The religious aspect in the political activity of the main actors of the Civil War period in Kabarda and Balkaria (1918–1920)

Abstract

The relevance of the research topic is due to the significant role of the religious factor in the political activity of the main opposing forces during the Civil War in Kabarda and Balkaria (1918–1920). The purpose of the work is to analyze the use of the religious factor by both pro-Bolshevik and anti-Bolshevik forces in the subregion to achieve their political aspirations. The study was carried out on the basis of an analysis of documents published and introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, memoirs of contemporaries of the events under consideration, the main scientific publications in which the object of research is touched upon. The following methods were used in the work: analysis, synthesis, microhistoric analysis, historical Psychology. Historicism is a cross-cutting principle of research. The conducted research allows us to conclude that the religious factor, due to its special significance for the peoples of the subregion under consideration, was widely used by all political actors during the Civil War. At the same time, the political success of the Bolsheviks was largely due to the conclusion of a kind of strategic alliance with the politically active part of the local clergy, which, in turn, fulfilled the role of a conductor of Bolshevism in the popular environment. The latter was especially important in view of the need to ethnize the revolution, without which it would be extremely difficult for the Bolsheviks to really strengthen their power in the region.