Всеобщая история и международные отношения

The article examines the problem of the ideological and policy influence of the Church on colonial politics and the establishment of equality during the 1789 Revolution, based on the material of the Parliamentary Archives, memoirs of contemporaries and an extensive body of scientific literature.

The article examines the importance of the religious factor in the life of the poet. The anti-Catholic politics of England is seen as the historical context that influenced Pope’s life and personality. Alexander Pope appears as a man who was able to use his extremely unprofitable religious affiliation in forming a career as a professional writer. The author examines the function of Catholicism, the combination of deism, concepts of natural religion, and Christian ideas in Pope’s enlightenment consciousness.

Being founded upon the book «Instructions on religious and secular images» (1582), the article examines cardinal Gabriele Paleotti’s views on sacred art. The author explores the issue of perception of painting as a God-pleasing art, exposes the ideological aspect of sacred painting and reveals the cardinal’s complex evidence base on the need for the existence of religious images in churches and their significance in the life of every person.

 The article is devoted to the study of images of Royal power that were used by the last Valois dynasty’s representatives, reflecting the transformations that occurred in connection with the attempt to strengthen the Royal authority with intensification of secular power and gaining spiritual power.

The article is devoted to the religious pursuit of Marguerite of Angouleme. Analyzing the creative legacy of the Duchess, her extensive correspondence with representatives of the reformation movement, the author convincingly proves that, despite the fact that Marguerite was the patroness of the reformation movement in France, and she was described as having religious and ethical searches characteristic of many representatives of the Renaissance era, she did not completely break with the Catholic faith, remaining a transitional figure in spiritual terms.

The article reveals the nature and features of the relationship between the Livonian Order and the Archbishops of Riga during the Livonian Reformation, in 1521–1558, and reveals their attitude towards the spread of Lutheranism, the influence of the reformation processes on the political life of Livonia. It also examines the legal, political and ideological reasons and prerequisites of the Livonian Master Wolter von Plettenberg historical choice.

The article discusses the main trends in US public diplomacy in India under Barack Obama. The Obama presidency was characterized by “Pivot to Asia”. India took one of the dominant positions in Obama’s Asian strategy. Furthermore, public diplomacy became the leading strategy tool. Particular attention is paid to the evolution of public diplomacy concepts. Two areas prevailed in public diplomacy in India – educational programs and the “women’s issue”. Washington also launched programs to increase literacy and access to technology.

The article draws attention to the extraordinary, by African standards, respect in Eritrea for the soldiers of the Italian colonial troops, the Ascari, and even for some of their Italian officers, such as Amedeo Guillet. The author reveals the reason for this respect, which was not present in another former Italian colony Libya.

The article shows the Anglo-French confrontation on the Iberian Peninsula as an important stage of the Second Hundred years’ War. The example of remote action of the British expeditionary force demonstrates the «English style» of war: the operation of army troops with the active support of the Royal Navy. The author comes to the conclusion that the Pyrenean wars of the beginning of the XIX century have a certain significance in the system of Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.

The article deals with the origin of ideological prerequisites of Puritanism as a trend in the Church of England which appeared in the course of Reformation. The author traces penetration of Reformation ideas to England from European continent before the beginning of King’s Reformation by Henry VIII (1509–1547) in 1534 and shows the beginnings of English religious emigration on the Continent from 1520s which was formed by Englishmen who were adherents of continental Reformed churches.