Contents

A DISCUSSION OF THE CIVIL WAR IN RUSSIA

A century has passed since the beginning of the tragic events of the deadly Civil War in Russia in the early twentieth century, which not only dramatically changed the country, but also affected (albeit to a lesser degree) nearly all regions of the world. It is obvious that the debates among historians and scholars of neighboring disciplines on various aspects of the Civil War will not be resolved any time soon, and that many lacuna within this study remain to be filled in. We still lack a consensus on the answers to fundamental questions in the history of the Russian Civil War and its meaning. This section presents the views of three historians who specialize in the given (or adjacent) field regarding several key aspects of the Civil War, including the transformation of the term “civil war” in the context of the traumatic developments of 1917–1922 (there are also other variants of the Russian Civil War chronology), the reasons why the “third force” became insolvent over the course of this acute civil conflict, and the conflict’s periodization.

THE CIVIL WAR IN RUSSIA—DEFINITION, CAUSES, AND PERIODIZATION

V. Zh. Tsvetkov
Moscow Pedagogical State University

THE CIVIL WAR IN RUSSIA (PROBLEMS OF UNDERSTANDING)

M. V. Bryantsev
I. G. Petrovskii Bryansk State University

THE SEARCH FOR HISTORICAL CONTINUITY IN THE ASSESSMENT OF THE CIVIL WAR IN RUSSIA

E. Iu. Prokofieva
Belgorod National Research University

THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE: CENTER AND PERIPHERY

KATKOV AND BELINSKII:
THE INTERSECTION OF LIVES AND VIEWS

A. V. Lubkov
Moscow Pedagogical State University

The year 2018 marks the 200th anniversary of M. N. Katkov`s birth and the 170th year since V. G. Belinskii`s death. The author analyses the lives and interaction of these two outstanding Russian editors and publicists, publishers and literary critics who personify diverse directions in the scientific and literary discourse in the ninteenth-century Russia. Their lives and work to a considerable extent defined the values and worldview of the younger generation; the latter formed various ideological trends in Russia`s public life and political thought in the second half of the century. The appeal to the heritage of these prominent thinkers enriches our understanding of the development of Russia`s public life and politics in the ninteenth century. At the same time M. N. Katkov`s and V. G. Belinskii`s oeuvre is relevant for the contemporary generation. In conclusion the author argues that the polemics between Katkov and Belinskii was a factor in reducing the nihilism in the Russian society in the ninteenth century.

COMMERCIAL LAW IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE (From the Charter of 1785 to the Towns to the Guild Reform of 1824

by E. F. Kankrin)

G. N. Ulianova
Institute of Russian History, Russian Academy of Sciences

This article analyses the evolution of ideas about the social and economic status of merchants by examining the commercial legislative practices in the Russian Empire in the period of their growing weight in the national economy between 1785 and 1825. Changes in legislation and institutional arrangements during this period had a significant impact on traders’ activity. This article explores such key acts as the Charter of 1785 to the Towns of the Russian Empire, the Manifesto of 1807, and the Statute “On the Structure of Merchant Guilds and Trade Procedures for Other Estates” of 1824. The article also addresses trade regulation in Moscow in the late eighteenth through the first quarter of the nineteenth century and the role of shopkeepers of all social origins as taxpayers. It concludes that at the turn of the nineteenth century, there was an institutionalization of trade in Russia that signaled the formation of a national market.

CORPORATE ORDER AND SOCIETY IN THE COMPANY TOWNS OF SOUTHERN RUSSIA IN THE LATE NINTEENTH THROUGH EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY

V. A. Kulikov
V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University

Some 150 years ago one of the most ambitious European industrial projects was accomplished on the Donbass steppe. It transformed this peripheral region into the main fuel and metallurgical base of the Russian Empire. Its success was dependent on the labor of residents of company towns that were outposts of industrialization in the southern part of the empire. The author examines the characteristic features of company towns in southern Russia in the late imperial period in a comparative historical context. He highlights the causes of the emergence and decline of such settlements. He argues that one of the characteristic features of the company towns was the dependence of the residents on town-forming enterprises. The enterprises applied diverse means to foster this dependence, such as monopsony in the labor market, company stores as single suppliers of goods, political hegemony, and corporate paternalism. The comparative historical perspective makes it possible to conclude that although most of the company towns ultimately declined, this was not inherent in the system; some proved to be developing and sustainable settlements.

