Studying the Cossack emigre in Russian historiography

The purpose of this research is analysis of the Russian historiography on the Cossack emigre. The object of research is presented by the papers devoted directly to the Cossack emigre. Naturally one of the pressing issues is figuring out the number of Cossacks abroad and analysis of their geographical allocation. In regard to settlement of the Cossack emigrants historians unanimously call Bulgaria, China, France, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia among the countries which sheltered the main part of the Cossacks. However the majority of the Cossacks of the South-East of the European part of Russia emigrated to the West and their main transfer point was Turkey. Don Cossacks located mainly in Bulgaria and Kuban Cossacks settled in Serbia. Besides the named countries some Cossacks were placed in Poland and Germany. Beside Turkey the transit countries were Greece, Georgia, Romania and Finland. Cossacks of Orenburg, Semi-rechye, Ural and also Siberian and Far East Cossacks were mainly leaving for China. During the country analysis of the Cossack emigrants allocation historians put their attention also to the geography of the disposal of the Cossack organizations and unions abroad. The great majority of the research works on the history of the Cossack emigration that were issued in 1990s are based on the material that had been published in the emigrant press. With the input of wider circle of sources (archive documents, memoirs, press) into the scientific turnover they become the subject of separate research. Great circle of the sources on the history of the Cossack emigration make researchers deal also with methodological problems of their use. Among the problems that attracted the researchers' attention we should note the problem of development of sociopolitical thought of the Cossack emigrants. The problem of their socioeconomic adaptation to the life abroad gained traction in a lesser degree. The study of the Cossack life in certain countries has great importance for understanding problems connected with the history of the Cossack emigre. The problem of the Cossack emigre culture also wasn't neglected by the researchers. Some part of papers put particular emphasis on staying abroad of members of certain Cossack armies. Special attention in Russian historiography is being put by the research papers devoted to the emigre personalities who had play significant role in sociopolitical or cultural life of the Cossack emigre. The main attention of the researches is compelled to the interbellum period of the Cossacks' staying abroad, that include years of the World War II. History of the interbellum period Cossack emigre still is the blank page in the Russian historical studies.

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