NEW BOOK RELEASE: «ENCOUNTERS AND CONVERSATIONS IN AFGHANISTAN: MEMOIRS OF M. F. SLINKIN»

Memoir of a distinguished Russian Oriental studies scholar M. F. Slinkin was published in 2019. It waswritten between 2004 and 2007 and published as individual chapters in various Russian and Ukrainian journals. The book is captivating and sums up author’s experiences and his views of real life and events in Afghanistan, that he witnessed from 1957 to 1990 during his visits to the country. Book also portrays several Afghan politicians with whom author happened to work and meet in both formal and informal contexts. This article gives a general overview of the book and its place in research of the author, its significance for specialists and regular readers.

THE BRITISH MANDATE AND THE UPRISING OF 1920 IN IRAQ

The article examines the initial period of the mandate administration of Iraq by Great Britain, the anti-British uprising of 1920. The chronological framework covers the period from May 1916 to October 1921 and includes an analysis of events in the Middle East from May 1916, when the secret agreement on the division of the territories of the Ottoman Empire after the end of World War I (the Sykes-Picot agreement) was concluded before the proclamation of Faisal as king of Iraq and from the formation of the country՚s government. This period is a key one in the Iraqi-British relations at the turn of the 10-20s of the ХХ century. The author focuses on the Anglo-French negotiations during the First World War, on the eve and during the Paris Peace Conference on the division of the territory of the Ottoman Empire and the ownership of the territories in the Arab zone. During these negotiations, it was decided to transfer the mandates for Syria (with Lebanon) to the France, and Palestine and Mesopotamia (Iraq) to Great Britain. The British in Iraq immediately faced strong opposition from both Sunnis and Shiites, resulting in an anti-English uprising in 1920. The author describes the causes, course and consequences of this uprising.

THE GENESIS OF THE US FOREIGN POLICY: THE ORIGIN OF THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE TOPIC, 1610–1820S

The research is devoted to the study of the origin of the historiography of the topic of the genesis of the US foreign policy. The key thesis of the work challenges the established position in the scientific literature about the fundamental role of the work of T. Lyman, Jr. «The diplomacy of the United States: being an account of the foreign relations of the country, from the first treaty with France, in 1778, to the Treaty of Ghent in 1814, with Great Britain», published in 1826. The article puts forward an alternative hypothesis: the emergence of the historiography of the genesis of the foreign policy of the United States occurred before the beginning of the second quarter of the XIX century – during the colonial period and the first fifty years of the North American state. A study of the works of thirty-five authors who worked during the 1610s and 1820s showed that amater historians expressed a common opinion about North America’s belonging to the Eurocentric system of international relations; they were sure that both the colonists and the founding fathers perceived international processes on the basis of raison d’être. The conceptualization of the intellectual heritage of non-professional historians allowed us to distinguish three interpretations of the origin of the United States foreign policy: «Autochthonous» – focused on purely North American reasons; «Atlantic» – postulated the borrowing of European practice of international relations by means of the system of relations that developed in the Atlantic in the XVII–XVIII centuries; «Imperial» – stated the adaptation of the British experience. The obtained data refute the provisions of scientific thought of the XX–XXI centuries and create new guidelines for further study of the topic.

«RIOT» OR «CHAOS»?: NATURE OF DISTURBANCE BETWEEN UDINSK AND SELENGINSK WARRIORS IN 1696

The article examines the disturbances of warriors from Selenginsk, Udinsk, Ilyinsky and Kabansky fortresses, which occurred in 1696. The author of the study believes that the events were not a direct struggle against state administration. Most of the actions of Transbaikalye residents, directed against the voivode A. Savelov, were not the riot and in most cases did not go beyond the legal framework. On the basis of those events were the erroneous policy of the state aimed at the garrisons formation in Western Transbaikalye, not at anti-feudal process as it was previously thought. The article focuses on the fact that the stage of involvement of Selenginsk and Udinsk military corporations in «troubles» was unequal. While Selenginsk warriors and part of the «old» Udinsk warriors had taken a moderate position in anticipation of conflict resolution with Irkutsk voivode with the help of the state some of Udinsk warriors, mainly the newly-recruited, were inclined to arbitrariness and violation of the law.

GLAGOLEV IN THE IDEOLOGICAL FIELD OF THE FINE ARTS OF THE CRIMEAN ASSR (1928–1946)

The article describes the activities of Alexander Nikolaevich Glagolev, a Crimean artist who was the most prominent figure in the ideological field of the fine arts of the Crimean ASSR. Working first as an artist, and then as head of the illustration department of the newspaper «Red Crimea», he made every possible effort to implement state policy in all spheres of artistic life in Crimea. Since 1929, he has been developing an unprecedented activity for Crimea, hoping to «wrest artists from the state of dead apoliticality and switch them to serving the interests of the revolutionary proletariat», while educating a generation of young, ideologically literate artists. As the main platform for the implementation of his plans, A. N. Glagolev uses the newspaper «Red Crimea», on the pages of which not only his illustrations and cartoons appear, but also fairly large articles urging artists and photographers to be closer to socialist construction. His merits include the organization of an art exhibition dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Sovietization of Crimea, the First All-Crimean Exhibition of Amateur Art, as well as an exhibition of professional and amateur artists in the Moscow State Museum of Oriental Cultures «Art of the Soviet Crimea». A. N. Glagolev was the founder and chairman of the Crimean Society of Revolutionary Artists «Izofront». He tried to provide support to representatives of amateur and national art.

