That's an interestingly-large question. I looked at it and thought, I'm sure I've read/written something about that, I'll have to have a think.
So, I had a think, and I've come to the conclusion that I know bugger-all about the 'why's'. Intermittently I have read a bunch of stuff about feudalism, bastard feudalism etc in Europe, and the 'everybody knows' thing about Russia is that what collapses pretty fast in the West under the impact of Black Death, economic change and technology, hangs about in Russia for yonks. But why..?
Actually, now I think about it in the context of stuff I've read later, I wonder if it was ever really quite the same sort of system/society/economy anyway. I get the impression that agricultural economies are now thought to be a hell of a lot older and less changeable than we once thought...
Here ends an uninformed, yet strangely lengthy comment.
Why such a system persisted in Russia long after it had become out-moded elsewhere in Europe.
Date: 2010-09-10 03:03 pm (UTC)So, I had a think, and I've come to the conclusion that I know bugger-all about the 'why's'. Intermittently I have read a bunch of stuff about feudalism, bastard feudalism etc in Europe, and the 'everybody knows' thing about Russia is that what collapses pretty fast in the West under the impact of Black Death, economic change and technology, hangs about in Russia for yonks. But why..?
Actually, now I think about it in the context of stuff I've read later, I wonder if it was ever really quite the same sort of system/society/economy anyway. I get the impression that agricultural economies are now thought to be a hell of a lot older and less changeable than we once thought...
Here ends an uninformed, yet strangely lengthy comment.