Dictatorship of the Air: Aviation Culture and the Fate of Modern Russia

by Scott W. Palmer

• ISBN13: 9780521859578
• ISBN10: 0521859573
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-07-31
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Focusing on one of the last untold chapters in the history of human flight, this book explains the true story behind twentieth-century Russia's quest for aviation prominence.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	xi
Notes on Usage	xv
List of Key Terms and Abbreviations	xvii
Acknowledgments	xix
Introduction: Russia's Culture of Flight in Historical Perspective	1	(10)
Part I Imperial Aviation, 1909--1917
The Dawn of Russian Aviation	11	(26)
Tsars of the Air in the Land of the Tsars	11	(7)
Russia's Passion for Wings	18	(5)
Public Air-Mindedness and National Identity in Late Imperial Russia	23	(9)
Compensatory Rhetoric and Aeronautical Transcendence	32	(5)
``The Air Fleet is the Strength of Russia''	37	(42)
Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow	37	(4)
Aviation Between State and Society	41	(14)
The Russian Warrior	55	(3)
The Marasmus of Imperial Aviation	58	(5)
Flights of Fancy	63	(16)
Part II The Origins and Institutions of the Soviet Air Fleet, 1917--1929
Mandating Red Aviation	79	(24)
Continuity Amid Change in the History of Russia	79	(3)
``From a Dictatorship of the Earth to a Dictatorship of the Air''	82	(3)
Friends of the Air Fleet	85	(13)
``Aviation: Instrument of the Future''	98	(5)
The Images and Institutions of Soviet Air-Mindedness	103	(22)
``Sovietizing'' the Heavens	103	(6)
A Soviet Ultimatum	109	(2)
The Rhetoric and Reality of Compulsory Volunteerism	111	(4)
Militarization, Centralization, and the Colossalist Impulse	115	(10)
Aeronautical Iconography and Political Legitimacy	125	(35)
The ``Turn to the Village''	125	(2)
``Our Religion is the Airplane''	127	(9)
Aeronautical Icons	136	(16)
Air-Minded Rituals	152	(8)
Aviation in Service to the State	160	(35)
Compensatory Symbolism and the Politics of Legitimation	160	(10)
The Year of Big Flights	170	(9)
An Aerial Embassy to Europe	179	(4)
Land of the Soviets	183	(12)
Part III Soviet Aviation in the Age of Stalin, 1929--1945
Soviet Aviation and Stalinist Culture	195	(34)
The Great Break	195	(2)
Technology Transfer, Tempos, and Terror	197	(7)
The Airplane--Colossus	204	(15)
Stalin's Route	219	(10)
``Higher, Faster, Farther!''	229	(30)
Victory	229	(4)
Stalin's Proud Falcons	233	(11)
Stalinist Aviation on the International Stage	244	(3)
Crises and Catastrophe on the Eve of World War	247	(12)
Red Phoenix	259	(28)
Operation Barbarossa	259	(2)
Russia's War	261	(4)
Red Phoenix	265	(5)
A New Locus of Legitimacy	270	(5)
The Lasting Legacy of Dependence	275	(7)
Conclusion: Aviation Culture and the Fate of Modern Russia	282	(5)
Bibliography	287	(12)
Index	299