The article analyzes a new direction in modern historiography, called the «imperial turn». As a result of «imperial research», an integral image of the Russian Empire is constructed throughout its historical existence, which, according to modern interpretations, covers the period from the second half of the 15th century until 1917. Researchers focus not only on the western out-skirts, the Volga region, the Caucasus and Central Asia, traditional for imperial studies of Russia, but also on the Russian-Chinese borderlands and Russian America. The modern historiography of imperial Russia considers and analyzes such controversial issues as «Russia and the West», «Russia and the East», the degree of uniqueness of Russian imperialism, the concept of «internal colonization», the role of rising nationalism in the collapse of empires during the First World War. The Russian Revolution in the «imperial» context is positioned as one of the results of the Great War: the revolution of 1917 in Russia became only a link in the global crisis of the twentieth century. As a result, in modern historiography «the threshold of the revolution» is of less and less interest to historians. Their attention is focused on previous centuries and on the Soviet era. They do not argue about the crisis of the Russian Empire, do not question it, do not look for alternatives or those responsible for it. The presence of a crisis is simply stated, believing that the fall of the monarchy could not be avoided, and this reality should be historicized.

The imperial nature essence of Russia is defended by the theory of neo-Eurasianism. The neo-Eurasians’ idea of empire combines all Eurasian values: overcoming ethnic nationalism, recognizing Russia as a special civilization, creating a strong ideology: the state dissolves in the continent, Russia’s «latitudinal» orientation is realized in the empire. Eurasianism shows to what extent the theme of the East is fundamental for the Russian consciousness of the 19th – 20th centuries, how closely the theme is connected with the classical philosophical postulates of the Russian history of ideas. A conversation about the East is a conversation about Russia, a way of thinking about the identity of Russia, its place and nature. Eurasianism demonstrates the need for generalizing ideas, to explain the specifics of the Russian world, which spanned two continents, and to legitimize the empire. It is Eurasianism that represents the Russian intellectual tradition, which has always tried to present Russia as a special world.

Over a hundred years after the end of the First World War, it is still not a popular topic in Bulgarian historiography, despite the serious impact of that conflict on the political, socio-economic, and ideological development of Bulgaria. In the article, the author analyzes how the foreign policy context influenced the study of the First World War in Bulgaria. Three stages in the development of Bulgarian historiography were singled out. In the interwar period (1919–1939), the focus was on studying the fighting of the Bulgarian army and identifying those involved in the defeat of Bulgaria in the First World War. Under the communist regime (1944–1989), the writing of history was put under the control of the state. The most important achievements of the stage were the separation of the interests of the Bulgarian elite from the interests of the people, the study of the life of the working class in Bulgaria and anti-war protests. In modern Bulgarian historiography (1989–2022) there has been an expansion of the range of research topics. However, Bulgaria’s participation in the First World War is still a marginal topic due to the dominance of national discourse.

The proposed article on the history of the Boer resettlement movement to the colonial possessions of Kaiser Germany in East Africa is of undoubted interest, first of all in terms of exposing completely previously unknown archival materials of the Federal Archive of Germany, as well as periodical press materials addressing the issue. The emergence of Boer migration was caused by their defeat in the Anglo–Boer War, which the colonial circles of Germany took advantage of.

In addition, the author of the article tried to analyze historical events, as well as the activities of the colonial office of Kaiser Germany and the colonial administration of the East African colonies on the issue of the resettlement of Boers from various regions of South Africa: Natal, Transvaal, as well as Rhodesia and their use primarily for economic purposes to strengthen German colonial rule in East Africa. Archival materials reveal the specifics of the resettlement of migrant Boers to East Africa, the attitude of the colonial circles of Germany and the departmental employees of the colony to that process. The author of the article tried to show the features of Boer resettlement and their involvement in the creation of farms in the northern regions of East Africa. In addition, he considered the Schutze project as a basis for large-scale resettlement of Boers from the South African Boer republics to the colony of Kaiser Germany in East Africa.

