1.4. “History as a strict science?: Positivism VS New social science» ( business game: training in argumentation methods) Argumentation is the presentation of arguments in order to change the position of the other party (interlocutor, opponent, audience). As a speech act, on the one hand,

"Domestic History" "Domestic history"

scientific journal of the Russian Academy of Sciences, since 1957 (founded as “History of the USSR”, since 1992 modern name), Moscow. Founder (1998) - Institute Russian history RAS. 6 issues per year.

Encyclopedic Dictionary . 2009 .

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- (from the Greek historia a story about the past about what has been learned), 1) the process of development of nature and society2)] Complex social sciences(historical science), studying the past of mankind in all its specificity and diversity. Facts, events and... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (from the Greek historia a story about the past, about what has been learned) 1) the process of development of nature and society; 2) a complex of social sciences (historical science), studying the past of mankind in all its specificity and diversity. Facts, events and... Political science. Dictionary.

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State standard on the history of Russian state-state devices of those slaveholding and feudal states, which arose on the territory of our country before Kievan Rus. Currently most the territories in which they arose are beyond state borders Russian Federation, as, indeed, the territory of most of Kievan Rus itself. But it is appropriate to remember that for a long time these territories were part of Russian Empire, and then the USSR. It can be assumed that the separation of part of the territories from our state is temporary, just as it was after the revolution of 1917. Studying the history of ancient statehood is complicated by the lack sufficient quantity reliable sources, which primarily include data archaeological excavations. A less reliable, but important source is the works of ancient authors that have come down to us, primarily Greek and Arabic. The slave state of Urartu in Transcaucasia, around the millennium BC, can be considered one of the first in terms of its origin. on the shore of Lake Van. In Re- Lecture 2. State and Law of Ancient Rus', the territory up to the Caucasus Range. The conquered population was partially enslaved; the labor of slaves served as the basis for the construction of irrigation structures, the construction of fortresses, and the development of agriculture. Crafts developed, including the production of bronze items and weapons. The state of Urartu reached its highest rise in the serenarchy, with the king at the head of the state. To judge in more detail his political and legal system quite complicated, since the sources of law from this period have not been preserved. In 714 BC. The Assyrian king Sargon inflicted a crushing defeat on the Urartians, from which they could no longer recover. In 585 BC. The dynasty of the Urartian kings ends, the state of Urartu breaks up into separate parts and falls under the rule of the Median kingdom. By the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. The Scythians entered the historical arena and gradually occupied a vast territory north of the Black and Azov Seas, from the Danube to the Don. Enough detailed description Scythians and their state can be found in the works of the famous Greek historian and the geographer Herodotus. According to his testimony, the Scythians were divided into farmers and nomads. Farmers lived along the Dnieper, nomads lived to the east of them. Herodotus wrote that the Scythians grew bread not only for food, but also for sale, which indicates a highly developed farming technique. About the military might of the huge army of the Persian king Darius in 513 BC. archaeological differentiation: in the graves of more noble Scythians, slaves, horses, weapons, gold and silver jewelry. The Scythian state, obviously, was a huge power, consisting of various peoples and tribes. The dominant tribe among them was what Herodotus called the “royal Scythians.” At the head of the state was a king who had power and authority. History of state and law of Russia: a course of lectures in the 4th century. BC appears in the Black Sea region new people- Sarmatians or Sauromatians, who were divided into tribes and gradually subjugated the Scythians. One more powerful state On the territory of our country there was the Khazar kingdom, or the Khazar Khaganate. The borders of Khazaria were quite unstable, and the population was very varied. Suffice it to say that Jews played a significant role in the Khazar state, as a result of which the ruling circles professed Judaism, unlike the majority of the country’s population. The head of the state was the Kagan, who received power by inheritance. But direct control was in the hands of his governor - Kagan-Beg. Officials were appointed from among the kagan’s relatives. The organization of the court in the Khazar Kaganate was distinguished by its originality. In the capital of the state, Itil, which was located in the lower reaches of the Volga, there were seven judges: two for Muslims, two for Jews, two for Christians, and one for representatives of other religions. Mixing of Khazars and Jews did not occur, since the children of all Jewish women were considered Jews (kinship was determined by the mother), and among the Khazars, kinship was determined by the father. These different traditions prevented the two peoples from mixing. - VIII-IX centuries AD - the Khazars were paid tribute Slavic tribes: glades, northerners, Vyatichi and Radimichi. Gradually Khazaria is falling into decline. The decisive blow to the Kaganate was dealt by Prince Svyatoslav, who in 968 captured Itil and a number of other Khazar cities. In accordance with modern archaeological data important role The rise in the level of the Caspian Sea played a role in the decline of the Khazar Kaganate, which led to the flooding of the Khazar cities. V. AD north of Sea of ​​Azov the people roamed more - Lecture 2. State and Law of Ancient Rus' agriculture and cattle breeding, actively traded with Khazaria, Central Asia - Arabs were Muslim. The feudal system developed through a combination of some of them. At the head of the state was the “kingdom”; There were taxes and trade duties in the state. The trial was carried out by the king and his entourage. Volga Bulgaria was defeated by Prince Svyatoslav during his on the way against the Khazars, and then completely eliminated in 1236 by the Mongol-Tatars.

