Abstract: The subject of this research is the historical writing technique, which allows creating convincing images of the past. The goal of this article is ti analyze the structure of texts written by the historians and covering the period from antiquity to the XXI century. The theoretical framework consists of the idealistic approach towards history developed by the author. This article is first to examine the structure of texts written by the prominent historians of the past, such as Herodotus, Nestor, Karamzin, Klyuchevsky, and some historians of the XX – XX centuries from the perspective of idealistic approach and the use of quantitative methods. For comparison, analysis is conducted on the literary texts of A. S. Pushkin and V. S. Pikul dedicated to historical themes. The article employs content analysis, structural analysis, and terarchical cluster analysis of the texts on the basis of their structure. This revealed that the structure of these texts consists of the factual and theoretical statements, where the firs prevailed until the mid XX century. The use of cluster analysis allowed building a matrix of similarity of the works. The main method of creating convincing historical text lies in selection and interpretation of the the facts in accordance with the dominant worldview or a widespread historical concept. Facts are subordinated to the theory and confirm the fundamental ideas and historical concepts, as well as depict a convincing image of the past. The conducted analysis indicates that theory plays the key role in creating a convincing historical text, while facts are secondary; no significant impact of historical methods is revealed. The major difference between the analyzed historical and literary texts consists in the fact that there is no theory in the literary works.

Keywords: historical theory, historical fact, content analysis of historical texts, idealistic approach to history, structure of a historical text, methodology of history, theory of history, historical methods, ideology, persuasiveness of historical texts

Abstract: The object of this research is the communication means used in administrative activity by the office of the governor of Yakutia. The author examines the communicative sphere of activity of the governor as one of the crucial. The governor is the representative of the interests of federal government, government policy in the region, and informant about its state for the central authorities. To fulfill all the listed functions, the governor must convey various information to his subordinates and the population, as well as acquire information on the entrusted administrative-territorial district. Characteristics is given to the main communication channels of the governors along the lines top-bottom and bottom-top. Special attention is turned to the governor's reports and “congresses of competent persons". The governors of Yakutia have actively used the communicative capabilities of the annual report as the official communication channel with central authorities and the monarch. The example of information potential of such communication means is the development the questions of exile and transformation of the Cossack regiment. The “Congress of Competent Persons" held at the turn of the XIX – XX centuries in Yakutia has become a communicative platform for discussing the relevant for Yakutia problem of land use, as well as an effective instrument for establishing dialogue between the government and local society. The novelty of this research consists in articulation of the problem, and is defined by poor development within the modern historiography of the regional component of communication system of the Russian Empire. Viewing the governor’s power through the prism of communicative space contributes to more profound understanding of the mechanisms of political culture in the Russian Empire.

Keywords: «well-informed people», governors report, Eastern Siberia, Yakut area, periodicals, governor, society, power, management, communications

Abstract: The subject of this research is the participants of cooperative movement that unfolded in Leningrad in 1987 – 1991. During this period, the country legalized the citizens’ right to establish industrial cooperatives, which de facto have become private enterprises. Leningrad turned into one of the largest centers of cooperative movement in the USSR, and members of the cooperatives – a considerable part of urban society. Attention is given to the situation of cooperatives in Leningrad prior to their transition into the non-state sector of the economy. The author explores such sociocultural characteristics of the cooperative member as the attitude towards socialist system, Soviet regime, experience of party and Komsomol life, work skills, and age characteristics. It is revealed that the majority of participants of cooperative movement prior to transition into the non-state sector of the economy had a stable social status and were loyal to the Soviet system, and many of them held senior positions. Among the members of cooperative were also the members of CPSU and Komsomol activists. Their performance efficiency and high professionalism were often noted by the party and state authorities. This casts doubt on the widespread opinion about the marginal status of the participants of cooperative movement. Moreover, the attempt to attract people not involved in public production was unsuccessful; compared to the working age citizens, householders, pensioners, people with disabilities, and students met in the cooperative community were a rarity. The article relies on the archival documents, newspaper materials, sources of personal origin, as well as the results of interviews conducted by the author with former employees of the cooperative.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, cooperator, cooperatives, cooperation, perestroika, Leningrad, USSR, CPSU, reforms, society

Abstract: The goal of this research is to trace the evolution of views on public organizations (societies) of prerevolutionary Russia, determine the criteria for their classification based on various approaches, views and requirements of the time. The subject of this research is the classifications (typologies) of prerevolutionary societies that formed under the influence of sociopolitical realities, as well as their basic principles. The relevance of this topic is defined by the need to clarify the place and role of legal public initiative in the implementation of the demands of modern society through the prism of classification of public organizations. The research methodology leans on the synthesis of civilizational and formational approaches: public organizations of pre-evolutionary Russia are understood as a phenomenon of bourgeois society, subordinated to the interests of the ruling class, and at the same time, as the institution of modernizing society and nascent civil society. Systematic approach substantiates the polar conclusions of different epoch, and views the creation and activity of such societies as a gradual development of public initiative. Inductive method of transitioning from systematization to rather general representations allows determining the classification criteria for such organizations due to the specific role assigned to them at different stages of individual initiative in the Russian historiography. The novelty of this article consists in establishing correlation between the sociopolitical processes of prerevolutionary period of the Russian history and the classification criteria for public organizations adopted in the academic community. The author outlines the stages and principles of formation of the typologies of public organizations at different chronological segments of the late XIX – early XXI centuries. The article offers classification of prerevolutionary societies based on combination of the two categories: the “sphere” of public life and the “purpose” of activity of the organization.

