In war's dark shadow: The Russians before the Great War

by W. Bruce Lincoln, Photo Gallery (Illustrator)

The author of The Romanovs ('81) has written a choppy, unilluminating account of perhaps the most vividly & extensively chronicled period in Russian history: from ca 1890 to the Revolution. The panorama that Lincoln presents is broad but static. Chapters are devoted to descriptions of the miseries of the peasantry who endured famine in 1891 & deprivation thereafter--until Stolypin threw them some crumbs to ensure their support in suppressing the '05 revolutionary movement; to the archaic Russian nobility; to the misery & degradation of the urban masses; to the Romanovs; to the ill-fated war with Japan in '05 etc. The thing that seems to tie these topics together, in Lincoln's telling, is syphilis--which, we're told pointedly, infected a broader strata of the population in Russia than elsewhere. Prostitution statistics also get considerable play. Similarly, a chapter on the sexually liberated artistic fringe--which included Diaghilev, Blok & Belyi--makes much of the poet mystic Soloviev as a prophet of sexual pleasure & also ludicrously pronounces him "the 1st--& only--philosopher that 19th-century Russia produced." Little historical explanation is attempted, but he tends toward the view that what was lacking in prerevolutionary Russia was strong leadership: the assassination of Stolypin, the one strong leader produced by the old order, should have advised him otherwise. (Russian institutions collapsed as much from their dead weight as from anything else.) Altogether, he's provided many undigested facts & much garish color--but little else. For the serious general reader, this bears no comparison with Harrison Salisbury's Black Night, White Snow ('78).--Kirkus (edited)

Genres: History, Russia, Russian History, Nonfiction, World War I, European History

573 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can understand that certain reviewers might consider this book - as well as other of Lincoln's works - "popular history," written for the masses, of no interest to the scholar. And perhaps their evaluation is correct - from a certain perspective, but one that I don't share.

I will concede that the organization and content of this book reminds me of other books that appear to be greatly expanded versions of lectures presented to undergraduates. If that's the case in this instance, then the undergraduates who heard Lincoln's lectures were extraordinarily fortunate students of history.

I write this because, in my estimation, "In War's Dark Shadow" is a "square one" book. It offers just the right material in an order, derived from the "latest" secondary works, i.e. works current as of the date of publication - rather than archival sources, that allows the attentive reader to form a sense and an understanding of an historical whole. Such a framework equips a reader - like me - to acquire, interpret and evaluate the content of articles/monographs that treat narrower topics. [I've written about "square one" books in other comments and responses I've recorded here. So I won't reiterate my thoughts now.]

And I will also say that Lincoln's complete command of language and narrative technique makes "In War's Dark Shadow" a thrill of a page-turner - just in this manner of all his books that I've read. Rendering this book a specimen of the very best sort of square-one book I can imagine.

So who might profit most from a careful and considered reading of this book?

Well, me - for one. Over the past eight to ten years or so I have read three of five narratives by Lincoln on late imperial/early Soviet history. Unfortunately I read them in reverse chronological order of their subjects - which is the order in which I first encountered them. When I leave the workforce and I have time and energy to devote to systematic reading and study of these subjects, I intend to read them in their proper order, which is: (1) "In the Vanguard of Reform," (2) "The Great Reforms," (3) "In War's Dark Shadow," (4) "Passage Through Armageddon," and (5) "Red Victory." At that point, I expect, I will have developed a net of rather fine mesh, as it were, that will allow me to read histories of narrower focus and more specialized content with more thoroughgoing comprehension and therefore longer recollection that I otherwise would/could.

I think I will read Figes' "A People's Tragedy" - a more recently completed square-one book - once more.

And this need arises because "square one" books (like Lincoln's and now Figes') can become outdated rather quickly. In the case of Lincoln's "In War's Dark Shadow" I have to believe that historians have created entire libraries of books on exactly his subjects since its publication in 1983. Indeed, the most recently published works that Lincoln lists in his bibliography of "Works Cited" date to 1980-81 - thirty-five years ago. But more recently published square-one books, such as Figes', don't necessarily supercede their predecessors. Progress in historiography - whatever that may mean - isn't inevitable. So I must read them all - again and again - until I designate a different set of such works as authoritative.

And besides, at my advanced age and in consideration of the daily, exponential expansion/extension in me of curiosity and interests, I can't even hope to retain even a minute portion of the information I ingest - if only for an hour or two. So I consult square-one books repeatedly - just as I would consult other handbooks and guides to any field of inquiry and study.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the Kirkus review appended as a description pans this book as serious history, I enjoyed it as a well-written, impressionistic overview of Russia in the decades before the successful Bolshevik revolution. Of course, I'm pretty familiar with the chronology of major events, so another take on them is of interest to me and might not be of such worth to someone looking for a more scholarly study.

