Vol 13, No 2 (2021)

East and West: contacts and contradictions

The goals of the Mongol invaders according to European sources of the middle of the XIII century. Part 1

Drobyshev Y.I.

Abstract

The middle of the XIII century - the apogee of power of the unified Mongol Empire. In 1241-1242, the first, bloodiest and most destructive Mongol invasion into Europe took place. Certainly, it was vital for the Europeans to find an answer to the question: what did the invaders want, what goals did they pursue? In this article, the author shows that, due to the abundance of contradictory information and the acute lack of an objective understanding of the new enemy at first, European political and ecclesiastical figures attributed many goals to the Mongols (at least eighteen!), of which only three were fully confirmed - an attack on Russia, Poland, and Hungary, and the rest were either not realized for some reason, or arose in minds of the Europeans themselves. All these “goals”, identified in various official and unofficial European sources, mainly dating from the middle of the XIII century, are discussed here taking into account information from synchronous Eastern sources. Despite well-known ideas of a “world-building monarchy”, perhaps actually hatched by the Mongol khans, events in Europe suggest that their main goal there was to punish the Hungarian king Bela IV, who refused to hand over the Polovtsians hiding in Hungary to the Mongols.

RUDN Journal of World History. 2021;13(2):123-156
pages 123-156 views

G. Roerich’s contribution to history of Russian expeditions in Central Asia

Shustova A.M.

Abstract

The study of G. Roerich’s scientific heritage is at its beginning. An important basis of Roerich’s many-sided scientific activities were his investigations during the expeditions in Asia. The longest, most dangerous and laborious among them was the Central Asiatic expedition of his father - N.K. Roerich. The goal of this article is to examine G.N. Roerich’s activities on every stage of the Central Asiatic expedition, as well as G.N. Roerich’s works, publishing the results of the expedition research. G.N. Roerich presented the basic results in his monograph “Trails to Inmost Asia: Five years of exploration with the Roerich Central Asian Expedition” published in English in USA in 1931. Roerich’s description of North and Central Tibet is unique because the theocratic state in Tibet and nomad tribes, which Roerich had observed, are no more existing. Roerich’s field investigations continued the historical tradition of Russian expeditions in Central Asia. It extended our scientific knowledge about the insufficiently known regions in Asia.

RUDN Journal of World History. 2021;13(2):157-166
pages 157-166 views

Persian trade at the Nizhny Novgorod Fair in the second half of the 19th - early 20th century and the problem of goods transporting

Kornoukhova G.G., Tsareva Y.O.

Abstract

The article shows the role of the Nizhny Novgorod Fair as the most important point of the Russo-Persian trade in the second half of the 19th - early 20th century. The problem of transportation of goods from Persia to Nizhny Novgorod and in the opposite direction is also considered. This research is based on the body of documents stored in the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire and introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. On the base of them the authors show the inefficiency of activity of the “Caucasus and Mercury” Company, which actually monopolized the goods transportation across the Caspian Sea during the revised period. The extremely low speed of delivery of Russian goods purchased by Persian merchants at the Nizhny Novgorod Fair damaged not only private merchants’ commerce, involved in Russian-Persian trade, but also inevitably entailed a decrease in the overall trade between the two states.

RUDN Journal of World History. 2021;13(2):167-176
pages 167-176 views

Studies on Chinese history

Causes, evolution and consequences of uneven regional development in the PRC in the modern period of history: an overview of approaches and practices in Chinese science

Makeeva S.B.

Abstract

This article examines the historical conditions, causes, evolution and options for solving one of the topical problems of the spatial historical dynamics of China in the late XX - early XXI centuries. - uneven regional development. The purpose of this article is to review in Chinese the works of such Chinese scholars as Wang Ke, Wang Feng, Wang Yunhui, Gan Chunhui, Li Zhuni, Liang Longbin, Xia Wanjun, Fan Jianyong, Hu Dali, Hu Shudong, Tsai Fang, Zhou Zhe, Zhu Degui, Chen Rong, Chen Changshi, Shi Lin, Shen Zhongqiang on the history of the uneven regional development of the PRC and highlighting the leading approaches and practical recommendations for overcoming disproportionate trends in the regional historical and modern development of China based on the use of system analysis and a comparative historical method. The main factors that significantly affect the uneven regional development of China in the modern period of history include: uneven industrial development, income distribution by provinces, foreign investment, agriculture, human capital and labor mobility.

RUDN Journal of World History. 2021;13(2):177-188
pages 177-188 views

Zhangjipo site excavations’ history (1955-1992)

Efimenko M.V.

