The origin of human society and the specifics of ancient civilizations. Was the power of kings really unlimited?
The prerequisites for the emergence of the first civilizations were the development of productive forces, the formation of a productive economy as a result of the “Neolithic revolution” and the emergence of property and social inequality.
Previously, these processes took place in the Middle East (“Fertile Crescent”), where the Neolithic revolution ended in the 7th-5th millennium BC. It was here that the world's first settlements of pastoralists and farmers arose (Jericho, Chatal-Guyuk, etc.).
The emergence of surplus products leads, on the one hand, to the emergence of people not directly involved in production, and on the other, to the concentration of wealth in the hands of individuals or groups of the population.
The next step in the development of society is the formation of proto-states, which serve as the most visible signal of the emergence of civilizations, the first of which arose in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
The subject of the history of civilizations of the ancient East is the history of states and societies that existed on the territory of Asia and Africa from the appearance of the first civilizations (late 4th millennium BC) to the middle of the 1st millennium AD.
The history of the civilizations of the ancient East can be divided into three stages:
– period of origin and formation (III millennium BC);
– heyday (II and first half of the 1st millennium BC);
– period of decline (second half of the 1st millennium BC – first half of the 1st millennium AD).
2. Natural conditions.
Ancient Eastern civilizations arose over vast territories - from the Sahara in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east and from Central Asia in the north to the island of Ceylon in the south. From west to east, this area has a length of more than 10,000 km, and from north to south - more than 2,000.
Several main types of natural and climatic conditions can be distinguished in this territory:
– waterless plateaus with vast steppes and plains;
– lowlands cut and irrigated by large rivers;
– coastal countries directly adjacent to the sea;
– deserts;
- mountainous areas.
The most important was the second type - valleys large rivers, since almost all the first civilizations arose in the alluvial valleys of Africa and Asia. These are the Nile (ancient Egyptian civilization), the Tigris and Euphrates (Sumerian civilization), the Indus and Ganges (Indus and Indian civilizations), the Yellow River and the Yangtze (Chinese civilization).
3. Features of the development of ancient Eastern civilizations.
The peculiarities of natural conditions also determined a number of features in the development of civilizations of the ancient East. Firstly, the specialization of economies. Thus, in the valleys of large rivers the main occupation of the population was irrigation farming, in the steppes and plains - semi-nomadic and nomadic cattle breeding, and in coastal areas - crafts and trade.
Secondly, natural conditions also influenced the type of economic relations in ancient Eastern societies. Thus, Egypt was characterized by the complete predominance of the public sector in the economy over the private one.
In Mesopotamia, two sectors of the economy coexisted, but with the predominance of the state (in both Egypt and Mesopotamia this was due to the development of irrigation agriculture).
But in most other countries of the ancient East, where these two sectors of the economy also coexisted, the private sector played a more important role, while the state sector never became dominant.
The social structure of ancient Eastern societies was also peculiar. The population was divided into three main groups:
– free (possessing both personal and economic freedom);
– dependent (those who had personal freedom, but did not have economic independence);
– slaves (deprived of both personal freedom and economic independence).
The position of slaves in the ancient East also had a number of features and, first of all, it is worth remembering that it was patriarchal slavery: the predominance of women and children among slaves, relatively weak exploitation, the proximity of slaves and various categories of the dependent population.
It is worth remembering that in ancient times the labor of free people played a more important role than the labor of slaves.
The state in the ancient East also went its own way. It is important to note that if at a later stage of development of primitive society extensive tribal associations were sometimes created, then the first states are always and everywhere formed within very limited limits (one or several territorial communities).
The ancient eastern states went through three main stages in their development:
– city-state (nome);
– kingdom (territorial or national state);
- empire.
The highest level of statehood in the East was the empire (the most famous examples are the Assyrian Empire, the Achaemenid Empire, and then the Roman Empire).
Features of ancient Eastern religions. It is worth remembering that ancient man lived in a rather “moderate religious climate” (L. Oppenheim). Most religions were polytheistic (the only monotheistic religion of the ancient East - Judaism - was formed relatively late). People believed not only in their own gods, but also in the gods of another tribe or state - this leads to a lack of dogmatism and intolerance.
It was typical for the ancient East absolute freedom religion, the reason for which was the lack of a concept of false faith.
Therefore, in the history of the ancient East there is relatively little evidence of conflicts on religious, national or ethnic grounds.
Topic 2. Civilizations of the Ancient Near East
1. Features of ancient Egyptian civilization. Periodization.
2. Daily life in ancient Egypt.
3. Features of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia. Periodization.
4. Daily life in ancient Mesopotamia.
1. Features of ancient Egyptian civilization. Periodization.
Ancient Egyptian civilization formed in the Nile River valley in the 4th millennium BC. It was the regime of the river that largely determined the uniqueness of this civilization.
The Egyptians considered their country created by the gods especially for them. Life in it was possible only thanks to the floods of the Nile - there was practically no precipitation.
The country was not very rich in mineral resources: there was stone and reed in the valley, and some copper and gold in the surrounding area. Wood for construction and metals (primarily silver and tin) had to be imported into Egypt. The Egyptians preferred to extract resources primarily through military means - hence Egypt’s active foreign policy throughout its history.
A special feature was the presence of a strong and durable state in Egypt. This was facilitated, on the one hand, by the absence of strong rivals around him, and on the other, by the very special role of the pharaoh in society.
The pharaoh was seen as a living god, in many ways more important than all other gods. The very existence of peace and order depended on it. Therefore, in Egypt there were no serious popular uprisings against the pharaoh, and the state was strong and stable.
The Egyptians had two main theories about the divinity of the pharaohs: Osiric and solar. According to the first, the ancestor of all pharaohs was the god Osiris, according to the second, the father of all pharaohs was the god Amon-Ra.
The Egyptians' idea of the afterlife was peculiar - they saw it as a continuation of earthly life, only without worries and worries.
Periodization The history of ancient Egypt was developed by the Egyptian priest Manetho, who divided the entire history of his country into three periods and 30 dynasties. Based on this division, modern periodization was formed (all dates are BC):
| 1. Predynastic period 2. Early kingdom 3. Ancient (Old) kingdom 4. I transitional period 5. Middle kingdom 6. II transitional period 7. New kingdom 8. Late kingdom | I-II dynasties III-V dynasties VII-X dynasties XI-XIII dynasties XIV-XVII dynasties XVIII-XX dynasties XXI-XXX dynasties | k.5000 - 3100 XXXI-XXVIII centuries XXVIII-XXIII centuries XXII-XXI centuries XXI-XVIII centuries XVIII - early XVI centuries. XVI-XI centuries XI-IV centuries |
2. Daily life in ancient Egypt.
During the New Kingdom era, Egyptian society consisted of several social groups, some of which were considered privileged (officials, military, priesthood and craftsmen). All others (farmers, cattle breeders, servants, etc.) were designated by the general term “people.” But it is worth remembering that both privileged groups and “people” were dependent populations, since the pharaoh was the supreme owner of all the land in the country.
Children from privileged groups studied at school, after which they were appointed to a position. The position was accompanied by official tenure, which became greater the higher the position. The position also included the distribution of food and prepared meals, as well as the labor of one or more “people.”
3. Features of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia. Periodization.
Mesopotamia is the territory of modern Iraq and southern Syria, where the Tigris and Euphrates flow. In Mesopotamia, civilization was formed, as in Egypt, at the end of the 4th millennium BC.
The natural conditions of Mesopotamia differ from those of the Nile Valley. Rivers were much less predictable and often overflowed with catastrophic consequences. Hence the origin of the legend of the global flood, which was later borrowed by the authors of the Old Testament. Due to high temperatures in the summer, salts remained on the fields, which led to salting of the fields and required the constant development of new territories.
Mesopotamia is poor in mineral resources - only clay and reed. There was no stone, wood, or metals in the country. All this had to be brought from other countries. Because a large centralized state rarely emerged in Mesopotamia, resources could only be obtained through exchange and trade.
The instability of natural conditions gave rise to a specific attitude among the inhabitants of Mesopotamia towards their gods, who symbolized the natural elements - they were afraid of them. Also, the inhabitants of Mesopotamia were afraid of death - the afterlife seemed to them as a very sad place where there was no consolation and salvation. The cross-cutting theme of the region's literature was the search for immortality.
Politically, Mesopotamia was characterized by the presence of many states that were at war with each other. The lack of natural borders contributed to repeated invasions of the region by the Kutians, Amorites, Kassites, Arameans, etc.
The periodization of the history of ancient Mesopotamia was developed by modern scientists (in contrast to the periodization of the history of ancient Egypt) and is based on the change of civilizations - Sumerian and Babylonian-Akkadian:
4. Daily life in ancient Mesopotamia
The main city of the region for many centuries was Babylon - one of the largest cities in the world. The appearance of the houses in the city was the same - it was not immediately clear who lived in it. The furnishings in the houses were simple; wood products were very expensive.
Families were large, often sons and their families lived in their parents' house. In Mesopotamia there was a patriarchal society, the woman was under the patriarchal authority of her father or husband.
The inhabitants of Mesopotamia were quite religious people, which was due to the peculiarities of religious ideas. It was in Babylonia that a complex demonological system was developed, which then spread to Europe, as well as astrology and alchemy.
Topic 3. India and China in ancient times.
1. Indian civilization.
2. Features of the development of Indian civilization in ancient times.
3. Features of the development of Chinese civilization in ancient times
1. Indian civilization.
The first civilization in India was the Indus, which existed in the 24th – 18th centuries. BC. in the Indus River Valley (hence the name). We know relatively little about this civilization, since to this day its writing has not been deciphered. It is known that it was syllabic, it contained about 400 characters, but not a single bilingual inscription has survived to this day, and all those that have survived are very short.
For this reason, we know almost nothing about the social structure and political history of the Indus civilization. It occupied a vast territory from the shores Indian Ocean before Afghanistan, most likely, there was a single state with two main cities - Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, each of which had up to 100 thousand inhabitants.
All cities had a strict two-part layout (upper and lower city), wide streets, pavements and sewers. In the upper city there were large buildings for either religious or economic purposes.
In economics, the Indians were the first to grow cotton and domesticate elephants.
The religious views of the Indians had a significant influence on the formation of the religion of the Aryans, who came to India later.
The reasons for the decline and death of the Indus civilization are unclear. Scientists are sure that it died not as a result of external conquest, but due to internal reasons, but there is no unity as to what exactly.
2. Features of the development of Indian civilization in ancient times
The Indus civilization is being replaced by the Indian civilization, which began to take shape in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC, after the appearance of the Indo-Aryan tribes in India. Indian civilization (along with Chinese) is the most ancient in the world and has existed for more than 3,500 years.
