WEB READINGS IN RUSSIAN HISTORY

• Secondary Sources:
  • A Brief History of Medieval Russia
  • Kievan Rus' and Mongol Periods
  • The Asiatic Background
  • Rambaud on the Greeks and Scythians
• Primary Sources:
  • A Roman Description of the Parthians
  • Herodotus on the Scythians
  • Jordanes on the Goths in Southern Ukraine and Russia
  • The Goths in the Third Century
  • Jordanes Describes Origin of the Huns
  • A Fourth-Century Description of the Huns
  • An East Roman Embassy to the Court of Attilla the Hun
  • An Introduction to the History of Khazaria
  • Medieval Quotes About Khazar Judaism

Secondary Sources:

• A Brief History of Medieval Russia
• Kievan Rus' and Mongol Periods
• House of Rurik
• Chronology of Russian History: The Kievan and Appanage Periods
• A Short History of the Russian Orthodox Church-Baptism
• Rambaud on the Early Russian Slavs
• Rambaud on the Pre-Christian Kievan Rus'

Primary Sources:

• The Early Raids of the Northmen
• The Siege of Paris
• The Baptism of Rollo and the Normans in France
• The Varangians (Normans) and the Origins of the Russian and Ukrainian States.
• The Founding of the City of Kiev
• Prince Oleg's Campaign Against Constantinople
• The Byzantine Russian Treaty of 911
• The Conversion of Russia according to Nestor's Chonicle.
• Another Version of The Christianisation of Russia (988)

• Secondary Sources:
  • A Brief History of Medieval Russia
  • Kievan Rus' and Mongol Periods
  • House of Rurik
  • Chronology of Russian History: The Kievan and Appanage Periods
  • A Short History of the Russian Orthodox Church-Flowering
  • Rambaud on the Kievan Rus' Principality under Vladimir and Yaroslav
• Primary Sources:
  • The Martyrdom of Boris and Gleb
  • A Eulogy on St. Vladimir by Metropolitan Hilarion.
  • Hilarion's 'Sermon on Law and Grace'
  • Ruskaia Pravda
  • Vladimir Monomakh's Instructions to his Children
  • The Pouchenie of Vladimir Monomakh
  • Maksim Kovalevsky on Old Russian Folkmotes
  • The Lay of Igor's Raid

• Secondary Sources:
  • A Brief History of Medieval Russia
  • Rambaud on the Appanage Period-Unity in Division
  • Rambaud on the Rise of Regionalism--The Northeast
  • Rambaud on the Rise of Regionalism--The West
  • Rambaud on the Rise of Regionalism--The Northwest
  • Rambaud on the Livonian and Teutonic Knights
  • Rambaud on the Mongol Conquest
  • Rambaud on Alexander Nevsky
  • Rambaud on the Mongol Yoke
  • Rambaud on the Lithuanians and their Principality
  • Kievan Rus' and Mongol Periods
  • House of Rurik
  • Chronology of Russian History: The Kievan and Appanage Periods
  • A Short History of the Russian Orthodox Church-Mongol Period
• Primary Sources:
  • The Travels Of Marco Polo in Asia
  • The Zadonshchina

• Secondary Sources:
  • A Brief History of Medieval Russia
  • Muscovite Period
  • House of Rurik
  • Rambaud on the Rise of the Grand Principality of Moscow
  • Rambaud on Ivan III. the Great
  • Chronology of Russian History: The Kievan and Appanage Periods
  • Andrei Rublev
  • Andrei Rublev and Muscovite Culture
  • The Moscow Patriarchate, 1448-1800.
  • A Short History of the Russian Orthodox Church--St. Sergius
  • A Short History of the Russian Orthodox Church--Possessors/ Non-Possessors
  • A Short History of the Russian Orthodox Church-Autocephaly
• Primary Sources:
  • Afanasy Nikitin on Muslim India
  • A Short History of the Moscow Kremlin
  • Moscow theThird Rome(excerpts) by the monk Filofei
  • Excerpts from the Domostroi (mid-16th century)

