The great Russian and American scientist Georgy Vladimirovich Vernadsky left a noticeable mark in historical science. His works forced to take a fresh look at some periods of Russian history. He made a particularly large contribution to the study of the influence of the East on the development of Russian statehood.
early years
In St. Petersburg, on August 20, 1887, a son was born in the family of the outstanding scientist Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky. Doctors were seriously afraid for the life of the mother and the child - the birth was difficult. But nothing happened, the boy was born strong and healthy. George, he was named after his grandfather-senator, grew up an intelligent and inquisitive child. Having received home education, he studied well at the gymnasium, paying special attention to history.
His favorite subject was taught by Yakov Lazarevich Barskov, a student of the famous scientist Klyuchevsky. The teacher sought from the gymnasium students not only excellent knowledge of the subject, but also taught to think informally, to understand the essence of historical processes. Vladimir Ivanovich, having noticed his son’s love for history, encouraged and promoted the development of a penchant for this branch of knowledge. Naturally, after graduating from high school, George Vernadsky had no doubts in choosing a profession.
History teaching
In 1905 he entered the historical and philological faculty of Moscow University. It was not a very good year to study, Moscow was embraced by protests. At the university, classes were extremely irregular, due to the fact that students who sympathized with revolutionary ideas broke off with speeches. On the advice of his father, George Vernadsky leaves for Germany, where he continues his education at the University of Freiburg and Berlin.
After the defeat of the revolution and the normalization of the situation in the country, in the fall of 1906, he returned to Moscow, where he again began to study at the university. His teachers were outstanding scientists V.O. Klyuchevsky, A.A. Kizevetter, Yu.V. Gauthier, representatives of the Moscow historical school. He carefully studied George Vernadsky and the works of the leader of St. Petersburg S.F. Platonov. Like most representatives of the liberal intelligentsia, he understood the need for reform, but was against the revolution. Georgy joined the cadet party and delivered lectures on Russian history in Dorogomilov as a worker. He is increasingly attracted to his academic career. After graduating from university in 1910, decides to do historical research.
First steps
He was not able to stay at Moscow University, so he decides to start independent research. The first scientific work of George Vernadsky on the history of Russia was the study of Russian settlement of Siberia. He published three articles, but could not defend his dissertation. By this time, his beloved teachers had left the university, and Vladimir Ivanovich also left for St. Petersburg.
He moves to the capital, where S. F. Platonov agrees to become his supervisor. Remoteness from archives forces to change the topic of the dissertation. On the advice of his high school history teacher, whom he met in St. Petersburg, Georgy Vernadsky decides to study the history of Russian Freemasonry of the 18th century. In 1914, after tests, he was accepted to the post of privat-docent of the capital's university and receives permission to teach Russian history. By 1917, a thesis was prepared, and in May his research “Russian Freemasonry in the Reign of Catherine II” was published.
Revolutionary years
With the patronage of his supervisor, Georgy Vladimirovich Vernadsky receives a professorship in Omsk. However, on the way to the place of work, he gets stuck in Perm due to a strike on the railway. I liked the city, and he agreed to the offer to teach at a local university. Having gone for a few days to defend his dissertation in Petersburg, on October 25 he returned to Perm, where he learned about the Bolshevik coup.
Soviet power was established in the city in January 1918. Friends warned of impending arrest and Vernadsky moved to Ukraine. With the assistance of Vladimir Ivanovich, he got a job as a professor at Tauride University and moved to Simferopol. In addition to teaching, George Vernadsky is engaged in research of documents on the activities of Grigory Potemkin, publishes articles about this period of Russian history. In September 1920, he joined the Wrangel Government, taking the post of head of the press department.
The first years of emigration
At the end of October 1920, George Vernadsky, together with the Russian army, was evacuated to Constantinople. Then he moved to Athens, where he worked a lot with the Greek archives, in 1922 he received the post of professor at Charles University in Prague. Here he gets acquainted with the Eurasian ideas of P. N. Savitsky and other Russian thinkers, developing the idea of the relationship of Slavic, steppe and Byzantine cultures.
The development of this theory is reflected in George Vernadsky’s book “The Inscription of Russian History”, published in 1927 in Russian in Prague. He recognized Russia as a Eurasian country with its own special cultural and historical world. The past was seen as a struggle and a merger of the “steppe” (settled Slavs) and the “forest” (nomads). For example, during the time of the Mongol yoke, the “steppe” defeated, then the “forest” defeated during the time of the Principality of Moscow and ended with their unification.
Subsequent years
In 1927, he moved to the United States, where he teaches Russian history at Yale University. In the same year, the book of Grigory Vladimirovich Vernadsky's “History of Russia”, written by order of the university, was published. The textbook has been translated and published in all European countries, as well as in Argentina and Japan. In 1933, the book “Lenin. Red Dictator ”, commissioned by the Hoover Institute.
The main direction of his research is the development of the idea of the influence of natural and social factors on Russian history. The main work of Georgy Vladimirovich Vernadsky “History of Russia” in five volumes was published between 1943 and 1968. At Yale, he worked until retiring in 1956.