Abstract: The object of the authors' research is the theory of social progress in the works of such prominent historians as N.I. Kareev, M.M. Kovalevsky and I.V. Luchitsky. To analyze the problem, the comparative method, a systematic approach and the principle of individuality of B. Russell are used in the work. The authors pay special attention to the methodological prerequisites for the rejection by Russian historians of the positions of G.V.F. Hegel for the development of theories of social dynamics and the transition to the foundations of positivism. The article highlights the main theoretical differences between historians of the "Russian School" and other domestic concepts of social progress at the end of the XIX century.   The novelty of the research lies in the fact that the authors of the article clearly show the contradictions in the theories of social progress of representatives of the "Russian School". The article demonstrates that despite the denial of the scientific nature of empirical and metaphysical concepts of historians such as M.N. Petrov and V.I. Guerrier, prominent representatives of the "Russian School" could not refuse the criteria of social development proposed by them. In conclusion, the authors emphasize the importance of the dispute between N.I. Kareev, M.M. Kovalevsky and I.V. Luchitsky about the role of the statistical method, the Marxist approach to history, the relationship between history and sociology for understanding the general and special in their interpretations of social progress.

Keywords: historicism, subjectivism, marxism, theoretical and methodological basis, positivism, progress, Russian school, historiology, eurocentrism, idealism

Abstract: Nuclear weapons, which have largely defined the landscape of international relations since the mid-20th century and have turned conflicts between great powers into proxy wars and local clashes, were first developed through the collective efforts of the United States and Great Britain during World War II. Although the allies eventually completed their work on nuclear weapons together, their contributions were not equal. This was reflected in the dividends received by each side in the end. In addition, the nuclear projects were not initially conducted separately, experiencing periods of growth and decline in cooperation with each other that did not coincide with the overall trend of allied relations. The purpose of the study is to identify and capture the specific stages of Anglo-American cooperation within the framework of the first atomic projects of Great Britain and the United States. US and UK historiography has studied various aspects of both the American Manhattan Project and the British "Tube Alloys", including the role of diplomacy and the influence of allied cooperation on the development of nuclear weapons. Soviet and Russian historiography, despite a significantly smaller volume of works on this topic, also addressed these issues. However, neither Russian nor American and British researchers have established any clear periodization of allied nuclear projects cooperation. The study demonstrates the dynamics of relations between Great Britain and the United States in the atomic sphere, identifies the main contradictions between allies that led to the stagnation and cessation of atomic cooperation, and indicates the causes of the resumption and intensification of such cooperation. The conclusion separates Anglo-American cooperation into seven stages. Each stage is determined and characterized by the comparative level of project development at a particular moment, as well as constantly changing interests of the both sides.

Keywords: atomic diplomacy, nuclear weapons, atomic bomb, anglo-american relations, nuclear cooperation, World War II, Tube Alloys Project, First Quebec Conference, Manhattan Project, atomic project

Abstract: The Middle East is one of the most hot spots of our time. The close interweaving of peoples, linguistic groups, and religions makes this region one of the most "explosive". Studying the problem of ethnic conflicts in the Middle East, special attention should be paid to the history of the emergence of statehood in the countries of the region. For several centuries, the Middle East region has been a European colony. It was only by the twentieth century that most of the peoples living in the Middle East gained independence. An important role in this was played by armed groups, often professing radical Islam and claiming not only their own country, but also the territory of their "neighbors". This article is also focused on the situation of ethnic minorities who have failed to establish their own State. The most striking example is the Kurds, separated by four borders at once and living in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. The object of this study is the relationship between the peoples of the Middle East. The research is based on the historical and systematic method. Within its framework, the development of the states of the Middle East in the XX and XXI centuries was considered, the relationship between historical prerequisites and the current situation in the region was assessed. Along with historical methods, general scientific methods (analysis and generalization) will be involved. When writing the article, the following tasks were set: 1) To analyze the historical component of international relations in the Middle East 2) To assess the current state of interactions between countries and peoples in the region 3) To assess the degree of influence on the policy of the Middle East countries by armed groups 4) To analyze the degree of involvement of Western states in the regional agenda. The novelty of this work lies in the analysis and study of the historical prerequisites for the formation of statehood of individual countries of the Middle East, dividing them into groups to identify signs that affect the ethnic factor in international relations in the Middle East.

Keywords: Hezbollah, Sunnism, kurds, Syria, Iran, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Middle East, Shiism

Abstract: Switzerland's neutrality during the Cold War allowed it, without joining any of the opposing blocs, to take an active part in international politics. This, in particular, was reflected in the so-called good offices and a series of protective mandates of Switzerland in Iran. The article presents a brief historical digression into the process of development of diplomatic relations between Switzerland and Iran. The purpose of the article is to determine the role of Swiss diplomacy in negotiations on the release of American hostages in Iran (1979-1981). The study was carried out on the basis of declassified archival documents, a significant part of which is being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time (documents of the US State Department and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs devoted to the settlement of the crisis with American hostages). This determined the scientific novelty of the study. The use of the historical-genetic method allowed us to study the genesis of bilateral relations between Switzerland and Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. A narrative (descriptive-narrative) method was used to describe Switzerland's diplomatic services to the United States in Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Through the structural and functional method, it was possible to identify the mechanisms of Swiss diplomacy during secret meetings between the American and Iranian sides and the execution of the protective mandate to represent the interests of the United States in Iran. The historical-retrospective method helped to evaluate the results of Switzerland's "good offices" in Iran from the perspective of time distance.

