No 3 (2022)

While approaching to constructing a general history of Kabardino-Balkaria, the professional community of historians of the region should develop a general idea of the relationship between differentiating (ethnic) and integrating (socio-spatial) dimensions of the regional historical process. The proposed paper aims to create a preliminary idea of the relationship between “ethnic” and “spatial” in the history of Kabardino-Balkaria based on the systematization and analysis of data on the gene pool of modern Kabardians and Balkars. A review of the results of studies in phylogenetic and gene geography showed that on the genetic map of the North Caucasus, they form a distinct inter-ethnic area or cluster of populations characterized by the internal heterogeneity of their gene pools and by the mutual proximity of genetic structures. Its formation results from the territorial proximity of ethno-social units and a dense network of regular social interactions between them, which was reproduced over a long historical time. The historical narrative, having the formation of this area as its subject, should be guided by the identification of all factors and forms of social change that are not confined to the boundaries of the past and the boundaries of the ethnic group. The first step in the entering of particular ethno-histories into the general historical space is their integration into the regional historical narrative. The spatial approach allows, more fully than the approach focused on ethnicity, to present in the narrative the peoples of the region as agents of historical changes in the internal and external milieu in which they exist. Because of the autonomous historical creativity of the Kabardian and Balkar peoples, Kabardino-Balkaria has developed as a historical region in which they carry out their livelihoods and streamline mutual relations. This is their contribution to the history of the North Caucasus, Russia, and the world.

In the early decades of electricity development, water flows were the most powerful and economically viable source of energy for large industrial facilities and power systems. Mountainous areas provided convenient conditions for the construction of hydroelectric installations without flooding of territories and relatively low capital costs. Therefore, the North Caucasus was one of the first regions in Russia to be targeted by hydroelectric power. The article deals with the problems of designing the first high-head Terskaya hydropower station in the Caucasus, and with the clash of interests of several groups of entrepreneurs who fought for the right to build it with the support of various pressure groups in high places in the Russian Empire and foreign countries. In this struggle, the interests of the railways and power engineers clashed with those of the political and military authorities, and as a result, the project was delayed for over 100 years.

The article analyzes the features of the state building of Caucasian people in the crucial period of Russian statehood, marked by acute dramatic events—the revolutions of 1917. The specifics of the subject of the study are closely related to the All-Russian political process, the fall of the autocracy in February—March 1917. It is concluded that the consequence of the revolutions, including the October revolution, was not only the transformation of the social and political institutions of the mountain population of the Caucasus, the Cossacks of this agrarian outskirts of our country but a rather fierce struggle between local political forces that sought to implement their national state system projects in the region. However, none of them took place in 1918. The conclusion is given that in the conditions of the social and economic crisis, which was increasingly intensifying by the end of 1917, in the mass consciousness of the North Caucasian society, the South of Russia, as in other things, the main part of the population of other regions of Russia, left-wing radical tendencies prevailed, resulting in a civil war and the construction of socialism in the country.

This article is devoted to the famous political and party figure LevonIsaevich Mirzoyan, who held high public positions in several regions of the USSR, particularly in the Azerbaijan SSR; the Kazakh ASSR transformed into a union republic under his leadership, the successor of which is the modern Republic of Kazakhstan. In recent years, under the influence of biased politicians and historians, the activities of a well-known politicians, thanks to whom an incredible civilizational leap of the people, who had previously wandered through the boundless Asian expanses for thousands of years, have been falsified and his services to Kazakhstan and its people have been forgotten. Other people’s atrocities are attributed to him, against which he fought. Of course, the activities of the Republican leadership in the late 30s were not without the stamp of the brutal Stalinist era of the Great Turning Point.

Processes of cultural modernization and integration in various regions of the USSR were investigated from the point of view of the positive achievements of socialist construction, in the post-Soviet period the results of the cultural revolution was considered in the destruction's context of basic traditional values, the atheization of society, russification, etc. The scientific novelty of this study is the culturological approach to the study of the cultural revolution as a unique phenomenon that led to the socio-cultural and cultural and educational development of the region. Analysis of the cultural revolution as a multifaceted and diverse process made it possible to identify several areas of ethnocultural integration (in the system of primary, secondary and higher education, amateur and professional practice, cultural and educational activities, the media), to select positive results of transformations in the education and culture system of Kabardino-Balkaria. The culture of the Kabardian and Balkarian peoples acts as the object of research. The subject of analysis is the study of the transformation of traditional culture because of socialist transformations. The purpose of the study is to identify the positive results of the cultural revolution of the 20-30s. in Kabardino-Balkaria.

