Klyuchevsky’s work “A Course in Russian History” is a scientific classic that is still being published by both print and electronic publishers. The scientific contribution made by the scientist to the history of Russia is difficult to overestimate.
The “course of Russian history” is the most comprehensive study and presentation of political and economic facts from the history of the Russian state. Klyuchevsky is an outstanding and outstanding person, a professor in the history department of Moscow University and a person with an active civic position. His scientific works are distinguished by a clear structure, logic, and strict correspondence to facts.
Who is Klyuchevsky
Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky is a famous Russian historian, scientist, professor at Moscow University, as well as an academician of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg. He was born on January 28 in 1841.
Klyuchevsky is the author of numerous scientific works on the history of Russia, where he analyzes events and sheds light on entire eras.
Childhood and youth
A scientist was born in 1841 in the Penza province. His homeland is the village of Voznesenskoye. However, his family lived there not so long. In 1850, after the death of his father, Osip Vasilyevich, a poor parish priest, his family moved to Penza.
There, Vasily entered the parish school, which he successfully graduated in 1856. Then Klyuchevsky went to study at a theological seminary. And already from the second year I earned by giving private lessons. Spent money on the maintenance of the family. Everyone thought that Vasily would become a clergyman. However, he dropped out of seminary before the last year and began to prepare for university exams, studying books independently.
In 1861, he entered Moscow University at the Faculty of History. There he met such outstanding professors as Sergei Solovyov and Konstantin Pobedonostsev. Communication with them had a great influence not only on his scientific point of view, but also on his personality.
The final work of Klyuchevsky was called "Tales of Foreigners about the Moscow State." He conducted a large study, studying many records of foreigners about Russia of the 15-17th centuries. The work was appreciated and awarded a gold medal, and Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky became a candidate of science.
Scientific career
After defending his first work, the scientist was engaged in teaching, and also worked on a master's thesis. The thesis was interesting and very useful. Her theme is "The Lives of the Saints as a Source of Historical Knowledge." He also did a tremendous job of gathering information.
Having defended his master's thesis in 1871, Klyuchevsky began to teach at higher educational institutions, having received the status of a master. He lectured on Russian history at the Moscow Theological Academy. He also continued teaching at the Alexander Military School and other educational institutions.
And already in 1879, Vasily Osipovich began teaching at the Department of Russian History at Moscow University, adequately replacing his teacher Solovyov, who had died by then. In parallel, he worked on his doctoral dissertation "Boyar Duma of Ancient Russia."
In 1882, it was adopted and published.
And in 1885 Klyuchevsky was accepted into the staff of Moscow University as a professor.
In 1887, he became dean of the faculty of history and philology, at which he once began his studies. Under his leadership, many master's theses were defended. However, he continued to engage not only in scientific, but also in teaching, leading a history course in various educational institutions of Moscow.
In 1900, Vasily Osipovich was elected a full member of the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg. In 1901 he was admitted to her staff. And in 1908 he became an honorary academician of fine literature.
In 1906, the professor received an offer to become a member of the State Council from the Academy of Sciences, but, strangely enough, Klyuchevsky refused this title without hesitation. He considered that his presence in the Council would hinder the free discussion of state issues.
Klyuchevsky's personality and his private life
Even during his lifetime, his figure was surrounded by a halo of various speculations, since he spoke little about himself and was quite secretive in everything related to his personal life.
However, many contemporaries left notes about him in their memoirs, on which you can make an approximate portrait of him. Also, the personality of the historian can be judged by his own memoirs and aphorisms. However, they, according to contemporaries of the professor, were written by him with a healthy share of humor.
Klyuchevsky was in every way an outstanding personality. Even at the time of his student days, he was distinguished by ascetic inclinations, trying to rent the most modest rooms when he went on business. Already during his teaching activity, Vasily Osipovich wore the same coat, by which students recognized him.
The professor was remarkable for his amazing performance and endurance. For many consecutive hours he could give lectures, not at all tired, until his most advanced years.
The professor did not shy away from women's attention either, by his witty charm invariably attracting ladies to himself.
Many memoirs of Klyuchevsky’s contemporaries noted his self-reflection, the desire to focus on his inner experiences and the tendency to leave society, seeking salvation in solitude and nature.
Vasily Osipovich was a man of a subtle psychological makeup. Despite his relatively calm disposition, he perceived many phenomena very emotionally.
According to Milyukov, a student of Klyuchevsky, it was difficult for his teacher to establish relationships with people because of his tendency to analyze everything and remain alone.
Contemporaries also noted in him a lack of desire to imitate someone. As a professional, he was free from any dogma or scientific stereotypes, which makes him a truly outstanding thinker.
Scientific works and publications of Klyuchevsky
The history of the Russian state attracted the scientist from the seminary.
In parallel with his career at the university, Klyuchevsky was very actively engaged in research activities.
He published and published more than ten large-scale works covering various periods and questions of Russian history.
His works played an important role in the development of Russian historical science. Vasily Osipovich's studies are distinguished by depth of judgment and high-quality study of the material.
His works were popular with contemporaries. And at present, it is difficult to imagine historical science without the works of Vasily Osipovich.
Bibliography
In 1904, Vasily Klyuchevsky began publishing the Course of Russian History, the most famous and large-scale essay that has received worldwide recognition. He worked on the creation of this study for more than thirty years. In the period from 1867 to 1904, he wrote more than ten works on various issues of the past of Russia.