• Secondary Sources:
  • Muscovite Period
  • House of Rurik
  • Chronology of Russian History: The Kievan and Appanage Periods
  • The Concise Ivan the Terrible Complete
  • The Stroganoff Family
  • The Role of the Zemskii Sobor in Russian History
  • Maksim Kovalevsky on Old Russian Parliaments
• Primary Sources:
  • Prince Andrew Kurbskii, First Epistle Written to the Tsar and Grand Prince of Moscow in Consequence of His Fierce Persecution
  • Ivan IV: Epistle of the Tsar and Sovereign to All His Russian Tsardom Against Those Who Have Broken the Pledge of Allegiance, Against Prince Andrei Kurbskii and His Comrades, Concerning Their Treacheries.

• Secondary Sources:
  • Muscovite Period
  • House of Rurik
  • House of Romanov
  • Chronology of Russian History: The Kievan and Appanage Periods
  • The Role of the Zemskii Sobor in Russian History
  • Maksim Kovalevsky on Old Russian Parliaments
• Primary Sources:

Section VIII. THE EARLY ROMANOVS

• Secondary Sources:
  • Muscovite Period
  • House of Rurik
  • House of Romanov
  • Chronology of Russian History: The Kievan and Appanage Periods
  • The Stroganoff Family
  • The Role of the Zemskii Sobor in Russian History
  • Maksim Kovalevsky on Old Russian Parliaments
  • A Short History of the Russian Orthodox Church-Old Believer Schism
• Primary Sources:
  • Excerpts from The Code of Law of 1649 (Ulozhenie)
  • Maksim Kovalevsky on Old Russian Parliaments
  • Grigori Kotoshikhin on the Education of the Princes and on on the Private Life of the Boyars

• Secondary Sources:
  • Early Imperial Period
  • House of Romanov
  • Chronology of Russian History: The Imperial Period, 1689-1917
  • A Short History of the Russian Orthodox Church-18th Century
• Primary Sources:
  • Simeon Polotski on the Birth of Peter I
  • Patrick Gordon on his Service in Russia and on the Revolt of the Steltsi
  • Von Korb's Account of the Crushing of the Streltsi Revolt
  • Bishop Burnet's Impressions of Peter the Great in 1698
  • Peter I's Employment of Foreign Experts
  • de Missy's Description of Peter I's Western Dress Code
  • Alexander Gordon's Impressions of Peter I
  • From the Spritual Reglement of Feofan Prokopovich
  • Feofan Prokopovich's Funeral Sermon on Peter I
  • Pososhkov on the Merchants and the Peasants in the Early 18th Century
  • A German Description of the "Different Bathing of the Russians".

• Secondary Sources:
  • Early Imperial Period
  • House of Romanov
  • Chronology of Russian History: The Imperial Period, 1689-1917
  • A Short History of the Russian Orthodox Church-18th Century
• Primary Sources:
  • Vasili Tatishchev of General History and Russian History
  • Two Letters of Mikhail Lomonosov to his Patron, I. I. Shuvalov.
  • "Who are Idolators?" by Metropolitan Platon Levshin
  • Mikhaylo Shcherbatov (1733-1790) On the Corruption of Manners in Russia
  • From the Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow of Alexander Radishchev
  • Extracts from the Menoirs of Princess Dolgoruki. (1714-1771)
  • From the Memoirs of Mikhail Vasilevich Danilov (1722-1790)
  • Ekaterina Dashkov on the Establishment of a Russian Academy
  • From the Memoirs of Adrian Moyseevich Gribovski
  • An English Ambassador on Catherine II and Her Reign (1778)
  • Catharine II Announces the First Partition of Poland (1772)
  • Declaration of the Powers Concerning the Final Partition of Poland (1795)