More on the topic The first state formations on the territory of our country:

1. §3. Testing special abilities in our country and abroad
2. Principles of formation of the territory of a municipal entity
3. 2. The formation of our planet: “cold” and “hot” hypotheses. Gravitational differentiation of the subsoil. Origin of the atmosphere and hydrosphere.
4. § 1. The concept of the territorial basis of local self-government, types of municipalities, the composition of their territory and borders
5. Appendix No. 6 COUNTRIES AND TERRITORIES THAT HAVE ABOLISHED AND RETAINED THE DEATH PENALTY (as of January 1, 2008)
6. § 3. Planning of development of the territory of the municipality. Organization of landscaping, landscaping, collection and removal of household waste and garbage

History is a science that studies the past in the totality of specific facts, seeking to identify the causes and consequences of events that took place, to understand and evaluate the course of the historical process.

Is it possible to know history? Do people learn lessons from history? The greatest thinkers of mankind gave different, often contradictory answers to these questions. Only a person who claims the divine ability to comprehend unshakable, objective truth can claim the only correct interpretation of human history. Obviously, complete, exhaustive knowledge of the past is impossible. It is only permissible to approach such knowledge.

The study of the past is possible in three directions: the history of events, the history of people and the history of ideas.

An elementary history course focuses on the history of events. The pages of textbooks describe wars, revolutions, the activities of certain rulers, i.e., first of all, what is connected with the life of the state. The history of people involves the study of the past through everyday life, spiritual life, psychology individuals, layers of the population - as representatives of national, social, religious and political groups. The past can be viewed through the prism of ideas that certain socio-political trends tried to implement.

The subject of history is usually divided according to a number of parameters:

According to the time of study: in historical science, the division of history into ancient, middle ages, modern and contemporary has been established; It should be taken into account that these boundaries are arbitrary and drawn by historians themselves;

According to the regions and territories being studied, for example: the history of Europe, the history of Russia, the history of Siberia, the history of Moscow, etc.;

By thematic characteristics: history of political, economic, military, culture, science, history of any scientific problem (for example, the intelligentsia, the Great Patriotic War etc.).

But with all the available opportunities for studying history in various directions and the headings history - how science has some general features and patterns. First of all, like almost all humanities, history is devoid of the possibility of experiment. History cannot be reversed or remade anew. The past is that reality that does not know the subjunctive mood. One can endlessly argue what would have happened to the history of Russia in the absence of Peter I, or the failure of the Bolsheviks during the civil war, or the removal of Stalin from leadership in the late 20s, but it is impossible to go back and simulate the situation taking into account all real factors . This implies the division of historical science into two parts: facts and their explanation, interpretation.

The term “fact” is usually taken to mean an established event, a truth. Historical facts, depending on their authenticity, can be divided into three groups:

generally accepted, absolute;

supposed, hypothetical;

false, non-existent.

Therefore, the first requirement for a historian is a careful attitude to the facts presented and an assessment of historical sources.

Even more difficult is the interpretation of facts. Professional historians can evaluate the same facts differently. What does the position of the scientist and the reader depend on? It is worth remembering the concept of “discourse”. It includes education, upbringing, outlook, political views and even the emotional type of a person. It is discourse that determines the position of a particular historian when assessing and interpreting facts. Therefore, a person studying history must remember that his point of view is not the only one and cannot be imposed on others as an undeniable truth. The position of a person who really wants to know the past is distinguished by a holistic perception of the material being studied, an understanding of the versatility of the causes and consequences of the events that took place.

