2002 and political aspects of Naqshbandi merged, and a pattern of political leadershiplegitimatedby spiritualauthorityemerged, supplantingtraditional secular leadership. The first Naqshbandi leader to effectively combine both aspects was Ghazi Muhammad (?I793-i832), who declared ghazavat('holy war') as key to the establishmentof shari"a. Pursuitof this goal culminated in the creation of the firststateformationamongstthe North Caucasianpeoples, Shamil'simamate. The Naqshbandi movement representsthe firstattemptat modernization in the North Caucasus, introducing recognizably modern formsof political leadership, social contract and collective identity.As such it stands as the neplus ultraof indigenous, as opposed to Russian- or Sovietimposed modernization in the region. The chapters on the imamate provide an overdue focus on Shamil's administrative, fiscal, military and religious reforms. The account presented here provides a fascinating basis for comparison with more recent events. As the word play in the book's title suggests, the Naqshbandi search for responses to external challenges took the form of an introspectiveinquest,ajudicial enquiryinto the currentmoraland socialstate of Muslim communities. Initial targets for Naqshbandi activists were the recognized Muslim authorities advocating a more conciliatory relationship with the Russians. Ghazavat was therefore a bi-focal phenomenon, aimed at both the establishedMuslimauthorities,lambastedascorrupting'trueMuslim values', and the Russian menace. The radical orthodoxy of the Naqshbandi engendered a dual debate, on one frontbetween Muslims as to the formsthat a modern Islam should take, and on the other with the non-Muslim world. The extraordinary success of the Naqshbandiyya reflects the capacity of radical orthodoxy, reliant on other-worldly values, to feed an ideology of resistanceto challengesfirmlyrooted in thisworld. Adapted from a PhD thesis, this lucid, well-written account presents...

The Imperial Russian Army and Navy in Finland 1808-1918 by Pertti s> Luntinen (review)

REVIEWS 539 sensation-seekingpress or end with officialintervention. Some were reported to the authoritiesby the peasants themselves, which suggests a diverse range of village attitudestowardsofficiallegality). Frankallows for internal differences along lines of generation or gender (e.g. pp. IOO-OI, 295-96), but he could have moved further from what remains too monolithic a view of the 'peasantry'. There is no detailed considerationof the typicalityof Riazan, the province fromwhich most of the archivalexamples come. The I892 famine and the I905 revolutionin itsmost cataclysmic incarnation set the mood of doom in Frank's late tsarist countryside.Suchwiderdevelopmentsasthegrowthofthe railways,education and the popular press, consumerism, migration, military service and the zemstva make only marginal appearances. Any bigger conclusions about the legal systemin the countrysideremainprematurewithoutconsiderationof the whole area of civillaw (especiallyregardingland). Frankprovidesa lot of new evidence about the volost'court but while, in places, he seems to accept its importance, elsewherehe reports seeminglywith more enthusiasm -that the peasantsavoided it (comparepp. 56-57, 63-64, 72 with pp. 95- I03). His interpretationdoes not allow for the possibilitythat the very weaknessof the state on the ground provided an incentive for villagers to develop this court forthemselves.That might have mitigated,to some extent, popularfrustration at the lackof easilyaccessibleall-estatetribunals.Perhapsthe workof the land captains and the extensive use of the appeals system, too, enabled villagersto become more active partners in a judicio-administrative system that linked the countrysidewith the state. Patronageand paternalismmight have formed the basis for this integration or, arguably, the emerging 'Western'sense of citizenship and the rule of law detected in the volost' courtsby Cathy Frierson andJane Burbank(both conspicuously absent from the bibliography).Often sparkling,Frank'sstudy is an impressivelyenergetic, frequently penetrating but partial view of the operation of legal system and the nature of statepeasant relationsunder the lastthree tsars. Pork GARETH POPKINS Luntinen, Pertti. TheImperial RussianArmyandNavy in Finland1808-i9i8. Studia Historica, 56. Finnish Historical Society, Helsinki, 1997. 486 pp. Notes. Maps. Illustrations.Bibliography.Index. Priceunknown. THERussian period of Finnish history was remarkablybenign, and indeed this spiritwas not quite extinguishedin the post-tsaristperiod. Both Nicholas I and Stalin showed unwonted forbearancewhen dealing with the Finns and any light thrownon these and otheranomaliesis to be welcomed. The Russo-Finnish connection was essentiallya military one, so it is good to have a book in Englishabout the Russian armyand navy in Finland.Apart from tapping the archives of several countries, the author refers to many Finnish studies and thereby makes them at least partiallyaccessible to those unable to handle the language. Clearlywritten and well-organized, the book contains a good deal of military minutiae (which regiments and ships were stationed where and who commanded them, and so on) that will enthuse a 540 SEER, 79, 3, 200 I minority but could be skippedby those simplyinterestedin the broad outline of thisprocessof goodwill turningsour. Being such a god-forsakenterritory,Finlandwas coveted by nobody. Peter the Great took just enough to cover St Petersburg.The Empress Elizabeth could have takenthe whole of Finlandin I743 afterdefeatingthe Swedes, but thought better of it. It was Alexander I, anxious to show that Russia had gained at least something from his dalliance with Napoleon, who finally absorbedit and in his liberal spiritgranted it a constitutionthat provided for a local administrationsubject to him not as Russian emperor but as Grand Duke of Finland. By the end of the century the Diet was being elected by voters of both genders. At first there had been no Finnish nation, but the sequence of Russian conquest, Russian benevolence, and finally Russian chauvinismdidwithin a centuryimpel the Finnsto aspirantnation-statehood. Although by the end of the centurytherewas some industrialdevelopment, Finland'sbasic significanceremained strategic.It was within strikingdistance of St Petersburgand moreover overlooked the Gulf of Finland. Whenever Russia was involved in war or near-war, the possibilityof Swedes or Britons or Germans invading Finland as a short-cutto St Petersburghad to be taken seriously.Russian troopswere stationedin the Duchy, and forseveraldecades therewas in addition a Finnisharmy. The local population did not resentthe Russiangarrisons,and Finnishunits were willingly despatched to fight in distant Russian wars. No doubt in the course of time a nationalistmovement would have developed anyway,but the atmospheresoured prematurelywhen St Petersburgbureaucrats,and especially the war...

