No 2 (2015)

The article deals with the construction of the Alaskan-Siberian Railway by the USSR during the Second World War and its role in the delivery of aviation equipment from the USA factories in Fairbanks (Alaska) for the subsequent ferrying to the Soviet Union. In this regard, the author explores the little known facts of the development of the complex airway “Alaska-Siberia-front”, which played the crucial role in the history of the Great Patriotic War and enabled the Russian and American aviators to hasten the victory over Nazi Germany. The article also reveals the specific decisions of the Party and the Soviet government on coordinating efforts between Great Britain and the United States to supply combat aircraft under the Lend-Lease. On the basis of specific historical facts the author considers selfless and heroic efforts of Soviet pilots, engineers, technicians, junior aviation specialists in the preparation of mobile airfields and sites for aircrafts intermediate landing in the harsh Siberian climate.

In article works and traveling notes of travelers, pilgrims to Egypt in the period of Muhammad Ali of Egypt board for the purpose of definition of the developed image of a Khedive of Egypt in these works are considered. The author analyzes works of travelers to Egypt and the Holy Land within the XIX century and shows the factors which influenced emergence of certain estimates in an image of the governor of Egypt. The carried-out analysis allowed to establish that despite poverty of the population, the general negative attitude perception of Arabs, including the Ottoman Turk, Khedive Muhammad Ali was the secular, educated and hospitable governor in the opinion of travelers. Meanwhile, absolutely other perception developed at the European travelers to whom honors were also done. The Russian travelers preferred not to focus attention on “east despotism” of Muhammad Ali, considering that use of cruel methods the political situation demanded. Also thanks to notes of travelers it was created including an image of the Turkish oppressor, and Muhammad Ali was presented only from a positive side as the secular and fair governor. Intended creation of a negative image of the Ottoman Turk oppressing Egyptians justified continuous collisions with Porta on the international scene.

This article is devoted to the research of the political views of famous diplomat J. Capodistrias. Capodistrias’ political ideals were based on the ideas of the philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment (Locke, Montesquieu and others). He considered that any facts have their roots in the past. Consequently he thought that the causes of the actual political events were hidden in the events of the Napoleonic Wars period. In Capodistrias’ opinion, the principal consequence of the Napoleonic Wars was the rise of the public opinion authority. He considered public opinion as the principal factor of the political process. So policy that has no public support is doomed to failure. Capodistrias was a partisan of the autocratic governance. At the same time he was the partisan of the adoption of constitution in European states. Such political views were popular among the Russian political elite. His ideas were close to the views of Emperor Alexander I, his teacher La Harpe, S. S. Uvarov, D. N. Bludov, N. M. Karamzin and many others.

The article deals with the issue of the so-called “white” terror during the Izhevsk workers' revolt that was the most powerful rebellion against the Bolsheviks in 1918. The author examines the key points, which originally composed this myth, analyzing the number of the arrested and shot people and examining the main episode, which for many decades proved the terrorist nature of the uprising, and is connected with the fate of peasants Bannikovs from Bolgury village. The significance of the article is that conducting a historiographical analysis, the author bases the study of controversial issues on a solid source base, consisting of materials of central and local archives. The author comes to the conclusion that some of the well-established claims in the national historiography are exaggeration or distortion and others are pure fiction that was created by the Soviet historiography. And these exaggerations, distortions and fictions still exist in modern historiography. The article examines the problem of the origin of these statements and their validity.

The article is devoted to the main problems and perspectives in modern culture and musical education in Russia on the threshold of the 20-21 st centuries, emphasizing visible contradictions and connection between them, ways of their solution and practical realization in the sphere of musical education. The content of education is constantly updated thanks to the cultural heritage of different countries and peoples; industries are constantly evolving science, as well as life and the practical experience of the person. Thorough theoretical analysis pointed out the necessity of structural and contents reconstruction in the work of institutions of musical education, both professional and non-professional. The focus should be on preserving the long-time cultivation and experience of Russian classic academic musical tradition, on the one hand. On the other hand, musical education in the present-day Russia should develop in accordance with the main trends of the social-cultural realities and cultural policy. Musical education is the inseparable part of general education, and institutions of musical education feel responsibility in training a new generation of teachers who can cope with the task of educating a new generation within the changing realities of the contemporary world.

В сообщении рассматриваются взгляды французских и русских мемуаристов на личность императора Павла I. Выявляются общие и черты и различия в их восприятии облика Павла Петровича. Особенное внимание уделяется позиции французских авторов, анализируются факторы, определявшие специфику их отношения к русскому императору.