Yu. E. Zavoyko’s Memories as a Source on History of Far Eastern Theatre of Crimean War of 1853-1856

Abstract

The article analyses notes-memories of Yulia Egorovna Zavoyko (1819-1892), wife of the famous Russian military leader, Admiral Vasily Stepanovich Zavoyko (1810-1898). The literary heritage of Yu. E. Zavoyko is regarded as an important historical source on the history of Kamchatka and the Kamchatka theatre of the Crimean war of 1853-1856. The relevance of the topic is due to the great interest that nowadays manifests itself to the historical problems of gender, first of all - to the understanding of the role of a woman in the historical process. Scientific novelty of research consists in the fact that the literary heritage of Yu. E. Zavoyko by the date has not been the subject of research. It is noted that her name is now known mainly only to professional historians and those who are interested in the history of Russia. It is reported that Yu. E. Zavoyko was born in an aristocratic family and was a relative of a whole group of famous Russian historical figures. It is emphasized that a number of memoirs and scientific works are devoted to the Kamchatka events of 1854-1855. It is stated that some works are devoted to Yu. E. Zavoyko herself and her famous husband, but her memories were not given worthy attention. It is argued that these memories favourably differ from all other works by the fact that they are written by a woman, wife and mother, and therefore do not cover the “battle” (and well-known), but the everyday, everyday side of life and defence of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. It is added that their author was able to contain a fairly large amount of valuable historical, ethnographic and geographical information in a small number of written pages.

Keywords

• crimean war of 1853-1856
• zavoyko’s spouses