Geoffrey Hosking is Professor of Russian History and Deputy Director, School of Slavonic and East European
Studies, University of London. Other Harvard Books by this Author, The Awakening of the Soviet Union, and
The First Socialist Society
Summary
The Soviet Union crumbles and Russia rises from the rubble, once again the great nation--a perfect scenario,
but for one point: Russia was never a nation. And this, says the eminent historian Geoffrey Hosking, is at the
heart of the Russians' dilemma today, as they grapple with the rudiments of nationhood. His book is about the Russia
that never was, a three-hundred-year history of empire building at the expense of national identity.
Table of Contents
Maps
The Expansion of Muscovy in the 16th and 17th Centuries
The Expansion of the Russian Empire in the 18th Century
Russian Expansion under Catherine the Great
Russia at its Greatest Extent
Acknowledgements
Introduction
The Russian Empire: How and Why
State-Building
The First Crises of Empire
The Secular State of Peter the Great
Assimilating Peter's Heritage
The Apogee of the Secular State
Social Classes, Religion and Culture in Imperial Russia
The Nobility
The Army
The Peasantry
The Orthodox Church
Towns and the Missing Bourgeoisie
The Birth of the Intelligentsia
Literature as 'Nation-Builder'
Imperial Russia under Pressure
The Reforms of Alexander II
Russian Socialism
Russification
The Revolution of 1905-7
The Duma Monarchy
Conclusions
Afterthoughts on the Soviet Experience
Chronology
Notes
Index