Ensuring the basic social needs of the population, especially the most vulnerable groups of society, is an important area of social policy. The paper is dealing with the study of basic social security in Germany in 2005–2023, identifying the structure and special system for providing social benefits to the population. The chronological scope of the research is defined by significant changes in the structure and legislative regulation of basic assistance. Since 2005, the Twelfth Book of the Social Code has come into force, regulating the allocation of the first element of basic social security – social assistance. It consists of livelihood assistance, basic security for old age and disability, health aids, care assistance, assistance in overcoming certain social difficulties and assistance in other life situations. In 2023, the second element of the system, unemployment benefits-2, was replaced by a citizen benefit. In the course of the research, the author came to the conclusion that the features of the basic social security system in Germany at the present stage of development are its continuous process of reform and adaptation to the challenges of modern times, annual indexation of payments in accordance with socio-economic development, modernization in accordance with demographic factor and expansion of categories of applicants for social benefits.

The article considers the public reaction to the Special Military Operation launched in February 2022, which certainly became a stress for the Russian population. The data from different companies, that conducted polls between March and november, were collected and the subsequent analysis of the polling materials showed a curious dynamics of public opinion change. The reaction of the population, characterized by anxiety and fears and initially quite inert, gradually began to transform towards more and more support – both verbal and effective – for the Special Operation and the State. In addition, the phenomenon of individual self-organization of citizens to provide various kinds of assistance to combatants, the wounded, residents of new territories, institutions, animals, etc. has emerged. Active participation in providing assistance becomes an adaptive factor that relieves stress. In addition, active assistance to the Special Operation on the part of citizens becomes a model and an incentive for others, who until a certain time were in a state of waiting, to be included in that process. The positive tendencies of the process are obvious. Such reactions are anthroposystemic in nature and require special approaches to preserve social stability and consolidation of society as a whole

The article gives description of the transport system of Novorossia and Crimea at the beginning of the 20-th century: the state and functioning of horse-drawn, rail and river transport in the Ekaterinoslav, Taurida, Kherson and southeastern parts of the Kharkov provinces. It shows the influence of natural and climatic conditions on transport development. Based on a wide range of sources and scientific literature the author considers plans for highway construction, improvement of navigation along the Dnieper, Southern Bug, Seversky Donets, projects for new railways, the bridge across the Kerch Strait. He notes the role of transport in the transformation of the south of Russia into the second mining and metallurgical base of the country, into one of the leading industrial centers of the Russian Empire. The results of the discussion of the state of the road network and the protection of the country’s water resources in the work of the Special Council on the needs of the agricultural industry, the role of zemstvo institutions in the construction and operation of the local road network, and the importance of the special Road Fund are noted. The article also characterizes technical condition of the river and railway infrastructure.

The article considers in a historical context one of the components of modern Russian statehood – the state structure in the form of connection between the center and the territories (at the end of the 20th – the first quarter of the 21st century). Pre-revolutionary Russia was a unitary state, which did not exclude the presence of national administrative units, for example, the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Finland, the presence of elements of political autonomy in some of them, and features in the organization of government bodies. As is known, numerous Soviet constitutions proclaimed the RSFSR, and then the USSR, as federal states, which in fact they were not. All the features inherent in federal states were neutralized by the actions of the highest authorities in the person of the leadership of the ruling party. The state structure of modern Russia, being federal, in some cases differs from the principles generally accepted in world practice. Asymmetry, preservation of the national principle and the use of the matryoshka type in the construction of several federal subjects, etc. are both part of Russian traditions and a tribute to the past, which cannot be ignored. The increased centralization in the relationship between the federal center and the constituent entities of the federation can be explained by the need to concentrate all the forces and means of the state in the context of a special military operation.

