scholarly journals RUSSIAN FORTRESSES AS NAVAL BASES IN THE 1740-s ZAPOROZHIAN HOST: DNIEPER FLOTILLA SHIPS STORAGE

Author(s):  
Oleksandr Sukhomlyn

Studies of Russian military presence in the lands of Zaporozhia during the New Sich era (1734–1775) pay relatively little attention to the uses of Russian fortresses between the RussoTurkish wars of 1735–1739 and 1768–1774. From 1739 to 1768 the military importance and defense capability of the Russian fortresses diminished, thus their main purpose shifted to information gathering on the Russian-Ottoman borderlands and the Zaporozhian Host of the Lower Dniper itself. Furthermore, another quite understudied function of these fortresses was to serve as military depots, both acting and reserve. This article concentrates on the understudied aspect of the history of Russian fortresses and the Zaporozhia lands during the New Sich era – the storage of vessels of the liquidated Dnieper flotilla after the Russo-Turkish war of 1735-1739. The primary source base for this article consists of the documents from “Kyiv Provincial Chancellery” (Central State Historical Archive of Ukraine, fund 59). The Ust’-Samara retrenchment was a main naval base of the Dnieper flotilla located at the mouth of the Samara River (present-day Dnipro). The reorganization of the Dnieper flotilla material base and fleet supplies took several years after the end of the 1735-1739 war. Subsequently, various fleet supplies (military vessels; ship equipment like ropes, blocks, oars, flags, anchors; naval artillery and related supplies; tools for ships repairs and maintenance like "konopatky"; building materials, ship nails, resin; food stocks for ship crews, etc) were stored in the special fortress warehouses. However, storage conditions were inadequate, naval depots could be destroyed, while equipment and watercraft could be stolen by the Russian officers to be resold later. Relying on documentary sources, an attempt was made to clarify the number of Dnieper flotilla vessels, that were stored in the Ust’-Samara retrenchment. To that end, the article introduces into scientific circulation a document that most fully reflects the number of military vessels, stored at the Russian fortresses in Zaporozhia as of November 1, 1742 - a report compiled by Captain I. Stepanov at the request of the Ust’-Samara retrenchment commander A. Chichagov, commander of all Russian fortresses in Zaporozhia. At that time, the total number of vessels (both suitable and unsuitable for use) amounted to 350. These vessels were stored in the Kamianskyi, Khortyts’kyi, Malyshevs’kyi and Nenasytets’kyi retrenchments. Comparison of data from several documents reveals that for unknown reasons this number (350) did not include boats stored in the Ust’-Samara retrenchment. This article further indicates that the study of exact number of the vessels is complicated by the specifics of the source base. Further elaboration of the issues outlined in the present article would allow not only to explore the functions of Russian fortresses in Zaporozhia during the New Sich era and their role as centers of the Russian military presence, but would also reveal the everyday relations of Russian soldiers with the Cossacks and the peasants (“pospolyti”). The crucial need to study original documentary sources on the history of Russian fortresses in Zaporozhia is emphasized once more.

Author(s):  
Felix S. Kireev

Boris Alexandrovich Galaev is known as an outstanding composer, folklorist, conductor, educator, musical and public figure. He has a great merit in the development of musical culture in South Ossetia. All the musical activity of B.A. Galaev is studied and analyzed in detail. In most of the biographies of B.A. Galaev about his participation in the First World War, there is only one proposal that he served in the army and was a bandmaster. For the first time in historiography the participation of B.A. Galaev is analyzed, and it is found out what positions he held, what awards he received, in which battles he participated. Based on the identified documentary sources, for the first time in historiography, it occured that B.A. Galaev was an active participant in the First World War on the Caucasian Front. He went on attacks, both on foot and horse formation, was in reconnaissance, maintained communication between units, received military awards. During this period, he did not have time to study his favorite music, since, according to the documents, he was constantly at the front, in the battle formations of the advanced units. He had to forget all this heroic past and tried not to mention it ever after. Therefore, this period of his life was not studied by the researchers of his biography. For writing this work, the author uses the Highest Orders on the Ranks of the Military and the materials of the Russian State Military Historical Archive (RSMHA).