• Secondary Sources:
  • Early Imperial Period
  • House of Romanov
  • Chronology of Russian History: The Imperial Period, 1689-1917
  • A Short History of the Russian Orthodox Church-19th Century
• Primary Sources:
  • Letter of Catherine II to d'Alembert Regarding the Education of Paul I
  • Semën Andreevich Poroshin from his Diary on the Education of Paul I
  • From the Addrsss upon the Accession of Alexander I by Metropitan Platon Levshin
  • Alexander I on the Formation of a Militia During the Napoleonic Wars
  • Czartoryski's Description of Alexander I and his Reforms
  • An Austrian View of Alexander I and the Russians at the Congress of Vienna, 1815
  • The Principle Provisions of the Congress of Vienna, 1815
  • The Text of the Holy Alliance, 1815

• Secondary Sources:
  • Early Imperial Period
  • House of Romanov
  • Chronology of Russian History: The Imperial Period, 1689-1917
• Primary Sources:
  • Nicholas I's Proclamation on the Abolition of the Polish Constitution (1832)
  • A French Description of Corporal and other Punishments in Russia Under Nicholas I
  • A French Description of Nicholas I
  • Peter Kropotkin's Description of Nobles and Serfs in Pre-Emancipation Russia
  • An American Description of the Foundling Hospital in Moscow

• Secondary Sources:
  • Late Imperial Period
  • House of Romanov
  • Chronology of Russian History: The Imperial Period, 1689-1917
  • An American Account of the Siberian Exile System, by George Kennan, Sr.
  • A Short History of the Russian Orthodox Church-19th Century
• Primary Sources:
  • The Emancipation Manifesto, 1861
  • Declaration of Alexander II Emancipating the Serfs (March 3, 1861)
  • Nikolai Turgenieff on the Emancipation Of Russian Serfs
  • Maksim Kovalevsky on Serfdom
  • Maksim Kovalevsky on the Village Community
  • The Basic Principles Concerning the Reform of the Judicial Administration of Russia
  • The Three Emperors' League, June 18, 1881
  • Leo Deutsch on Vera Figner and theV narod (go-to-the-people) Movement
  • Peter Kropotkin on the Assassination of Alexander II

• Secondary Sources:
  • John MacKail's Overview of the Golden and Silver Ages of Russian Culture
  • Sergius Stepniak on Nihilism and Narodnichestvo
• Primary Sources:
  • Turgenief's definition of Nihilism, as presented in the Novel, Fathers and Sons
  • A Critique of Nihilism by Constantine Pobedonostsev: "The Ideals of Unbelief"

• Secondary Sources:
  • Late Imperial Period
  • House of Romanov
  • Chronology of Russian History: The Imperial Period, 1689-1917
  • A Short History of the Russian Orthodox Church-19th Century
• Primary Sources:
  • Letter of the Revolutionary Committee to Alexander III (1881)
  • The Reinsurance Treaty, June 18, 1887
  • The Franco-Russian Alliance Military Convention, August 18, 1892
  • A Personal Narrative of a Siberian Exile, Leo Deutsch
  • Sergei Witte on Russian economic policy
  • The Rise of Russian Industries, as Described at the Chicago World's Fair

• Secondary Sources:
  • Late Imperial Period
  • House of Romanov
  • Chronology of Russian History: The Imperial Period, 1689-1917
  • A Short History of the Russian Orthodox Church-20th Century
• Primary Sources:
  • A Proclamation Inciting a Pogrom of the Jews, Easter, 1903
  • Korolenko Describes the Kishinev Pogrom of 1903
  • Press Accounts of Bloody Sunday, January 22, 1905
  • Arthur Cassini on the 1905 Revolution
  • Peter Kropotkin on the 1905 Revolution
  • The programmes of Russian political parties:
    • The Bolsheviks
    • The Constitutional Democrats (Kadets)
    • The Mensheviks
    • The Nationalists
    • The Octobrists
    • The Social-Revolutionaries
    • The Union of the Russian People
  • The Manifesto Calling the First Duma (August, 1905)
  • The Manifesto of 17 October 1905
  • Fundamental Law of 1906
  • Extracts from the Russian Constitution of April 23, 1906
  • Nicholas II on the Dissolution of the First Duma (July, 1906)
  • The Stolypin Land Reform.
  • The Anglo-Russian Entente, 1907
  • The Annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary, September - October, 1908

