Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2015 number

The principle goal of the article is to introduce for scientific use and to analyze the information potential of memoirs of A.P. Kazin who was an officer of the Siberian Cossack Army. In the first of his essays A.P.Kazin tells about an armed clash between the Siberian Cossacks and a squadron of Sultan Sadyk Kenisarin near the Lake Sari-Kul in 1866, as well as characterizes the military actions of the Russian troops in the well-known battle of Irdzhar. The second essay is devoted to participation of the author, his friends and acquaintances in the Kokand Campaign of 1873-1875. It conveys ordinary Cossacks’ evaluations of the contemporary military leaders and statesmen such as D.I. Romanovskiy, K.P. von Kaufman, M.D. Skobelev; describes the military life and the course of military operations including the battle near Telyau; attempts at debunking of a renowned hero of this battle - S.A. Yelgashtin. The article demonstrates the role of these sources in studying the relationships between various groups of Cossacks, their mentality, attitudes towards the authorities and adversaries. The author of the paper highlights fragments of the memoirs containing pragmatic ideas and hopes typical of the Cossacks - regarding awards, higher wages and plentiful spoils of war. Special attention is paid to the memoirist’s personality. His negative evaluation of the Cossacks’ weapons and military equipage as well as his keen sense of the decline of the Siberian Cossack Army’s prestige are shown. That is the very reason (along with personal enmity) for Kazin’s hard-hitting and even sarcastic evaluation of S.A.Yelgashtin’s personality, due to Kazin’s perception of Yelgashtin as embodiment of all vices typical of many Cossack officers who were undereducated, ill-mannered and unable to carry themselves in a proper way. M.D.Skobelev was admired by the memoirist first of all for his respect for Siberian Cossacks. It is empathized that the memoirist praised the merits and courage of such adversaries as Sultan Sadyk Kenisarin and even the head of Kokand rebels, the cruel Pulat-Khan. Kazin’s memoirs containing numerous details allow us to feel the “real historical atmosphere”. His descriptions of everyday life and customs, evaluations of the military officials and troop officers, account of certain historical episodes are of special interest.