[Mleescott1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Offers far more than most of my Russian history studies had taught me previously. Absolutely should be required reading for anyone interested in Russian studies. (I always keep it at-hand as I read anything else about the country for that era.)

[Mimi · Rating 2 out of 5]

History is written by the victors, and this is an unsympathetic to the Romanovs tale of Russia before the first World War.
Good to read for the information about the society and literary circles, though I think that if I'd read it straight through, I would have grown a bit weary along the way.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not well served by the GR introduction to this page (copied from the Kirkus Review).

I read it to refresh and update my memories from a Russian history course I took in the 1960s. I certainly found it well written and well organized. I also found that its coverage is compatible with what I remembered from previous coursework and reading.

It’s not a happy book, but hey, we’re talking about Russia at the worst time in its history between the Mongols’ exit and the Third Reich’s arrival.
The author’s task was to describe the situation that led to the catastrophic Revolution. I feel he did that admirably well.

[Jerome Otte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written and colorful work.

The book covers the period of 1891 to 1914. Lincoln describes Russia’s alliance with France, examines the grain famine of 1891 to look at the life of Russian peasants (and Russia’s need for foreign capital, which is why they exported the grain), and covers the life of Russian workers. He also looks at the war with Japan and the revolution of 1905. Much of this is told through the personal stories of certain individuals. Tsar Nicholas comes off as remote, incompetent, and hardly sympathetic at all.

The narrative is engaging, if a bit choppy. Politics, social movements, and Russian intellectual life are all covered pretty thoroughly. His coverage of the guardians of Russia’s “old order” is almost entirely critical, and some readers might wish for more balance. Also, when covering the strikes of 1905, they just kind of happen, and there is little coverage of the people behind them. The book’s conclusion is kind of loose and doesn’t really tie all the stories together, though maybe Lincoln meant it that way given the other books in the trilogy he would write. At one point, though, Lincoln refers to Soloviev as “the first—and only— philosopher that nineteenth-century Russia produced.” (really?) At one point Arthur Zimmermann is called “Alfred.”

An insightful, readable and well-researched work.

[Christian Schwalbach · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have held an inherent fascination over Russia and its people for some time now, and this account did an excellent job of really peeling back some of the layers and giving the reader a view of the peasantry and the intelligentsia (artistic and political) that were either bearing the brunt of suffering or seeking to overturn the system that created it, in the years before the world went mad (WWI). As I mentioned, the lions share of the accounts in this book focus on the under-class, the proto communists (though usually the more literary ones rather than military), so if you are seeking an account of Czars and Politicians, this is perhaps a less in depth account than you would prefer, though I greatly enjoyed the subject focus in a pleasantly suprising manner. Having spent most of my youth reading purely military history I am attempting to branch out a bit more into cultural history, and this book certainly fit that bill. Some viewers have complained that the sections in this book arent well unified under a theme, but I feel that rather than that being so, it allows this book to cover a broad view of this slice of Russian history (time wise) , but also to avoid losing impact by reaching too high in scale. This book is neither THE definitive account of pre WW1 Russian history, nor is it specific enough to be of narrow topical focus, but I would still recommend it to those interested in Social history that is relatively politically unbiased. 4/5 stars for Interest factor (being history) 3/5 stars for writing quality.

[Bill V · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was competently written. I didn't enjoy this as much as the other title by Mr. Lincoln that I've read, Red Victory. The subject matter is harder in this book as Lincoln tries to examine multiple facets of Russian life during this time period such as life of the peasants, industrial progress in Russia, the arts, intellectuals, the attitude of the people towards the Tsars in general as well as Nicholas II in the end, etc.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book about the time between the great famine in Russia in 1891 and the beginning of World War I with a heavy emphasis on the revolutionary movements. I appreciated Lincoln's use of biography and some telling statistics to give a more complete picture of the conditions in Russia that led to revolution. His character descriptions made the personalities more real to me.

[Kevin Moynihan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this is a great place to start for anyone interested in the topic. (That Kirkus review must have been someone with an axe to grind...) Covers all the key events in pretty good detail. Perhaps somewhat dated now and the sections that touched on Siberia are copied almost verbatim in his later ‘Siberia, Conquest...’ book but I enjoyed this.

[Mary Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

For Russian history buffs. Covers socio-economic and political conditions in Russia from the aftermath of the freeing of the serfs in 1862 until the beginning of the Great War and the Revolution. Excellent book and very readable. Ignorance and repression were no more effective strategies then than they are today.

[Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting, albeit often dry account of Russia during a few decades leading up yo WWI.

[Googoogjoob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid but perhaps diffuse in its presentation.