Keywords: public amateur activity, classification criteria for pre-revolutionary societies, public initiative, civil society, government and society, typology of societies, Russian historiography of organizations, classification of societies, public organizations, pre-revolutionary society

Abstract: The subject of this research is the relations between Napoleonic France and German states in the early XIX century. The object of this research is the various models of the development of German political space during the Napoleonic Wars. Analysis is conducted on the role of France in transformations that influences the Holy Roman Empire, as well as in the process of creating Confederation of the Rhine. Under the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, France pursues active foreign policy, competing for hegemony in Europe. The article considers positive and negative consequences of transformations that took place in the German political space, the importance of political modernization for the Confederation of the Rhine member-states, as well as the corresponding territorial and institutional changes. The novelty of this work lies in the original approach towards the problem. An attempt is made to reconsider the known events of the early XIX century from the perspective of evolution of the models of German political space. The research employs chronological, historical-comparative, and historical-systematic methods. It is claimed that without analyzing the impact of foreign policy of Napoleonic France upon the German states, it is impossible to fully understand the trends of further development of Germany, goals and ways of reaching national unity, and peculiarities of Franco-German relations in the late XIX – early XX centuries. The main conclusion lies in recognition of the contradictory nature of transformations that took place in the German states, assessment of the ambiguous role of Napoleonic France in the German integration process, and importance of studying this topic for outlining further historical path of development of the German states towards political unity.

Keywords: political space, Confederation of the Rhine, Holy Roman Empire, Napoleon Bonaparte, German states, Germany, France, model, foreign policy, modernization

Abstract: The object of this research is the destruction of civilian population that fell into the encirclement of the 2nd Shock Army during the Lyuban offensive operation of aimed at relieving the siege of Leningrad. The relevance of the topic of the tragedy of civilian population is substantiated by the the need to recognize extermination and genocide of USSR population during the Great Patriotic War on the international level, due to initiation by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation of a criminal case on the genocide of USSR population by the Nazi and their accomplices.. This requires the search community to be directly involved and document the results of pilot work and discovered information on the destroyed civilians. The authors indicate insufficient coverage of the tragedy of civilian population in comparison with the study of the fate of army and military personnel. The facts of the genocide of civilians – children, women, and senior population – were established in the course of pilot work. The article describes the experience of finding a previously unknown place of mass shooting of the dwellers of the Village of Vditsko of Novgorod Oblast, during search operations; as well as discloses the information about the factors and circumstances of destruction of the civilians based on pilot work, exhumation, reminiscences of the locals, and archival materials.

Keywords: Genocide, Memory, Vditsko, The tragedy of the civilian population, Search Movement of Russia, Novgorod region, Great Patriotic War, No statute of limitations, 2nd Shock Army, Military archaeology

Abstract: The subject of this research is the documents from the archive of the viceroy of India Minto, which contain the records about the Indian National Congress. The author examines the history of studying the archive of Minto in foreign scientific literature. Special attention is given to correspondence of Minto with the Secretary of State for India Lord John Morley and their deputies that covers the period from the first Partition of Bengal (1905), split in the Indian National Congress (1907), and draft of the Morley-Minto reform, which involved the members of the Indian National Congress. The article also discusses the activity of the Indian Parliamentary Committee in the British House of Commons, and the response of the colonial authorities to hire pro-Indian parliamentarians in London. The conclusion is made that the documents on the history of the Indian National Congress from Minto’s archive reveal the peculiarities of interaction between the British colonial administration and the national elites, which was aimed at preserving the loyalty of the most moderate representatives of the Indian National Congress, as well as at weakening the national liberation movement that manifested in countering by the colonial administration the significant extension of rights of the Indian nationals and implementation of “separate electorates: within the framework of the Morley-Minto reform.  The documents from Minto’s archive reflect the perspective of the colonial administration on the path of further development of India within the empire by preserving British power.

Keywords: Indian Parliamentary Committee, partition of Bengal, Morley-Minto reform, archives, British Empire, colonialism, Indian National Congress, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Henry Cotton, history of India

Abstract: The subject of this research is the printmaking of C. Roth from the academic edition of J. G. Georgi Georgi “Description of everyone living in Russian state…”. The works of the Nuremberg printmaker Christopher Roth, although being an important source, were not given due attention for a long time, being viewed only in the context of studying the academic work of J. G. Georgi. The this article aims to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the historical-ethnographic and visual sources of C. Roth’s printmaking on the example of the images of the Ob Ugrians (“Ostyak on the Ob River”,  “Ostyak on Ermine Trapping”,  “The Face of Ostyachka”, and “The Back of “Ostyachka”). Based on the developed visual motifs – costumes, characteristic “postures”, attributes, etc., it is possible to reconstruct the list of sources used by C. Roth in his art pieces. The conclusion is made that as the historical-ethnographic and visual sources, C. Roth used drawings (including “plein-air” and expeditionary), " mannequins, and examples of Ostyak traditional dresses from the Siberian collection of the Kunstkamera. However, in creation of such compositions as “ Ostyak in Ermine Trapping”, “The Face of Ostyachka”, and “The Back of “Ostyachka”, the list of the aforementioned sources can be complemented by ethnographic descriptions from the academic editions of the second half of the XVIII century, miniatures from chronicles (“Brief Siberian (Kungur) Chronicle”), as well as ethnographic maps (“Ethnographic Map of Siberia of the Great Northern Expedition”).

Keywords: Kunstkamera, costumes, engraving, image, Roth, visual ethnography, Ob Ugrians, Georgi, map, sources