Abstract: The subject of this research is the iconography of the capitals and provinces of the Russian Empire of the late XIX – early XX centuries in the illustrative series of essays authored by the foreigners on their trip to Russia (travelogues). The topic seems relevant due to the “visual turn” and active study of the image of Russia as “Other” in the humanities. Based on application of the comparative and quantitative analysis, the author determines the frequency of storylines used for depicting St. Petersburg, Moscow and other regions of the Russian Empire in photography and drawings; as well as reveals the key elements of iconography and connections between them within the framework of a single illustration, which indicates the accents made by the travelers. The conclusion is made on versatility of the images of the Russian capitals and provinces of the late Imperial period in the illustrative series of travelogues, which manifests in the differences of frequency of the strategies for their representation and iconographic elements. Moscow and St. Petersburg were mostly described through visitor attractions and urban, which blended them in the “East – West” dichotomy. Although in the context of everyday life storylines, the province represented the journey and daily activity of the tourists, then through the landscapes, wooden buildings, dirt on the streets and appearance of the local dwellers, it formed the image of “authentic Russia”, close to the “barbaric”.

Keywords: Moscow, image representation, notes of foreigners, travelogues, photographs, the image of Russia, visual turn, Saint-Petersburg, Russian provinces, East-West

Abstract: In the middle of the III century, the Roman Empire marked the advent of a prolonged crisis. In order to confront the barbarian invasions and usurpers revolt, military transformations, the Roman Empire was in needed for military transformations and revision of the military machine that has formed in the previous periods. In the late 250s – early 260s, the Emperor Gallienus created a mobile army corps, which in the ancient sources received a name of the “Dalmatian horsemen”. The following questions arise on the structure and size of this mobile corps. Relying on numismatic, narrative, and epigraphic sources, this article examines the changes in organizational and staffing structure of the Roman army in the middle of the III century; assesses the size and composition, and tasks of the Gallienus’ mobile corps. The author analyzes the opinions that have accumulated in the Russian and foreign historiography throughout 200 years, and develops a relevant perspective on the problem of creating a field army during the third century crisis.  The conclusion is made that the Emperor Gallienus had formed a strong mobile army. It was not just a cavalry, but was based on the vexilationes of the border legions of infantry and horsemen. Gallienus did not seek to create a permanent mobile army, being guided by the prevailing military and political circumstances. He used the mobile corps for retaining the controlled territories, repelled the barbarian invasions and suppressed the usurpers. Gallienus’ mobile army has proven to be an effective instrument in hands of the central government. Aurelian reinforced the army with additional detachments, and later on successfully used it against Palmyrene and Gallic separatists, having restored the unity of the empire.

Keywords: Field army, Cavalry, Vexillation, Legion, Military Affairs, Ancient Rome, Antiquity, History, Crisis of the III Century, Gallienus

Abstract: This article explores poorly studied aspects of the emergence and development of the foundations of higher education in Buryatia. Special attention is given to the historical analysis of the knowledge traditions of the Buryat society and educational practice of Buddhism, as well as to examination of the experience of proliferation of the Western secular culture in Siberia after its annexation to Russia. The author considers the key principles of functionality and main trends in evolution of the traditions of higher education in the context of specific historical conditions of the late XIX – early XX centuries. The article describes the pivotal historical periods of the formation of higher education in the region. It becomes clear that the educational institutions that existed in different historical periods  served as catalysts for the development of higher education in Buryatia. The author determines that the development of the foundations of higher education in the region was influenced by the main trends in the development of pre-revolutionary Russian society and the initial stage of Soviet modernization. However, the peculiarities of historical-cultural development of Buryatia substantiated the specificity of solution of educational problems that were grounded on the rich cultural-historical heritage of the Buryat ethnos, ethnic processes, and national traditions of the Russian system of education. Soviet modernization accelerated the establishment of the foundations of higher education. The opening of higher education institutions in the republic in 1932 prompted the development of higher education in Buryatia, as well as preparation of highly qualified specialists.

