Military Ministry Research Articles

The Image of Germany on the Pages of the Newspaper “Russian Invalid” in the First Years of the World War I (1914-1915)

The article analyzes the image of Germany, which was formed by the journalists of the domestic daily newspaper “Russian invalid” in 1914–1915, when the Russian Empire was in active military confrontation with the states of the Triple (later Quadruple) Alliance in the European Theater of Operations, and Germany was its main and most dangerous enemy on the Eastern Front. Correspondents of the “Russian Invalid”, the official printed organ of the Russian Military Ministry, in the first years of the First World War (1914–1915) on the pages of their newspaper paid special attention to the Hohenzollern Empire, its army, socio-economic and political development, direct participation German armed forces in the fighting of the Great War. The main part of the information about Germany by the authors of the publication we studied was placed in the headings “From Foreign Life”, “Public Life”, “Naval Department”, “Military Chronicle”, “Telegram” and “Articles”. At the end of the study, it was concluded that the German Empire on the pages of “Russian Invalid” appeared as the economic and military-political locomotive of the Triple (later Quadruple) Alliance, which made enormous efforts to implement the redistribution of spheres of influence in the then world and potential redistribution in its own benefit of colonial possessions.

Военные храмы в Российской империи начала ХХ в.: деятельность комиссии для удовлетворения религиозно-нравственных нужд войск и образцовый проект Ф. М. Вержбицкого

The beginning of the 20th century is characterized by an unprecedented intensification of the construction of regimental churches: from 1900 to 1917 more than 100 military churches were erected. First of all, this was due to the creation of a special commission on the religious and moral needs of the troops which was instructed to develop the type of military churches and to ensure that each regiment had its own stone church. An energetic protopresbyter of the military and naval clergy, Fr. Alexander Zhelobovsky and General of Infantry I.D. Tatishchev. The development of an exemplary project of a church for military officials was entrusted to a civil engineer F.M. Verzhbitsky. On April 13, 1901, the project was approved by Emperor Nicholas II. The exemplary temple was a one-nave red-brick basilica with a high hipped bell tower above the narthex, crowned with one dome and richly decorated in the spirit of uzoroch'e — architectural style of the 17th century. In total, about 69 churches were built.However, the office work of this commission has not yet been included in scientific circulation. We have found and analyzed the documents of the above-mentioned Commission, which includes extensive correspondence with the Military Ministry, the Main Engineering Directorate and the headquarters of military districts and garrison units. In addition to the petitions of priests and regiment commanders for financing construction, cover letters from protopresbyter A.A. Zhelobovsky and I.D. Tatishchev to the Engineering Department, the files contain cost estimates and construction plans from 1901 to 1908.

The Image of Austro-Hungary as Depicted in the “Russian Invalid” Newspaper during the Initial Years of World War I (1914–1915)

The article examines and analyzes the portrayal of Austro-Hungary by correspondents of the Russian daily newspaper, “Russian Invalid,” during 1914–1915. This was a period when the Russian Empire was actively engaged in military conflict with the states of the Triple (and later, Quadruple) Alliance on the European front, with Austro-Hungary emerging as one of its primary adversaries on the Eastern Front. Established in February 1813, the “Russian Invalid” was the official print publication of the Military Ministry of the Russian Empire and served as a pivotal source of information on the empire’s foreign policies. This state-run newspaper was financed by the budget of Russia’s Military Ministry. In the early stages of World War I (1914–1915), the “Russian Invalid” correspondents devoted significant attention to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Only Germany, Britain, and France received more coverage in this publication. The majority of the information about Austro-Hungary appeared under sections titled “Military Chronicle,” “Feuilleton,” “War,” “Telegram,” and “Articles.”
 The study concludes that during World War I, the “Russian Invalid,” the daily newspaper of the Military Ministry of the Russian Empire, played a pivotal role in shaping public opinion within the empire. It crafted diverse images of the states involved in the early 20th century’s major military conflict, designating them as either “enemy,” “neutral state,” or “ally.” The Austro-Hungarian Empire was depicted as a nation that had significantly exhausted its economic, military-technical, and human resources in the initial two years of the war. Such depletion was foreseen to not only incite widespread national unrest but also accelerate the empire’s eventual disintegration, an entity long referred to as a “prison of nations.”

