Catherine the Great

[louisedennis]

Catherine the Great by Simon Dixon is another fruit of the great parental book-shelf raid. I'm not quite sure why I picked up a book on her, as opposed to Frederick the Great (or even both of them). It turns out that this book isn't really a biography but more an examination of Catherine's methods of rulership

Comments

Why such a system persisted in Russia long after it had become out-moded elsewhere in Europe.

[bunn]

That's an interestingly-large question. I looked at it and thought, I'm sure I've read/written something about that, I'll have to have a think.

So, I had a think, and I've come to the conclusion that I know bugger-all about the 'why's'. Intermittently I have read a bunch of stuff about feudalism, bastard feudalism etc in Europe, and the 'everybody knows' thing about Russia is that what collapses pretty fast in the West under the impact of Black Death, economic change and technology, hangs about in Russia for yonks. But why..?

Actually, now I think about it in the context of stuff I've read later, I wonder if it was ever really quite the same sort of system/society/economy anyway. I get the impression that agricultural economies are now thought to be a hell of a lot older and less changeable than we once thought...

Here ends an uninformed, yet strangely lengthy comment.

Re: Why such a system persisted in Russia long after it had become out-moded elsewhere in Europe.

[louisedennis]

I thought that any explanation beyond "chance" which I suppose shouldn't be discounted entirely would have to focus on both the size and comparative lack of population density in Russia. There doesn't seem to have been much of an Urban middle-class to speak of.

Re: Why such a system persisted in Russia long after it had become out-moded elsewhere in Europe.

[bunn]

I understand that the whole system is much less urban and much more.. well feudal.

But that pushes the 'why' back one step : why does Russia not have more towns, more trade, more cities? Why doesn't the population grow? Why doesn't it develop more of a trading/manufacturing economy? Why IS there no middle class? Buggered if I know. :-/

Re: Why such a system persisted in Russia long after it had become out-moded elsewhere in Europe.

[louisedennis]

I don't know, how productive is Russian agriculturally? I mean it's pretty cold which isn't generally thought to be good for crops. Maybe they had as much population density as the climate, terrain and 17th century farming methods could support?