Between Barbarism and Progress: Enlightenment Historical Writings on a Major Conflict in Russian History

The dichotomy of barbarism and progress has long been a focal point for the discussions about Russia’s past and present. The discourse on Russian barbarism had been known in Europe since at least 16th century, but Enlightenment thinkers gave it a new shape by juxtaposing the ancient conception of ba...

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Main Author: Sergei V. Sokolov
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Ural Federal University 2020-01-01
Series:Changing Societies & Personalities
Online Access:https://changing-sp.com/ojs/index.php/csp/article/view/102
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spelling doaj-6e081e88b1da43aca7b206acf8a41e432020-11-24T21:48:23ZengUral Federal UniversityChanging Societies & Personalities2587-61042587-89642020-01-013438840610.15826/csp.2019.3.4.084102Between Barbarism and Progress: Enlightenment Historical Writings on a Major Conflict in Russian HistorySergei V. Sokolov0Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, RussiaThe dichotomy of barbarism and progress has long been a focal point for the discussions about Russia’s past and present. The discourse on Russian barbarism had been known in Europe since at least 16th century, but Enlightenment thinkers gave it a new shape by juxtaposing the ancient conception of barbarism with the rather modern idea of progress. In this article, Enlightenment historical writings are examined; the focus is on the question of how Russian history was studied in order to find signs of barbarism and the different guises of progress. The primary sources for the article are mainly Russian historical writings; however, relations and interactions between Russian and European intellectuals, as well as intellectual exchange and influence, are also noted. As there were no word “civilization” in 18th-century Russian, enlightenment was deemed by Russian thinkers as the antipode to barbarism. It is concluded that most Enlightenment writers saw Christianization as a step forward from barbarism in Russian history. Parallels between Russia and Scandinavia as they were drawn by August Schlözer are also analyzed. The article shows how the idea of conflict between barbarism and progress altered the understanding of Russian history in the Enlightenment.https://changing-sp.com/ojs/index.php/csp/article/view/102
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Sergei V. Sokolov
spellingShingle Sergei V. Sokolov
Between Barbarism and Progress: Enlightenment Historical Writings on a Major Conflict in Russian History
Changing Societies & Personalities
author_facet Sergei V. Sokolov
author_sort Sergei V. Sokolov
title Between Barbarism and Progress: Enlightenment Historical Writings on a Major Conflict in Russian History
title_short Between Barbarism and Progress: Enlightenment Historical Writings on a Major Conflict in Russian History
title_full Between Barbarism and Progress: Enlightenment Historical Writings on a Major Conflict in Russian History
title_fullStr Between Barbarism and Progress: Enlightenment Historical Writings on a Major Conflict in Russian History
title_full_unstemmed Between Barbarism and Progress: Enlightenment Historical Writings on a Major Conflict in Russian History
title_sort between barbarism and progress: enlightenment historical writings on a major conflict in russian history
publisher Ural Federal University
series Changing Societies & Personalities
issn 2587-6104
2587-8964
publishDate 2020-01-01
description The dichotomy of barbarism and progress has long been a focal point for the discussions about Russia’s past and present. The discourse on Russian barbarism had been known in Europe since at least 16th century, but Enlightenment thinkers gave it a new shape by juxtaposing the ancient conception of barbarism with the rather modern idea of progress. In this article, Enlightenment historical writings are examined; the focus is on the question of how Russian history was studied in order to find signs of barbarism and the different guises of progress. The primary sources for the article are mainly Russian historical writings; however, relations and interactions between Russian and European intellectuals, as well as intellectual exchange and influence, are also noted. As there were no word “civilization” in 18th-century Russian, enlightenment was deemed by Russian thinkers as the antipode to barbarism. It is concluded that most Enlightenment writers saw Christianization as a step forward from barbarism in Russian history. Parallels between Russia and Scandinavia as they were drawn by August Schlözer are also analyzed. The article shows how the idea of conflict between barbarism and progress altered the understanding of Russian history in the Enlightenment.
url https://changing-sp.com/ojs/index.php/csp/article/view/102
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