Abstract

The article examines the question of the need to study the history of excavations at archaeological sites of ancient China, in particular at the largest burial ground of the Western Zhou era (1027-771 BC) - Zhangjiapo. Archaeological materials are the closest in time source for the history of the period. They not only confirm and supplement the reports of written sources on the political and social history of the era, but also provide new materials for the analysis of the economy and everyday life of the general population, which is not the object of description in written sources. In the first part, the author reveals the features of the source base of the era and points out a number of restrictions in conducting archaeological excavations and the further publication of their results. Then she proceeds to a brief description of the Zhangjiapo monument and reveals the stages in the history of its excavations, which allows us to answer the question about the reasons for the fragmentary excavations of the monument.

RUDN Journal of World History. 2021;13(2):189-210
pages 189-210 views

History of culture

Formation of the Egyptian collection of the National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan: a contribution to the development of Russian Egyptology

Aksenova A.A.

Abstract

The article analyzes the history of the formation of the Egyptian collection of the National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan during the 19th and 20th centuries. Based on the materials of the archives of the city of Kazan, the national museum, as well as with the involvement of other scientific publications in the context of the museology in Kazan and the development of Russian Egyptology as a science, the four main stages of the formation of the archaeological fund, as well as the current state of the collection of the ancient Egyptian heritage, are examined and analyzed. An analysis of each stage allows the reconstruction of the evolution of Egyptology as a science, and oriental studies in general, in the regions of Russia. This collection of the National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan is one of the largest domestic collections of Egyptian culture, which has not been exhibited since the beginning of the 20th century. In this context, cataloging and studying the formation of a collection is necessary for its preservation as a unique heritage. The author of the article came to the conclusion about the importance of Kazan University in the development of the archaeological foundation of the National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan, the role of the collected Egyptian materials in the development of Russian Egyptology and Oriental studies in the 19th century.

RUDN Journal of World History. 2021;13(2):211-229
pages 211-229 views

Modern World

The domestic and foreign policy of the Canadian Liberals under Justin Trudeau in 2015-2020: achievements and challenges

Komarov A.N.

Abstract

The key idea of this article is that, for the first time, on the example of the domestic and foreign policy of the Canadian Liberals, led by Justin Trudeau, we discuss the problems and prospects of Canadian Liberalism. The recent defeat of the Conservative Party of Canada in the 2019 parliamentary elections gave the impression that only the Liberal Party contributes to the prosperity of the modern Canadian state. The closest attention to the activities of the Liberal Party allows us to identify its absolute advantages and corresponding shortcomings. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to analyze and investigate both the indisputable advantages and current shortcomings of the Liberal Party in power, and against this background to determine the effectiveness, or vice versa, the incompetence of Canadian liberalism as a political ideology. At the same time, according to the author, it is necessary to separate objective and subjective factors associated with the presence of liberals in power. The objective ones are related to how the Liberals’ program settings meet the needs of the time, while the subjective ones characterize how an individual, and, above all, the party leader, implements the party’s requests and the electorate’s hopes. In this regard, the reputation of its leader is of crucial importance. On the basis of the considered source base, and, first of all, the electoral programs of Liberals under Trudeau, since coming to power in 2015. In the first part of the article, the author presents a comparative analysis of the results of the liberals in the parliamentary elections in 2015 and 2019, explaining the reasons for the victory of the latter, and obtaining, respectively, a parliamentary “majority”, and then a “minority”. The second part of the article is devoted directly to the aspects of the domestic and foreign policy of the Liberals in 2015-2020. The author comes to the conclusion that the Canadian liberalism, implemented by Justin Trudeau is currently the leading political ideology that unites a significant part of the electorate.

RUDN Journal of World History. 2021;13(2):230-237
pages 230-237 views

Cooperation between Russia and Germany in the field of energy policy in the XX-XXI centuries

Babintseva E.A., Ponomarenko L.V.

Abstract

The author devoted the paper to the peculiarities of bilateral cooperation between Russia and Germany in the field of maintaining a favourable environmental balance. The author notes that nature protection for a long time was not considered as a subject of interstate cooperation and did not fall into the focus of the agenda of important international summits. In connection with a number of historical reasons, at the beginning of the last century there was minimal state interest in organizing the protection of protected areas, conducting stabilization and supporting environmental measures, as well as ensuring the conservation and renewability of natural resources. The extensive path of economic development, the devastating military operations and the assessment of the natural environment as a resource basis for achieving primary state tasks contributed to the development of the global environmental crisis by the middle of the 20th century. The paper emphasizes that the starting point of international environmental cooperation and the adoption of a number of universal environmental acts were reports within the framework of the Club of Rome and further multilateral summits on climate and environmental issues dating back to the second half of the 20th century. The author assigns a special role within the framework of Russian-German environmental cooperation to the Nord Stream and Nord Stream-2 gas pipelines. The author emphasizes that cooperation within the framework of the projects took place in the context of the Western sanctions on Russia. Using energy projects as an example, the author showed in action the environmental relationship in the process of fuel and energy dialogue between partner countries. Based on an analysis of the results achieved, the author concludes that the future environmental cooperation between Russia and Germany is promising.

RUDN Journal of World History. 2021;13(2):238-250
pages 238-250 views

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