V.N. Balyazin is the author of historical stories and novels, which are based on genuine documents. Distinctive features of his works are clarity and simplicity of presentation of the material. Voldemar Nikolaevich worked for many years as a teacher of history and said:
“The history of Russia, like no other subject, has a strong effect on a person, the main thing is to use the material in an accessible form.”
Who is Voldemar Balyazin?
Vladimir Nikolaevich was born in March 1931 in the Far East, in the city of Ussuriysk. My father was a military man, he served in Koenigsberg. In October 1945, the future writer, his grandmother, mother and younger sister, also moved there. In Kaliningrad, Balyazin graduated from the Pedagogical Institute, in 1960 he entered the Faculty of History of Moscow State University and defended his thesis.
In 1954, after a pedagogical institute, he worked at the museum for five years and began research. Then he began to publish. Then he taught history in high school, headed the historical department at the Magadan Pedagogical Institute, and was the leading editor at the TSB publishing house. He died in 2005.
What was he writing about?
Voldemar Balyazin was one of the first to study local history in the Kaliningrad region. His first works were devoted to this topic: Monuments of Glory (1959) and Sturm of Koenigsberg (1964). The following books also mention Koenigsberg, who became the writer’s second homeland, a city that he fell in love with at first sight and began to study East Prussia.
In 1976, the adventure story “Dear Gods” was published about the Hungarian baron Moritz Benevsky, a famous adventurer and traveler. He traveled all over Europe, escaped from Siberian exile and became king of Madagascar, and the legendary treasures of Count Benevsky have not yet been found.
Peru V.N. Balyazin owns wonderful books about Russian commanders:
- “Field Marshal Barclay.” In 1990 and 1992, 2 books were published on the life and work of the illustrious military leader; in 1998, the historical novel “Faithfulness and Patience” was published.
- “Mikhail Kutuzov”. The book was published in 1991, two stories in it tell about the stay of the great commander in Koenigsberg and about his granddaughter Countess Tiesenhausen.
“Prussian Chronicles”
In 1992, the book “Conspiracy in the Vatican” was published. The annotation to the novel indicates that the book was written by an unknown mystifier of the 17th century, Wolf de Mar. V.N.Balyazin is indicated as a commentator and translator. In fact, there was no seer. It’s easy to guess that under the name of Wolf de Mar “is hiding” none other than Voldemar Balyazin.
As the writer himself said, the “infallibility” of the Secretaries-General, members of the Politburo, the KGB, and the popes made me think of writing a satirical novel. An attentive reader will easily notice that against the background of religion “in the palaces of European rulers”, “in a papal prison”, “in the forests of Paraguay” Lenin, Stalin and their entourage are visible.
Voldemar Balyazin did not even hope that the seditious novel would be published, but in 1992 the first print run of 50,000 copies was released. True, it was distributed along the outskirts of the country; not a single book was on sale in the capital.
In 1990, the novel “The Throne Hunter” was released. The writer dedicated the book to his father, a participant in the assault on Koenigsberg, and transferred the entire fee to the fund for the construction of houses for orphans. The novel is based on genuine historical documents discovered by V.N. Balyazin in the archives of the library of the General Staff.
The city beloved by the writer is also mentioned in the book “Moscow Mayors,” published on the 850th anniversary of Moscow in 1997. Two years later, Autocrats and the Wisdom of the World come out. The first tells about the royal court, Koenigsberg appears as a city, which is associated with important events that took place in Russia. The second book contains biographies of 300 great people, including E. Kant and I. Herder, professors at the University of Koenigsberg.
“Unofficial Story”
The next series of books is devoted to Russian history, the study of which Voldemar Balyazin devoted many years. His books are attractive in that you can find in them information that is not in every textbook. The works are written in an accessible language, therefore they are interesting not only for adults, but also for schoolchildren.
A fascinating reading, which from the first lines plunges into the atmosphere of that time: intrigues, conspiracies, provocations that made history. The author refers to chronicles, historical documents, letters, memoirs of participants in events, folklore6 sayings, proverbs, epics.
The series opens with the history of Ancient Russia. The books “Eastern Slavs and the invasion of Batu”, “Horde yoke and the formation of Russia” describe in detail the events of those years, life, crafts, rites of the Eastern Slavs. All Russian princes, the conquest of Russia by the Mongols and the formation of the Russian state are mentioned.
The following books of the cycle tell about the rulers of Russia, about their characters and deeds, about relationships in the family. “Ivan the Terrible and the accession of the Romanovs” tells of the great trials that befell Russia, from the childhood of Grozny up to the Romanovs, the author step by step reveals the events that shocked the very foundation of the state.
“The Beginning of the Petrine Era” and “Peter the Great” - both books of Balyazin Voldemar Nikolaevich tell about the last tsar and the first emperor of all Russia. The first book tells about his youth, the struggle for power with his sister Sophia. The second is about transformations and radical changes within the country and in society, about the Northern War and Russia's foreign policy.
The work “From Catherine I to Catherine II” tells of an era when people came to power through palace coups and intrigues. The “Golden Age of Catherine the Great” will reveal to the reader many interesting facts from the life of the great empress and the people who surrounded her. The book “The Age of Paul I” tells of her son and the years of his reign.
“Russia against Napoleon” - in detail about the war of 1812, about generals and privates, about the battles and exploits of the Russian people. What happened in Russia after the war with Napoleon is described in The Secret Life of Alexander I, but the emperor is in the center of the story, it tells about the last years of his life and mysterious death.
In the book “Father and Son. Nicholas I - Alexander II ”describes the life of emperors, important reforms that were carried out during their reign. “The end of the 19th century. Power and people ”continues to talk about the reign of Alexander II, Alexander III and the youth of Nicholas II. The years of his reign are narrated by The Last Emperor, the fall of the Romanov dynasty, the events of 1914-1917 are described in the book The Collapse of the Great Empire.
“Unofficial History” is a wonderful series from which the reader not only learns about the detailed history of Russia, but also gets acquainted with prominent political figures of those years, writers and scholars whose works and actions have influenced society. And although the word “unofficial” does not bother the reader, it means that Balyazin Voldemar Nikolaevich, telling about the events of those years, relied not only on historical documents, but also on the letters of those in question, on the diaries and memoirs of contemporaries.