Beck C. H. Der sterbliche Gott: Macht und Herrschaft im Zarenreich

The illusion of strength – Jörg Baberowski decides the Zarreich From time immemorial, Russia's rulers staged themselves as almighty autocrats who ruled their country with an iron fist. In truth, however, this staging was only a facade behind which the weakness of the state could hide. The tsaric multifaceted empire was a fragile entity ruled in the mode of improvisation since Peter I had opened it west. But how did the tsars and their bureaucracy succeed in holding together a multi-ethnic, weakly integrated empire over two centuries? Jörg Baberowski tells Russia's story from the perspective of rule and its constraints. Claims and opportunities rarely found each other in Russia. The autocratic state operated in the mode of improvisation because it lacked instruments of integration. But those who challenged him also knew of this. It was the criticism that dealt with the liberal reforms of Alexander II. (1855-1881), which triggered the state crisis in the first place. The mortal god, as Thomas Hobbes called the Leviathan, lives on the illusion of stability and unshakability. But the mortal God is vulnerable. It rests on prerequisites that he must guarantee himself. This is what is talked about in this book: of crises and their coping. And in this respect, the story that Jörg Baberowski tells in this book also points beyond Russia: because she asks for the basics of state and social orders and shows how quickly they can dissolve. Anyone who wants to understand what power and domination are, and why they took different forms in Russia than in Western Europe, will find answers in this brilliantly written book. "Jörg Baberowski shows that historians of the German-speaking world can also be great narrators." Burkhard Bischof, Die Presse Great story, brilliantly told - Jörg Baberowski's new interpretation of the tsarist kingdom Vivid and vivid because written directly from the sources Why power and rule work differently in Russia than in the West An impressive study of the fundamentals of state order