The Politics of Muslim Cultural Reform: Jadidism in Central Asia

Adeeb Khalid offers the first extended examination of cultural debates in Central Asia during Russian rule. With the Russian conquest in the 1860s and 1870s the region came into contact with modernity. The Jadids, influential Muslim intellectuals, sought to safeguard the indigenous Islamic culture by adapting it to the modern state. Through education, literacy, use of the press and by maintaining close ties with Islamic intellectuals from the Ottoman empire to India, the Jadids established a place for their traditions not only within the changing culture of their own land but also within the larger modern Islamic world. Khalid uses previously untapped literary sources from Uzbek and Tajik as well as archival materials from Uzbekistan, Russia, Britain, and France to explore Russia's role as a colonial power and the politics of Islamic reform movements. He shows how Jadid efforts paralleled developments elsewhere in the world and at the same time provides a social history of the Jadid movement. By including a comparative study of Muslim societies, examining indigenous intellectual life under colonialism, and investigating how knowledge was disseminated in the early modern period, The Politics of Muslim Cultural Reform does much to remedy the dearth of scholarship on this important period. Interest in Central Asia is growing as a result of the breakup of the former Soviet Union, and Khalid's book will make an important contribution to current debates over political and cultural autonomy in the region.

Basmachi (Basmatchevo) movement and Z.V.Togan : The Turkistan national liberation movement

The "formal" beginning of the "Basmachi" movement is usually associated with the tsarist Imperial Decree of 25 June 1916, which ordered the first non-voluntary recruitment of Central Asians into the army during the First World War. The movement was a reaction not only to conscription, but to the Russian conquest itself and the policies employed by the tsarist state in that region. Although it is primarily Russian sources and officialdom who applied the term "Basmachi" --and almost exclusively to denigrate the movement-- to the Central Asians, it was an Action for National Liberation, and so referred. Zeki Velidi Togan (1890-1970) was a professor of history for over half a century. He taught and earned academic degrees and rank in the institutions of higher learning on three continents, including the U.S. Early in his career, Togan had been a principal leader of the Turkistan National Liberation Movement (Turkistan National Liberation Movement) in Central Asia (1916-1930s). He therefore belongs, along with the Ukrainian professor Michael Hrushevs'kyj (1866-1934), and the Czech professor Thomas Masaryk (1850-1937), to an unusual group of distinguished historical persona. All three endeavored to write the history of their nations, and took time away from their respective libraries to secure intellectual, cultural, civil and political independence for their polities. A Central Asian himself and a principal leader of the Turkistan National Liberation Movement, Togan described the sources of the Movement and the structure of the Central Asian Societies. This paper provides an overview of his works.

