Imperial Russian Rule in the Kingdom of Poland, 1864-1915

by Malte Rolf

Overview

Translated by Cynthia Klohr After crushing the Polish Uprising in 1863–1864,Russia established a new system of administration and control. Imperial Russian Rule in the Kingdom of Poland, 1864–1915 investigates in detail the imperial bureaucracy’s highly variable relationship with Polish society over the next half century. It portrays the personnel and policies of Russian domination and describes the numerous layers of conflict and cooperation between the Tsarist officialdom and the local population. Presenting case studies of both modes of conflict and cooperation, Malte Rolf replaces the old, unambiguous “freedom-loving Poles vs. oppressive Russians” narrative with a more nuanced account and does justice to the complexity and diversity of encounters among Poles, Jews, and Russians in this contested geopolitical space. At the same time, he highlights the process of “provincializing the center,” the process by which the erosion of imperial rule in the Polish Kingdom facilitated the demise of the Romanov dynasty itself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780822988649
Publisher:	University of Pittsburgh Press
Publication date:	11/02/2021
Series:	Russian and East European Studies
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	441
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Malte Rolf is professor of modern European history with an emphasis on Eastern Europe at the University of Oldenburg’s Institute of History. His main areas of research include the multiethnic empires of Eastern Europe during the long nineteenth century, the nation states of Central and Eastern Europe in the interwar period, and the Soviet Union during the Cold War era. He is the author of Imperiale Herrschaft im Weichselland: Das Königreich Polen im Russischen Imperium, Elites and Empire: Imperial Biographies in Russia and Austria-Hungary (1850–1918) and Soviet Mass Festivals, 1917–1991.

Table of Contents

Contents Acknowledgments Remarks on Transcription, Transliteration, and Quotations Note on Calendar Introduction. The Kingdom of Poland and Petersburg Rule Part I. Russian Imperial Rule and the Kingdom of Poland: Conditions, Roles, and Relationships 1. The Tsar and Partitioned Poland (1772–1863) 2. Becoming the Vistula Land: Russian Rule from 1864 to 1915 3. The Viceroy and Governors-General (1864–1915) 4. Serving the Tsar at the Empire’s Fringes 5. The Power of Censorship: Tsarist Cultural Communication 6. Religion and Politics Part II. Warsaw and the Empire 7. Modernizing Warsaw without Self-Governance (1880–1915) 8. Modern Warsaw: A Divided Community Part III. Multiple Faces of an Imperial Society 9. Russian Warsaw Part IV. The Empire’s Crisis in Poland 10. Revolution (1905–1907) 11. Regaining Stability (1907–1914) Part V. Closing Remarks on the Kingdom of Poland and the Russian Empire 12. The Vistula Land under Imperial Rule 13. The Vistula Land: A Kingdom within an Empire Glossary of Names Notes Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

The publication of Cynthia Khlor’s English-language translation of Malte Rolf’s sophisticated and deeply researched study of late imperial Russian rule in the Polish Kingdom brings this important work to a wider readership. Fully conversant with the new imperial history and employing a situational approach, Rolf demonstrates how the complex encounters and communications in this key peripheral region shaped the imperial state and contributed to its disintegration.” —Robert Blobaum, West Virginia University, author of Rewolucja. Russian Poland, 1904-1907

“Poland was to the Russian empire what India was to the British: prosperous, densely populated, ethnically and religiously diverse, and keenly aware of its own distinct identity. But what should have been a jewel in its crown turned out to be a thorn in St. Petersburg’s side. Malte Rolf’s deeply researched and fluidly written study makes admirably clear why Poland was so hard to fit into the jigsaw puzzle that was the Russian empire.” —Michael Khodarkovsky, Loyola University Chicago, author of Russia’s Steppe Frontier: The Making of a Colonial Empire, 1500-1800

"This exemplar of the new imperial history problematizes the weathered binary of state versus society that long has informed imperial Russian historical narratives."
—Journal of Modern History

From the Publisher