Professional historians consider historical process as a result of complex, contradictory interaction, mutual influence of various political, economic forces, national, social, religious groups of the population, as well as individual historical figures.

Thus, objective and subjective factors are combined in the historical process. This means that an element of chance is present in certain events, but it is not decisive for historical development as a whole, therefore there is a problem of “alternativeness of history.” Just as in physics the addition of various forces forms a resulting vector, so in history the interaction of the entire sum of factors determines the choice of a particular historical path. Therefore, especially at certain historical crossroads of Russia (1917, 1924, 1991, etc.), subjective factors, elements of chance and similar secondary phenomena that can sometimes deviate the historical process from the natural path of development become especially important.

Gradually, certain principles for studying the past emerged. They include the need to evaluate the facts in their totality, strictly determine the degree of their authenticity, and analyze the facts in the process of their development. A scientist has no right to discard facts that contradict his concept; he must, first of all, rely on reliable sources and see the continuity of different historical periods. All this taken together is called historicism of thinking. Historical research is fundamentally different from a historical novel. The writer has the right to fiction, guided by the principle “it didn’t happen, but it could have happened.” The historian connects reliable facts, trying to comprehend their internal logic, and does not hide the presence of other versions of historical events.

History as a science has wide circle auxiliary and special disciplines. Among them are archeology (the study of history on objects and structures of the past mainly through excavations), archeography (collection, description and publication of handwritten, printed and other documentary monuments), genealogy (the study family ties individuals, families), heraldry (the study of coats of arms, the rules for their composition and description), local history (the study of the history of a locality or region), numismatics (the study of the history of coins and paper banknotes), uniform studies (the study of the history of uniforms), epigraphy (the study of inscriptions on stone and various products) and many others.

We will dwell in more detail on historiography and source studies.

Historiography is one of the special historical disciplines that studies the development of historical knowledge and historical science itself. Although history originated in ancient times, Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century, is considered the “father” of historical science. BC e. in Ancient Greece. The works of historians of Hellas and the ancient world are well known: Plutarch, Suetonius, Tacitus. In the study of history, the great merits of such scientists as T. Mommsen, A. Rambaud (XIX), M. Weber, A. Toynbee (XX). The “school of annals” created by the French historians M. Bloch and L. Febvre in the late 20s had a great influence on the methodology of studying history. XX century and focusing on the study of everyday reality and its impact on economic and spiritual life.

In Ancient Rus', the study of the past began with the compilation of chronicles (“summer” - year), i.e., time-based records of events that took place. At the beginning of the 12th century. the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nestor brought them together in “The Tale of Bygone Years,” which had the subtitle “Where the Russian Land Came From.” The process of transforming historical knowledge into science began at the end of the 17th century.

In the 18th century People close to Peter I were engaged in history - F. Prokopovich, P. Shafirov and others. V. N. Tatishchev tried to describe the history of Russia from antiquity to Peter I. Academicians G. Bayer and G. Miller formulated the fundamentals Norman theory. Their scientific opponent was M.V. Lomonosov, laying the foundation for the anti-Norman theory.

In the 19th century General interest in Russian history emerged with the release of 12 volumes of “History of the Russian State,” written by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin. Sergei Mikhailovich Solovyov, in the 29-volume “History of Russia,” drew the readers’ attention to the internal factors of historical development that determined the uniqueness of the history of the Russian state: natural and geographical conditions, related properties of the national character, and others. Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky in his “Course of Russian History” formulated a new vision of Russian history. He also highlighted the multiplicity of factors that determine the course of the historical process: geographical, economic, social, political, ethnographic and personal. The scientist considered “resettlements, colonization” to be the “main factor of our history.”

Inside historical science by the beginning of the 20th century. Disputes based on political, party, and national differences grew. Mainly three conceptual directions in understanding the past have emerged: monarchical, liberal and Marxist. Monarchist historians (D.I. Ilovaisky and others) emphasized that due to its vast territories and multi-tribal composition, the Russian state must be autocratic, because the monarch is the hoop that holds together the individual parts of the country. Liberal historians (P.N. Milyukov, A.A. Kiesewetter and others) believed that the course of the historical process in Russia should lead to a constitutional monarchy and the gradual formation of a rule of law state. Marxist historians (M.N. Pokrovsky and others) viewed the history of Russia as a change in forms of exploitation and class struggle.

