The Volga: A History of Russia's Greatest River

413 Pages·2021·10.999 MB·English

by  Janet M. Hartley

THE VOLGA
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YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW HAVEN AND LONDON
Copyright © 2021 Janet M. Hartley
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that
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Set in Adobe Garamond Pro by IDSUK (DataConnection) Ltd
Printed in Great Britain by TJ Books, Padstow, Cornwall
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020942541
ISBN 978-0-300-24564-6
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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This book is dedicated to my husband, Will Ryan
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CONTENTS
List of illustrations ix
Editorial note xi
Acknowledgements and thanks xiii
A note on place names xiv
Timeline xviii
Introduction 1
PART 1: EARLY HISTORY OF THE VOLGA
1 Th e first states on the Volga: Khazaria, Bolgar and 13
Rus principalities
2 Th e Volga and conquest: Hordes, khanates and 31
Moscow
PART 2: THE VOLGA IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE:
VIOLENCE AND CONTROL ON THE RIVER
3 N on-Russians and Russians on the new Volga 51
frontier
4 V iolence on the Volga: Pirates, raiders and 67
Cossacks
5 T aming the Volga: The Russian Empire on the 86
borderland
6 O rthodoxy and Islam on the Volga 106
7 Th e Volga: Disease and science 122
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CONTENTS
PART 3: THE VOLGA IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE:
LIFE AND IDENTITY ON THE RIVER
8 Th e Volga village 137
9 Th e Volga town 156
10 L ife and trade on the river 174
11 Th e Volga and Russian consciousness: Literature, 1 92
art, tourism
12 R eforms, revolt and Russification on the Volga 2 09
PART 4: SOVIET AND POST-SOVIET VOLGA:
CONFLICT, IDENTITY AND MANAGING THE RIVER
13 Th e Volga in war, revolution and civil war 2 29
14 C ollectivization and repression on the Volga 2 49
15 Th e Volga in the Second World War: Conflict, 2 66
reconstruction and identity
16 N on-Russians on the Volga: Autonomy and 2 86
identity
17 C ontrolling and protecting the river Volga 3 06
N otes 317
B ibliography 3 45
I ndex 364
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ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATES
1. The Volga at Bolgar in winter (March). Author’s photo.
2. The Volga at Tver in summer (September). Author’s photo.
3. Kazan Tatars, late nineteenth century.
4. Baptized Chuvash group.
5. Replica of the fortifications on the Simbirsk line, 1648–54, Ulianovsk.
Author’s photo.
6. A peasant hamlet on the bank of the Volga. benoitb / Getty Images.
7. Astrakhan in the seventeenth century, print from Alfred Rambaud, History of
Russia, vol. 2, 1898, opposite p. 168.
8. View of old Saratov. ITAR-TASS News Agency / Alamy Stock Photo.
9. The main building of the fair during the All-Russian Exhibition at Nizhnii
Novgorod, 1896. Photograph by Maksim Dmitriev.
10. Syukyeevsky Mountains, Grigory Chernetsov, 1840. The History Collection /
Alamy Stock Photo.
11. The Ruins of the Khan’s Burial Vault and the Small Minaret in Bolgar, Ivan
Shishkin, 1861. Art Collection 2 / Alamy Stock Photo.
12. Barge Haulers on the Volga, Ilia Repin, 1870–73.
13. Evening Bells are Ringing, Isaak Levitan, 1892.
14. The source of the river Volga. Author’s photo.
15. ‘The Philosophical Sofa’, memorial to Ivan Goncharov’s character Oblomov,
in Ulianvosk. Author’s photo.
16. Volga Germans, 1930. Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock Photo.
17. Top of the statue ‘The Motherland Calls’, Volgograd/Stalingrad. Author’s photo.
18. Bruges embankment, Ioshkar-Ola, Mari El Republic. Author’s photo.
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