Imperial Apocalypse describes the collapse of the Russian Empire during World War One. Drawing material from nine different archives and hundreds of published sources, this study ties together state failure, military violence, and decolonization in a single story.
Joshua Sanborn excavates the individual lives of soldiers, doctors, nurses, politicians, and civilians caught up in the global conflict along the way, creating a narrative that is both humane and conceptually rich. The volume opens by laying out the theoretical relationship between state failure, social collapse, and decolonization, and then moves chronologically from the Balkan Wars of 1912-13 through the fierce battles and massive human dislocations of 1914-16 to the final collapse of the empire in the midst of revolution in 1917-18.
Imperial Apocalypse is the first major study which treats the demise of the Russian Empire as part of the twentieth-century phenomenon of modern decolonization, and provides a readable account of military activity and political change throughout this turbulent period of war and revolution.
Sanborn argues that the sudden rise of groups seeking national self-determination in the borderlands of the empire was the consequence of state failure, not its cause. At the same time, he shows how the destruction of state institutions and the spread of violence from the front to the rear led to a collapse of traditional social bonds and the emergence of a new, more dangerous, and more militant political atmosphere.
By:
Joshua A. Sanborn (Professor of History Professor of History Lafayette College)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 232mm,
Width: 156mm,
Spine: 17mm
Weight: 458g
ISBN: 9780198745686
ISBN 10: 0198745680
Series: The Greater War
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 03 September 2015
Audience:
College/higher education
,
College/higher education
,
A / AS level
,
Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Preface ; Introduction: Imperial Challenge ; 1. The Outbreak of War and the Transformation of the Borderlands ; 2. The Front Migrates ; 3. Remobilizing the Military: Combat Innovation, POWs, and Forced Labor ; 4. Remobilizing Society: Nurses, Doctors, and Social Control ; 5. Revolution ; 6. Decolonization ; Conclusion: Imperial Apocalypse ; Works Cited
Joshua A. Sanborn is the author of two previous books: Drafting the Russian Nation: Military Conscription, Total War, and Mass Politics, 1905-1925 and, with co-author Annette Timm, Gender, Sex, and the Shaping of Modern Europe: A History from the French Revolution to the Present Day. He lives in Easton, Pennsylvania, with his wife and two children.
Reviews for Imperial Apocalypse: The Great War and the Destruction of the Russian Empire
In this vivid reinterpretation of the Russian Empire's World War I, Joshua Sanborn provocatively and effectively reframes it as a war of decolonization and state collapse. Written in crisp and entertaining prose, this thought-provoking book is the most interesting and readable book published on Russia's World War I in recent times. Eric Lohr, American University, Washington This magnificent book is full of insights, with a robust challenge to received wisdom. Sanborn's talent as a writer makes the catastrophic story of imperial state failure a joy to read. Alan Kramer, Trinity College Dublin If the Eastern Front remains the forgotten front , readers will have only themselves to blame, as Joshua Sanborn gives us a fresh, insightful look at the East in these crucial years. Michael S. Neiberg, author of Dance of the Furies: Europe and the Outbreak of War in 1914 An outstanding contribution to the spate of books marking the centenary of the Great War. P.E. Heineman, CHOICE Sanborn's book is thus at once an everyday life history of the Russian Front, a gripping narrative of the key battles in which the Russian Empire participated, and a sophisticated conceptual argument about the stages of decolonization during the First World War. The Russian Review a wonderful book. It takes the reader to the heart of the experience of Russian participants in the Great War in an original and unprecedented way ... In terms of depth of description, sensitivity to the subject matter, elegance of expression, and originality of approach, Joshua A. Sanborn has few rivals. His breadth of vision not only encompasses crucial but often overlooked episodes ... he also shows their importance to the story. Christopher Read, American Historical Review