After the overthrow of the autocracy, the Soviet state, which regarded history as one of the most important ideological means, did not allow discordant opinions, free comparison of different scientific approaches. Some historians (including A.A. Kiesewetter) were expelled from Russia in 1922 along with philosophers, economists and other figures of Russian science.

The dissemination and establishment of the Marxist direction in historical science “as the only true one” was carried out by various methods. Already in 1920-1924. The Commission for the Study of the History of the RCP(b) and the October Revolution (Istpart), the Institute of Red Professorships, and the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute were created. Historical scientific journals began to be published: “Marxist Historian”, “Red Archive”, “Proletarian Revolution”. At the same time, the publication of the magazines “Byloe”, “Voice of the Past”, “Russian Antiquity”, “Russian Archive” ceased. M. N. Pokrovsky took a monopoly position in historical science. In 1929-1930 The OGPU organs organized the so-called “academic case”. Its edge was directed against historical scientists who defended non-Marxist views. The leadership of the Communist Party sought to place the beliefs and actions of the intelligentsia under its strict control of the authorities, to accustom them to write and say what this power needed. Academicians S.F. were arrested in connection with the case. Platonov, E.V. Tarle, dozens of professors.

In 1934, on the orders of J.V. Stalin, the destruction of Pokrovsky’s historical school began. The academician was accused of anti-Marxism, other ideological mistakes and other “sins”. The “Bible of Stalinism” was published in 1938. " Short course history of the CPSU (b)". It was declared “an encyclopedia of basic knowledge in the field of Marxism-Leninism” and “a work of genius by I.V. Stalin." The historical information reported in it was considered infallible, and no deviations from them were allowed.

Some weakening of the ideological grip came for historians in the mid-50s. A number of collections of previously unknown documents were published. But the control of the CPSU over historical science remained in full. In the early 70s. condemnation followed, accompanied by the removal from their positions of historians of the so-called “new direction”, whose representatives (P.V. Volobuev, K.N. Tarnovsky) tried to more deeply analyze the level of economic development of Russia at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries.

Only since the late 80s. XX century Russian historians got the opportunity to work truly creatively. This work was based on the study of the entire range of sources, familiarity with the works of foreign colleagues, independence of judgment and the right to openly express them in the press. Over the past decades, many in-depth studies have appeared on various periods of Russian history. Scientists are increasingly using mathematical methods and the capabilities of computer technology to process data, which allows them to make more informed conclusions. Today, such specialized magazines on the history of Russia are published as “Questions of History”, “Domestic History”, “Historical Archive”, “Motherland”, “Source” and others.

In world historical science, the names of many Russian scientists are truly respected. Among them B.A. Rybakov, V.L. Yanin (history of Ancient Rus'), A.A. Zimin, R.G. Skrynnikov (history of Moscow Rus'), N.I. Pavlenko, N.Ya. Eidelman (history of the Russian Empire), P.V. Volobuev, B.V. Ananyin, V.I. Startsev (history of Russia at the end of the 19th-20th centuries) and many others.

The scientific work of a historian is impossible without source knowledge. Source study is a discipline that develops the theory, methodology and technique of studying historical sources. Historical sources are usually understood as a set of objects that reflect the historical process and testify to the past of human society. Among the main groups of sources one can distinguish material, linguistic, visual, sound, and written. The main storage center for sources is archives.

After 1991, enormous work began on the formation of a unified system of state archives and declassification of documentary materials. In recent years, many documents previously inaccessible to researchers have been published in the journals “Historical Archive” and “Domestic Archives”.

Inside the archive, materials are divided into funds, inventories and files. A fund is a collection of documents of one organization. An inventory is a part of the fund, covering documents of some department of a given organization or some time period. Each inventory is divided into cases. The case consists of documents devoted to one general problem. Written sources are divided into official documents and private documents (letters, diaries, memoirs). Often, work with a source begins with establishing its authorship, time and place of its origin. This kind of work is called attribution. But even if the authenticity of the text is established, its content is subject to critical analysis. A document usually reflects the position of an individual, a group of people, or a certain political structure. Therefore, it may contain postscripts and false data.

Thus, in many ways, the work of a historian is akin to the work of an investigator trying to establish the truth. This is why private sources are so valuable: diaries, notebooks, letters. Each of them is, of course, subjective. But by comparing the diaries of different people, analyzing many letters from the same period using a certain method, a scientist can see the true mood of society, its different layers at certain moments in Russian history.