Ancient history Indian civilization falls into a number of stages:
Territory ancient india larger than modern India: it also includes Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan, Bangladesh and the island of Ceylon. This vast territory was rich in minerals and contains all the main types of natural and climatic zones.
At first, the center of Indian civilization was also the Indus River Valley, but later, at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, after the development of iron, the Indo-Aryans began to penetrate into the jungles of the Ganges Valley. After that, and to this day, the center of Indian civilization is the Ganges Valley.
Indian society developed quite separately from other centers of civilization; the main contacts took place from the north-west, through mountain passes in Afghanistan. It was from there that all the conquerors appeared in India - the Persians, the Greeks led by Alexander the Great, the Kushans, the Huns and the Muslims.
Indian civilization is the most religious civilization of antiquity - Indians created such religious systems as Vedic, Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism. Being very religious people, they paid little attention to history, therefore the political history of the region until the 3rd century. BC, and partly even before the Muslim invasions, we know extremely poorly.
The social structure of Indian society is peculiar. The Aryans had a division of society into three classes (varnas): Brahmans (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors) and Vaishyas (farmers and cattle breeders). Then the fourth varna, the Shudras (servants), was created from the conquered local population.
But over time, Varnas began to blur (mixing of Varnas), and at the turn of the century AD. In India, a caste system was formed, in which transitions from caste to caste were prohibited, and caste members were required to engage in strictly defined crafts.
3. Features of the development of Chinese civilization in ancient times.
Chinese civilization, along with Indian civilization, is the most ancient of those currently existing. The beginning of the formation of Chinese civilization dates back to the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC.
The basis of periodization Chinese history the dynastic principle is laid down:
| Shang-Yin Dynasty | XVIII – XI centuries BC. |
| Zhou Dynasty | XI – III centuries. BC. |
| Western Zhou | XI – VIII centuries. BC. |
| Eastern Zhou | VIII – III centuries. BC. |
| Chuntsu period | VII – V centuries. BC. |
| Zhanguo period | V – III centuries. BC. |
| Qin Dynasty | III century BC. |
| Han Dynasty | III century BC – III century. AD |
| Elder Han | III century BC – 1st century AD |
| Younger Han | I century AD – III century AD |
The territory of China in ancient times was smaller than the territory of modern China - it was limited to the Great Chinese Plain and the northern tributaries of the Yangtze. There was no shortage of resources in China and its environs, and the main imports were luxury goods and exotic items such as cowrie shells.
Chinese civilization developed even more closed than Indian - for many centuries the Chinese were confident that they were the only civilized people, and only barbarians lived around them.
Unlike the Indians, the Chinese civilization is the most non-religious in ancient times. Confucianism, former basis ideologies in China are more of a philosophical system than a religion; Taoism became a religion much later than its inception, and Buddhism is an alien religion.
On the contrary, the Chinese in ancient times loved and studied history, which is why we know much more about the events of Chinese history than about the history of any other civilization of the ancient East.
The social structure of China has undergone a number of changes. If at the beginning of its history social status was determined by origin, then after Shang Yang’s reforms, a person’s status depended on his merits to the state, and during the Han Dynasty, on its wealth.
For a number of centuries, there were many small states in China (at least 200 at the beginning of Eastern Zhou), which were constantly at war with each other. As a result of this internecine struggle, large kingdoms emerged, the most successful of which was the kingdom of Qin. After the unification of China by Emperor Qin Shi Huang, China has always remained a centralized state - until today.
Topic 4. Features of ancient civilization.
1. Periodization of ancient history.
2. Features of the natural environment.
3. Features of political development. Ancient democracy.
1. Periodization of ancient history.
Ancient history covers the period of time from the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. to 476 AD This is the history of the states and societies that existed along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, of which the most important were the states of the ancient Greeks and ancient Romans. Several civilizations existed in this region, the most significant of which are considered to be the Minoan, Greek (Hellenic), Hellenistic, Etruscan and Roman civilizations.
Periodization of history ancient Greece:
Periodization of history ancient Rome:
The end of ancient history is 476 AD. - when the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed by the German leader Odoacer.
2. Features of the natural environment.
The natural conditions of the region are quite unique. The climate is Mediterranean, with hot and dry summers and warm and rainy winters.
Greece is a mountainous country, with valleys and plains accounting for only 20% of the terrain. Numerous mountain ranges and a rugged coastline divide Greece into many small, isolated communities. This disposed the Greeks to a closed, isolated life.
In the life of the Greeks huge role The sea played a role - most policies had direct access to the sea; communication was carried out by sea not only with distant countries, but also with their neighbors.
Greece is rich in minerals: marble, iron ore, precious metals, timber and pottery clay. This contributed to the development of crafts in Greece.
The soils are rocky, but due to the climate they are suitable for growing cereals, grapevines and olives.
The natural conditions of Italy are more favorable for farming. The coastline is less indented and in many places is replete with shallows. As a result, the Italics took up navigation later than the Greeks and did not achieve such significant success in it.
Italy has more cultivable land than Greece, primarily in Etruria, Campania and Apulia.
The Apennines run through the whole of Italy, branching off from the Alps, which serve as the natural northern border of Italy.
There were relatively few mineral resources in Italy: deposits of metal ores, marble, and high-quality clay.
3. Features of political development. Ancient democracy.
The ancient world developed according to completely different laws than ancient Eastern societies. Such a type was formed in him government structure like a democratic republic.
Polis democracy was a developed political system that ensured the participation of the bulk of citizens in government. Most a shining example ancient democracy is Athenian democracy, which reached its peak in the 5th century BC. under Pericles. The real power in the state was vested in the People's Assembly, and the judicial and executive powers were organized in such a way as to prevent the concentration of power in one hand.
Relations developed in a similar way in the state of the Romans in the first centuries of its existence (after the overthrow of royal power). A civil community was formed there - civitas, where also all power belonged to the Roman people.
However, then the paths of political development of the Greeks and Romans diverged. The Greeks were unable to achieve the political unification of the disparate policies, which ultimately led to a serious crisis and the conquest of Greece by the Macedonian kingdom.
The Romans, purposefully conquering neighboring tribes, were able to by the beginning of our era. to create a huge power - the Roman Empire, which could no longer be governed on the principles of democracy. The result was the transformation of the Roman Republic into a principate, and subsequently into a system of dominance, copying many features of eastern monarchies.
Topic 5. Ancient Greece.
1. Homeric and archaic periods.
3. Alexander the Great and the eastern campaign. The system of Hellenistic states. The crisis of Hellenism and the conquest of Rome.
1. Homeric and archaic periods.
In the 12th century BC. The penetration of Dorian tribes into Greece from the north begins. The Achaean states are dying, the social structure is being simplified, and the economy is falling into decay. The “dark ages” of Greek history are coming - the Homeric period. In fact, this is the time of the return of primitive communal relations. The period got its name from Homer’s poems – “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey”, which, although they were created later, paint a picture of this particular time.
The evolution of Greek society towards class took place during the archaic period. At this time, the Greek polis began to form - a sovereign small state with a specific socio-economic and political structure.
The growth of productive forces and, as a consequence, an increase in population, leads to such a phenomenon as the Great Greek colonization. During its course, the Greeks colonized significant territories along the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas. The first thing that was delivered from the colonies to Greece was bread, which was in short supply in the metropolises.
Often the reason for colonization was not an excess of population, but an intense political struggle in a particular polis. Then the losing party left their homeland and looked for a new place to settle.
This political struggle was a consequence of the growing contradictions between different groups of the population in the Greek city-states - the aristocracy and the demos. During the struggle for their rights, the demos resorted to various methods, including tyranny (the so-called “senior tyranny”). The most famous example of tyranny is the rule of Pisistratus in Athens. Athenian democracy was also formed through reforms, including those carried out by representatives of the aristocracy.
2. Greco-Persian Wars. The rise of Athens and its rivalry with Sparta.
By the beginning of the 5th century. but AD the process of formation of the polis system in Greece as a whole was completed. At the same time, the Greek city-states had to face the most serious external threat - the invasion of the Persian army. The Achaemenid kings sought to conquer Greece. The struggle of the city-states against the Persians, led by Athens and Sparta, was a struggle for independence.
The Greco-Persian wars, which lasted more than 50 years (500 - 449 BC), showed the superiority of the Greek political system over eastern despotism. In a number of battles (the most famous being the battles of Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis and Plataea), the Greek phalanx and fleet defeated the much larger, but less organized and motivated Persian army.
Since Athens bore the brunt of the war with the Persians, after the victory the leading role in the Greek world passed to them. Athens tried to turn the maritime alliance that arose to fight the Persians into its own power - the Athenian arche. This caused opposition from a number of policies, primarily Sparta. The contradictions between Athens and Sparta, aggravated by the difference in the political structure of the two largest policies of Greece, led to the Peloponnesian War between them and their allies (431 - 404 BC).
This war led to the depletion of the forces of the warring parties. Persia supported one country or another in turn in order to further weaken them. As a result, in the 4th century. BC. both Sparta and Athens could not play a leading role in the region, and the Greek polis itself exhausted its potential, entering a period of protracted crisis.
3. Alexander the Great and the eastern campaign. The system of Hellenistic states. The crisis of Hellenism and the conquest of Rome.
In the middle of the 4th century BC. Greek city-states found themselves in a state of serious crisis. At the same time, the Macedonian kingdom was strengthening in the north. The Greek city-states became dependent on Macedonia under King Philip, and under his son and successor Alexander, Greek military detachments took part in a campaign to the East, organized by the new king.
The goal of the campaign was the defeat of the Achaemenid power. With a relatively small army (no more than 45 thousand soldiers), Alexander succeeded. Over the course of several years, the main forces of the Persians were defeated - in the battles of Granicus, Issus and Gaugamella. After this, the Persian king Darius III tried to escape, but was killed by his satraps, and Alexander the Great became his heir. He continued his campaign, conquering the territories of Central Asia and India, and in 324, 10 years after the start of the campaign, he returned to Mesopotamia, becoming the ruler of a huge power stretching from Greece to the Indus Valley.
But the sudden death of the king led to conflicts between his military leaders. During the course of fierce wars, Hellenistic states arose, the main of which were the Ptolemaic state in Egypt, the Seleucid state in Western Asia and Hellenistic Macedonia.
In these states, there is a synthesis of Greek and Eastern elements in all spheres of life - politics, economics, culture. For example, politically they were monarchies of the eastern type, but they retained the Greek polis, on which the Hellenistic rulers relied, along with the army.