This is a history of the Russian Empire from, roughly, the end of serfdom (1861) to the outbreak of World War I (1914). The first chapter starts with the pivotal year of 1891- Russia's pivot to warmer relations with France, a major famine, and the beginning of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Successive chapters are then devoted to broader-focus social history, covering the peasantry; the noveau-riche industrialists; the urban proletariat; radicals and revolutionaries; and reactionaries. The second half of the book then opens with chapters narrating the Russo-Japanese War and the Revolution of 1905, followed by chapters on Duma politics and the rarified (and, frankly, kind of pathetic and incestuous) world of Russia's literary elite, before ending with a chapter on Russia's entry into the War.

This is all very interesting, and all the chapters are worthy in their own right, but the mingling here of social, political, military, etc history can be daunting. Lincoln is more interested in laying a lot of facts on the table than he is in constructing a linear narrative out of them. The book is also fairly limited in its scope and aims. Lincoln's focus is not just on domestic affairs (there's very little on foreign policy, and no detailed coverage of Russia's wars other than the Russo-Japanese War), but on domestic affairs in the imperial core; thorough as he is on ethnic Russians and the imperial government, there is no coverage of the society or politics of the Poles, Finns, Armenians, etc who also occupied the empire; and Russia's Jews are only covered in the context of the antisemitism that dominated mainstream Russian society, and the atrocities it engendered.

There are also, somewhat bewilderingly, no maps in this book.

Still, this is very good within the realm of what it covers. (The Kirkus review that Goodreads, for some reason, uses as the blurb on the main listing for this book, is weirdly, unfairly harsh to it.) Lincoln followed it with two sequels: Passage Through Armageddon: The Russians in War & Revolution 1914-18 and Red Victory: A History of the Russian Civil War, 1918-1921, which together provide more focused coverage of 1914-1921 in Russia.

[Herb Hastings · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a look at the circumstances in Russia during the period before the First World War. The author devotes a chapter to the situation of each of the various classes of Russian society. Reading the section on the living conditions of the peasants is akin to reading Dante's description of the first circle of hell. They constantly are on the edge of starvation, immersed in ignorance, disease ridden,and trapped by a dysfunctional and largely uncaring government into cycles of famine and misery.

You think people have never been forced to survive in more horrid conditions, then you get to the chapter on the factory workers. These people are the personification of the term "wage slaves". Their living quarters are barracks attached to the factory. They live in company owned squalor and are expected to be grateful and obedient. Eighteen hour days and child labor are common as are maiming injuries and death because of no concept of providing safe working conditions are even contemplated.

The political system, Tsarist Autocracy, is starting to break down and the need for some sort of change is beginning to be acknowledged, even by the conservative elements. Sealing Old Russia's doom is that times like these require a great leader, and they get Nicholas II, a weak willed man who has trouble deciding anything, who in times of crisis surrenders his will to his dominating but seriously flawed wife.

This flawed country with flawed leadership bumbles in the Great War. This war required massive factory output and efficient delivery systems to keep each countries' war machines functioning. Russia's industry and leadership are woefully inadequate to this monumental task of fighting the 20th century's first fully industrialized war. Quickly the country's systems collapse and in a remarkably short time the 300 year old Romanov dynasty ends.

This excellent book, without preaching, lays out the circumstances that led to the earthquake of the Russian Revolution.

[Austin Barselau · Rating 4 out of 5]

In War’s Dark Shadow is a popular history that contextualizes Russian society during the twilight years of Romanov rule during the twentieth century. W. Bruce Lincoln, late scholar of Russian history, describes a Russia riven with all elements of impending social unrest and revolutionary froth, including an impoverished and disease-stricken peasantry, exploited urban factory hands, persecuted Jews, and pondering and increasingly unrestful social revolutionaries. Lincoln parses the crumbling edifices of Tsarist rule, where the outward harmony and enforced order of Alexander III suddenly gave way to the weak and distanced command of Nicholas II, as well as a nation teeming with conflict and constant confrontation. As the twentieth century’s first global conflict commenced, a Russian civil society was already in the throes of civil discontent, and an overthrow of the Tsar looked increasingly in the offing.

[René · Rating 2 out of 5]

The sub-title « The Russians before the Great War » would have been much more appropriate. Very Soviet-inspired, so must be taken with a grain of salt. A long, unnecessary chapter devoted to marginal artists focusing on sexual fantasies adds nothing whatsoever to understanding this era and how real Russians lived this turbulent time.

[Scott Johnston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good and interesting history book. Lots of cool facts and he paints a picture of the state without going into excessive detail that would bog it down. Large variety of material covered which key it interesting throughout. Pretty sad how inept government officials killed so many people decade after decade. Would recommend to people who like history and Russia and want a quick and thorough read.

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

next time i hear anyone unironically say something positive or nostalgic about the romanovs, i’ll just have to refer them to this one

[Adam Lilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was an interesting book it let me know more about my country