Всеобщая история

The article discusses the causes of the spread of the Magdeburg city law in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the 12th-18th centuries. It is concluded that at different stages of the historical development of some countries  and regions different factors which were determined by the peculiarities of their socio-economic and political systems were operating.

The article gives a detailed analysis of cosmological visions of Cosmas Indicopleustes, as reflected in his work «The Christian topography». In the context of the analysis of a new view of the world of Cosmas Indicopleustes the article reviews his visions about the shape of the Universe and the nature of flora and fauna of the countries that he had visited before he became a priest.

The article is an attempt to analyze the English type of Enlightenment, using the historical views of H. Walpole, an 18th century English intellectual. Horace Walpole was a typical dilettante with wide interests. His views on history and historians, as well as his own historical works demonstrate many peculiarities of the “enlightenmental” approach to history.

The author explores the problem of interaction between Napoleon and King Joseph in Spain on the basis of a wide range of published and unpublished sources such as memoirs, correspondence, reports. The article shows that Napoleon’s plan, whose goal was joining Spain to the Federal system was influenced by the growth of people’s movement that England helped and disappointment in the political course of the Spanish king. The studied sources allow to conclude that a clear division of brothers’ approaches on the line: reform and force is incorrect.

In the history of Eastern Europe during the Second World War the problem of German Minorities was of special importance, meanwhile the ideas of revisionism and irredentism were popular among them in the interwar years. In order to understand the nature of these phenomena this article presents an analysis of the claims of the Germans to the conditions of their life in the interwar Eastern Europe.

This article reveals the peculiarities of presenting the history of creation of the Order of the Brothers of the Sword in the oldest relic of Teutonic literary tradition – the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle. The article describes historical-political conditions prevailing in the early stages of peasant’s conquest of the South-East Baltics, mutual relations between the sword bearers and Livonian bishops.

In the article the question of position of English country towns in the sphere of economy and social relations is considered. Based on materials of the documents of York processes which occurred in trade and city craft, occurrence of new modes of production and attempt of the city authorities to keep medieval privileges are traced.

This article deals with one aspect of publishing activities of the Czech typographer of the 16th century Daniel Adam Veleslavin, in particular his publication of translated works on history. The author analyzes this produce, and also reveals the role of the publications in cultural life of the Czech Republic of the 16th century.

In this article the author studies the character of resistance of the colonial Virginia elite to the Acts of the British parliament which were passed after the end of the Seven Years’ War. The Virginians appeared to be the most united group among the colonial leaders.

This article explores the irretrievable losses of the French army during the Napoleonic wars through analysis of the service records of soldiers stored in the French military archive (SHD, Vincennes, 20 YC). This source allows to estimate military losses much more accurately than individual reports, which help to sum up these losses. During the study, service records of the main part of the Napoleonic army, without guards and foreign regiments were reviewed. This is about 8,431 people.