Abstract: The subject of this study is the presence of Volga Bulgarian history in Russian historical writing. At the beginning of the article the main features of Russian historical writing are given, as they are the main sources on the history of Russian principalities and of certain territories. Russian chronicles are of the utmost significance in the study of the history of Volga Bulgaria, as Bulgarian written sources as such have not been preserved. The Arab geographic and historical literature is of less significance because it tends to repeat the same information over and over during the course of several centuries. An exception to this are the notes of ibn-Fadlan, of al-Garnati, and of al-Umari. Special attention is devoted to the chronicles’ mention of Alexander the Great as the builder of Bulgarian cities, which is undoubtedly a remnant trace of ancient Bulgarian stories and legends. A comprehensive study of this question is carried out. The historical-genetic research method is applied to this work, which is one of the foremost methods of understanding and studying history. At the base of this method lie predominantly descriptive technologies. The focal aim of this method consists in explaining facts, exposing the reasons for their appearance, the particularities of their development and their consequences. The author’s main conclusion is that the interaction of Volga Bulgaria with the principalities of North-Eastern Rus was much closer and more mutually beneficial than it is noted in the scrupulous and condensed remarks of 15–16th century chroniclers, who used earlier chronicles for their description of the already existing realities of the period. The novelty of this research lies in the fact that the given aspect of this question is still practically unstudied in Russian and foreign historiography.

Keywords: Iskander wall, Dhul Qarnayn, Svyatoslav-Gavriil, “Tatishev notes”, Bulgarian legends, protograph, chronicles, history writing, “Yadjudj” and “Madjudj”, Yugorov land

Abstract: This article proposes a description of the establishment of the Smolensk diocese in 1136 and presents an analysis of the historiography dealing with this question which up to today has not provided a definite answer. The author describes the political situation in Rus during the first half – middle of the 1130s after the death of Mstislav Vladimirovich and the conflicts that arose inside the Monomakh clan, as well as between the Monomakhs and the Olgovichi. It was precisely these conflicts that allowed Rostislav to pose the question of forming a local diocese in 1134, while the alliance of Yaropolk and the Mstislaviches in the winter of 1136 provided the opportunity to establish in Smolensk an episcopal see. The article also examines the question of the Rostov-Suzdal tribute, which does not have a clear assessment in historiography as well, and gives a valuation of a series of scholars’ viewpoints on this question. The appearance of this tribute was a result of the treaty between Yaropolk Vladimirovich and Yuri Dolgorukiy and which had fixed conditions as it was a compensation to Rostislav for the gift of Novgorod in 1133. The refusal of Yuri Dolgorukiy to pay the money did not cancel the tribute since it was granted by the Kievan prince, which is why the Suzdal tribute was added to the charter of Rostislav Mstislavich.

Keywords: Smolensk diocese, Kievan Rus, Monomakh, Mstislav Vladimirovich, Pereyaslavl, Olgovichi, Rostislav Mstislavich, Smolensk, Suzdal tribute, Yaropolk Vladimirovich

Abstract: This article discusses the views of Y. O. Martov and V. M. Chernov regarding the October revolution of 1917 and the key aspects in the life of the Soviet society in the post-October period. The author substantiates the opinion that Russia–USSR in those years lacked the conditions for a victorious socialist construction and provides the views of the above-named political activists which describe the particularities of the seizure and preservation of power by the Bolsheviks. The evaluations of Y. O. Martov and V. M. Chernov on the state’s political structure and economic policy created by the Bolsheviks is also analysed. Furthermore, the policy lines of the Menshevik and SR party programs is indicated in the context of the general political development before and after the October revolution of 1917. The author designates the doctrinal and practical political differences inside the left spectre of political forces in pre-Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary Russia. The basis for this study – the works of Y. O. Martov and V. M. Chernov, which provide rich material for the description of the theoretical heritage of the socialist parties' major leaders.

