The foreign policy of Russia in 1917: From the conflict around political slogans to the disputes in historio­graphy and the conflict sources

T.M. Bohn a*, S.Yu. Malysheva b**, A.A. Salnikova b***

a Justus Liebig University, Giessen, 35390 Germany

b Kazan Federal University, Kazan, 420008 Russia

E-mail: *Thomas.Bohn@geschichte.uni-giessen.de, **Svetlana.Malysheva@kpfu.ru, ***Alla.Salnikova@kpfu.ru

Received March 2, 2019

Full text PDF

DOI: 10.26907/2541-7738.2019.2-3.208-222

For citation: Bohn T.M., Malysheva S.Yu., Salnikova A.A. The foreign policy of Russia in 1917: From the conflict around political slogans to the disputes in historiography and the conflict sources. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2019, vol. 161, no. 2–3, pp. 208–222. doi: 10.26907/2541-7738.2019.2-3.208-222. (In Russian)

Abstract

The problems of peace and war and foreign policy in general became the main issues in the development of the situation and in the fate of the government in Russia in 1917. The confrontation on foreign policy issues within the Provisional Government and with the Petrograd Council moved from the reality to the historiographic level. The paper defines the main stages in the study of this problem in the Soviet and post-Soviet historiography, shows the specifics of each of these stages. Special attention was paid to the period of 1960s–1980s, the time of acute discussions, during which a number of odious historiographical clichés (about the “imperialist”, “anti-national” nature of the foreign policy of the Provisional Government, its dependence on the Anglo-French capital, etc.) were rejected, flexibility and independence of the foreign policy of the Provisional Government were shown, its focus on defending the interests of Russia was revealed. The influence of historiographical discussions on the development and modernization of Soviet historiography, on the creation of assumptions for qualitatively new research approaches that emerged at present was investigated. One of the most pressing problems in the history of Russia's foreign policy in 1917 – the problem of “conflict” of information contained in sources of different types and different origins – was examined in detail. The specificity of source basis formation for the problem was traced. The reasons for gaps in the sources were identified, and ways to overcome them were demonstrated.

Keywords: Revolution of 1917, Provisional Government, foreign policy, historiography, historiographic discussions, historical sources, conflictogenic source information

