Bylye Gody

229-237

Authors: Evgeny V. Vodyasov, Olga V. Zaitceva

The article tells about medieval burials in wooden coffins at the area of Tomsk Ob region. These graves exclusively date to the 13th-15th centuries and there is no trace of them found in either an earlier or a later time period. This may mean that the ritual of burying the dead in a coffin had been practiced in the region for a relatively short period of time. All in all, there have been identified and described 17 medieval coffin burials. All of them stand out markedly against other graves. They come with a rich and diverse burial inventory (weapons, adornments, rare articles of art, etc.). In half of the cases, they are also accompanied by the burial of horsehide and horse tack. All this leads the author to put forth a hypothesis that the dead buried in the wooden coffins were representatives of the military elite. Such “elite” graves are known to have existed in the 13th-14th centuries across the Altai, Transbaikal, and South Urals regions, where they appeared during the period when the Mongols came into to the area. Coffin graves turning up in other regions are linked to Mongol traditions, which spread wide during the Mongol conquests in the 13th-14th centuries. So it appears that the medieval interments in coffins aren’t local phenomenon in the Tomsk Ob region but the sign of “the Mongolian trail” in the history of the Region.

245-253

Authors: Konstantin D. Bugrov

The actual paper deals with the issue of conceptual grounds of Russian political thought in its international aspect. The author argues that Russian politicians of the 18th century were paying special attention to the fact of Russia’s unique territorial size, which was used as a conceptual basis for building a distinctive model of international policy for the Empire. The ‘Northern System’, installed by Nikita Panin, a prominent statesman at the court of Catherine the Great Russian who masterminded Russian foreign policy from 1764 to 1779. The author demonstrates that Panin understood Russian Empire as a territorial giant which doesn’t need expansion of its borders anymore and therefore could propose a diplomatic system based on stability, peace and commerce. That system was putting emphasis upon the concision of Russian diplomatic domination and the ‘natural interests’ of the states of Northern and Eastern Europe. The similar understanding of Russia’s uniqueness in terms of territorial size would became a basis for proposing similar models for international regulations, in which Russia’s vast size was to be seen as a precondition for a role of a peacemaker rather than expansionist.

260-267

Authors: Tatjyana V. Kovaleva, Tatjyana O. Tsurik

This paper deals with a manor of the nobility phenomenon as part of the Chernozem region cultural space in XVIII–XIX centuries, its forming and development factors and the country estate landscape components. The household, economic and cultural characteristics of the manors in the Central Black Soil region are examined as well as their importance for the region development. The manor landscape is described as the wholeness of natural and cultural origins. The paper generalizes it as the best achievements of Russian and Western European cultures and a synthesis of urban and rural lifestyles.

276-281

Authors: Aleksandr A. Cherkasov, Vyacheslav I. Menkovsky, Michal Smigel, Violetta S. Molchanova

This article examines ethno-demographic processes in the north-east Black Sea area, more specifically the territory of Greater Sochi, in the 19th – early 21th centuries. In writing the article, the authors have relied on archive materials from the archives department of the administration of the city of Novorossiysk and the archives department of the administration of the city of Sochi. The authors have consulted reference pre-revolution literature, Soviet-era and present-day population censuses, as well as the findings of present-day research studies. The methodological basis of this study are the principles of historicism, objectivity, and systemicity, which helps to get an insight into the general patterns and regional peculiarities in the demographic development of the major ethnicities in the north-east Black Sea area in the 19th-20th centuries. The authors touch upon the process of colonization of the territory and its ethnic composition. In the end, the authors come to the conclusion that the ethno-demographic picture of Greater Sochi had been forming in a complicated fashion. As a consequence, in the second half of the 19th century, following the Caucasian War, the territory had to be repopulated. Resettlement flows from different locations in the Russian Empire and overseas had formed by 1917 an ethno-picture that featured Russians and Armenians as two principal ethnicities. The authors note that this picture has not changed in a major way to this day.

289-295

Authors: Hope O. Bleich

Based on new archive and documentary materials, the article investigates the role of Russian and mountaineer enlighteners in the development of the writing culture of the North Caucasus. The author talks about the way Russian scholars would study, during the course of their fecund historical/linguistic activity in the Caucasus, the multiple languages and dialects of the mountaineers and, based on Russian graphics, create alphabets for the mountaineer peoples. The author goes on to prove that the above facilitated education among the Caucasians and, as a consequence, the emergence of a pleiad of mountaineer thinkers, who would embark on a path of enlightening their people.