The 3rd century is considered to be the heyday of the Hellenistic states. BC. However, already from the end of the 3rd century, pressure began on them, first of all, from the growing Rome. After the successful Punic Wars, Rome turned its attention to the Eastern Mediterranean. First, the Macedonian kingdom was conquered, then small states in Asia Minor. In the 1st century BC. came through the bloodless Seleucid state.
The Ptolemaic state lasted the longest in Egypt. For a long time it was under the influence of the Roman Republic, until, during the civil war between Octavian and Antony, it was conquered by the Roman legions and became part of the Roman state (30 BC).
Topic 6. Ancient Rome.
1. Etruscan civilization. The emergence of Rome.
2. Tsarist period. The era of the Republic and the transformation of Rome into the largest state in the Mediterranean.
3. The crisis of the republic and the formation of the foundations of the principate.
4. The Golden Age of the Antonines. Crisis of the 3rd century. Dominance and the death of the Roman Empire
1. Etruscan civilization. The emergence of Rome.
The first civilization on Italian territory was the Etruscan civilization. It was formed in the second quarter of the 1st millennium BC. They appeared in the Apennines almost simultaneously with the Greeks. Many monuments of material culture and inscriptions have been preserved from the Etruscans. However, the Etruscan language has not been deciphered to this day, and scientists cannot say with certainty where they came from in Italy.
In Italy, the Etruscans settled in the territory between the Po and Tiber rivers, called Etruria. Agriculture, metalworking, other crafts, and trade reached a high level of development among the Etruscans.
Etruria was not single state, but was a union of individual city-states (in the ancient tradition there are three unions of 12 cities each). Most cities were ruled by kings, whose pompous trappings of power were later adopted by the Romans.
Having a strong army and navy, the Etruscans played an important role in the history of Italy in the 6th century. BC, especially after 535, but then suffered a series of defeats from the Greeks and lost their hegemony in Northern Italy.
To the south of the Etruscans lived the Italic tribes, including the Latins. The Latins lived along the lower reaches of the Tiber River. Relatively large city-states gradually arose here, the main of which was Alba Longa. According to legend, people from Alba Longa - Romulus and Remus - founded a new city - Rome - on the Palatine Hill. Its first king was Romulus, who killed his brother Remus in a quarrel.
2. Tsarist period. The era of the Republic and the transformation of Rome into the largest state in the Mediterranean.
The royal period covers the time from the legendary founding of Rome (753 BC) until the expulsion of the kings from Rome (510 BC). The history of this period is largely legendary and is known only in the most general terms. During the tsarist period, there was a process of synoicism - the merging of individual settlements into a city. Rome was located in convenient location and began to grow at a rapid pace. Residents were mainly engaged in cattle breeding, and agriculture played a lesser role. In the 7th century BC. Latin writing appears.
Tradition counts seven kings in Rome, starting with the first of them, Romulus. According to historians, only the last three were historical figures - Tarquin the Ancient, Servius Tullius and Tarquin the Proud (Etruscans by origin). The name of Servius Tullius is associated with the reform of the social system in Rome.
According to legend, the last king of Rome, Tarquin the Proud, displeased the Romans, who expelled him from the city and proclaimed the creation of a republic (res publica).
The period of the early republic was characterized by the following features. In internal life, the main thing was the struggle between the plebeians and patricians - the plebeians fought for the granting of political and economic rights to them. Beginning almost immediately after the overthrow of the monarchy, this struggle lasted until 287 BC. (when the law of the dictator Hortensius was adopted equating the decisions of plebeian assemblies with laws).
In foreign policy - the struggle of Rome with its neighbors (Etruscans, Umbrians, Sabines and other tribes of Italy). By the 3rd century. BC. The Romans controlled large areas of Central Italy and came into contact in the south with the Greeks and Carthaginians.
Beginning in 264 BC, a long struggle between Rome and Carthage for dominance in the Western Mediterranean broke out. As a result of the three Punic Wars, Carthage was defeated, its possessions were annexed by Rome, which became the most powerful state in the Mediterranean region.
3. The crisis of the republic and the formation of the foundations of the principate.
However, the expansion of the borders of the Roman state and the intensification of the policy of conquest lead to an internal crisis of the republic. The ruin of the peasants, who were the main force of the Roman army, forces the state to carry out agrarian reforms of the Gracchi brothers (second half of the 2nd century BC). The failure of the reforms leads to changes in the military organization of Rome - the creation of a professional mercenary army after the reforms of Marius.
In the 1st century BC. The crisis of the republic is intensifying. The leaders of the Roman legions (Cornelius Sulla, Gnaeus Pompey, Julius Caesar), who strive for unlimited power in Rome, come to the fore. The result is civil wars and conspiracies in Rome (the conspiracy of Catiline, the dictatorship of Caesar). After the assassination of Caesar in 44 BC. Mark Antony and Octavian are fighting for power in the state. This last war ends with the victory of Octavian, Caesar's nephew, in 30 BC.
After the victory, Octavian Augustus (30 BC - 14 AD) creates a system of government called the "principate". A "principate" is essentially a monarchy disguised as a republic. While all republican institutions are preserved - the Senate, popular assemblies, elected magistrates - all power is concentrated in the hands of Augustus.
Under Octavian Augustus and his successors, a new political system was being formed, the imperial cult was developing, and conquests continued. The new system did not add strength to the Roman state - the civil war was especially bloody after the reign of Emperor Nero.
4. The Golden Age of the Antonines. Crisis of the 3rd century. Dominance and the death of the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire reached its heyday during the reign of the Antonine dynasty (2nd century AD). After Trajan, the empire abandoned an active foreign policy, moving on to preserving what it had conquered. Peace and prosperity reigned over the vast territory. Crafts, trade and culture are developing, and population mobility is high.
However, by the end of the 2nd century. The empire faces a number of problems, primarily the increasing pressure on the borders of the Germanic tribes. After the assassination of Emperor Commodus, a new civil war broke out in the empire, which brought to power the Severan dynasty (first third of the 3rd century), nicknamed the soldier emperors.
After the assassination of the last emperor from this dynasty - Alexander Severus - a serious crisis erupted in the empire, known as the crisis of the 3rd century. Over the course of 50 years, the empire changed many emperors, most of whom did not die a natural death. The economy is in decline, there are rebellions and usurpations in the provinces, and the borders are endlessly disturbed by barbarians. The empire was on the brink of destruction.
These problems were resolved as a result of Diocletian's reforms, which marked the beginning of the "dominata" system. “Dominat” is already an unlimited monarchy of the eastern type, without any republican attributes. For better control of the empire, it was divided into 4 parts, which were ruled by the Caesars and Augusti (tetrarchy). The revolts were suppressed and the attacks of the barbarians were repelled.
In the 4th century, under Constantine the Great and his successors, Christianity spread rapidly throughout the empire. After a temporary strengthening of the position, the decline of the empire began, especially rapid from the end of the 4th century, after the terrible defeat of the Roman army from the Visigoths at Adrianople in 378, in 395 the empire finally broke up into two parts - Western and Eastern.
The collapse came in the 5th century. In 410 the Visigoths took Rome. Then barbarian kingdoms emerged on the territory of the western Roman Empire - the Visigoths, Vandals, Burgundians, and Franks. By the middle of the 5th century, emperors ruled in name only. And in 476, the German leader Odoacer deposed the last Roman emperor of the West, Romulus Augustulus, and sent the imperial regalia to Constantinople. Thus ended the history of the Western Roman Empire and the entire ancient world.
Topic 7. The genesis of feudal relations in Western Europe
1. The term "Middle Ages".
2. The concept of feudalism.
3. Sources on the history of the Middle Ages.
4. Formation of the foundations of feudalism
1. The term "Middle Ages".
The term "Middle Ages" (from the Latin medium aevum) was proposed by Italian humanists in the 15th century to designate the period of history between antiquity and the Renaissance. For humanists, the Middle Ages were a period of decline and degradation compared to antiquity and their time.
The Middle Ages in Europe begin in 476 and last until the end of the 15th century. it is divided into three periods - Early, High and Late Middle Ages:
| Period | Modern periodization | Soviet periodization |
| Early Middle Ages | V – IX centuries | V – XI centuries |
| High Middle Ages | X – XIII centuries. | XI – XV centuries |
| Late Middle Ages | XIV – XV centuries. | XVI – p.p. XVII century |
2. The concept of feudalism.
The identification of the Middle Ages with feudalism was firmly established in literature. The term arose from the word “feodum” - a hereditary conditional land holding received by a vassal from a lord on the condition of performing service.
The main characteristics of feudalism are the conditional nature of land ownership, the combination of land ownership with the supreme power, and the hierarchical structure of the feudal class.
It is worth remembering that feudalism is a phenomenon characteristic exclusively of Western European countries. Even in Byzantium, feudal relations did not develop. Outside of Christendom, the only parallel to European feudalism is medieval Japan with its samurai class.
Recently, Western literature has questioned the legitimacy of applying the term “feudalism” to the Middle Ages.
3. Sources on the history of the Middle Ages.
Sources on the history of the Middle Ages are divided into the following groups:
– natural-geographical;
– ethnographic;
– material (archaeological);
– artistic and visual;
– written.
Main role In the study of the Middle Ages, written texts play a role, which in turn fall into a number of categories (narrative, legislative, documentary).
Among the features of sources on the history of the Middle Ages one can note:
– a relatively small number of sources, especially for the early Middle Ages, due to the low literacy of the population;
– the predominance of texts in Latin rather than in vernacular languages;
– not all spheres of medieval man’s life were reflected in them;
– medieval sources are unevenly distributed both in time and space.
4. Formation of the foundations of feudalism
The feudal mode of production was formed in Western Europe in two ways - synthetic (the merging of Roman and Germanic orders, as was the case in Gaul and Italy) and non-synthetic (only on the basis of German customs, as in England and Scandinavia).
In the barbarian kingdoms, land quickly became freely alienable landed property - allod. Under these conditions, many community members began to lose their land and become dependent on the land owners. On the contrary, large-scale ecclesiastical and secular land ownership grew (thanks to land donations from kings and precarious transactions). Precarious transactions were one of the main ways of enslaving the previously free peasantry. The son and grandson of a precarist usually already became completely dependent on the owner of the land. Also, the peasants were forced to come under the protection of neighboring large landowners (commendation).
Thus, the process of feudalization, which took place throughout the entire territory of the former Roman Empire, was expressed in the gradual disappearance of the free independent peasantry and in its transformation into a class of dependent peasants. In its most vivid form, this process took place in the state of the Franks.
Topic 8. Western Europe in the Early and High Middle Ages.
