Three Studies of Russian Foreign Policy in the Early Modern Era

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

This panel seeks to highlight the complicated nature of the foreign policy conducted by the expanding Russian state during the early modern era. Bringing together three papers focusing on different centuries and distinct foreign interlocutors, it provides an opportunity to examine comparatively the issues faced and methods employed by the tsars in their diplomatic efforts. Paul Bushkovitch offers insight into the intimate and treasonous nature of foreign relations between Moscow and Poland-Lithuania in the sixteenth century. Josh Hodil investigates Tsar Aleksei’s desired Danish alliance during his attempt to wrest control of the eastern Baltic away from Sweden in the 1650s. Finally, Kevin Gledhill demonstrates how Russian diplomatic and commercial ties undermined the authority of the Qajars in the Caspian region of Gilan in the eighteenth century. Altogether, these studies illustrate two strands in the consideration of early modern Russian foreign relations. First, key geopolitical issues frequently persisted across vast periods of time and second Moscow proved quite adaptable in pursuing its goals abroad.

Sub Unit

• Early Slavic Studies

Chair

• Earl Joshua Hodil, Pomona College

Papers

• Russia and Poland-Lithuania in the Sixteenth Century: Aristocracy and Treason in the Cases of Glinskii and Kurbskii - Paul Alexander Bushkovitch, Yale U

• Vengeance for Stolbovo: Tsar Aleksei’s Quest for an Anti-Swedish Alliance with Denmark in the 1650s - Earl Joshua Hodil, Pomona College

• A Caspian State: Hedayat-Allah Khan and the Russian Presence in Gilan, 1759-1786 - Kevin Gledhill, Sacred Heart U

Discussant

• Charles J. Halperin, Independent Scholar