David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye - Böcker

The West has been accused of seeing the East in a hostile and deprecatory light, as the legacy of nineteenth-century European imperialism. In this highly original and controversial book, David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye examines Russian thinking about the Orient before the Revolution of 1917. Exploring the writings, poetry, and art of representative individuals including Catherine the Great, Alexander Pushkin, Alexander Borodin, and leading orientologists, Schimmelpenninck argues that the Russian Empire’s bi-continental geography, its ambivalent relationship with the rest of Europe, and the complicated nature of its encounter with Asia have all resulted in a variegated and often surprisingly sympathetic understanding of the East among its people.

This volume examines how Imperial Russia's armed forces sought to adapt to the challenges of modern warfare. Russian rulers always understood the need to maintain an army and navy capable of preserving the empire's great power status. Yet they inevitably faced the dilemma of importing European military and technological innovations while keeping out political ideas that could challenge the autocracy's monopoly on power. Reforming the Tsar's Army touches on many broader issues in politics, international relations, economy and society, and combines the efforts of leading specialists of Russian military history from North America, Europe and Russia to consider many aspects of this dilemma. Grouped around broad themes of resources, intelligence, personality, and responses to specific wars, these essays benefit from the new archival openness to yield some surprising insights into the empire's willingness and ability to adapt to change.

This volume examines how Imperial Russia's armed forces sought to adapt to the challenges of modern warfare. Russian rulers always understood the need to maintain an army and navy capable of preserving the empire's great power status. Yet they inevitably faced the dilemma of importing European military and technological innovations while keeping out political ideas that could challenge the autocracy's monopoly on power. Reforming the Tsar's Army touches on many broader issues in politics, international relations, economy and society, and combines the efforts of leading specialists of Russian military history from North America, Europe and Russia to consider many aspects of this dilemma. Grouped around broad themes of resources, intelligence, personality, and responses to specific wars, these essays benefit from the new archival openness to yield some surprising insights into the empire's willingness and ability to adapt to change.

With 600+ photos, this is the first systematic survey of all the leading jewelers in imperial Russia.

What drove Russia to its disastrous war with Japan in 1904? Was it corruption at the highest levels, ignorance of Japan's naval capabilities, or overconfidence in Russia's own military power? In this highly original study, Schimmelpenninck argues that the conflict came about because of St. Petersburg's erratic and confused diplomacy. The key to understanding tsarist involvement in East Asia, he explains, is to examine the ideas of those who competed to impose their visions of destiny on the Pacific.Drawing from previously inaccessible archives in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Schimmelpenninck presents a new approach to understanding the causes of the Russo-Japanese War. He begins with lively sketches of Tsar Nicholas II and the four leading proponents of expansion in East Asia—famous Inner Asia explorer Nikolai Przhevalskii, Sinophile newspaper publisher Prince Esper Ukhtomskii, Finance Minister Sergei Witte, and War Minister Aleksei Kuropatkin. In each case, ideologies of empire are explored in the context of both European and Russian thought.Toward the Rising Sun goes on to reinterpret tsarist prewar democracy—from Russia's involvement in East Asia during the 1890s to Admiral Togo's surprise attack at Port Arthur in 1904—using extensive archival sources. Throughout, Schimmelpenninck demonstrates the ties between ideas and policy. Interweaving intellectual and cultural history with international perspectives, he addresses an important aspect of Russian national identity at a crucial point in history and helps to elucidate the struggle between East and West that continues in Russia today.

What drove Russia to its disastrous war with Japan in 1904? Was it corruption at the highest levels, ignorance of Japan's naval capabilities, or overconfidence in Russia's own military power? In this highly original study, Schimmelpenninck argues that the conflict came about because of St. Petersburg's erratic and confused diplomacy. The key to understanding tsarist involvement in East Asia, he explains, is to examine the ideas of those who competed to impose their visions of destiny on the Pacific.Drawing from previously inaccessible archives in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Schimmelpenninck presents a new approach to understanding the causes of the Russo-Japanese War. He begins with lively sketches of Tsar Nicholas II and the four leading proponents of expansion in East Asia—famous Inner Asia explorer Nikolai Przhevalskii, Sinophile newspaper publisher Prince Esper Ukhtomskii, Finance Minister Sergei Witte, and War Minister Aleksei Kuropatkin. In each case, ideologies of empire are explored in the context of both European and Russian thought.Toward the Rising Sun goes on to reinterpret tsarist prewar democracy—from Russia's involvement in East Asia during the 1890s to Admiral Togo's surprise attack at Port Arthur in 1904—using extensive archival sources. Throughout, Schimmelpenninck demonstrates the ties between ideas and policy. Interweaving intellectual and cultural history with international perspectives, he addresses an important aspect of Russian national identity at a crucial point in history and helps to elucidate the struggle between East and West that continues in Russia today.

This volume examines the Russo-Japanese War in its military, diplomatic, social, political, economic, and cultural context. Through the use of research from newly opened Russian and little used Japanese sources the editors assert that the Russo-Japanese War was, in fact, World War Zero, the first global conflict in the 20th century. The contributors demonstrate that the Russo-Japanese War, largely forgotten in the aftermath of World War One, actually was a precursor to the catastrophe that engulfed the world less than a decade after the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth. This study not only further reveals the weaknesses of Imperial Russia but also exhibits Japan as it entered its fateful 20th century.Contributors: Oleg Rudolfovich Airapetov; Boris Vasilevich Ananich; Michael Auslin; Paul A. Bushkovitch; John Bushnell; Frederick R. Dickinson; Tatiana Aleksandrovna Filippova; David Goldfrank; Antti Kujala; Dominic Lieven; Igor Vladimirovich Lukoianov; Pertti Luntinen; Steven Marks; Yoshihisa Tak Matsusaka; David Maclaren Mcdonald; Bruce W. Menning; Edward S. Miller; Ian Nish ; Dmitrii Ivanovich Oleinikov; Nicholas Papastratigakis; Paul A. Rodell; Norman E. Saul; Charles Schencking; Barry Scherr; David Schimmelpenninck Van Der Oye; Evgenii Iurevich Sergeev; Naoko Shimazu; Yokote Shinji; John W. Steinberg; Richard Stites; James T. Ulak; David Wolff; Don Wright.