The article reveals the content of the scientific and teaching activities of the prominent Caucasian scholar M.A. Polievktov (1872-1942) at Tbilisi State University in 1920-1930. Based on archival materials, first introduced into scientific circulation, the author analyzes the little-studied aspects of the scientific biography of M.A. Polievktov. For the first time, the author widely uses the meeting records of the Department of the History of the USSR Peoples for 1934-1940, earlier documents on the work of a scientist at Tbilisi State University, and archival materials from the personal fund of M.A. Polievktov characterizing scientific and pedagogical activity. The article traces the dynamics of this activity, preparing courses on source studies and historiography, teaching aids for working with students and graduate students. With his works, M.A. Polievktov laid the foundations for teaching scientific Caucasian studies in Georgia. His activity took place in the conditions of the most severe socio-political struggle in the country, the waves of which reached the walls of the university and were reflected in the fate of teachers. This was reflected in the meeting records of the department, speeches and works of M.A. Polievktova. Scientific and teaching activity of M.A. Polievktova is an organic part of his scientific biography, and left a noticeable mark on the historiography of Caucasian studies.

The article studies the problems of the emergence and further development of small towns on the territory of the North Ossetian ASSR. For the first time, the sources introduced allow us to trace the dynamics of the process of the emergence of small towns on the territory of the North Ossetian ASSR. It was found that the separation from the total mass of rural settlements as a transfer to the position of urban settlements did not happen by chance. In several settlements by this time, there were several large, economically designed enterprises that could become city-forming. These include factories for processing non-ferrous metal ores in Alagir, an oil refinery in Mozdok, canneries in Ardon, etc. It was found that some settlements specialized in processing agricultural products, while others became quite large industrial zones in the republic.In the pre-war years (1938), the small town of Alagir appeared. This is because the reequipment of military equipment required a large amount of non-ferrous metal ores, manganese, etc. For their modern extraction and processing, new enterprises were created, which became the core of new settlements-cities.Other small towns appeared on the map with the ASSR in 1950 and 1964. Thus, the city of Beslan was a major railway interchange through which the movement of goods, passenger traffic, etc. was carried out. In addition, a maize mill successfully operated in Beslan, which ranked second in Europe in terms of capacity. The cities of Ardon and Digora played a much smaller economic role, which in the 1960s and 1970s found themselves in a transitional situation. In these small settlements, the influence of the traditional rural way of life was still strong. However, the process of transition to the state of urban life was gaining momentum.

Based on archival documents and historiographic sources, the article defines the main directions of scientific research of teachers who worked at the Department of History of the USSR of the Kabardian Pedagogical Institute in the late 1940s–1957. The facts of the scientific biography of A.I. Pershits, V.A. Ryumin, V.P. Krikunov, I.F. Muzhev, A.I. Shchegolev, M.N. Krivushin, T.I. Agapova, R.H. Gugov, T.Kh. Kumykov related to this stage of their scientific and pedagogical career are presented. The article shows that one of the priority areas of scientific activity among the employees of the Department of USSR History in the period under review was the development of the key problems in the history of Kabarda. The article was written for the ninetieth anniversary of the Kabardino-Balkarian State University and is dedicated to the teachers who stood at the origins of historical science and historical education in the republic.

The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of women’s Sufi practices in Ingush society. This article shows how and under whose influence women could take part in the rituals of a loud zikr, how women come to the fraternity, the reasons and motives driving women in search of mental balance, age and social composition of the participants in the ritual. We considered how spiritual practices changed at various stages of society, in which religious fraternities the participation of women in zikr rituals is permissible. How political processes influenced female religious activity associated with the zikr ritual. The consideration of this topic in this vein allows not only to see the changes that have occurred in the religious life of women’s Sufi groups in Ingushetia, but also to show what role the ritual practice of zikr has in the life of society and the participants themselves. This article uses modern methods of historical and ethnological description necessary for a detailed consideration of the regional features of the ritual practices of Ingush women.

