The Baltic Question and Its Historiography in St. Petersburg (from the Eighteenth Century to the Present)

The article identifies the basic stages of, and key scholarly agendas in, the historiography of the Baltic question from the eighteenth century to the present. It focuses especially on the contributions of historians from St. Petersburg, showing how, even before the beginning of the twentieth century, the city became Russia's premier research center for the history of Northern Europe and the Baltic question. The article analyzes the collapse of the old scholarly traditions after 1917, their gradual re-establishment, and the role of Leningrad/Petersburg Scandinavianists during the recovery period.