1. The main features of the development of Western European society in the early Middle Ages.
2. State of the Franks.
4. Formation of a system of feudal states in Western Europe.
5. International relationships in the High Middle Ages and the Crusades
1. The main features of the development of Western European society in the early Middle Ages.
The early Middle Ages (5th – 9th centuries) was a time of radical disruption of the established order in the empire and the formation of feudal relations. The period is characterized by cooling, which lasted from 300 to 700. This leads to a shortening of the growing season and a drop in yield.
In the economy, the main processes were agrarianization, deurbanization and depopulation. The population of cities is decreasing, many of them are disappearing, people are moving to the countryside. There is a closure of the economy, economic “autarky” prevails.
The overall population is declining due to barbarian invasions, famines and epidemics. One of the worst disasters was the Plague of Justinian (mid-6th century), which killed approximately 100 million people. Overall, Europe's demographic losses are estimated at 40 to 60%.
The social structure in the early Middle Ages is dual. The Germanic conquerors lived separately from the local Romanized population and maintained their own way of life and social structure. The social status of the Germans was determined by the wergeld (“price of life”, a fine for killing a person).
The level of culture and education is falling. The dominant role in society is played by the Christian Church, which has to fight both the Arians (who were almost all Germans) and the remnants of pagan beliefs among the conquerors and the local population.
Political map Europe was characterized by extreme instability; none of the barbarian kingdoms (except the Franks) could survive long enough.
2. State of the Franks.
The Frankish state, which arose in 486, lasted until the division of Charlemagne's empire in 843. Its founder was Clovis, who destroyed the last Roman possessions in Gaul, subjugated the neighboring Germanic tribes and adopted Christianity in the Catholic form. Under him, the “Salic Truth” was created - a record of the customary law of the Salic Franks.
Under his sons, the Franks continued their expansion in Gaul - Burgundy and Provence were conquered. By the mid-6th century, the Franks controlled most of modern France. However, over time, conflicts began in the ruling Merovingian dynasty, which led to the division of the state into three parts: Austrasia, Neustria and Burgundy. The power of the Merovingian kings weakens, and they find themselves under the control of their mayordomos (palace managers). This is the period of "lazy kings" who reigned but did not rule.
At the end of the 7th century. power over the Franks was in the hands of the mayor of Austrasia, Pepin II of Geristal. His successor Charles Martel carried out military reform, creating a heavily armed cavalry army, and was able to stop the Arab advance from the south after the Battle of Poitiers (732).
Pepin III the Short in 751 removes the last Merovingian (Childeric III) and takes the royal title (with the consent of the Pope). In gratitude, he creates for the pope a secular state in Italy (Papal States) from lands taken from the Lombards.
The Frankish state reached its peak under Charlemagne (769–814), who, after a series of successful conquests, assumed the imperial title in 800. However, after his death, under Louis the Pious, dynastic conflicts began, which led to the division of the empire according to the Treaty of Verdun in 843 into three states, from which modern France, Germany and Italy were later formed.
3. The main features of the development of Western European society in the High Middle Ages.
This is the period of the highest flowering of feudal relations (X - XIII centuries). It is characterized by favorable natural conditions, rapid population growth, absence of pandemics and other major natural disasters.
The flourishing of the feudal economy, an increase in productivity, the formation of a feudal city and its rapid growth.
The structure of a feudal society was formed, which had a strictly hierarchical structure and consisted of three classes:
– clergy (oratores)
– secular feudal lords (bellatores)
– peasants and townspeople (laboratores).
The first two estates were privileged and did not pay taxes, the third estate was not full, although the position of the townspeople was dual (they had a number of privileges that brought them closer to the feudal lords).
Politically, the High Middle Ages are characterized by feudal fragmentation. A huge number of feudal estates were formed in Europe, from which large centralized states later began to crystallize.
4. Formation of a system of feudal states in Western Europe.
After the division of Charlemagne's empire, the West Frankish State, the East Frankish State and the State of Lothair arose. The latter turned out to be the least stable and ceased to exist by the end of the 9th century. The West Frankish state became the prototype of France, which in the 10th – 11th centuries found itself in a state of feudal fragmentation.
The East Frankish kingdom developed into Germany, where in the 10th century royalty was strong, and in 962 Otto I even founded the Holy Roman Empire. But subsequently the power of the emperors weakened, and after the failure of the Italian policy of the emperors, Germany found itself in a state of political fragmentation, which it could not overcome until the 19th century.
Italy throughout the Middle Ages did not have a centralized state. In the north there were numerous city-states that fought against the German emperors, in the center there was the papal state, and in the south there was the Kingdom of Sicily, founded by the Normans.
In Spain, there was a struggle between Christian kingdoms and the Moors (Reconquista), during which Portugal, Castile and Aragon emerged by the end of the 3rd century.
5. International relations in the High Middle Ages and the Crusades.
The most significant international enterprise of Christian Europe was the Crusades, the purpose of which was the liberation of the Holy Sepulcher and the colonization of the eastern lands. The era of the Crusades covers 1096 - 1291. There are 8 campaigns in total, of which the first was the most successful. As a result of the first crusade, Christians captured the Holy Land and founded 4 crusader states there: the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch and the County of Edessa.
However, the crusaders' successes were short-lived. In the middle of the 12th century they lost Edessa, and in 1187 - Jerusalem. Attempts to recapture it for a long time failed. Only during the 6th Crusade was Frederick II of Hohenstaufen able to do this diplomatically, but he owned it for only 15 years.
From the middle of the 13th century, the Crusaders' possessions in the East began to rapidly decline under the onslaught of the Egyptian sultans. The last stronghold of the Crusaders, Acre, fell after a siege and assault in 1291. This event ended the era of the Crusader movement.
Topic 9. Western Europe in the Late Middle Ages.
1. Formation of centralized states.
2. Class authorities.
3. Hundred Years' War.
4. The emergence of early capitalist relations
1. Formation of centralized states.
From the 12th century (primarily in France), the process of centralization of fragmented feudal states began. In the fight against the willful feudal lords, the kings relied on the support of cities, small feudal lords and part of the clergy. The main ways were to increase the royal domain, develop national legislation and limit the rights of feudal lords.
An important factor was the emergence of a single economic center in the country - London in England and Paris in France.
In England, the process of centralization was also facilitated by the fact of the conquest of the country by the Norman feudal lords, who rallied around the king, in Spain - by the fact of the reconquista, which required the concentration of power in the hands of the king.
The situation was more complicated in Germany, where the emperors were unable to create a large land fund and enlist the support of German cities. In addition, a single economic center has not developed in Germany, as in England and France.
2. Class authorities.
Centralized states in Western Europe arise in the form of estate-representative monarchies. The earliest such monarchy took shape was in England, where the establishment of parliament dates back to 1265. At the beginning of the 14th century, the convening of the Estates General in France began (under Philip IV the Fair). In Germany there were Reichstags, and in the Spanish kingdoms there were Cortes.
The clergy, secular feudal lords and townspeople took part in the work of representative bodies. The peasants were deprived of this right.
The main issues that were resolved by the estate-representative authorities were taxation issues - the kings needed money to wage wars and maintain the state apparatus. Sometimes they could decide others important questions life of the state.
3. Hundred Years' War.
The Hundred Years' War is the largest military conflict of the Middle Ages. It was fought between France and England. Along with economic reasons, the reason for the war was a dynastic dispute after the end of the Capetian dynasty in France - King Edward III of England laid claim to the French throne.
The war lasted from 1337 to 1453. In essence, it was a series of military conflicts, sometimes separated by quite long periods of peace. At the first stage, the advantage was on the side of the British, who won victories at the Battle of Slacey. Crecy and Poitiers. In the latter, even the French king John the Good was captured by the British and died in captivity.
These failures led to mass uprisings in France (the Parisian uprising and the Jacquerie), which forced the English and French to make peace at Bretigny (1360). The respite was used by the French to carry out military reforms. In 1369, the war resumed, and within a few years the French recaptured almost all of the previously lost territories. However, with the death of King Charles V, hostilities ceased, and in France the struggle of feudal factions began under the mad King Charles VI. The British took advantage of this at the beginning of the 15th century, launching an invasion of France in 1415 and defeating the Armagnac militia at the Battle of Agincourt.
As a result of the peace treaty of Troyes (1420), Henry V of Lancaster was declared regent under Charles VI the Mad, and after his death he was to receive the French throne. Under these conditions, the court of the heir to the throne, Dauphin Charles, becomes the center of resistance.
In 1428, the British resumed their attack on the south of France and besieged Orleans. The capture of Orleans opened up a direct path for them to the Mediterranean Sea and the conquest of all of France. The siege of Orleans was lifted by a detachment led by Joan of Arc, and Charles was crowned as the rightful king of France. Although Joan of Arc was soon captured and burned by the British as a witch, the expulsion of the British from the country began on a wave of popular enthusiasm.
The conflict finally ended in 1453, when French troops captured Bordeaux. The British only had the port of Calais (they lost all other possessions in France), and France retained its independence.
4. The emergence of early capitalist relations
In the Late Middle Ages, the feudal mode of production began to decompose, losing its specific features - closed natural economy, personal dependence of peasants, monopoly of guilds on handicraft production. New economic realities are emerging - rental relations in agriculture, the development of off-shop production, differentiation within the workshops themselves. These changes were caused by the growth of productive forces in Europe during the High Middle Ages. All this indicates the beginning of the emergence of early capitalist relations.
Early capitalist relations first emerged in northern Italy. Then Flanders and Holland followed this path, and later the rest of Western Europe.
Commercial capital penetrates the craft, and the process of initial capital accumulation begins. To circumvent religious prohibitions on usury, bills of exchange and other forms of credit are developed, and new forms of accounting reporting appear.
In Italy and Flanders, the first manufactories appeared - the first form of capitalist production. Manufacturing production was still based on manual, craft technology, but unlike workshops, it was already a large-scale production in which a very fractional division of labor was used in the production process. This led to a sharp increase in labor productivity and cheaper products - it became increasingly difficult for workshops to compete with manufactories.
Manufactures were divided into centralized, dispersed and mixed. The first form was the most progressive.
In connection with the development of manufactories, the formation of two main groups of the future capitalist society begins - the bourgeoisie (owners of manufactories) and wage workers (the proletariat).
Topic 10. Arab world in the Middle Ages
1. The Arab world at the beginning of the Middle Ages. Muhammad and the emergence of Islam.
2. Damascus and Baghdad caliphates. Features of political and economic development.
3. Conquests of the Seljuk Turks
1. The Arab world at the beginning of the Middle Ages. Muhammad and the emergence of Islam.
At the beginning of the Middle Ages, the north of the Arabian Peninsula was an arena of rivalry between the Byzantine Empire and Iran. In the south of Arabia there were independent states that played an important role in world trade. The main population of the region were Arab tribes engaged in nomadic cattle breeding.
