The fate of the Papal States during the unification of Italy is of particular scientific interest. Despite the economic backwardness of the state, which was aggravated during the years of the Restoration, the papacy sought to maintain its influence in Italian and European politics. The traditions of the theocratic state management absorbed much from the practice of governing the Catholic Church, which led to the formation of a special political culture. Due to this, the political practice of the Papal States in the first half of the 19th century combined extremely retrograde elements and ideological innovation in an original way, which made it possible to use the potential of the Catholic doctrine and maintain a leading political role in the Appenines. The early 1840s saw the crystallization of the doctrine of neo-Guelphism, which believed that the papacy was destined for a special mission in the political revival and unification of Italy. This doctrine evoked a wide response throughout the entire Apennines and beyond. The purpose of this article is to analyse the political and administrative practices of the papacy, the uniqueness of its political culture and social climate. The Papal States are characterized by a complex combination of secular and ecclesiastical methods of influencing society. Ideas about the political role of the papal state and its immediate prospects were often formed not so much around its objective potential as by centuries-old belief in the fundamental differences between the nature of this state and the nature of its Italian neighbours. The innovative course taken by the newly elected Pope Pius IX in 1846–1847 seriously undermined this conviction, but did not alienate the model of the political evolution of the Papal States from the fate of some other Italian states. Identification of the features of the political culture of the Papal States is possible only by studying a range of specific sources. The article deals with the basic official, religious and secular, documents of the Curia, and the evidence left by the publicist and fictional literature of the era. The results of the study will allow a better understanding of the condition of the papal state on the eve of the 1848 revolution, as well as the reasons for the subsequent conservative turn.

Peasant ethics was the basis for the relationship of peasants in the community, while its norms were largely determined by the patriarchal traditions and the religious stance of its members. Based on the sentences of the volost courts in the Smolensk province in the second half of the 19th century, the article shows the influence of peasant ethics and the related legal customs on the administration of justice in a peasant estate volost. Before the abolition of serfdom, labour, financial and land relations in the community were regulated by legal customs. That is why, aft er 1861, the volost courts, which consisted mostly of illiterate peasants who did not know general civil law, were guided by legal customs. The characteristic features of the volost court were the absence of bureaucratic procedures and the simplicity of paperwork. Litigation often ended with the reconciliation of the parties, since within the framework of the religious worldview of the peasants, the peaceful settlement of disputes and disagreements was considered a deed which was pleasing to God. The majority of litigation cases in the books of verdicts of the volost courts concerned the non-fulfilment of debt and labour obligations by peasants. Peasants who did not fulfil their obligations had a bad reputation in the community. For such offenses, the volost courts usually punished the culprits with a monetary penalty. Theft was a rare type of offense in the practice of peasant estate courts. The peasants knew one another well, and often experienced distress due to the lack of land and crop failures. Under these circumstances, the attitude of the community members to theft was extremely negative. The materials of the volost courts verdicts also show the evolution of the attitude of peasants to corporal punishment, which in the last quarter of the 19th century increasingly met a negative reaction. Such dynamics indicates a change in the consciousness of the peasants, and the awakening in them a sense of dignity. Punishment with rods in the community began to be considered an unacceptable measure that humiliates the peasant. Peasant ethics had a significant impact on the legal practice of volost courts, since peasants in the post-reform period continued to live according to legal customs, unlike other classes of pre-revolutionary Russia.

Political prisoners’ suicide in Schlisselburg and other prisons in Tsarist Russia was not uncommon. The opinion that Mikhail Grachevsky attempted to force mitigation of the prison regime and sacrificed himself for the sake of his fellow inmates is generally accepted. While analyzing Grachevsky’s path to the revolution and his personal qualities, the article examines the real reason for his suicide. Soon after his first arrest Grachevsky joined the Narodniks, led propaganda among the workers, for which he was arrested. Three years of solitary confinement, participation in the trial of 193 (1877–1878) formed him as a revolutionary. He was sent into exile to Kholmogory (Arkhangelsk province) and escaped, then joined the revolutionary organization Narodnaya Volya and became a member of its Executive Committee. Numerous arrests of his colleagues in 1881 put him at the forefront of the organization. By the time of his arrest on 5 June 1882 Grachevsky was one of the most experienced revolutionaries, who participated in several terrorist attacks, worked in underground printers and led propaganda in provinces. Not surprisingly, such responsible, dangerous activity had exhausted his nervous system. The future promised only arrest and the gallows, and Grachevsky expected nothing else for himself. He was also tormented by guilt, because he carelessly led the police to the safe apartment where many members of Narodnaya Volya were arrested. He took the most blame and was sentenced to life imprisonment in the trial of 17 (1883). Grachevsky ended up in a prison cell at Schlisselburg, where he committed suicide three years later. The author examines Grachevsky’s medical case as revealed by the official reports of the doctor and jail warden and the memoirs of Schlisselburg’s prisoners and argues that he lost his mind due to harsh imprisonment conditions

