Contents -- Maps -- Preface -- Chronology -- Abbreviations -- 1 Modernisation theory and Russian history -- Modernisation theory -- Russian history, 1676-1825 -- 2 Imperial great power -- Ambitions and achievements -- Military and naval reform -- The primacy of foreign policy -- The consequences of imperial expansion -- 3 Finance and taxation -- Muscovite taxation -- War and financial modernisation, 1700-1762 -- War and financial modernisation, 1762-1825 -- The burden of taxation -- The political and social impact of taxation -- 4 Society -- Social policy -- Social identities: the peasantry -- Social identities: the nobility -- Social mobility -- Social conflict -- 5 Government and justice -- The court -- Central and local government -- Patrons, clients, and bureaucrats -- The church in government -- Justice -- 6 Culture -- Education and literacy -- Hierarchies of culture -- Cosmopolitanism and national consciousness -- Centre and periphery -- Science and superstition -- Religion and secularisation -- Private and public, amateur and professional -- 7 Ideology -- Tsar and state -- State and nation -- Church and state -- 8 The economy -- Economic ideas and economic policy -- Population and natural resources -- Transport and technology -- Trade and commerce -- Agriculture and industry, town and country -- Economic growth -- Conclusion -- Index.