Keywords: Irkutsk State University, Pribaikal People's University, Eastern Institute, national intelligentsia, secular education, Buddhist education, Higher Education, VerkhneUdinsk, Intellectuals, Scientific and Educational Worker

Abstract: This article explores the peculiarities of application of compositional pattern of the enthroned goddess in the coroplast of the European part of Bosporus. A number of figurines of the East Crimean Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve of such iconography is published for the first time, including the discarded coroplast products dating back to the IV century BC. The article reviews the emergence of iconography, its origins in the Neolithic cultures of Anatolia, and proliferation. The following sections are dedicated to the analysis of Bosporan terracotta of the enthroned goddess of the archaic and classical periods. The research methodology employs iconographic and semantic analysis, which implies the interpretation of religious representations reflected in the image of deity. A peculiarity Bosporan coroplast lies in popularity of the composition of enthroned goddess from the archaic period, which indicates a special role of the high status goddesses with a variety of features, such as Demeter, Aphrodite, Artemis, and Hecate in the beliefs of Bosporans. Terracotta complexes of the classical period demonstrate diversity of this iconographic type, as well as mark the emergence of characteristic attributes that allow identifying the image of deity. Coroplast data testify to the growing popularity of the goddess of Phrygian origin Cybele in the IV century BC. A hypothesis is advanced on the existence of a prototype of the number of figurines – the local cult statue of Cybele.

Keywords: terracottas, Scythians, Pantikapaeum, Bosporus, Hacilar, Chatal-Hoyuk, enthroned goddess, coroplasty, Demeter, Cybele

Abstract: The article studies the history of the development and functioning of the main road from Pskov through Gdov to Ivangorod and Narva, which was actively used in the pre-Petrine era. This route can be considered as one of the typical examples of the Pskov borderland road. Written and pictorial sources of the XVII century allow us to reconstruct individual sections of the road, assess the quality of the road surface and infrastructure, and characterize the peculiarities of travelers' everyday life. The main sources were the texts of the 1616 report of the Dutch envoy Albert Joachimi, the painting of road routes from Pskov in 1656, the "Notes on Russia" of 1674 by Eric Palmquist, the entries of the "Diary" of General von Allart for 1700. Trips from Pskov to Narva were made along the traditional (long) route and two short roads. Travelers encountered many troubles characteristic of the border roads – poor condition of the road surface, lack of inns, lack of road signs, bad weather, threat to health and property. The maximum average speed of a trip along the studied road is 61 versts per day. The typical average speed of a summer trip is 30 versts per day. Most of the goods between the cities were transported by sleigh from December to March, the road network of the Pskov border region was more adapted for winter trips.

Keywords: historical geography, the life of a traveler, journey, anthropology of the road, perception of the road, borderlands, road, Pskov, Gdov, Narva

Abstract: The goal of this article is to reveal the impact of Western technologies in agricultural production and food processing in the late XIX – early XX centuries upon the formation and development of agroindustrial mentality of all participants of the agricultural market, as well as government structures, officials, and public figures. The object of this research is the scientific ideas, technological and technical innovations, and inventions that came to Russia during the post-reform period and the response of the participants of agricultural and food processing market to them. The scientific novelty consists in the fact that this article is firs in the Russian history to analyze the key factors, methods and techniques of implementing Western technologies and technological improvements in the Russian agrarian field in the late XIX – early XX centuries.  The use of the main forms and methods of implementation of Western technologies at the current stage of development of the entire agroindustrial integration in the Russian Federation determines the practical value of this research. The author determines the problematic spots in the area of modern Western technologies and their impact upon the Russian agriculture and food processing industry.

Keywords: agricultural technologies, European agrarians, technical innovations, Western technologies, agrarian education, scientific thought, agro-industrial mentality, agricultural machines, agricultural production, food processing

Abstract: The reforms and post-reform period of the second half of the XIX century mark significant changes in the political, socioeconomic, and cultural life of the country, and acceleration of urbanization by the beginning of the 1880s. The author also indicates the growing number of employed women, which was particularly evident in the large cities of the Russian Empire. For studying the problem of women’s employment of the end XIX century, the article used the aggregated census data of the three largest cities of the Russian Empire – Saint Petersburg (1881), Moscow (1882), and the capital of the Kingdom of Poland Warsaw (1882). The subject of this article is the examination and analysis of the number of female workers in each group and information about occupational groups, contained in the form of tables in separate volumes of censuses. Emphasis is placed on the quantitative distribution of women by occupational groups, as well as broader categories – types of activity; this allows determining the differences for each city, as well as comparing Saint Petersburg, Moscow and Warsaw during the 1880s in percentage terms. The conclusion is made that the market for female household personnel and day laborers was more developed in Warsaw, while the number of women employed in household service and industrial sector prevailed in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

Keywords: industry, spheres of labor, occupational groups, labor force, dependents, census, female labor, non-traded, blue-collar workers, servants

