Curse of Empire

Martin Schulze Wessel is Professor of Eastern European History at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

• IntroductionChapter 1. Russia's Empire, the Hetmanate, and the Republic of Poland (1700–1795)Moscow's Road to EuropeThe Ukrainian Hetmanate between Poland and RussiaPoltavaEurop's First East–West ConflictRussia and Ukraine after the Northern WarCatherine II: Completing the Works of Peter IChapter 2. Imperial Order and the National Challenge (1796–1856)Russia's Empire in the Age of NapoleonThe Holy AllianceThe November Uprising in Poland as a European EventRussia's Response to EuropePolish and Ukrainian Ideas of LiberationThe Identity Politics of the Tsarist EmpireGeopolitics in ExileThe European Revolution and the War over CrimeaPoland's Revolt and Russis's Fear of the Ukrainian QuestionChapter 3. The Idea of Russian Exceptionalism and the End of the Tsarist Empire (1856–1917)The Imperial Set of Ideas Following the Crimean War and the Polish UprisingUkrainian AlternativesTsarist Symbolic Politics and the Search for a Foreign Policy DoctrineNational and Social Dynamics in UkraineThe First World WarThe Founding of the Nation State in KyivRevolution and Civil WarChapter 4. The Soviet Experiment and the Imperial Tradition (1917–1991)Old Borders, New BordersNationalization of Culture, Centralism in the EconomyPoland and PrometheismHolodomorThe Return of the Great Russian PeopleFrom Rapallo to the Hitler–Stalin PactWar against PolandThe Great Patriotic WarRussian and Ukrainian MythsYalta and the Cold WarUkraine as the Second Nation of the Soviet UnionPost-StalinismThe New Policy toward the East (Ostpolitik)Poland and Ukraine in the Last Years of the Soviet EmpireChapter 5. Post-Soviet Ukraine and Russia's Neo-imperialism (1992–2022)The Belated Revolution in UkraineRussia's Road to DictatorshipEmpire Fatigue and Soviet NostalgiaImperial InfrastructuresImperial Fantasies: Dugin and PutinConclusionAcknowledgementsList of IllustrationsMapsBibliographyNotesIndex

"Martin Schulze Wessel is an outstanding historian of Eastern Europe and of Russia. He quite rightly places Poland together with Ukraine in a powerfully interpretive history of Russian imperialism. We cannot do without the concept of imperialism in our analysis of the present war, and this book is a sure guide to its meaning and its significance. Journalists, policymakers, and everyone concerned with the present Russian war on Ukraine would do well to read it."Timothy Snyder, Yale University"The Curse of Empire is a tour de force of international history. Martin Schulze Wessel explains the deep roots of Russian expansionism and places Moscow's aggression against Ukraine in a perspective often missed by both academics and the general public. Erudite, clear, and objective."Serhii Plokhy, author of The Russo-Ukrainian War "Russia's attack on Ukraine might seem like the irrational whim of a megalomaniacal leader – until you read this book. Nothing necessitated the aggression, but it finds acceptance among ordinary Russians because they share expectations of imperial power created over many centuries. If the author's message is sober, his language is rich, compelling, and direct; no other book makes as urgent a case for the importance of history."John Connelly, UC Berkeley "Martin Schulze Wessel helps us to understand the current Russian war of aggression in Ukraine in relation to the deeper history of Russia's ambitions in Eastern Europe. He is a brilliant historian whose work gives us new insight into contemporary international affairs."Larry Wolff, author of Inventing Eastern Europe"this excellent book is a delight for both professional and amateur historians."The Polish Review"Overall, Schulze Wessel's study offers an approach to historiography that is urgently needed in today's historical moment – nuanced and transnationally oriented. Given its scope, nuance, and timeliness, this book is equally significant as a scholarly and civic contribution."Irina Kogan, Ab imperio