2025-12-27
Turatbek Syrdybaev, Burmakan Raeva
This article analyses the historical period during which the multiethnic population of Kyrgyzstan came into existence, extending from the latter half of the nineteenth century until the establishment of Soviet power. The selection of this era is predicated on the observation that at the inception of Tsarist Russia’s colonisation of Central Asia, migratory patterns followed three orientations: firstly, from the European part of Russia, secondly, from Southern Siberia, and thirdly, from China. The indigenous nomadic population, predominantly engaged in cattle breeding, encountered a novel sedentary culture and peoples (Russians, Ukrainians, Dungans, and Uyghurs). The emergence of new settlements – villages, hamlets, and cities – in the northern regions of Kyrgyzstan gave impetus to the development of a pro-European civilization. The authors of this study examine the formation of diaspora populations in Northern Kyrgyzstan, drawing upon statistical materials from the historical period in question. They identify shifts in the ethnic and region’s diverse peoples. In addition to the works of Russian scholars, the article refers to materials from Hungarian researchers György Almásy and Gyula Prinz, who conducted numerous scientific expeditions in the early twentieth century. The new territories of Semirechye attracted not only peasants, but also scientists, travellers, geologists, orientalists, and ethnologists. While conducting scientific expeditions, they encountered diverse ethnocultural communities. Consequently, a substantial corpus of materials is available for the study of multiethnic populations. A thorough analysis of the shifts in the ethnic composition, size, and demographics of the population illuminates the transformations that occurred in Kyrgyz society during the period under investigation. The study of Kyrgyz history, taking into account the factor of multi-ethnicity, remains relevant. It is imperative to acknowledge the ethnic diversity of the population when attempting to establish patterns of socio-economic, cultural, and political processes in the country and the region.
2025-12-27
Angelina Vacheva
This review examines the publication of eighteenth-century Paris police archival documents concerning Franco-Russian diplomatic and cultural relations, carried out by renowned expert on the period Alexander Stroev and his student Denis Kondakou. The subjects of the reports, spanning several decades from 1729 to the end of the century, include about 600 citizens of the Russian Empire, mainly diplomats and their families, government officials residing in the French capital, their entourage, travelling nobles, but also students, craftsmen, servants, and other representatives of the lower classes of society. The police also paid attention to the contacts of Russian figures with representatives of the French administrative and intellectual elite and with diplomats from other countries. The published documents concentrate on several notable figures who attracted the attention of the Paris police for a variety of reasons. Among them were Prince A. D. Cantemir as ambassador of the Russian Empire, adventurers S. A. Pushkin and Ivan Trevogin, Karl, Duke of Courland, Jean-François Héron, and Count I. P. Saltykov.
2025-12-27
Boris Gorelik
This article is devoted to the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902), which was not only the most devastating armed conflict in South Africa’s recent history but also a global concern. It sparked public interest in Europe and North America, with more support for the Boers’ independence than for Britain. Russian subjects of different classes, nationalities and ages, who had previously been almost indifferent to the history and problems of South Africa, showed considerable interest in the struggle for independence of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. Russian periodicals, representing a wide range of political opinion, unanimously condemned Britain’s actions, using the conflict to express their ideological stances and analyse Russia’s present and future. The situation in South Africa was perceived as a lesson for Russia to learn. Political figures sought to make practical conclusions for Russia from the conflict. Historians have only started to examine these lessons, drawing on press archives, political pamphlets, and memoirs. Russian conservatives, Marxists, and supporters of Narodnichestvo and neo-Narodnichestvo considered the Boers’ resistance to imperialist aggression to be a just war. They viewed the defenders of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State as victims of British militarism, which was driven by capitalists seeking control over mineral resources. Conservatives admired the resistance to Western materialism and liberalism, and sought to provide support for the Boers, while taking advantage of Britain’s distraction to further Russian expansion in Asia. Liberals pointed out the inexpediency of military methods to achieving imperialist aims. Antiautocracy political forces found inspiration in the Boer struggle, with Narodniks viewing the conflict in South Africa as a caution against rapid industrialisation and urbanization. Social democrats utilised the workers’ preoccupation with the Boers’ fight to promote socialism and recruit for their movement, while studying how Boer combat tactics could be applied to revolutionary struggle. This marked a significant shift, as it was the first time the African experience was not only widely discussed in Russia but also regarded as a model for addressing national challenges.
