In this revision of their best-selling book, MacKenzie and Curran present a clear and objective account of the history of Russians and other eastern Slavs from its beginnings in ancient Rus to the demise of the Soviet Union and, most recently, the Putin presidency. Acclaimed in the field for its clarity, comprehensiveness, and accuracy, the text balances social/cultural history with political history. The authors' approach weaves the external geographic determinism of the Eurasian school and the organic, inner-oriented approach of Russian historians.

Part 1.Early Russia to 1689 -- Chapter 1. Introduction -- Geography -- The Peoples -- Russian Responses to Challenges -- Chapter 2. Ancient Rus -- Early Occupants of the Great Eurasian Plain -- The Huns, Avars, and Khazars -- Problem 1. The Formation of Kievan Rus -- Chapter 3. The Princes of Kievan Rus -- Political History -- Ruling Rus -- External Relations -- Decline and Fall -- Chapter 4. Kievan Rus: Ecoonomic Life, Society, Culture, And Religion -- Economic Life -- Social Structure -- Urban Life -- Religion and Culture -- Chapter 5. The Ascendance of the Southwest and the Northeast -- The Southwest -- The Northeast -- Chapter 6. The Mongols and Russia -- Chingis-Khan -- The Mongol Invasion of Rus -- The Golden Horde's Suzerainty over Rus -- Problem 2. The Mongol Impact -- Chapter 7. Novgorod and Lithuania -- Novgorod -- Lithuania -- Chapter 8. The Rise of Moscow -- Founding and Early Development -- Moscow versus Tver -- Ivan I and His Successors -- Dmitri Ivanovich and the Battle of Kulikovo -- Russian Historians on Moscow's Rise -- Chapter 9. Society, Culture, and Religion in Appanage Rus -- The Issue of Russian "Feudalism" -- Role of the Orthodox Church -- Chapter 10. The Unification of Great Russia -- Expansion and the Growth of Grand Princely Power -- Ivan III, The Great (1462-1501) -- Internal Changes and Conflicts -- Vasili III (1505-1533) -- Chapter 11. Ivan the Terrible (1533-1584) -- Minority and Rule with the Chosen Council -- External Affairs. The Oprichnina and After -- Ivan's Reign Assessed -- Problem 3. The Oprichnina -- Chapter 12. The Time of Troubles -- Background and Causes -- Dynastic Struggle: Fedor I and Boris Godunov (1584-1605) -- Social Revolt and Foreign Invasion (1605-1610) -- National Revival and the Romanovs' Election (1610-1613) -- Chapter 13. The Early Romanovs: Politcs and Foreign Affairs -- The Rulers and the Zemskii Sobor -- Administration -- Law -- The Army -- Eastward Expansion -- Annexation of Eastern Ukraine -- Chapter 14. The Early Romanovs: Society, Culture, and Religion -- Foreign Influences -- Religious Controversies and Heresies -- Patriarch Nikon's Church Reforms -- The Development of Serfdom -- Part 2. Early Imperial Russia, 1689-1855 -- Chapter 15. Peter the Great: Politcs, War, and Diplomacy -- Peter's Youth and His Trip to the West -- War and Diplomacy -- Administration -- Problem 4. Historians and the Petrine Reforms -- Chapter 16. Peter the Great: Social, Economic, and Religious Policies -- State Service by the Nobility -- Increased Burdens of the Peasantry -- Economic Policies -- Church Reform -- Chapter 17. The Era of Palace Revolutions, 1725-1762 -- Politics -- Society and Economy -- Culture and Westernization -- Foreign Relations -- Chapter 18. Catherine II Rules and Expands Russia, 1762-1796 -- Peter III and the Coup of June 1762 -- Catherine II -- Woman and Ruler -- The Legislative Commission -- Administrative Changes -- External Affairs. Chapter 