303-308

Authors: Nicholas W. Mitiukov

In 1895, with the beginning of Cuban insurgence, the Spanish acquired a series of civil vessels and powerboats in the US. Unfortunately, in the Spanish literature there has been relatively little mention of the fate of these numerous units before the purchase and after the end of the Spanish-American War of 1898. Based on the findings of the author’s analysis of data from Spanish and American print media, the author puts forth a supposition that the New-York “water buses” Shrewsbury and Navesink sold by the US in 1895 would turn into the Spanish gunboats Intrépida and Mensajera. It is likely that during the deal process they could have temporary names, General Laborde and General Tacón. Both powerboats were actively used in blockade operations against the insurgents in 1896–97, and after the Spanish-American War they were dropped from the Spanish fleet. That said, Intrépida became one of the first ships within the naval fleet of the young Cuban republic led by Antonio Maceo. Based on the findings of an analysis of data from naval handbooks, the author puts forth a supposition that this ship might have been not Intrépida but the one-class ship Mensajera.

319-326

Authors: Tulebaev Turganzhan, Gulzhaukhar K. Kokebayeva

The period of the late 20th and the early 21st centuries is characterized for many post-socialist countries by profound social/economic transformations. They are going through a tough transition from the implementation of market reform to the formation of a market economy oriented towards innovation development. The historical past of these countries attests that, in a sense, they have already been going through a similar process – back in the late 19th-early 20th centuries. The history of the industry of Turkestan Krai during that period is a vivid example of the process of the making and development of capitalist relations. This proves once again the relevance and timeliness of the study of the characteristics of the evolution of the region’s industry and determination of its prevalent forms. The author examines the initial forms of the region’s industry. Only the penetration of commodity production on the capitalist basis and the resettlement of peasants, the settling down of Kazakhs on the land, the development of old and emergence of new towns and villages, and the construction of railroads would lay the foundation for social division of labor. This spurred the development of old and emergence of new sectors in the industry of Turkestan Krai. During the period under examination, the prevalent form of industry was petty commodity capitalist production. But the transition from craft production and its workshop form to capitalist petty commodity production in Turkestan Krai was a long and not always straightforward process. The author investigates the issue of the making of the factory/plant form of industry. The emergence of particular factories and plants was a consequence of the wide development of Russian capitalism, a result of adopting Central Russia’s accumulated experience in the way of applying production techniques and technology in Turkestan Krai. Based on the author’s study of facts relating to industrial production in Turkestan Krai, the author comes to the conclusion that the region’s development is characterized by a top-bottom line, which stands for capitalist, and a bottom-top line, which denotes ante-capitalist relations.

338-346

Authors: Petr K. Dashkovskiy, Elena A. Shershneva

This article examines the role of the Russian government in the set-up of the spiritual life of Moslem communities. Between the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Russian government saw its major objective in control over communities practicing faiths other than Orthodox Christianity – most importantly, the activity of Moslem communities. Such policy, in large part, was about control over the construction of cult buildings, as well as the set-up of confessional schools. Based on archive materials, the author provides an insight into the issue of the set-up of the spiritual life of the Moslem community of Western Siberia during the period under examination, as well as the major aspects of record management in the area. Special attention is devoted to the complexity of getting permits for the erection of Moslem facilities, which sometimes led to unauthorized construction. There was a similar trend in respect of opening academic institutions, since the government mostly supported the creation of new-type schools with Russian-based classes and their major objective was teaching Russian and familiarizing Moslems with Russian culture.

359-365

Authors: Sergey G. Sulyak

Bringing to the forefront the theme of the genocide of the Rusin (Russian) population of Galicia and Bukovina during WWI in the research and work at the beginning of the 1920's to the beginning of the 21th c. is the question analyzed in the article. The given theme was actively opened in the 1920's and 1930's when Galicia was part of Poland, Subcarpathia part of Czechoslovakia and Bukovina part of Rumania. During Soviet times the theme became "taboo". Current Ukrainian historiography places more attention on creating myth about the supposed oppression of the Ukrainians in Galicia, Bukovina and also in Little Russia by the Russian authorities. The theme of the Rusin (Russian) movement in Galician and Bukovina, the massive repression of the Rusin (Russian) population by the Austro-Hungarian authorities is absent in current textbooks of history in Russia. The material presented compares approaches given by researchers who have various political views.

