Gudrun Persson, "Russian Military Thought: The Evolution of Strategy Since the Crimean War" (Georgetown UP, 2025)

Mar 15, 2026

Gudrun Persson, associate professor of Slavic studies at Stockholm University and expert on Russian military history. She traces strategic ideas from the Crimean War to the invasion of Ukraine. Topics include historical drivers of Russian strategy, Soviet and post‑Soviet doctrinal shifts, Gerasimov’s operational approach, and how wartime learning and repression shape future thinking.

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INSIGHT

Strategy As Holistic Statecraft

Russian strategy is holistic and explains why war is used, not just how to fight it.
Gudrun Persson shows doctrine weaves political, economic, cultural and military instruments into one integrated approach since the 19th century.

INSIGHT

Soft Factors Drive Russian Doctrine

Soft factors like history, identity, and policy often shape Russian military thought more than hard factors like weapons or geography.
Persson traces this to Peter the Great onward: the army as state-builder, territorial expansion, prestige and empire management.

ANECDOTE

Crimean Defeat Fueled Milutin's Reforms

The Crimean War defeat triggered sweeping reforms under Alexander II and Minister Milutin, reshaping training, conscription and military education.
Milutin promoted a 'nation in arms', rail logistics and modern tactics, but later conservative reversals curtailed reforms.

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The development of the Russian military's strategic thought is an understudied and thus misunderstood subject in the West. Strategy in Russia encompasses the broader context of foreign and domestic policy as well as the military's ties to the country's leadership. The military's strategic thought is closely linked to Russia's existence as a state and explains patterns of Russian confrontation.

In Russian Military Thought: The Evolution of Strategy Since the Crimean War (Georgetown UP, 2025), the renowned scholar Gudrun Persson offers novel insights into Russian military thought on doctrine and strategy, from the Crimean War to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Persson dismantles the simplistic notion that Russian military thought is "backward," instead presenting a deeper analysis of the drivers that influence the changes in Russian military strategy. Through archival research based on Russian language sources, Persson offers a multidisciplinary perspective, drawing on theoretical insights from history and political science that enable her to make a nuanced, qualitative analysis.

This book will be essential reading for practitioners, scholars, and students who seek to understand the mind-set of the current Russian leadership and the constraints that shape Russia's future possibilities.
Gudrun Persson is an associate professor of Slavic studies at Stockholm University. She is the author of Learning from Foreign Wars: Russian Military Thinking 1859–1873 and a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of War Sciences, Chatham House, and the Swedish Writers' Union.
Stephen Satkiewicz is an independent scholar with research areas spanning Civilizational Sciences, Social Complexity, Big History, Historical Sociology, Military History, War Studies, International Relations, Geopolitics, and Russian and East European history. He is currently the Book Review Editor for Comparative Civilizations Review.

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