Власть и сыск в русском Туркестане: межведомственный аспект (1907–1917)

Clause is devoted to a question on authority and political investigation in Russian Turkestan after establishment here corresponding bodies of Department of Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The authors show that the military authorities of region were afraid of their influence on the Muslim and alien population, and tried to put their activity under the control. They offered projects of the organization of gendarme supervision of the population, subordinated to their interests, but without success. For example, Turkestan general-governor Mishchenko offered the project of the organization of internal investigation from native agents who should observe Muslims of the edge, submitted to military authorities. Bodies of Department of Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have been obliged to supervise the alien not Muslim population. Mishchenko soon was dismissed from the post, but general-governor Samsonov who replaced it vigorously supported the project and offered additional measures for its practical realization. He recommended creating in Russian Turkestan the regional gendarme management, subordinated to the Military Ministry. Bodies of Department of Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the region should enter its structure and submit to military authorities. However, the top management of the Military Ministry recognized realization of Samsonov’s offers to be impossible. The authors mark, that Stolypin who was the Minister of Internal Affairs and the Chairman of Ministerial Council, played the main role in refusal of Samsonov's project. The authors conclude that the functions of a professional political investigation were not historically inherent in the Russian army.

Два описания южных земель Русского государства конца XVI в.

Two geographical descriptions of the southern lands of the Russian state at the end of the 16th century preserved in the documents of the Belgorod Department of the Military Ministry (the Razryadny prikaz): "Description of field roads" (Rospis’ pol’skim dorogam) and "Description of the map of outlying cities..." (Rospis’ chertezhu ukrainnyh gorodov…). "Description of field roads" was published for the first time in 1886 by D. I. Bagalei. "Description of the map" remained little-known in the historical literature, in the 1990s G. Saatchan was the first to mention the existence of this document. In the preface to the publication, dating of the studied descriptions is proposed based on the analysis of the dates of the emergence of cities in the "Field". "Description of field roads" was compiled between 1592 and 1594, "Description of the map" between 1596 and 1599. Analysis of the filigree sheets of the column showed that both descriptions were written on paper from the 1590s. One of the filigrees of the "Description of the map" coincides with the watermark of the 1598 Razriad book draft. This led to the conclusion that the "Description of the map" was compiled in the Razryadny prikaz in the 1590s. It can be assumed that the "Description of the map" was an intermediate document for compiling a new map. During the reign of Tsar Boris Godunov, work was carried out to compile a drawing of the Russian state, which formed the basis of the map of Russia published in 1613 by Gessel Gerrits. Perhaps one of the intermediate stages of these works was the "Description of the map". The publication is provided with a geographical index.

Армия и полиция в царской России: проблемы взаимоотношений

The paper is devoted to a problem of interaction of two major departments of imperial Russia – the military ministry and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The author marks, that it was carried out in many directions, the main of which, in his opinion, was the cooperation in the sphere of police activity. The military men initially carried out police functions. Transition of military men in police was easier, than transition of police officers to the army service. Full submission of police to the military ministry in the Russian territories of Central Asia (Russian Turkestan) was especially significant. If in other regions of the country, the district police was separated from administrative authority, in Turkestan it was connected with it. The chief of administration of district was simultaneously the chapter of police administration, where there were army officers, and even civil officials in Russian Turkestan were obliged to wear the military uniform. As a result of research, the author comes to conclusion that neither army, nor police could rescue the Russian autocracy from historically inevitable crash.

Russia’s Fight against the Savage Punishments in the Emirate of Bukhara (Communicative Aspects)

The article analyzes the instruments of political communication used by Russian authorities and other groups of interests in the fight for the abolition of the most severe punishments in the Emirate of Bukhara as an element of its political-legal and social-economic modernization. On a base of legal acts, notes of contemporaries and periodicals of the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries the author analyzes using of different communication tools, groups of interests which used them, effectiveness of communicative means. In particular, diplomatic demarches of imperial diplomats and “own example” of the Russian settlements on the territory of the Emirate of Bukhara are examined as well as direct political consultations of frontier Russian administration (of the Turkestan Governor-Generalship) with Bukharan emirs and high officials and campaign in periodical at the beginning of the 20th century launched by Russian business circles and political parties. The study clarifies the reasons why the goal was not reached despite the active position of Russian actors: some instruments could be effective in relations with Western states but were not relevant in case of the Central Asian country, besides that, the conflicts between Russian authorities (Military Ministry form one side and Ministry of Foreign Affairs from another) on the “Bukharan question” graded effect of political communication executed by regional authorities and Russian actors immediately in the Emirate.

