With the invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s Russia seems to have stepped out of time, reverting to an imperial era of conquest and expansion. But as Roger Reese points out in this comprehensive new history, Russia’s way of war has changed little from one century to the next, one regime to another, from the army of the tsar to the army of today. Russia’s Army reveals how the Imperial Russian Army and its successors, the Soviet Army and the army of the Russian Federation, confronted the state’s foreign policy challenges—projecting power and defending the empire—and the domestic challenge of containing internal unrest generated by nationalism, competing ethnic and religious identities, and political discontent. These twin challenges, in turn, drove defense policy and the planning and conduct of war. From the beginning of the nineteenth century, the development of the army was driven by shifts in the European balance of power and changes in global diplomacy, politics, economics, and society. Reese identifies themes that weave their way through this military history: the adoption of a strategy to maintain a defensive posture in the West, an offensive strategy in the Balkans, and an expansionist policy in the East; maintenance of a large standing army; and a consistent unease about the army’s and non-Russian minorities’ loyalty to the state. These themes, he shows, have emerged in times of peace and war, as heads of state have made operational and strategic military decisions while managing civil-military relations—from the times of tsarist Russia through the collapse of the Soviet empire, when Putin sought to restore authoritarian rule and hegemony over the former Soviet states of the USSR. A comprehensive account of the history of the Russian army from 1801 to 2022, Reese’s is the first book to link Russian military history across three distinct eras and to situate this history within the context of military strategy and doctrine, as reflected in specific campaigns, issues of manning and maintaining an army, and relations between army and society, at home and in the “near abroad.”

The majority of the articles assembled in this volume reflect social-historical methodology, which is used to show the relationship between the tsarist army and society while focusing on the Russian historical experience. In each case, whether it be a study of the soldiers as peasants, alcoholism, the nationalities, officers, military justice, social and legal reform and mutiny or revolution, the inescapable conclusion arises that the army was at all times a reflection of the many social problems, aspirations, or political thought of the broader imperial Russian civil society. In short, this anthology treats the Russian military as a window on the symbiotic triangular relationship between army, state and society.

The Life Cycle of Russian Things re-orients commodity studies using interdisciplinary and comparative methods to foreground unique Russian and Soviet materials as varied as apothecary wares, isinglass, limestone and tanks. It also transforms modernist and Western interpretations of the material by emphasizing the commonalities of the Russian experience. Expert contributors from across the United States, Canada, Britain, and Germany come together to situate Russian material culture studies at an interdisciplinary crossroads. Drawing upon theory from anthropology, history, and literary and museum studies, the volume presents a complex narrative, not only in terms of material consumption but also in terms of production and the secondary life of inheritance, preservation, or even destruction. In doing so, the book reconceptualises material culture as a lived experience of sensory interaction. The Life Cycle of Russian Things sheds new light on economic history and consumption studies by reflecting the diversity of Russia's experiences over the last 400 years.

First published in 1990 The World of the Russian Peasant is designed to provide a wide-ranging survey of new developments in Russian peasant studies. Editors Eklof and Frank paint a broad picture of what life was like for the vast majority of Russia’s population before 1917. Individual authors treat the intricacies of the village community and peasant commune, social structure, the everyday life and labour of peasant women, the impact of migration, the spread of education, and peasant art, religion, justice, and politics. The result is a portrait of a people greatly influenced by rapid and radical changes in the world yet seeking to maintain control over their lives and their communities. This is a must read for students of Russian history, Russian peasantry and rural sociology.