The Conquest of the Russian Arctic by Paul J. Josephson (review)

The Arctic has attracted considerable attention in recent years due to its geopolitical and geostrategic importance. Russia, as this book ably demonstrates, has a long, close, and often-strained relationship with the region stretching back to the late tsarist period. Given that a significant chunk of Russia’s territory is situated within the Arctic Circle, it is little wonder that the region emerged to play an influential role in shaping the development of the country. Josephson sets himself the ambitious task of reflecting critically on Russia’s changing relationship with the Arctic from the late nineteenth century to the present day. Much of the analysis falls inevitably on the Soviet period when the Arctic region became embroiled in the country’s all-consuming efforts to construct a communist society. The harshness of the region with its desperately cold winters and brief summers encouraged a similarly brutal response from the Soviet regime in many instances. It was a response built on blood, sweat, and tears and buttressed by timber, iron, and steel.

The book is structured more or less chronologically but also draws attention to a series of key themes. The initial chapters reflect on early efforts to explore and map the region. Such activity was underpinned in the first place by economic and geostrategic considerations before giving way, during the 1930s, to a more ideologically driven desire to demonstrate the resilience and power of the Soviet system. Later chapters examine the transformation of the Arctic during the mid- to late Soviet period as the region was re-shaped by massive projects (such as the White Sea—Baltic Canal), opened up by new air, road, and sea transport routes, and pock-marked by the growth of industrial towns founded on the region’s extensive natural resources. What emerges is an Arctic of industry and urban development—a steady and seemingly inevitable expansion of human economic activity, motivated by the region’s abundant natural wealth.

Despite their remoteness, some of the settlements, such as Amderma on the shores of the Kara Sea, managed to carve out an admittedly precarious existence. The chapter dealing with the instrumental role of the gulag system in helping to assimilate large tracts of territory above the Arctic Circle is particularly bleak in its depiction of day-to-day life and the blunt, utilitarian activities of the state. Other chapters explore the more enlightened side of Soviet activity in the region, encompassing scientific activity and associated efforts to understand the natural rhythms of the northern latitudes. The regime’s attempts to assimilate the North’s indigenous peoples also receive consideration.

The book’s narrative moves continuously between the grand gestures and initiatives of the state and the activities of various actors at the local level. This movement is facilitated by the extensive use of archival documents as well as a range of secondary materials. Josephson also makes frequent arresting diversions into the lives of particular individuals, the development of northern settlements, and the functioning of such relevant institutions as Glavsevmorput (the Northern Sea Route administration). Cumulatively, such efforts help to place the reader in the midst of the action. For example, in describing the abandonment of the ship Cheliuskin, trapped by ice in the remote Chukchi Sea during the winter of 1933/34, Josephson provides an intimate insight into the resultant temporary settlement established on the ice flow. Apart from its positive contribution to the overall richness of the narrative, such detail is useful in challenging the notion of a dominant state advancing a clearly articulated plan to transform the Arctic region. Instead, what emerges is an ad hoc process of assimilation, shaped by a curious mix of adventurers, scientists, chancers, convicted felons, and heroes of the Soviet Union.

The final chapter discusses Russia’s recent engagement with the North following the fall of the Soviet Union. It highlights the increasingly strained geopolitical situation characterizing the Arctic region and Russia’s efforts, particularly under Vladimir Putin, to...