The Odd Man Karakozov: Imperial Russia, Modernity, and the Birth of Terrorism

245 Pages·2009·3.464 MB·English

by  Claudia Verhoeven

The Odd Man Karakozov

The Odd Man Karakozov
Imperial Russia, Modernity,
and the Birth of Terrorism
Claudia Verhoeven
Cornell University Press
Ithaca and London
Copyright © 2009 by Cornell University
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this
book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form
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First published 2009 by Cornell University Press
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Verhoeven, Claudia, 1972–
The odd man Karakozov : Imperial Russia, modernity, and the
birth of terrorism / Claudia Verhoeven.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8014-4652-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Karakozov, Dmitrii Vladimirovich, 1840–1866. 2. Alexander
II, Emperor of Russia, 1818–1881—Assassination attempt, 1866.
3. Terrorism—Russia—History—19th century. 4. Political
violence—Russia—History—19th century. 5. Russia—History
—Alexander II, 1855–1881. I. Title.
DK219.6.K28V47 2009
947.08(cid:2)1092—dc22
2008038072
Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally respon-
sible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the
publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based,
low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally
chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further
information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.
Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Paul, Martine, Heleen, and Stas
For not only is an odd man “not always” a particular and isolated case,
but, on the contrary, it sometimes happens that it is precisely he, per-
haps, who bears within himself the heart of the whole, while the other
people of his epoch have all for some reason been torn away from it
for a time by some kind of flooding wind.
Fyodor Dostoevsky,The Brothers Karamazov
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Note on Transliteration, Translation, Dates, and Dramatis Personae xi
Introduction 1
1. From the Files of the Karakozov Case: The Virtual
Birth of Terrorism 10
2. The Real Rakhmetov: The Image of the Revolutionary
after Karakozov 39
3. “A Life for the Tsar”: Tsaricide in the Age of
Mechanical Reproduction 66
4. Raskolnikov, Karakozov, and the Etiology of a “New Word” 85
5. Armiak; or “So Many Things in an Overcoat!” 104
6. “Factual Propaganda,” an Autopsy; or, the Morbid Origins
of April 4, 1866 128
7. The Head of the Tsaricide 150
Conclusion: The Point of April 4, 1866 174
viii Contents
Appendixes
A. Dramatis Personae 181
B. Individuals Involved in the Investigation and Trials 185
C. The Karakozov Case, 1866–Present: Sources
and Historiography 188
List of Abbreviations 193
Notes 195
Bibliography 219
Index 227
Acknowledgments
Of all those who supported me in the writing of this book, I would like
first of all to thank three of my teachers. Irina Paperno inspired my pur-
suit of nineteenth-century Russian history, David Sabean taught me how
to become a historian, and Stephen P. Frank was a great and generous
advisor.
For their thoughtful comments on this work, I am very thankful to Pe-
ter Baldwin, Victoria Frede, J. Arch Getty, Marcy Norton, Teo Ruiz, and
especially Carlo Ginzburg. Additionally, two anonymous readers read an
earlier version of this book for the press, and I thank them for their
shrewd suggestions.
At UCLA, of my graduate cohort, I would like to acknowledge Andrea
Mansker, Kelly Maynard, Britta McEwen, Peter Park, Jared Poley, Courte-
nay Raia, Patricia Tilburg, Gabriel Wolfenstein, and Amy Woodson-Boul-
ton. For their insight and interest, my thanks also to the participants of
the European History Colloquium and to the members of David Sabean’s
seminars and reading groups, particularly Sung Choi, Sean Guillory, Ben
Marschke, Dan Ryan, Tami Sarfatti, Daniela Saxer, Simon Teuscher, and
Tamara Zwick. Hopefully David Sabean knows that when he opened his
house for group dinners and discussion in the spring of 2003, he saved
this work.
In Russia, I thank for their magnanimous, patient assistance the staffs
of the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Histor-
ical Archive, the State Historical Library, the Russian National Library,
and the Russian State Library, and particularly Viktoria Zakirova, Irina
x Acknowledgments
Zasipkina, and Elena Cherkova; for the kindness and expertise with which
they facilitated my stay in Moscow, Elena Drozdova, Leonid Veintraub,
and Galina Kuznetsova; for archival camaraderie, Miriam Dobson and
Kathleen Addison; and for their friendship, Kiril Asse and Liuba Chumak
Harris.
In the Washington, D.C. area, I would like to thank my new colleagues
at George Mason University and the staff of the European Reading Room
at the Library of Congress.
At Cornell University Press, I thank Karen Laun and Gavin Lewis for
editing the manuscript, Carolyn Sherayko for creating the index, and
John Ackerman for supporting this book from the start.
For financial assistance of this project, I am grateful to the UCLA Cen-
ter for European and Eurasian Studies, the Center for German and Eu-
ropean Studies at UC Berkeley, the International Studies Overseas
Program, the UCLA Department of History, the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral
Fellowship program, and the Graduate Division at UCLA. I would also
like to thank the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the Eu-
ropean University Institute, where during my year as a Jean Monnet fel-
low I was able to complete the final revisions for this book.
I have no idea how to adequately thank my family—Paul, Martine, and
Heleen Verhoeven—and Stas Shuripa, but to them, I dedicate this book.