This work is devoted to the problem of reducing large families (with three or more children) of families in the Gudaut region of Abkhazia in 1964-1976 and 2005-2016. Its relevance of the study is due primarily to socio-economic changes that form more prestigious plans, displacing the reluctance of modern residents of the region to have over two children. The work is based on the analysis of archival and field materials, economic books of the villages of the Gudauta region of the Republic of Abkhazia for 1964-1976 and 2005-2016 and official statistics. The reasons for the unfavorable situation of reproductive behavior of women among the rural population of the region in the Soviet period from 1964 to 1976 were revealed their involvement in various spheres of the national economy, and increased interest in improving the educational level, and the mass departure of young people to the cities of the republic. After the Georgian-Abkhaz war in 1922 - 1993, the socio-economic and political transformations that occurred led to a decrease in the indicators of natural population growth. It has been established that in the rural areas of the studied region from 2005 to 2016, the population is declining because of incessant migrations. This leads to a reduction in the number of large families. In the republic, there is a slight increase in the total number of large families. These indicators are not reflected in an increase in the coefficient of natural growth of the republic’s population. For the practical solution of demographic problems; the state has established measures to stimulate the birth rate and support a large family. Certain benefits and benefits are aimed at actively supporting a large family in all spheres of its life at the legislative level, still not enough to solve all the problems of a large family.

Based on pre-revolutionary, Soviet and post-Soviet sources and literature, using comparative historical, typological, chronological, systemic and retrospective general scientific methods, the article provides a historiography of the Caspian Flotilla. The beginning of this process dates back to the time of the existence of the medieval Old Russian state and the Grand Duchy of Moscow, during the years of their existence, trade and economic relations of Russia along the Caspian Sea with the cities and states of the Eastern Caucasus were being established. A significant place in Russian historiography is given to establishing the Muscovite state in the Volga and Caspian basins and the founding of the Russian fortress city of Astrakhan in the Volga delta, which contributed to the development of shipbuilding and shipping on the Caspian Sea and served as a prologue to the founding of the Volga-Caspian military flotilla. Much attention in Russian and Soviet historiography is paid to the events of the early 18th century, when Russia, under the leadership of Peter the Great, achieved especially splendid victories on the coast of the Caspian Sea. As the authors note, the conquest by the Russian Empire was because of the Persian campaign of 1722–1723. The Western Caspian has changed the balance of power in the geopolitical confrontation between regional powers in favor of Peter’s Russia. According to several authors, the Caspian flotilla becomes important with the coming to power of Catherine II and subsequent Russian emperors. Of particular importance in the confrontation with Persia was the Treaty of Gulistan concluded with it in 1813 and the Turkmanchay Treaty of 1828. In subsequent years, Russia anchored the western coast of the Caspian Sea and the South Caucasus. At the end of the XIX-XX centuries the main base of the Caspian flotilla is in Baku, in connection with which the sailors of the flotilla were drawn into the events of 1905-1907, February-October 1917, the Civil War in the Caucasus, during which the Volga-Caspian flotilla was created. In the initial period of the Great Patriotic War, the Caspian Flotilla gained the status of a front formation. After the collapse of the USSR, the Caspian flotilla was divided between Russia and Azerbaijan, and the primary base was moved from Baku, first to Astrakhan, and then to Kaspiysk. Extensive pre-revolutionary, Soviet and Russian historiography of the history of the Caspian Flotilla testifies to the importance of the Caspian Sea and the Eastern Caucasus in the geopolitics of Russia from the Middle Ages to modern times.

This article highlights one of the important spiritual culture issues of Kabardians: religious beliefs. E.N. Studenetskaya during the next trip to the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1947 covered the key aspects of the people’s life. In the fieldwork’s course, materials were collected not only on housing, clothing, religious beliefs but also on the traditions of upbringing, children, the relationship between the elders and the younger, on the example of the men’s holiday “thieshue uj,” family and household legends in which the connection with animals is traced. As an example in the report, she highlights the attitude of the Naloyev genus to the snake as a sacred creature. Folklore material related to the spirits of the elements, the origin of the traditional bowed musical instrument shykIepshyn and blacksmithing were also recorded. The attempt of E.N. Studenetskaya to fix Kabardian terminology on the topics under study deserves special attention. The work contains extracts from the report on the business trip of E.N. Studenetskaya to the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on the collection of ethnographic material in 1947.

The subject of analysis in the present article is the ways of depicting the father in the autobiographical works of A.P. Keshokov - in the story «View from the White Mountain» and the story «Whose stirrup we held». The goal is to trace how the ways of displaying a particular personality inform about its value orientations, and how the differences in the ways of its depiction on different artistic canvases show a change in the value orientations of the artist himself. The comparisons made allow us to say that in the story «View from the White Mountain» the author touches upon the events from the biography of Pshemakho Keshokov only tangentially. Having presented a detailed exposition of his father’s life in the chapter «Surname», the author deviates from it only once. In contrast to the story, a short biographical segment, recreated in the story «Whose stirrup we held», rearranges several value accents in the father’s story, to show the tragedy of his life. In the story, the «Islamic» theme sounds differently, the picture of Pshemakho Keshokov’s old age appears differently, his fate fits into a different value range - where the names of Pshikan Shekikhachev, Tuta Borukaev, Ibragim Tligurov sound. The years of publication of both works give grounds for conclusions about the value orientations of the writer.

