
Michael Speransky
Statesman of Imperial Russia 1772-1839
Marc Raeff(Author)
Springer (Publisher)
Published on 1. January 1957
Book
Paperback/Softback
387 pages
978-94-011-8547-9 (ISBN)
Description
"An autocracy tempered by assassination", clever foreigners used to say about the Russian empire in the 18th and 19th centuries. With this bon mot the average curiosity about the Tsars' government was satisfied and there seemed to be no need to look further into the matter. There was, on the surface of things, some justification for such a definition: many rulers had suffered violent death and little did the autocracy abate between 1725 and 1905. The impression created by travelers, by historians and journalists, as well as by Russia's own discontented intelligentsia was that nothing really ever changed in Russia, that the autocracy was the same in 1905 as it had been at the death of Peter the Great in 1725. Not that the outside world had remained ignorant of the efforts at reform, the changes, and the modernization wrought in Russia since the day Peter I had "cut a window into Europe. " But the prevailing opinion was that such changes as occurred were merely external and did not affect the fundamental structure of the government or of society.
More details
Edition
Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1957
Language
English
Place of publication
Dordrecht
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Research
Illustrations
387 p.
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
610 gr
ISBN-13
978-94-011-8547-9 (9789401185479)
DOI
10.1007/978-94-011-9304-7
Schweitzer Classification
Content
I. The Beginnings.- II. The "Constitutionalism" of Emperor Alexander I.- III. Administrative Activities 1802-1812.- IV. Reform of Russia's Finances and Central Administration.- V. Plans of Reform.- VI. Disgrace and Exile.- VII. Philosophical Views and Political Theory.- VIII. Governing Russia's Provinces.- IX. Projects for Reforming the Provincial Administration.- X. An Unpleasant Interlude - Speransky and the Decembrists.- XL Codifying Russian Law.- XII. Last Years - Conclusion.- Indices.