Организация выбора мест под строительство новых оборонных производств в России в начале XX века (на примере Самарского трубочного завода)

The creation of the domestic military-industrial complex is one of the poorly studied pages of the military history of Russia. The history of the military industry formation and development in the pre-revolutionary period is the least covered. The authors of this publication reveal the issues of choosing a place for the construction of enterprises of the domestic defense industry by the example of Samara Detonator Plant. This company was established in the early twentieth century and produced products for the needs of the artillery department. It included the components of ammunition – tubes and fuses, i.e. the most technologically sophisticated means of initiating artillery shells. The profile archival funds of a number of federal, regional and departmental archives of Russia, as well as published legislative acts were used as a source base. Historical-genetic and systemic methods were used in the preparation of the publication. The authors have consistently studied the subject under consideration and identified the key features of choosing a place for the construction of the plant. The statistical method and the method of schematization were used as auxiliary research methods. In this article the authors investigate the working procedure of a special commission of the Main Artillery Directorate of the Military Ministry of the Russian Empire to select a site for the construction of a second Detonator plant in Samara. The main problems faced by this commission in the course of solving this problem are characterized. The proposals of Russian cities on the placement of a defense enterprise on their territory are analyzed and evaluated. Russian authors come to the conclusion that after the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905 the Russian army's need for ammunition and means of their initiation increased dramatically. It was this circumstance that prompted the selection of a place for the construction of a new enterprise. For this purpose, Samara was chosen as a city with a favourable geographical location, sufficient resources and workers. The sites examined, but rejected by the commission, subsequently served to accommodate new defense industries during the First World War of 1914-1917.

Organizacja i funkcjonowanie duszpasterstwa wyznania prawosławnego w Wojsku Polskim na Zachodzie w latach 1941-1943

In 1940, the British side granted formal consent for the establishment of the Polish Armed Forces on its territory. At the operational level, they were to be subordinated to the command of the British Army. Among the Polish troops stationed in the British Isles at the time were soldiers of the Orthodox faith. They represented an ethnic mosaic. The followers of the Orthodox Church serving in the army and navy included Poles, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Ruthenians and Russians. In the beginning providing Orthodox soldiers with permanent pastoral care posed a problem mainly due to the lack of a chaplain of that denomination. This continued until the beginning of 1941. At that time, the head of the Orthodox military ministry was established for the branches of the Polish Army in Great Britain. The intention of the text was to present the process of creating a pastoral ministry, the activities undertaken by the clergy and the difficulties that they had to overcome in their service.

Russian system of preservation of anthropological potential in the face of increasing threat of emergency situations, natural, man-made and terrorist nature

The problem of prevention and liquidation of emergency situations, including terrorist acts is investigated. The improvement of weapons and the professionalization of terrorist organizations make it difficult to determine the cause of natural and man-made emergencies. Therefore, the dominance in Russia of the territorial principle of functioning of the unified state system for the prevention and elimination of emergency situations meets the challenges of time less and less. The urgency of mechanisms of extraterritorial mobilization of forces and means of prevention and liquidation of emergency situations is proved. The existing system of prevention and liquidation of emergency situations of natural and man-made character is connected with the key role of the Ministry of emergency situations of Russia. At the same time, the military Department is in charge of responding to emergency situations determined by military threats. It is proposed to change this hierarchy, defining the leading role of the military Ministry.

