Dr Marina Soroka's Books

Britain, Russia and the Road to the First World War

The Fateful Embassy of Count Aleksandr Benckendorff (1903–16)

By: Dr Marina Soroka

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Britain, Russia and the Road to the First World War

The Fateful Embassy of Count Aleksandr Benckendorff (1903–16)

By: Dr Marina Soroka

For much of the later nineteenth-century Britain regarded Russia as its main international rival, particularly as regarded the security of its colonial possessions in India. Yet, by 1907 Russia's political revolution, financial collapse and military defeat by Japan, transformed the situation, resulting in an Anglo-Russian rapprochement. As this book makes clear, whilst international affairs lay at the root of this new relationship, personal factors also played an important role in reversing many years of mutual animosity and suspicion. In particular the study explores the influence of the liberal anglophile Count Aleksandr Benckendorff, the Russian ambassador in London between 1903 and 1916. By 1905, Russia's multiple weaknesses required a prolonged period of external peace by eliminating frictions with the principal rival powers, Britain and Germany, while France and Britain realised that a British rapprochement with Russia would be necessary to counter Germany's power. Benckendorff, as one of the most important figures in the Russian diplomatic service, persuaded Nicholas II and his Foreign Minister, V.N. Lamsdorff, to drop their objections to various long-standing British demands in order to pave the way for a Triple Entente. Although the overarching Russian strategy was conceived as 'balancing' the imperial rivalries of Britain and Germany, numerous factors - not least Benckendorff's energetic pro-British stance - upset the scales and resulted in a stand-off with the Central Powers. Demonstrating how Benckendorff's fear of losing Britain's friendship made him oppose all Russia's efforts at improving Russo-German relations, this book underlines the pro-Entente policy’s role in setting Russia on the road to war. For when the Sarajevo crisis struck; there was now no hope of appealing to German goodwill to help defuse the situation. Instead Russia's status within the Entente depended on a show of determination and strength, which lead inexorably to a disaster of the Great War.

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344

Publisher

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

140948226X

ISBN 13

9781409482260

Becoming a Romanov. Grand Duchess Elena of Russia and her World (1807–1873)

By: Dr Marina Soroka,Dr Charles Ruud

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Becoming a Romanov. Grand Duchess Elena of Russia and her World (1807–1873)

By: Dr Marina Soroka,Dr Charles Ruud

Becoming a Romanov offers a new understanding of Russian and international events of the era, the Romanovs’ role in them, the degree of autonomy enjoyed by high-born women in Russia and the ways in which new ideas gained ground in the nineteenth-century Russian empire. Based on abundant and largely unused archival sources, published documents and literature of the period in French, Russian, German, Italian and English, this is the first book about Grand Duchess Elena and it expertly interweaves the story of a woman’s life with that of Imperial Russian high politics.

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Page Count

353

Publisher

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1472457013

ISBN 13

9781472457011

Edge of Empire

The British Political Officer and Tribal Administration on the North-West Frontier 1877–1947

By: Dr Christian Tripodi

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Edge of Empire

The British Political Officer and Tribal Administration on the North-West Frontier 1877–1947

By: Dr Christian Tripodi

Britain's often rather ad hoc approach to colonial expansion in the nineteenth century resulted in a variety of imaginative solutions designed to exert control over an increasingly diverse number of territories. One such instrument of government was the political officer. Created initially by the East India Company to manage relations with the princely rulers of the Indian States, political offers developed into a mechanism by which the government could manage its remoter territories through relations with local power brokers; the policy of 'indirect rule'. By the beginning of the twentieth century, political officers were providing a low-key, affordable method of exercising British control over 'native' populations throughout the empire, from India to Africa, Asia to Middle East. In this study, the role of the political officer on the Western Frontier of India between 1877–1947 is examined in detail, providing an account of the personalities and mechanisms of colonial influence/tribal control in what remains one of the most unstable regions in the world today. It charts the successes, failures, dangers and attractions of a system of power by proxy and examines how, working alone in one of the most dangerous and lawless corners of the Empire, political officers strove to implement the Crown's policies across the North-West Frontier and Baluchistan through a mixture of conflict and collaboration with indigenous tribal society. In charting their progress, the book provides a degree of historical context for those engaging in ambitious military operations in the same region, seeking to increasingly rely on the support of tribal chiefs, warlords and former enemies in order for new administrations to function. As such this book provides not only a fascinating account of key historical events in Anglo–Indian colonial history, but also provides a telling insight and background into an increasingly seductive aspect of contemporary political and military strategy.