The industrial boom in Russia in the late 19th century was not least owed to the economic opportunities in Turkestan, which became the basis for the development of cotton production in the empire. From the very beginning, private capital became interested in the potential benefi ts of the economic exploitation of Central Asia. The leading role in this process had to be played by land irrigation and the development of transport infrastructure in the region, which ensured an uninterrupted supply of raw material to the processing plants in the European part of Russia. Public funds were not enough for the purpose, and public opinion asked the question: could substantial private capital be attracted to Turkestan for common advantage, and what should be done? The subject of this research is public discussion in the periodicals on the attraction of private capital to the Turkestan region from the late 1880s through the early 1910s. The analysis reveals the most controversial aspects of the discussion. The author concludes that public thought, both liberal and conservative, was dominated by the idea that funds from private enterprises should be used in Turkestan. Its criticism was rather an exception, characteristic of reactionaries and conservatives who feared the interference of foreign (especially Jewish) capital. At the same time, some authors urged reliance on small and medium-sized capital, which they saw as more flexible, while big capital was regarded not only as a way to quickly resolve the problem of lack of funds, but also as a threat to the principles of public water management. For the first time, the article deals with the public discussion of the role of private capital both in Turkestan periodicals and in the central press. A number of previously unused publications of diff erent political orientation are employed.

After the defeat in World War I Bulgaria was forcibly demilitarized within the new Versailles system of world order. The disarmament and the destruction of surplus arms and ammunition were closely monitored by delegates of the Inter-Allied Military Control Commission of the victorious countries. However, the remaining small arms served as the basis for many processes and events during the interwar period in Bulgaria. Among them are the September 1918 uprising, the chain of political assassinations, the armed struggle of the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, the June 1923 military coup d’état, the September 1923 armed uprising. To date, historians have not reached a consensus on the quantity of small arms withdrawn from legal circulation. Moreover, the total number of weapons in the possession of the Bulgarian army at the end of World War I has not even been clarified. However, these questions seem important for assessing the significance of the armed struggle in the internal political history of both Bulgaria and the Balkan region. This article examines the process of concealment of small arms and weapons of the Bulgarian army against the background of latent and obvious confrontation between the new political power, represented by the leaders of the Bulgarian Agrarian People’s Union and the military authority. Previously unexploited sources have enabled to study in detail the ways the weapons had been hidden from the international commission’s control. The quantitative assessment of the weapons which were taken out of legal circulation is based on the analysis of the available data and sheds a new light on such aspects of the interwar crisis as the involvement of the Bulgarian army in concealing small arms and special military equipment, the ways of weapons acquisition by opposition forces, and the revival of the country’s military power aft er the inter-allied military control ended. The author also questions the opinion which has been accepted in historiography about the organization of large-scale arms smuggling by the Soviet Russian government to the Bulgarian Communist Party in August–September 1923.

The period of Russian emigrants’ presence in Harbin in the 1920s–1940s is divided into three stages. The first stage is the time from the October Revolution to the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the Soviet Union. The second stage encompasses the period from the mutual recognition of each other by the Republic of China and the USSR until the Mukden incident on 18 September 1931. The third stage lasted from the beginning of the Japanese occupation of North-Eastern China until the end of World War II. The number of Russian emigrants in Harbin was signifi cant. Despite the fact that, in the period between the two world wars, China did not easily build its relations with other countries, Russian emigrants, brought up in the traditions of Western secular education and traditional Orthodoxy equally alien to the Chinese, managed not only to maintain their cultural identity, but also to develop steadfastly in its context. This development took diff erent directions. The business of the “Russian Harbin” remained buzzing. The entrepreneurs resident there tried not only to maintain, but also to increase their presence in the Chinese and, more broadly, in the world economy. The cultural life of emigrants was also at a high level, and the traditions of the Russian Silver Age were continued. New literary works were created and societies appeared that united representatives of creative professions. Harbin became the centre of musical education, not only for Russian emigrants, but also for the local population. Many well-known Chinese performers and musicians were educated in the music education institutions of the “Russian Harbin”. The city was embellished with civil and religious buildings erected by Russian architects. The sphere of education was represented by educational institutions of all levels. Publishing activity did not stop — Russian periodicals were printed in Harbin, books were published, including memoirs of participants in the White movement, and there was an extensive network of libraries. The well-organized cultural life of the “Russian Harbin” contributed to the fact that Russian emigrants preserved their national identity.