There are a large number of theories offering their understanding of historical phenomena. Let us consider the main provisions of only three theories that had a noticeable influence on the development of historical and philosophical thought.

The first of them is the theory of socio-economic formations. It was formulated by scientists of the 19th century. K. Marx and F. Engels. Unfortunately, from the first years of Soviet power, this theory, instead of the necessary scientific criticism and development, was declared infallible, although K. Marx himself was aware that some countries did not fit into the proposed model. According to this theory, the history of mankind is the history of the development and change of socio-economic formations, which cover all aspects of social life. The leading factor in historical development is the economy and the improvement of tools. It is the tools of labor that are the most dynamic element of the productive forces (people of labor, objects of labor and tools of labor). Each stage of development of the productive forces corresponds to certain production relations (the set of economic relations between people in the production process), which form the social structure of society.

Analyzing the history of mankind, K. Marx and F. Engels divided it into five successively replacing each other formations: primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist and the future stage of development - communist. At the same time, they emphasized that the transition from one formation to another can only be accomplished through revolutions. K. Marx said that “revolution is the locomotive of history,” “violence is the midwife of history.” This theory portrayed the history of mankind as a process of continuous ascent of society along the ladder leading to the shining heights of happiness. She seemed to give simple and clear answers to the most difficult questions. Her success and popularity in various countries of the world was associated with this.

At the same time, more and more inconvenient questions accumulated in this theory. If 30-40 thousand years ago all people started in their development approximately from the same line, why during this time did they stretch over a colossal distance? Why did a dozen European countries take the lead and North America? Why do some peoples hardly move away from the starting line?

Attempts to find answers to these questions led to the formation of the theory of civilizations. Among its creators is the Russian scientist of the 19th century. N.Ya. Danilevsky, English researcher of the 20th century. A. Toynbee and others. There are many definitions of the concept of “civilization”. Modern scholar-historian L.I. Semennikova defines, for example, civilization as “a community of people who have a similar mentality, common fundamental spiritual values ​​and ideals, as well as stable special features in socio-political organization, economy, and culture.” This approach places a person with the peculiarities of his mentality, complex relationships with society, and society as a self-developing system at the center of the historical process.

Scientists count from a dozen to hundreds of civilizations. Every civilization goes through a series of stages: birth, flourishing, decay and death. The duration of existence of a civilization can be from 1 to 1.5 thousand years. L.I. Semennikova proposed considering three types of civilizations. This natural communities(peoples outside of historical time), eastern and western types of civilizations.

Natural communities include peoples living in the cycle of time in the same way as their distant ancestors lived. In this case there is practically no development. This type of civilization is characterized by harmony between man and nature, collective organization social life(clan, tribe), observance of traditions, prohibition of breaking them (taboo). But this type of civilization is very fragile.

The Eastern type of civilization, according to L.I. Semennikova, is characterized by the subordination of personal interests to communal and state interests. People are divided into certain groups with clearly defined social roles, and transition from one group to another is impossible. A classic example is caste in India. Since eastern type civilization is built on the principles of collectivism, then it is not characterized by a market economy and social-class differentiation. The state is the supreme owner of everything.

Social development is characterized by a strong authoritarian state. The type of state is despotism, that is, unlimited power based on armed force. In the face of the ruler, both the “first ministers” and the “last poor” are equally powerless. This is compensated by the broad development of spiritual life. Belief in the predetermination of fate and events (fatalism) reflects the lack of human ability to influence the historical process.

The key link western type civilization is the idea of ​​progress, i.e. constant, continuous development, primarily in the sphere of material culture. L.I. Semennikova refers to this type of civilization as the ancient societies of Ancient Greece and Rome, modern societies of Europe and North America. This type of civilization is characterized by the ideology of individualism - the priority of the individual, his interests, the right to determine his own destiny with simultaneous responsibility for himself and his family. Among the main features of the Western type of civilization are the high moral prestige of labor, the market as a way of functioning of the economy and its regulator, private property and class structure society, as well as mature forms of class organization (trade unions, parties), the presence and development of horizontal, independent from the authorities, connections between individuals and cells of society; formation civil society, understood as a system of voluntary associations of citizens, independent of the state and resisting the arbitrariness of its individual structures. Finally, the form of the state is legal democracy, based on the separation of powers (legislative, executive, judicial), on the supremacy of law and individual rights.

At the same time, this type of civilization gives rise to its own deep contradictions: socio-political conflicts, the destruction of moral norms, the formation of an anti-culture, and man-made problems. But, as the practice of social life shows, humanity is capable of finding solutions to the most complex issues.