Keywords: economic structure, terror, political system, socialism, October revolution, V. M. Chernov, Y. O. Martov, V. I. Lenin, new economic policy, “constructive socialism”

Abstract: This article examines the history of the German national minority in Poland in 1938–1939 within the context of the developed policy of Nazi Germany. At the centre of the author’s attention lie the historical circumstances in which the Polish Germans found themselves on the eve of the Second World War, their political organisers and leaders. The article reviews the main policy lines of the Nazi Reich in drawing the Germans in Poland into its orbit of influence and their use against the Second Republic. The author analyses the position of Germans in various parts of Poland and assesses Berlin’s attempts at organising a united political party for Polish Germans, analogous to the Sudeten German party of Konrad Henlein in Czechoslovakia. Nonetheless, despite the strong position of the National socialist Young German party of Rudolf Wiesner, the creation of a united pro-Nazi organisation within the Second Republic did not take place. This was meanwhile the Polish authorities did not consider Germans loyal citizens of the state, which automatically repelled also the committed antifascists among Catholic organisations, Social democrats, and Communists. At the same time, the author comes to the conclusion that Polish Germans should not be automatically associated with the so-called Fifth column. Despite their sympathies for Germany, the number of committed Nazis in Poland was not great. The policy of the Polish authorities towards the German national minorities and its inconsistencies is also subjected to analysis in this study.

Keywords: Volksdeutsche, history of Germany, Second Polish republic, history of Poland, National socialism, Second World War, Germans in Poland, Rudolf Wiesner, Young German party, fifth column

Abstract: This article examines the attempts to achieve a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Vietnam. The peace process in the Vietnam conflict of 1966–1967 is a little-studied topic in Russian, as well as in foreign historiography. The proposals and programs for a peace settlement, exchanged between the different sides during the Vietnam conflict, can now be retraced through the newly declassified documents. Equally important to this question is that the “Pentagon papers” and the documents of the Foreign Policy Archive of the Russian Federation have been fully declassified and permit not only to review in detail the actions of the United States in Vietnam, but also to assess the role of the Soviet Union in the Second Indochina War and to study the content of the Soviet-American negotiations on the question of Vietnam. This has allowed to examine more fully the efforts undertaken by the Soviet authorities to regulate the war in Vietnam and to ultimately reconsider the role of the USSR in the Vietnam conflict. The article also touches upon a number of questions pertaining to the development of the Soviet-American relations during the course of this “small détente”. In both foreign and Russian historiography many reasons have been put forward to showcase the worsening relations between the USSR and the United States during the 1960s. On the basis of newly declassified documents, the author comes to the conclusion that the Vietnam conflict became the main factor impeding the improvement of the two superpowers’ relations with each other after the Caribbean crisis. The article also addresses a series of questions regarding the role of the Peoples’ Republic of China in the peace process for the resolution of this conflict. China not only hindered the initiative of starting a dialogue between the United States and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, but also in every way tried to involve the US in the “Vietnam quagmire”.

Keywords: escalation, peaceful conflict resolution, détente, Soviet-American relations, Vietnam war, “Pentagon papers”, “Marigold”, “Sunflower”, Glassboro conference, China

Abstract: This article contains information on which feast days were celebrated in the Russian army at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries, and which of them were celebrated on the frontline during the Russo-Japanese War and the First World War. Special attention is dedicated to feast organisation on religious holidays – Christmas, Baptism, and Easter – on the battlefield front and in conditions of captivity. The author analyses the difficulties of arranging religious feasts in wartime, the established routines of celebration, the attitude of participants towards them, as well as the dynamics of this attitude on the frontline with the particularities of being in a moving military campaign. The preferences and degrees of involvement in setting up celebrations by soldiers and officers are also addressed. The article is written primarily of the basis of sources from private possessions – memories, diaries, and memoirs – which provide its accuracy through eyewitness accounts. The research’s main conclusions pertain to the significance of feast days in the formation of a military collective, as a morale boost for the troops during military operations. Beside this the author makes some conclusions regarding the personal involvement of military servicemen and clergy in the organisation of religious feast days during wartime.

