The History of Russia

Charles E. Ziegler

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2026
• Edition: 3
• eBook ISBN:
  9798765136737
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: History Reference
• Index: History

Now in its third edition, this new volume of the acclaimed The History of Russia offers a wealth of material on events of the last decade and a half.

When first published, Charles Ziegler's The History of Russia was acclaimed as a source of information not easily found elsewhere, and as "clear, balanced, and insightful," by Rajan Menon of Lehigh University. Now Ziegler returns for a third edition, fully updated to be the work of choice for readers looking for an introduction to the history of the world's largest country.

The History of Russia: Third Edition moves from the 10th-century founding of Kievan Rus to the tsars to the Communist Era to the war with Ukraine, with particular emphasis on the process by which Vladimir Putin established a fully authoritarian state. In addition to a new chapter on the tumultuous era Russia has seen since the second edition published in 2009, this edition features an updated introduction and an expanded chapter on the return to authoritarianism.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Recent Titles in Histories of the Modern Nations
• Map
• Contents
• Series Foreword
• Preface to the Third Edition
• Timeline of Historical Events
• 1 Russia and Its People
• 2 Kievan Rus and the Mongol Experience
• 3 Muscovite Russia, 1240–1613
• 4 Russia under the Romanovs: Empire and Expansion, 1613–1855
• 5 Reform, Reaction, and Revolution, 1855–1921
• 6 Building Communism, 1921–53
• 7 De-Stalinization and Developed Socialism, 1953–85
• 8 Gorbachev, Perestroika, and the Collapse of Communism
• 9 Russia’s Search for Democracy: The Yeltsin Era
• 10 Return to Authoritarianism: Putin’s First Two Terms
• 11 Consolidating Russia’s Dictatorship
• Notable People in the History of Russia
• Glossary of Selected Terms
• Bibliographic Essay
• Index
• Copyright Page