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Russia's Steppe Frontier: The Making of a Colonial Empire, 1500-1800 (Indiana-Michigan Series in Russian and East European Studies) Kindle Edition

by Michael Khodarkovsky (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 57 ratings
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This study of Russia’s colonial expansion across the Eurasian steppe is “a tremendously important contribution to the field of Russian history” (Valerie Kivelson).

From the decline of the Mongol Golden Horde to the end of the 18th century, the Russian government expanded its influence and power throughout its southern borderlands. The process of incorporating these lands and peoples into the Russian Empire was not only a military and political struggle but also a cultural contest between the indigenous worlds of the steppe and Russian imperial hegemony.

Drawing on sources and archival materials in Russian and Turkic languages, Michael Khodarkovsky presents a complex picture of the encounter between the Russian authorities and native peoples. A major contribution to the comparative study of empires and frontiers, “no other work treats Moscow's colonial expansion to the south and east so competently” (Russia).
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  1. ISBN-13
    978-0253217707
  2. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  3. Publisher
    Indiana University Press
  4. Publication date
    February 22, 2002
  5. Part of series
    Indiana-Michigan Series in Russian and East European Studies
  6. Language
    English
  7. File size
    4016 KB
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This innovative and fascinating book examines the relationship between Russia and its neighbors on the Eurasian steppe, which stretches from the northern Caucasus area into the Central Asian region of present-day Kazakhstan, from about 1500 to 1800. During these formative years, Russia's continual southern expansion into the borderlands helped transform it from a fragmented and weak frontier society into a formidable colonial empire. Kohdarkovsky (Loyola Univ.) considers the complex relationship between the Russian state and the indigenous nomadic and seminomadic societies that inhabited the steppe, emphasizing their fundamental differences in social organization, political and economic structures, and values. The author argues that Russia's southward expansion was, contrary to commonly accepted views, a deliberate process designed to colonize the new regions and to subdue their inhabitants. However, Russia's policies gradually changed during these three centuries from defending its vulnerable frontier against nomadic incursions to deliberate colonization by means of pacifying, settling, and converting the new subjects to Orthodox Christianity. Recommended for advanced undergraduates and above." -- N. M. Brooks, New Mexico State University, Choice, September 2002



"No other work treats Moscow's colonial expansion to the south and east so competently. The story of Slavic expansion and acquisition alone would make the volume indispensable to the early modern Russian historian. What makes Khodarkovsky's book most significant, however, is the voice he gives to the peoples of the steppe." -- Russia

Review

No other work treats Moscow's colonial expansion to the south and east so competently. The story of Slavic expansion and acquisition alone would make the volume indispensable to the early modern Russian historian. What makes Khodarkovsky's book most significant, however, is the voice he gives to the peoples of the steppe.

― Russia

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00BIP2G4O
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Indiana University Press (February 22, 2002)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 22, 2002
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4016 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 305 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 57 ratings

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Michael Khodarkovsky

Michael Khodarkovsky

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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
57 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Jeffrey Huntington
5.0 out of 5 stars The conquest of the great plains
Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2014
Verified Purchase
When the Golden Horde Mongol empire began in the 15th century to break up into warring, mostly Muslim tribes, Muscovy formed shifting alliances with the tribes to subjugate them and aggrandize itself. This history can be quite confusing: Whose side were the Bashkirs on? Were the Cossacks really Russians? Much double-dealing and treachery.

But that's how it was really done, and it is perhaps a clue to what we can expect in modern diplomacy. Khodarkovsky's account is the clearest and most logical I have read. It has little to say about Siberia and essentially nothing about the plains west of the Dnieper, but the Don basin, the Urals and the Caucasus is enough for one book.

Some of the issues are the same as in the history of any colonial power: When you're contesting against another society, perhaps a primitive one, with a completely different belief system, whose rules do you play by? It is OK to bully and hornswoggle nomads into setting down, because that advances civilization? I can't say that the US addressed these questions in a very enlightened manner with its own indigenous people, and the wrongs of the British, Belgians, etc. are well known. And yet, Russian expansion was conducted with an Asian ferocity, sometimes genocidal, which is shocking. This was still going on in 1944 (just ask the Crimean Tatars), and I only wish I could say that it is over.

