Historiographical Research on Russian History: A View from Central Europe (Szvák Gyula. Opyt Mikroistoriografii. Moscow, Akvilon, 2019. 288 p.)

Abstract

The review presents the analysis of Gyula Szvák’s essays and studies written on Russian historiography over more than thirty years. His main field of research, the reigns of Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great, and their importance in the course of Russian History stand in the focus of the collected works. His method, called by him “historical microphilology”, is reminiscent of the approaches used by some scholars of conceptual history. He argues that by using this method some paradigms can be revealed which can help us better understand the flow of Russian History.

Keywords

• russian history
• “historical microphilology”
• statism
• conceptual history
• autocracy
• ivan the terrible
• peter the great
• gyula szvák