The Mongol Empire and its ideology in the coverage of pre-Revolutionary Russian historians: from Polevoy to Presnyakov

Abstract

Research objectives: This work is aimed at identifying in the works of pre-revolutionary Russian historians issues related to various aspects of the existence of the Mongol Empire from its prehistory to the collapse, with special attention to the presentation of the ideology of its leaders. Research materials: The main sources are the major works of fifteen famous Russian historians of the XIX – early XX centuries: N.A. Polevoy, M.P. Pogodin, N.G. Ustryalov, N.I. Kostomarov, S.M. Solovyov, K.N. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, D.I. Ilovaisky, E.E. Go­lubinsky, V.O. Klyuchevsky, A.V. Ekzemplyarsky, S.F. Platonov, M.K. Lyubavsky, M.S. Grushevsky, M.N. Pokrovsky, and A.E. Presnyakov. Additional information was drawn from historiographical and Oriental literature. Results and novelty of the research: An analytical review of the pre-revolutionary Russian historiography showed a very different depth of penetration of historians into issues related to the Mongol Empire. For a number of specialists, the empire did not seem to exist, and all historical Mongol-Russian conflicts were confined to the Jochid Ulus. Others, taking a contrary approach, demonstrate a good understanding of the internal structure of this colossal political organism and the processes that took place inside it. The amount of information about the Mongols and Mongol Empire in the works of Russian historians were not dependent on the number of available medieval eastern sources at one time or another, being determined rather naturally by the author’s position. Along with erroneous opinions, the Old Russian historiography gave rise to many insights and hypotheses that were ahead of their time.