Keywords: Christmas, protopresbyter, military clergy, military traditions, frontline daily life, First World War, Russo-Japanese War, Easter, prayer, captivity

Abstract: This article examines the views of the populist and publicist A. S. Prugavin on Old Ritualism and sectarianism and their role in being part of the traditional society of the Russian Empire in the last third of the 19th century. The author discovered seven schemes of A. S. Prugavin in his private paper collection at the Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts (RSALA), which are presented and analysed in this article. The schemes reflect the effort of A. S. Prugavin to understand, systematise, and classify the different religious groups within the Empire. Particular attention is devoted to a detailed analysis of these schemes and to the explanation of the research approach of the named populist. A. S. Prugavin in his research of the Russian people’s religiosity used an integrated approach, considering the question both from the point of view of history and from the point of view of religion. The author comes to the conclusion that A. S. Prugavin repeatedly attempted to understand the diversity of the religious movements in Russia. Based on their “harmfulness”, as declared by the official authorities and the church, the populist nonetheless came to the conclusion that neither the Old Ritualists nor the followers of various sects should be considered alien or dangerous elements in the composition of Russian society.

Keywords: interdenominational divisions, traditional society, sectarianism, Russian Orthodox Church, populism, A. S. Prugavin, Old Ritualist confessions, Old Ritualism, religious groups, Russian North

Abstract: The author of this article is the main concept-developer and author-composer of the glossary encyclopaedia “Literature museums of Russia”. As such the author offers to discuss his vision of museums and of the museum world, elaborated through the research conducted on this subject for the realisation of the named encyclopaedia, and to be considered by professional societies of museum curators and museologists, historians, culturologists, and other specialists in the humanities. Working on the encyclopedia was seen by the author as an opportunity to take a different look at what is considered today to be the true understanding of museums, to verify this knowledge, and to confirm or correct its validity. The research was conducted through an interdisciplinary approach, with the application of the results from a study of the information support problems in historical sciences. The author notes that the collection of established perceptions regarding museums had undergone a transformation. The outlook on museums through the cut-profile group in this study proved to be productive for the acquisition of new knowledge, including at the beginning of the research and on already developed stages of preparing the encyclopedia. A significant conclusion derived from this study is that because of insufficient development thinking many phenomena and events of the literary process and in the history of literature have not been clearly reflected in museums representations (that is, they have not been adapted into museum presentation).

Keywords: museology, culturology, concept of the encyclopaedia, glossary, institutional approach, cultural history, social (historical) memory, informational approach, system approach, literature museums

Abstract: This article studies the specifics of throne succession in England, the particularities in the establishment of the rules of monarch-change in the period of the early Middle ages, and the reasons for its crisis due to the unwritten constitution of a crown inheritance system during the second half of the 17th century. The article addresses the problem of the necessity for a legislative prescription of throne succession order on the basis of a wide range of historical sources. The author reviews the approaches and argumentation lines regarding this question expressed by various political forces within the country. Special attention is given to the process of development and adoption of the 1689 Bill or rights – the first legislative act, which in very general terms established the rules of changing sovereigns on the English throne. This article’s research methodology is in many ways defined by its comprehensive interdisciplinary nature, which assumes the use of methods and approaches characteristic to historical, political, and juridical sciences. At the same time priority is given to the principle of historicism, which implies a scientific explanation of phenomena, objects, and events in precise historical conditions and interrelations in order to expose the patterns of their development and the reasons for their qualitative changes. The other basic principle at the base of this research is the principle of scientific objectivity that involves the refusal of a stereotypical perception of the studied object, limited with whichever earlier established limits and clichés. The scientific novelty of this article lies in the fact that it is the first in Russian historiography examination of the complex process of modernisation of the unwritten English constitution, in such a crucial aspect of constitutional law as the replacement of the head of state, carried out on the basis of different original sources. The author establishes the unbroken link of this process with the shift from absolutist rule to parliamentary monarchy happening in England at the turn of the 17–18th centuries.

