Victor Taki - Tsar and Sultan: Russian Encounters with the Ottoman Empire

Victor Taki is Research Fellow at the Centre for Historical Research, National Research University Higher School of Economics (St Petersburg). He previously held a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Alberta, Canada and holds a PhD from Central European University.

Takis lively and well-researched study of Russian Orientalism from late Muscovite times until the Crimean War reviews the pomp and circumstance of Russian Ottoman diplomatic ceremonies, the theme of Ottoman decline in Russian journalism, and the military details of Russian Ottoman wars in Russian historiography. The book contains a great deal of fascinating, fresh information that sheds new light on Ottoman, Russian, and Balkan history.

Lucien J. Frary, Associate Professor of History, Rider University

Tsar and Sultan discusses, in an entertaining and accessible way, centuries of Russian perceptions and representations of the Ottoman Empire. Victor Taki does a good job revealing the complexity of the Russian perspectives upon the imperial rival that hides behind the sick man clich. The book is a rewarding read for all those who seek to understand the cultural context behind one of the oldest imperial conflicts.

Alexei Miller, Professor, European University in Saint-Petersburg and Central European University in Budapest

Tsar and Sultan is an important contribution to our understanding of Orientalism that also has much to say about Westernization. In his erudite new book, Victor Taki reveals the fascinating and often surprising ways Russians saw their great imperial rival to the east. And it is a pleasure to read. While he is well versed in post-colonial theory, the author deftly avoids becoming mired in excessive jargon.

David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, Professor of Russian History, Brock University

TSAR AND
SULTAN

Russian Encounters with the Ottoman Empire

V ICTOR T AKI

Published in 2016 by
I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd

London New York

www.ibtauris.com

Copyright 2016 Victor Taki

The right of Victor Taki to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Every attempt has been made to gain permission for the use of the images in this book. Any omissions will be rectified in future editions.

References to websites were correct at the time of writing.

Library of Ottoman Studies 57

ISBN: 978 1 78453 184 3

eISBN: 978 0 85772 898 2

ePDF: 978 0 85772 803 6

A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available

To Zina, Olia and Sonia

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

As all first books, this one would not be possible without the assistance of many people. My first gratitude goes to Heather J. Coleman, my post-doctoral mentor at the University of Alberta, whose support was crucial to making this project happen. Always the first reader, Heather provided the intellectual guidance and practical advice at all the stages of my work and her friendly criticism helped me to avoid many pitfalls. Her unfailing support has meant a lot for a young scholar who chose to put aside his dissertation and embark on a new project. At the same time, I will remain forever grateful to Alfred J. Rieber, my doctoral dissertation supervisor at Central European University. Although we have been separated by the ocean for the past eight years, Al had played a crucial role in igniting my interest in Russian and East European history and has remained a professional and personal model to follow. I am also sincerely grateful to Alexander Martin, a member of my doctoral committee, who has supported me since 2007 from a distance, yet always unfailingly, and provided the much appreciated encouragement in my post-doctoral endeavours.

As any book on Russia, Tsar and Sultan would not be possible without the help and sympathy of Russian and East European friends and colleagues. Alexei Miller, in many respects my second mentor during the doctoral studies at CEU, has been a living reminder that historians need not be antiquarians, and can in fact contribute poignantly to contemporary debates, a lesson, which, I admit, I have not yet fully mastered. Whereas Professor Miller helped me arrange two important research trips to Moscow, Vladimir Ryzhkov and Tatiana Khripachenko made my stays in St Petersburg thoroughly enjoyable and inspiring. Long walks and conversations with them have made my research trips to Russias northern capital particularly productive. I am also grateful to Andrei Cusco, a long-time friend, fellow student and faithful interlocutor, who has helped me keep in touch with Moldova, my country of origin, throughout of all these years of writing on RussianOttoman encounters in Canada. I would also like to thank the staff of the Russian State Library, State Historical Public Library and National Library of Russia for their cooperative attitude.

Over the years, I was able to present portions of the manuscript at a number of intellectual venues. The first of these was the Laurence D. Stokes seminar in history at Dalhousie University in 2010. The interest and sympathy with which its regulars treated an early chapter of this manuscript greatly motivated me to pursue this project and generally enlivened my lonely days in Halifax. My special thanks go to John Barnsted, the most knowledgeable Northern American Russianist that I have ever met, for his moral support and precious practical advice. I am grateful to the participants of the East Europeanist circle and the European History colloquium at the Department of History and Classics, University of Alberta, who responded to each of the chapters as they appeared. My special thanks go to John-Paul Himka, who, in addition to giving valuable feedback on my project, also played an important role in my early steps on Canadian soil. An opportunity to present part of my manuscript at the Russian History Workshop at the University of Michigan in March 2013 helped me to better understand what I needed to take out from the book in order to make it more focused. I am therefore grateful to Olga Maiorova for arranging my visit as well as to Valerie Kivelson and Ronald Grigor Suny, the two perfect hosts, attentive listeners and critical readers.

I owe many insights to a number of colleagues with whom I share an interest in Russias Balkan entanglements and Oriental encounters. I am grateful to Denis Vovchenko, an erudite historian, unfailing co-panelist and untiring explorer of the Northern American urban space. The streets of Washington, New Orleans and Philadelphia that I trod with him in fruitful and stimulating conversations generated many useful insights. Denis introduced me to other American historians focused on the RussianOttoman encounters, Mara Kozelsky and Lucien Frary, whose interest in my project likewise motivated me to pursue it. For the same reason, I also would like to thank David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, whose work on Russian Orientalism I found so inspiring.

I have also greatly profited from the support of a number of organizations. A research scholarship from the Gerda Henkel Foundation in 2009 aided me at the early stages of my work. The bulk of this book was researched and written in 201113, with the help of the Post-Doctoral Fellowship of Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada as well as the Post-Doctoral Award of the Kule Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Alberta. The I.B.Tauris editors, Joanna Godfrey and Sophie Campbell, have been helpful, understanding and constructively rigorous. The two anonymous reviewers have encouraged me to refine my central argument as well as fill in several lacunae. I am also really grateful to Sergei Dobrynin for a thorough reading that he gave to the manuscript in order to help me make it more English, as well as for our emotional debates and principled disagreements.