Abstract: The subject of the research in the article is the problem of similarities and differences in the interactions of the Soviet government with two traditional communities living in the newly formed Buryat-Mongolian ASSR since 1923 – Old Believers and Cossacks who have lost their official status (act as the object of research). The modifications of their identities caused by both intra-communal processes and external invasions by the state have largely led to a certain ideological collapse of modern renaissance trends. The following aspects of the topic are considered: analysis of the policy of "soft power" in terms of influence on Ancient Orthodoxy and radical "storytelling" of the 1920s, respectively; study of the parallel with this policy of the transition of communities to practices of socially approved behavior by the early 1930s. The study mainly used a historical and comparative method involving the allocation of common and special features of various phenomena. This helped to compare the policy of the Communists in relation to two rather different communities from each other. The ideographic method made it possible to better understand the peculiarities of the 1920s, through the prism of elements of biographies of individual people. The traditional communities of Old Believers and Cossacks of Buryat Mongolia in the 1920s were subjected (to varying degrees of influence) to a political, social and cultural transformation of their identities - moderate for the former and radical for the latter. By the early 1930s, it provoked the transition to practices of approved behavior, as the only option for non-public preservation of the meanings of their "deep" specificity, and in the case of the Cossacks, external forms of cultural identity. The novelty of the research lies in the study of the ideological policy of the Soviet government in the early years of its existence, based on a comparison of two specific communities of Buryatia – Old Believers and Cossacks, as well as the introduction into scientific circulation of sources of personal origin – the memories of family old-timers and descendants of military Cossacks.

Keywords: atheization, communist ideology, Soviet power, Cossack identity, Old Believer identity, Buryat-Mongolian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, National history, decossackization, collectivization, socially approved behavior

Abstract: The subject of the study is the dynamics of academic interest in the problem of the Great Game in foreign historiography of the second half of the XX – early XX centuries and the factors that influenced this process. The traditional study of historical thought practically does not take into account quantitative indicators of the prevalence of certain concepts in historiography. At the same time, there is a genuine revival of interest in Anglo-Russian rivalry in Central Asia. The article analyzes the content of foreign historiography after the Second World War and the prerequisites for the growth and decline of research interest in certain periods of time. The aim of the work is to trace the correlation between foreign policy events and trends in the study of the Great Game. To do this, an array of more than 300 papers was formed in order to graphically display bursts of scientific interest in the problem by plotting a time series. The work uses quantitative methods that allow you to build an initial graph and perform its mechanical alignment for greater reliability of the results. Also, the main technique for interpreting the data obtained was the analysis of bursts of research interest in the problem of the Great Game, for which historical-systemic and historical-comparative methods were used. The use of quantitative methods and the display of results in graphical form determines the novelty of the work. The catalyst for the intensification of research on this issue has almost always been an aggravation in the confrontation between superpowers or a significant change in the international situation. It is also worth noting the emergence of the term The New Great Game in the mid-1990s and its subsequent expansion beyond the Central Asian region and historical science in general. In British historiography, the growth in the number of publications on the Great Game is due to the development of postcolonial studies. In the USA, there is a significant difference between the pre-war and post-war volumes of research on this topic, the penetration of the concept of the Great Game into American science and gaining popularity among researchers. Further study of the patterns of development of the foreign historiography of the Anglo-Russian rivalry, including using statistical methods, will allow us to more accurately characterize the relationship between political conjuncture and academic discourse in the bipolar and post-bipolar world, as well as the place of the image of the Great Game in modern public consciousness.

Keywords: dynamics of academic interest, The New Great Game, Russia, USSR, USA, Great Britain, Central Asia, quantitative methods, historiography, The Great Game

Abstract: This article deals with the problem of accumulation and systematization of information in studies devoted to 3D reconstructions of objects of historical and cultural heritage. In the presence of a large number of heterogeneous sources, the researcher may get confused in the accumulated data, which significantly complicates his work. Since in research, the results of which are virtual reconstructions, text sources are used together with graphic, scientific and technical documentation, as well as physical objects undergoing preliminary digitization, the accounting and cataloging of sources cannot be neglected. The solution to this problem allows the most complete and efficient use of all the materials available in the study, which ultimately affects the quality of the reconstruction result obtained. In this article, using the example of a project for the reconstruction of estate complexes in the Moscow region, the author demonstrates the developed system of accumulation and enrichment of source information using modern database management systems and software tools for working with data. The information aggregated and described in the MySQL database is supplemented with information from open sources using web scraping technology in the Python programming language, acquires end-to-end identification and acquires usability in various studies. Standardized information allows you to quickly find the right source from the very top level, and its enrichment provides additional opportunities for analysis and synthesis of all aggregated material.

