This book explores the interaction of the Russian military and society in the early modern and modern period. In contrast to straightforward military histories, the volume is concerned with the myriad political, economic and cultural currents that shaped the Russian armed forces from their beginnings in Muscovite times to the end of World War I. The book begins with an attempt by the editors to provide a large frame in which to place the various contributions. What follows are three topical sections, including 22 detailed, often archival based monographic articles. The first section concerns The Military and Society in Muscovy; the second section focuses on The Military and Society in Imperial Russia. The third part analyzes Patriotism, Nationality, Religion and the Military.

Eric Lohr received his Ph.D. at Harvard. He is the author of Nationalizing the Russian Empire: The Campaign Against Enemy Minorities during World War I. He is working on an overview of Russia during World War I for the Cambridge History of Russia and a book on the institution of 'poddanstvo' (subjecthood/citizenship) in late imperial Russia.
Marshall Poe Ph.D. at Berkeley, has published extensively on Early Modern European History, including A People Born to Slavery: Russia in Early Modern European Ethnography and The Russian Elite in the Seventeenth Century (2 vols.). He is also co-editor of Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History. He currently teaches History at Harvard.