The Feat of the "Varyag" Cruiser in the Pre-Revolutionary, Soviet and Modern Russian Historiography: Comparative Characteristics (original) (raw)

The article is devoted to a comparative analysis of pre-revolutionary, soviet and modern Russian historiography about the naval battle of Chemulpo on January 27, 1904 between a Russian detachment consisting of the "Varyag" cruiser and the "Koreets" gunboat under the command of 1st rank captain V.F. Rudnev with a Japanese squadron consisting of nine ships under the command of Rear Admiral S. Uriu. The subject of the study is to identify differences in the description of the feat of the crews of Russian ships by the authors of different historical periods, not only from a military and diplomatic, but also from a propaganda point of view. To understand the scale of the feat, along the way, an analysis of the militarytechnical forces of the opposing sides and the diplomatic situation on the eve of the battle is made. As a result of the analysis of historiography, it was concluded that the foundation for the heroization of the feat of the crews of the "Varyag" cruiser and the "Koreets" gunboat was laid by pre-revolutionary historians, who, however, evaded answers to contradictions in the documents. The soviet historiography continued the trend of heroization with a certain degree of pathos, but due to the political correctness, it tried to shift responsibility for the vain death of a first-class ship to the naval leadership of the Russian Empire, as well as to the governor Alekseev. The soviet historians are introducing new sources into scientific circulation, so new names appear among the hitherto unknown heroes. The modern historiography is very numerous, contradictory and multidirectional. The absolute majority of researchers deservedly recognize the fact of the existence of a feat in the actions of Russian sailors and personally the commander of the detachment of ships, the 1st rank captain V.F. Rudnev. Also, new sources are being introduced into scientific circulation, primarily Japanese. At the same time, the modern researchers are trying to find contradictions both in the sources (different assessment of combat effectiveness and materiel by Russian and Japanese sources, contradictions in information about ammunition consumption and cruiser speed, etc.) and in previously published works.