TRANSITIONAL EPOCHS

HELLENISTIC-ROMAN INTERACTIONS IN WARFARE IN THE SECOND CENTURY BC TO THE FIRST CENTURY AD

A. K. Nefedkin

Belgorod National Research University

This article addresses the Roman-Hellenistic mutual military borrowings, in particular the change in armaments carried by Roman horsemen in the Polybius era (the mid-second century BC), and the formation of units armed with Roman equipment by Hellenistic monarchs in the second century BC to the first century AD. While Roman cavalry adopted some Greek-inspired armaments, which improved the fighting capacity of the horsemen, the organization of the Roman cavalry largely remained as it had been. By comparison, the Hellenistic states borrowed the organisation and armament for some infantry units from Rome. These units were organized into legions like the Roman infantry and into cohosts like Italian units. The Italian and Roman military specialists and instructors trained these units. Overall, the Hellenistic states` borrowings were more significant given that Rome was the more victorious power in waging wars.

THE ANCIENT IRANIAN STATES (ELAM AND MЕDIA) ACCORDING TO THE “ANCIENT ARMENIAN GEOGRAPHY” OR ASHKHARATSUITS

H. Zh. Harutyunyan

Yerevan State University

Many different states have existed on the territory of the modern Persian Highlands across the millennia. The first among them was the state of Elam (from 4,000 to 1,000 BC), followed by Media (the first half of the first millennium BC). The history of Elam goes back many centuries. As a result, it is impossible to give a definitive answer to the question of when to date the start of the socio-economic and cultural history of this kingdom. As for the political history, it is considered to be the beginning of the third millennium BC (as in neighboring Mesopotamia). The historical-geographical description of the Persian Highlands and the neighboring territories found its full description in the Ashkharatsuits (or “Ancient Armenian geography”). The second ancient Iranian state, Media (in the Armenian language it is known as Marastan, that is the country of the Maras or Medes), is also mentioned in this ancient Armenian primary source. As in the description of Elam, the authors of Ashkharatsuits remain faithful to their principle of describing almost all known countries of the world, that is they adhere to a northern orientation in the enumeration of states. They also describe the historical and geographical divisions and natural resources of the countries mentioned. Overall, Ashkharatsuits complements information from other authors of antiquity about these countries.

CANONIZATION OF NEW MARTYRS
IN THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

V. A. Orlovskiy (archimandrite Damaskin)

Synodal Commission on Canonization of Saints,
Russian Orthodox Church

The article examines the canonization of new martyrs of the Russian Orthodox Church, presented by the author as a historically significant phenomenon of the twentieth century in its religious, philosophical, and moral aspects. Analyzing the problem in a historical perspective, the author demonstrates the fundamental similarities in essential identity between the martyrs of antiquity and the new martyrs of the Russian Orthodox Church, manifested in the confession of faith, spiritual content, and personal qualities of the victims in the years of repression. The system and methods for collecting evidence for possible canonization have changed in the late twentieth century because of the peculiarities of this epoch. The obvious complication of social relations in the twentieth century, the unprecedented state control over individuals, and the ideologization of all aspects of life significantly hampered the Church in its assessment of believers’ life trajectories. Under these circumstances a thorough assessment of the Orthodox ascetic path, historically and ethically justified, is possible only through a scholarly approach. In this regard, this article and its extensive bibliography fill lacunas in Russian historiography.

INTERVIEW WITH A HISTORIAN

“PECULIARITY IS WHAT ATTRACTS HERE A HISTORIAN”

A. A. Maslennikov
Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences

Interviewed by
S. N. Prokopenko
Belgorod National Research University