ABOUT THE POLITBURO OF CC CPY WRONGLY DATED MEETING

The article deals with the problem of correct dating of the session of the Politburo of the Central committee of the Communist party of Yugoslavia, which was listed in the Archive of Yugoslavia under the date January 15, 1949. Starting from the content of the source, the author suggests that it was created several years later. Using the method of comparing with other party sources, the author concludes that the most probable date of the session is January 15, 1952. The method of external criticism of the source indicates that the error in dating occurred earlier than January 1983 and has not been corrected until now.

LENGTHY REFLECTIONS ON THE HISTORICAL FATE OF THE RUSSIAN INTELLIGENTSIA. REVIEW ON THE BOOK: PASCHENYA V. N. INTELLIGENTSIA, ITS ROLE IN THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA AND CRIMEA

V. N. Paschenyi’s attempt to present a historical essay on the fate of the Russian intelligentsia in 1783-1991 is analyzed. The author’s concept is considered. The conclusion is made about the discrepancy between the title and the content of the book, about his primitivization of the scientific approach to the history of Crimean studies. Numerous factual and conceptual errors of V. N. Paschenyi are named. It is proved that the book is a pile of facts from Russian history, sometimes unrelated to each other. The lack of reliance on sources on the history of Crimean studies, the author’s ignorance of the historiography of the issue led him to create an untenable version of the monograph on the intellectual history of the Crimea.

DISCUSSION ON THE STATE AND LEGAL STATUS OF THE CRIMEAN ASSR (1921–1945)

For a long time, Crimea has been the place of a permanent ethnopolitical political conflict controlled from the outside, one of the components of which is the confrontation between the Russians, as an ethnic group and the other Slavic population of Crimea, on the one hand, and the Tatars of Crimea, on behalf of whom the extremist banned in Russia is trying to speak structure «kurultai-mejlis». The argumentation of the hypothesis designed to confirm the myth about the national (Tatar) character of the Crimean ASSR is presented. The analysis of argumentation suggests that the hypothesis is not supported by convincing evidence. More weighty should be considered the point of view that the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1921–1945. was multinational-territorial autonomy. The discussion in Ukraine of the topic of changing the status of Crimea, turning it into national Tatar autonomy is carried out by the leaders and functionaries of the extremist organization «kurultai-mejlis» in the framework of the anti-Russian propaganda flow controlled from abroad and exploits the analyzed myth as the historical basis of its claims.

«ARCHEOLOGY AND THE CRIMEAN WAR. EPISODES»: THE MATERIALS OF UNDERWATER RESEARCH AND EXPIERENCE OF CREATING AN EXHIBITION IN THE STATE MUSEUM-RESERVE «TAURIC CHERSONESE»

During excavations on the territory of the Heraclean Peninsula and during underwater research in the bays of Sevastopol, archaeologists are faced with a large number of materials related to one of the most ambitious and, without exaggeration, tragic events of the mid-XIX century – the Eastern (Crimean) War, more precisely, with episodes of its Crimean campaign in 1854–1855. The territory of the State Museum-Reserve «Tauric Chersonese» was the scene of this military confrontation, which directly affected the conduct of archaeological work on the territory of Chersonesos and the fate of its researchers. The ancient ruins, or so called «ancient foundations», marked on military maps next to the positions and locations of the troops, were the scenery for this drama. The enemy ships anchored in the bays of the Heracleian Peninsula – the places of ancient harbors. By sea, following the ancient shipping routes, the supply of troops was carried out, the individual episodes of battles unfolded in the coastal waters. Underwater archaeological finds of this period, which have preserved a lot of interesting and unique information, are rather poorly represented in museum expositions. The study of the Crimean War from the point of archeology view is a very promising direction for further research. How and by whom the excavations were conducted during the war, and what the Crimean War left for researchers in the archaeological sense, are only the main topics of possible research. The study of literature and sources, archaeological finds serve as an additional confirmation of this.

INTALIA WITH PANTHER IMAGE FROM A SANCTUARY OF KYTA

A significant part of the materials from the excavations of the Bosporan city of Kyta, especially over the past 10 years, still remain unpublished. Among the most interesting finds at the site, the only intaglio found here stands out. The material, work and the nature of the image on it allow us to significantly replenish our knowledge about the spiritual life of the inhabitants of Kyta in the 4th century. BC.