• Secondary Sources:
  • Late Imperial Period
  • House of Romanov
  • Chronology of Russian History: The Imperial Period, 1689-1917
  • A Short History of the Russian Orthodox Church-20th Century
• Primary Sources:
  • The Russian Orange Book, 1914
  • The Austro-Hungarian Ultimatum to Serbia, July 23, 1914
  • Russian Memorandum of Advice to Serbia, July 24, 1914
  • The "Willy-Nicky" Telegrams, July 29 - August 1, 1914
  • The German Declaration of War on Russia, August 1, 1914
  • War on the Eastern Front: The Battle of Wirballen, October 4-8, 1914
  • Failings of the Russian Army Medical Service, 1914
  • Capture of Przemysl, March 30, 1915
  • Tsar Nicholas' Declaration Against the Bulgarians, October 6, 1915
  • The Abdication of Nicholas II
  • The First Provisional Government of 1917
  • The Basmachi Movement From Within: Account of Zeki Velidi Togan
  • Lenin on his 'April Theses'
  • Resolutions of the First Congress of Soviets, 1917
  • Decree on Peace, November 1917
  • The Foundation of the Cheka, December 1917
  • Declaration of Rights of the Toiling & Exploited People
  • The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, March 1918

Section XVIII. THE BOLSHEVIKS IN POWER-THE POLITICAL FOUNDATION OF THE SOVIET STATE.

• Decree on Peace, November 1917
• The Foundation of the Cheka, December 1917
• Declaration of Rights of the Toiling & Exploited People
• Lenin, Excerpts from The State and Revolution (1918)
• Constitution of the RSFSR (1918)
• Interview of Lenin with the Manchester Guardian (1919)

Section XIX. THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR 

• The First Acts of Allied Intervention, from The Military Writings of Leon Trotsky
• The Czechoslovak Mutiny, from The Military Writings of Leon Trotsky
• The Revolt of the lest SR's, from The Military Writings of Leon Trotsky
• The Red Army in the Civil War, from The Military Writings of Leon Trotsky
• Chronology of the Russian Civil War--1918, from The Military Writings of Leon Trotsky
• Intelligentsia / Lenin to Gorky, 15 September, 1919
• Testimony before the 102nd US Congress--The AEF Experience in Russia

Section XX. WAR COMMUNISM.

• The Post-War Soviet / U.S. Agreement on Food Shipments to Russia, 19 October, 1920
• Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement, 16 March, 1921
• Alexandra Kollontai, The Workers' Opposition (1921)
• The Kronstadt Uprising (1921)
• Alexander Berkman on Kronstadt, from The Bolshevik Myth

Section XXI. THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY.

• Sources on Anti-Religious Campaigns
• Sources on Soviet Intellectural Policy
• Lenin on the State Planning Commission (1922)
• The Policy of 1923-1927, in Trotsky's, The Third International After Lenin
• The "Underestimation" of the Peasantry, from Trotsky's The New Course
• On the 'Smychka' Between Town and Country, from Trotsky's The New Course

Section XXII.  FACTIONAL STRUGGLE AND THE RISE OF STALIN.

• Lunacharsky on Trotsky
• Lunacharsky on Zinoviev
• Excerpts from Lenin's Testament
• Josef Stalin, Trotskyism or Leninism? (1924)
• Trotsky on Lenin's Testament (1926)
• Trotsky's On Lenin's Testament (1932)
• Trotsky, How Did Stalin Defeat the Opposition? (1935)

Section XXIII.  THE STALINIST STATE SYSTEM.
 

• Hymn to Stalin
• Constitution of the USSR (1936)
• Trotsky, Stalinism and Bolshevism (1937)
• "The Words of Stalin"
• Sources on Soviet Intellectural Policy
• Another view of Stalin by Ludo Martens (An Apology for Stalinism)

Section XXIV.  THE TERROR AND THE PURGES.