It was under these conditions that Islam, the third of the world’s religions, was born. The creator of Islam is Muhammad (570 - 632), who began preaching around 610 in Mecca. In 622, Muhammad and his supporters, fleeing persecution, left Mecca and moved to Medina (from this moment the Muslim calendar begins). Muhammad became the inspiration for the struggle of nomadic tribes with merchants from Mecca, which ended in 630 with an agreement: the inhabitants of Mecca accepted Islam, and the Kaaba became the main Muslim shrine.
The sayings of Muhammad were recorded by his disciples, and after his death they were edited and compiled into the Koran, the holy book of Muslims.
After the death of Muhammad, unrest began among the Arab tribes, some of them wanted to abandon the new religion. Then the prophet’s companions directed the energy of the Arabs to conquer neighboring territories under the banner of the fight against infidels and the spread of Islam. The campaigns of the Arabs began already under the first elected caliphs - the viceroys of the prophet (Abu Bekr, Omar and Osman).
2. Damascus and Baghdad caliphates. Features of political and economic development.
Under the fourth of the elected caliphs, Ali (656 - 661), a civil war began between representatives of different movements in Islam - Shiites, Sunnis and Kharijites). The winner was Muawiyah, the governor of Syria, who in 661 founded the Umayyad dynasty, which ruled the Damascus Caliphate.
Under the rulers of the Damascus Caliphate, Arab conquests continued - at the beginning of the 8th century, the Umayyad state extended from the Pyrenees Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean to the Indus River Valley. In this huge power, purebred Arabs played a dominant role, and the local population gradually felt increasingly tax pressure. Added to this are the contradictions between individual groups among the ruling elite (primarily between the Syro-Arab nobility and the Arabs from Mesopotamia). A wave of uprising swept through the caliphate, the result of which was the overthrow of the Umayyad dynasty in 750, a native of Mesopotamia, Abul Abbas the Bloody, became the new caliph, who became the founder of the Abbasid dynasty.
With the accession of Abbas, the history of the Abbasid Caliphate begins (or the Baghdad Caliphate, which received its name from the new capital of the state, built by Caliph Mansur in 762).
The Abbasids did not pursue an active foreign policy; soon after their accession, the slow disintegration of the power began (in 756 the Emirate of Cordoba in Spain separated).
The Abbasids paid great attention to the development of the economy in their state - at that time the Baghdad Caliphate was one of the most economically developed countries in the world. Culture, which had absorbed all the best from the cultures of the conquered peoples, was also experiencing a genuine flourishing. Feudal relations were developing, although land relations had a number of features (first of all, all the land and the state belonged to the caliph, therefore the inheritance of the feudal lords’ possessions was much worse secured than in Europe ).
The caliphate reached its highest power soon after its inception, in the second half of the 8th - early 9th century. However, already from the middle of the 9th century, the process of disintegration of the caliphate into a number of independent Muslim possessions began. By the middle of the 10th century, only Arabia and part of Mesopotamia around the capital remained in the hands of the Baghdad caliph. And in 1055, Baghdad was conquered by the Seljuk Turks, and the caliph was left with only religious power as the spiritual leader of all Muslims.
3. Conquests of the Seljuk Turks
The Seljuk Turks who conquered Baghdad appeared in Mesopotamia from the steppe territories of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, where they were engaged in nomadic cattle breeding. These Turkic-speaking tribes received their name from the name of the Seljuk leader Ibn Tugak.
In 1035, they left their usual nomadic places and moved to the territory of modern Turkmenistan, where they united with local Turkmen tribes.
In 1040, after the war with Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, the victorious Seljuks created their own state. The Seljuks undertook a number of military campaigns in the 40-50s. XI century, as a result of which a huge empire emerged from the Amu Darya to the Mediterranean Sea.
The Seljuk state reached its greatest prosperity under Malik Shah (1072 - 1092), when even Byzantine Empire. But the heyday did not last long. After the sudden death of Malik Shah, internecine conflicts began, which led to the formation of three main Seljuk states:
– Khorasan (East Seljuk) Sultanate;
– Iraqi (Western Seljuk) Sultanate;
– Rum (Asia Minor) Sultanate.
Subsequently, there is a process of further disintegration of these states into smaller entities. This contributed to the strengthening of the power of the Egyptian sultans in the region, as well as the first successes of the European crusaders in the Eastern Mediterranean.
At the end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th century, the caliph of Baghdad again strengthened, who was trying to revive the power of the caliphate. However, the caliph's enmity with the Khorezmshah weakened the Muslim world in the face of the growing Mongol threat. The result was the conquest of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258, when the city was given over to the army for plunder for 40 days.
The fall of Baghdad and the death of the caliphate had a paralyzing effect on the entire Muslim world and made it easier for the Mongols to make further conquests in the region.
Topic 11. Indian civilization in the Middle Ages.
1. Formation of feudal relations. State of Harsha.
2. Invasions of India by Muslims. Delhi Sultanate.
3. Feudal fragmentation in the 14th century. Timur's invasion. Collapse of the Sultanate.
1. Formation of feudal relations. State of Harsha.
After the invasion of India by the Hephthalite Huns, the Gupta Empire, the last major state formation of ancient India, fell. Already during the reign of the Guptas in India, the process of forming proto-feudal relations began. The practice of donating land is widespread, officials are now paid for their services not with money, but also with land, and there has been a decline in trade, commodity-money relations and cities. All these processes intensified at the beginning of the Middle Ages, especially after the start of Muslim invasions of Northern India.
The next major state formation in India after the Gupta empire was the state of Harsha (named after the founder). Harshi strengthened his power in serene India, relying on a strong army. He patronized Buddhism. However, his power lasted as long as Harshi himself ruled (from 606 to 646) and quickly disintegrated after his death.
2. Invasions of India by Muslims. Delhi Sultanate.
The positions of Indian rulers, especially in the northwestern part of the country, were weakened not only due to constant internecine conflicts, but also due to regular invasions by neighboring tribes.
In the 8th century, the most dangerous conquerors were the Arabs, who conquered the territory of Sindh in 712. True, after a few decades they were you
The entire period of human existence, after it emerged from its early stage of development and left the caves that were pretty boring by that time, can be divided into certain stages, each of which will represent a long-existing community of countries and peoples, united by common social, cultural and economic features. Such a separate historical segment is called civilization and carries within itself only its inherent features.
Civilization as universal historical progress
The theories of universal historical progress dominated in the teachings of the most progressive representatives of the 19th century. At the same time, the individual features of the development of individual societies, related to the characteristics of their race, habitat, climate, religious and other factors, were not taken into account. It was assumed that all of humanity was involved in a single one. The history of the civilizations of its individual groups practically faded into the background.
However, by the end of the century, such historical optimism began to decline and gave way to doubts about the reality of universal historical progress. Theories have emerged and gained a large number of followers that connect the development of individual groups of people with the geographical features of their areas of residence and the degree of adaptation to them, as well as with prevailing religious views, traditions, customs, and so on. The concept of “civilization” has acquired a more modern meaning.
Meaning of the term
It was first introduced into use by such thinkers of the 18th century as Voltaire, A.R. Turgot and A. Fergusson. The term comes from the Latin word “civilis”, which means “civil, state”. However, in that era it was given a slightly different, narrower meaning than now. Everything that emerged from the stage of savagery and barbarism, without division into separate stages, was designated as Civilization.
What is civilization in understanding modern people, well expressed by the English historian and sociologist Arnold Toynbee. He compared it to a living organism, capable of continuously reproducing itself and going through the path from birth to death, while overcoming the stages of birth, growth, flourishing, decline and death.
A new approach to understanding an old term
At the beginning of the 20th century, modern civilization began to be viewed as the result of the development of its individual local subjects. Scientists have come to the attention of the peculiarities of their social systems, the characteristic features of the people inhabiting certain regions, as well as their interaction in the context of world history.
The stage of civilization formation is common to all peoples without exception, but proceeds differently everywhere. The acceleration or deceleration of its pace depends on a large number of reasons, among which the most important are wars, natural disasters, epidemics, and so on. A common feature of the emergence of all civilizations, their starting point is considered to be the transition of ancient people from hunting and fishing, that is, the consumption of a finished product, to its production, namely agriculture and cattle breeding.
Subsequent stages of development of society
The second stage, which includes the history of civilizations, is characterized by the emergence of pottery production and writing in its early and sometimes primitive forms. Both indicate active progress in which a particular society is involved. The next stage that world civilizations go through is the formation of urban culture and, as a consequence of this, the further intensive development of writing. Based on how quickly the development of these and a number of other factors proceeded, we can conditionally distinguish between progressive and backward peoples.
So, all of the above gives a general idea of what civilization is, what historical progress is and what its main features are. However, it should be noted that in scientific world There is no single point of view on this issue, since each scientist brings his own, purely personal features to his understanding. Even on the issue of dividing civilizations into agricultural, industrial, and also based on their geographical location and economic features, there are different points of view.
The emergence of ancient civilizations
One of the controversial issues is the attempt to establish the chronology of the origins of the earliest civilizations known to science. It is generally accepted that they were the city-states of Mesopotamia, which appeared in the valley and Euphrates about five thousand years ago. The birth of the Ancient Egyptian civilization dates back to the same historical period. Somewhat later, the features of civilization were adopted by the peoples inhabiting India, and about a thousand years later it appeared in China. The historical progress of the peoples living in the Balkans at that time gave impetus to the emergence of the ancient Greek states.
All the worlds arose in the valleys of large rivers, such as the Tigris, Euphrates, Nile, Indus, Ganges, Yangtze and so on. They were called “river”, and their appearance was largely due to the need to create numerous irrigation systems in cultivated areas. Climatic conditions were also an important factor. As a rule, the first states appeared in tropical and subtropical zones.
The development of civilization in the coastal areas took place similarly. It also required the organization of joint actions of a large number of people, and the success of navigation contributed to the establishment of cultural and trade ties with other peoples and tribes. It began to play such a significant role in the entire world development and has not lost its relevance to this day.
War between man and nature
The main world civilizations of antiquity developed in conditions of constant struggle with natural disasters and difficulties caused by the landscape of the area. As history shows, people have not always emerged victorious. There are known examples of the death of entire peoples who became victims of raging natural disasters. Suffice it to recall the Cretan-Mycenaean civilization, buried under the ashes of a volcano, and the legendary Atlantis, the reality of whose existence many prominent scientists are trying to prove.
