Abstract. The article deals with the coverage of the Catiline conspiracy in the “History of Pistoia” (Historia Pistoriensis) by the Florentine humanist Giannozzo Manetti. This work, written presumably in 1446–1447 and favorably received by the authorities of Pistoia, represents a rare opportunity to understand on what basis the self-identifi cation of the inhabitants of the city, convinced of their Roman roots, was constructed. The “History of Pistoia” has not been translated into Russian, and an attempt at detailed analysis of Manetti’s story about Catiline has never been made before. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that, despite the strong indebtedness to his main sources — “On the Conspiracy of Catiline” by Sallust, “New Chronicle” by G. Villani and “History of the Florentine People” by L. Bruni, the humanist makes a number of signifi cant changes in the interpretation of events of 63–62 BC. Although Manetti by no means justifi es the attempt to raise a rebellion against the Republic, he greatly exalts the image of Catiline; he emphasizes the greatness of his soul, the grandeur of the idea, and eloquence. While Villani’s Lucius Sergius is above all a brave warrior, Manetti underlines the quality so valued in the Renaissance — his mastery of the word. According to the “History of Pistoia”, Catiline is one of the great enemies of the Republic, those outstanding personalities whose talents make their owners especially dangerous for Rome. Slightly shifting the emphasis of the narrative, Manetti relieves Faesulae and Tuscany of the blame for participating in the conspiracy. The ancient land of the Etruscans is depicted almost as a victim of circumstances. The humanist’s story of the “battle of Pistoria” is, in fact, a reiteration of Sallust. Of certain interest is the reference to “reliable authors” (idoneos auctores) who reported the losses of government troops. Of the Greco-Roman writers, only Sallust dwelled on this aspect. G. Villani was also classifi ed as a reliable narrator. Taking into account Manetti’s high assessment of the Tuscan historical tradition, it can be assumed that he also had in mind the works of his countrymen — Brunetto Latini, Ricordano Malespini, Marchione di Coppo Stefani and others.

The article considers the latest publication of a set of documents on the history of Russian-Spanish relations in the late 1660s, carried out by V.A. Vedyushkin and E.E. Rychalovsky and featuring B.N. Florya, O.V. Volosyuk and other major Russian researchers. The author of the article notes the numerous advantages of the publication, points to its innovative nature, and draws attention to the specifi c research prospects that this detailed work provides for a wide range of scientists. The collection occupies a prominent place among the publications of sets of documents and closes a noticeable gap in the studies of Russian- Spanish relations of the Eearly Modern period carried out in recent years. This publication can be considered unique due to the fact that the presented materials allow comprehensive study of the first fully fledged Russian embassy to Spain, as well as the identifi cation of the features of both the Russian and Spanish views on the events. The collection is accompanied by supplementary materials, which are highly professionally compiled and exceptionally detailed. These are, first of all, introductory articles reviewing Russian-Spanish relations and the personality of P.I. Potemkin, as well as annotations to the documents and end notes on a number of individual but relevant issues. All these texts provide scholars with extensive new data. Even more new information awaiting its researcher can be found in the first published sources of Russian and Spanish origin, thus introduced into scientific circulation. They not only provide an opportunity to comprehend the goals, course, and results of P.I. Potemkin’s embassy as well as the embassy ceremonial, but also contain vivid details for studying the reciprocal views of Russians and Spaniards (including in a historical retrospective) and even the self-awareness of the ambassadors. The published documents are a rich source of evidence about the daily routine and manners of the Russian ambassadors in Spain, the difficulties they encountered on the way, and the range of everyday problems that they had to solve. Of exceptional interest is also the information related to economy.