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lino Bianco

AbstractRuins are a statement on the building materials used and the construction method employed. Casa Ippolito, now in ruins, is typical of 17th-century Maltese aristocratic country residences. It represents an illustration of secondary or anthropogenic geodiversity. This paper scrutinises these ruins as a primary source in reconstructing the building’s architecture. The methodology involved on-site geographical surveying, including visual inspection and non-invasive tests, a geological survey of the local lithostratigraphy, and examination of notarial deeds and secondary sources to support findings about the building’s history as read from its ruins. An unmanned aerial vehicle was used to digitally record the parlous state of the architectural structure and karsten tubes were used to quantify the surface porosity of the limestone. The results are expressed from four perspectives. The anatomy of Casa Ippolito, as revealed in its ruins, provides a cross-section of its building history and shows two distinct phases in its construction. The tissue of Casa Ippolito—the building elements and materials—speaks of the knowledge of raw materials and their properties among the builders who worked on both phases. The architectural history of Casa Ippolito reveals how it supported its inhabitants’ wellbeing in terms of shelter, water and food. Finally, the ruins in their present state bring to the fore the site’s potential for cultural tourism. This case study aims to show that such ruins are not just geocultural remains of historical built fabric. They are open wounds in the built structure; they underpin the anatomy of the building and support insights into its former dynamics. Ruins offer an essay in material culture and building physics. Architectural ruins of masonry structures are anthropogenic discourse rendered in stone which facilitate not only the reconstruction of spaces but also places for human users; they are a statement on the wellbeing of humanity throughout history.


2009 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-62
Author(s):  
Baki Tezcan

AbstractA short chronicle by a former janissary called Tûghî on the regicide of the Ottoman Sultan Osman II in 1622 had a definitive impact on seventeenth-century Ottoman historiography in terms of the way in which this regicide was recounted. This study examines the formation of Tûghî's chronicle and shows how within the course of the year following the regicide, Tûghî's initial attitude, which recognized the collective responsibility of the military caste (kul) in the murder of Osman, evolved into a claim of their innocence. The chronicle of Tûghî is extant in successive editions of his own. A careful examination of these editions makes it possible to follow the evolution of Tûghî's narrative on the regicide in response to the historical developments in its immediate aftermath and thus witness both the evolution of a “primary source” and the gradual political sophistication of a janissary.


Author(s):  
Alexander Bitis

Research into the Greek revolution was only one of the tasks that Kiselev had assigned to his Main Staff. Kiselev was also committed to two much larger projects — the writing of a complete history of previous Russo-Turkish wars and the making of preparations for a possible future one. This chapter deals with the Second Army's research into previous Russo-Turkish wars (1711–1812) in an attempt to arrive at strategic and tactical innovations for future conflicts. The discussion traces the development of this process within the Russian army, with particular reference to the search of the Second Army for guidance in a future Russo-Turkish war. It also covers the military ideas of I. P. Liprandi and the impact of KiseIev's empirical school.


Significance The last major rebel-held area in Syria, Idlib province is under the military control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a salafi-jihadist rebel alliance. Jaysh al-Ahrar, the largest non-al-Qaida faction in HTS, announced on September 13 it was leaving the organisation. This followed the resignation of one of HTS’s top clerics, Abdullah al-Muhaysini, after the leaking of telephone conversations in which the military leadership criticised him harshly. Impacts Renewed unity talks between mainstream rebel factions will encourage another round of pre-emptive attacks by HTS. Likely rejection of HTS’s outreach initiative by the mainstream opposition will empower the hawks within the group. Possible regime operations against HTS would be limited to peripheral strategic positions such as Jisr al-Shughur. US-backed and pro-Damascus forces will seek to avoid clashes around Deir ez-Zour city in their separate offensives against Islamic State. A Russian military presence will deter Turkey from attacking the Syrian Kurds in Afrin and elsewhere.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 1189-1201
Author(s):  
M. D. Bukharin

The territorial expansion of the Russian Empire in the 18th–19th cent. resulted in urgent need to study both the peoples of the newly acquired Eastern territories, which becameRussiaas well as and their neighbours. A special role in this process was played by the military servicemen who stationed on the borders. Since the second half of the 18th century in the Russian military schools was developed a system of teaching Oriental languages. In his recent monograph “The History of the Study of Oriental Languages in the Russian Imperial Army” (St. Petersburg: Nestor-Istoria; 2018) the author M. K. Baskhanov provides a detailed description of the history and teaching process in 24 Russian military schools where the cadettes were taught Oriental languages. M. K. Baskhanov outlines strengths and weaknesses of the teaching curricula, as well as the results gained by the Russian servicemen subject to this training. The author pays special attention to prospected plans in Orientalist training, which have never been implemented. The summary of M. K. Baskhanov’s research is that in spite of significant intellectual potential of the military specialists in Eastern countries their knowledge and experience were not used in full ‒ either in Imperial Russia or during the Soviet time. The monograph by M. K. Baskhanov is a remarkable piece of modern historical studies, which will be a reference book for many years to come for those who studyRussia’s foreign policy in 18th–20th cent.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 183
Author(s):  
Anak Agung Banyu Perwita ◽  
Widya Dwi Rachmawati

The geopolitical security condition of Eastern Europe has undergone a drastic shift from Communist to Democratic ideology. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Poland immediately joined the Western alliance, which led to the massive structural changes of the country. The shift has had an enormous impact on Russia where it has made various confrontations to regain its influence in the region. Russia continues to increase tensions by increasing the military capabilities of Kaliningrad Oblast, which is directly bordered by Poland. In response, the Polish government made efforts to modernize its military as part of the Defense White Book 2013 to improve its military capabilities in response to Russian military presence in Kaliningrad Oblast. The role of the global players (EU, NATO, and the USA) is key important to the security stability of the region. Poland on its four pillars specifically calls the alliance with the USA and becomes a member of NATO as an important factor in the formulation of its defense policy, in which Poland could increase the capabilities of its Armed Forces.