A number of scientists believe that on the basis of Western values, the formation of a single world civilization is taking place. According to others, it is premature to talk about a universal civilization. It's more like a dream intellectual elite highly developed countries.

The civilizational approach also raises questions about Russia’s place in the system of world civilizations. What type of civilization does it belong to? The answers to this question are given in a variety of ways. Some classify Russia as a Western type of civilization, others as an Eastern type country, and still others are developing a Eurasian concept of Russian history. L.I. Semennikova proposes to consider Russia as a civilizationally heterogeneous society, which is not an independent civilization and does not belong to any type of civilization in its pure form. Hence, for Russia the problem of choosing one of the alternatives has always been extremely difficult.

The development of the civilizational approach was the theory of ethnic groups. Its author is L.N. Gumilev (1912-1992) son of poets N.S. Gumilyov and A.A. Akhmatova, whose work was censored for many years. Lev Nikolaevich himself was subjected to repression and spent many years in Stalin's camps. Released in 1955, he became a doctor of geography, and later historical sciences, the creator of a new scientific theory.

According to L.N. Gumilyov, the historical process is the birth, coexistence and disappearance of ethnic groups. By ethnos, the scientist understands “a dynamic system that includes not only people, but also elements of the landscape, cultural tradition and relationships with neighbors." He names the French, Scots, Greeks, Great Russians, Germans and representatives of other nations as examples of ethnic groups. Each ethnic group “has its own structure and its own unique pattern of behavior.” Ethnic groups, in turn, are divided into subethnic groups. For example, in the Great Russian ethnic group one can distinguish Cossacks and Siberians. Several ethnic groups that “emerged simultaneously in a certain region, interconnected by economic, ideological and political communication” form superethnic groups (Western Europe, India, Russia and others).

The development of ethnic groups is determined by natural-geographical, social conditions, type of culture, but, above all, by a certain “energy” factor - passionarity. The energy factor includes the impact of space energy, the sun and natural radiation on members of an ethnic group. According to the degree of perception of energy, L. N. Gumilyov divides the ethnic group into “passionaries” (people with a high level of energy, overactive, dedicated to achieving one or another goal), harmonious individuals (intellectually full-fledged, efficient, but not overactive, able to do without passionaries, until an external enemy appears) and “vagrants”, “degenerates”, i.e. a group of people with negative passionarity, existing at the expense of their ethnicity.

The scientist associated the birth of an ethnos with a passionary impulse, the exceeding of a certain limit on the number of passionaries. According to L.N. Gumilyov, for example, the passionary Genghis Khan united the Mongol tribes and began the conquest of neighboring lands. The existence of the ethnic group lasts over 1000 years. During this time, the ethnos experiences various phases: periods of rise, passionate impoverishment, inertia and gradual dying. “The soft time of civilization,” according to L.N. Gumilev, leads to the proliferation of “uncreative and unhardworking” people. The clash of ethnic groups can lead to various consequences: the death of individual ethnic groups, their assimilation or coexistence.

Ideas L.N. Gumilyov have become widespread. At the same time, critics of the theory of ethnogenesis point out the vagueness and inconsistency of a number of its provisions, and the not always objective selection of facts for the sake of creating a certain scheme.

Thus, there are various conceptual approaches that make it possible, to one degree or another, to link the destinies of individual peoples together and arrange them in a certain order.

The history of Russia, whimsically combining the history of Ancient Rus', the Muscovite Kingdom, the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and the post-communist Russian Federation, with their evolutionary continuity and at the same time sharp revolutionary transitions from one social system to another, resembles a huge motley mosaic. There is everything here: creation and destruction, the rise of greatness and the catastrophes of the fall, brilliant achievements of the mind and tragic mistakes, nobility and cruelty of statesmen. Our past is incredibly diverse and contradictory.

Studying the past is necessary not for the sake of judging it, but for the sake of a more accurate understanding of the actions, behavior of people and nations, for the sake of using the experience of ancestors in the further development of civilization. We will be scrupulous in establishing the authenticity of facts, thoughtful in comparing them, respectful of our history and the people who created it, and at the same time irreconcilable to meanness, immorality, and violence.

Let the awareness of the lessons of history by each of us help the gradual improvement of our society. As the wisdom says, “whoever forgets history dooms himself to repeat past mistakes.”