The article, based on archival materials, considers the crimes of the Nazis and their accomplices against the civilian population living in the Donbass in 1941–1943. Based on the Acts of the Extraordinary State Commission for the identification and investigation of atrocities of the Nazi invaders and other historical sources, it analyzes the crimes of the Nazis against representatives of the Slavic, Jewish and Gypsy nationalities in the region under consideration during the Great Patriotic War. The article presents the atrocities of the Nazis committed in the cities of Stalino, Makeevka, Enakievo, Mariupol, Artemovsk, Kramatorsk, also in the Gorlovsky, Avdeevsky districts of the Stalino (Donetsk) region, the cities of Voroshilovgrad, Krasny Luch of the Voroshilovgrad (Lugansk) region. Following the sources studied, the author comes to a conclusion that the Nazis and their accomplices carried out a policy of exterminating the population of Donbass during the Great Patriotic War racially motivated.

The purpose of the article is to study the organization organization by the Eastern Karelia Military Administration (EKMA) of forced labor of concentration camp prisoners in the occupied territory of Karelia in 1941–1944. Based on an analysis of available sources, such as protocols of interrogations of concentration camp prisoners, Soviet intelligence reports and reports of the Eastern Karelia Military Administration, various areas of the use of forced labor for the most intensive development of the resources of the occupied territory of the KFSSR were considered. The relevance of the topic is caused by the creation of an interdepartmental working group at the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Karelia to form an evidence base in order to recognize the policy of Finland in the occupied territory of Karelia in 1941–1944 genocide against the non-Finno-Ugric population. It implies the necessity to consider the attitude of the Eastern Karelia Military Administration towards prisoners of concentration camps. The forced labor is one of the most common subjects in the memories of prisoners. In memoirs and historiography, the terror policies of the Finnish authorities and slave labor are divided into two separate topics. In this article, the author argues that the policy of terror served as the sole motivating factor for increasing the efficiency of prisoners in the logging industry, both in relation to non-combatants and prisoners of war alike.

The review analyzes the content of one of the latest monographs by the famous Soviet and Russian historian N.F. Bugai, on the status of study and experience of regulating ethnic processes in Russia during one of the most difficult periods of history – from the nineties of the last century to the early 20s of the present century. The author, having analyzed in detail the historiography of the issue that exists today, considers in chronological order the national policy in the Russian Federation carried out at different levels of the government and institutions of civil society. The retrospective presentation of information allows understanding the complexity of the issues accumulated by the end of the 90s, requiring not only optimal, but also quick solutions. The monograph contains a huge amount of information not only about the life of the indigenous peoples of Russia, but also representatives of other ethnic groups who have historically found themselves on its territory. Of particular interest are the conclusions and suggestions of the author concerning both the actual state national policy and the issues of its further study, although not all of them can be agreed with.

The article analyzes the monograph by E.V. Barysheva, about the most pressing issues of modern historical writing.

The author of the monograph turns to the theory of social design and the notion of «social concept”, which allow taking a new approach to and rethink the profound changes that occurred in Russian society after the revolution of 1917–1922, when looking at them from the perspective of macro-design, aimed at mythological refraction in the consciousness of people of the socialist idea.

Particular attention is drawn to the theoretical and methodological foundations of the monograph, which are presented in detail by the author. E.V. Barysheva rightly emphasizes that recently the interest of researchers of the Soviet period of Russian history has focused on understanding the process of formation of Soviet rituals, their symbolic-visual aspect and the influence of the system of holidays and rituals on the formation of the «new man». However, the process of accepting the new ideology and cultural values was not easy. E.V. Barysheva notes that the evidence of contemporaries speaks of a critical and negative attitude towards Soviet public holidays, which was caused both by the economic difficulties of the time and by the ideological rejection of the new system. Complete unanimity between the population and the authorities was not formed. In the data collected by agents of the information departments of the OGPU, special attention was paid to the people’s attitude towards the communists and Stalin, and to the assessment of the pre-revolutionary period. In conversations between workers and peasants, distrust of the authorities, cases of rejection of demonstrations, the routine nature of the holiday events, and the passivity and fatigue of people were noted.