Author Topic: Books on the Imperial Russian Army  (Read 2988 times)

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Coldstream

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Books on the Imperial Russian Army
« on: March 04, 2004, 02:06:21 PM »
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, a wealth of new material on the old Imperial Army began to come out of Russia.  Most are available from dealers in the UK, Russia, or the US.  One very good source is Atlantic Crossroads, Inc (www.collectrussia.com) which also carries books on Imperial Russian Orders and decorations.

As a student of military uniform, I would recommend the following, which are currently available:

"Russian Imperial Guard" by Gerard Gorokhoff - A superb photographic record of the regiments of the Guard from 1894 to 1917.  It has a number of photographs of members of the Imperial Family with their Guards regiments.  It is in English and Russian.

"Russian Line Infantry 1801-1855" by Leonov and Ulyanov - Magnificent work detailing the uniforms and colours (flags) of the line infantry regiments in wonderful color illustrations.  A companion volume detailing the uniforms and colours from 1855 to 1918 is also available.  The text is in Russian.

"Russian Guard Cavalry 1914-1917" by Deryabin and Dzys - Text in Russian, but color plates and photographs are worth the price.

"Russian Junkers" by A. Vorob'yova - An excellent treatment of the Russian cadet schools during the monarchy.  Text in Russian.  Color plates and B/W photos.

"Banners and Standards of the Russian Imperial Army of the late XIX-Early XX Century" - Text in Russian.  Excellent color plates and photographs of the flags.  The book, together with an English translation of the text can be obtained from Gauntlet Publications (it is on the web).

There are other excellent books out there, but these ought to whet your appetite.

W.L. McCaughey

Offline BobAtchison

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Re: Books on the Imperial Russian Army
« Reply #1 on: March 07, 2004, 11:42:47 AM »
Wow, those books are great - and expensive!

William L. McCaughey

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Re: Books on the Imperial Russian Army
« Reply #2 on: March 08, 2004, 09:56:05 AM »
Yes, they are rather expensive.  However, all of them are published in Russia and, given that books nowadays are expensive anyway, it is not surprising.  But, as I have said, the content of the books is well worth the price.  You definately get value for your dollar.  The main barrier for English speaking readers would be the Russian text.  Mr. Craig Martelle of Gauntlet Publications can supply an English translation for some of the books mentioned in my list.  Another book, which was a pioneer of sorts and probably out-of-print now, was Boris Mollo's "Uniforms of the Imperial Russian Army" which was published by Blandford back in the 80's I believe.  It was the first book that I am aware of dealing with Russian uniforms in English.  It can probably be obtained by searching Barnes & Noble's rare and out-of-print listings.  

W. McCaughey

Mike Blake

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Re: Books on the Imperial Russian Army
« Reply #3 on: August 30, 2006, 09:04:18 AM »
A more modest volume than the ones Mr McCaughey lists is one which deals with the armies of the Russo-Japanese War and contains colour plates of the Russian army: A Ivanov, P Jowett & Andrei Karachtchouk. The Russo-Japanese War 1904-05. Osprey: Botley, UK, 2004. I would be very interested in details of any books which cover 1900-1, if anyone has them, please?