Keywords: throne succession, Bill of Rights, monarchy, constitution, Tory, Whigs, House of Commons, House of Lords, Stuarts, Glorious revolution

Abstract: This newly published terminological dictionary provides interpretations of the basic concepts, of the main theories and methods of historical science, and also of the fields of modern historical knowledge. Separate entries are dedicated to the concepts and categories that comprise the theoretical-methodological space of historical science. These entries present the history of the origin and existence of particular concepts in specific national scientific schools and historiographical traditions, as well as the most reputed, widespread, and accepted by the modern professional historiographical community variants of concept interpretations. Through this approach the continuity in the development of historical knowledge is manifested and the traditions and innovations in the field of historical science terminology are linked. The publication of this dictionary attests the professional historians’ awareness of the importance of being attentive to the field’s modern language. The necessity of clarifying and structuring a historian’s language is due to the fundamental changes in the theoretical and methodological spheres of historical research, both in the global scientific community because of the “linguistic turn” and in post-Soviet Russian historiography in particular, due to its switch in methodological approaches and change towards theoretical-methodological pluralism and indeterminacy. The published dictionary contributes to establishing a clear dialogue between historians within the scientific community, facilitates understanding and creates a basis for a comparative study of the practice of research projects. This publication is also particularly significant for educational purposes, in helping to prepare the next generation of professional historians, mindful of historical science's modern language.

Keywords: historical discipline, basic concept, methodology, theory, historicism, scientific language, historical knowledge, professional community, historiographical tradition, national school

Abstract: The reviewed book studies the modernisation processes that occurred in Belarusian society during the course of more than half a century – beginning with the Great Reforms up to the First World War. The reviewer notes that the social transformation of society on the territory of Belarusian provinces is addressed in the wider context of the modernising processes concurrently taking place in the Russian empire in general. The book analyses the most diverse aspects of the given subject: the government policy itself, directed towards social transformation, the dynamics of the literacy level indicators among the population, the changes in the structure of the population and demographic processes in the region in general, the evolution of estate institutions in Belarusian society, the formation processes of a bourgeois society and its institutional foundations. The reviewer highlights the exceptional scientific value of this research and of its conclusions. In particular, the author’s assertion that the government introduced restraining laws had the aim of not only enforcing the Russian influence on Belarusian provinces, but also of changing the traditional system of social and economic relations. Also noteworthy is the author’s comment that in the studied provinces – in comparison with other regions of Russia – the government often played a more reserved role in the realisation of modernising changes. The review contains some critical notes, among which is the author's insufficient attention to statistical data, which describes the dynamics of work conflicts on industrial enterprises in Belarusian provinces.

Keywords: estate, social mobility, early stage of industrialization, province, modernization, history of Belarus, post-reform period, Russian Empire, bourgeois society, population migration

Abstract: The reviewed publication is a work of significant scientific value. The author of the review presents the general information pertaining to the exhibition itself, as well as to its catalogue, and notes that at the heart of the exhibition lies the collection of Moscow university professor A. L. Khazin, which is one of the foremost private collections of the highest West-European state awards in the world. The review analyses the content of the catalogue, including the collector’s foreword to the publication and the introduction written by L. M. Gavrilova, the curator of the exhibition and of the Moscow Kremlin museum collections. A major part of the review is dedicated to the analysis of the informational value of the catalogue and demonstrates on a series of examples the value of phaleristics in elucidating various historical facts. The reviewer outlines the most important objects of the exhibition, among which are the so-called joint stars of several orders, order chains, and other rarities. The reviewer highlights the elaborated system of presenting the exhibits in the catalogue, set according to phaleristic categories and historical significance of the orders. Additionally, the reviewer points out the importance of the appendixes to the catalogue, which contain reference information on European award systems. The reviewer corrects some inexactitudes – unavoidable, as he notes, in the compilation of such publications.

Keywords: orders, exhibition catalogue, collection, L. M. Gavrilova, A. L. Khazin, award system, phaleristics, Moscow Kremlin museums, exhibit, joint star of orders