The Global Impacts Of Russia S Great War And Revolution

The Russian Revolution of 1917 was quickly perceived by both contemporaries and subsequent scholars as not merely a domesticevent within the Russian Empire, but as a systemic crisis that fundamentally challenged the assumptions underpinning the existinginternational system. The revolution posed striking challenges not merely to conventional diplomacy, with the Bolsheviks openly seeking to end the war, spark international revolutionary class war, and vocally backing national self-determination for formerly subject peoples, but to existing social, economic, and ethnic orders. From nomadic peoples in Mongolia and the Central Asian steppe suddenly juggling new dilemmas of greater autonomy or full independence, to German workers, soldiers, and sailorschallenging their traditional rulers, or Turkish politicians seeking to build a viable new nation state from the rubble of the Ottoman Empire, there were few political developments anywhere in the world in 1917-24 not directly or indirectly influenced by the Russian Revolution. "The Arc of Revolution," which is Book 1 in the RGWR volume "The Global Impacts of Russia's Great War and Revolution," examines the reverberations of the Russian Revolution in the geographically contiguous imperial borderlands traditionally contested between Imperial Russia and its geopolitical rivals--the terrain stretching from Finland, through Central Europe to the Transcaucasus and Central Asia. Books 2 and 3 in the volume examine the wider global impact of the revolution in regionsof the world noncontiguous with Russia itself, from North and South America to Asia, Africa, Australia, and various parts of Europe. The emphasis in Books 2 and 3, "The Wider Arc of Revolution," is on the complex emotional appeal and ideological legacies of Russian communism, including anticommunism, evidenced well into the 20th century.

"The Russian Revolution of 1917 was quickly perceived by both contemporaries and subsequent scholars as not merely a domestic event within the Russian Empire, but as a systemic crisis that fundamentally challenged the assumptions underpinning the existing international system. The revolution posed striking challenges not merely to conventional diplomacy, with the Bolsheviks openly seeking to end the war, spark international revolutionary class war, and vocally backing national self-determination for formerly subject peoples, but to existing social economic, and ethnic orders. From nomadic peoples in Mongolia and the Central Asian steppe suddenly juggling new dilemmas of greater autonomy or full independence, to German workers, soldiers, and sailors challenging their traditional rulers, or Turkish politicians seeking to build a viable new nation state from the rubble of the Ottoman Empire, there were few political developments anywhere in the world in 1917-24 not directly or indirectly influenced by the Russian Revolution"--

"The Russian Revolution of 1917 was quickly perceived by both contemporaries and subsequent scholars as not merely a domestic event within the Russian Empire, but as a systemic crisis that fundamentally challenged the assumptions underpinning the existing international system. The revolution posed striking challenges not merely to conventional diplomacy, with the Bolsheviks openly seeking to end the war, spark international revolutionary class war, and vocally backing national self-determination for formerly subject peoples, but to existing social economic, and ethnic orders. From nomadic peoples in Mongolia and the Central Asian steppe suddenly juggling new dilemmas of greater autonomy or full independence, to German workers, soldiers, and sailors challenging their traditional rulers, or Turkish politicians seeking to build a viable new nation state from the rubble of the Ottoman Empire, there were few political developments anywhere in the world in 1917-24 not directly or indirectly influenced by the Russian Revolution"--

"On the centenary of the Russian Revolution, Jonathan Daly and Leonid Trofimov have reinvigorated the study of a turning point in world history. Instead of rehashing the internal dynamics of the Bolshevik takeover, the authors have carefully juxtaposed the international ambitions of the Bolsheviks with the Revolution’s reception around the world. Daly and Trofimov pair their lucid introductory essay with documents from Soviet officials, intellectuals in South America, W. E. B. Du Bois in the United States, and others, so readers will quickly realize how revolutionary ideas cross oceans and transcend geopolitical boundaries. This volume thus takes a topic once reserved for students of Russian history and places it in a world historical perspective; those interested in global history, European history, and, of course, those fascinated by events in Petrograd and Moscow will find ample sources of inspiration in this text. As the Russian Federation is now exerting its influence on a global scale, the time is ripe to consider the Russian Revolution in such broad terms." —Nigel Raab, Loyola Marymount University

This volume features new research on the critical effects of World War I and the Russian Revolution and Civil War in Northeast Asia, a broad region that has historically included the Russian Far East, Mongolia, China, Korea, and Japan. Drawing together noted international specialists, the chapters break new ground, bringing unused or understudied sources into the historical record and posing new questions about the causes, consequences, and dynamics of the war and revolutionary upheavals in the region. More than anything, the volume makes clear that our familiar habit of approaching Russia's Great War and Revolution from a predominantly European angle needs to be reconsidered. These titanic events convulsed the entire empire, including Russia's faraway world on the Pacific, reshaping Northeast Asia towards its central involvement in the twentieth century's bloodiest wars. The Northeast Asian theater was not peripheral to the developments of the era but rather an integral part of an unavoidably international and transnational history of conflict, destruction, and transformation. The essays in "Russia's Great War and Revolution in the Far East" help us appreciate a number of the lesser-known complexities of this story, offering scholars valuable newperspectives in the process.