In describing the history of the Russian state, Klyuchevsky Vasily Osipovich was the first to single out the influence of economic and political factors on the life of the country. In his works, the professor shows a brilliant knowledge of Russian history. He looks at things from an unexpected angle, introduces new concepts.
So, his Ph.D. thesis is an example of an in-depth study of folk epos, church literature from the point of view of historical authenticity and the possibility of creating a clear idea of many historical events, as well as the way of life of Ancient Russia.
His most impressive and main work is The Course of Russian History. This book is still being republished.
Merits of Klyuchevsky
Vasily Osipovich was a brilliant lecturer and teacher who could attract the attention and interest of almost every student. He attended the lecture with pleasure and tried not to miss.
As a researcher of Russian history, Klyuchevsky collected a lot of factual material. These are traditions, household features, as well as many different facts. He studied the activities and structure of old monasteries, composed portraits of historical figures. Klyuchevsky’s research is still included in the compulsory program of studying Russian history at historical and humanitarian faculties.
The professor also had an active citizenship, which he did not hesitate to express in his scientific works, lectures and publications. Klyuchevsky was a liberal. However, the scientist was not engaged in active political activity.
"The course of Russian history"
The scientist began working on his book in 1870, collecting a huge number of facts and systematizing them.
Even during the writing of his dissertation, he began to collect material for his most famous and large-scale publication, since many sources went beyond the scope of his work. There is a lot of evidence that was worth publishing in the scientific community.
Materials from annals, church documents and charters - all this formed the basis of his book. He also relied on the work of other scientists, for example, Klyuchevsky learned a lot of facts in History of the Russian State (author Nikolai Karamzin). This applies to events related to the end of the reign of Ivan the Terrible. And he developed many concepts, using the thoughts of his teachers, for example, Sergei Solovyov, however, introducing an author’s opinion.
How are the "Course of Russian History" by Klyuchevsky and "History of the Russian State" by Karamzin
Nikolai Karamzin was a historian who outlined the entire history of Russia until the 17th century, relying on the scientific data of his predecessors, bringing them under his concept. According to Karamzin, the historical process is a natural course of human progress, during which knowledge fights ignorance. Outstanding scientific and political figures play the main role in it, without which there simply cannot be progress.
Klyuchevsky had a different view of the historical process. He regarded the masses as his driving force. However, the analysis of the unification of Russian lands after feudal fragmentation and the formation of autocratic power, proposed by Karamzin, Vasily Osipovich took as a basis for the description of this period in his course. After all, it was Karamzin who proposed using comparative historical analysis in the development of concepts.
Klyuchevsky deservedly appreciated this approach in his own writings, but he himself emphasized the study of the identity of Russian history and its phenomena that are not encountered in the development of other states. He also brought a lot of social and even socio-psychological into the vision of history.
The content of the book "The course of Russian history"
The history of the Russian state at Klyuchevsky is divided into 4 periods.
The first, earliest, is when Russia was a weakly interconnected city along the banks of the Dnieper River. It lasted from the 8th to the 13th century.
The second is the period of the specific principalities. Russia is still divided into many cities, which are now localized on the banks of the Oka and Volga. There were many free peasants who produced agricultural goods that formed the basis of the economy at that time. The period lasted from the 13th to the 15th century.
The third is the time of colonization. During this period, the Russian lands, formerly scattered, began active unification under the leadership of Moscow. Serfdom appeared. This period lasted from the 15th to the 17th century.
The fourth is the time of the formation of the Russian Empire, autocratic power. The basis of the economy is both the labor of peasants and the nascent industry. The period lasted until the time of Klyuchevsky himself.
The content of the history of the Russian state, classified in this way, corresponds to the periods that the historian singled out in his course.
About the historical process
Klyuchevsky believed that without knowledge of history it is impossible to understand who we are and where we came from. And, accordingly, it is impossible to predict the direction of the path that the state or even humanity is following. Vasily Osipovich understood the historical process itself as the interaction of unions and societies.
The infinite variety of unions from which human society is composed comes from the fact that the basic elements of a hostel in different places and at different times are not in the same selection, come in different combinations, and the diversity of these combinations is created in turn not only by the number and selection of components , more or less complexity of human unions, but also a different ratio of the same elements, for example, the prevalence of one of them over others.
That is how Klyuchevsky writes in his work. The history of the Russian state for him is primarily a process of forming relations between social groups.
It was public relations that the professor considered the engine of history and the catalyst for progress. For example, Klyuchevsky believed that serf labor was not as effective as the labor of free peasants. The professor stated that he kills the initiative and corrupts the personality.
At the same time, the nature of social relations greatly affects the degree of progress of society. The history of the Russian state of Klyuchevsky described in 4 parts of the course was positive in the scientific community. Many generations of historians are engaged in the “Course of Russian History”.
The value of Klyuchevsky as a historian
In addition to the fact that the scientist provided many scientific facts, he was the first to abandon the chronological presentation of events from his works, focusing on the concept. A summary of the history of the Russian state of Klyuchevsky can be found on many modern scientific Internet resources. His work is, of course, a step forward in comparison with the work of N. Karamzin
The scientist's work had a great influence on the development of sociology, since many facts were presented in the framework of sociological paradigms. And also a lot in the works of Klyuchevsky influenced the formation and development of modern political science. The memory of the scientist is alive, in Russia there are many monuments to the scientist and museums, introducing different periods of his life.