Nikolai Kopylov

Katedra za opštu i nacionalnu istoriju, Univerzitet MGIMO, Moskva

n-kopelov@yandex.ru

Modern Russian historiography on Russian-Serbian relations during the First World War and Russian Revolution

Abstract: Based on his experience of working at one of the leading Russian higher education institutions, the author gives a review of works by contemporary Russian authors, as well as collections of documents and papers published in Russia in the last decade on Russian-Serbian relations before and during the Great War. Special attention is paid to the works used in teaching in modern Russian higher education institutions for the education of future generations of historians

Keywords: historiography, World War I, Great Russian Revolution, Russian-Serbian relations

Summary: In the last decade Russian historians published a great number of monographs, studies and articles which deal with the different aspects of Russian-Serbian relations during World War I and the Russian revolution: from cultural ties between the two countries to the joint combats in the military operations and participation in political dialogues, and in most cases, they gave a science-based interpretation of the selected topics. Several Serbian authors also participated in this work in Russia. Researchers of the First World War from both countries collaborated in order to give an overview of the Russian-Serbian relations during 1914–1918, but also in publishing documents from different archives. The result of their collaboration were several monographs and collections of documents, which enable researchers to reach an objective analysis of past events, as well as two conference proceedings. In the last decade, Russian and Serbian historians joined forces and made a breakthrough in researching Russian-Serbian relations in the First World War. Combining the results of Yugoslav and Soviet historiography with modern-day archival research and methodology proved to be successful.