THE CONTROL REGAINING OVER THE DANUBE PROVINCES AS DESCRIBED BY CLAUDIANUS

The paper analyzes the poetic work of a late antique court poet from Western Roman Empire Claudius Claudianus. The key verbal construc - tions describing the situation on the Lower-Danube region after the Goths have settled are identified. The analysis of the Claudianus’ discourse shows the state of alarm of the Honorius court looked at the Balkan region. The high officials of Western Empire sought to establish Roman authority over the Danube region, regardless of whether the Eastern or Western court would rule there. Claudianus conveys to the readers that desire to see those lands under Roman rule. The study of contexts in which the Danube is men- tioned by Claudianus allows to assume that in the official discourse at court of the Western Emperor Honorius the Lower-Danube lands were pronounced pacified. They were beginning to recover from the destruction of the past wars, although still being perceived as a hotbed of instability. It was supposed that after Theodosius I first concluded the Treaty with the Goths in 382, and then Alaric and his people left Thrace in 395, the Danubian lands returned to Roman rule regardless whether the Roman institutes of power there functioned or not.

POLITICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF PERSONAL POTENTIAL OF THE YOUNG POLITICAL LEADERS OF RUSSIAN PARLIAMENTARY PARTIES

The article presents a systematic analysis the personal potential of young political leaders of contemporary Russian parties, which has been studied in recent years by an Associate Professor of the Department of Public Relations, Tourism and Hospitality of the Faculty of History, Political Sci- ence and Law of Russian State University for the Humanities. The research were was carried out according to political and psychological methods of a verbal and projective type, supplemented by training of public self-presenta- tion of young representatives of parliamentary parties among their potential voters. As part of the study, a political and psychological profile of each potential young party leader was compiled, highlighting their value orientations and readiness to work in public politics. The article reveals the basic motives contributing to choosing the politics by young people as a professional sphere for the formation of their own personality. Also, the values orientations of young party leaders are compared with their political self-identification. Fol- lowing the results of the research works, the author of the article concludes that the existing leadership potential of young representatives of Russian parliamentary parties is not always manifested in the public practice and requires serious adjustments in terms of training in specific communication techniques, and coming into politics is determined by the desire for personal self-realization.

THE SELECTIVE MEMORY ОF US-SOVIET COOPERATION DURING WORLD WAR II

By the time the US formally recognized the Soviet Union in 1933, the American economy was in desperate circumstances. President Roosevelt hoped that the new relationship would generate a prosperous trade between the two countries. When Germany, Italy, and Japan threatened world peace, a vigor- ous “America First” movement developed to keep the US out of the international conflicts. By the time the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939, this be- came increasingly difficult. The US, instead, became “the arsenal of democracy” and supported the efforts of the British and, by 1941, the Russians to defeat Nazi aggression, particularly through the Lend-Lease program. Although after the war, the Soviets tended to minimize American, the residual good will from that effort prevailed despite serious conflicts. The Cold War did not become hot, and even produced scientific and cultural cooperation on occasion.

SOVIET PRISONERS OF WAR IN GERMANY, 1941–1945 – AN UNDESIRABLE TOPIC FOR GERMAN SOCIETY?

In German and Russian historiography, the tragic fate of the Soviet prisoners of war in Germany during the Second World War has not been suffi- ciently explored. Very few researchers have addressed this topic in recent times. In the contemporary German society, the subject remains obscured. There are attempts to reflect this tragedy in documentary films. The author analyses the destiny of the documentary film “Keine Kameraden”, which was shot in 2011 and has not yet been shown on the German television. It tells the story of the Soviet prisoners of war, most of whom died in the Nazi concentration camps in 1941– 1945. The personal history of some of the Soviet soldiers who died in the German captivity is reflected, their lives before the war are described, and the relatives of the deceased and the surviving prisoners of war are interviewed. The film features the German historians who have written books about the Soviet prisoners. All the attempts taken by the civil society organizations and the historians to influence the German public opinion so that the film could be shown on German television to a wider audience were unsuccessful. The film was seen by the viewers in Italy on the state channel RAI 3. Even earlier, in 2013, the film was shown in Russia on the channel “Kultura” and received the Pushkin Prize.