373-381

Authors: Altaiy I. Orazbayeva, Zakish T. Sadvokassova

This article aims to investigate the issue of the organization of the social subsystem of the civilization of Eurasian steppe nomads. To this end, the author examines the specificity of the social structure of a nomad society through the example of traditional Kazakh society within the context of Ibn Khaldun’s concept of “asabiyyah” developed in his work entitled “Muqaddimah” (“An Introduction” or “A Book on the Nature of Social Life”). The author’s primary object of study is the theoretical and methodological conceptualization of the aspect under study, providing an insight into the specificity of the organization of internal mechanisms in the civilization of Eurasian steppe nomads, and trying to expound various phenomena in its development. In a related move, the authors, based on a selection of their own parameters of historical measurements, without any attempts to force a fit with accepted standards, venture to explain the specificity of the patterns of development characteristic of a local type of the civilization of Eurasian steppe nomads.

388-393

Authors: Anvar M. Mamadaliev

This article, based on documents from the Archive Department of the administration of the city of Sochi, which are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, as well as print media materials, looks into the everyday activity of primary schools in the village of Aibga in the 1920s. There is some focus on the regional specificity of teaching at a primary school and specific facilities-related and economic issues. The author comes to the conclusion that the labor conditions of rural teachers during said period were very hard. Academic activity had a pronounced seasonal nature – during the winter months it would “bloom” due to the cessation of agricultural work, while it would virtually cease with the start of the agricultural season. In addition, there was a severe lack of proper school inventory.

403-412

Authors: Olga I. Shestak

This article, based on documents from state archives, examines Soviet policy in the area of wages through the example of the Far East. The author comes to the conclusion that the wages policy implemented in the USSR in the 1930s was a key mechanism in the formation of a hierarchical social production-type establishment. It would determine the prestige of professions and the functionality of spheres of work activity and underscored the commanding positioning of social groups, thereby setting and ensuring all key criteria for constructing a system of social inequality, on the one hand, and fixing the population to remote and scarcely populated territories, on the other.

420-427

Authors: Sergey O. Buranok, Dmitry V. Surzhik

This article analyzes the U.S. and U.K public opinion about German attack on the USSR 22 June 1941. Considered the views of the American and British statesmen and politicians, the public mood, reflected in the press. Identify the main points of view on the outbreak of war with Germany against the Soviet Union. It is shown that in the presence of a variety of assessments prevailed ideas of solidarity with the Soviet Union and the need to support it. This work will allow for a " reflection" of the image of a belligerent Soviet Union, and to find the key moments falsifying the history of World War II in the U.S. and the UK. The events of the Great Patriotic War , which will be set out on the basis of US and UK archives, and t hen will be presented t o look at fighting in the USSR in the memoranda of public institutions of Great Britain and the United States, as well as their coverage in the Anglo-American media. In this case, due consideration will be given to the mechanisms of information influence that have been implemented in the U.S. Office of War Information and the British Ministry of Information. Selected key battles 1941 year in the USSR: a description of the fighting, then their score by British and U.S. military and political leadership, guidelines an d promotional materials departments of the UK and the U.S., the UK and the U.S. press.

434-441

Authors: Tatiana P. Khlynina

The article is devoted to the construction of fortifications in Rostov-on-Don and the Rostov region. It considers the work of the Defence Staff and the city authorities of the city for the mobilization of the population. Analyzes the causes of failure Plans to build fortifications. Notes the hazards posed to civilian objects. It is concluded that the construction of fortifications and the construction of an accelerated rate reflects not only the desire to strengthen the leadership of the city to protect it, but also a general idea of the time on the organization of defense. Calculating the strategic environment Soviet command in the fall of 1941 and short occupation of the city became a powerful incentive to deploy in the future construction of fortifications in Rostov-on-Don.

450-460

Authors: Veronika V. Tsibenko, Sergey N. Tsibenko

Public space discussion of various aspects of the Circassian (Adyghe) problematics and the so-called Circassian question became extremely hot in the mid-2000s in connection with such a significant event like the Olympics 2014 in Sochi. The viewpoint that the Circassian question itself does not exist outside the Olympic agenda is prevailing in the Russian research environment. The authors of the current article argue against the binding of the Circassian question exclusively to the Olympics and consider it in a broad historical and cultural context, tracing the transformation of its content and perception by the international community. The article gives a retrospective picture of the Circassian question in relation to the place, time and processes of both local and global significance, identifies the factors that influenced its coverage in a particular way and the main actors that determine the formation of public opinion. The authors distinguish the main historical stages of development of the Circassian national movement, give a detailed description of each of them, reveal the basic mechanisms and features, examine topical Circassian issues. The article gives a large amount of data on the Circassian organizations, their appeals to the governmental and international organizations. As follows from the analysis, the authors conclude that the sharp growth of the relevance of the Circassian problematics after 2007 is conditioned not only by the objective internal processes of the Circassian national movement, but even more by foreign policy factors and the Circassian question perceprion in the international arena has historically predetermined outcome.