Keywords: Web-scraping, MySQL, Python, Estates of Moscow region, Databases, 3D-reconstructions, Source studies, Historical Information science, Data enrichment, Cultural heritage

Abstract: The periodization of political repression in the USSR was and remains an urgent issue in the study of the GULAG. According to A.V. Bakunin, when determining the main stages of political repression in the USSR, it is necessary to proceed from the periodization of Soviet totalitarianism, which includes three main stages: the formation (genesis) of totalitarianism (1917–1929), the domination (apogee) of totalitarianism (1929–1953), stagnation and collapse of totalitarianism (1953–1991). After 1991, the mass publication of memoirs of former prisoners of Soviet camps has begun, and it is the memories that are the main source for our research. As part of the current work, we hypothesize that the perception and transmission of memories of the camps may be influenced by the period or stage of repression in which the prisoners served time. The conducted content analysis of memoirs of former GULAG prisoners in subgroups by gender and stage of political repression allows us to conclude that in all subgroups of documents the categories of "Power", "Life" and "Work" dominate, regardless of the stage of political repression and the gender of the authors of the memoirs. This confirms the thesis that in the memory of former prisoners, first of all, memories associated with daily survival in the camp and overcoming inhuman living and working conditions leave an imprint. At the same time, it can be noted that in the subgroups with a small number of incoming documents and marked elements, for example, in the subgroup "women, dates of arrest from 1918 to 1922", significant deviations in the frequency of occurrence are observed – bright connections of atypical categories are revealed. Conversely, the more texts and the larger the studied subgroup, the more common features of the perception of camp life appear. This confirms the hypothesis about the massive nature of large arrays of thematically similar texts.

Keywords: GULAG, gender, repression, gender studies, content analysis, sources of personal origin, mass sources, GULAG periodization, memoirs, prisoners

Abstract: The author examines the perception of the idea of German hegemony in Europe in German political thought from the end of the Cold War to the end of the European debt crisis of 2009-2013. During this period, there was a discussion in the German analytical community about the future role of Germany in the region. In the study are distinguished a number of stages in the perception of the idea of the hegemony of the FRG. As part of the first stage, after the end of the Cold War, the so-called "normalization debate" takes place, during which the issue of increasing the political weight of a united Germany was discussed. The next stages were marked by the understanding of German hegemony as a leader in the processes of European integration, the rehabilitation of the use of military force, a temporary period of renationalization, and then, during the leadership of A. Merkel as Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, the adoption of the role of the financial leader of Europe. The conclusion is made about the legitimization of the idea of German regional hegemony in German political thought following the results of the European debt crisis.

Keywords: Angela Merkel, Hegemony stability theory, European debt crysis, European integration, Debate about normalization, German political thought, European Union, Hegemony, Germany, Gerhard Schroeder

Abstract: The subject of this article is the scientific work of the outstanding Soviet historian of antiquity S. I. Kovalev, related to the history of the Roman Republic and its state institutions. The authors analyze the hypotheses expressed by Kovalev on the most controversial problems of the history of republican statehood and compare them with the theories that existed at that time in Western historiography, as well as pre-revolutionary Russian historiography. The authors refer not only to the works of the Soviet scientist himself, his predecessors and contemporaries, but also to archival materials, namely to the correspondence of S. I. Kovalev with his foreign colleagues. The appeal to the study of Soviet historiography of ancient history is currently becoming more and more relevant among Russian antiquarians, but there is still no detailed analysis of S. I. Kovalev's scientific work in Russian historiography. The authors show the validity of many assumptions made by S. I. Kovalev for the level of development of scientific knowledge in the study of the history of ancient Rome in the middle of the XX century, as well as the continuity of many of its provisions from the hypotheses of the outstanding pre-revolutionary Russian antiquarian I. V. Netushil. In addition, the paper demonstrates the groundlessness of the widespread point of view about the complete isolation of Soviet historical science from the global one.

Keywords: dictatorship, theory of formations, Netushil, magistrates, statehood, Roman republic, historiography, soviet classical studies, Kovalev, oligarchy

Abstract: Interest in biography is steadily growing in modern Russian society. Mythologized concepts, stamps and "dark spots" are increasingly discredited by archival data. The article is devoted to the scientific biography of the candidate of Historical Sciences, associate professor of the Department of General History N. N. Belova (1917-2012). The author reconstructs the course of work of the Soviet epigraphist on the problems of dialectical continuity based on archival materials. In the second half of the 1960s, N. N. Belova worked on a set of problems concerning the Gallo–Roman villa as an economic unit connected with the city. N. N. Belova considered the history of the late Roman Republic and the Gallia of the principate era as the history of the relationship between Rome and Italians, i.e., the struggle of Italian communities against Roman-Italian slavery. The author used a biobibliographic method, as well as developments in the field of everyday history. The article presents for the first time a letter from M. Ja. Sjuzjumov to N. N. Belova. The materials presented in this article allow us to highlight an important aspect of the scientific work of the outstanding Soviet historian M. Ja. Sjuzjumov (1893-1982) - the study of the genesis of the ancient city. The most important result of the work was the formation of the most important milestones of the scientific biography of N. N. Belova, a historian who is part of the "inner circle" of M. Ja. Sjuzjumov.

Keywords: USSR, scientific biography, dialectical continuity, Sjuzjumov, Belova, epigraphic studies, epistolography, source studies, historiography, Ural University

Abstract: In light of the aspect that social development is a combination of stable and innovative phenomena, the emergence and implementation of which depends on the limited range of factors, it should not theoretically appear as a problem for the scholars to forecast the vectors of social development. In other words, if society depends on the trajectory of its previous development and are rare instances of the individuals going beyond the traditional institutional blockages of innovative progress, the historical science should provide ample opportunities for forecasting the events, namely of economic nature. Therefore, a number of historians of the XX century advances a thesis on the need to apply mathematical tools to the analysis of human behavior in the historical context. The trend for using mathematical tools in human resource management and humanities research has recently gained relevance. For a long time, this methodology was considered equally suitable for describing events of the past and predicting future events. The experience of using forecasting models and mechanisms created by historians is however quite contradictory. The scholars are not always able to predict the vector of social progress of degree of regression. This article aims to explain the reasons for this situation.