Basmachi (Basmatchevo) movement and Z. V. Togan : The Turkistan National Liberation Movement

The «formal» beginning of the «Basmachi» movement is usually associated with the tsarist Imperial Decree of 25 June 1916, which ordered the first non-voluntary recruitment of Central Asians into the army during the First World War. The movement was a reaction not only to conscription, but to the Russian conquest itself and the policies employed by the tsarist state in that region. Although it is primarily Russian sources and officialdom who used the term «Basmachi» — and almost exclusively to denigrate the movement — to the Central Asians, it was an Action for National Liberation, and so referred. Zeki Velidi Togan (1890-1970) was a professor of history for over half a century. He taught and earned academic degrees and rank in the institutions of higher learning on three continents, including the U.S. Early in his career, Togan had been a principal leader of the Türkistan National Liberation Movement (Türkistan National Liberation Movement) in Central Asia (1916-1930s). He therefore belongs, along with the Ukrainian professor Michael Hrushevs'kyj (1866-1934), and the Czech professor Thomas Masaryk (1850-1937), to an unusual group of distinguished historical persona. All three endeavored to write the history of their nations, and took time away from their respective libraries to secure intellectual, cultural, civil and political independence for their polities. A Central Asian himself and a principal leader of the Türkistan National Liberation Movement, Togan described the sources of the Movement and the structure of the Central Asian Societies. This paper provides an overview of his works.

The Beginnings of the Naqshbandiyya in Daghestan and the Russian Conquest of the Caucasus

The Beginnings of the Naqshbandiyya in Daghestan and the Russian Conquest of the Caucasus

The Beginnings of the Naqshbandiyya in Dāghestān and the Russian Conquest of the Caucasus

The Beginnings of the Naqshbandiyya in Dāghestān and the Russian Conquest of the Caucasus

The History of Siberia: From Russian Conquest to Revolution

The History of Siberia: From Russian Conquest to Revolution

The Soviet Far East: Geographical Perspectives on Development

Settling the Far East - Russian conquest and consolidations, M. Bassin environmental constraints and biosphere protection on the Soviet Far East, P. Pryde and V.L. Mote population and labour force, M. Sagers resources, C. ZumBrunnen forest and fishing industries, Brenton M. Barr the South Yakutian territorial production complex, Victor L. Mote the Far Eastern transport system, R. North commodity movements and regional economic developments, A. Rodgers Soviet Far Eastern trade, M. Bradshaw economic and strategic position, L. Dienes.

Book Reviews

Book Reviews

The History of Siberia: from Russian conquest to revolution

1. The Administrative Apparatus of the Russian Colony in Siberia and Northern Asia, 1581-1700 Basil Dmytryshyn 2. Subjugation and Settlement in seventeenth and eighteenth-century Siberia David N. Collins 3. Opening up Siberia: Russia's Window on the East J.L. Black 4. The Siberian Native Peoples Before and After the Russian Conquest James Forsyth 5. Tsarist Russia in Colonial America: Critical Constraints James R. Gibson 6. Russia's Wild East: Exile, Vagrancy and Crime in nineteenth-century Siberia Alan Wood 7. Migration, Settlement and the Rural Economy of Siberia, 1861-1914 Leonid M. Goryushkin 8. Siberia in Revolution and Civil War, 1917-1921 John Channon 9. Afterword: Siberia in the twentieth century Alan Wood.

The History of Siberia: From Russian Conquest to Revolution. Edited by Alan Wood. New York: Routledge, 1991. xiv, 192 pp. $49.95.

