European Military Books and Intellectual Cultures of War in 17th-Century Russia

This book discusses the role Western military books and their translations played in 17th-century Russia. By tracing how these translations were produced, distributed and read, the study argues that foreign military treatises significantly shaped intellectual culture of the Russian elite. It also presents Tsar Peter the Great in a new light - not only as a military and political leader but as a devoted book reader and passionate student of military science.

Oleg Rusakovskiy, Dr. Phil (2022), University of Tübingen, is lecturer at the University of Potsdam. He has published numerous articles on the military history of Eastern Europe and also prepared an edition with commentary of the diary of Christoph Bousch, a 17th-century German translator in Russian service (2024).