Keywords: information and analytical system, intelligence, CASCON, chaos theory, agency, cliometrics, cyclicality, game theory, innovations, expert judgment method

Abstract: The subject of this article is the paradigms of scientific research that emerged in the 1920s in Russian historical scholarship, which found their most prominent expression in historiographic works. Scholars of the “old school”, whose achievements were later taken into account by young Marxist historians, had a particular role in the formation of the scientific paradigms of this period. The semantic specifics of these paradigmatic structures, introduced by their directions into Russian scholarship, were largely determined by the whole of the contemporary model of historical research. The struggle of representatives of these areas in Russian historical sciences did not destroy the unity of the scientific community. The main research methods applied in this article are the historical-systemic, historical-typological, historical-genetic and historical-comparative methods, as well as special historical methods of historiographical analysis. For the first time in historiography, the role of research paradigms in Russian historical scholarship of the 1920s is analyzed on the basis of an examination of the evolutionary process of Russian historiography, which as a result allowed the author to conclude that the standards of setting and solving research problems in the scientific community had a particular role in the preservation of the community's unity, despite the existence of serious ideological contradictions.

Keywords: scientific schools, historicism, science of the 1920s, academic science, researcher's personality, Marxist historians, paradigm of historical research, techniques of historical research, historical methodology, historiographic assessments

Abstract: The subject of this study is the work of the Azerbaijani delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). The research object of this study is the documents adopted by the Azerbaijani delegation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The relevance of this research topic comes from the fact that this issue has not been sufficiently widely studied in Azerbaijani historical sciences. The aim of this article is to give a description of the Azerbaijani delegation's position in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). The theoretical significance of the presented research lies in that its results can be applied in the study of the role of the PACE in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The results of this research can be used in the writing of scientific papers and the composition of lecture courses on the history of Azerbaijan in higher educational institutions of Russia.The article's research methodology is constructed on the basis of using the method of comparative analysis, in identifying the cause and effect relationship of events, in the critical approach to the scientific sources used, in comparing the facts available in the sources, and in analyzing and generalizing the results obtained.The article is focused on the work of the Azerbaijani delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). The author analyses the documents adopted by the Azerbaijani delegation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In particular, the organization's positive attitude towards Azerbaijan is demonstrated by the election of I. Aliyev and S. Seidov to the post of vice-presidents of the PACE. In the modern period, as a logical consequence of the work done and the reforms carried out with its concrete, practical activities in the field of transformation, Azerbaijan has proved that it is a worthy member of the named organization.

Keywords: charter, session, status, program, structure, delegate, history, Council of Europe, organization, legislature

Abstract: The research subject of this article is a fragment from Katib Chelebi's "Cihannuma" ("Description of the World"), which contains valuable information on the peoples and parts of the region of the Western Caucasus. Katib Chelebi was a prominent cartographer, geographer, and historian of the Ottoman Empire of the 17th century. His work "Cihannuma" ("Description of the world") contains within itself valuable information about the peoples and countries of different parts of the world. The Western Caucasus is presented in a brief but informative narration, in which we find descriptions of the parts and peoples of this region. Upon writing this article, the author conducted an analysis and generalization of the main information indicated in the above-named work. In translating the relevant passage of the "Cihannuma", the author used the main theoretical and practical methods of historical research. The scientific novelty of this research is defined by its introduction into scientific circulation of the previously not studied, as well as unpublished in Russian, valuable passage from the work of Katib Chelebi. In connection with this, the indicated passage will supplement the already available information on the peoples and various regions of the Western Caucasus.

Keywords: Abaza, The Black Sea, The Western Caucasus, Cihannuma, Ibrahim Muteferrika, Katib Chelebi, Circassians, Sukhum, Sudjuk, Gelendzhik

Abstract: The topic of this research is the history of using dogs in Russia, while dedicating particular attention to the importance of using dogs in patrol and guard duty, in military warfare, and in protecting state borders and conducting customs controls. The principle aim of this article is to undertake an analysis of the possible uses of dogs in the service of man and to study the experience of using them. The author also examines the topic of using dogs during the Great Civil War in Russia. Particular attention is paid to the particularities of the development of service dog breeding in Russia, the usage of service dogs in in law enforcement agencies, including in customs control. The research was conducted on the principles of historicism and objectivity, and the methodological base of the research is the historical-genetics method, through the help of which the sequential detection of properties, features and changes in the topic under study during the process of its historical movement, allowing to achieve to the greatest extent a reconstruction of the real history of the studied phenomena. The scientific novelty of this study lies in the very way the topic was set: the article carries out an analysis and substantiates the possibilities and ways of using dogs in law enforcement agencies, including in the customs control sphere. The author comes to the conclusion that the use of service dogs remains in demand in all law enforcement agencies. The abilities and capacities of service dogs allow for a more effective prevention, repression and detection of crimes and offenses within the competence of law enforcement agencies. The main contribution of the author in the advanced of the examination of this topic is the study of the ways of using dogs in law enforcement agencies, including the customs control.