MEMORY OF WORLD WAR II AS A FACTOR IN CONTEMPORARY U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS

This article explores how the memory of World War II affects contemporary US-China relations. Despite the fact that both of these coun- tries were in the camp of the victorious powers, actively cooperated in the fight against a common enemy – Japan, and seemed to have retained the warmest memories of their “fighting brotherhood”, the study of their memorial prac- tices leads to much less optimistic conclusions. In the PRC, the memory of the Second World War up to the 1990s was deliberately removed from the socio-political discourse. Then, as part of the transition from the communist to the nationalist ideology, the interest in the events of the war years increased, but they were interpreted in a spirit of victimization, with an emphasis on the sufferings endured by the Chinese people as a result of external aggression. To- day, the memory of World War II is being used in China to underpin an active foreign policy, which is considered to be aimed at preventing the repetition of the terrible tragedies of the past. For Americans, victory in World War II was originally a symbol of the transformation of the United States into a Pacific power, a rationale for regional leadership. Until China claimed the same role, the memory of US-Chinese military cooperation could be used as a diplomatic tool; it was also possible to talk about the “foundation of friendship” on which bilateral relations were based. Today, this technique no longer works, a com - mon victory does not bring the United States and China closer, but drives them apart dragging the countries to the opposite sides of the barricades.

STUDY OF ITALIAN-LIBYAN RELATIONS IN RUSSIAN SCIENCE LITERATURE FROM THE LATE 20TH TO THE EARLY 21ST CENTURY

The main purpose of the article is to review the most complete and holistic scientific works of Russian authors which are devoted to the study of Italian-Libyan relations. To carry out the research a broad historiographic base on the topic was involved, the author turned to both the “classic” works of Soviet scientists, and to the most modern scientific figures. One of the main tasks in the study of the topic is to identify the historiographic issues associated with the lack of modern Russian scientific literature on the referred theme. The article analyzes the specific features of the literature published from the end of the 20th to the beginning of the 21st century in Russia, highlighting the issue of interaction between two countries in different spheres of international relations. The methodological basis of the work is the issue-chronological and complex analysis of the used literature, the establishment of the cause-effect relationships and patterns in the Russian authors approaches to their research, as well as their interpretation for the current stage of development of relations between the two countries. During research it was revealed that most of the scientific works of our compatriots are devoted to a certain, rather narrow, range of issues: the Italian–Turkish war of 1911–1912, cooperation between Libya and Italy in the control of illegal migration from Africa to Europe, Italian military intervention in the civil war in Libya 2011. At the same time, not many Russian authors cover and analyze the Italian-Libyan cooperation in the politi- cal, cultural, social, and economic fields during the long-term period of Colonel Gaddafi’s rule in Libya. In this regard, the author of the article notes that there is a great amount of historical data: the diplomatic documents, resolutions, offi- cial letters of top public executives, treaties and agreements between the coun- tries, including documents of international organizations that are not studied at present sufficiently. The article identifies the most perspective areas for further research of Italian-Libyan relations, what emphasizes the importance and relevance of the chosen topic. The author comes to a conclusion that at the moment it seems quite difficult to find a well-founded, comprehensive scientific literature designed to determine the nature and options for the development of relations between Libya and Italy at the modern stage.

THE FORMATION OF THE HISTORICAL AND LITURGICAL RESEARCH AREA IN RUSSIAN ACADEMIC SCHOLARSHIP IN THE LATE 19TH – EARLY 20TH CENTURY. A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES OF N.V. POKROVSKY AND I.A. KARABINOV