2025-12-27
Aleksander Gadomski, Tatiana Itskovich, Ruzica Levushkina, Maria Novak, Alexander Borodin
The study of religious communication, religious functional style, religious discourse, and religious language has become a relevant area of linguistic research in recent decades. In the field of traditional linguistics, scholars utilize specific methods to study individual genres. They also attempt to systematize these genres and describe the lexical, grammatical, and morphological features of religious texts. Furthermore, they address issues related to the translation of sacred texts. The potential inherent in the accumulated research has resulted in the emergence of a new field of study: theolinguistics. The development of this new discipline requires addressing questions about its place within other interdisciplinary fields (theosophy, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics), its object, subject matter, and methods. This dialogue features both members of the Religious Language Commission (under the auspices of UNESCO) Ruzica Levushkina, Aleksander Gadomski, Maria Nowak and Tatyana Itskovich (the moderator of the discussion), and a representative of the natural sciences, Aleksandr Borodin. The questions of theolinguistics and its scholarly nature were prompted by the publication of Professor V. I. Postovalova’s monograph Theolinguistics, a review of which is also published in this issue of the journal.
2025-12-27
Yury Akimov
This article examines the activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the RSFSR in the 1960s. It focuses on the period from the beginning of 1962 to the end of 1968, when Mikhail Menshikov (1902–1976) held the post of republican minister. The source base consists of currently available documents of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the RSFSR (deposited in the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF)), as well as memoirs and periodical materials. At the time, there were efforts to increase the activities of the Republican Foreign Ministry, which led to a range of reactions from the leaders of Soviet foreign policy. The international activities of the RSFSR were subject to the All-Union overarching interests and could be considered a form of auxiliary paradiplomacy. At the same time, the international activities of sub-state and sub-national actors contributed to the promotion and realisation of all-Union interests in the context of the significant expansion of the scope and range of foreign relations of the USSR and the general complication of the entire system of international relations in the 1960s. Beginning in the early 1960s, foreign diplomats started to use the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the RSFSR as an additional channel of communication. This channel was used to share certain information with the all-Union leadership; it was also used to solve specific problems. In general, however, the Republican Ministry of Foreign Affairs remained a kind of reality whose existence the centre had to accept, which could be used on occasion, but to which no importance was attached. The structure was less noticeable than the decorative “foreign ministries” found in other Union republics. It is concluded that the marked increase in its activity in the 1960s was due primarily to a subjective factor: the initiative and authority of Minister Menshikov.
