The Russian Empire and the World, 1700-1917
John LeDonne's book The Russian Empire and the World, 1700-1917 takes its readers through the implication of Russia's geography and how it played part in the formation of its boundaries. The author painstakingly shows the development of Russia over two centuries. LeDonne shows every aspect of Russian expansionism and its political motives behind each expansion. At times the author tells how Russia's geography hinders the development of the country. This book also serves as a tool for looking at the major events in Russian history throughout a two century time table. Perhaps the most accurate description of this book would be that it shows a history of Russian foreign policy. The Heartland was the mirror image of Russia's unfulfilled ambitions since the urge to expand was never completely satisfied. The limits of the empire fell short of aspirations into the Baltic, towards the Mediterranean, beyond the Caspian and through Mongolia. Moving out from its original core to Christendom, Latin and Orthodox, and the Golden Horde, Russia came up against four further cores: Scandinavian, Polish, Turkish and Persian. Adopting forward policies on land, the Russians also, for the most part vainly, aspired to rule the waves. B
y the 19th century, containment was presented now by six cores: Germany. Austria, France, Britain, China and Japan. The first thing noticed would be that he has looked at a few other studies of Russian geopolitics. The impression one will get is that LeDonne was not satisfied with his predecessors. The author picked the time frame of his book very carefully it would seem. Most of his predecessors started with their study of Russia's foreign relations at a much later date. This to the author did not show how Russian foreign policy really came to evolve into what it was in 1917. LeDonne believed that by starting in 1700 when Russian government was still in the Peter the Great dynasty, that he could really show the development from early times of Russia's foreign policy. This broad survey of Russia's foreign relations during the Imperial period: Russia's expansion in three frontiers and its containment by the Germanic and maritime powers. The major emphasis will be placed on learning the geography of the Eurasian continent. LeDonne has filled an important gap. Until this book, there had been no major account in English of Russian foreign policy from Peter the Great to Lenin. LeDonne orders this large expanse of history by tracing the outward move
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Approximate Word count = 855
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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