19. Catherine II: Economic, Social, and Cultural Policies -- The Economy -- The Society -- The Pugachev Revolt, 1773-1774 -- Education and Culture -- The Russian Enlightenment -- Problem 5. Was Catherine II an Enlightened Despot? -- Chapter 20. Bureaucratic Monarchy: Paul and Alexander I, 1796-1825 -- Paul I -- Political Policies of Alexander I -- Speranskii's Reform Program -- The Arakcheevshchina -- The Decembrist Revolt -- Chapter 21. War and Diplomacy, 1796-1825 -- Paul I -- Alexander I: Orientation and Initial Polices, 1801-1804 -- Coalition Wars, 1805-1807 -- Tilsit and the Franco-Russian Alliance, 1807-1812 -- Napoleon Invades Russia, 1812 -- Liberation of Europe and the Vienna Settlement, 1823-1815 -- The Concert of Europe -- Chapter 22. Social, Economic, and Cultural Development, 1796-1855 -- The Nobility -- Urban Centers -- Industrial Development -- Literature -- Music -- Painting and Architecture -- Chapter 23. The "IRON TSAR" -- The Ruler and His Ideology -- Administration -- The Army -- The Intelligentsia -- Foreign Affairs -- The Crimean War, 1853-1856 -- Problem 6. Whither Russia? Slavophiles versus Westernizers -- Part 3. Modern Russia, 1855 to the Present -- Chapter 24. Political Reform and Minorities, 1855-1904 -- Alexander II and the Emancipation -- Other Social and Political Reforms -- Censorship and Education -- Local Self-Government -- Judicial Reform -- Military Reform -- Significance of the Great Reforms. Treatment of Minorities before 1905 -- Problem 7. Why Did Alexander II Free the Serfs? -- Chapter 25. Social and Economic Development, 1855-1904 -- The Peasant World -- Agriculture -- Industry and Finance until 1891 -- Finance and Industry: The Spurt of the 1890s -- Social Change -- Religion -- Chapter 26. Diplomacy And Empire, 1855-1905 -- Relations with Europe until 1875 -- Pan-Slavism and the Eastern Question until 1878 -- The Caucasus and Central Asia -- Europe and the Balkans, 1881-1905 -- Russia in the Far East until 1914 -- Problem 8. Why Did Russia Expand in Central Asia? -- Chapter 27. Opposition To Tsarism, 1855-1905 -- Liberalism and Radicalism, 1855-1870 -- Revolutionary Populism -- The Development of Marxism -- From Populism to the Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs) -- Liberalism Organizes -- Reactionary Tsarism, 1881-1904 -- Chapter 28. War, Revolution, And Reform, 1904-1914 -- The Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905 -- The 1905 Revolution -- Creation of the Duma Monarchy, 1905-1906 -- Political Development, 1907-1914 -- Economic and Social Development -- Foreign Affairs, 1906-1914 -- Chapter 29. Cultural Developments, 1855-1917 -- Literature -- Music -- Painting -- Architecture -- Popular Culture -- InfoTrac, College Edition Search Terms -- Chapter 30. War And Revolution, 1914-1917 -- Russia Enters World War I -- War Aims and Wartime Diplomacy -- The Army and the Fronts -- The Home Front -- The March Revolution. Problem 9. Did World War I Cause the Collapse of Tsarism? -- Chapter 31. From March To November 1917 -- The "Dual Power" -- The Bolsheviks Gain Leaders and a Program -- The Revolution Moves Left (May-July) -- Kornilov and the Rightward Shift (July-September) -- The Rising Tide (September-November) -- The November Revolution -- Problem 10. Why Did the Bolsheviks Win? -- Chapter 32. Civil War And War Communism, 1917-1921 -- First Steps, 1917-1918 -- Civil War, 1918-1920 -- Civil War and Allied Intervention, 1918-1920 -- "War Communism": An Economic Disaster -- The Kronstadt