Types of civilizations
The typology of civilizations, that is, their division into types, is carried out depending on the meaning given to this concept itself. However, in the scientific world there are such terms as river, sea and mountain civilizations. These include, respectively, Ancient Egypt, Phenicia and a number of states of Pre-Columbian America. Continental civilizations are also included in a separate group, which, in turn, are divided into nomadic and sedentary. These are just the main sections of the typology. In fact, each of the listed species has many more divisions.
Historical stages of development of societies
The history of civilizations shows that having originated and gone through a period of development, often accompanied by wars of conquest as a result of which, oddly enough, the management system and structure of society are improved, they reach their heyday and maturity. This stage is fraught with a certain danger due to the fact that, as a rule, the process of rapid qualitative development gives way to the preservation of conquered positions, which inevitably leads to stagnation.
This is not always recognized by society. More often it perceives this state as the highest point of its development. In practice, this turns into a political and economic crisis, which results in internal unrest and interstate clashes. Typically, stagnation permeates areas such as ideology, culture, economics and religion.
And finally, the consequence of stagnation is the destruction of civilization and its death. At this stage, there is an aggravation of social and political conflicts, which, against the backdrop of weakening power structures, has disastrous consequences. With rare exceptions, all former civilizations have passed this thorny path.
The only exceptions can be those peoples and states that disappeared from the face of the Earth due to purely external reasons beyond their control. For example, the Hyksos invasion destroyed Ancient Egypt, and the Spanish conquistadors put an end to the states of Mesoamerica. However, even in these cases, carrying out deep Scan, one can find in the last stages of life of disappeared civilizations signs of the same stagnation and decay.
Change of civilizations and their life cycle
Looking carefully at the history of mankind, one cannot help but notice that the death of a civilization does not always entail the destruction of a people and its culture. Sometimes a process occurs in which the collapse of one civilization is the birth of another. The most striking example is the Greek civilization, which gave way to the Roman, and was replaced by the modern civilization of Europe. This gives grounds to talk about the ability of the life cycle of civilizations to repeat and self-reproduce. This feature underlies the progressive development of humanity and inspires hope in the irreversibility of the process.
Summarizing the description of the stages of development of states and peoples, it should be noted that not every civilization goes through the above periods. What is the natural course of history, for example, in the face of natural disasters that can change its course in the blink of an eye? It is enough to recall at least the Minoan civilization, which was in its heyday and destroyed by the Santorini volcano.
Eastern form of civilization
It is also important to take into account the fact that the characteristics of a civilization often depend on its geographical location. Besides, great importance have national characteristics of the people who make up its population. For example, the civilization of the East is full of unique, unique features. This term covers states located not only in Asia, but also in Africa and the vast expanses of Oceania.
Eastern civilization is heterogeneous in its structure. It can be divided into Middle Eastern-Muslim, Indian-South Asian and Chinese-Far Eastern. Despite the individual characteristics of each of them, they contain many common features that give grounds to talk about a single Eastern model of social development.
In this case, the common ones are: characteristics, as the unlimited power of the bureaucratic elite not only over the peasant communities under its subordination, but also over representatives of the private sector: among them artisans, moneylenders and all kinds of traders. The power of the supreme ruler of the state is considered given from God and is sanctified by religion. Almost every eastern civilization has these features.
Western model of society
A completely different picture appears on the European continent and in America. Western civilization is, first of all, a product of assimilation, processing and transformation of the achievements of previous cultures that have gone down in history. In its arsenal are religious impulses borrowed from the Jews, philosophical breadth inherited from the Greeks and a high degree of state organization based on Roman law.
The entire modern Western civilization is built on the philosophy of Christianity. On this basis, starting from the Middle Ages, human spirituality was formed, resulting in its highest form, called humanism. Also, the most important contribution of the West to the development of world progress is science, which changed the entire course of global history, and the implementation of institutions of political freedom.
Western civilization is characterized by rationality, but, unlike the Eastern form of thinking, it is characterized by consistency, on the basis of which mathematics was developed and It also became the basis for developing the legal foundations of the state. Its main principle is the dominance of individual rights over the interests of the collective and society. Throughout world history, there has been a confrontation between Eastern and Western civilizations.
The phenomenon of Russian civilization
When in the 19th century, in countries inhabited by Slavic peoples, the idea of their unification on the basis of ethnic and linguistic community was born, the term “Russian civilization” appeared. He was especially popular among Slavophiles. This concept focuses attention on the original features of Russian culture and history, emphasizes their difference from the cultures of the West and East, and puts their national origin at the forefront.
One of the theorists of Russian civilization was the famous historian and sociologist of the 19th century N.Ya. Danilevsky. In his writings, he predicted that the West, which, in his opinion, had passed the apogee of its development, would soon decline and die out. Russia, in his eyes, was the bearer of progress, and the future belonged to it. Under her leadership, all Slavic peoples were to achieve cultural and economic prosperity.
Among outstanding literary figures, Russian civilization also had its ardent supporters. Suffice it to recall F.M. Dostoevsky with his idea of a “God-bearing people” and the opposition of the Orthodox understanding of Christianity to the Western one, in which he saw the coming of the Antichrist. It is also impossible not to mention L.N. Tolstoy and his idea of a peasant community, entirely based on Russian tradition.
For many years, debates have not subsided about which civilization Russia belongs to with its bright originality. Some argue that its uniqueness is only external, and in its depths it is a manifestation of global processes. Others, insisting on its originality, emphasize its Eastern origin and see in it an expression of the East Slavic community. Russophobes generally deny the uniqueness of Russian history.
A special place in world history
Leaving these discussions aside, we note that many prominent historians, philosophers, theologians and religious figures, both of our time and of past years, assign a very specific place to Russian civilization, singling it out in a special category. Among those who were the first to emphasize the uniqueness of the paths of their fatherland in world history were such outstanding personalities as I. Aksakov, F. Tyutchev, I. Kireev and many others.
The position of the so-called Eurasians on this issue deserves attention. This philosophical and political trend appeared in the twenties of the last century. In their opinion, Russian civilization is a mixture of European and Asian features. But Russia synthesized them, turning them into something original. In it they were not reduced to a simple set of borrowings. Only in such a coordinate system, say Eurasians, can we consider the historical path of our Motherland.
Historical progress and civilization
What is a specific civilization outside of the historical context that determines its forms? Based on the fact that it cannot but be localized in time and space, for a comprehensive study it is necessary, first of all, to draw up the most complete picture of the historical period of its existence. However, history is not something static, motionless and changing only at certain moments. She is constantly on the move. Therefore, any of the world civilizations under consideration is like a river - despite the similarity of its external outlines, it is constantly new and every moment filled with different content. It can be full-flowing, carrying its waters for many millennia, or it can become shallow and disappear without a trace.
Development of international relations in the 18th century. showed how fragile the world was. Conflicts between European powers over commercial and colonial hegemony were largely resolved in wars. In the competition between European powers, the most economically advanced and most modernized countries won. It is not surprising that by the 18th century. leadership in colonial conquests passed to England. The first example of the instability of the colonial system was shown by the North American English colonies, which from the struggle for political freedoms moved to the war for independence from the mother country (American Revolution of 1775), which led to the formation of an independent state - the United States of America. At the same time, reactionary features began to take shape in the foreign policy of a number of European states, which were especially clearly manifested in the liquidation of Polish statehood and in relation to the French bourgeois revolution. In the 18th century. the leading role in European foreign policy belonged to five states; France, England, Russia, Austria and Prussia. The main area of struggle between these powers was influence in fragmented Italy and Germany, issues of the division of Poland and the prospects for their establishment in the Balkan Peninsula, which was the former possession of Turkey.
Causes and nature of the First World War
Reasons: 1) aggravation of contradictions between the leading powers in the struggle for the redivision of an already divided world, markets and colonies; 2)increasing confrontation between the great powers. First of all, between England and Germany; 3) the growing contradiction and opposing interests between the “Triple Alliance” (Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary) and the “Entente” (Russia, France, England); 4) the desire of governments to divert people's attention from social problems and internal conflicts.
The First World War was aggressive, unjust and imperialistic.
The origins of human society and the specifics of ancient civilizations
In the separation of man from the animal world and the emergence of human society, labor played a leading role: the conscious, pre-planned production and use of tools in order to satisfy basic needs, primarily food and protection from enemies. However, human society did not arise immediately with the advent of the first tools labor. This was preceded by a long period of evolution, during which the formation of man as a species (anthropogenesis) and the formation of human society (sociogenesis) took place simultaneously and in parallel.
The civilizations of antiquity retained much of primitive society, and above all dependence on nature, mythological forms of thinking, cult and rituals focused on natural cycles. The nature of interaction between society and nature during the transition from primitive society to ancient civilizations changes significantly. This is due to people’s expanding knowledge about nature, their desire to more fully use its wealth to meet the needs of society, and the replacement of the consuming type of economy with a producing one. People's dependence on nature was still great, which was especially evident in extreme situations. But the mastery of metals, the accumulation of knowledge and its transmission through writing changed the forms of this dependence. However, the main thing that marked the transition from primitiveness to ancient civilizations was the beginning of organized human production activity. This leap in the development of society was called the “agrarian revolution.” The transition from primitiveness to civilization is associated with a change in the nature of interaction between people in society, with the birth of a new type of social relations caused by the growth of cities, the concentration of a significant part of the population and economic activity in them, with the complication of the social structure, the formation of statehood, with the emergence of new types of activities, especially in the field of management and training, with changes in methods of storing and transmitting information.