Keywords: Switzerland’s good offices, Swiss diplomacy, American hostages crisis, Erik-Roger Lang, Edouard Brunner, Abolhassan Banisadr, Iranian Islamic revolution, Switzerland, Iran, USA

Abstract: The subject of this study is the discussion on March 14, 1918 in the House of Commons of Great Britain of the Japanese intervention in the Far East and Siberia as the events of the British intervention in Russia. In this regard, the speeches of deputies from various political forces and a high-ranking official of the Military Cabinet of the United Kingdom in the lower house of parliament are disclosed and analyzed. Thanks to the content analysis method and the system method, not only the positions and arguments of the participants in the discussion are presented in detail, but also the connection of their speeches with the military-political and international situation that developed in March 1918 and which influenced the dynamics of the discussion is revealed. The scientific novelty is that for the first time in the historiography of the Civil War and foreign intervention in Russia, a meeting of the lower house of Great Britain on the Japanese intervention in the Far East and Siberia is considered in the context of the history of British intervention policy in Russia and the significance of this event for this policy. The main conclusions of the study are that, despite the lack of a unified position in the House of Commons on the issue of Japanese intervention in the Far East and Siberia, the War Cabinet has caught the trend in favor of Japanese intervention in these Russian regions. As a result, he cautiously began to build a policy of intervention against Russia and to determine the place of Japanese intervention in it. Only large-scale events could force the House of Commons to adopt the policy that the Cabinet considered necessary to pursue in the current circumstances.

Keywords: Lloyd George, House of Commons, War Cabinet, Great Britain, Japan, Soviet Russia, Far East, Siberia, intervention, Civil War

Abstract: The article deals with the problem of economic confrontation between France and Britain during the Napoleonic Wars. The subject of the study is the nature and conditions of the Anglo-French confrontation through the prism of economic processes. The object of the study are those measures and actions that were taken by France and Britain in order to establish their own economic superiority, special attention is paid to the Continental Blockade introduced by Napoleon I Bonaparte. The purpose of the study is to analyze the causes and consequences of Anglo-French rivalry, as well as the peculiarities of the development of national economies in wartime conditions. The article discusses the measures that have been taken to overcome the crisis phenomena by the governments of France and Britain in connection with the conduct of a policy of mutual blockade. The special role of the naval force and the smuggling trade is noted. The author uses chronological, historical-comparative and historical-system research methods in his work. The results of the study may be of interest to specialists in economic or military history, as well as in the theory and history of international relations. There are still conflicting assessments of the effectiveness and consequences of the economic measures taken by the French and British governments to establish their own hegemony on the European continent. The novelty of the study consists in a comprehensive examination of the nature of the economic confrontation between the two European "superpowers" in the early XIX century. The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that the instrument of economic blockade, the policy of sanctions and counter-sanctions, as well as trade wars remain one of the most important elements of the military-political confrontation of various modern states.

Keywords: contraband, port, industry, trade, Napoleon Bonaparte, The Continental Blockade, confrontation, Britain, Economy, France

Abstract: The author analyzes the features and contradictions in the development of Iranian nationalism historical forms in contexts of the ideal models proposed in modernist historiography. The article focuses on the problems of nationalism’s inability to become the dominant political force that constructs the main features of the societal and state developments in Iran. The article is an attempt to transplant classical theories of nationalism into Iranian historical and cultural contexts. The author uses a three-stage “ideal” model of the development of nationalism originally proposed by Miroslav Hroch. Using the modernist approach of Miroslav Hroch, the author presumes that since the 19th century, traditions of political and ethnic nationalism developed in Iran when Qajars and Pahlavi dynasties actualized various strategies of nationalist modernization. The article presents a comparative analysis of various historical forms of Iranian nationalism in the context of the constructivist approach, formulated in the three-stage periodization of Miroslav Hroch. It is assumed that the nationalist modernization of the Qajars and Pahlavi in Iranian historiography is perceived through the prism of a constructivist approach. Therefore, the causes and forms of the crisis of the nationalist project in Iran are also analyzed with use of the “ideal” chronology of nationalism formulated by M. Hroch in contexts of the competition between the political principles of the nation and the religious ideals of the Ummah.

