“Muravyevtsy” in Historiography: Research on the History of the 1863-1864 Uprising in the Territory of Belarus (1863-1869) in the Russian Empire

Abstract

The article examines the first studies in history of the 1863-1864 Uprising, which had been started in the Russian Empire in the period before the uprising suppression and were finished when Aleksandr Potapov was appointed as the Governor-general of Vilnia. The article reveals the particularity of this period of historiography development, shows the influence of non-scientific factors on scientific researches. The author pays particular attention to the initiating of researches by high-ranking officials and their participation in the publishing projects implementation. The greatest attention is paid to the analysis of the content of some historiography sources (monographs, articles, collections of articles and documents) and the article shows profound politicizing of their works, which was determined by the concrete tasks, assigned by the initiators of researches, as well as determines the main complexes of sources, used by these authors. In general, the article assesses the researches for their use as historiographic sources at present.