Exploring Russia's past Book

This is a solid enough account of Russian Imperial acquisition of the wastes and resources of Siberia albeit one marred by a decline (it was written in 1992) into anti-Soviet and very incomplete history once the brutal and chaotic Russian Civil War is over.

My cynical side notes that the British Edition simply refers in the sub-heading to the conquest and settlement of Siberia but the American edition suddenly makes this an 'epic conquest' and 'tragic'. One senses two chapters tagged on to give Americans what they want to hear - an evil empire.

Having said that, the previous fourteen chapters give us a pretty sound and interesting account of Russian Siberia from Yermak's first incursion until 1921. This is good old-fashioned narrative history and can be read as such.

Brobrick is mostly relying on English language sources throughout, sometimes over-relying. Certainly he over-relies on dissident accounts in the last two chapters so this is a best effort at bringing together what we knew about Siberian history in the West in 1992 into one volume.

Until things go a bit pearshaped towards the end - how on earth does he completely fail to mention the Nomonhan incident in 1939 when he is so adroit at explaining the complicated geo-politics of the Russian Far East before 1921? - he tells a good and readable story.

The detailed account of the Bering Expeditions is downright exciting and Bobrik is good at explaining the circumstances that led to particular decisions. The sale of Alaska now seems like a highly rational act where once it seemed a giveaway.

In that case, Russia solved a financial problem arising out of the Crimean War, and accepted the reality of an aggressive expanding US market economy coming up against what amounted to little more than a line of fairly primitive trading posts, in order to concentrate on the Amur valley.

Similarly, until it misjudged Japan in 1904, Russia was quite skilled at getting control of the bits of the Far East that it wanted. It even managed to get a surprisingly good deal out of its own defeat in 1905. Russian resilience is a remarkable phenomenon.

The Russia of the Tsars is the Russia of today. An under-capitalised country of immense scale with a population too small for its aspirations which yet made impressive imperial strides through something close to the exercise of pure political will by successive administrations.

Looking at it from outside, you can see modern sanctions as a deliberate strategy of containment by one dominant Western faction in an attempt to bend this nation to its will and perhaps avert what might happen if the country did get sufficient external capital for its needs.

The news from inside Russia today is of severe economic strains but if Neo-Cold Warriors think that this nation will fall apart again and become available for plunder, I suspect they will be wrong-footed. It may fall apart for a while but it will never be plundered.

Siberia is now an essential part of this story. Bobrick's weak last two chapters (you can tell I was irritated by them) fails to discuss adequately its role in supplying a Plan B to survive the destruction in 1941/42 of its industrial capacity in the West or as a reserve of trained troops.

So, I can recommend the book up to the end of Chapter 14 but that you go to other more measured and more inclusive sources (albeit that he is entirely right about the grim Stalinist horrors of the Gulag) for the full story of Siberia under the Soviets (and of course since 1991).