Voennyi Sbornik

135-139

Authors: Nicholas W. Mitiukov, Kent Rand Crawford

In 1859 France completed the first ocean-going ironclad warship, «La Gloire», and changed the definition of naval power completely. Russia, as all the other Powers, found that her most powerful naval gun, the 60-pdr, was insufficient for modern warfare, and realized the future naval armament relied on heavy rifled artillery. Both the Army and Navy began purchasing such cannon from foreign providers until a suitable domestic weapon could be produced. The relationship between the Russian military and Krupp is well known. But there was another provided, the Blakely Ordnance Company in England sold many guns to the Army and Navy, beginning with 8-inch MLR in early 1863 to a large number of 9- and 11-inch guns. Deliveries began in November 1863 and continued until mid-1866. But no sources on the armament of Russian ships and fortresses mentions these guns. What happened to them is a mystery.

158-178

Authors: Nugzar Ter-Oganov

The present paper attempts to show a correlation between the implementation of the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 and its direct impact on the Russia's policy in Iran. This paper examines how the signing of that agreement by the Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Petrovich Izwolsky (1906-1910), a devoted supporter of the alliance with Great Britain, led to changes in Russia's policy in Iran, particularly towards Mohammad Ali Shah's authoritarian regime, with crucial consequences for the latter. The author argues that Izwolsky sought to settle the Anglo-Russian rivalry in Asia, particularly in Iran, in return for gaining British support on European issues. In particular, Izwolsky had an obsessive aspiration for Russia to seize the Black Sea Straits in the near future. As the paper will demonstrate, for this objective Izwolsky was ready to make concessions to the British in Iran. The revolutionary events of the end of 1908 and the first part of 1909 in Iran prove that Izwolsky consciously took several steps to arrive at those concessions. Among them was, first of all, the replacement of the experienced Russian Envoy to Tehran Nicolas Genrikhovich Gartvig (Hartwig), a strong opponent to Izwolsky's "liberal" policy in Iran, by the young and weak-willed Charge d'Affaires Evgueni Vasilievich Sablin, in order to give the British ally the upper hand in that country. There are several other clear manifestations of Izwolsky's changing policy towards Iran. First of all, Russian troops suddenly raised the siege of the Iranian city of Tabriz in April 1909 at a time when Russophile Mohammad Ali Shah was very close to demolishing the Constitutional movement. Also the Russian Mission abstained from supporting Mohammad Ali Shah in fighting the Constitutionalists. Notably, it refrained from using the Russian military detachment, which had arrived in Qazvin on July 11, 1909, against the Constitutionalist forces that were advancing towards Tehran. In addition, the Persian Cossack Brigade led by the Russian commander Colonel V.P.Liakhov played a remarkable inactive role during the revolutionary events of June-July 1909. And last but not least, the northern gates of Tehran were left unprotected, despite the fact that the Russian Mission had obtained information that the Constitutionalists intended to attack Tehran exactly from the north. The result was the Constitutionalists' "surprise" seizure of the capital that led to the downfall of Mohammad Ali Shah on July 16. Therefore, this paper argues that Izwolsky sacrificed Mohammad Ali Shah to achieve a full diplomatic alliance with the British.

72-83

Authors: Vladimir I. Afanasenko

Kharkov to the beginning of the Great Patriotic War was the largest industrial centre of the Ukrainian SSR, a powerful military industry and the second (after Moscow) transport hub. In the fall of 1941 in Kharkov were evacuated from Kiev party-political structure of the USSR, the city was the headquarters of the county and was deployed a large mobilization centre. The defence of the first capital of Soviet Ukraine in October, was ineffective and the enemy seized the city is relatively easy. About how and why it happened, says the article.

86-103

Authors: Yuri F. Katorin

In the article it is told about the creation of the first generation of Soviet ballistic missiles for the armament of submarines. The basic stages of their development, tests and adoption for the armament are described. Are cited the data about the people, is most which actively participated in these processes.

14-29

Authors: Nugzar K. Ter-Oganov

This study attempts to analyze the letters of officer/orientalist and military oriental scholar, officer in the Intelligence Section of the Staff of the Caucasian Military District, Staff Captain Konstantin Nikolayevich Smirnov, sent by him from the Turkish and Iranian sectors of the Caucasian front to his wife Kseniya Karlovna Smirnova (Kester) over the period 1914–1917. Depending on changes in the deployment of Russian troops fighting against the Turkish army, as well as the German-Turkish block, both in the north-eastern part of Turkey and in the north-west of Iran, K.N. Smirnov had sent those letters from Kamarli, Diadin, Iğdır, Beyazıt, Trebizond, Kazvin, Kermanshah, Kerind, Qasr-e Shirin, Ava now to Tiflis and now to Sevastopol, Hamadan, and Kazvin, where his wife was staying at that particular point in time. K.N. Smirnov’s surviving letters, just like their fragments, give us an idea of the military/political situation along the line of contact with the enemy on the Caucasian front, as well as many aspects of the activity of officers from the Expeditionary Corps of General N.N. Baratov in Iran over the period 1915–1917. Of interest is his characterization of the personal qualities of many Russian officers, such as General N.N. Baratov, the immediate superior of Staff Captain Smirnov, who at the time headed the reconnaissance unit of the Expeditionary Corps, Colonel N.F. Ern, Chief of Staff, and other officers of the corps. The letters also bring to light the character of activity by K.N. Smirnov as a “political officer”. K.N. Smirnov’s letters contain extremely rare information on the episode of short-term Anglo-Russian military cooperation on the Caucasian front intended to coordinate actions against Turkish troops in Mesopotamia.