n the second half of the 19th century – especially in the period following the introduction of the Academic Constitution of 1869, and in the 1880s and continuing until the forced closure of Theological Academies after the Revolutionary coup – the historical and liturgical research area in Russian academic science experienced a period of its formation and flourishing. The subject of the article is a comparison of approaches to the study of the worship service history and analysis of the formation of the research methodology for teaching Liturgics by professors N.V. Pokrovsky and I.A. Karabinov of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, where they taught the history of Christian worship from the 1880’s until its forced closure in 1918. Analysis and juxtapos- ing of academic courses in Liturgics allows defining the boundaries and content of the discipline in the period of its formation as well as considering the evolu- tion in research methodology and, more broadly, the formation of the Russian historical and liturgical scientific school. A comparison of the courses reveals the authors attitudes towards histori- cal sources material and its studies. Their own ideas about the provenance of various rites used in church worship characterize their views on the develop- ment of the liturgical tradition, expressing their approaches to its study and thereby form our picture of the establishment of historical Liturgics as a field of researchable knowledge.

INDIA AND JAPAN. EVOLUTION OF THE STRATEGIC COOPERATION FORMAT

In the 21 st century, India–Japan strategic cooperation is gradu- ally reaching a new level. Earlier the relations between countries were more declarative, but the situation has changed since the beginning of the 2000s. New agreements are being concluded, and the y assume practical implemen- tation in addition to the frameworks. On the one hand, for Japan, India is becoming more important not only as an economic partner (a huge market for Japanese industrial products and digital technologies), but also as a like- minded partner in curbing China’s trade and economic expansion. On the other hand, in partnership with Japan India sees opportunities to attract Japanese investment in the development of domestic infrastructure, and also seeks a moderate expansion of military-technical cooperation, since it cor - responds to the policy of maintaining the country’s “non-aligned” status and its equidistance from existing geopolitical coalitions. In addition, India, that calls itself the “largest Asian democracy”, currently has territorial disputes with Pakistan and China, so a strategic partnership with Japan, which clearly interprets China’s growing influence as a challenge to its national interests in the Indo-Pacific region, can somewhat strengthen India’s position in the international arena. Thus, over the past two decades, the bedrock for further strengthening the strategic partnership between India and Japan has been formed, and it is obvious that the development of that partnership is about to have a great impact on the future geopolitical configuration in the Indo- Pacific region.

THE DEPICTION OF THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR ON AMERICAN TELEVISION DURING THE SECOND RED SCARE

This article analyzes the portrayal of the Eastern Front of World War II on early American television, specifically the documentary anthology series The Twentieth Century . It explores how most early portrayals of World War II on television excised or minimized the Eastern Front in response to the Second Red Scare. Although The Twentieth Century was one of the first to display the Eastern Front in detail, its portrayal paralleled Cold War propaganda of the Soviet Union and its people. This work analyzes three episodes of the series devoted to the Soviet Union’s role in the war and notes how each utilized certain traits of U.S. anti-communist propaganda. Other matters considered are the mediators in the crafting the display of the war and the way the history was presented to satisfy the interests of the sponsor and the network. It concludes that the presentation of the Soviet people responded to Cold War imperatives with episodes produced in times when tensions were high having sharper criticism, whilst periods of eased relations leading to less propagandistic depictions.

THE PROBLEM OF NATIONAL TRAUMA IN THE COLLECTIVE MEMORY OF GERMANS IN THE UNITED GERMANY

The article attempts to characterize the state of historical con- sciousness of the Germans at the end of the 20th – beginning of the 21 st century. The article examines what factors influenced the formation of the “sacrificial narrative” in the collective memory of the Germans of the united Germany. The research is based on the publications in the German, Polish and Russian press, autobiographical works, interviews, diaries and memoirs of Gunther Grass, Gerhard Schroeder, etc., analyzes the works of art and filmography released at that time. Memories of the suffering of the German civilian population during the Second World War usually belonged to the individual memory or remained part of the German family history. True, the traumatic past was often used for political purposes, especially in the FRG in the matters related to the theme of exile. In the first decade of the new millennium, thanks to the changes in the cultural agenda – the release of a number of books and feature films, the plot of which was based on the suffering of the Germans, the traumatic past is at the center of public debate. However, the rethinking of the theme of the suffering of the German civilian population was met with a rather wary response in the global context, primarily from Poland and the victor countries.