39. 1. AlexanderIII reigned from 1881 to 1894 He was not prepared to become a king, he received a military education, was modest, hardworking, attached to his family, had a will of steel, and was not stupid, but his thinking was quite down-to-earth, he did not see the future well. He was conservative, reserved in domestic policy, was careful, wisely avoided war.2. After the murder of his father, Alexander III put forward a program for his reign:
> suppression of the opposition, revolutionary movement; > strengthening the foundations of Russian life - autocracy, Orthodoxy, nationality. Alexander III knew that before his death his father approved the project of liberal reforms of M. T. Loris-Melikov (constitution, etc.). But under the influence of the chief prosecutor of the Synod, Yu. A. Pobedonostsev, an extremely reactionary figure, the new emperor abandoned this project, saying that his father “reformed too much.” Some historians believe that Alexander III carried out counter-reforms aimed at a gradual return to the old, strengthening the class system and autocracy. But these attempts were unsuccessful.3. Loris-Melikov resigned, a provision on a regime of emergency management was introduced (expulsion of objectionable persons, military courts, closure of newspapers, universities).4. The peasant problem remained the most difficult. Under Alexander III, certain measures were taken to alleviate the situation of the peasants: the temporarily obligated state of the peasants was abolished, the amount of redemption payments was reduced, and the gradual abolition of the poll tax began. In 1882, the Peasant Bank was established, which provided cheap loans for peasants to purchase land. In 1889, peasants were allowed to move to other lands, while they were provided with benefits for 3 years and exemption from military service. And at the same time, Alexander III strengthened the landowner economy, the power of the nobles over the peasants, and supported the peasant community. The words belong to the king: “You shouldn’t believe the nonsense rumors about the free distribution of land.”5. Under the new Minister of Internal Affairs D. A. Tolstoy (since 1882), the strengthening of repressive policies began. Now the minister or governor-general could declare any region of the country “in a state of exception,” expel undesirable persons, close enterprises and newspapers, and introduce military courts. The political system of Russia began to acquire the features of a police state. Security departments (“secret police”) emerged to monitor public order and security.6. According to the law of 1884, universities were deprived of their autonomy, tuition fees doubled, and student organizations were banned. The number of lessons for studying religious subjects and classical languages has been increased. Hundreds of book titles were confiscated from libraries.7. Alexander III sought to preserve the unitary character of the state. The basis of his course was the Russification of the national borderlands. Russian Orthodox Church was in an exceptional situation. Only in Central Asia were the Muslim Church and Muslim courts left intact.
46. WORLD WAR I(July 28, 1914 – November 11, 1918) 1914 - 1918 – World War I. 38 states fought. More than 10 million were killed, more than 20 million were maimed and wounded. REASONS for the war: Germany’s desire for world domination. France wanted to become the main country in Europe. Great Britain wanted to prevent the strengthening of anyone in Europe. Russia wanted to protect the countries of Eastern Europe from aggression .Strong contradictions between the countries of Europe and Asia in the struggle for spheres of influence. Triple Alliance -military bloc of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.Entente (consent) –military bloc Great Britain, France and Russia. REASON for war: in the city of Sarajevo (Bosnia), one fanatic killed the prince of Austria-Hungary. As a result, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Turkey and Bulgaria began to fight against the Entente countries. Progress of the war: In August 1914 Russia achieved success, but then the inconsistency of the armies, supply problems, betrayal and espionage led to defeats. By the end of 1915Russia lost the Baltic states, Poland, part of Ukraine and Belarus.In 1916 under the leadership of General Brusilov, a breakthrough was carried out on the Southwestern Front. More than 400 thousand enemies were killed, wounded and captured. Germany sent forces to help Austria-Hungary and saved it from disaster. On March 1, 1917 A general offensive of the Russian army was being prepared along the entire front line. But a week before this, the enemies staged a revolution in Petrograd. The offensive failed. The February Revolution destroyed all the army's victorious plans. Mass desertion began, soldiers did not obey orders, intelligence data was declassified. As a result, all offensives of the Russian army failed. There were many killed and captured. RESULTS: After October 1917The Bolsheviks came to power.In March 1918they concluded with Germany "Treaty of Brest-Litovsk", gave the western lands to Russia and stopped participating in the war. Russia lost the most: more than 6 million killed, wounded, and maimed. The main industrial areas were destroyed.
51. REASONS: INTERNAL POLICY OF THE BOLSHEVIKS: the overthrow of the Provisional Government and the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly restored the nobles, bourgeoisie, intelligentsia, clergy and officers against the new government; the discrepancy between the goals of transforming society and the methods for achieving them, alienated the Cossacks, kulaks and middle peasants from the Bolsheviks. THE DESIRE OF THE OVERVILLED CLASSES TO PRESERVE PRIVATE PROPERTY: the nationalization of all land and the confiscation of landowners caused fierce resistance from its former owners; the bourgeoisie wanted to return their factories and factories; the liquidation of commodity-money relations hit hard on the property status of the middle and petty bourgeoisie. The creation of a one-party political system and The “dictatorship of the proletariat” alienated the socialist parties from the Bolsheviks. With the decrees “On the arrest of the leaders of the civil war against the revolution” and “On the Red Terror”, the Bolsheviks legislated the right to reprisal against their political opponents. Therefore, the Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries and anarchists refused to cooperate with the Soviet government. REASONS FOR FOREIGN INTERVENTION IN RUSSIA: to liquidate the world's first socialist state; to deprive Russia of state independence, to divide its territory among themselves; to force Russia to continue the imperialist war and thereby alleviate the situation of the allied troops; If it is not possible to eliminate the socialist system in Russia, implement a number of measures that complicate the economic and political development countries. FEATURES OF THE CIVIL WAR: the civil war was characterized by exceptional tension, since it was a class war. Compromise in such a war is impossible. The civil war gripped the entire country as a whole, all classes and strata of society. The whole people took part in the war. The Russian civil war merged with foreign intervention. This fact gave the war a difficult and lengthy character. The Civil War began under the conditions of the First World War. PERIODS OF THE CIVIL WAR: I- May 1918 - March 1919II- March 1919 - March 1920III- April - November 1920 FIRST PERIOD - END OF MAY 1918 - MARCH 1919. In 1918, the main centers of the anti-Bolshevik movement were formed: in February, the “Union of the Revival of Russia” (cadets, Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries) arose in Moscow and Petrograd; in March The Union for the Defense of the Motherland was formed under the leadership of the Socialist Revolutionary Savinkov; a strong anti-Bolshevik movement developed among the Cossacks. On the Don and Kuban they were led by General P.N. Krasnov, in the Southern Urals - Ataman Dutov; in the south of Russia and the North Caucasus, the formation of an officer Volunteer Army began. It became the basis of the white movement. In the spring of 1918, foreign intervention began: Germany occupied Ukraine, Crimea and part of the North Caucasus; in March 1918, the British landed in Murmansk. They were joined by the French and Americans; in April 1918, Vladivostok was occupied by the Japanese. In May 1918, soldiers of the Czechoslovak corps rebelled. The uprising led to the overthrow of Soviet power in the Volga region and Siberia. Governments of Cadets, Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks were created in Samara, Ufa and Omsk. They sought to revive the Constituent Assembly. They did not exist for long. In the summer of 1918, the anti-Bolshevik movement led by the Socialist Revolutionaries acquired enormous proportions. They organized performances in many cities of Russia (Yaroslavl, Rybinsk, etc.). On July 6-7, the Left Social Revolutionaries tried to overthrow the Soviet government in Moscow. But this attempt failed. July 16, 1918 The Ural Regional Council shot Tsar Nicholas II and his family. In July 1918, the Eastern Front was organized under the command of I.I. Vatsetis. It was declared the main front of the civil war. At the beginning of September 1918, the Red Army went on the offensive. By the autumn of 1918, Soviet power was restored in the Urals and Volga region. This ended the first period of the civil war. The second period was March 1919 - March 1920. At the beginning of 1919, the white movement reached its maximum extent. In Siberia, power was seized by A.V. Kolchak, declared "Supreme Ruler of Russia." In Kuban and the North Caucasus A.I. Denikin united the Don and Volunteer armies into the Armed Forces of southern Russia. In the north, with the help of the Entente, E.K. formed his own army. Miller. In the Baltics, General N.N. Yudenich was preparing for a campaign against Petrograd. In 1919, a plan was developed for a simultaneous attack on Soviet power from the east (Kolchak), south (Denikin), and west (Yudenich). It was not possible to implement this plan. In March 1919, Kolchak launched an offensive from the Urals. The Eastern Front was again recognized as the main front of the civil war. It was strengthened and went on the offensive in April. The front commander was M.V. Frunze. In January, near Krasnoyarsk, Kolchak was captured and shot. Soviet power was established in Siberia. In May 1919. Yudenich moved to Petrograd. In June he was stopped and his troops retreated to Estonia. Yudenich's second offensive in October 1919 also ended in defeat. His troops were disarmed and interned by the Estonian government. In July 1919, Denikin captured Ukraine and launched an attack on Moscow. He captured the cities of Kursk, Orel and Voronezh. To fight it, the Southern Front was formed under the command of A.I. Egorova. In October the army went on the offensive. In December 1919 - early 1920 Denikin's troops were defeated. Soviet power was restored in the south of Russia, Ukraine and the North Caucasus. The third period is April - November 1920. The main events of this period were the Soviet-Polish war and the fight against P.N. Wrangel. To restore “Greater Poland,” Polish troops invaded Belarus and Ukraine in May. The Red Army defeated the Polish army in July 1920. The attack on Warsaw began. Poland was supported by Western countries. In August, the Red Army's offensive was stopped. The Soviet-Polish war ended with the signing of peace in Riga in March 1921. Poland received Western Ukraine and Western Belarus. In June 1920, Wrangel launched an attack on the Donbass. To fight it, the Southern Front was formed (commander M.V. Frunze). At the end of October 1920, Wrangel's troops were defeated in Northern Tavria and pushed back to Crimea. In November, units of the Red Army captured the Perekop Isthmus and broke into Crimea. The defeat of Wrangel marked the end of the civil war.
54. 1. Crisis of the late 20s. In the 20s the issue of grain procurements became more acute, peasants lost interest in grain supplies, because prices for it were low, and the price of manufactured goods was much higher. Grain procurement detachments appeared on the roads again, there was muttering in the villages, and a riot was brewing. There were two points of view regarding the way out of the crisis. Bukharin, Rykov - maintaining the NEP, developing market relations. Stalin - collectivization, industrialization. Stalin won, Bukharin and Rykov remained in disgrace.
2. Industrialization of Russia, its tasks and results: Sources of funds for industrialization: income from light industry and agriculture, trade in gold, timber, furs; taxes on NEPmanov. Tasks: 1) Development of heavy industry to equip the army; 2) Increased labor productivity; 3) Reducing unemployment; 4) Expansion of all industrial production and their nationalization.