Police Reform of 1862 in the Urals

Introduction. The object of this study is the police reform of 1862. The subject is the course of its implementation in the Ural region. The purpose of the article is to analyze the transformations carried out in the general police of the Ural provinces in the 1860s. The geographical scope of the study is limited to Vyatka, Orenburg, and Perm provinces. Methods and materials. The modernization theory was chosen as an average level methodology. The methods of the research are historical-genetic, historical-comparative and historical-systemic. Besides, the discursive approach was chosen to understand the sources of the research better. Analysis. By the law of 1862, city police was united with county police under the authority of a single leader called county police officer. Only Vyatka, Orenburg, Perm, Ufa and Yekaterinburg retained independent city police. The police staff introduced by the law of 1862 was insufficient, primarily due to the liquidation of the police of the Ministry of Finance and the police of the Military Ministry in factory districts and mines. The real process of strengthening the Ural police lasted for years or even decades. The Mining Department tried to maintain some degree of control over the police in the region. Results. It was concluded that in the confrontation with the Mining Department for the full control over the police of the region, the provincial authorities managed to win an almost complete victory. At the same time the provincial authorities underestimated the need to professionalize the police, often giving preference to Cossack units.

КАДРОВА РЕОРГАНІЗАЦІЯ РОСІЙСЬКИХ ЗБРОЙНИХ СИЛ НАПРИКІНЦІ 50-х – НА ПОЧАТКУ 60-х РОКІВ ХІХ СТОЛІТТЯ

The paper considers transformation processes going on in the Russian Imperial Army from the middle of 1850s after the diplomatic and military defeat in the Eastern (Crimean) War against the coalition of European states. The author outlines the measures undertaken by the Government and Military Ministry in order to cut down the number of personnel in military units, formation of necessary legislative background to regulate the status of a military man on vacation outside the military unit. Special attention focuses on the attempts of the Russian Army to transform the principles of regular units formation, in particular improvement of officer personnel. The paper shows the way former soldiers and officers used to be employed in civil life and how provincial and local authorities facilitated it offering them jobs in the structures of aristocratic and rural management. Imperial military forces reformation resulted in the social structure of towns, cities and villages, the increased number of former military men influenced their relations with local population.Maintenance of a big army is proved to be a sufficient expenditure from the state budget so striving to make the correspondence between quantity and costs has been of top importance. The Russian Imperial Army of the early 19th century during the reign on Nikolai the First where the number of the military and the term of their service were the priority of the army construction was an excellent example, and serfdom was a social basis. The Eastern (Crimean) War made clear that such army was not effective and the number of soldiers was not a crucial advantage in front of contemporary armament and organization of the Europeans. As a result, the number of the allies defeated the Russians. Thus, the historic practice of quick army reformation (reduction) may serve an example for the Ukrainian military forces when the external threats disappear and there arises a necessity of transformation according to up-to-date optimal models of European armies.Military conflict between the Russian Empire and European countries in the middle of the 19th century exposed the drawbacks in the Russian military forces. The vacation system and formation of emergency and reserve troops during 20-50ies were rather effective maintaining the army in the proper combat readiness and preserving its necessary number. Hence, the Crimean War disclosed several key reasons of false military strategy based on serfdom. First, weak reserves and burdensome vast number of local troops not meant for war. Second, the serfdom prevented the reduction of service terms and training enough number of the military for reserves formation. Third, during active military actions it was impossible to reduce the number of local troops by recruiting them into the army regiments as far as they were used to powerfully support the serfdom in the rears. Therefore the army reformation reflected thorough social and economic shifts in the Russian state mechanism. Anachronistic serfdom evidently backed off all spheres of life. The crucial changes in the military forces did not strengthen the defensive potential of the country but served to prepare for new conquering wars as an instrument of Russian imperial politics in the 19th century.

INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL CONFERENCE "GRAPHIC TECHNOLOGIES OF MODELING OF OBJECTS, PROCESSES AND PHENOMENA"

The work presents information about the international scientific and practical conference “Graphic technologies of modeling objects, processes and phenomena”.An international conference organized jointly by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Military Ministry of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Association of Applied Geometry, the Military Academy and the Kiev National University of Construction and Architecture was held on the basis of the Academy in Odessa on April 23 - 24, 2020. Scientific and pedagogical workers, associates, postgraduate students, cadets and students of higher educational institutions, volunteers, representatives of enterprises and public organizations were invited to the conference.The aim of the conference is to maximize the use of geometric modeling methods in the field of applied sciences, namely, in the creation and modernization of weapons and military equipment; in mechanical engineering; shipbuilding; aviation industry; design and architecture; Computer technologies, etc. It was noted that geometric and computer modeling techniques and techniques significantly improved the efficiency of creating and using original geometric models.Holding such conferences in the future is an integral part of the maintenance and development of applied science. The participants of the conference noted that the solution of the problems can be achieved only if the efforts of the military community and various civil society institutions, higher education institutions and research institutions that solve the problems of the future development of science in the State are united.

