European Military Books and Intellectual Cultures of War in 17th-Century Russia

From Translation to Adaptation
Erscheinungsjahr 2024
ISBN: 978-90-04-70750-4
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 147, 352 Seiten, Format (B × H): 159 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 676 g

Reihe: History of Warfare

This book discusses the role Western military books and their translations played in 17th-century Russia. By tracing how these translations were produced, distributed and read, the study argues that foreign military treatises significantly shaped intellectual culture of the Russian elite. It also presents Tsar Peter the Great in a new light – not only as a military and political leader but as a devoted book reader and passionate student of military science.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Rusakovskiy, Oleg

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Militärgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

Note on Translation, Spelling, and Dates

List of Figures and Tables

Abbreviations

Introduction

1 Early Modern Military Books and Intellectual Cultures of War

2 17th-Century Russia: a Case for Research

3 Sources, Historiography, and Research Questions

1 An Early Beginning: the Russian Translation of Leonhard Fronsperger’s Kriegßbuch of 1607/20

1 Voinskaia kniga of 1607 and 1620

2 The Foreign Original and the Translators’ Techniques

2 The First Book in Print: Johann Jacobi von Wallhausen’s Kriegskunst zu Fuß in the Russian Edition of 1649

1 Translation and Publishing Process

2 Uchenie i khitrost’ in the Context of Russian Military Reforms

3 The Book’s Readers

3 “Foreign Military Learning”: Discourses on Warfare under Tsar Alexei

1 Beyond Wallhausen: Lesser Military Translations of Alexei’s Era

2 “Military Learning” as an Intellectual Concept

3 Juraj Križanic against Westernizing Military Reforms

4 Books for the Young Tsar: Military Translations for Peter I

1 Military Translations under Fedor and Sophia

2 The First Textbooks on Warfare for Peter I

3 The Rise in Military Translations in 1693/94

4 Manuals on Fortification and Siege Technique

5 Translators at Work: Book Production in the Ambassadorial Chancery

1 The Chancery’s Translators: Qualifications and Working Modes

2 Texts and Paratexts

3 Illustrations and Technical Drawings

6 An Antiquarian Turn: Classical Military Treatises in the Late 17th Century

1 Intellectual Opposition to Military Change

2 Frontinus’ Strategemata in the Translation of 1692

3 The Taktika of Emperor Leo VI in the Translation of 1697

7 The Royal Disciple: Peter I as a Student of Military Books

1 Peter I as a Military Intellectual

2 Infantry Tactics and Drill

3 Mock Battles

4 Naval Training

8 The Art of Gunnery: Fireworks and Shooting Exercises in the 1680s and 1690s

1 A Chronological Overview

2 The Quest for the Optimal Shooting Method

3 Fireworks in Text, Picture, and Life

9 A Victorious Fortress: Military Architecture in Theory and Practice in the Late 17th Century

1 Toy Fortresses and Mock Sieges

2 The Russian Army under Azov in 1695 and 1696

3 European Engineers at the Azov Sea Shore

10 The Great Arithmetician: Applied Sciences and Military Art at the Petrine Court

1 Mathematics at Military Disposal

2 Measuring and Drawing for Military Technology

3 Intellectual Discourses on Warfare

Conclusion

Bibliography

Subject Index

Personal Index

Geographical Index

Über Autor(innen)

Oleg Rusakovskiy, Dr. Phil (2022), University of Tübingen, is lecturer at the University of Potsdam. He has published numerous articles on the military history of Eastern Europe and also prepared an edition with commentary of the diary of Christoph Bousch, a 17th-century German translator in Russian service (2024).