Dissertation

European or Oriental? British perceptions of Russia in the nineteenth century

Kleist, Eric Edmund

2003

Overview

Building on work in European history on culture and identity, as well as recent trends in diplomatic history, I explore questions of imperialism, nationalism, identity, and Orientalism and examine how the British press and other forms of public discourse, such as theater and sermons, constructed the image of Russia simultaneously as a barbaric, semi-Oriental, autocratic empire and as a semi-civilized Christian and European society. I argue that in depicting Russia as an Asiatic “Other,” the British defined themselves as the superior and progressive opposite of the Russians. However, just as Russia was geographically part of both Europe and Asia, the British journalists could not completely dissociate the “Western” and “Oriental” aspects of Russia. During the nineteenth century, Russia was Britain's imperial rival rather an object of commercial or colonial designs. My dissertation explores the duality of this relationship through a new paradigm, which I call “Russianism,” for interpreting British perceptions of Russia. The backdrop for this study were three wars between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in 1828–1831, 1853–1856 (Crimean War), and 1877–1878. My discussion centers on the emergence of the notion that Russia posed a sustained, strategic threat to Britain's imperial position in Asia.

• Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Subject: European history / History / Modern history
• ISBN: 0496577506, 9780496577507