This book analyses the borderland province (oblast) of Kars under Russian imperial rule from 1878 to 1918. It is a study of imperial expansion, inter-imperial rivalry, colonization, legal and administrative pluralism, nation building and state building.

Based on archival work in the state archives of Turkey (Ottoman archives), Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, the author develops a more balanced understanding of the multiple dynamics in play. The book provides an accurate and reliable account of the history of Russian rule in the Kars province. It is an important case study of the technologies of imperialism, the way one empire conquers a part of another empire and attempts to integrate that province into its empire.

Correcting the distorted and often false histories of nationalist historians, this book will be of interest to historians of Russia and the Ottoman Empire, of borderland studies and the history of the South Caucasus.