• The Soviet Purges: Official Explanation
• Sources on the Terror and Repression in the Stalin Era.
• Document on the GULAG
• Source on Secret Police Survaillance of the Foreign Press
• Another view of Stalin by Ludo Martens (An Apology for Stalinism)

Section XXV.  THE FIVE YEAR PLANS AND COLLECTIVIZATION.

• Soviet Sources on Collectivization
• Stalin, Dizzy with Success: Concerning Questions on the Collective Farm Movement (1930)
• Document on the Ukrainian Famine (132-1933)
• Collective Farms in the USSR, 1929-1940
• Another view of Stalin by Ludo Martens (An Apology for Stalinism)

Section XXVI.  THE GOALS AND CONDUCT OF SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY, 1918-1933.

• Sources on Early Soviet-American Cooperation.
• Source on the Soviet and American Communist Parties

Section XXVII.  THE SOVIET UNION AND THE RISE OF NAZISM, 1933-1941.

• Georgi Dimitrov, Report to the VII Congress of the Communist International (1935)
• Georgi Dimitrov, Youth Against Fascism (1935)
• Georgi Dimitrov, The People's (Popular) Front
• Anti-Comintern Pact, 1936
• Nazi-Soviet Relations 1939-1941
• Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact April 13, 1941
• Another view of Stalin by Ludo Martens (An Apology for Stalinism)

Section XXVIII.  THE GREAT FATHERLAND WAR.

• The Axis Invasion of the U.S.S.R., according to the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial (pp. 327-334)
• The Axis Invasion of the U.S.S.R., according to the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial (pp. 335-367)
• A German Field Marshal Instructs the Wehrmacht on Its Role in the Soviet Union
• Red Army Casualties, 1941-1945
• Rapprochement between The Orthodox Church and Soviet Government During World War II
• Agreement Between the United Kingdom and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, 12 July 1941
• Twenty-Year Mutual Assistance Agreement Between the United Kingdom and the U.S.S.R, 26 May 1942
• Mutual Aid Agreement Between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, 11 June 1942
• Moscow Conference--October, 1943
• The Tehran Conference, 28 November-1 December 1943
• Soviet Sources on the Jewish Antifascist Committee
• Soviet Sources on U.S.-U.S.S.R. Relations during World War II
• The Yalta Conference, February 1945
• Soviet Denunciation of the Pact with Japan, 29 April 1945
• The Berlin (Potsdam) Conference, July 17-August 2, 1945
• Soviet Declaration of War on Japan, 8 August 1945

Section XXIX.  POST-WAR INTERNAL AFFAIRS.

• Stalin, Marxism and the Problems of Linguistics.
• Document on the Deportation of the Crimean Tatars
• The Pro-Independence Guerrilla Movement in Estonia (1944-1955)
• Pacification of Ukraine: Soviet Counterinsurgency, 1944-1956
• Another view of Stalin by Ludo Martens (An Apology for Stalinism)
• New Evidence on Beria's Downfall

Section XXX.  THE COLD WAR.

• George Kennan Views Soviet Post-War Foreign Policy, 1946
• Soviet Sources on the Cold War
• Truman Doctrine, 12 March 1947
• North Atlantic Treaty 1949
• New Findings on Soviet Involvement in the Korean War--1
• New Findings on Soviet Involvement in the Korean War--2
• New Findings on Soviet Involvement in the Korean War--3
• Response to New Findings
• Another view of Stalin by Ludo Martens (An Apology for Stalinism)

Section XXXI.  THE KHRUSHCHEV ERA AND DESTALINIZATION, 1956-1964.