Results: 1) The average annual increase in industrial enterprises is 600 units; 2) Acceleration by 2 times of the growth rate of heavy engineering; 3) Reducing unemployment; 4) Lagging light industry.3. Collectivization in Russia, its results: In the 20–30s. There was intensive collectivization of agriculture. The policy of dispossession has acquired national proportions. In the village there were 5% kulaks, 18% poor people - the rest were middle peasants. The middle peasants suffered the most. By driving peasants into collective farms, most of their property was taken away. This policy caused a wave of peasant resistance. Collectivization was completed. Collective farms appeared in the country. Results: 1) Everyone who had something was dispossessed and robbed; 2) Almost all peasants became collective farmers; 3) The destruction of the age-old ways of the village; 4) Reduced grain production; 5) Famine of the early 30s; 6) Terrible loss of livestock.4. The essence of the NEP: 1) Replacing surplus appropriation with a tax in kind, stimulating peasant farms, the possibility of renting land and hiring workers; 2) Creation of small public-private enterprises; 3) Restructuring the management of the national economy; 4) Changing wages to piecework; 5) The creation of new jobs for military personnel transferred to the reserve and the issuance of unemployment benefits should reduce the shortage in the labor force. Financial reform during the NEP period: 1) Suppression of the uncontrolled issue of paper money; 2) Creation of local budgets, only partially financed by the Ministry of Finance; 3) New systems of direct and indirect taxes; 4) The introduction of the chervonets, which has free circulation abroad with a stable exchange rate. The main results of the NEP: 1) Forced industrialization and collectivization; 2) Improving the well-being of the population, reducing unemployment; 3) Favorable Agriculture and industry; 4) Development of commodity-money relations - financial reform; 5) Development of new social relations, socialist economy.5. Socio-political life. This period of time was characterized by extreme tension. A totalitarian regime is established in the country. Noisy political trials against pests begin. An attempt by the state to control the personal lives of citizens. Denunciations are encouraged. The country and citizens were saturated with general fear. The Gulag camps are overcrowded and the army has been purged. About 80% of the top and middle command ranks of the armed forces were repressed. There were fewer and fewer dissatisfied people, and totalitarianism became more and more firmly entrenched in the life of the country.
61. The Second World War1939-1945 - war started by Germany, Italy and Japan.September 11939 Germany invaded Poland. UK and FranceSeptember 3declared war on Germany. In April - May 1940, Nazi troops occupied Denmark and Norway,May 101940 invaded Belgium (surrenderedMay 28), the Netherlands (capitulatedMay 14), Luxembourg, and then through their territory to France (capitulated22nd of June; at the end of June in London, a committee of Free France was created, from July 1942 - Fighting France).June 10th 1940 Italy entered the war on the side of Germany. In April 1941, Germany captured the territory of Greece and Yugoslavia.
On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union (seeGreat Patriotic War Soviet Union 1941-45). Hungary, Romania, Finland, and Italy performed together with her. On the Soviet-German front there were from 62 to 70% of the active divisions of Nazi Germany. The defeat of the enemy in the Battle of Moscow 1941-42 meant the failure of Hitler’s “lightning war” plan. In the summer of 1941, the creation of an anti-Hitler coalition began. December 7With the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan launched a war againstUSA. December 8The USA, Great Britain and other countries declared war on Japan.December 11th Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. At the end of 1941 - beginning of 1942, Japan captured Malaya, Indonesia, the Philippines, Burma, and threatened to invade Australia (see Pacific campaigns). On the Soviet-German front, as a result of the summer offensive, fascist German troops reached the Caucasus and the Volga.
The victories of the Red Army in the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942-43 and the Battle of Kursk in 1943 led to the final loss of the strategic initiative by the German command. By May 1943, North Africa was liberated by Anglo-American troops (see North African Campaign). In July - August 1943, Anglo-American troops landed on the island of Sicily. September 3 In 1943, Italy signed an act of surrender. The Tehran Conference of 1943 recognized the paramount importance of opening a 2nd Front in Europe by landing Anglo-French troops in Northern France.
In 1944, the Red Army liberated almost the entire territory of the Soviet Union.June 6 In 1944, the Western allies landed in France, thus opening the 2nd front in Europe, and in September 1944, with the active support of the French Resistance forces, cleared almost the entire territory of France from fascist occupiers.
From mid-1944, Soviet troops began the liberation of the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe, which was completed in the spring of 1945 with the participation of the patriotic forces of these countries. In April, Northern Italy and areas of Western Germany were liberated by Allied forces. At the Crimean Conference of 1945, plans for the final defeat of Nazi Germany, as well as the principles of the post-war world order, were agreed upon. May 2In 1945, Berlin was captured by the Red Army. At midnightMay 8 In the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst, representatives of the German High Command signed the Act of Unconditional Surrender. May 11 The Red Army completed the Prague Operation of 1945. In the Pacific Ocean, the American-British armed forces captured the Marshall and Mariana Islands in 1944, and the Philippines and the Japanese island of Okinawa in 1945. The US Air Force dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese city of Hiroshima ( August 61945) and Nagasaki (August 9), which was not caused by military necessity.8 August1945, the USSR, in accordance with the obligations assumed at the Crimean Conference, declared war andAugust 9began military operations against Japan; performed together with the USSR (10th of August) Mongolian People's Republic,11th AugustThe People's Liberation Army of China went on the offensive against the Japanese invaders. JapanSeptember 21945 signed an act of unconditional surrender.
In the Second world war 72 states were involved. In the countries participating in the war, up to 110 million people were mobilized. During the war, up to 62 million people died (including over 27 million Soviet citizens).
72. Measures to ease international tension: 1969 - development of a draft treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons; it prohibited the transfer of nuclear weapons to states that do not own them or to military blocs; in March 1970, the treaty came into force. Development of relations with capitalist countries :1966 - visit to the USSR by French President de Gaulle; signing of the Soviet-French declaration; cooperation agreements were concluded in economics, in the field of study and exploration of space for peaceful purposes; relations between the USSR and Germany were normalized; DEVELOPMENT OF FOREIGN TRADE WITH THE WEST: signing long-term cooperation contracts with England; construction industrial facilities on the territory of the USSR; Soviet-Japanese agreement on Japanese participation in the development of the South Yakut coal basin. 1972 - SALT-1 agreement was concluded between the USSR and the USA. It was the beginning of a policy of détente of international tension. Meeting on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki , 1975, the heads of 33 states of Europe, the USA and Canada participated; they signed the Declaration of Principles of Relations and Cooperation of Countries: a) sovereign equality; b) non-interference in each other’s internal affairs; c) peaceful settlement of disputes; d) respect for human rights; e) the inviolability of the borders in Europe that emerged after World War II was recognized. However, the main directions of the USSR's foreign policy strategy were still determined by: the ideology of confrontation; the conviction of the impossibility of the long-term existence of socialism and capitalism; a reflection of this ideology was the idea of peaceful existence as a continuation in modern form class struggle and the thesis about the constant intensification of the ideological confrontation between the two systems. Hence the desire of the USSR to support revolutionary social forces in everything, especially in the “third world countries”. This led to the outbreak of regional conflicts. In the 70s. with the help of the USSR, industrial and agricultural facilities were built in the states of Southeast Asia and Africa. December 1979 - the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan at the request of the People's Democratic Party, which came to power in this country in 1978. Condemnation of this action by the USSR by the world community . The UN announced a violation by the Soviet Union of the sovereignty of the states of the “third world”. The consequences of this action for the USSR: contacts with Western countries and the USA were reduced; the US Senate refused to ratify the SALT-2 treaty signed with the USSR. RELATIONS WITH SOCIALIST COUNTRIES: Increasing the volume of mutual trade turnover with countries CMEA. Their share accounted for over 50% of the total trade turnover. 1971 - the adoption of the Comprehensive Program of Socialist Economic Integration. It included the international division of labor, the rapprochement of the CMEA countries, the expansion of trade between socialist countries. The USSR built nuclear power plants in Bulgaria, the GDR, reconstructed the Danube metallurgical plant in Hungary, built a rubber plant in Romania. The USSR pursued a policy of “limited sovereignty” towards the socialist countries. In the West, this policy was called the “Brezhnev Doctrine.” One of the manifestations of this “doctrine” was the USSR’s intervention in the internal affairs of Czechoslovakia. In 1968, the Czechoslovak leadership made an attempt to “renew socialism” by: democratizing society; introducing market principles into the economy; reorientation of foreign policy towards Western countries. These actions were regarded as a “counter-revolution”. In August 1968, troops from the USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany and Poland were brought into Czechoslovakia. The Prague Spring was suppressed. The new leadership of Czechoslovakia pledged to prevent “anti-socialism.” Worsening relations with the PRC: spring 1969 - armed clashes over Damansky Island (Ussuri River); measures were taken on the island to strengthen the border with China; numbers were increased Soviet troops in Mongolia; this led to increased tension in relations between the USSR and China. Increasing contradictions in relations between the USSR and its allies in the Warsaw Internal Affairs in the late 70s - early 80s: in the countries of Eastern Europe there was an intensified desire to free themselves from the tutelage of the USSR; socialist countries sought to achieve independence in conducting domestic and foreign policies.
The origin of human society and the specifics of ancient civilizations. Paths of politogenesis and stages of state formation in the light of modern scientific data. Different types of communities in the pre-state period. Problems of ethnogenesis and the role of migration in the formation of peoples. Specifics of civilizations (state, society, culture) of the Ancient East and antiquity. The territory of Russia in the system of the Ancient World. The most ancient cultures of Northern Eurasia (Neolithic and Bronze Age). Country of the Aryans. Cimmerians and Scythians. Ancient empires of Central Asia.
Scythian tribes; Greek colonies in the Northern Black Sea region; Great Migration of Peoples in III–VI
centuries. Problems of ethnogenesis and early history of the Slavs in historical science.
Fall of the Roman Empire. Change of forms of statehood. Barbarian kingdoms. State of the Franks *. Merovingians and Carolingians.
Traditional forms social organization European peoples in the pre-state period.
Ethnocultural and socio- political processes formation of Russian statehood. Socio-economic and political changes in the depths of Slavic society at the turn of the 8th–9th centuries.
East Slavs in antiquity (VIII–XIII centuries). The reasons for the emergence of princely power and its functions. The latest archaeological discoveries in Novgorod and their influence on ideas about the origin of the Old Russian state. The genesis of ancient Russian statehood and the role of Norman influence. Features of the socio-political development of the Old Russian state. Old Russian state in the assessments of modern historians. The problem of the peculiarities of the social system of Ancient Rus'.
Discussion about the nature of the socio-economic formation in Russian science. The concepts of “state feudalism” and “community system”. Feudalism of Western Europe and the socio-economic system of Ancient Rus': similarities and differences. Power traditions and institutions in the states of Eastern, Central and Northern Europe in the early Middle Ages; the role of a military leader.
The problem of forming the elite of Ancient Rus'. The role of the veche. Cities in the political and socio-economic structure of Ancient Rus'.
The evolution of ancient Russian statehood in the 11th–12th centuries. Socio-economic and political structure Russian lands during the period of political fragmentation. Formation of various models of development of ancient Russian society and state.
Neighbors of Ancient Rus' in the 9th–12th centuries: Byzantium, Slavic countries, Western Europe, Khazaria, Volga Bulgaria. International relations of ancient Russian lands. Cultural influences of East and West. Christianization; spiritual and material culture of Ancient Rus'.