Keywords: three stages of nationalism, ideal models, modernization, Miroslav Hroch, nationalism, Pahlavi, Qajars, Iran, Ummah, Shiism

Abstract: The foreign policy of the United States cannot but be relevant, because, having decided for the whole world that only they can bring order and sow democratic values throughout the globe, their policy and its consequences lead, on the contrary, to discord and chaos. The Middle East region, even without US intervention, is a complex knot of contradictions: the unresolved Arab-Israeli conflict, the importance of the region as an oil-bearing one, terrorism, Islamic fundamentalism sometimes acquiring extreme forms, etc. Iraq, which in essence has never been in the orbit of American influence, has therefore become a threat to US national interests. Using a combination of chronological and case-based approaches, we tried to reveal all the main elements of US policy in Iraq in the last decade of the Ba'ath Party's rule: the issue of sanctions, the problem of the south and north of the country, the activities of the UN commission, etc. "Democratizing" Iraq from 1993 to 2003 the United States pursued an unprincipled and anti-human policy, as a result of which hundreds of thousands of people died, industry was completely disorganized, and in the recent past, under the dictatorship of S. Hussein, a prosperous state rolled back into the pre-industrial era. Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 disintegrated the country, turning it into a quasi-state.

Keywords: UN, unmanned zones, S. Hussein, oil industry, sanctions, democratization, US foreign policy, UNSCOM activities, Iraq, war in Iraq

Abstract: The object of the study is the national musical culture, the subject is the information potential of the newspaper "Volga Commune" in the perspective of the reconstruction of musical culture in the second half of the 1960s. The relevance of the topic is related to the need to recreate cultural processes during the reign of L. I. Brezhnev, including in the years of the eighth five–year plan that go beyond the concept of "stagnation", the search, formation and analysis of a comprehensive source base on musical and historical issues in national and local versions. Such aspects as quantitative, specific and substantive characteristics of newspaper publications of the official print media of the Kuibyshev region are considered in detail. For the first time, an attempt was made to determine the possibilities of the periodical press for the study of musical culture during the "golden five-year plan". Using the chronological, comparative method and content analysis, the features of the "Volga Commune" as a historical source were revealed, a selection of 967 thematic information units (essays, articles, ads, feuilletons, song texts and notes, photos) was carried out. The presence of lacunae in the indications of authorship of most publications is stated. The newspaper highlights the stories of the Soviet-Bulgarian community in the musical sphere, the propaganda of the art of the peoples of the USSR, Lenin festivals, the activities of local musical institutions, including educational, amateur performers. Attention is focused on cultural initiatives and events that have become traditional — the Grushinsky Festival, student springs, etc. It is concluded that the materials of the "Volga Commune" allow us to recreate a network of musical institutions, important musical events in chronological order, some achievements and activities of professional and amateur musicians and institutions. It is noted that the regional newspaper was the most important information resource for the functioning of the Kuibyshev musical and cultural model. It is emphasized that her data have undoubted value and constitute one of the integral segments of the empirical base for further study of the musical life of Russia in the Soviet period.

Keywords: leniniana, Volga Folk Choir, Grushinsky Festival, Volzhskaya commune, eighth five-year plan, Kuibyshev region, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, content analysis, periodical printing, musical culture

Abstract: The object of the study is the section of monuments of science and technology of the VOOPIK. The subject is the activity of the section of monuments of science and technology for the identification, study, accounting, preservation and updating of the corresponding category of monuments. The purpose of the study is to reconstruct the history of the emergence and functioning of this structural unit in the 1960s-1980s. The territorial framework is limited to the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions, the leading industrial regions of the Urals, on the territory of which there were a large number of monuments of science and technology, monuments of industrial heritage. The author studies the history of the formation of the section of monuments of science and technology, and also gives a description of various types of its activities on the materials of the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions. The problem posed has not yet been the subject of special study, and has only been touched upon in the context of the study of history in general of the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments and its regional branches, in particular. This determines the scientific novelty of the article. The source material is represented by archival materials, many of which are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, for example, unique information about the project to create a Museum of the History of Science and Technology in Chelyabinsk. The author comes to the conclusion that there were both similar directions and significant differences in the activities of these sections. This was determined by several reasons. Of great importance was the personal factor, which also influenced the effectiveness of the functioning of the section of monuments of science and technology

Keywords: industrial heritage, museumification, catalog, actualization, Chelyabinsk region, Sverdlovsk region, museum, monument, WOOPIC, factories

Abstract: This article examines a group of religious images, namely votive reliefs carved in rocks, discovered during field research in Pisidia, through the prism of the collective memory of religious cults. Our goal is, on the one hand, to better understand their significance in the local cult, and on the other hand, to consider some ways of perceiving and studying such reliefs over time. The object of consideration in this article will be the rock votive reliefs of Pisidia, which will clarify some aspects of the evolution of religious cults of Pisidia in connection with its history, starting from Hellenistic and ending with Roman times. Religious cults are a topic of great importance for researchers who study ancient religion and history, as well as engage in archaeological excavations. Each of the components of this problem acts as a useful basis for conducting research, but in the process of their joint consideration, they become a powerful tool for understanding the human relationship with the divine. Based on the study of rock votive reliefs, it can be concluded that the functions possessed by the cult and ritual practices of Roman Pisidia were directly related to the audience. These functions inevitably changed over time and could be interpreted differently by different people or even by the same people in different cases.

Keywords: evolution of religious cults, Roman period, Dioscuri, Mediterranean, relief, Asia Minor, tradition, Pisidia, religion, religious cults