Social and professional appearance of officers of the Belgorod garrison in 1914: general and special

In the post-Soviet period scientific research of the officer corps of the Russian Imperial army in the first quarter of the XXth century gained great popularity. The article is part of a large study on the ways of officers of the Imperial army in the years 1914–1922 in Voronezh, Kursk and Tambov provinces. We have tried to undertake a micro-historical analysis of a separate cohort of officers on the example of one of the garrisons of the Kursk province. Using the prosopographic method to identify the socio-professional appearance of the cohort, we were able to determine the general and special features of the officers of the Belgorod garrison on the eve of the First world war. The key point of this period of research were the issues: the study of the age composition of Belgorod artillery officers, the timing of their completion of military schools, the specifics of educational skills required in this kind of troops, as well as the presence of combat experience and national and religious composition of the cohort members. The obtained data allow us to continue studying the life ways of the personalities of our cohort during the World war, the Revolutions of 1917 and the Civil war.

The daily life of the population in the second half of the 1940s – 1950s (by the memories of residents of Karelia)

The realities of daily life in Karelia in post-war years, people’s perceptions of certain events in history, reflections on challenging life circumstances, interpersonal relationships during the period of transition from war to peace based on recollections by residents of Karelia and documents from the Republic of Karelia National Archives are demonstrated. Special focus is on the housing and food issues, the various ways people of the republic employed to adapt to the social and living conditions. The challenges of being a child in post-war time, the role of the school in upbringing are highlighted. Leisure-time arrangements for children and adults, the position occupied by sociocultural factors in the value system of people are shown. Relationships between people, where key aspects were the sense of obligation and mutual aid, are considered. It is argued that remodeling of post-war daily realities relying on recollections of residents of the republic widens the opportunities for reproducing the details of both the material dimension of life and people’s emotions and sentiments.

One day in the life of the Late Antique nobleman: Sidonius Apollinaris visiting his kin

The article is devoted to the reconstruction of leisure of the Late Roman nobility based upon the one of the letters of Sidonius Apollinaris (c. 430–489). In the framework of the everyday life history, in combination with the hermeneutic approach, the characteristic features of the ordinary pastime of representatives of the upper stratum of the aristocracy in the 5th century AD are revealed. The letter (II. 9) contains information about the visit of Sidonius to the estates of his two relatives – Tonantius Ferreolus (family member in-laws) and Apollinarius (his uncle on the paternal side), located in close vicinity. A typical day of Late Antique noblemen consisted of a series of easy activities – meals, walks, sports (ball) and gambling (dice) games, intellectual discussions, bathing. Obviously, the Late Antique otium was identical as good as its classical patterns presented, for example, in the letters of Pliny the Younger. The author notes that in this case, epistolography can be regarded as a necessary condition for maintaining the connection of generations, which was especially important in the Late Antique period, before the challenges of the time, which is replacing the ancient cultural settings.

The conquest of Antioch by the Persians and the beginning of the geopolitical catastrophe of Byzantium in the East

The article discusses the military history of Antioch, one of the regional centers of the Byzantine state from the 4th to 7th centuries. The author analyse the role of the city in the Byzantine-Persian wars. The characteristic of the history of the conquest of the Byzantine East is given. Being the capital of the province of Syria, Antioch was a major economic, political and religious center. In addition, Antioch has a rich military history. From the 4th century until the beginning of the Arab conquests, the Syrian Province was one of the centers of the Byzantine-Persian wars. As a rule, the city, in this war, played the role of a supply and coordination center for troops, but history knows examples when Antioch went on to experience direct enemy attacks. With the beginning of the era of Arab conquest, neither Byzantium nor Persia, exhausted by the war with each other, were unable to withstand the new threat. As a result of this, the Persian power ceased to exist, and Byzantium lost its vast territories in the East, including Antioch. It is worth noting that Antoch did not suffer a single major siege, neither in the period of Late Antiquity nor in the Middle Ages.

Images of governesses', teachers, nannies in women's diaries and memories of the XIX-th – early XX-th centuries

In the context of the development of female education in the XIXth  early XXth century approaches to the home education of all the girls are of great interest. The analysis of these approaches let us not only to identify the degree of educators influence and moral development of the girls, but also we are able to observe a controversial image of governesses, nannies and teachers in the girls minds. A low level of morality, teacher training and poor material security formed a negative image among the girls, and also all those factors did not meet the goals of the education and upbringing at the education at that time. Families lacked control over the educators and the teachers, and, because of this, the situation became worse. In addition, most mothers of that time did not have the necessary pedagogical education. Anyway, the role of the mothers increased significantly, when most women began to perceive upbringing as their important social duty. Womens diaries and memories allowed us to trace this trend.

