Consequently, although Russia’s leaders have sought to maintain and even increase influence in what only Russians call the “near abroad,” that is the former republics of the USSR, the empire has shrunk to its smallest extent since the eighteenth century, and the Russia Federation’s influence in its former republics, not to mention Eastern and Central Europe, has been severely constrained by a lack of funds as well as by local nationalist feelings.
Successful modernization of Europe has been viewed by Russians as either a possible model for Russia’s development or as a threat to her distinctive, peculiar social, political and economic institutions. From Russia’s vantagepoint on the periphery of Europe, to modernize has meant to Westernize, with all the political and economic baggage that that implies. Periodically, Russia’s leaders have opened the “door” to Europe, as Peter the Great put it, only to have it closed or restricted by those who have sought to maintain and foster Russia’s unique civilization and its messianic mission in world history. In one form or another there has been a recurring struggle since the time of Peter the Great between the Slavophiles and the Westernizers, and this was even true during the Soviet era. Lenin and Trotsky and the Old Bolsheviks thought they were opening Russia to a global communist system. Stalin closed it tightly and created an autarkic economy. Nikita Khrushchev, Gorbachev, and Yeltsin opened Russia once again to the West, ultimately with catastrophic consequences for the empire. It has been difficult, however, to overcome the pull of the “Russian idea,” and post-Soviet development policies have been undercut by an ambiguous commitment to democratization and marketiza-tion.
These issues, autocracy, Orthodoxy, territorial expansionism, modernization, and cultural uniqueness, have appeared, disappeared, and reappeared throughout Russian history. Western and Russian historians have argued at length about the strength, significance, and permanence of these themes, and the articles contained in this encyclopedia explore these issues as impartially and objectively as possible.
There is no question, however, about the unique, unparalleled contributions of Russian culture to art, music, literature, philosophy, and science. Where would we be without Glinka, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Rublev, Mendeleyev, Sakharov and the many, many other artists, thinkers, and scientists that Russia’s citizens of all nationalities have produced? The editors and I hope that the reader will use this encyclopedia to sample the richness of Russian history and be induced to explore Russian culture in depth.
STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION OF THE ENCYCLOPEDIA PROJECT
When Macmillan Reference USA approached me seeking an editor in chief for a projected Encyclopedia of Russian History, I realized that if I could persuade the best scholars in the field to serve as Associate Editors and on an Editorial Board, and if we could persuade other top scholars to write entries, the experience would be educational and highly worthwhile. I also realized that it would necessarily be a “labor of love” for all involved. Participating scholars would have to believe in the intrinsic value of the project. I first approached Dr. Ann Robertson, who was serving as Managing Editor of my journal, Problems of Post-Communism, to see whether she would be willing to contribute her outstanding editorial skills as well as her expertise in political science to work closely with me as Senior Associate Editor on the encyclopedia. Next I approached Professor Nicholas Riasanovsky of University of California at Berkeley. As the leading historian of Russia and director of innumerable Ph.D. dissertations in the field, Professor Riasanovsky represented the keystone in the construction of the editorial committee. I knew that his name would assure other scholars of the serious academic nature of the project. I was soon able to recruit an ix
awesome set of associate editors: Daniel Kaiser of Grinnell College, Louise McReynolds of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Donald Raleigh of the University of North Carolina, and Ronald Suny of the University of Chicago. With their assistance we recruited an equally outstanding Advisory Board.
Below are very brief biographies of the distinguished members on the Editorial Board:
Editor in Chief James R. Millar (Ph.D. Cornell University) is professor of economics and international affairs at the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at the George Washington University. His primary areas of research are Soviet/Russian economic history and economics of the transition.
Daniel H. Kaiser (Ph.D. University of Chicago) is professor of history at Grinnell College in Iowa. His academic specialty is history and family life in early modern Russia.
Louise McReynolds (Ph.D. University of Chicago) is professor of history at the University of Hawaii. She specializes in Russian intellectual history and cultural studies.
Donald J. Raleigh (Ph.D. Indiana University) is professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His research specialization is twentieth-century Russian and Soviet history and the Russian civil war.
Nicholas V. Riasanovsky (D.Phil. Oxford University) is professor emeritus of history at the University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of A History of Russia (New York: Oxford University Press, 1963, sixth edition, 1999).
Ann E. Robertson (Ph.D. George Washington University) is managing editor of the journal Problems of Post- Communism, National Council for Eurasian and East European Research. She specializes in post-Soviet political science.
Ronald Grigor Suny (Ph.D. Columbia University, 1968) is professor of political science at the University of Chicago. His research specialty is comparative politics and Russian history with special attention to non-Russian peoples.
The editorial board assembled at George Washington University in January 2001 to plan the encyclopedia. The topics we identified eventually totaled 1,500 entries. We decided to create basic article categories in an attempt to capture the range and scope of over 1,000 years of Russian history and culture. As a result, articles in the Encyclopedia describe: Historical Events Documents, Declarations, or Treaties Military Campaigns or Battles The Arts, Literature, Philosophy, or Science Economic Developments or Strategies Ethnic Groups Geographical Regions Political or Territorial Units (Cities, Regions, Government Ministries) Countries Prominent in Russian History Government Policies or Programs Organizations, Movements, or Political Parties Influential Individuals Basic Terms or Phrases
Over the next few months members of the editorial board wrote scope statements and identified word lengths (ranging from 250 to 5,000 words) for the articles in their segment of the table of contents. Our goal was to produce four volumes and one million words, a quota we easily could have exceeded. After authors were commissioned and assignments completed, each article was read by the appropriate member of the Editorial Board and by the Editor in Chief for final approval. Macmillan Reference staff has edited the entries for clarity, consistency, and style.
A number of transliteration systems exist for presenting Russian proper names and terms in the English language. As the main audience for the encyclopedia is not expected to be familiar with the Russian language, strict adherence to any one system could appear artificial and intimidating. The editors decided to use standard American spelling of well-known proper names as they would appear in the New York Times (e.g., Boris Yeltsin, not Boris El’tsin). In all other cases transliterations conform to the conventions established by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. Within this system we made a few exceptions: ligatures, soft signs, and hard signs are omitted; names ending in “-ii,” “-yi,” or “-yy” are shortened to “-y”; and names of tsars and saints have been Anglicized, as Peter the Great and Saint Basil, not Petr and Vasily. The editors believe that this modified system for transliteration will be more readable and understandable than the alternatives.
Dates in Russian history can be somewhat confusing because tsarist Russia continued to use “Old Style” (O.S.) dates, based on the Julian calendar, up to the 1917 Revolution. In 1917 the Julian calenx
dar was 13 days behind the Gregorian, which had been used in Europe since 1582. The Bolsheviks adopted New Style (N.S.) dates. Thus, the October 25th Revolution was celebrated on November 7th.
I want to thank James Goldgeier, director of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies of The George Washington University for institutional support and personal encouragement. The staff of the Institute, especially Vedrana Hadzialic and Jennifer Sieck, have efficiently and cheerfully helped advance this project in many ways.
Leah Markowitz ably served as research assistant in the early phases of the project. Jill Lectka, Director of Publishing Operations and Joe Clements, Senior Editor for Macmillan Reference USA, and their staff, have simply been superb in providing the managerial, editorial, and promotional support for the creation of the Encyclopedia of Russian History. They have been tactful but persistent in encouraging the editors and contributors to meet