The article examines the audiences of a prominent dignitary Count S.D. Sheremetev with Emperor Nicholas II. Sheremetev, who was close to Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna, after the enthronement of Nicholas II in 1894 sought to build trusting relations with the new monarch, and in many respects he succeeded. The novelty of this study lies in the fact that the content of the numerous audiences of the count can only be reconstructed from his diaries, which are still unpublished and little studied due to the Sheremetev’s highly illegible handwriting. The author of the article has studied descriptions of about a hundred audiences that took place from the accession to the throne of Nicholas II and until the First World War. Their content is systematized: the author describes the issues discussed by the emperor and the count, and highlights some features of the tsar’s behavior, which were noted by his interlocutor and which add new traits to the stereotypical characteristics of this historical personality. Audiences dedicated to the discussion of political problems are examined. Thanks to the detailed narration of such meetings left by Sheremetev, it becomes possible to clarify the tsar’s position on some signifi cant issues. Among them, for example, are the conflict between the Tver Governor P.D. Akhlyostyshev and the Minister of Internal Aff airs I.L. Goremykin, or the special disposition of Nicholas II to the Minister of the Interior D.S. Sipyagin, which Sheremetev, who was a relative of the minister, was well informed about. Some other topics of the audiences are indirectly related to politics, in particular, the activities of the Russian Historical Society and debate about the assessment of past events. The diary puts the mutual antipathy of Sheremetev and the chairman of this society, A.A. Polovtsov in this context. Based on the analyzed audiences, an important conclusion is made about value differences which the count and the emperor had. The former extremely negatively perceived the liberal manifestations of the government course of the new reign, the latter was a much greater realist and was forced to turn a blind eye to the reformist undertakings that the political situation demanded.

Between October and November 1917, Moscow became the scene of the fierce fighting between the supporters of the Bolsheviks and the forces loyal to the Provisional Government. Active hostilities took place in Theater Square, and as a result, both state theaters, the Bolshoi and Maly, were damaged. The Bolshoi Theater was relatively lucky, but the Maly was pillaged at the hands of a Red Guard detachment, which was formed at the Kolchuginsky plant in the Vladimir province. It arrived in Moscow on 1 November and occupied the theater on the night of 2 November. As soon as the Red Guards were induced to leave the Maly Theater on 4 November, the heads of the latter (artists A.I. Sumbatov-Yuzhin and O.A. Pravdin) initiated a scrupulous calculation of the losses. The damage caused to the state property was generally compensated within a few months, unlike the significant losses of the personal property of the artists and employees. Correspondence about the compensation for the latter lasted for at least a year, while progressing inflation was depreciating the originally claimed compensation. The plunder of the Maly Theater had such political consequences as a sharp surge of anti-Bolshevik sentiments not only among the members of its troupe, but in Moscow theatrical circles as a whole. The press described the “pillage” of the “Shchepkin’s Home” in minute detail, the journalists did not spare harsh words to characterize the Red Guards, and the actors of the Maly Theater themselves at a general meeting on 7 November accepted the resolution proposed by A.I. Sumbatov-Yuzhin in which they sharply demanded non-interference in their activities by any institutions or persons that did not belong to the troupe. That was an obvious attack on the Moscow Military Revolutionary Committee and its appointee “commissar for theatre” E.K. Malinovskaya. The plunder of the Maly Theater contributed to the strengthening of the positions of irreconcilable opponents of the new government in the theater department, in particular, F.D. Batyushkov, whom A.I. Sumbatov-Yuzhin gave a detailed report about the events in Moscow.

The article discusses the problem of the formation of the “image of the enemy”, the German and the Austrian, during the First World War in the periodical press of the Russian Empire. In the early 20th century periodicals began to play an important role in social life. During the war, newspapers, magazines and leafl ets became the main means of forming the “enemy image” and were used by the establishment, among other things, as a kind of a “fuse” against possible social unrest and upheavals. The Russian authorities and the mass media affi liated with them tried to represent the enemy as adversely as possible. In 1914–1918 a huge number of periodicals in the Russian provinces published materials aimed at demonizing and dehumanizing the enemy. This article analyzes the methods of creating the “enemy image” in the periodical press, and reveals the role of Simbirsk and Samara newspapers and magazines in the formation of a negative perception of Germans (including those from Russia) among the common folk. The article investigates periodicals which were published in the initial period of the war, in 1914–1915. The authors show the concrete examples of the information outreach of the periodical press in the conditions of international upheavals. During the period of jingoism which swept the general public, lasting from August 1914 to the spring of 1915, the press focused on justifying Russia’s participation in the First World War, the righteousness of Russia’s war against the countries of the Quadruple Alliance, as well as the idea of the fact that the Germany and its allies did not have the necessary resources for a long military confrontation. In 1914, when creating the “enemy image”, the main object of debunking was “German militarism”, while the criticism of the government of Austria-Hungary was somewhat muffled. However, starting from the winter–spring of 1915, criticism of the “Austro-Hungarian invaders” and the policy of the Austro-Hungarian government as a whole came to the fore.