Revolt of 1921 -- Chapter 33. The New Economic Policy And Power Struggle, 1921-1927 -- Economic and Political Controls of NEP -- The Struggle over Succession -- Problem 11. From Lenin to Stalin -- Continuity or Betrayal? -- Chapter 34. The Politics Of Stalinism, 1928-1941 -- Intraparty Struggles and Crises, 1929-1934 -- The Great Purge -- Government and Party Organization -- Stalinism -- Problem 12. The Great Terror: Old and New Approaches -- Chapter 35. The Great Transformation -- The Great Industrialization Debate, 1924-1928 -- Forced Collectivization -- Industry: The Five Year Plans -- Shifts in Social Policies -- Problem 13. Forced Collectivization: Why and How? -- Chapter 36. Soviet Culture Under Lenin And Stalin, 1917-1953 -- Initial Policies -- Lunacharskii: The Politics of Culture -- Soviet Culture in the Making: Proletkult and Other Vanguard Groups -- Literature -- The Cinema -- Education -- Science. Stalinist Culture, 1929-1953 -- Partiinost in Literature -- Anticosmopolitanism and the Arts -- Music -- Popular Culture -- Chapter 37. Soviet Foreign Relations To 1941 -- First Revolutionary Era, 1917-1921 -- Accommodation, 1921-1927 -- Neoisolationism, 1928-1933 -- Collective Security, 1934-1937 -- The Nazi-Soviet Pact, 1939-1941 -- Problem 14. The Nazi-Soviet Pact: Then and Now -- Chapter 38. War And Reconstruction, 1941-1953 -- Invasion -- The 1942 Campaign: The Turning Point -- Soviet Offensives and Allied Victory, 1943-1945 -- The USSR and the Far Eastern War -- Postwar Stalinism -- Problem 15. Did Stalin Plan to Attack Nazi Germany in July 1941? -- Chapter 39. The Khrushchev Era, 1953-1964 -- Politics Repudiating Stalinism -- Economy: A Focus on Agriculture -- Foreign Affairs: Crises in the Communist Bloc Countries -- Khrushchev's Fall -- Problem 16. De-Stalinization: Stalin's Role in the Purges and in World War II -- Chapter 40. The Brezhnev Era, 1964-1982 -- Politics: Brezhnev's Rise -- Nationalism and Dissent -- Economy and Society -- Popular Culture -- Foreign Affairs and Armed Forces -- Problem 17. Soviet Intervention in Czechoslovakia, 1968, and Its Repudiation, 1989 -- Chapter 41. The Soviet Gerontocracy, 1982-1985 -- Domestic Politics -- Economy and Society -- Foreign Policy -- Chapter 42. The Gorbachev Revolution, 1985-1991 -- The Leader and the Succession -- Glasnost and Political Reform -- Nationalities and Nationalism. Perestroika's Impact on the Economy and Society -- National Security and Foreign Affairs -- Chapter 43. Soviet Culture Since Stalin, 1953-1991 -- The Thaw, 1953-1956 -- Dr. Zhivago and the Refreeze -- Culture under Khrushchev -- Culture under Breznev -- Culture under Gorbachev, 1985-1991 -- Chapter 44. The Collapse Of The Soviet Union, 1990-1992 -- Gorbachev Declines, Yeltsin Rises, 1990-1991 -- The August Coup -- The Demise of the Soviet Union, 1991-1992 -- The Commonwealth of Independent States -- Problem 18. Why Did the Soviet Union Collapse? -- Chapter 45. The Yeltsin Years, 1991-1999 -- The Legacy of Soviet Communism -- Environmental Problems: A Devastated Land -- Troubled Transitions, the Yeltsin Era -- Post-Soviet Culture -- Yeltsin's Disputed Legacy -- Chapter 46. The Putin Presidency -- Early Life and Career -- The Road to the Presidency -- Putin as President -- Tentative Assessment -- Culture under Yeltsin and Putin -- Appendix A. Russian and Soviet Leaders, 1801-2000 -- Appendix B. Area and Population of Union Republics (January 1989) -- Appendix C. Population of the Largest Cities of the USSR, 1989.