In Prince Michael Vorontsov, Anthony Rhinelander describes Vorontsov's pragmatic approach within a bureaucracy of legendary inefficiency and corruption. In New Russia Vorontsov dealt with problems such as famine and disease and helped to keep serfdom and religious persecution out of his territory. In Caucasia he made the local administration more effective by appointing Caucasian officials who were far more sensitive to the area's particular problems than were their Russian predecessors. In fact, Vorontsov's Caucasian experience has relevance today it was recently suggested that present-day Soviet officials might have avoided some difficulty when dealing with Afghan rebels had they employed Vorontsov's tactics in handling armed guerillas. Rhinelander, whose extensive research included archival material available only in the Soviet Union, has written the first serious work on Vorontsov in English. Prince Michael Vorontsov will engage the interest and imagination of the general public and the historian.
Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov (1785 1856) is generally acclaimed as one of tsarism's most successful and innovative administrators. After growing up in England, where his father was Russian ambassador, he returned to Russia and became an officer in the army during the Napoleonic wars. In 1823 Alexander I appointed Vorontsov to the post of governor general of New Russia the then "half-wild" southern Ukraine. His task was to encourage development and link the area more effectively with the economy and administration of the empire. Vorontsov was so successful that in 1845 Nicholas I promoted him to viceroy and extended his authority to include Caucasia, which he administered with the extraordinary mandate of "unlimited powers.
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