PDF The Limits of Empire: The Roman Army in the East (Clarendon Paperbacks) by Benjamin Isaac in History

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The Russian Revolution of 1917 transformed the face of the Russian empire; politically; economically; socially; and culturally; and also profoundly affected the course of world history for the rest of the twentieth century. Now; to mark the centenary of this epochal event; historian Steve Smith presents a panoramic account of the history of the Russian empire; from the last years of the nineteenth century; through the First World War; the revolutions of 1917; and the establishment of the Bolshevik regime; to the end of the 1920s when Stalin unleashed violent collectivization of agriculture and crash industrialization upon Russian society. Drawing on recent archival scholarship; Russia in Revolution pays particular attention to the varying impact of the Revolution on different social groups: peasants; workers; non-Russian nationals; the army; women; young people; and the Church. The book provides a fresh approach toward the big; perennial questions about the Revolution and its consequences: why the tsarist government's attempt to implement political reform after the 1905 Revolution failed; why the First World War brought about the collapse of the tsarist system; why the attempt to create a democratic system after the February Revolution of 1917 never got off the ground; why the Bolsheviks succeeded in seizing power; and why Stalin came out on top in the power struggle inside the Bolshevik party after Lenin's death in 1924. A final chapter reflects on the larger significance of 1917 for the history of the twentieth century - and; for all its terrible flaws; what the promise of the Revolution might mean for us today.