The Slav Peoples

"The Slavs is a book of original conception and wide scope: it covers over a thousand years of history, from the eighth century to the present day. The Slav peoples, inhabiting the eastern fringes of Europe, were latecomers to civilization. They developed as separate nations, and although they have now been brought together under a single ideology, this relative uniformity makes a strong contrast with the diversity and tumult of the past. The Eastern Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians), the Poles, the Czechs and Slovaks, the Croats and Slovenes, the Bulgars and Macedonians -- each of these groups followed a path of its own. Eventful and often tragic, Slav history in all periods is fascinatingly strange. In most Slavic countries, the Middle Ages have dovetailed directly with the modern world. Serfdom did not disappear from Russia until the mid-nineteenth century. Economic development was late. But change, when it came, was stupendously rapid: the switch to capitalism took place far more quickly than in the West, and the new social forms it brought with it turned out to be mushroom growths. After two world wars and the revolution of 1917, the social and economic structure of the twentieth-century Slav world is still in the process of radical transformation. The author has successfully disentangled the confusion of nationalities, languages and religions in Slavic history. The author presents a vivid, evocative picture -- both of remote periods, in all their charm and naiveté, and of the present day, which he treats in an unusually objective spirit."--Dust jacket.

Dr Vlasto reviews the early history of the various Slav peoples (from about AD 500 onwards) and traces their gradual emergence as Christian states within the framework of either West or East European culture. Special attention is paid to the political and cultural rivalry between East and West for the allegiance of certain Slav peoples, and to the degree of cultural exchange within the Slav world, associated in particular with the use of the Slav liturgical language. His examination of all the Slav peoples and extensive use of original source material in many different languages enables Dr Vlasto to give a particularly comprehensive study of the subject.

This 2006 book documents developments in the countries of eastern Europe, including the rise of authoritarian tendencies in Russia and Belarus, as well as the victory of the democratic 'Orange Revolution' in Ukraine, and poses important questions about the origins of the East Slavic nations and the essential similarities or differences between their cultures. It traces the origins of the modern Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian nations by focusing on pre-modern forms of group identity among the Eastern Slavs. It also challenges attempts to 'nationalize' the Rus' past on behalf of existing national projects, laying the groundwork for understanding of the pre-modern history of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The book covers the period from the Christianization of Kyivan Rus' in the tenth century to the reign of Peter I and his eighteenth-century successors, by which time the idea of nationalism had begun to influence the thinking of East Slavic elites.

Winner of the 2020 Verbruggen prize This book offers an an overview of the current state of research and a basic route map for navigating an abundant historiography available in 10 different languages. The book is also an invitation to comparison between various parts of the region over the same period.

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