The military factor and the mobilization wave mechanism as the main features of modernization in Russia during the imperial period

Abstract

Modernization theory is the discourse which is currently being discussed in social and humanitarian studies. However, its categorical apparatus is not sufficiently developed. For instance, such terms as "the modernization mechanism" and "the factor of modernization" are not clearly defined. The article is aimed at the consideration of modern interpretations given to the above mentioned terms and development of ideas about their nature and main features in order to analyze modernization processes in Russia during the 18th-the beginning of the 20th centuries. The paper is focused on modernization theory as the main approach to the problem. Despite many ideas about its nature, the authors agree with the classical interpretation of modernization as the transition from the traditional (agrarian) society to the modern (industrial) one giving arguments in favour of such an approach to the history of the Russian state during the Imperial period. Like many other researchers the authors believe that modernization in Russia was characterized by the process of catching up with other countries. A detailed consideration of this process resulted in the interpretation of its mechanism as a mobilization wave mechanism. It is proved that in the 18th-the beginning of the 20th centuries modernization processes in the Russian state were caused by war conflicts started by the Western civilization. The consequences of the Great Northern war, the Napoleonic wars, the Crimean war, the Russo-Japanese war and World War I and their effect on the development of the Russian Empire were analyzed. It was concluded that the main feature of modernization processes in Russia was asynchrony. At the same time their development tended to transfer from the economic-technological area to the spiritual area through the socio-political one. This fact explained why Russian modernization was challenging and continued for a long time.