Keywords: guard dog, service, dog, customs control, border protection, cutoms security, law enforcement agencies, service dog, abilities of dogs, use of dogs

Abstract: The subject of this research is the policy of the Russian Federation during the period of the Georgian–Abkhazian conflict of 1992-1993. The decisions that were taken by the Russian government regarding the regulation of the military activities in Abkhazia in a certain manner influenced the interactions of Russia with Abkhazia and with Georgia. The author analyzes the characteristic features of the development of the Russian-Abkhazian, as well as Russian-Georgian relations during the indicated period. Particular attention is dedicated to the implementation mechanisms of Russia's moderating activities and its role as the initiator of negotiations directed at a speedy cease-fire in Abkhazia. The methodological basis of this research consists of the principle of historicism and the principle of systematism. In accordance with the principle of historicism, the author examines the process of interaction between the named countries within the framework of specific historical events. The application of this principle has allowed to determine the developmental mechanism of the Russian-Abkhazian relations during the period of the Georgian–Abkhazian conflict of 1992-1993. Acting as an intermediary in the negotiations for a cease-fire in Abkhazia, Russia, as the successor of the USSR, had to keep in consideration such factors as:- adherence to international law;- the influence of the West on the development of the situation in the Caucasus;- stability and security in the Caucasus, the guarantor of which it was;- the centuries-old history of interaction with Abkhazia and Georgia, which in its own way influenced the further development of the relations between these countries.The principle of systematism has allowed the author to identify the issues and analyze the reasons which in their own way had an influence on Russia's policy in the period of the Georgian–Abkhazian conflict as a result of the combination of these aspects.The main conclusion of the undertaken research are the following:- the outcome of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict for Abkhazia was the recognition of its de facto independence from Georgia, and for Georgia – the failure of the Georgian leadership in its attempts to subjugate Abkhazia and its people;- the status of Russia as a great power did not permit it to remain on the sidelines of this war. In an effort to reconcile the conflicting sides, Russia in its intermediary role directed all of its efforts to secure a speedy end to the bloodshed, holding meetings and consultations with the conflicting parties on the territories of Russia, Abkhazia and Georgia;- different approaches of the executive and legislative authorities concerning the adoption of various measures for the cessation of hostilities in Abkhazia, the geopolitical factor, the possibility of spreading fire outside the territorial limits of Abkhazia, all of this greatly influenced the policy pursued by the Russian leadership during the period of the war and affected the development of the Russian-Abkhazian relations during the period under examination.The novelty of this research is that it allows to reconsider the relations between Russia, Abkhazia and Georgia in the above-stated period of conflict and the causes that influenced the adoption of certain decisions on the passing of time and on the basis of a wide range of sources.In today's world, inter-ethnic conflicts are one of the key issues in international relations. The disintegration of such a powerful state as the USSR, the area of which occupied 1/6 of the Earth's inhabited land, to a significant degree was the cause of the appearance of the inter-ethnic conflicts on the territory of the former Union. Questions regarding how the 15 union republics withdrew from the Soviet Union and how their following development began to take shape will surely be subjected to historical analysis more than once in future studies. The disintegration of the Soviet Union led to the destruction of the political, economic, transportation, energy and other ties and the building of new relations between the newly reformed states and other countries of the world community.The conflict between the Abkhazians and Georgians, whose history dates back to more than a century, after the collapse of the Soviet Union grew into the bloody Georgian-Abkhazian war of 1992-1993. Subsequently, under the auspices of the United Nations, with the participation of observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and under the mediation of Russia, began the negotiation process in Geneva on the peaceful resolution of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict, which continues to this day.The consequences of this war in many ways began to determine the state of affairs and the role of Russia in Southern Caucasus. Ensuring the national security of the Russian state at its borders is one of its priority tasks. Abkhazia is interested in good neighborly relations with Russia, while Georgia seeks to become part of the North Atlantic Alliance. NATO has already carried out three military exercises on the territory of Georgia and Georgian military cadres are undergoing military training in the United States. The current situation raises concerns in Russia and Abkhazia.Abkhazia is an important buffer zone for Russia, and Russia's policy and the development of Russian-Abkhazian relations during the period of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict greatly influenced the further development of the relations between the countries involved in the war.

Keywords: policy, Georgian-Abkhazian conflict, intermediary, territorial integrity, negotiations, cessation of military hostilities, international community, Georgia, Abkhazia, Russia

Abstract: The subject of this article is the idealistic approach to history, that is, the theory and methodology of constructing an image of the past as part of the overall worldview of the world. In this article, the idealistic approach to history is considered in a comprehensive way: the history of this phenomenon is analyzed, the past is examined as part of the picture of the world, the subject and the features of the idealistic approach are shown. From the idealistic point of view, the past has no objective meaning since it is a product of the creativity of the human consciousness, but, as part of the picture of the modern world of man, it can exert a colossal influence on his perception of reality and on his actions. The research's work is based on the principles of historicism and objectivity. These traditional approaches are supplemented by new methods, which were developed in recent decades on the basis of the principles of human cognition. The scientific novelty of this study lies in the formulation of the topic itself. The author offers his own vision of the idealistic approach, based on the understanding of history as an image of the past created by scholars, derived from their worldview and founded on the facts they consider relevant to the past, according to certain principles. In this respect, the idealistic approach consists of looking at the past from the standpoint of man-creator. History is presented as an open project, which does not have a precise goal lying beyond the human consciousness. History goal-setting is set by the human mind, proceeding from the prevailing worldview of the time. With a change in worldview, the goal of historical development and the trajectory of the movement towards the set goal are changed. Recognizing the temporality of modern history, the idealistic approach considers legitimate only the comprehension of relative historical truths within the framework of specific worldviews and conceptual systems. The main conclusion of the article is that the idealistic approach to history was created within the framework of the European Enlightenment tradition, which through that placed man and his consciousness at the center of history, was a new way of creating the past. 

