Time Of Troubles

Sergei Feodorovich Platonov's Time of Troubles is a classic study of the years 1598-1613, a turbulent and decisive period in Russian history. Available for the first time in English, this work will be a valuable tool for students of the medieval as well as modern periods. Platonov, himself a tragic victim of the regimentation imposed on Soviet cultural life in the 1920s, was born in 1860 and attained immense public and professional recognition in Russia as a leading historian. In his work he synthesized, to a high degree, two major traditions of Russian historiography: the St. Petersburg "school," which emphasized the collection and rigorous use of primary sources, and the Moscow "school" with its socioeconomic and geopolitical approaches. Time of Troubles represents the finished product of a lifetime spent in research, writing, and teaching. In broad terms it treats nearly a century and a half of Russian history (1500-1648); in detail it scrutinizes developments in the Muscovite State from 1598 to 1613. Some of the major issues covered in this volume are: the growing consolidation of Muscovite absolutism and the formation of a national state; the expansion of Muscovy to the west and southeast; the demise of the boyar class and the rise of the service-gentry; the emergence of serfdom as the social basis of Muscovite society; the cataclysmic end of one dynasty, the House of Rurik, and the beginnings of another, the House of Romanov. For Platonov—who devoted most of his career as a scholar to the study of these dramatic years—the epoch marked nothing less than the great divide between medieval Muscovy and modern Russia, witnessing the downfall of an essentially patrimonial regime and its replacement, after fierce struggles, by a more modern state founded on a new constellation of social groups.

He shows that serfs did not actively participate in the civil war and that the abolition of serfdom was never a rebel goal. Instead, most rebels were petty gentry, professional soldiers, townsmen, and cossacks who were united in fierce opposition to tsars they believed to be illegitimate usurpers.".

This study of the Russian army and how it has fared in the uncertain transitional period since independence in December 1991 provides the basis for understanding its present and potential future role in the new political developments within Russia. Following an historical overview of Russia′s security agenda and an examination of the Russian/Soviet army′s tradition of involvement in politics, the book then examines Russia′s current security interests and the role of the army in protecting them. Geopolitical perspectives are linked to the security issues of the `Near Abroad′, and to the nuclear dimension of security. Pavel K Baev then considers the question of the feasibility of political control over the Russian army. The problem of the politicization of the army is followed through the interlinked issues of stalled military reform and a drastically reduced military budget. Baev examines the current military role of the army with case studies on conflict management in the Caucasus and the army′s performance in the role of peace-keeper in the Chechen War. Finally, the place of the army in Russia′s peace-keeping activities within a broader European context is examined.

This is the first academic study of the British Army in Northern Ireland. It investigates the complex experiences of English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish soldiers alike during the often-controversial Operation Banner 1969-2007. The experiences of these soldiers raise many important and difficult questions on war and policy. When do 'troubles', riots and insurgency become war? How does a liberal state respond to an internal war within its own borders? How does it decide on its rules of engagement for its armed forces?Featuring key interviews with former soldiers, paramilitaries and Special Branch detectives, amongst other key actors, the authors attempt to answer these questions and enhance our knowledge of conflict resolution by providing a deep analysis of one of the most significant British military operations since the Second World War.

A ten-year-old Lebanese boy goes to school, helps his mother with chores, plays with his friends, and lives with his family in a basement shelter when bombings occur and fighting begins on his street.

THE BORDER WARS An uneasy peace had prevailed these last few years between the Empire of Videssos and rival Makuran. But now Makuran's King of Kings alerted his border holdings--even the small fortress where Abivard's father was lord--to prepare for barbarian raids. But Abivard himself received a warning of a different sort: an eerie prophecy of a field, a hill, and a shield shining across the sea. Before a season had turned, his father and his King lay dead upon the field of battle--the very place foreseen in the vision. Abivard hastened home to defend his family and his land. To his dismay, the most urgent danger came not from marauding tribes, or from Videssos, but from the capital. An obscure and greedy bureaucrat had captured the crown; the rightful heir had disappeared, and no mortal man would say where he might be found. Abivard's strange fate would lead him to his King, though, and on through peril to the very brink of greatness--and of doom! FIRST TIME IN PRINT

The first western account of the role of pretenders and impostors in early seventeenth-century Russia.