Sepia Portrait of Lukian Aleksieiev by Shevchenko (“Portrait of an Unknown Man with Guitar”): Revision of Ascription

The paper refutes an ascription accepted in the current Complete Collection of Shevchenko’s Works for the sepia drawing that was formerly known as a “Portrait of an Unknown Man with Guitar”. It was supposed to be a portrait of Lukian Aleksieiev dated 1856–1857. The paper’s author points out that the age of the portrayed man (25–30 years old) does not correspond to L. Aleksieiev’s age at the time (16–18 years old). The inscription ‘Raim’, which H. Palamarchuk treats as not made by the artist himself, is considered undoubtedly as Shevchenko’s plot forming component of the work. The portrayed man is dressed in a double-breasted frock coat with a straight stand collar (neither skewed nor rounded) belonging to the period of Nikolai I, who died in 1855. Frock coats were abolished by Military Minister’s order on March 15, 1855; instead of them since January 1856 a half-kaftan with a rounded stand collar was introduced. This leads to the conclusion that a portrayed military officer is dressed in a uniform that was in use until 1855.
 The paper supports and develops observations of V. Smilianska and other researchers that the sepia drawing depicts a staff captain Aleksei Maksheiev, a representative of the Military Ministry in the Aral describing expedition, and accordingly, the work is dated by the year 1848. The following hypothesis is offered: Starting to draw A. Maksheiev’s portrait from nature, Shevchenko finished it after the staff captain’s departure for Orenburg and signed it at the place of completion ‘Raim’. Later Shevchenko took the sepia drawing to the Novopetrovsk fortification, to which in 1856 a young graduate of the Nepluiev Cadet Corps, a sergeant of Ural Cossack 200-man detachment L. Aleksieiev was sent for the service. He made friends with the poet. Leaving his exile place in August 1857, in memory of their common stay in the fortification, Shevchenko decided to present the young man with some of his drawings, namely two landscapes with the fortress and A. Maksheiev’s portrait, having crossed the inscription ‘Raim’ with a pencil. For L. Aleksieiev this had to be primarily a work by a well-known artist, a famous poet, while the personality of an unknown military officer might be no so important.

ACTIVITY OF FLEET SHIPS ON STRENGTHENING OF THE RIGHT IN THE PORTRAIT OF THE PERIOD (1867 1914)

The article is devoted to the study of problematic issues of reforming and functioning of regimental courts in the Russian Empire after the military-judicial reform, carried out in 1867. The author of the article gives a brief description of the scientific literature that reveals some questions of the functioning of the institute of regimental courts in the chronological period under consideration. An attempt was made to analyze the degree of influence on the activities of regimental courts of the “List of Omissions” published three times per year, issued by the order for the districts and systematic control of the military prosecutor’s office. The article briefly describes the provisions of the 1867 Military-Court Regulations on matters relating to the activities of regimental courts. Changes are revealed in the sphere of activity of regimental vessels in wartime. In particular, a brief analysis of the amended IV section of the military-judicial charter of 1867, enacted by the order of the Military Ministry No. 464 and entitled “On the court in time of war”, is given. The author made an attempt to analyze the existing order of consideration of cases in the regimental court, to characterize all the participants in the process, their rights and duties. As a result of the study, the author comes to an important conclusion that in the period from 1867‑1917 in the imperial army, the regimental courts considered minor offenses of the lower ranks. The regimental courts, consisting of three officers appointed by the regiment commander, made it possible to narrow the gap between the measures of the disciplinary regulations and the forms of criminal responsibility, enabling the military command to take timely, concrete, decisive and expeditious measures against soldiers who, consciously, other violations of military discipline, disciplinary offenses and other minor offenses. Regimental courts allowed more effective and differentiated approach to every serviceman in matters of military discipline, thereby, in many ways preventing the commission of more serious offenses, to fulfill the principle of the inevitability of punishment to a greater extent.