Keywords: idealism in history, creation of the past, ideas on history mover, past, creating the past, worldview, picture of the world, future, present, idealism

Abstract: The subject of research is the questions regarding the economic policy of the Russian Empire in Turkestan, in particular, the examination of the industrial policy of the metropolis in the region. In writing this article the author referenced for the first time in scientific use archival documents from the Central State Archive of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the press of the time. The primary aim of this article is to present an overview of the debate between the periphery (provisionally called "liberal") and the capital ("conservative") press on the industrial policy of the Russian Empire in the middle Asian region. As the basis for this discussion the author took the articles of famous journalists from the beginning of the 20th century S. Lapin (local Turkestan journalist), E. Fedorov (Saint-Petersburg journalist) and others. In the author's view, the discussion between the local and capital press reflects the fight between opinions regarding the present and future industrial policy of the Russian Empire in Turkestan. The events were interpreted from the outcome of the general economic conditions in the Empire, as well as the widely used statistical and comparative historical methods. The author's particular contribution to this topic lies in that he proves, based on primary sources (archival documents, press) and a new reading of the historical documents, that the industrial policy of the Russian Empire in Turkestan had failed. The reason for this lies in the fact that the discussion between the "liberals" and "conservatives" of resolving the industrialisation of the peripheries were of a strictly ideological nature and this is why it could not have an influence on the most important decisions regarding the industrial policy of the government circles of the Empire.

Keywords: imperial economy, industry, Turkestan, metropolis, colony, periphery, discussion, liberalism, conservatives, British India

Abstract: The article’s research topic is the modern Russian historiography's experience of understanding the problem of labor efficiency during the years of the New Economic Policy. The author subjects to analysis the works of L. N. Bekhtereva, Y. P. Bokarev, L. V. Borisova, L. I. Borodkin, Y. M. Holland, A. A. Iliyhov, L. N. Lutov, A. M. Markevich, E. I. Safonova, A. K. Sokolov, S. B. Ulyanova. The article presents the conclusion that historians, on the basis of using new sources and modern methodological approaches, significantly deepened the analysis of labor efficiency during this period. The methodological basis of this research is the historiographical analysis of historians' publications from the position of the research subject's unity, its development and continuity. The article research's novelty lies in it presenting a complex description of the achievements of modern Russian historiography in shedding light on the issue of labor efficiency during the years of the New Economic policy. The article's author comes to the conclusion that on the basis of using new sources and modern methodological approaches scholars were able to considerably deepen the analysis of the named issue, including through the prism of cultural anthropology, social psychology, labor motivation and organizational conflict. All of this, undoubtedly, enriched the understanding of the ambiguous industrial life during the period of the New Economic Policy. The historical analysis from the position of sociology and psychology of management also has its own perspective on this issue, which would allow to balance the often too categorical understanding of the multifaceted historical phenomenon of the New Economic Policy.

Keywords: labor productivity, labor discipline, economic accounting, historiography, state industry, industrial relations, factory, New Economic Policy, labor dispute, wage

Abstract: The article’s research is focused on the history of the formation of the sharia and the particularities in the development of Islamic law in the 7th‒10th centuries. At the heart of this study lies the heuristic component of the formative process and becoming of the law, as well as the role of the intellectual elite in the development of the legal doctrine of the sharia. Behind the origination of the sharia’s legal system stood predominantly judges and legislators, and not political powers, the sanction of which never became a mandatory facet. The article traces the principles of cognitive and practical activities of the Islamic intellectuals in the sphere of law at the very early stages of the sharia’s formation up to the period of the establishment of doctrinal schools. The history of the sharia’s formation is very rarely the focus of individual scientific studies by historians-Westerners, which prevents the creation of a synthesis of the methodological works that exist in Eastern and Medieval studies. The formulation of such a synthesis would give a wide-ranging, possibly adapted within the framework of the established Western European historical tradition, understanding of the foundations of Islamic law and to focus research attention on the subject currently relevant to Medievalists. The article’s novelty lies in its method of research, described above. The author comes to the conclusion that Islamic law originated from an epistemological search of such a method that would lay the foundation for lawmaking. The Islamic legislators' found method created the base for the interrelation between law and religion in the Islamic intellectual space.