Based on archival materials, first introduced into scientific circulation, the article deals with the topic of Soviet soldiers from the Udmurt ASSR, who, after being captured, were kept in the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald. A small number of such prisoners of war held behind barbed wire, survived, and after their liberation they re-joined the ranks of the Red Army. Some of these soldiers and offi cers were “buried” twice: first they were considered killed in action, then as those who died in captivity. However, despite all the hardships, they survived, celebrated the Victory in the Great Patriotic War and returned to their homeland. The topic is relevant as it has not been suffi ciently discussed in Russian historiography, and scholars have not paid enough attention to many aspects of the front-line biographies of soldiers from the Udmurt republic, held in Nazi detention centres or missing in action. The author made an attempt to generalize and analyse previously known and newly revealed facts. The article provides information about the participation of one of the natives of Udmurtia in the uprising of prisoners, which began on 11 April 1945 and, even before the arrival of American troops, led to the liberation of all Buchenwald prisoners. As an introduction to the work, the author describes the regime in the concentration camp, which was specially organized for the extermination of prisoners of war and other categories of prisoners recognized as opponents of the Nazi dictatorship and the Third Reich, and uses the published materials of the Nuremberg Trials and the recollections of eyewitnesses. The author looks at the main milestones in the biographies of soldiers and officers from Udmurtia who were able to endure all the hardships of life in this concentration camp. The analysis of the archival documents has revealed some of the reasons that determined the incarceration of Soviet prisoners of war in Buchenwald. Many of the facts mentioned in the article are presented in the scholarly literature for the first time. The study sheds light on one of the “blank spots” in the history of the Great Patriotic War.

The problem of the decolonization of African countries continues to be a subject of an ongoing discussion, and this direction is one of the most promising in modern historiography. This article analyzes the development of a new format of Franco-Algerian relations after Algeria had gained independence, putting it in the context of political, socio-economic, cultural and linguistic interaction between the two countries. The research topic seems relevant in connection with the sixtieth anniversary of the signing of the Évian Accords, which proclaimed the end of the war for the national liberation of Algeria (1954–1962). Once the agreements had been signed, the parties had to deal with the task of putting them into practice. Both states were faced with the challenge to build relations based on the principles of relative equality, political, economic and cultural cooperation. The difficulties that inevitably arose during the formation of the young Algerian state (acute lack of financial resources, limited technical capacities, lack of qualifi ed personnel) allowed France to strengthen its position in Algeria by providing economic and humanitarian assistance to the former colonial possession. Algeria, having been for a long time under the direct control of the French Republic, was not able to compete with the former metropolis, which was politically and economically strong. The article discusses the main directions and results of the policy of the French government towards the independent Algerian Republic within a short but critical period – March–December 1962. It is concluded that the Évian Accords became the basis for the formation of Franco-Algerian relations, and outlined the main vectors and criteria for interstate cooperation. Nevertheless, the practical implementing of these agreements showed that the plans outlined by France had failed. The neo-colonialist nature of French policy caused complications in cooperation with Algeria. In this regard, the leadership of the Fifth Republic was forced to respond quickly and revise its policy in this area, to develop new ways of building relations with Algeria for nearest future and in the long haul.

The article reconstructs the history of the unique Middle East Regional Cooperation Program (MERC) international aid program, initiated by U.S. authorities shortly after the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt that U.S. diplomats helped negotiate. This program, which was designed to promote regional peace through financing research collaboration between Israeli and Arab scholars, has been going on uninterruptedly for almost half a century. However, Russian scholars in both American and Middle Eastern Studies have never substantively examined the MERC Program, the few foreign authors interested in this initiative have limited themselves to reviewing its implementation in the 20th century. This article aims to fill this gap in the historiography of U.S. mediation in the Middle East by drawing on a set of sources that cover the period of eight U.S. presidents (from J. Carter to J. Biden), many of which are being introduced into scholarly circulation for the first time. Exploration of the origins of the MERC Program and the U.S. Congress documents allowed to identify the crucial role of the U.S. legislators in its launch and support during the last decade of the Cold War. An analysis of independent reports on the implementation of the program and the testimonies of American, Israeli and Arab scholars helped reveal the differences in assessments of the initiative and the contribution of “triangular” projects to the improvement of the regional climate. It was found that the 1991 Madrid Conference and the launch of the Oslo peace process in 1993 gave a new impetus to the development of the MERC Program. The improvement in the external situation led to the U.S. transition from the original mediation model to funding direct contacts between Israeli and Arab scholars, an emphasis on the involvement of Palestinians, and an increase in the number of projects and participants. However, the importance of the MERC Program has steadily declined throughout the 21st century. This resulted both from a shift in priorities due to the Global War on Terrorism and from the almost complete halt in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, which none of the last four U.S. administrations has been able to relaunch successfully.

