Analytical Materials of the N.I. Evdokimov’s Archive as a Source for Studying the Caucasus Military and Political History of the 18th – 19th Centuries

Abstract

The article analyses documents making up the collection of General Nikolai Ivanovich Evdokimov, a well-known figure of the military and political history of the North Caucasus of the 19th century. The collection is now stored in the fonds of the Russian State Military Historical Archive. The file consists of 17 parts, its volume exceeding 500 sheets. Despite the collection value, we have no general notion of the materials subjects, since the drafted documents inventory was compiled prior to the revolution of 1917 by the staff of the Military Scientific Archive of the General Headquarters. The study is to assess the topics and to analyse the content of the documents in the collection, clarifying the nature of Evdokimov’s military-administrative activities and tracing the wide range of his scientific interests. The materials mostly contain N.I. Evdokimov’s correspondence with his subordinates and administrators involved in the Caucasus governance. The collection contains documents of management and record keeping of military and administrative nature; materials on the general's biography; and the so-called "random papers": draft documents compiled by Evdokimov and extracts on current events in the Caucasus, which interested him. The most informative is part 11, collection of materials compiled both by Evdokimov himself and for him. The research has classified analytical materials of the collection into the following groups: documents describing the history of the Caucasus; documents on the relationship building with the highlanders; military-statistical descriptions of the regions, the Cossacks administration, and the Kuban region development. Of particular value are reviews compiled for Evdokimov on the basis of the 18th century records once stored in the now perished regional Geogrievsky Archive. Clerks’ copies of several known archival documents contain Evdokimov’s notes and comments, giving an opportunity to assess his attitude to the issues concerning the Caucasus policies raised by his contemporaries. The archive gives a clear insight on the nature of problems that worried the General, as well as intellectual military elite of the region, forming a “mental map” of the Caucasus, which was to determine the tone of regional studies for a long time.