40-47

Authors: Tatiana P. Khlynina

The article is devoted to various aspects of the condition and organization of the everyday life of military units of the Southwestern, Stalingrad and Don fronts in 1942–1943 years. The looks of the questions of food and clothing supplies, ensure domestic needs and recreation. At the base of the article are documents of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, recorded memories participants in the events of that time, published sources.

209-235

Authors: Nugzar K. Ter-Oganov

This study attempts to analyze the letters of officer/orientalist and military oriental scholar, officer in the Intelligence Section of the Staff of the Caucasian Military District, Staff Captain Konstantin Nikolayevich Smirnov, sent by him from the Turkish and Iranian sectors of the Caucasian front to his wife Kseniya Karlovna Smirnova (Kester) over the period 1914–1917. Depending on changes in the deployment of Russian troops fighting against the Turkish army, as well as the German-Turkish block, both in the north-eastern part of Turkey and in the north-west of Iran, K.N. Smirnov had sent those letters from Kamarli, Diadin, Iğdır, Beyazıt, Trebizond, Kazvin, Kermanshah, Kerind, Qasr-e Shirin, Ava now to Tiflis and now to Sevastopol, Hamadan, and Kazvin, where his wife was staying at that particular point in time. K.N. Smirnov’s surviving letters, just like their fragments, give us an idea of the military/political situation along the line of contact with the enemy on the Caucasian front, as well as many aspects of the activity of officers from the Expeditionary Corps of General N.N. Baratov in Iran over the period 1915–1917. Of interest is his characterization of the personal qualities of many Russian officers, such as General N.N. Baratov, the immediate superior of Staff Captain Smirnov, who at the time headed the reconnaissance unit of the Expeditionary Corps, Colonel N.F. Ern, Chief of Staff, and other officers of the corps. The letters also bring to light the character of activity by K.N. Smirnov as a “political officer”. K.N. Smirnov’s letters contain extremely rare information on the episode of short-term Anglo-Russian military cooperation on the Caucasian front intended to coordinate actions against Turkish troops in Mesopotamia.

241-252

Authors: Elmira B. Alieva

This article attempts to examine the process of the making and development of a local air and chemical defense system and the major components that make it up: regulatory/statutory acts, resolutions by the central government, and mechanisms for their implementation by local authorities. Special attention is devoted to the legal framework and measures for popularizing civil defense among the population, which fostered the development of the local air defense system during the period of interwar five-year plans. In the end, the author comes to the following conclusion: over the entire period under examination, step by step the government had been putting together a local air defense system so effective as to enable the civil population, in the event of a military threat, to promptly arrange not only its own defense but that of local enterprises of strategic significance. Thanks to the measures taken, by the beginning of World War II many citizens had mastered the major skills for defense against aerial and chemical attacks. A consequence of reform in the system of civil defense was the overall militarization of the country’s population.

159-166

Authors: Alexey Yu. Bezugolniy

This article provides an analysis of the efforts to arrange strategic interactions between the Stalingrad line fronts and the Transcaucasian front, which was defending the North Caucasus. Not long before the commencement of the counter-offensive under Stalingrad in mid-November 1942, the Transcaucasian front was assigned the task to encircle and destroy the main body of the German First Panzer Army, which was operating on the Grozny-Baku line. However, due to a number of objective and subjective reasons, the plan failed to be turned into reality.

175-186

Authors: Elena Yu. Litsareva

The article examines the security issues in the Asia-Pacific region after the cold war. At that time Asia-Pacific region was the only world region with the domination of the economic regional ties and not actually increasing the influence of the military factor. The security issues in the Asia-Pacific region have been limited to the maintenance of stability, at both the national and regional levels. Security, freedom and prosperity in the region were directly dependent on the “postmodern” principles of negotiations, compromises and economic cooperation. Most regional countries were turned into the “postmodernist” states, invested significant economic potential not into the militarization, but into the welfare strengthening at national and regional levels. However, there were unresolved regional conflicts and destabilizing factors. A struggle for the political leadership was one of the tension sources. At the beginning of the twenty-first century the "postmodern" principles in the region have been shattered, because of the threat of nuclear proliferation became especially acutely in the whole of the East Asia, in both the South and the North. In the spring of 2013, the Asia-Pacific region was the center of a military confrontation, and developments at the Korean peninsula - an indication that the East Asia countries have yet to develop the effective system of the security in the region.