РОЗПОДІЛ ПОВНОВАЖЕНЬ МІЖ ДЕРЖАВНИМ СЕКРЕТАРІАТОМ ВІЙСЬКОВИХ СПРАВ ЗАХІДНО-УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ НАРОДНОЇ РЕСПУБЛІКИ ТА НАЧАЛЬНОЇ КОМАНДОЮ ГАЛИЦЬКОЇ АРМІЇ

The author of the article investigates the powers of the State Secretary of Military Affairs of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic and the Initial Team of the Galician Army during the Polish-Ukrainian War of 1918 – 1919. Also, military issues were considered in which these powers were divided and intersected. The main sources for writing the article were orders and communications from the leadership of the State Secretary of Military Affairs ( « Dispositions » , « Charging » , « Statements » ) published in the official publication of the State Secretary of Military Affairs « Vistnik » . In the article, the author concludes that the powers of the armed forces of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic, – Ukrainian troops, – were divided between the State Secretary of Military Affairs and the Initial Team of the Galician Army. It was done according to a pattern of division of powers in the army of Austria-Hungary. The State Secretary of Military Affairs obeyed the head of the State Secretariat and acted on behalf of the Ukrainian National Council. Formally, the head of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic was the president of the Ukrainian People’s Republic – he was subordinated to the Initial Team of the Galician Army. The name of the Armed Forces of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic in the Ukrainian historiography, the « Galician Army » , was used in documents of the State Secretary of Military Affairs, was used only to the part of the troop that was on the front and was subordinated to the Initial Team of the Galician Army. The powers of the Initial Team of the Galician Army can be equated to the current powers of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the powers of the State Secretary of Military Affairs to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. The scope of competence of both abovementioned state bodies of military management was divided not only functionally, but also territorially. Consequently, after the departure of Lviv on Nov. 21, 1918, the leadership of the State Secretary of Military Affairs and Initial Team of the Galician Army was in different settlements. The activities of the State Secretary of Military Affairs were aimed at solving back issues: of military-political, military-administrative, military-material, military-legal and military-financial character. The military unit of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic paid special attention to mobilizing soldiers for the army. Sometimes the activities of the military ministry of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic crossed the activities of other ministries. State Secretary of Military Affairs has directed its policy to improve the various areas of life of the soldier in the rear. In particular, it was engaged in raising the fighting spirit in the army. The State Secretary of Military Affairs in its powers did not interfere in the conduct of hostilities at the Initial Team of the Galician Army front, however, it had to meet the needs of the front in refueling personnel, ammunition and ammunition. In its operational activities, Initial Team of the Galician Army was independent of the Military Ministry of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic.

К истории среднеазиатской таможенной политики России во второй половине XIX в. (докладная записка В. П. Череванского 1872 г.)*

The paper examines the development of Russia's customs policy in the Central Asian region in the mid-to-late 19th c. The main part of the paper is a publication of a staff report written by Vladimir P. Cherevansky, a Russian high-rank official to Turkestan, namely, Head of Chamber of Control, in the 1870s. As a member of Commission for Russian Trade in Central Asia he disagreed with his colleagues on customs evolution and expressed his opinion in the report addressed to Konstantin von Kaufman, the then Governor-General of Turkestan. Since the 18th c. Russia had implemented the most favorable treatment towards merchants from the Central Asian khanates (Bukhara, Khiva, Khoqand, etc.) but their monarchs never responded equally. In the 1850s – 1860s, the Russian Empire substantially widened its possessions in Central Asia, shifting its borders southward. It caused a necessity of closing customs stations on the former borders (in particular, in Orenburg region). However, imperial authorities did not agree on whether or not to establish new ones in the newly annexed Russian Turkestan. The problem of customs policy of the Russian Empire (Turkestan Governor-Generalship being its specific region) towards Central Asian Khanates has been studied in a number of works, but the published document was never analyzed properly, whereas its content and especially its author are of great importance to go deeply into that difficult situation in the Russian customs policy to Central Asia. V. P. Cherevansky’s report mirrored different opinions on customs policy and, in fact, the end of the era of free-trade in the Russian Empire in general, and its Central Asian trade specifically. The content of report was influenced by debates between central authorities on administration of Turkestan — the Ministry of Finance and the Military Ministry. Although V. P. Cherevansky and Kaufman represented, respectively, financial authorities and military circles, they were not in conflict, and the report is an evidence of their constructive and respectful relations. In fact, the author of the report, who ex officio had to support free-trade policy, manifested his adherence to protectionism and strict customs policy towards Central Asian khanates and potential competitors from British India. The publication of the report also gives more information on V. P. Cherevansky as such. He was not just an official of a high rank (not only to Turkestan but later in Moscow and St. Petersburg where he finished his career as senator and member of the State Council), but also an author of novels and historical essays. His literary talents can well be seen in the published report, its style and content. Still, first of all V. P. Cherevansky was a professional with expertise in Russian Central Asian affairs. That is why his arguments were kept in mind by both local Turkestanian rulers and central authorities. However, the process of establishment of the customs system in Russian Central Asia proved long-term. Only in the late 19th c. it was finally organized with the aid of Cherevansky’s proposals.

