Modern Historiography of Russian Peacemaking in the Second Half of the 19th — Early 20th Centuries

Abstract

The article reveals the evolution of the modern historiography of Russian peacemaking in the second half of the XIX — early XX centuries. Soviet researchers were generally critical of the actions of those pre-revolutionary opponents of the war who did not adhere to Communist views. However, already at the turn of the 1980—1990s, one can observe a gradual change in their positions, associated with the rejection of Marxist-Leninist approaches to the problems of war and peace. This historiographical «breakthrough» occurred in the 1990s, when several collective collections were published, which for the first time examined in detail the peacekeeping activities of a whole galaxy of prominent Russian public figures. The modern historiography, the author proposes to divide into two sub-stegs. The main research area in the first sub-stage was the capital's research centers, mainly the IWH RAS and the IRH RAS. At the second sub-stage, that is, from the second half of the 2000s. there is a General increase in the number of works on anti-war issues, more attention is paid to the activities of individual peace advocates, and research interest is actively shown by provincial researchers.