Coming-Military Culture in the Age of Catherine II
War and Enlightenment in Russia: Military Culture in the Age of Catherine II Eugene Miakinkov
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: University of Toronto Press (15 July 2020)
ISBN-13: 9781487503543
War and Enlightenment in Russia explores how members of the military during the reign of Catherine II reconciled Enlightenment ideas about the equality and moral worth of all humans with the Russian reality based on serfdom, a world governed by autocracy, absolute respect for authority, and subordination to seniority. While there is a sizable literature about the impact of the Enlightenment on government, economy, manners, and literature in Russia, no analytical framework that outlines its impact on the military exists. Eugene Miakinkov's research addresses this gap and challenges the assumption that the military was an unadaptable and vertical institution. Using archival sources, military manuals, essays, memoirs, and letters, the author demonstrates how the Russian militaires philosophes operationalized the Enlightenment by turning thought into reality.
Author
Eugene Miakinkov is a lecturer in the Department of Political and Cultural Studies at Swansea University.