MILITARY JUSTICE OF THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER II

The article is devoted to the research of problematic issues of the reformation and functioning of the Russian military-judicial system during the reign of the Emperor Alexander II. This brief description of the scientific literature, which reveals some issues of the functioning of military courts during the historical period under consideration, is given. The military-judicial reform carried out in the analyzed period in 1867 is considered. The analysis of the impact on the course of the military-judicial transformation carried out shortly before this military and judicial reform was analyzed. This brief description of the Military Tribunal of 1867, which has become the “cornerstone” of the ongoing reforms, is also done. The influence of the personality of the first Russian Chief Military Prosecutor ‑ Vladimir D. Philosofov (1820‑1894) ‑ who over 25 years of fruitful work, has been able to transform the military-judicial office raising the level of military justice to a qualitatively new level. There are changes in the administrative management of the military-judicial system, and instead of the abolished Auditorium Department of the Military Ministry, the General Military Board was established in March, 1867. The conclusion is drawn that, despite the transformation of the B-SS, it remained in many respects departmental and had a separate position in the judicial system of the Russian Empire.

Engineer Richard Fiedler and his flamethrower epic in Russia on the eve of the First World War

The appearance of flamethrowers as weapons is an example of the sagacity of lone individuals in the development of military equipment. Prior to World War I the German engineer Richard Fiedler invented the workable specimens of portable backpack (light) flamethrowers, trench (heavy) flamethrower, automatic igniters to flamethrowers, telescopic automatic flamethrower and other inventions, related to flamethrowing technology. Fiedler managed to reach the gunreach of jet flamethrowers to the distances ​​that are difficult to cover even today, and also to substantiate the tactical methods of their application. Fiedler's flamethrowers were successfully tested in Russia and in Germany in 1909–1910. Using the financial interest of Fiedler, the specialists of the Chief Engineering Directorate of the Russian Military Ministry reached an agreement with him for the purchase of the latest model of the backpack flamethrower, compositions of fire mixtures for various purposes, and certain details of flamethrowers, which he kept secret as his «know-how». However, this line was closed in Russia in 1911 by the Military Minister V.A. Sukhomlinov and his assistant A.A. Polivanov on formal grounds. Fiedler's inventions were not scrutinized by the military establishment of Great Britain and France at all. The opportunity to acquire a new type of weapons was missed for Russia and Entente Powers from the very beginning. The main reason for the indifferent attitude towards flamethrowers in the prewar period was the false ideas about the future war as a maneuverable and quick. The patents for technical solutions beyond the scope of «general ideas» about the means of warfare were also underestimated. But later they became harbingers of the emergence of new directions for the creation of weapons. It is important to take this fact into account while choosing the most promising directions for the creation of military equipment. In Germany, after almost a decade of tests and doubts, Fiedler's flamethrowers were accepted for service and delivered to pioneer detachments in 1912. They were improved and used effectively throughout the war. The Allies were to make their own flamethrowers themselves in the course of war, hastily, mainly from German models. There is no reliable information about the inventor`s fate after 1912.

Революция 1917 года и трансформация военно-бюрократических структур в России

The article deals with the role and position of military political institutions in Russia during the flow of revolutionary events in 1917. It specifically focuses on the Military ministry’s staff reaction to the political overturn, and their adaptation to the new environment of functioning. Evolution of the state’s military bureaucratic structures in the process of the political conflict is put under analysis, as well as various aspects of their reformation.