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Page Count

280

Publisher

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1409482200

ISBN 13

9781409482208

Early Trench Tactics in the French Army

The Second Battle of Artois, May-June 1915

By: Dr Jonathan Krause

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Early Trench Tactics in the French Army

The Second Battle of Artois, May-June 1915

By: Dr Jonathan Krause

In the English-speaking world the First World War is all too often portrayed primarily as a conflict between Britain and Germany. The vast majority of books focus on the Anglo-German struggle, and ignore the dominant part played by the French, who for most of the war provided the bulk of the soldiers fighting against the central powers. As such, this important and timely book joins the small but growing collection of works offering an overdue assessment of the French contribution to the Great War. Drawing heavily on French primary sources the book has two main foci: it is both an in-depth battle narrative and analysis, as well as a work on the tactical evolution of the French army in Spring 1915 as it endeavored aggressively to come to grips with trench warfare. This period is of crucial importance as it was in these months that the French army learned the foundations of trench warfare on which their conduct for the remainder of the war would rest. The work argues that many advanced practices often considered German innovations - such as the rolling barrage, infiltration tactics, and the effective planning and integration of artillery bombardments - can all be traced back to French writing and action in early 1915. The work argues that - contrary to received opinion - French army bureaucracy proved effective at very quickly taking in, digesting and then disseminating lessons learned at the front and French commanders proved to be both effective and professional. Such radical conclusions demand a fundamental rethink of the way we view operations on the Western Front.

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363

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Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1409474674

ISBN 13

9781409474678

Becoming a Romanov. Grand Duchess Elena of Russia and her World (1807–1873)

By: Dr Charles Ruud,Dr Marina Soroka

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Becoming a Romanov. Grand Duchess Elena of Russia and her World (1807–1873)

By: Dr Charles Ruud,Dr Marina Soroka

The Russian Great Reforms of the 1860s were the last major modernizing effort by the Romanov dynasty. From 1855 to 1861, Grand Duchess Elena, born Princess Charlotte of Württemberg (1807-1873), acted as the spokeswoman for the reform-minded circles of Russian society, bringing before her nephew Emperor Alexander II a group of civic-minded experts who formed the core of the committee that prepared the greatest and most complex of the reforms, the abolition of serfdom in Russia. The Grand Duchess’s involvement in these crucial events in Russian history highlights the considerable influence aristocratic women had in Russian society, quite unlike women of the same class and status in Western Europe. A study of the Grand Duchess Elena of Russia offers a new understanding of Russian and international events of the time, the Romanovs’ role in them, the degree of autonomy enjoyed by high-born women in Russia and the ways in which new ideas gained ground in the nineteenth-century Russian empire. Based on abundant and largely unused archival sources, published documents and literature of the period in French, Russian, German, Italian and English, this is the first book about Grand Duchess Elena and it expertly interweaves the story of a woman’s life with that of Imperial Russian high politics.

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

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Page Count

362

Publisher

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1472464060

ISBN 13

9781472464064

Book's by Dr Marina Soroka

Britain, Russia and the Road to the First World War

Britain, Russia and the Road to the First World War

Becoming a Romanov. Grand Duchess Elena of Russia and her World (1807–1873)

Becoming a Romanov. Grand Duchess Elena of Russia and her World (1807–1873)

Edge of Empire

Edge of Empire

Early Trench Tactics in the French Army

Early Trench Tactics in the French Army

Becoming a Romanov. Grand Duchess Elena of Russia and her World (1807–1873)

Becoming a Romanov. Grand Duchess Elena of Russia and her World (1807–1873)

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