Positions of leaders of FRG and France on the way to European unity (1949–1958)

Russian cooperation with the EU countries is currently an important factor in preserving peace on the European continent and affects the entire system of international relations. The need to study the historical experience of European integration is confirmed by the fact that in the conditions of the modern world, European states inevitably become active participants in the integration processes, both global and regional. The article is devoted to the analysis of various foreign policy concepts on European integration in the period 1949–1958. The positions of European leaders, as well as the complex and controversial process of rapprochement between Germany and France in the post-war period, has become a kind of historical prologue that helps today to form a more complete picture of the initial stage of the creation of the EU. The rejection of bloc thinking by «federalists» who tried to overcome the already accomplished division of Europe and supporters of this section by contrasting the West and the East, including the USA, defined strategic concepts in understanding of the integration process by many politicians of that time, including the leaders of Germany and France. The contradictions between them never disappeared completely, but manifested themselves in one form or another at the turning points of European integration.

Algorithm of archaization in contemporary world politics (desynchronization)

The article analyzes the phenomenon of archaization in world politics and identifies its algorithm in contemporary circumstances. It studies two main modes of archaization – dissociative (archaization as fragmentation and/or decay) and temporal (archaization as synchronization with past political practices and conditions). The paper makes a conclusion that it is impossible to use each of these logics separately due to limitations in their heuristic value. During the synthesis of dissociative and temporal modes, it emphasizes the complexity of the design of the archaization as a two-stage process – the temporal order desynchronization with subsequent disintegration trends and its synchronization with the patterns and practices of the past, broadcast through the institutional memory of polities. The work builds a model of desynchronization in world politics, which is tested on the case of the concept of Hungarian mafia state. This model can become a relevant explanatory framework for both state and societal actors of contemporary world politics.

The phenomenon of identity crisis of American political science in its discourse and historiography

The paper’s analysis is aimed at the phenomenon of identity crisis in contemporary political science being revealed by the author at the different stages of historical development of American political science, in its discourse and historiography. Interpretation of the history of political science as a search for its identity suggested here makes it possible to trace historical metamorphoses of politico-scientific identity crisis through the prism of the notions of scientific soundness and political relevance of the science of politics. Incomplete or inadequate embodiment of such necessary requirements of political science repeatedly caused the identity crises of American political science in the course of its historical development. Historical analysis of ontological-epistemological, methodological and politico-institutional factors of emergence of the identity crises in American political science presented here might be significant for comprehending problems and crisis phenomena in contemporary political science as a whole.

The issue of basic models of democracy: institute of political parties under competent democratic procedures

The article analyzes the main classical and modern models of democracy. Within the framework of the models under consideration, the author investigates the interaction of political parties in a competitive political process. The paper analyzes the protective model of democracy, participatory democracy, pluralistic model of democracy, consociative democracy, marxist model of democracy and others. The author connects the orientation and nature of political parties transactions, their influence on the process of political decision-making with the understanding of the nature and specificity of democratic practices and procedures. The article emphasizes that political parties as an institution enable citizens to realize themselves in the socio-political sphere. Within the framework of this democratic process, the format of political participation of representatives of various social groups of the population is being implemented. The results of the study can be used to analyze democratic practices and party-political interaction within the political systems of states both at the national and subnational levels.

Activity of the Venetian government of Thessaloniki for the organization of the defense of the city during the Ottoman siege in 1422–1430

This article, based on Venetian and Byzantine sources, makes an attempt to consider the measures of the Venetian government of Thessaloniki to organize the defense of the city during its siege by the troops of the Ottoman Sultan Murad II in 1422–1430, and also to evaluate their effectiveness. Thessalonica for many centuries was the most important economic and political center of the region, being the main trading port on the northern coast of the Aegean Sea and in fact the second capital of the Byzantine Empire. In the late Byzantine time, having experienced many political upheavals, the outbreak of the plague epidemic, the capture of the city by the Ottomans in 1387, the city still did not lose its significance by the 15th century. and was perhaps the last bastion of resistance to the Ottomans in Macedonia.It is noted that Thessaloniki was not adequately provided with either weapons or military units capable of effectively resisting the Ottoman army of many thousands attacking the walls of the city. The author concludes that the reason for this was probably the reluctance of the Venetians to enter into open confrontation with the Ottoman Sultan, as well as the sabotage of the activities of the Venetian government by the Greek population of Thessaloniki.