The Russian Empire had survived a conflict ridden existence of violent political change and internal reform from a period of 1721 up to the Russian revolution in 1917. One point of interest, in this vast historical time period, is the Crimean War that took place in the mid-19th century from October 1853 to February 1856,(…)
Monthly Archives: August 2014
Hay harvesting
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This photo depicts farm workers harvesting their hay fields. According to the Library of Congress’ Prokudin-Gorskii Photographic Record, the location of the photo is unknown but is likely close to Cherepovets in north central Russia. Farmers and farm workers like the ones pictured … Continue reading →
Nomadic cultures of Imperial Russia
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This photograph shows a group of nomadic people from the regions that are modern day Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Its interesting to see this culture of people since most depictions of the Soviet union are of the Russian-caucasian people, rather then nomads. I feel as though the ethnic identities across the Soviet Union were overlooked […]
The Half-Measured Emancipation
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the picture above offers a glimpse into the lives of Russian peasants towards the end of the 19th century. The picture makes it clear that although the Russian serfs were emancipated in 1861, they remained second-class citizens for decades after. … Continue reading →
A Game of Kings and Peasants
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Despite the Russian Empire’s rapid entry onto the world stage after Peter the Great’s program of westernization in the early 18th century, it began to lag far behind countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States during the … Continue reading →
The Bashkir Switchman and the Trans-Siberian Railway
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The Trans-Siberian Railway, picture above, was a massive industrial project undertaken during the end of the 19th Century and completed in the early 20th Century. When first announced, I am sure the first problem that came to mind was the vast expanse the railway would cover. Russia was and remains the largest country in the(…)
Prokudin-Gorskii’s Photographic Record
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I chose this photo because I wanted to look into how these people farming were affected by the growing change to industrialization. While reading the assigned chapter in Russia A History, I became interested in the famine that started in 1891. Twenty provinces were affected, with hundreds of thousands of deaths (Freeze, 238). While the […]
Emancipation Declination
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After suffering defeat in the Crimean War, late Imperial Russia underwent many reforms in an effort to reestablish national confidence and internal stability. Some of these reforms included changes to the judicial and educational system as well as installing zemstvo- an elected … Continue reading →
A Band-aid that didn’t stick: Russian reform in the 1860s and 70s
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Reform. Counter-reform. One step forward and two steps back. This pattern can be seen in many places throughout history, and usually leads to a period of explosive reform started by the people. Examples of this pattern are the reforms begun by Qing Russia before the 1911 Revolution and even the connection between post-civil war […]
A famous vacation spot for criminals in Bukhara
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Although the Soviet Union traditionally claims superiority when it comes to jailing and exiling people in deplorable conditions, this photo places the Emirate of Bukhara as a notable competitor. Perhaps only a mere footnote compared to the notorious purges of Joseph Stalin, the prison at Zindan certainly doesn’t seem any more appealing than a Soviet gulag […]