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
Week 1 Posts
Hay harvesting
by abishop •
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 →
Week 1 Posts
Nomadic cultures of Imperial Russia
by ccubberly •
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 […]
Comrades' Corner, Week 1 Posts
The Half-Measured Emancipation
by A. Lengyel •
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 →
Week 1 Posts
A Game of Kings and Peasants
by Alex Apollonio •
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 →
Red Star, Week 1 Posts
The Bashkir Switchman and the Trans-Siberian Railway
by jimmy jewett •
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(…)
Uncategorized
Transportation and Industrialization
by jenniferh •
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/prk2000002466/ The photo captioned, “Trans-Siberian Railway metal truss bridge on stone piers, over the Kama River near Perm, Ural Mountains Region” included in the Prokudin-Gorskiĭ collection, gives a look into the longest rail line in the world. The picture depicts … Continue reading →
Week 1 Posts
Prokudin-Gorskii’s Photographic Record
by caitlin6 •
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 […]
Week 1 Posts
Emancipation Declination
by Anna •
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 →
Comrades' Corner, Week 1 Posts
A Band-aid that didn’t stick: Russian reform in the 1860s and 70s
by gracehemmingson •
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 […]