CFP: Russia as a Field of Experiment? Scientific, Technological and Financial Investments and the Interaction of European Countries in the Russian Empire in the Decades before World War I

For historians, the scientific, technological and financial investments and the interactions of European countries in the Russian Empire are an ideal field for the investigation of historical processes of transfer. Parallel to the military alliances formed before the First World War (Triple Alliance, Franco-Russian Alliance, and Triple Entente) the decades before 1914 were marked by vivid and rich scientific and economic contacts between the Russian Empire, the other European powers, and the United States of America. In the course of time the latter invested in the Russian Empire and transferred their know-how and capital. At the same time they increased their knowledge about this more or less unexplored country and expanded their influence in many aspects. Also Russia benefited from these ideological, scientific and economic interventions, such as in the fields of infrastructure or the professionalization of the sciences. In any case there was a mutual transfer.

Organizers: Kerstin S. Jobst (University of Vienna / Institute for East European History), Francine-Dominique Liechtenhan (Centre Roland Mousnier, Université Paris-Sorbonne)

Meeting dates: 9th-10th of June 2016
Place: Paris, Fondation Singer-Poligniac
Conference languages: French and English.

Deadline: 20 December 2015

Please send an abstract (max. 2000 characters incl. spaces) and a short CV in English or French to both organizers:
Kerstin Susanne Jobst : kerstin.susanne.jobst@univie.ac.at
F.-D. Liechtenhan : francine-dominique.liechtenhan@paris-sorbonne.fr

The conference will take place after the necessary funding has been received.

Further information here.