Similarities and differences between Russia and medieval Europe in 1450-1750

Russia and Europe (1547–1917)

by Martin Aust Original in German, displayed in English▾

Published: 2016-03-10 Print E-mail XML Metadata

Over the last five centuries, Russia and Europe have been closely interconnected politically, economically and culturally. Particularly from the 18th century onward, the relationship between Russia and other European countries and societies extended beyond dynastic links, political alliances, economic trade and individual cultural transfers. The relationship between Russia and Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries was characterized by a high degree of cultural interconnection. Over the past three centuries, Russia and Europe were observed and commented upon in relation to one another in travelogues, the press, literature, the philosophy of history and historiography. Thus, comparisons between the two regions must be incorporated into a history of reciprocal perceptions and interactions.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Moscow and Europe in the 16th and 17th Centuries: Pragmatism and Opening

Russia and Europe in the 18th Century: Empire and Civilization

Russia and Europe 1789–1855: Revolution, Nation and Empire

Russia and Europe in 1855–1917: Empire and Globalization

Appendix

Sources

Literature

Notes

Indices

Citation

Introduction

In the historiography, the topic of "Russia and Europe" has a tradition of its own. The depiction of this relationship occurred in constant correspondence with politics, the press and also mythical motifs, and reflected changing cognitive maps of Russia and Europe . In the first half of the 19th century, the university disciplines of history, Slavic languages, and geography brought an end to the European perception of Russia as being in northern Europe. These disciplines, but also popular publishing, now located Russia in the east of Europe.1 This created the cognitive map on which the university discipline of "eastern European history" – which emerged in the late 19th century initially in Berlin and Vienna – located Russia.2 However, opinion regarding the positioning of Russia with regard to the present and history of Europe was not only important in Europe. For Russian historians in the 19th century, it was equally central. From 1818 onward, Nikolai M. Karamzin (1766–1826) published a history of the Russian state in which he depicted the emergence of autocracy as being unique and specific to Russia on the one hand, while on the other hand describing the history of Russia as being of equal importance to the national histories of other European states.3 Sergei M. Solovev (1820–1879) viewed Russian history from a Hegelian perspective as following a general pattern of progression which can be observed in world history – but under specifically Russian conditions. In the enormous territory of Russia, he argued, historical processes move at a slower pace than in the smaller spaces of Europe.4 In his comprehensive account of Russian history, Vasilii O. Kliuchevskii (1841–1911) pointed out that even before Peter the Great (1672–1725, reigned 1682/1689–1725) a noticeable Europeanization of Russia had occurred, with baroque culture and humanist ideals of education being transferred to Russia from Poland and the Ukraine.5 In 1925, Sergei F. Platonov (1860–1933) described the extent of contact between Muscovite Russia and Europe in the 15th to the 17th centuries, impressively summarizing the state of knowledge on this subject in pre-revolutionary historiography.6

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