There is enough detail in this slender book to be able to keep track of which side the Nogays, for instance, were on in which period. There is a cursory discussion of Pugachev's rebellion, which is better covered elsewhere. The role of the Cossacks as a buffer between Muscovy and the nomads doesn't get much ink. It is good to read of some of the confrontations from the point of view of the nomads themselves. (Apparently, official historiography in the Soviet era was quite tendentious.)

I think this is the best book on the subject.
12 people found this helpful
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Jos Dujardin
4.0 out of 5 stars colonialism at your border
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2022
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This was a great overview of “how the steppe was won”. The great expand east of Moscow with the black sea and the Caspian Se as southern borders is now much better introduced to me. The book provides the historic facts and and Google Maps a tab further provided the necessary geographic detail.
2 people found this helpful
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Augustus T. White
5.0 out of 5 stars Nice contrast. Highly relevant.
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2010
Verified Purchase
I read this in connection with several other studies of the declining years of the Crimean Khanate. Most emphasized Crimean and Ottoman sources and largely took their point of view. Khodarovsky does not stint on Crimean sources, but emphasizes the Russian administrative problem: how should a more-or-less European nation deal with a frequently violent, completely non-western power on one's poorly-defined borders? Khodarovsky sees the problem as essentially insoluble, except by the ultimate destruction of one or the other society. Whether or not he's correct, the Russian experience is certainly relevant to the Soviet approach to the "nationalities problem" and even to US and European policies today. The Russian experience with intractable conflicts over land use, security, and entanglement in the internal politics of the khanates -- and the many mistakes, mutual incomprehensions, and occasional successes of both sides -- is both disturbing and useful.

My only gripe is Khodarovsky's limited treatment of the khanates in the context of Russian-Ottoman relations. Even if Khodarovsky believes that the Ottoman Empire wasn't particularly relevant to Russian relations with the khanates, he ought to explain why. Still, one can't cover everything, and an Ottoman emphasis would risk loss of focus on the main points.
16 people found this helpful
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Mario Raposo
4.0 out of 5 stars Sir, can I have more?
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2016
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This book gives the reader a precious insight into a number of facts/realities of which few people are aware: how Russia and the steppe tribes engaged for centuries in a intermittent but always present conflict, the set of values that ruled their diplomatic relations, and how religion, military power and economy framed them.
Though it provides enlightening glimpses on the inner workings of the Russian and tribal societies, they are somehow tantalizing few for the non-initiated.
Most important, this book provides an understanding on how Russia created a colonial empire without ever acknowledging it as such.
A concise and easy to read work, leaves you craving for more.
7 people found this helpful
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Bob Brewer
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2017
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A little dry at times but an excellent overview of how modern Russia was created.
3 people found this helpful
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Magnitogorsk
5.0 out of 5 stars Russia's Colonial Empire
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2014
Interesting book detailing the events of Russia's colonization of the eastern steppe and Siberia. The author points out the contrast between say England and France's overseas colonization tactics and Russia's mainland colonization tactics. The author also points out the misunderstandings between the colonizer and the Steppe/Siberian society which lead to all the tribes unknowingly becoming part of the enormous Russian Empire. The book had a nice flow and detailed the various tribes in which Russia colonized/conquered and discusses the processes and tactics Russia used to accomplish this.
3 people found this helpful
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Raider
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent and rare glimpse at the Russian frontier.
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2003
This work -- the latest of Micheal Khodarkovsky's books -- is a well-written and very thorough study of Russia's relations with the frontier peoples in the Early Modern period. Tracing the relationship from the decline of the Mongol Hordes in the fifteenth century to the outright colonization of the North Caucasus and Central Asia in the succeeding centuries, Khodarkovsky fills a serious gap in the standard histories of Russia.
A gifted Russian historian, who is also well-versed in Islamic and especially Ottoman history, Khodarkovsky is able to tell the history of Russia's relations with the Muslim peoples on its frontiers without the biases of a Russianist or an Islamicist. This book is essential reading for anyone wishing to gain a better understanding of the modern North Caucasus and Central Asia, of Islam in the Russian world, and of Russian colonization.
26 people found this helpful
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TRB 2121
1.0 out of 5 stars Not a good read
Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2021
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The book did not have enough maps for one who is unfamiliar with the region. Also. The history was not in chronological order. This made for a difficult read.
2 people found this helpful
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