Russkaya Starina

69-77

Authors: Sergei A. Kropachev

The article deals with the ethnic groups of Russians of the late 19th – first quarter of the 20th century. The author divides all local groups of Russians into ethno-territorial, ethno-class, ethno-confessional and ethnographic. They were formed in the context of the development of territorial-economic and historical-cultural clusters: Southern and Central Russian, Northern Russian, Siberian, Far Eastern and Central Asian. Subethnic groups of Russians had to adapt to different climatic conditions, perceive the way of life and a new type of economy management, elements of the material culture of the aboriginal peoples. The degree of proximity to the latter was different, from self-isolation to close contacts and the conclusion of mixed marriages. At the same time, as a rule, Russians retained their language, cultural elements, ethnic identity and other basic values. The article presents demographic indicators of local groups of Russians of the late 19th – first quarter of the 20th century.

92-98

Authors: Nicholas W. Mitiukov, Yury L. Kim

With the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, the Sarapul tannery switched to fulfilling military orders. Since the loss of Donbass made it difficult to supply imported coal, firewood had to be used as the main energy source for production, which had to be transported along the Kama River 20-30 km away. At the end of 1941, to solve the problem of transporting firewood, the company began the construction of the “Kozhkombinat” boat. In 1948, a wooden barge was built for the same purpose, which was listed until 1954. Since for the mentioned years in the report of the enterprise there are no corresponding sums used to increase the balance sheet, it can be concluded that both vessels were built by their own efforts. Since the Leather Plant is not the only enterprise in the city engaged in shipbuilding, this makes it possible to identify Sarapul in 1930–1940s as a shipbuilding center on the Kama. In the second half of the war, the plant began to switch to Kuzbass coal, and its own water transport began to lose relevance. This is clearly demonstrated by the cost figures for ships’s expuatation: if at the beginning of the war the plant spent about 40 thousand rubles per year, then by the end of the war this amount decreased by half. Judging by the reports of the enterprise, it tried to use the fleet for transportation of hay, building materials and other cargoes, but finally in 1956 it was decided to give up the own fleet.

112-121

Authors: Elizaveta N. Sedakova

The article deals with the military burials of the Great Patriotic War in the territory of the Old Cemetery of Taganrog, Rostov region. The purpose of this work is to characterize the common graves of the Great Patriotic War through the use of data from burial records, reports of irretrievable losses as well as to identify their current state. The possible reasons for the discrepancy between the data on the number of buried Red Army soldiers in the old and new registration cards are presented. In addition, misspelled names in various documents are analyzed. As a result of the study, the problems and prospects for further study of military graves in the historical necropolis of Taganrog have been identified.

9-21

Authors: Mark R. Lysenko

The article deals with the defense of the left bank of the Dnieper River in August-September 1941. The author singles out the creation of Kremenchug bridgehead as the main reason for the Kiev encirclement. This thesis confirms the analysis of the general strategic situation in the Ukrainian direction, established by the time of the formation and consolidation of the Kremenchug bridgehead. The author examines in detail the chronology of the battle for the left bank, which mainly unfolded not over the entire front, but on separate bridgeheads. Comparing the German plans with the current operational situation in the area from Kanev to Zaporozhye, the author has concluded that the Red Army, pulling together large forces to fight on local breaks, in conjunction with the little interaction between the commands of armies, fronts and the Supreme Command, has created conditions conducive to the successful breakthrough of the enemy on his main direction. As secondary factors affecting the defense, the author considered the general problems of the Red Army at the end of summer – the lack of ammunition, weakness of mobile units, and “staff hysteria”. The study is based on the documents of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and German archival documents in the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration of the United States, as well as sources of personal origin and historiography on the subject under study.

29-43

Authors: Pavel E. Semashka

The article analyzes the modern Russian historiography of the constitutional crisis of September – October 1993 in Moscow. The author considers articles published in journals and collections included in the Russian Science Citation Index. Using methods of quantitative and qualitative analysis, the author identifies and characterizes seven major topics that have been most actively studied in historical science. Researchers paid the most attention to the problem of regions and the interaction of the center with them. They also paid an attention to the legal aspects of the topic: institute of presidency in the legal system of the country, peculiarities of adoption and characteristic features of the Constitution, etc. Besides, the article examines the historical sources used by the authors (they mainly referred to scientific literature on the issue, press data and published documents of state authorities) and makes a conclusion about the necessity of introducing new sources and more active use of the existing ones (archival and statistical data). The positive (increased attention to the problems of regions, the role of the press in the conflict) and negative sides of modern historiography on the subject (poor coverage of the role of social movements and political parties in the conflict) are noted.