• Khrushchev's Secret Speech to the closed Session of the 20th Party Congress of the CPSU, February 25, 1956
• Hungary and Poland 1956: Khrushchev's CPSU CC Presidium Meeting on East European Crises, 24 October 1956
• An Eyewitness to the Crushing of the Hungarian Revolution, 1956
• Third World Reaction to Hungary and Suez, 1956: A Soviet Foreign Ministry Analysis
• The Khrushchev-Nixon Exchange, 1956
• James J. Harford, "Korolev's Triple Play: Sputniks 1, 2, and 3"
• The U-2 Incident 1960
• Soviet Foreign Policy During the Cold War: A Documentary Sampler--Sino-Soviet Relations, Berlin and Germany

Section XXXII.  THE BREZHNEV ERA AND STAGNATION, 1964-1984.

• Roy Medvedev on Leonid Brezhnev
• The Czech Hardliners' "Request" for Soviet Intervention, August 1968
• Mark Kramer, The Prague Spring and the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia: New Interpretations
• The Brezhnev Doctrine, 1968
• Soviet Foreign Policy During the Cold War: A Documentary Sampler on Vietnam and Afghanistan
• Two Soviet Documents on Sino-Soviet Relations in 1980
• Declassified Soviet Documents on the Polish Crisis if 1980-1981
• Soviet Documents on Prague Spring, Detente and Afghanistan
• Constitution of the USSR (1977)
• Sources on Soviet Intellectural Policy
• Petition on the Legality of the Trial of Ginzburg, Galanskov, Dobrovol'skii and Lashkova (1968)
• Political Anecdotes

Section XXXIII.  THE NATIONALITY POLICY OF THE SOVIET UNION.

• Lenin, On Nationalities or Autonomisation (1922)
• Stalin, Marxism and the National Question in Russia (1913)
• Session: Commission Regarding the Tajik Question , July 26, 1929
• M.S. Asimov, Rewriting Tajik History
• Liat Baranoff: Uzbekistan: Islam, Nationality, and Independence
• The Baltics: Nationalities and Other Problems
• Roman Laba, How Yeltsin's Exploitation of Ethnic Nationalism Brought Down an Empire

Section XXXIV.  THE SOVIET UNION AND THE WORLD, 1984-1991.

• A Russian View of the Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan

Section XXXV.  THE GORBACHEV REFORMS.

• A Biographical Sketch of Gorbachev
• Document on Chernobyl'
• Documents on Pereistroika
• Sources on Soviet Intellectural Policy

Section XXXVI.  THE 1991 COUP AND THE BREAKUP OF THE SOVIET UNION.

• R. J. Brown, The Computer Disk that Helped Topple A Government
• Gorbachev on the Coup's Fifth Anniversary

Section XXXVII.  THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, 1991-1998.

• The Constitution of the Russian Federation (1993)
• Uli Schamiloglu, Wither Tataristan?
• An Eyewitness to Yeltsin-Parliament Conflict of 1993
• A First-Hand Account of Russian Military Actions in Chechnya
• Gordon M. Hahn, Russian Domestic Politics and NATO Expansion
• Russia's Workers: Why They Go Without Wages
• Russia's Financial Empires
• Secret and Closed Cities in the Russian Federation
• Russia's Future: An American News Analysis
• Biographical Sketch of Gennady Zyuganov
• Biographical Sketch of Alexander Lebed
• Biographical Sketch of Boris Yeltsin

Section XXXVIII. THE COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES, 1991-1998.

• Roald Sagdeev & Andrei Kortunov, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States
• Peter Rutland, Organized Crime in the Former Soviet Union
• William E. Sanford, Central Asia and the Caucasus: Historical Legacies and Future Challenges
• The Caucasus: Between Perils and Opportunities
• Edouard Shevardnadze on the Georgian-Abkhaz Civil War
• Alexander Taktakichvili, The Sins of Georgia
• Irakli Zurab Kakabadze, Russian Troops in Abkhazia: Peacekeeping, or Keeping Both Pieces?
• Andrei Shoumikhin, Russians in Central Asia and the Caucasus: An Uncertain Future

• Professor Gerhard Rempel's Lectures in Russian History (Western new England College).
  • Emancipation
  • Narodnichestvo
  • Reaction and reform
  • Revolution of 1905
  • War and Revolution