“Boris Godunov” the Book by Sergei Platonov Essay

Introduction

The book written by Sergei Platonov deals with many important issues connected with the life and politics of Russian tsar Boris Godunov. The personality of this tsar is cloaked in many mysteries and problems Platonov tries to detect and analyze. The main problems covered in the books are the political career of Boris Godunov from his dispositions in the years of Ivan the Terrible rule, the political struggle for power with boyars and his coming to the throne after the strange death of Dimity its first inheritor. Besides this Platonov discusses in-depth administrative, political, and economic reforms of Boris, his relations with Poland, Sweden, and other European countries. Much of Platonov’s research is devoted to Godunov’s relations with clergy and patriarch Job.

Polish and Lithuanian invasion

The most comprehensive part of the book is a description of the Polish and Lithuanian invasion under the lead of Lgedimitrius and Godunov’s and his family’s death as the result of Lgedimitrius coming to power.

The book was written in 1921 after the Russian Revolution in the conditions of ‘red terror’ when all opposite viewpoints were strictly prohibited but Platonov managed to actively write until he was sent to Samara in 1930 for anti-Soviet activities.

The reason for writing this book was Platonov’s long-standing interest in “Time of Troubles’ on which he even protected his dissertation at the end of the 19 century. Some scientists regard his ambition to write on this topic as the sign of his attitude to the Bolsheviks coming to power as another ‘Time of Troubles’ which is damaging for Russia and its people.

Though it is difficult to outline comprehensively the author’s thesis it may be said that he pays attention to outlines the main historical and social conditions that were predominant in that time and caused ‘The time of trouble’. The main argument of the work can be put as follows. For the state to be effective and organic it is necessary that the power is centralized and all opposition to it is oppressed by the state apparatus. According to Platonov, these preconditions were absent under Boris Godunov which led to instability and foreign invasion. The situation could only be changed in the case of a strong monarchy of which Platonov is a rabid proponent.

The logical structure of the book in temporal and thematic terms can be described as being coherent with the author’s thesis. Nevertheless, such drawback as not so much time devoted to the analysis of socio-economic conditions can be traced but it can be explained by Platonov opposition to historicist and Marxist currents in historical studies.

Godunov’s personality

In the first place, Godunov’s personality is analyzed in terms of its scientific research by other historians. Then, the initial periods of Godunov’s career development are analyzed through the prism of boyar and court relations in Russia and the political situation after the death of Ivan the Terrible. More specifically the political struggle between Shuisky’s and Godunov’s clans is discussed. The further chapters deal with Boris’ tsardom: international relations, the patriarch issues, and his foreign policy. Much space is devoted to the analysis of Godunov’s internal policy, his economic and peasants’ reforms, the relations with clergy, and administrative policy. The last and the most interesting part of the book is organized around the crisis in Russia that led to the Lgedimitrius campaign against Godunov, famine in 1603-1605, and other events that led to his death and the death of his family (son Fodor).

Platonov uses many historical sources, maps, illustrations that he provided at the end of the book, the monographs of his contemporaries such as Gradovsky, Miller, and others. The task of the book was fully completed as Platonov provided the reader with a comprehensive analysis of the historical period of Boris Godunov’s reign but notwithstanding this fact, some shortcomings of this book may be observed. Among them open explication of Platonov’s monarchist ideology which led him to misinterpretation of some major events in the abovementioned period and sometimes uncritical attitude to the monarchist policies of Godunov. If these viewpoints are used for the tsarist legitimization it negatively affects the scientific truth. Besides this, as was noted above Platonov provides the readers with a poor analysis of economic and social conditions of that time paying the bulk of this attention to describing Godunov’s personality and political intrigues.

References

Platonov, Sergei. Boris Godunov, Tsar of Russia (1924), trans. L. Rex Pyles. Gulf Breeze, Fl.: International Academic Press, 1973.