2025-12-27
Fedor Melentev
This article explores the perspectives on Russian history held by the eldest sons of Emperor Alexander II, with a focus on their attitudes toward the image of Emperor Peter I. Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich (1843–1865), who passed away at a young age, and Grand Prince Alexander Alexandrovich (1845–1894), who later became Emperor Alexander III, were raised during the period of the Great Reforms. During this time, discussions about Emperor Peter I gained a significant socio-political dimension. Therefore, the attitude of the grand princes towards the first Russian emperor could testify to their views on the development of the Russian Empire. It is unsurprising that historiography often contrasts Emperor Alexander III with Emperor Peter I, as the reign of the “peacemaker tsar” was marked by a deliberate cultivation of the ideology of returning to Muscovite heritage. An analysis of historical sources indicates that Grand Princes Alexander Alexandrovich and Nikolai Alexandrovich were adherents of the official cult of Russia’s first emperor, and that Alexander Alexandrovich’s allegiance to this tradition persisted even after his accession as Emperor Alexander III. The article draws upon materials from lecture courses by professors S. M. Solovyov and K. P. Pobedonostsev of Imperial Moscow University, K. N. Bestuzhev-Ryumin of Imperial St Petersburg University, and N. Kh. Bunge of Imperial St Vladimir University, who gave lectures to the grand princes in different years. Additionally, the author cites correspondence between the grand princes and the diary of Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich, as well as excerpts from contemporaneous memoirs; the article also reconstructs the reading circle of Emperor Alexander II’s elder sons. The study is based on an analysis of unpublished archival documents stored in federal archives (GARF and RGIA), manuscript departments of national libraries (RSL and RNL), and the manuscript department of the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
2025-12-27
Sergey Kondratiev, Daria Mityureva
This article provides an analysis of the image of King James I Stuart and the mechanisms of forming his assessment in historical memory and historiography from the seventeenth century to the present day. The authors emphasise the enduring duality of the monarch’s perception, juxtaposing his evident merits as a ruler with pervasive negative stereotypes that became entrenched in the collective memory of his contemporaries and subsequently influenced the ideas of historians. The objective of the article is to systematise and analyse the evolution of the image of James I in historical sources and English public culture, to identify the reasons for the persistence of political myths and the influence of the political situation on the perception of power. The study draws from the works of James I’s contemporaries, materials from the “pamphlet war” of the mid-seventeenth century, and historiographical documents. Based on these sources, the authors identify the methods of political influence and manipulation of the monarch’s image; they reveal two main opposing trends in the references to the authority of James I by authors who supported Parliament in the civil war. One portrayed the king as an inherently wise and benevolent ruler, while the other depicted him as a preposterous and wasteful sovereign responsible for financial hardship and civil war. Referring to specific texts, the authors demonstrate that the creation of a negative reputation for James I became a tool for legitimising the opposition to Charles I and his execution, as well as the established regime of the republic and the protectorate. Additionally, it is shown how the political context influenced the visual and literary legacy of James I, creating a complex combination of contradictory symbols – from the “British Solomon” to the “wisest fool”. The limited possibilities for restoring the monarch’s image after the Restoration can be explained by the lack of clear political motivation, the quantitative superiority of negative “evidence”, and the authority of the writers and historians who shared it.
2025-12-27
Elena Borodina, Evgenii Kurlaev
This article presents a reconstruction of the life and work of Fyodor Molodoy, a geological prospector and one of the industrialists active in Kungur Uyezd in the early eighteenth century. Despite the considerable historiography dedicated to the economic history of Russia and the reforms of Peter the Great, issues related to the rapid development of the metallurgical industry remain understudied. The fates of petty entrepreneurs who participated in strengthening the country’s production capacity have not been adequately addressed. The aim of this article is to determine how Molodoy’s criminal past influenced his activities and whether he was able to participate in the productive life of society during the intensive economic transformations in Russia in the first quarter of the eighteenth century. The study draws on legislative acts from the second half of the seventeenth to the first quarter of the eighteenth centuries and documentary materials created primarily during the reign of Peter the Great and stored in the collections of the State Archive of Sverdlovsk Region (GASO) and the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA). The methodological basis of the study is formed by approaches and methods of social history. Furthermore, the use of primary source study methods played a significant role in working with historical sources. Following the analysis of the data acquired, the authors conclude that the factory owner had been convicted prior to his arrival in Kungur but escaped from exile. He managed to legalise his status and obtained the right to engage in mining operations. By the standards of the time, Molodoy was a highly skilled and versatile craftsman. The Mazuevsky Factory, which produced small iron goods for the market, became the basis for his manufacturing activities. The latter included the search for ores and minerals, as well as trade and smuggling of various goods, all of which were conducted under the guise of a permit. The capital accumulated in trade was invested in industrial production. An analysis of court and investigative documents from the 1707 case of illegal transportation of protected goods reveal a selective approach to sentencing. Molodoy received a relatively lenient sentence, but his subsequent activities once again became the focus of investigation. A rare combination of entrepreneurial spirit, unique mining skills, and repeated violations of the law shaped the fate of the factory owner. He was a unique specialist with a criminal reputation.