This clear and focused text provides an introduction to imperial Russian and Soviet history from the crowning of Mikhail Romanov in 1613 to Vladimir Putin's new term.
Chapter 1. The Rise of Russia in the Seventeenth Century, 1613–1689
Chapter 2. Great Power, 1689–1796
Chapter 3. The Height and Decline of Imperial Russia, 1789–1855
Chapter 4. Domestic Convulsions, 1855–1905
Chapter 5. Fatal Foreign Entanglements and a Failed Revolution, 1877–1914
Chapter 6. Forging Soviet Civilization, 1914–1924
Chapter 7. The Inevitable Triumph of Stalinism? 1924–1941
Chapter 8. The Great Patriotic War and the Cold War, 1941–1953
Chapter 9. Embattled Leader of the “Second World,” 1953–1982
Chapter 10. The Fall of the Soviet Union and Beyond, 1982–2013