Some features of censorship policy during the Crimean War of 1853–1856

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of new sources found in the National Archives of the Republic of Tatarstan in Kazan, which clarify the picture of the censorship policy of the tsarist government during the war years. The study was carried out based on the modernization concept of Russian history, in which the printed word appears as one of the main engines of modernization, as well as on the methods of intellectual history, in which book publishing and the press are studied in close connection with issues of censorship policy. The modern historiography of the Crimean (Eastern) War continues to be enriched with new works devoted to Russian public life and connected with the history of the press and censorship. А rich literature is devoted to the history of Russian periodicals and journalism, but not to the censorship policy of the Russian Empire. The article considers a number of circulars of the Ministry of Public Education, which was the leading state body in the implementation of the censorship policy, but in war conditions it carefully took into account the requirements of the Military Censorship Committee under the General Staff. The emperor actively intervened in censorship issues, especially in publicizing literary works in the press. For example, the newspaper Samarskiye Gubernskiye Vedomosti shows, that the provincial press reprinted notes and reports about the war from the capital news that had already passed the censorship check. Despite the selection of information, these reports did not hide information about the losses of Russian troops