Russia’s 20th Century: A Journey in 100 Histories

Description

Michael Khodarkovsky’s innovative exploration of Russia’s 20th century, through 100 carefully selected vignettes that span the century, offers a fascinating prism through which to view Russian history. Each chosen microhistory focuses on one particular event or individual that allows you to understand Russia not in abstract terms but in real events in the lives of ordinary people. Russia’s 20th Century covers a broad range of topics, including the economy, culture, politics, ideology, law and society. This introduction provides a vital background and engaging analysis of Russia’s path through a turbulent 20th century. The historical mosaic of Russia’s 20th Century provides a unique examination of modern Russian history one snapshot at a time, prompting us to reflect on a larger picture of Russia’s past and its place in the world today. Cover page Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page Dedication Contents Acknowledgements Illustrations Introduction Quo Vadis? Part I The Empire Must Die 1 Autocracy Wrestles with Change 1900 Writers 1901 Workers 1902 Peasants 1903 The Pogrom 1904 War with Japan 1905 The Crisis 1906 The Tsar’s Speech 1907 The Great Tifl is Robbery 1908 Father John of Kronstadt 1909 The Bosnian Crisis 2 Wars and Revolutions 1910 Tolstoy’s Death 1911 Terrorism 1912 The Lena Massacre 1913 The Romanovs 1914 Tannenberg 1915 Dreams of Tsargrad 1916 Rasputin 1917 “Down with Autocracy, Down with the War” 1918 The Red Terror 1919 Mass Violence Against Cossacks Part II Utopia in Power 3 Socialism Delayed 1920 Congress of the Peoples of the East 1921 Famine, Chemical Weapons, and Concentration Camps 1922 USSR 1923 National Communism 1924 The NEP 1925 Forging Cadres for World Revolution 1926 Creating Nations and Nationalities 1927 Orphans into Communists 1928 Cultural Revolution’s First Victims 1929 War on Academia, the Intelligentsia, and the Church 4 Stalin’s Socialist Revolution 1930 Vladimir Mayakovsky 1931 The Palace of Soviets 1932 Children against Parents 1933 Convict Labor 1934 The Kirov Affair 1935 Manufacturing Heroes 1936 Constitution 1937–1938 The Great Purge 1939 Hitler’s Ally 5 War 1940 Leon Trotsky 1941 Moscow on the Brink 1942 Not One Step Back 1943 The Enemy Within 1944 The Siege of Leningrad 1945 The Rape of Germany 1946 Culture War as a Cold War 1947 Currency Reform 1948 Rootless Cosmopolitans 1949 Atomic Project 6 End of Stalinism and Khrushchev’s Revolution 1950 Expanding Communism in Asia 1951–52 The Dictator is Mad 1953 The Dictator is Dead 1954 Nuclear War Exercise “Snowball” 1955 Empire of Nations 1956 End of Stalinism 1957 Sputnik 1958 Boris Pasternak 1959 Census 7 Between Reforms and Dissent 1960 Virgin Lands 1961 Uncle Slava and the Berlin Wall 1962 The Novocherkassk Massacre 1963 The Thaw and its Limits 1964 Khrushchev’s “Retirement” 1965 Soviet State Capitalism 1966–67 Crushing Dissent 1968 The Sakharov Manifesto 1969 The Soviet Dr. Seuss 8 Stagnation 1970 Solzhenitsyn’s Nobel Prize 1971 A Soviet Bob Dylan 1972 Nixon’s Détente and the Great Grain Robbery 1973 Friendship of Peoples 1974 Cult of Personality 1975 Consumer Crisis 1976 Dissenters into Defectors 1977 Bombings in Moscow and Repression 1978 USSR, Less Than the Sum of its Parts 1979 Afghanistan: A Soviet Vietnam 9 Paradise Lost 1980 The Moscow Olympics 1981 Trouble in Poland 1982 Brezhnev’s Death 1983 The Missile Debate 1984 Iron Maiden Behind the Iron Curtain 1985 Vodka 1986 Chernobyl 1987 Health Care and Medicine 1988 The Old Guard Strikes Back 1989 The Beginning of the End Part III The Democratic Experiment 10 The Rise and Fall of Russian Democracy 1990 Soviet Nationalisms and Ethnic Wars 1991 Death of the Empire 1992 Another Revolution 1993 Constitutional Crisis 1994 Corruption and the First Chechen War 1995–96 Elections 1997 Russian Fascism 1998 Return of the KGB 1999 Prime Minister Putin Epilogue 2000 President Putin Bibliography Index