The article addresses a poorly studied issue of the social signifi cance of some pieces of the Prussian warrior’s equipment on the eve of the Teutonic Order invasion in the Baltic Prussia. The comparative analysis of some elements of the military material culture of the inhabitants of the Amber Region makes it possible to draw the following conclusions. In the Merovingian period, Prussian masters creatively modified (rather simplifi ed) Western European elite products, focusing on the needs of the top Prussian warriors. At the end of the Viking Age, in a number of cases, local producers independently created prestigious and socially significant items for the Prussian military nobility. First of all, this refers to bronze spurs covered with silver and imitating gold. In the latter case, the find at the Birka burial site suggests that the Sambians imitated Scandinavian bronze spurs. In the fifth–eleventh centuries, Prussian jewelers and blacksmiths used socially significant products of Western craft smen as models for their elite products, but at the beginning of the Order time, local craftsmen directly copied elements of chivalric equipment. A pair of silver-plated spurs, originating from a ruined fourteenth-century Prussian inhumation and found in the layer of the Alt-Wehlau/Prudnoe burial ground, typologically copies the knight’s spurs. However, the stylized figurines of goats, mythical companions of God Perkuno, presented on these spurs, point to fact that these luxurious objects were commissioned by a Prussian aristocrat who went over to the side of the Teutonic Order and tried to imitate the Order knights in his armor. The same Prussian aristocrats also owned the “chivalric belts” mentioned in Order documents, which denoted the high social status of the emerging stratum of local feudal lords. Found in the inhumations of the Alt-Wehlau/Prudnoye burial ground, such belts were made following the example of the Order belts. However, though the cover plates of the Prussian belts, according to the Order tradition, bear the image of a cross pattée, the buckle shows a stylized image of the above-mentioned goat — the mythical companion of Perkuno. This specifi city of the products of the Prussian masters, which imitate the Order items, does not allow us to say that the set of equipment of the vitings was identical with the knights’ armor.

From the middle of the second century CE the relief scenery of theaters in Asia Minor — Nysa, Perge and Side — sees the appearance of a scene of the washing of the infant Dionysus by nymphs. The composition is characterized by consistent iconography. The inclusion of the scene in the composition of the narrative cycles, and the images of the figure of Hermes (in Nysa, Perge) and Zeus (in Side) depicted on neighboring plates make it possible to connect it with the myth of the birth of Dionysus from the thigh of Zeus and the upbringing of the god by the Nysean nymphs. Though the legend was well known, the first examples of the image of bathing the infant Dionysus only appear in Roman art at the turn of the first century BC — first century AD in the picturesque ornamentation and hoards from aristocratic houses of Rome and Campania, as well as in the relief decoration of sarcophagi. Scholarly literature has associated the appearance of this iconography with the establishment of the cult of Dionysus Hebon in Naples during the reign of Augustus. By the second century this scene had firmly established itself in the repertoire of the relief scenery of sarcophagi and decorative programs of theaters. The fourth century saw the appearance of its variations, where Dionysus was replaced by Achilles or Alexander the Great. The analysis of the artifacts points to the earlier origins of this scene, and this article attempts to investigate them. In addition, the authors uncover the reasons for referring to the plot in the context of the cultural environment of the Roman Empire, and identify the semantic aspects of the scene. As a result of the research, the authors have proposed a hypothesis about the Hellenistic prototypes of the image of the infant Dionysus and its connection with the concept of the onset of the “golden age” in Rome. The fusion of the images of the emperor and Dionysus, new aspects associated with the cult of nymphs, make it possible to interpret the bathing scene as a hint to the image of the “emperor-child”. In the context of culture and visual self-representation of the cities of Asia Minor, the presence of the bathing scene of Dionysus in decorative cycles among the plots of local legends, apparently, indicates the integration of local cults into the imperial mythologeme.