Abstract: The subject of this research is the foundation of women’s education system in the Russian Empire, namely of the Office of the Institutions of Empress Maria, which totaled up to three dozen by the early XX century. Actualization of the knowledge about the best examples of the Russian school in the past is determined by the fundamental importance of education in the context of ongoing modernization of the country. The topic of Women's institutes of Imperial Russia, which existed for over 150 years, is poorly studied. Despite the extensive source base, in the historical literature one can often come across improper names of the institutes, determination of their departmental affiliation, class composition of the students, as well as incorrect dating and topography. Using the historical-systemic and typological analysis, the author determines and clarifies the conceptual framework of the problematic as a necessary research toolset. The author's contribution to selected topic consists in discovery of a wide variety of sources, including those introduced into the scientific discourse for the first time, accurate names of the institutes and variations in the official documents and everyday practice., their renaming and the causes. The article also traces the dynamics of changes in the class and confessional composition of students since the establishment of the institutes until the beginning of the XX century. Subordination and departmental affiliation at different stages of the history of these institutes is clarified.

Keywords: Department of Empress Maria establishments, women’s education system, estates, province, capital, chronology, term, historical source, Russian history, girl's boarding schools

Abstract: The subject of this research is the aviation industry during the siege of Leningrad. This topic is gaining relevance due to the recently published documents dedicated to the work of the higher party authorities in the period from 1941 to 1944. In the summer-autumn of 1941, Leningrad was detached from the “main land”. In these conditions, the full operational control over resource base of the city fell on the shoulders of the Soviet and party authorities, who received additional powers, and thus, responsibilities. The author provides an alternative outlook on the activity of the Leningrad plants under the People's Commissariat of Aviation Industry of the USSR, not from the perspective of classical reconstruction of the history of aviation industry in the USSR during the war, but a specific managerial task that was resolved by the party leadership using the general resource base. The conclusion is made that despite the evacuation of the vast majority of production facilities of aviation industry during the war, the resource base was adapted to the specific tasks of the Leningrad Front. The city manufactured the industrial products in accordance with the orders and requirements of the Soviet Air Force. Mobilization of the Leningrad industrial base for the tasks of aviation units during the war years in many ways became a crucial factor in maintaining the combat effectiveness of the Air Force, namely during the rough winter of 1941/1942, when the replenishment of aviation units with new equipment ceased  for the most part.

Keywords: the City Committee, industry, NKAP, the Air Force, Leningrad, the blockade, aviation, rear, Leningrad Front, factory

Abstract: This article is dedicated to the problem of seeking new ways in interpretation of the empirical material through the prism of the methodology of “structuralism” undertaken by a range of Soviet historians in the 1960s. The object of this research is the works of the medieval historian A. Y. Gurevich, who created a series of methodological articles on the “Soviet structuralism”. His opinion is most vividly reflected in the articles “General Law and Specific Pattern in History” (1965) and “The discussion on pre-Capitalistic Social Formations: Development and Structure” (1968), which marked the “methodological turn” in his works, and currently serve the object of this analysis. The conclusion is made that that the works of A. Y. Gurevich methodologically correspond to the concept of “structuralism”, although with peculiar orientation towards Marxism. The author demonstrates that the key parameters of methodological work of the historian were determined not by the influence of Western historiography, but by the revision of Marxist dogmas. The system of structures, described in his works, required a different theoretical field, which later found reflection in a number of other works of the historian of rather applied nature. The author believes that an unsuccessful attempt to “renew” the Marxist theoretical thesaurus leads A. Y. Gurevich to the methodology of sociocultural history.

Keywords: Structure, Global historical patterns, Social formations, Methodology, Marxism, Structuralism, Gurevich, Synchronicity and diachrony, Social order, Material and personal

Abstract: The object of this research is the history of tourism development in Russia. The subject of this research is the factors and peculiarities of the development of Russian tourism in the Soviet period (1918-1991). Based on documentary and literary sources, the author characterizes the peculiarity of the phenomenon of Soviet tourism following its key stages. Special attention is given to the integration of tourism, cultural heritage, government policy, ideology, and economy during the Soviet period. Tourism is viewed in the context of socioeconomic and political transformations of the Soviet society, cultural development, and attitude towards prerevolutionary cultural heritage in the Soviet society. The article traces the formation of a new socialist cultural heritage as a factor of tourism development, effective method of ideological education, and enlightenment of the population in the context of socialist ideas. The following conclusions were made: the groundwork on tourism laid in the prerevolutionary period have subsequently been transformed; the peculiarities of Soviet tourism formed with a clear ideological component and specific types. The author indicated impeccable success achieved in the tourism sector during this period; however, it took its own peculiar path. If the foreign countries were focused on improving comfort and infrastructure, commercialization and competitiveness of services between the travel agencies, then in Soviet Russia, tourism was controlled by the government and developed in the context of the objectives of party-state building. The author’s special contribution consists in carrying out periodization of the development of Russian tourism during the Soviet time; detailed characteristic of each period; determination of specificity of using prerevolutionary cultural heritage along with new cultural objects and traditions of the Soviet time in tourism. The novelty consists in revealing the key peculiarities and stages of tourism development in Soviet Russia. Tourism is viewed in relation to the development and new perception of the cultural heritage of Russia, as well as the development of peculiar unique approaches towards the dominant sites for tourist visits.