Keywords: history, Islamic law, sharia, qadi, faqih, Quran, sunnah, hadith, madhhab, intellectual elite

Abstract: The authors state the relevance of a case study of identification processes in Russian history, particularly the inhabitant of a socialist town in the Urals. This article presents individual identity as a concept adopting different types of identification. Based on the memoirs (memoirs of L. M. Mar’yasin, Director of Uralvagonstroi, and D. Scott, American worker), the article analyzes individual identity of socialist town builders during the forced modernization of the 1930s. Approaches: concept of urban anthropology, theory of identity, concept of social stratification, content analysis method (symbolic, thematic, modal). The authors define the “sotsgorod” (English – “social city”) concept and create classification for identity markers (6 analysis blocks). The authors discovered the prevalence of positive modality in elite representative self-identification and negative – in foreign specialist’s. The authors also discovered the meaning of ideological and political attitudes that influenced the living conditions in the “sotsgorod” and encouraged the creation of a new “soviet identity”.

Keywords: markers of identity, content analysis, civil identity, political identity, identity of the socialist city, theory of identity, Urban anthropology, mobilization, “community character”, modernization

Abstract: Modern East Asian studies pay special attention to the Mongolian conquest as such and the activity of Kublai Khan in particular. This article explores the influence of Chinese civilization on its conquerors in terms of Yuan dynasty. It aims to find out answers to the following questions: what aspects experienced the synthesis of cultures? Where did Chinese traits manage to prevail the Mongolian ones? Where the Chinese culture was under Mongolian influence? For better understanding of this period specifics the author discusses several circumstances of Kublai’s enthronement. The author used comparative historical and comparative culturological methods while working on the article, juxtaposing different records on the development of various spheres in the Yuan Empire during the reign of Kublai Khan. These are the main conclusions of the article: Kublai was the first of Mongolian rulers who tried to combine Mongolian and Chinese lifestyles. Administration and Mongolian everyday life were enriched by Chinese elements. At the same time, the opposite trend was present as well, as Mongolians influenced the Chinese art and language.

Keywords: settled population, the nomads, art, government, culture, China, Mongols, cultural influence, Khubilai, Yuan Empire

Abstract: The article’s research object is the formation and development of the Russian expatriate historical science in the 1920s—1940s in China, as well as the specifics of the Russian historians’ work in the Far-East. The author analyses in detail the various aspects of the contribution of the Russian emigrant scholars in China and their influence on Russian national history. The Russian emigrants fruitfully engaged in scientific research, Russian book publishing, artistic, social, cultural, academic and other types of activities in China. Particular attention is paid to the works of the Russian historians as it is through them that one can recreate the main historical epochs of Mongolia, Russia, China and other countries. Upon the examination of the scientific and socio-cultural activity of Russian emigrants-historians the author used several universally recognised methods that allow to analyse the variety of empirical information. Upon analysing the biographical data of Russian emigrants-historians the author applied the quantitative method. In order to arrive at exact and mutually verified results, the article used the comparative-historical method, which has allowed to synchronise the most important events in the development history of the Chinese historical science circle of Russian emigrants. The study’s main conclusion is the fact that Russian Russian emigrants greatly contributed to the study of history in China, and also that it is necessary to allocate attention to the study of their works as the scientific and research activity of scholar-emigrants continues to this day. The novelty of this research lies in its complex analysis of the contribution, scientific activity and contractual work experience of Russian emigrants-historians in China, thus filling the gaps in the study of the Chinese centre of the Russian emigrant historical study that formed in the Far East in the 1920s—1940s.

Keywords: émigré intelligentsia, educational activity, in China, emigrant adaptation, Harbin, department of judicial studies, Russian history, culture, historical contribution, Russian historians-emigrants

Abstract: The article’s research subject is the cultural and educational activity of mobile institutions – mobile yurts –, in Gorny Altai in the 1920s–1930s. The research object is the process of Gorny Altai’s cultural development. The author examines in detail such aspects of the topic as the particularities of the creation and work of these mobile cultural institutions (the mobile yurts) operating during the named period in Gorny Altai. The aim of the article is to analyse the study of the nature and specifics of the mobile cultural institutions’ work in Gorny Altai in the 1920s–1930s. Particular attention is given to the history of the institutions’ appearance and to elucidate its functions and tasks. The article clarifies the particularities of the mobile yurts' work under the conditions of the native population’s nomadic way of life. The study’s main research method is the systematic method. The research is also based on the principles of historicism, objectivity, unity and interrelation of the general and the particular. The main conclusion derived from the study is the ascertainment that the mobile form of work, under the conditions of sparseness and difficultness of access to the populated settlements and the nomadism of Altaians, was most suitable and fitting for work with the population of Gorny Altai. This mobile form of activity familiarised the population with the unfamiliar to it way of life and raised its general cultural standards. Additionally, these institution actively conducted ideological work, fighting against traditional prejudices and imposing communist ideals. The author’s special contribution to the research of this topic is the use of different sources, including archival material, which have allowed to study the history of creating and of the specific of the mobile yurts’ work. The novelty of this research consists in its complex analysis of the little-studied topic and introducing new concepts for scientific use.

