In dire straits: The struggle with industrial water pollution in the late Russian Empire (1870-1917)

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Julia Herzberg
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 456463717

The project is devoted to the history of industrial pollution – one of the most important environmental issues of the modern world. Water contamination with toxic or potentially dangerous wastes causes a great number of current ecological problems, from global climate change to destruction of local landscapes. How environmental pollution is understood and managed significantly depends on social and cultural factors: what priority is given to economic growth vs. citizens’ rights; the interrelations between state power and various social groups. By looking at the different forms that these policies and discourses take over time, historical research could improve our understanding of current environmental and social processes.Water pollution became one of the most important issues of industrial growth and urbanization in Europe in the 19th century, and was the main driver for the development of environmental legislation. The history of the struggle with contamination of water with industrial wastes is therefore quite significant for understanding the origins of modern environmental management. The history of water pollution has been well studied for Western European countries (France, Great Britain, and Germany), but many regions still have not been explored from this perspective.The proposed project aims to shed light on the environmental history of imperial Russia. Modern historiography often limits the investigation of water pollution and environmental movements in Russia to the Soviet and post-Soviet era, which is well studied by European and American scholars. However, the impact of Russian industry on the environment – and the efforts to prevent this damage – began long before the Soviet period. The project will show the deeper historical roots of these phenomena and examine how they influenced the formation of comprehensive environmental policy and legislation in Russia.The subject will be viewed from the perspective of social development of late imperial Russia, starting from the Great Reforms of Alexander II, which created the preconditions for wide social debates about living conditions in Russian cities and opened up dialogue between the government and society. Industrialists, citizens, and officials strove to further their interests in conflict situations that erupted in various regions of the empire. These conflicts form the main focus of the project and will be considered against the background of European and American experience, which greatly influenced early environmental management in Russia and offer a comparative perspective.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants