Abstract: The article is devoted to the problems of the military system of the Russian Empire in the years of the reign of Nicholas I. The subject of the study is the military organization of the Russian Empire in the middle of the XIX century. The object of the study is the Russian army in the Crimean War (1853-1856). The focus is on the organization of the armed forces of the Empire, the training of enlisted and officers, logistics and pensions, as well as military production in the middle of the XIX century. Traditionally, in Russian historiography, the main drawbacks of the military system were called the technical lag of the Russian Empire from the European armies and the serfdom structure of the domestic power. During the study of the topic, it was revealed that the issue of armament was not the fundamental reason for the defeat of the empire in the conflict. Soldiers recruited according to the recruitment system could not equivalently resist European armies based on a system of consription or voluntary recruitment. The difficult conditions of service in the army of the Russian Empire in the XIX century, led to the complete depletion of the reserve stock, which was clearly manifested in the years. The Crimean War (1853-1856). In combination with significant shortcomings in the training of private and officer, this led to the absolute hegemony of the Allied army in field battles. Many of these problems were known to the highest military and political leadership of the country, which initiated a number of military reforms to correct them. Nicholas I failed to implement these changes before the outbreak of the Crimean War. Already after the conflict, under the leadership of the Minister of War Milyutin D.A., within the framework of the "Great Reforms of the 1860s", many of these problems were resolved to one degree or another. The study is of a general nature, and this topic requires further detailed study of each of the aspects mentioned in the work.

Abstract: The author examines the publications of Western authors on the subject of hybrid warfare from 2014 to 2022, inclusive. The purpose of the study is to analyze the views of Western political and military experts that hybrid warfare is a development of Russian military thought, as one of the mechanisms to promote the anti-Russian agenda. The subject of the study is the publications of Western researchers on the topics of information and hybrid warfare from 2014 to 2022. The object of the study is a Russophobic narrative created around the phenomenon of hybrid warfare by Western political and military experts. The Russophobic narrative means a constructed sequence of images and ideas of an anti-Russian orientation, clothed in the form of a scientific narrative. Due to the huge array of publications for the period from 2014 to 2022, the work analyzed studies reflecting the main specifics of the views of Western authors on the subject under consideration. According to the results of the study, it was revealed that Western researchers began to attribute hybrid warfare to the development of Russian military theorists in 2014, which falls on a new round of active confrontation between Russia and the United States and the beginning of an active anti-Russian campaign in the West. Hybrid warfare has become a journalistic cliche today, which experts and journalists use to describe any actions that do not fit within the framework of traditional ideas about the principles of conventional warfare. Based on initially false and unsubstantiated theses, Western authors accuse Russia of waging a "barbaric war" on the territory of Ukraine in the period from 2014 to 2022. This study revealed that all the tools and elements of hybrid warfare described by Western experts have been successfully used by the United States and the NATO bloc in the course of modern military conflicts. Thus, the humanitarian sphere in the West has turned into another element of propaganda.

Abstract: The article examines the publications of the Boston Pilot for the period from 1849 to 1856, devoted to the Eastern question and the Crimean War. The purpose of the study is to analyze the views of Catholic Americans on the events of the mid-19th century, as a result of America's information policy to counter British expansionism in the 19th century. The subject of the study are the issues of the Boston Pilot magazine, which feature articles on the Eastern question and the Crimean War. The lower chronological frame is due to the fact that the events of 1849 ("Spring of the Peoples") served as a prologue to the crisis in the East. The object of the study is the information policy of America, aimed at forming a narrative about the Eastern question and the Crimean War among the American Catholic population, following the American foreign policy course of the XIX century.   According to the results of the study, it was revealed that the newspaper's publications can be divided into two periods according to their tonality. The first one, from 1849 to 1853, follows the pan-European discourse and contains statements and provisions with an anti-Russian orientation. The subsequent escalation of the conflict with the inclusion of Great Britain and France in the conflict leads to a transformation of the views of the authors of the Boston Pilot on the events taking place. The publication begins to position the conflict as a tool to weaken the British Empire, urging readers to refrain from direct participation. In this interpretation, Russia appears as a lesser evil necessary for the fight against Britain. The attitude of the Catholic population of the United States to the events of the middle should be positioned as anti-British. The assessment of sentiments as pro-Russian is erroneous and creates a misconception not only about American society of the period under review, but also about US foreign policy in the XIX century.

Abstract: This article is dedicated one of the most remarkable kings of Jerusalem Baldwin IV, also calked the “Leper King”. The goal lies in analyzing the role of Baldwin IV in military-political history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The central task is to determine historical veracity of the positive image of Baldwin IV described in literature and cinematography. The historiographical framework is comprised on the works of national and foreign authors devoted to the history of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem; works of the Latin chronographers, as well as fragments from Arabic sources that were translated into English by M. C. Lyons and D. E. P. Jackson in their monograph “Saladin: the Politics of the Holy War”. The article raises the question of whether it is possible to advance a thesis that Baldwin IV is the prominent ruler of his time based on the analysis of personal traits and actions. Special attention is given to consideration of the domestic policy of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the late XII century, as well as relationship of the young king with different political alliances. The conclusion is made that by virtue of his personal traits and actions, Baldwin IV significantly contributed to ensuring security of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. However, serious illness alongside critical internal challenges, led to the siege of Crusader state in the Battle of Hattin. Baldwin IV was unable to prevent it. The personality of Baldwin IV has not previously become the object of separate comprehensive study, which defines the scientific novelty of this paper. The article also views the events that took place in the Kingdom of Jerusalem over the period from 1160 to 1180 from the perspective of personality approach.