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Introduction. The article discusses one understudied — though essential — issue from the history of Don Kalmyk Cossacks. It focuses on the shaping and development of the Buddhist clergy among Don Kalmyks in relation to the then official religious agenda of the Don Host. The examined period covers the earliest conversion of Kalmyks to Cossackhood and onwards throughout the 1840s, the latter years having witnessed a largest reform of Buddhist institutions and clerical hierarchies. Goals. The paper attempts an insight into adaptation practices once exercised by Kalmyks as a group with specific cultural and religious backgrounds in polyethnic environments, special attention be paid to how the Buddhist clergy developed and were subsequently incorporated into administrative and social structures of Don Cossacks. Results. The official religious policy within the Don Host was largely tolerant and sought to secure freedom of faith, modernize spiritual services by way of optimizing networks of khuruls and their staff, encouraging some professional training of the latter, introducing clerics into administrative structures and services as a special privileged community. The religious policy of Don authorities among Kalmyk Cossacks was distinguished by that the former tended to actively use a tool of faith in the latter’s further acculturation, education, sedentarization, and conversion to stationary economic practices.

Introduction. In the 1920s–1930s, the mobilization of human and material resources played a huge role in the process of reforming the Red Army and strengthening the country’s defense capability. The period witnessed measures aimed to prepare forces and means for the development of the Soviet armed services and protection of the country. The preparation system also included economic (food) mobilization not only for the current army allowance but also for investing the necessary material reserves in case of wartime, to secure uninterrupted supply of the army during a war. Goals. The article attempts an analysis of how Kalmykia’s fishing industry was converted to the wartime agenda in the mid-to-late 1930s. Results. Along with the delivery and procurement of agricultural and livestock products to the government, the supply of fish products is considered in the article not only as an aspect of mass catering, food security, exports — but also as a means to meet the needs of the army and secure the country’s defense. The development of Kalmykia’s fishing industry in the mid-to-late1930s across the Volga-Caspian basin resulted in a significant contribution to the supply of fish products for special consumers (military) according to orders of the People’s Commissariat for Fishing Industry of the USSR.

Introduction. The article introduces newly discovered documents from Kalmykia’s National Archive and the State Archive of Russia (supplemented with other historical sources) to continue insights into pre-army training and conscription among the Kalmyks from the perspective of strengthening Soviet defense capability in pre-war years. Goals. The paper seeks to analyze mobilization arrangements to have aimed at increasing the country’s defense potentials on the basis of a mixed army recruitment system (professional and territorial principles) — in the period prior to the transition to a regular commissioned staff system. Results. The work shows the mid-1930s witnessed a completion of the military reforms to have introduced a mixed army recruitment system. Over two thousand ethnic Kalmyks were conscripted into the Red Army to undergo military, political, physical training — and become professional soldiers qualified enough to defend Motherland. Somewhat seven thousand enlistment-age residents of Kalmykia received paramilitary training (foundations of military science, weapons handling) and joined the country’s military manpower pool. Still, by the mid-1930s, the Soviet Government faced a severe necessity to take additional measures to ensure national security. First of all, they needed a regular professional army with increased numbers of forces, high efficiency standards, combat and mobilization readiness, officers with expertise in new weapons and contemporary combat tactics. That required another radical military reform — a transition from the mixed professional-militia system to the one based on compulsory military service of Soviet citizens.

Introduction. The article examines issues of accumulation, formation, preservation, usage arrangements, and peculiarities of historical sources in accordance with the adopted periodization of Kalmykia’s history by geographic and chronological parameters (the Central Asian and European periods, respectively) from earliest to modern times. Historical sources from the mentioned periods differ in degrees of preservation, volume and availability. Goals. So, the paper aims at surveying actual circumstances to have influenced the shaping of Kalmykia’s historical scientific sources and arrangements undertaken to have facilitated the use of multiple documents in exploring events of the past. For that purpose, the work shall attempt to identify certain unbiased factors of sociopolitical development at different stages of history (in a temporal perspective), determine roles and impacts of respective government agencies (depositories) of Russia in the shaping and accumulation of sources in Kalmykia’s history and development of archival affairs nationwide. Materials and methods. The study primarily employs diverse reference apparatuses of public and departmental depositories, collected documents, and data from scientific publications. The research principles are those of historicism, objectivity, comprehensiveness. Results. The Kalmyk people’s history is characterized by an extensive documentary base that includes different types of sources currently housed by federal and regional archives all across Russia. However, the problems of the former’s further growth and usage arrangements can be successfully solved under certain circumstances.