Keywords: cultural institutions, mobile Yurts, Nomadic way of life, mobile institutions, mobile cinema, public education, ideological education, cultural transformation, Altaians, Gorny Altai

Abstract: The subject of the article’s historical analysis is the anti-Christian movement of the Slavic population in the Dniester region at the end of the 10th–second half of the 12th centuries. The study points to the fact that the Carpatho-Dniester region had played the role of the sacred centre of pre-Christian Russia. The author undertook a historical reconstruction of the events related to the confrontation between the Eastern Slavonic tribal unions and the central Kiev government during the religious reforms of the princes Vladimir the Great and Yaroslav the Wise. The article presents an analysis of the anti-Christian movement among the population of Western Russia during the second half of the 11th—12th centuries. In order to address the research questions, the author applied the chronological and analytical methodological approaches, as well as the methods of analogy, interpretative synthesis and generalisation. The research specifies for the first time in Russian historical studies the link between the anti-Christian movement in Rus during the 10th—11th centuries and the city-sanctuaries of the Zbruch cult centre, determines the time frame of the most large-scale anti-Christians manifestations that had swept through the Transnistrian region at the end of the 10th—11th centuries, and analyses in detail the punitive campaigns of the Kievan princes against their recalcitrant subjects – the Transdnestrovites. The author comes to the conclusion that the Dniester-Carpathian region was a sacred pagan centre in Kievan Rus during the pre-Christian and early Christian eras. At the end of the 10th century and the second decade of the 11th century Dniester became the epicentre of two powerful waves of anti-Christian movements in Ancient Russia and Poland. The pagan communities in Western Russia had survived and continued their fight against Christianisation up to the end of the 12th century.

Keywords: anti-Christian speech, city-sanctuary, pagan community, late pagans, priests, Carpathian-Transnistrian region, Christianisation, temples, religious confrontation

Abstract: The article reviews the topic concerning the biography of the prominent Chinese marshal Liu Bocheng – more precisely, the years of his stay in the USSR. During the 1920s the USSR invariably provided uncompensated help to the Chinese Revolution. After the cooperation between Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China (CPC) ended, the Chinese communists, in response to the white terror and massive assassinations of their party members, prepared and carried out the famous Nanchang Uprising. Because of the uprising’s defeat Liu Bocheng, being one of its main organisers, was forced to hide due to the highly dangerous situation in China at the time. In accordance with the decree of the Communist Party of China, Liu Bocheng went to the USSR to study within the framework of a military training program for the realisation of the Communist revolution in China. During his short student years in the USSR (1927–1930), first taking tactical-rifle courses with the commanding officers of the Communist International’s Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army (school "Vystrel") and later attended the Frunze Military Academy, Liu Bocheng received a systematic military education of the highest level. This education had a profound influence on his future revolutionary activities and on his theoretical outlook concerning the field of military preparation. The article’s author, using the historical-retrospective, descriptive-narrative, cause-effect and historical-typological methods, thoroughly examines the details of the life and education of the Chinese marshal within the Soviet military-educational institutions, thus reconstructing the important but little-known chapter of his life. The article’s scientific novelty consists of the fact that the author based his study above all on archival sources from the funds of the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RSASPH), the Russian State Military Archive (RSMA) and memoir literature, and is one of the first scholars to scrupulously study Liu Bocheng's stay in the Soviet country. During his student years Liu Bocheng had distinguished himself with persistence and great diligence in his studies. He benefitted from an esteemed reputation and respect among his teachers and other Chinese students in the USSR. On the example of the examination of this short segment in the biography of one of the representatives of the highest military elites of China, it becomes clear how crucial the international help of the Soviet country was in creating the army of the Communist Party of China.

Keywords: Chinese marshal, biography, international aid, Chinese revolution, military training, Communist Party of China, Education in USSR, school Vystrel, Frunze Military Academy, Liu Bocheng

Abstract: The subject of this article is the Ancient periphrastic geography tradition, starting from Homer and others to Giraldus Cambrensis, who viewed Ireland's Celtic archaism and mythology inseparably from its physical boundaries through the lens of local histories and legends. The author of this study attempted to track the changes in Ancient descriptive geography as perceived in that genre by Strabo and other classics of the genre. The focus of this study is the reception mechanisms of the Ancient scientific geography paradigm by a cleric of Cambridge-Norman origin at the end of the 12th century. The study's main research methodology is source criticism. This includes the use of the textological tools from the approach of Microhistory and History of Ideas. The aim of the article is to reconstruct the Welsh monk's "living world" during the High Middle Ages in order to identify how and for what purpose he used the legacy of the Ancient world both phenomenologically and epistemologically. The main conclusions of the conducted study are the author's following two deductions: 1) the genre of periphrastic geography had not been preserved in its pure form towards the end of the 12th century; 2) the objective of the author of the “Topographia Hiberniae" was exclusively utilitarian and self-interested (the treatise represents a transitional form of historical sources between political pamphlet, bestiary, geographic treatise and chronicle, annals): in order to legalise the presence of the Anglo-Norman army in the Northern part of Ireland. The author's main scientific contribution is his successful application of the methods from the approach of History of Ideas on the material from Medieval Ireland and South-Eastern Wales. The work's novelty lies in the little-used treatise's introduction into the scientific use of the Russian historiographical community.

