This lecture examines the ways in which the Russian Empire (and, to an extent, the Soviet Union) attempted to tame or control the river Volga. First, it examines the economic and strategic importance of the river which led to conflict, conquest, and the assertion of state control. Second, it explains the extent to which control could be exercised over the river and the region though military force, imperial bureaucracy, settlement and displacement of peoples, canal building and economic planning, and by conversions of non-Christians to Orthodoxy. Third, it discusses the significance of ‘cultural control’ of the river. The Volga became inextricably linked with Russia and Russianness, and remains so today: ‘Without the Volga, there would be no Russia’ stated a Russian news report in 2019.

Response: Hans Jürgen Balmes