References

  1. Malysheva S.Yu. Rossiiskoe Vremennoe pravitel'stvo 1917 goda. Otechestvennaya istoriografiya 20-kh – serediny 60-kh godov [Russian Provisional Government of 1917. Russian Historiography in the 1920s – Middle of 1960s]. Kazan, Kheter, 1999. 168 p. (In Russian)
  2. Rubinstein N. Kerensky's foreign policy. In: Pokrovskii M.N. (Ed.) Ocherki po istorii Oktyabr'skoi revolyutsii: raboty istoricheskogo seminariya instituta Krasnoi professury [Essays on the History of the October Revolution: The Works of the Historical Seminary of the Institute of the Red Professors]. Vol. 2. Moscow, Leningrad, Gos. Izd., 1927, pp. 347–452. (In Russian)
  3. Pokrovskii M.N. Imperialisticheskaya voina [Imperialist War]. Moscow, Sotsekgiz, 1934. 448 p. (In Russian)
  4. Rubinstein N. Vneshnyaya politika Vremennogo pravitel'stva [Foreign Policy of the Provisional Government]. Moscow, Tip. Vyssh. Part. Shkoly pri TsK VKP(b), 1946. 63 p. (In Russian)
  5. Seleznev G.K. Ten' dollar nad Rossiei. Iz istorii amerikano-russkikh otnoshenii [Dollar's Shadow over Russia. From the History of American-Russian Relations]. Moscow, Voenizdat, 1957. 205 p. (In Russian)
  6. Lebedev V.V. Russko-amerikanskie otnosheniya (1900–1917 gg.) [Russian-American Economic Relations (1900–1917)]. Moscow, Mezhdunar. Otn., 1964. 379 p. (In Russian)
  7. Ioffe A.E. Russko-frantsuzskie otnosheniya v 1917 g. (fevral'–oktyabr') [Russian-French Relations in 1917 (February–October)]. Moscow, Gospolitizdat, 1958. 356 p. (In Russian)
  8. Malysheva S.Yu. Vremennoe pravitel'stvo Rossii. Sovremennaya otechestvennaya istoriografiya [Russian Provisional Government. Modern Russian Historiography]. Kazan, Kheter, 2000. 208 p. (In Russian)
  9. Ganelin R.Sh. Rossiya i SShA. 1914–1917. Ocherki istorii russko-amerikanskikh otnoshenii [Russia and the United States. 1914–1917. Essays on the History of Russian-American Relations]. Leningrad, Nauka, 1969. 423 p. (In Russian)
  10. Ignat'ev A.V. Russko-angliiskie otnosheniya nakanune Oktyabr'skoi revolyutsii (fevral' – oktyabr' 1917) [Russian-English Relations on the Eve of the October Revolution (February–October 1917)]. Moscow, Nauka, 1966. 400 p. (In Russian)
  11. Kirova K.E. Russkaya revolyutsiya i Italiya: mart – oktyabr' 1917 [Russian Revolution and Italy: March – October, 1917]. Moscow, Nauka, 1968. 322 p. (In Russian)
  12. Vasyukov V.S. Vneshnyaya politika Vremennogo pravitel'stva [The Foreign Policy of the Provisional Government]. Moscow, Mysl', 1966. 487 p. (In Russian)
  13. Ignat'ev A.V. Vneshnyaya politika Vremennogo pravitel'stva [The Foreign Policy of the Provisional Government]. Moscow, Nauka, 1974. 440 p. (In Russian)
  14. Ignat'ev A.V. Bankruptcy of the foreign policy of the Provisional Government. Voprosy Istorii, 1967, no. 3, pp. 3–16. (In Russian)
  15. Vasyukov V.S. Predystoriya interventsii. Fevral' 1917 – mart 1918 [Prehistory of the Intervention. February, 1917 – March, 1918]. Moscow, Politizdat, 1968. 296 p. (In Russian)
  16. Vasyukov V.S. On the historiography of the Russian foreign policy during the years of the First World War (1914–1917). In: Pervaya mirovaya voina: diskussionnye problemy istorii [First World War. Disputable Problems of History]. Moscow, Nauka, 1994, pp. 13–22. (In Russian)
  17. Istoriya vneshnei politiki Rossii (konets XV v. – 1917) [The History of Russian Foreign Policy (Late 15th Century – 1917)]. Vol. 5: Late 19th – early 20th centuries (from the Franco-Russian Alliance to the October Revolution). Moscow, Mezhdunar. Otn., 1997. 672 p. (In Russian)
  18. Polikarpov V.V. A“new direction” of the 1950s–1970s: The last discussion of the Soviet historians. In: Sovetskaya istoriografiya [Soviet Historiography]. Moscow, RGGU, 1996, pp. 349–400. (In Russian)
  19. Shelokhaev V.V. Liberal'naya model' pereustroistva Rosii [A Liberal Model of Russia's Transformation]. Moscow, ROSSPEN, 1996. 280 p. (In Russian)
  20. Voronkova I.E. Foreign policy doctrine of the Constitutional Democratic Party. Extended Abstract of Doct. Hist. Sci. Diss. Moscow, 2010. 50 p. (In Russian)
  21. Seleznev F.A. Revolyutsiya 1917 goda i bor'ba elit vokrug voprosa o separatnom mire s Germaniei (1914–1918 gg.) [The Revolution of 1917 and the Struggle of the Elites around the Separate Peace with Germany (1914–1918)]. St. Petersburg, Aleteiya, 2017. 180 p. (In Russian)
  22. Shapovalov M.S. “Palestinian legacy” in Provisional Government's policy (March–April, 1917). Noveishaya Istoriya Rossii, 2017, no. 2(19), pp. 19–32. (In Russian)
  23. Novikova I.N. From autonomy to independence: The Provisional Government and Finland in 1917. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo Universiteta. Politologiya. Mezhdunarodnye Otnosheniya, 2018, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 107–127. (In Russian)
  24. Miliukov P. Political Memoirs, 1905–1917. Ann Arbor, Univ. of Mich. Press, 1967. 508 p.
  25. Bohn T. Note der Provisorischen Regierung an die Regierungen der alliierten Mächte [“Miljukov-Note”], 18. April (1. Mai) 1917. In: 100(0) Schlüsseldokumente zur russischen und sowjetischen Geschichte. Available at: http://www.1000dokumente.de/index.html?c=dokument_ru&dokument= 0004_mil&object=context&l=de. (In German)
  26. Sal'nikova A.A. The reality of the conflict in the conflict of texts: Sources of Russian history in the 20th century. In: Sotsial'nyi konflikt v razlichnykh normativno-semioticheskikh sistemakh [Social Conflict in Various Normative Semiotic Systems]. Kazan, Kazan. Univ., 2012, pp. 277–286. (In Russian)

The content is available under the license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.