On 31 August 2016, the president of Brazil Dilma Rousseff , who took office in 2011 and again in 2014, was impeached. Given that between 2003 and 2010 Brazil was led by the representative of the left -wing Workers’ Party Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who pursued social reforms, and the policies of Rousseff ’s successors, Michel Temer and Jair Bolsonaro, had a distinctly right-wing pro-American orientation, one can argue that the impeachment was not only a watershed moment in Brazilian domestic politics, but also marked a broader neoconservative trend of regional significance in the second half of the 2010s. This article examines what factors led to the early resignation of the president. The end of the “golden decade” between 2003 and 2012 with high commodity prices had a critical impact on Brazilian life. In this context, the author studies the reasons for the sharp deterioration of economic conditions and the exacerbation of social tensions in the country in 2013 and 2014 and attempts to determine what was the catalyst for mass protests in Brazil a few years before D. Rousseff ’s impeachment, and how the opposition strengthened during this period (the election campaign for D. Rousseff ’s second term was marked by fierce struggle). The article explains the reasons for budget deficit in Brazil, which led to curtailment of state support programs, increase of social tension, intensification of political struggle and weakening of the ruling party. Attention is given to personal ambitions of former allies of the ousted president who sought to preserve their careers amidst numerous anti-corruption investigations. The author concludes that the preconditions for the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff were formed long before, and many accusations against the former president were not sufficiently justified by her political opponents

Chinese social networks provide vast information, which have not been enough studied. Chinese citizens can and do express themselves relatively freely in such networks and openly criticize the authorities. In this regard, the opinions of Chinese people in social media are quite representative and reflect a wide range of views on various issues. This article examines Chinese attitudes towards African migrants in Chinese social networks. This issue is covered in part in the foreign and national literature and requires a more thorough study. The author has carried out a considerable amount of work to find publications related to this topic. Keyword searches as well as external links were used as a methodological tool. The author concludes that the vast majority of Chinese posts and comments on African migrants are extremely negative, sometimes hostile toward them, and the few exceptions only confirm this rule. They are almost always blamed for uncivilized manners, lack of respect for Chinese traditions, mistreatment of women, increased propensity to commit crimes, and for the fact that the government spends unjustifiably large amounts of money on them. There are fears that China may lose its cultural and national identity because of migrants. The author, alien both to the racist thoughts of individual Chinese bloggers and indiscriminately accusing Chinese society as a whole of racism, avoids bias or prejudice. The article merely states the fact that the overwhelming majority of Chinese social media postings on African migrants are negative, although there are a steady number of examples of opposing views and assessments.

The article characterizes the main stages of the formation and development of the Russian first special department of source study, which was established at the Faculty of History of the Lomonosov Moscow State University in September 1952. It was a beginning of a new stage in the study and teaching of special (auxiliary) historical subjects, which are a prerequisite for the professional training of historians. The authors reveal the decisive contribution of the Academy members Mikhail Nikolayevich Tikhomirov and Ivan Dmitrievich Koval’chenko, the heads of the Department, to the determination of goals and direction of its work, to the creation and development of the ideas of the programs for students of source studies, historiography, historical research methods, to the formation of the teaching staff and researchers, and to achieving significant advances in teaching and research activities. The article examines the history of the Department of Source Studies as one of the leading scientific and methodological centers. The authors highlight its contribution to the development of historical research and overview the educational and research activities of the Department during seven decades of its existence. They examine the experience of solving historical problems while developing teaching courses, educational curriculum and programs, methodical and teaching aids for students of the Faculty of History in general, and particularly of its Departments of Source Studies. The main recent directions of the departmental staff ’s research and lecturing are listed. Particular attention is paid to scientific readings in honor of colleagues and teachers, prominent professors, who established the traditions, which are preserved, maintained and developed today at the Department of Source Studies

The subject covered in the article is part of a broader issue, namely the dialogue of cultures that was a widespread and vibrant phenomenon in the 18th-century Europe. This is one of the aspects of intercultural communication — the interchange of artistic personnel between countries. The “itinerant” or “migratory” type of artist that emerged during this period played a pivotal role in this phenomenon. Since the turn of the century, the practice of inviting French masters, painters, sculptors and architects to European monarchs’ courts had been extensively cultivated. The French tradition begins to actively influence the formation of artistic policy in many European states. In order to understand the development of Russian art in the 18th century, it is important to identify and determine the reasons for the emergence of this phenomenon and for its existence in both the pan-European and Russian cultural space. The author focuses his attention mostly on the career of one of the representatives of the phenomenon in question — Jean-Louis Develly (1730–1804?), a French master who came to Russia about 1754. By studying creative biographies of migrant artists who influenced the general picture of Russian art in the second half of the century, we can gain a better understanding of this phenomenon. We can speak of the emergence of a particular “itinerant painter’s method”. This synthetic artistic method is a fusion of the heritage of the national school where the master grew up and the artistic traditions of the countries he visited. In this context, the figure of J.-L. Develly is very significant. Communicating with Russian clients, pupils and established artists, representatives of the national art school, the French master actively promoted intercultural contacts. The artist’s biography provides interesting material that allows us to trace the main ways of interaction between artistic traditions of Russia and France.