The Reforms of Peter the Great: Progress Through Violence in Russia

by Evgenii V. Anisimov, Evgenii V. Anisimov

This psychologically penetrating revisionist account of the life and rule of Rusia's 18th-century Tsar-reformer develops an important theme - that is, what happens when the drive for "progress" is linked to an autocratic, expansionist impulse rather than to a larger goal of human emancipation? And, what has been the price of power - both for Peter and for Russia?

Genres: History, Russia, Nonfiction, Russian History

344 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1992

About the author

Евгений Анисимов

Reviews

[Zach Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter the Great was the only real figure in Russian history, everyone else was just an imitation of him.

[Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant study of the changes Peter the Great brought to Russia, and the methods he used to implement them. Anisimov, writing in the late Soviet period, sees the authoritarian nature of Peter's state as central to his thinking - the Russian Empire was a police state, through and through, just as Peter wanted it to be, with all individual needs, including his own, subordinated to the state interest.

[Greg Zorko · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book about every major aspect of Peter the Great's reforms. Anisimov's broad argument is that the reforms had a huge impact on the vision Russian rulers had about the State and its capabilities for organizing an "orderly" society. He extends this kind of vision of the State through most of the Soviet period. I do think this argument holds up well, that the idea of the State as an historical actor largely shaped by Peter carries on quite strongly through the modern period. You see this kind of thinking in people like Stolypin, Witte, Lenin, Stalin and others. Anisimov is also dealing in the book at one of the central difficulties that Russian rulers struggled with: how to pursue modernization and "great power" status without damaging or upsetting the existing political order. Of course, there was tremendous disruption during Peter's reign, and it created in Anisimov's view a kind of feedback loop where coercive methods invited social disruption and resistance (flight or rebellion) which then necessitated further coercion.

This is great book but probably not the best introduction to Peter the Great, definitely towards a more academic audience, with a strong historiographical argument. I was hoping Anisimov would explore more of the contradictions between an autocratic vision of a well ordered society and the reality that Peter (and subsequent Tsars) inherited a fairly weak State apparatus.

[Darrell Stanaford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating history of Peter's reforms and efforts to use authoritarianism to modernize Russia. So many actions reminded me of present day Russia.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is as good a history book as you can get, provided you are interested in Russian history from the end of the seventeenth century to the beginning of the eighteenth century, and know at least a little bit about it already.

Peter the Great was a very interesting tsar. He took Russia out of the Dark Ages and into the Enlightenment and skipped the Renaissance era all together--a fact that makes Russia unique among European nations.

The book is translated from the original Russian, but the translator knew the author, and they worked together on it, so the translation is what the author wanted. It preserves most of his satire, irony, and little jokes, and those make the book readable, for a history text.

If you think of this as a text, you'll like it. If you think of it as light reading, you'll get bogged down.