The article explores the work of the Kabardian poet Anatoly Muratovich Bitsuev. The main research attention is focused on the dominant motifs and genre characteristics of his poetry. The themes and problems of poems and ballads have been studied. The main lyrics of the poet are revealed, military and love lyrics are thoroughly analyzed. The level of assimilation of the ballad by the author under study is determined by considering the evolution of the genre in national literature. The ballads “The Robber and the Storyteller”, “Love”, “Dzhambolat”, “Duel”, “Junior” are considered, their content and formal (compositional) features are studied for compliance or non-compliance with the canons of the genre. In the study's course, a complex of scientific methods was applied, including a comparative historical method, analysis, and description. The revealed results can be used in the history's study of the Adyghe (Kabardian) poetry and literature in general, the development of special courses and research in national philology.

This article is devoted to revealing the traits of origin, development, existence of riddle as a genre of Karachay-Balkarian folklore, identification of its principal specific features. It is observed that, having arisen based on sacred texts in a secret language, subsequently it transformed and gained a game form. At present, the game (ritual) part has lost its significance because of changes that have occurred in the way of life of the native people, and riddles functioned in a question–answer format. The addressee of riddles has also changed: if earlier they were mostly used by adults during game competitions, then today riddles are often ranked among children’s genres of folklore, contributing to intergenerational transmission of information. The conducted research allows to state the existence of a close connection between the content of riddles and realities that surrounded their creators (geographical landscape, the world of flora and fauna, the material and spiritual culture of the ethnic group). All this determined the range of the thematic scope of Karachay-Balkarian riddles and therefore increased their research potential both for specialists in folklore and for linguists, ethnologists, culturologists and ethnopsychologists. In addition, the attention of the works of this genre on the development of abstract, figurative thinking, fantasy actualizes the possibility of their use for pedagogical purposes.

This article explores the key linguistic features and connections, and dialects fixing concepts, borrowings, speech creativity and the actual folklore of the Nekrasov Cossacks of the Novokumsky hamlet (Levokumsky district of the Stavropol Territory). The object of the study was the lexical layer of language data, speech creation and folklore of the Nekrasov Cossacks, men and women of three respondent groups aged 20 to 60 years. The language sources of the local museum—the Novokumsk Museum of the History of the Nekrasov Cossacks—are considered as the most valuable empirical base for the study of the language, folklore and history of this Cossack group. The information of the museum and historiography emphasizes that the Nekrasov Cossacks are a Cossack group whose culture has always attracted domestic researchers who studied the Cossacks in the historical space of Russia, Turkey, Romania and other countries. It is revealed that the language culture of the Nekrasovites in modern times is not well understood, which leads to interest in this Cossack group. Representatives of the Cossack community of the hamlet are descendants of the Cossacks of the Maynos community. The linguistic features of the Maynos community of Nekrasov Cossacks differed significantly from those of the larger Danube community. A linguistic expedition to the Novokumsky hamlet is in demand both to translate the sources of the local museum, and in order to discover the hidden linguistic connections of the community representatives, actual folklore, which was formed under the influence of the Stavropol Cossacks. During the expedition, such features of the vocabulary and semantics of the dialect were revealed, such as the saturation of the language with representations of the Old Believer religious culture with a predominance of the influence of the colloquial style of the Turkish language of the XIX century, the Don dialect, and family concepts.

The review analyses a collective work by K.F. Dzamikhov and A.G. Kazharov “Kabardino-Balkaria as a republic within the Russian Federation (1922-2022)” which was published in the current year of 2022. In the reviewer's opinion, the authors’ structure of the publication devoted to the 100th anniversary of Kabardino-Balkaria is clear; all 5 chapters are united by the same concept. It enables the authors to present the history of the statehood of the peoples of the KBR as fully corresponding with the main course, internal content and main stages of development of the entire Soviet and post-Soviet society and state. The merit of this fundamental work is the scrupulous scientific analysis of the history of the statehood of the peoples of the KBR, as well as the documentary sources published for the first time. The author’s own finding is capacious scientific generalisations through which the chronicle of key events in the socio-political, socio-economic and spiritual life of the peoples of the KBR from 1922 to 2022 is revealed.