1987 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 383-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.A. Hamilton

In 1985 an oral history project was established in Swaziland, based in the National Archives at Lobamba. The Oral History Project set itself three tasks; the establishment of an oral archive on Swazi history; the publication of a selection of transcripts form the oral archive concerning the precolonial history of Swaziland; the popularization of precolonial history.The precolonial history of Swaziland is the history of a largely non–literate people. The colonial period is well–documented, but mostly from the perspective of the colonial administration. Oral traditions are thus a primary source for both the precolonial and the later history of Swaziland. The Project is concerned to preserve oral testimonies about all periods of Swazi history, including the immediate past. Special attention however, has been paid to the collection and preservation of the oral record pertaining to the precolonial history of Swaziland, a period for which documentary sources are largely absent.There are several reasons for this. Firstly, the relative stability of the Swazi kingdom and its high degree of centralization imparted to early Swazi traditions a unique chronological depth. Secondly, the varied circumstances of incorporation of its many component chiefdoms have endowed Swaziland with an exceptionally rich corpus of local and regional traditons. This diversity facilitates the development of a picture of precolonial life that moves beyond the elitist versions of history which have long dominated both Swazi history and precolonial history elsewhere in southern Africa. Not only are the surviving Swazi oral traditions about the precolonial past unusually rich, but Swaziland occupied a pivotal political position in nineteenth–century southeast Africa. Its traditions illuminate the processes and forces that shaped the history of the entire region


Slavic Review ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Plamper

This article provides an analysis of the locus of fear in military psychology in late imperial Russia. After the Russo-Japanese War and the 1905 Revolution, the debate coalesced around two poles: “realists” (such as the military psychiatrist Grigorii Shumkov) argued that fear was natural, while “romantics” upheld the image of constitutionally fearless soldiers. Jan Plamper begins by identifying the advent of modern warfare (foreshadowed by the Crimean War) and its engendering of more and different fears as a key cause for a dramatic increase in fear-talk among Russia's soldiers. He links these fears to literature, which offered—most prominentiy in Lev Tolstoi's Sevastopol Sketches (1855)—some of the vocabulary soldiers could use to express their fears. Mikhail Dragomirov's fear-centered military theory during the Great Reforms was the next milestone. Plamper closes by sketching the history of fear after World War I, from Iosif Stalin's penal battalions to the rehabilitation of military psychology under Nikita Khrushchev and beyond.


2021 ◽  
pp. 615-625
Author(s):  
Tatyana I. Dolzhenkova ◽  

The famous Soviet and Russian sculptor V. M. Klykov (1939-2006), winner of state prizes of the RSFSR and the USSR, People's Artist of Russia, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, was an ambiguous figure in the eyes of his contemporaries. His caught the attention not only of professional critics, but also of ordinary people. Many publications and memoirs dedicated to the sculptor had been published during his lifetime. However, V. M. Klykov himself gave contradictory information on the history of his family in his interviews. At the same time, a complete and objective assessment of his life and work and his role in art is impossible without studying his social origin and family history, which determined the relevance of this work. Until now, the history of the Klykov family has been reconstructed from stories and memoirs of those who knew him personally. The study has also been hampered by the fact that there are misconceptions about V. M. Klykov’s ancestors that often spring from desire to create a certain image that fits the worldview of the famous sculptor. The purpose of the study has been to identify and analyze the documentary sources on the subject: archival materials, documents from the museum collection and periodicals. The fonds of the State Archive of the Kursk Region (GAKO) have provided most sources. However, destruction of the archives during the Civil War and the Nazi occupation resulted in a lack of documents and photographs from the early 20th century. Some information has been found in databases available on the Internet. A number of documents are being introduced into scientific use for the first time. The study is based on the key principles of historicism, consistency, and objectivity, which allows the author to avoid mythologization of the sculptor. Comparative analysis of the identified sources has allowed the author to trace V. M. Klykov’s genealogy up to the mid-19th century, to identify the names of his ancestors, to note the family’s difficult fate through the pivots of Russian history, to determine V. M. Klykov’s ancestors and to explore their biographies, achievements, and social status. Several representatives of the Klykov family have been identified, who showed themselves worthily in the military service of the Fatherland. In addition, the author has refuted the tale of the sculptor's grandfather ‘s de-kulakization and persecution by the Soviet power. The author concludes that peasant origin and environment in which the sculptor grew up left an imprint on his worldview, and therefore, on the theme of his monumental creativity and ideas that he defended in public life.


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