Andreas Kappeler (born 1943) is a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

historian. He is professor emeritus for the

history of Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountains, and i ...

at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

Life

Kappeler was born in

Winterthur Winterthur (; ) is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. With over 120,000 residents, it is the country's List of cities in Switzerland, sixth-largest city by population, as well as its ninth-largest agglomeration with about 14 ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

on September 20, 1943. From 1962 to 1969, he studied

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

slavistics Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics, is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic peoples, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was ...

, ''publizistik'' (roughly

communication science Communication studies (or communication science) is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in differ ...

) and history of Eastern Europe at the universities of

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. He spent extensive periods in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, and

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in the following years before he became a professor for East European History at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

. In 1998 he moved to the University of Vienna, where in 2006 he initiated the ''Doctoral Programme

Austrian Galicia The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, also known as Austrian Galicia or colloquially Austrian Poland, was a constituent possession of the Habsburg monarchy in the historical region of Galicia in Eastern Europe. The crown land was established ...

and its Multicultural Heritage''. Until 2016, he remained the responsible editor for one of the most reputable

journals A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of personal secretive thoughts and as open book to personal therapy or used to feel connected to onesel ...

in East European studies, the '' Jahrbücher für Osteuropäische Geschichte''.

Academic research

Kappeler's research focus is the

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

of the

modern era The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500 ...

with a special focus on the different nationalities of the pre-modern Tsarist Empire, with social historical issues being the focus of his interest. He is considered a specialist in the history of Muslims in Russia and

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. As one of the first historians in the German-speaking world, he began dealing with the

History of Ukraine The history of Ukraine spans thousands of years, tracing its roots to the Pontic–Caspian steppe, Pontic steppe—one of the key centers of the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages, Indo-European migrations, and early domestication of the horse, hors ...

as early as the 1980s. After his appointment to the University of Vienna, he increasingly included the former

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

areas of today's

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

( Galicia) in his research. In 2017, he noted that the West had erroneously "adopted the Russian perspective, which has had the prerogative of interpretation for two centuries," in matters relating to the nations surrounding Ukraine.

Awards

* 1996 Foreign member of the

National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU; , ; ''NAN Ukrainy'') is a self-governing state-funded organization in Ukraine that is the main center of development of Science and technology in Ukraine, science and technology by coordinatin ...

* 1996 Foreign member of the Chuvash Academy of Sciences * 2001 Member of the

Austrian Academy of Sciences The Austrian Academy of Sciences (; ÖAW) is a legal entity under the special protection of the Republic of Austria. According to the statutes of the Academy its mission is to promote the sciences and humanities in every respect and in every fi ...

* 2006 Kardinal-Innitzer-Prize * 2007

Honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

of the

Chuvash State University I. N. Ulianov Chuvash State University is a public university located in Cheboksary, the capital of the Chuvash Republic, Russia. The university is one of the leading institutions of higher learning in Russia and is the scientific, educational and ...

Cheboksary Cheboksary is the capital city of Chuvashia, Russia. It is a port on the Volga River. Geography The city is located in the Volga Upland region and stands on the shore of the Cheboksary Reservoir. Its area is .Resolution #2083 The satellite city ...

, (

Chuvashia Chuvashia, officially known as Chuvash Republic — Chuvashia, is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is the homeland of the Chuvash people, a Turkic languages, Turkic ethnic group. Its capital city, capital i ...

, Russland)

Published works

* Kappeler, Andreas (2001).''The Russian Empire. A Multi-ethnic History''. New York Routledge. ISBN 9780582234154 (several editions) * Kappeler, Andreas (2003). ''Culture, nation, and identity. The Ukrainian-Russian encounter, 1600-1945'' / edited together with Zenon E. Kohut, Frank E. Sysyn and Mark von Hagen. Edmonton, Toronto: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press. * *

References

External links

Official page at the University of Vienna
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kappeler, Andreas 1943 births Living people 21st-century Swiss historians 21st-century Swiss male writers 20th-century Swiss historians 20th-century Swiss male writers Historians of Eastern Europe