Keywords: Giraldus Cambrensis, Stabo, geography, Homer, periphrasis, Celtic archaism, church leader, John Lackland, Ireland, Galfridus Monemutensis

Abstract: The article is focused on determining the degree of influence the wars of the 16th–17th centuries had on the social processes in Muscovite Rus. The detection of this degree is rather difficult due to the lack of sources, which would reveal the operational mechanisms of legislature. Consequently, the author constructs his hypothesis on the basis of comparing the date of appearance of key normative and legal acts, related to the social sphere, and the more difficult periods in the country's foreign policy history. The historiographical base of this research is the works regarding military and social history by pre-Revolution, Soviet, and modern scholars. The main research method is the comparative approach, which allows to identify the development dynamics of social groups, such as the service class people "by patronymic", service class people "by patronymic", and the groups that served them. On all stages of Russian historiography's development (pre-Revolutionary, Soviet, and modern) social strata and groups have been analysed separately from each other. The analysis of the country's social processes in general reveals that during the 16th–17th centuries the social system experienced significant changes: social relations began to be built not on the European (private law) principle, but on the service-hierarchical principle. That is, the position of a social stratum or group became determined not on its possession and size of private property, but on its place in the government system: the higher it was, the bigger was the volume of privileges. This did not rule out private property altogether, but the significance of that property weakened: the government deprived property-owners of political and judicial positions and began to control their economic transactions.

Keywords: service class people "by patronymic", service class people "by device", social processes, Muscovite Rus, serfdom, Russian civilisation, Russian military, 16th century, 17th century, Russia

Abstract: Pushing its military penetration in Turkey in 1916, the Russian army captured Trebizond and part of the Pontic region and organized its own system of administration there. In order to better control the regions and preserve the exposed cultural monuments in the newly occupied territories of Asia Minor, several scientific missions were sent for historical, topographical, archaeological purposes. And so, a historical-archaeological expedition was sent to Trebizond under the direction of the academician F. I. Uspensky. The article publishes the manuscripts of F. I. Uspensky’s “Thoughts and observations of an eyewitness on the Trebizond front during the summer of 1916”, written during the expedition and found in the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the 2181 Fond of the history scholar I. N. Borozdin. Uspensky gives his thoughts about the significance of the Caucasian front in World War I and links the success of the Entente with the defeat of Turkey. The authors of the article, without undertaking comprehensive research, compare this point of view with those of modern scholars. The purpose of this article is to introduce in scientific studies this new text, which could serve as an addition to the chapter “The course of military actions” within the section on the “Eastern question” in F. I. Uspensky’s monograph “History of the Byzantine Empire” (5 volumes, 1913-1927). F. I. Uspensky retells the historic events, considering as the “major stake” in World War I the control of the Near East, economically and culturally, accenting above all the importance of cultural influence.

Keywords: history, Trebizond Expedition, World War I, F. I. Uspensky, I. N. Borozdin, Trebizond, Erzurum, Caucasus front, Eastern Question, Russian archaeological institute in Constatinople.

Abstract: by the example of E.N. Gorodetskiy, a famous historian, the article explores the methods of the ideological campaign against the “bastard cosmopolites”. The author follows the immediate course of the anti-cosmopolite campaign (research in various research and training centers, as well as the criticism of the “Mintsin-Razgon-Gorodetskiy” group), basing his research on a broad variety of sources, many of which freshly rediscovered. As a result, the author concludes that this campaign has affected the native historical sciences and played a role in changing the ideological outlook of a part of the intellectual elite towards more anti-Stalin views.

Keywords: history, ideological campaigns, stalinism, cosmopolitism, soviet history science, E.N. Gorodetskiy, I.I. Mints, A.L. Sidorov, ideology, MSU.

Abstract: the article analyzes the new sources on the postwar history of the USSR, which became available to the researchers due to their disclosure and publication. Special attention is given to archive documents, memoirs of politicians, and testimonies of the participants of the major events of 1945–1953. The article establishes their information potential.

Keywords: history, national history, social and political history, the period of 1945–1953, historical source, archive, personal fund, document, memoirs, publication activity.

Abstract: The article includes a project of a research program. The main goal of the project is to study a socio-cultural mechanism, which guarantees the implementation of certain values and ideas, as accepted by a community, into various social and mental practices. The authors base their research on the concept of “away-and-back” by A.J. Toinbee, they aim to develop it at the current level of humanitarian knowledge, to make it more specific and clarified.

Keywords: leave-and-return, socio-cultural strategy, humanitarian knowledge, civilization, “classic” civilization, “borderline” civilization, value, ascetic practices, sub-systems of civilization system, syncretic type of creative person

Abstract: the article gives an evaluation of the contribution of Shchapov Ya.N. into the development of the national historical science, study and preservation of written records (Slavic, and in connection therewith, Byzantine), in the genealogy (as a researcher of Shchapovs’ family history). It covers his activities as a founder and director of the Center of History of Religion and the Church, shows that his name is associated with a new stage in studying of the history of the Church, and that because of his efforts a substantial amount of historical sources were introduced into scientific use, marks his role in the returning of historic sites in the Holy Land to society.

Keywords: history of religion and the Church, Archeography, Source, Old bookishness, medieval manuscripts, monuments of law, helmsman and their codes, genealogical researches, Shchapov Ya.N., keeper of the traditions of the Russian intelligentsia.

Abstract: the article reveals the modern requirements for doctoral dissertations on the history, gives the statistics on doctoral theses for the past four years, analyzes the dynamics of the network of dissertation councils for the history, states the main problems interfering the preparation of highly qualified specialists in the Russian Federation.

Keywords: history, science, organization of science, scientific personnel, training of highly qualified specialists, appraisal, dissertation, tips on dissertations, the Higher Attestation Commission, the main problem.