Review: The article's research subject is the scientific work of the outstanding Soviet scholar, representative of the "Russian school" scholars of English history, Sergei Ivanovich Arkhangelsky (1882-1958). As the object of research, the author chose the scholar's work focused on the study of the history of England's foreign policy in the 17th century within the system of international relations. In studying this topic, the author conducted a comprehensive examination of his published works and of the materials stored in his personal funds (the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Central Archive of the Nizhnegorskaya Oblast, the Science Museum of Nizhni Novgorod State University). The author also separately examined the scholar's popular works on various aspects of the USSR foreign policy and the history of international relations, which were not related to his scientific work. Additionally, the author considers "The History of England's Foreign Policy in the 17th Century," which was one field of scientific interest of S. I. Arkhangelsky, in the context of the Soviet stage in the development of the "Russian school" of English history. This approach includes the study of the topic's aspects from the general (the Soviet stage of the “Russian school” of English history) to the particular (the scientific work of S. I. Arkhangelsky). The leading research method for this study of the scientific work of S. I. Arkhangelsky is the biographical method. The novelty of this research lies in the author's proof of a previously unknown fact from the scientific biography of S. I. Arkhangelsky: from the late 1930s to the middle of the 1950s., he worked on a monograph on the history of England's foreign policy in the 17th century. Consequently, the scholar's scientific work on the history of England’s foreign policy should be viewed as part of a monograph he had envisioned.

Keywords: historiography, history of international relations, England, Evgeny Alekseevich Kosminsky, Anatoly Stepanovich Kaplin, Sergey Ivanovich Arhangelsky, source studies, XVII century, public diplomacy, science

Review: The article examines the transformation of the US neutrality policy during the First World War in the context of analyzing the reaction of President W. Wilson's administration to the aggravation in February – August 1915 of the Anglo-German confrontation that significantly affected American interests. The aggravation of this confrontation resulted in the unfolding of German limited submarine warfare in order to interrupt Britain’s Atlantic communication in response to the strengthening of the British naval blockade of Germany. The author places the main focus of the study on a set of ideas and actions that laid the foundation for a new US leadership strategy regarding the European conflict, which moved away from strict neutrality to a more active involvement in the European situation. The study is based on the application of the principles of historicism and scientific objectivity. The theoretical and methodological basis of this research is the systematic approach. The research methods are the problem-chronological, historical-genetic and comparative methods. Based on a comprehensive study of the available statistical data, diplomatic documentation, and sources of private nature, the author identifies and evaluates the whole of domestic and foreign policy factors that determined the transformation of American neutrality from maneuvering between the two warring coalitions to an open orientation towards Great Britain, which subsequently led to its entry into war against Germany. As a result, the author concludes that already in 1915 the position of President Wilson’s administration, the economic and political interests of the United States made genuine neutrality almost impossible.

Keywords: submarine war, neutrality, World War I, Germany, Great Britain, Woodrow Wilson, American foreign policy, diplomacy, foreign relations, naval blockade

Review: The research subject of this study is the ornamentation on bone tools described through an examination of the Neolithic collection of the Ust-Belaya burial site, mound 15 (Chukotka). The author investigates the origins of the ornamental motifs on these bone tools and also discusses the concept of “ornament” from the perspective of the formation of its details. The author pays particular attention to the possibilities of "reading" ornamental elements and attempts to attribute the ethnical provenance of bone tools based on an analysis of the ornamentation elements seen as a sign system (information transfer, including between its kind and the formation of the notion of “friend-foe”). The article's research methodology is based on the structural-semiotic approach, which envisages the study of ornamental motifs as a society's sign system. Based on the results of the conducted study, the author drew conclusions regarding the viability of reconsidering ancient ornamentation from the perspective of modern thinking and extrapolating its semantics to vast territories and different periods in history. Based on a comparative analysis, the ties of the inhabitants of Ust-Belaya with neighboring northern peoples (Yukagirs, Chukchi, Koryaks, Kereks, Eskimos) have come to light, which can serve as the basis for studying the processes of cultural genesis in the North of the Far East during the Late Holocene.