The History of Siberia: From Russian Conquest to Revolution. Edited by Alan Wood. New York: Routledge, 1991. xiv, 192 pp. $49.95.

The politics of a literary language and the rise of national identity in Russian Azerbaijan before 1920

Abstract This article focuses on three interconnected issues: the question of a literary language of a people lacking political independence; the rise of modern communications in a traditional society; and the growth of national identity in the Muslim community of Russian Azerbaijan. The chronological scope covers the period from the beginning of intellectual modernization that came in the mid‐nineteenth century in the wake of the Russian conquest, to the establishment of the Soviet Azerbaijani Republic in 1920. The discussion includes the language policies of the Russian government, as well as the views on the literary language of the national movements of the period, pan‐Turkism and Azerbaijanism. The issue is viewed in the context of comparable debates among other Turkic‐speaking peoples in Russia and in Turkey.

Islam and the Russian Empire: Reform and Revolution in Central Asia

Note on the transliteration of Persian and Turkish Publisher's Preface. Preface. Introduction. Part I The Origins of Reformism in Bukhara 1 Bukhara on the Eve of the Russian Conquest. 2 The Russian Conquest: Bukhara Face-to-Face with Capitalism and the West. 3 Preambles to Reformism. Part 2 In Search of an Ideology, 1900-17 4 National Awakening in Turkistan. 5 Beginnings of Reformation in Bukhara. 6 Era of the Secret Societies, 1910-14. Part 3 National Reconquest, 1917-24 7 End of the Russian Empire: Bukhara Face-to-Face with War and Revolution. 8 The October Revolution. Alliance between the Jadids and the Bolsheviks. 9 The People's Republic of Bukhara. Conclusion. Appendix 1 Dynasties and Rulers of the Khanate of Bukhara. Appendix 2 Statutes of the Benevolent Society of Bukhara for the Dissemination of Knowledge among the Masses. Appendix 3 The Emir of Bukhara's Manifesto of 30 March 1917. Appendix 4 Reform Programme for Bukhara, drawn up by the Young Bukharan Party. Notes. Select Bibliography. Supplementary Select Bibliography. Glossary of Arabic, Persian and Turkish Terms. Index of Subjects. Index of Names.

RUSSIAN SIBERIA: AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH

The Russian conquest of Siberia was one of the great feats of history, bringing almost one-tenth of the landmass of the world under the control of the Russian Empire. This paper proposes a framework for examining the role of Siberia in the development of the Russian state and the evolution of the world economy from the sixteenth to early twentieth century. This study supports the contention that, rather than representing an interesting aside in the annals of European imperialism, Russian colonization of Siberia was not only affected by European colonialism and the European-based capitalist world economy, but, in fact, was part of it Moreover, the conquest and consolidation of Siberia is viewed as a “series of changing geographies,” over space and time, as it was affected by and in turn affected the rise of Russian nationalism and the development of European capitalism. The three-part framework for analysis suggested in this study employs (1) a world-systems model, (2) a multi-disciplinary approach, and (3...

Azerbaijani Turks' response to Russian conquest

Azerbaijani Turks' response to Russian conquest

Chora batir: A tatar admonition to future generations

Chora Batir is the Tatar account of events and associated social conditions within two Tatar (Kazan and Crimean) khanates prior to the Russian conquest of Kazan. This military venture represents the earliest Russian eastward expansion and one of the first outside Slav domains. Russian, Soviet and Western historians, in recording and analyzing this event and the relationship between Kazan and Muscovy that preceded it, have relied almost exclusively on Russian sources, especially the highly politically motivated chronicles. These were mostly exercises in wishful thinking rather than recording history. [1] Rarely have scholars attempted to beyond these sources or the views they contain. One noteworthy exception is a group of articles published in SLAVIC REVIEW in 1967 [2] by Edward L. Keenan, Jaroslaw Pelenski, and Omeljan Pritsak (Introduction by Ihor Sevcenko) which brought new information to light using heretofore neglected sources and a broader viewpoint. These authors noted the scarcity of the Tatar view of Kazan-Muscovite relations and the conquest itself. CHORA BATIR partly answers that need, so that the SLAVIC REVIEW articles and CHORA BATIR at one level complement each other.