Keywords: local history, periodization, monumental propaganda, proletarian tourism, ideology, cultural heritage, soviet period, history of tourism, tourist resources, tourism development

Abstract: The object of this research is the Crimean Tatar female residents of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic during the 1920-1941. The subject of this research is their engagement in the education system of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The goal is to introduce new facts about the Crimean Tatar women involved in this sphere of social activity of the period under review, broaden the knowledge on the role they played therein, discuss the positions they held, and how their role changed over time. The author publishes and analyzes the previously unpublished materials discovered in the State Archive of the Republic of Crimea. The author reveals the new biographical records of the number of Crimean Tatar women engaged in the education system of the Crimean ASSR during the indicated historical period. If the records of 1920s depict a Crimean Tatar female pedagogue as an illiterate teacher of traditional crafts, then in the 1930s it is a women with professional education in geography, philology, natural sciences, or elementary school teachers. Some cases indicate that such woman could be the head of an orphanage or school; the author picks Zuledzha Adzheredinova is a bright example. Female pedagogues worked in the publishing industry. It is worth noting the high labor mobility of these women: frequent relocation from villages to cities or the other way around.

Keywords: enlightenment, women, archive, SARC, State archive of the RC, education, Crimean ASSR, crimean tatar women, Narkompros of Crimea, Regional Tatar art and industrial technical school

Abstract: This article gives an assessment one of the most notable episodes of the interwar period in the history of international relations – the development of Italian foreign policy in the context of the Italo-Ethiopian war. In the early 1935, Italy was ruled by the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. One of the cornerstones of his foreign policy paradigm was the creation of the “New Roman Empire”. One of the initial targets of his expansion were Ethiopia and the Mediterranean. Italy replenishes its military and economic resources; however, it was deficient to achieve the set foreign policy goals. Therefore, the war in Ethiopia became one of the key vector of Rome’s official diplomacy. The warfare also unfolded in the ideological context – propaganda, politics within the League of Nations, and interlocutory instructions to the diplomats. The scientific novelty is defined by the absence of comprehensive research on the topic. The relevance of lies the fact that the Russian historiography did not give due attention dedicated to the secret plans of Italy during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. However, namely the plans of Cesare De Vecchi and Emilio De Bono that shed light on the crucial nuance of the Italian diplomacy of this period, and allow to properly stress topic and priorities with regards to foreign policy. This the article analyzes the ration between the objectives in Ethiopia and the Mediterranean basin –the cornerstone task within the framework of building a New Roman Empire.

Keywords: Di Bono's plan, De Vecchi's plan, History, Interwar period, Ethiopia, Mussolini, International relations, Italy, Propaganda, Mediterranean

Abstract: On September 4 – 6, 1984, Moscow hosted the first round-table meeting of British and Soviet writers, which was substantiated by the emergent thawing in foreign policy relations between the countries. The goal of this article is to examine the process of organizing and hosting the writers’ conference, as well as give assessment to its contribution to the development of Anglo-Soviet cultural cooperation during the Cold War. The research methodology is founded on the concept of cultural diplomacy, as well as the principle of historicism and systematicity, which allowed analyzing the available archival materials, publications, and reminiscences of the participants. Having examined the Great Britain-U.S.S.R. Association, the author gives special attention to the perception of this event by the British side. The article traces the transformation of attitude of the British authors towards their Soviet colleagues and the Soviet literary process overall. The round table participants expressed different opinion on the role of the writer and the degree of their social responsibility, as well as on moralization in the novel. In the course of discussion, the Soviet side often turned to the topic of peacekeeping, while the British side defended the autonomy of the writer and the right to social criticism. The conclusion is made that despite the divergence of opinions, both British and Soviet writers found the discussion productive,  and positively assessed the results of the conference. Thanks to the efforts of organizers and the objective “tiredness” from using cultural events for propaganda purposes, the first British-Soviet Round Table of Writers has fulfilled its mission, becoming an important platform for intercommunication.

Keywords: John Roberts, Cold War, British culture, British writers, British Cultural Diplomacy, the USSR, Great Britain, Writers’ Round Table Conference, British-Soviet Relations, literary contacts