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What world event in your lifetime has shocked you the most? For me, a child of the 50's and 60's, the fall of the Soviet Union was stunning. I'm sure that many people saw it coming, but I didn't. Learning more about what led up to the collapse was one reason I read Russian History: A Very Short Introduction, by Geoffrey Hosking. Another was to better understand the background and climate from which books I've enjoyed so much were written - books by Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Pasternak. I plan to read works by Pushkin next.

This concise and easily read book was written in 2012. It's actually part of a series called "Very Short Introductions" that includes about 400 books on history, art, science, religion, politics and other topics.

One topic the book covered extensively was serfdom. It was made law in 1649. Nicholas I called it an obvious evil, but resisted calls to abolish it because he anticipated catastrophic instability. I would be interested in an extensive comparison with slavery in America. I'm sure any misgivings that Lincoln had about its abolishment mirrored those of Nicholas. Serfdom was not racially based. Serfs were not abducted or physically forced into their positions. But once there, they were similarly stripped of most rights, and subject to severe cruelty, with no legal protection. However, unlike slaves, they were entitled to land. I'm sure doctoral theses and books abound comparing the two systems.

I learned that one of Ivan the Terrible's methods of intimidation and control was the presence of horsemen patrolling the countryside carrying two items - a dog's head, representing one who sniffs out trouble, and a broom, representing one who sweeps trouble away. Traitors (I'm sure the definition was loosey goosey) were tortured and murdered.

I question this socio-political conclusion of Hosking's: "Russia's ... culture was at a more primitive level than those of newly absorbed peoples, who therefore chafed at Russia's dominance." Sorry Bud, but they would chafe as much or more if Russia was socially "superior".

Based on Peter the Great's knowledge of European society, as a part of his modernization of Russia, both nobles and merchants were no longer allowed to wear beards, which had been a deeply-felt symbol of their Orthodox Christianity.

I knew nothing about the Crimean War. It took place in 1853 and 1854. Britain and France were together battling for control of the former Turkish-controlled Crimea with Russia, who desperately needed to be able to access its shipping lane. Russia lost.

Throughout Russian and Soviet history, one of the biggest causes of grief for their leaders has been the result of a geographical reality. The vast size of the country, and the large number of bordering nations has stressed the nation militarily and economically, due to ongoing border wars and the perceived need to develop safe land and sea passages for commerce and potential military use.

Finally, I found the ideological basis on which the Soviet Union was founded in 1917 to be scary stuff: "(To) join with the workers of other industrialized countries to foment world revolution and build communism throughout the world. ...All ... opponents represent absolute evil. ...(We have) the right not just to defeat but to exterminate opponents."