The Revolution of Peter the Great - Hardcover

Cracraft, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674011961 ISBN 13: 9780674011960

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2003

Synopsis

This is an analysis of how the Russian tsar Peter the Great's reforms actually took root and spread throughout Russia. Linking together and transcending Peter's many reforms of state and society, Cracraft argues, was nothing less than a cultural revolution. New ways of dress, elite social behaviour, navigation, architecture and image-making emerged along with expansive vocabularies for labeling new objects and activities. Russians learned how to build and sail warships; train, supply and command a modern army; operate a new-style bureaucracy; conduct diplomacy on a par with the other European states; apply modern science; and conceptualize the new governing system. Throughout, Peter remains the central figure and Cracraft discusses the shaping events of the tsar's youth, his inner circle, the resistance his reforms engendered and the founding of the city that would embody his vision - St Petersburg, which celebrates its tercentenary in 2003. By century's end, Russia was poised to play a critical role int he Napoleonic wars and boasted an elite culture about to burst into its golden age. In this book, Cracraft illuminates an astonishing transformation that had enormous consequences for both Russia, Europe and indeed the world.

About this title

Review

Anglo-American historians have spent a great deal of effort on Peter and his reign in the last decades, the pioneer among them Cracraft himself. He has used his own work and that of his colleagues with thoroughness and tact to provide his own synthesis of the events and their meaning... Cracraft has succeeded in conveying the latest understanding of Peter's time, one that he himself has been so central in creating, in an elegant and highly readable form.--Paul Bushkovitch"Cahiers du Monde Russe" (07/01/2004)

About the Author

James Cracraft is Professor of History, University of Illinois at Chicago.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674011961
• ISBN 13: 9780674011960
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224