Keywords: Chukchi, antler tools, bone tools, geometric ornamentation, primitive art, Neolithic, mound, Ust-Belaya burial ground, Paleometal Age, Eskimos

Review: In the years of the first five-year plans, the phenomenon of wage delays in the country's industry was quite massive and systematic in nature, which caused discontent among workers and created conflicts at work, including those that then turned into strikes (at the beginning of the first five-year plan) accompanied by the disuse of equipment. The article examines the scope of the event of the untimely payment of earned sums, identifies its causes, the workers' reaction, and also analyzes the effectiveness of the actions implemented by local and central economic bodies, financial organizations, trade unions, court institutions and prosecutors in eliminating these violations that reduced the effectiveness of the mobilization policy of the Soviet leadership during the years of industrialization. The source base of this study is made up of mainly archival documents stored in the collections of the State Archive of the Russian Federation (SARF), which are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. Many of these documents are classified as "Secret", "Top Secret ", "Not to be disclosed. " The study demonstrates that the violation of the terms of earnings payment to industrial workers in the years of the first five-year periods was the result of a number of unfavorable factors: lack of banknotes in local branches of the State Bank, shortcomings of the Soviet credit system, overuse of wage funds and their, in general, “free” treatment, failure to fulfill production programs, failures in the system of mutual settlements between suppliers and customers, the accumulation of a large number of unsold products in warehouses, etc. The measures taken could not completely eliminate this problem, but in the second half of the 1930s, the frequency of occurrences, terms and amounts of arrears gradually decreased.

Keywords: State Bank of the USSR, strikes, labor conflicts, trade unions, wages, labor incentives, five-year plans, forced industrialization, standard of living, Council of People's Commissars

Review: The article examines the issues concerning childhood morbidity during the Great Patriotic War. The research subject is the means applied in combating childhood morbidity during these years of war. The aim of this publication is to present the basic methods of preventing and fighting childhood morbidity in the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the years of the Great Patriotic War. The author focuses particular attention on analyzing the strategy implemented in the Bashkir ASSR for the prevention and elimination of the epidemics that erupted in this region, which had affected children and the younger generations. The article's research methodology is based on the principles of systematics, historicism, and objectivity. In this work, the author applied the historical-genetic and retrospective research methods. The scientific novelty of this study is that it is based on the analysis of archival materials for the first time introduced into scientific circulation, and specifies in the context of one defensively important war region of Russia during the Great Patriotic War - the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the medical strategy used for preventing in 1941-1945 infant mortality and morbidity. The author considers the struggle against infectious and acute gastrointestinal diseases among children both living and evacuated to the Bashkir ASSR during the war.

Keywords: epidemic situation, mortality, infectious disease, vaccinal prevention, morbidity, children, Bashkir ASSR, Great Patriotic War, typhus, septic quinsy

Review: The article's research subject is the system of government and public structures involved in the regulation of food issues in Eastern Siberia during the years of the First World War (July 1914 - February 1917). The author demonstrates that the food crisis had led to systemic reforms in the administrative sphere - in particular, the creation of special procurement departments with representatives set-up locally. The government's top priority was to supply the army. At the regional level, many issues related to the provision of the population were addressed (restraining inflation, combating speculation, etc.), but the scope of the governors' powers remained the same, which prevented them from acting more effectively. The state's insufficient attention to the food supply of the rear forced the population to self-organize. The efforts of urban municipalities due to legislative restrictions, qualifications, and the deficit of financial resources, in the conditions of the general economic situation prevailing in the country, were counterproductive. The consumer cooperation was also incapable of significantly affecting the food situation. The article's study is based on the historical-systemic approach. The process of forming and developing the work of state and public food institutions is characterized by taking into account their hierarchy and internal relations, directions and forms of activity. The scientific novelty of this study lies in the fact that for the first time an attempt has been made to conduct a comprehensive study of the structure, principles of organization and functioning of food institutions in the provinces of Eastern Siberia, and an assessment is made of the effectiveness of their regulatory impact. The author reveals the factors that determined the specifics of the activity of state and public food structures in the region.

Keywords: food commission, consumer cooperation, First World War, Special Meeting, Governor, city government, Governor General, Eastern Siberia, food crisis, Commissioner of the Special Meeting

Keywords: Collapsible balance scales, Early medieval time, Viking Period, Byzantium, Scandinavia, British Isles, Ancient Rus', arabic East, Caliphate, Silver