War and Enlightenment in Russia explores how members of the military during the reign of Catherine II reconciled Enlightenment ideas about the equality and moral worth of all humans with the Russian reality based on serfdom, a world governed by autocracy, absolute respect for authority, and subordination to seniority.

While there is a sizable literature about the impact of the Enlightenment on government, economy, manners, and literature in Russia, no analytical framework that outlines its impact on the military exists. Eugene Miakinkov’s research addresses this gap and challenges the assumption that the military was an unadaptable and vertical institution. Using archival sources, military manuals, essays, memoirs, and letters, the author demonstrates how the Russian militaires philosophes operationalized the Enlightenment by turning thought into reality.

Prizes

Commended for 2021 Canadian Association of Slavists Taylor & Francis Book Prize 2021 (Canada)

"War and Enlightenment challenges the dictum about Russian backwardness. Miakinkov helps explain why and how the Russian army won repeatedly in the late eighteenth century. More broadly, the book enhances our appreciation of the cosmopolitan and variegated nature of the Enlightenment."

"Serious students of Russian history, the Military Enlightenment, and the influence of Enlightenment thought will find Eugene Miakinkov's new book deserving of their careful reflection. It is a highly instructive contribution to the English-language literature on the army that stymied Frederick the Great and helped defeat Napoleon Bonaparte."

Eugene Miakinkov is a lecturer in the Department of Political and Cultural Studies at Swansea University.