Introduction. The article aims to analyze the newspaper ’Svobodnaya zemlya’ (Free Land), published for a short time (September-December 1942) by German occupying forces in Kalmykia. The newspaper has not been the object of a special study so far. Its main purpose was propaganda, used by the occupiers as one of the most important psychological and ideological weapons of war. The Nazi propaganda targeted the population of the occupied territories, subjecting the people to massive psychological and ideological pressures. Hence, every genre of the newspaper was designed and adapted to carry on disguised Nazi propaganda. Material and methods. The source for the research data was ’Svobodnaya zemlya’, the organ of the German administration at the time of Nazi occupation of the Kalmyk territory. Notably, the historiography in this country and abroaddiscusses certain aspects of fascist propaganda during the Second World War, but the regional newspapers of the German occupiershave not been examined so far. In his analysis, the author was guided by the principles of objectivity, comprehensive analysis, historicism, hermeneutics, and source criticism. Results. The purpose of the German occupiers’ newspaper was to persuade the local population that the preventive war launched and conducted by them was not a humanitarian catastrophe, but it was directed only against the “Jewish-Bolshevik government” of the Soviet Union, and the German army had a liberation mission, a happy future awaiting the liberated people. According to this propaganda, the liberated peoples were tostay calm and confident of their future; also, they were expected to actively cooperate, helping the German army tonear the victory, but any act of disobedience orjust passive resistance of individuals would havedire consequences for them, including death punishment. Conclusion. The newspaper under studyis one of the most important types of historical sources to shed light on the history of Kalmykia in the war period. Added to the source data, it helps fill in some gaps to allow for an objective discussion of controversial issues. Also, the analysis of the newspaper demonstrates some of the methods and techniques used by the Nazis in the occupied regions to deliberately disseminate falsified ideas about the goals of the war as a means of disguised propaganda.

Introduction. Soviet Kalmykia’s historiography comprises quite a cluster of publications to have dealt with the shaping and development of the ethnic statehood. Such works primarily focus on preparatory and constitutive activities, economic beginnings. However, the formation of Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast’s territory and population have been covered by separate papers only fragmentarily. Goals. The study aims at investigating Kalmykia’s border-related problems and migrations of dispersed Kalmyk groups towards the region. In order to facilitate this, the article shall explore why territorial and border-related issues turned essentially difficult tasks and how the problems were being solved, describe the roadmap of the Kalmyk Oblast Executive Committee to comprehensively tackle the emerged territorial and migration challenges. Materials and Methods. The paper centers around archival sources, quite a share of the latter being thus newly introduced into scientific discourse. The key methods employed are those of comparativism and source analysis. Results. According to the nationalities policy set forth by the Bolsheviks in 1920, the Soviet Government granted the Kalmyk people an ethnic statehood in the form of an administrative autonomy within the latter’s historical territory — Kalmyk Steppe. Once the autonomy was established, its territory and borders were determined in accordance with the then state policies and without any essential dissents from neighboring provinces. Migrations of minor Kalmyk groups to the autonomous oblast were supported by the Government and encountered no resistance, except for disputes between the Salsk Okrug Executive Committee and that of Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast over the territorial issue when it came to the resettlement of Salsk Kalmyks. The prolonged mutual tension resulted in the establishment of Kalmytsky (‘Kalmyk’) District within Salsk Okrug of North Caucasus Krai.

The paper is devoted to the issues of participating of Kalmyks with Don Cossacks and regular armies in wars of Russia in the fi rst quarter of XVIII century when Peter I sorted out the problems of consolidation of state positions on the western and southern boundaries.

The article is devoted to questions of mobilization of material and manpower resources in the period of the Great Patriotic war. The special attention is turned on mobilization of militarians and recruits of republic, and also on provision of the Red Army with technics, horses, active participation of the population in gathering warm things, money resources, food stuffs, in construction of defensive works.

The higher and central establishments of Russia played a huge role in voluntary occurrence of Kalmyks in the structure of the Russian state, and also in an establishment of the military-political union with Kalmyk khanate, recognizing its independent management of internal affairs.

The article is devoted to the description of the dif0 cult war situation in the south of the country during summer 1942 where Soviet troops had to carry out the operationally strategic task of Supreme Headquarters. The author pays special attention to the formation of the 110th Separate Kalmyk Cavalry Division, taking part in performing the task of Supreme Headquarters as well as to the signi0 cance of its summer battle on the Don River in the 1942.

The article is devoted to the description of participation of the Kalmyks in the body of Don regiment in the wars waged by Russia at the beginning of the XIX century with anti-French coalition against Napoleons army, with the Ottoman Empire and Sweden.

The article deals with the issues of formation and development of federal law on elections of the President of the Russian Federation, democratization of the electoral law and procedure in the 1990-s. The federal law played an important role in the foundation of the Russian citizens’ position, including the citizens of Kalmykia, in solving crucial state problems.

Рец. на: Команджаев А. Н., Мацакова Н. П. Реформа 1892 года в Калмыкии: отмена личной зависимости калмыков-простолюдинов от нойонов и зайсангов. Элиста: Изд-во ФГБОУ ВПО «КалмГУ», 2011. 240 с.

The article is devoted to the participation of the Kalmyks of the Don Cossack regiments in the Borodino Battle of 1812. The work is to a considerable extent based on the materials of the Russian State Archive of Military History and State Archive of the Rostov region.

In the article the Russia’s policy towards the Kalmyks in Time of Troubles at the beginning of the 17 century is considered. Despite difficult internal and external situation, Russia has expressed interest in the Kalmyks, seeing them as the reliable allies, who might reinforce socium of the developing Russian state. Mutual interests of both parties led to the voluntary entering of the Kalmyks in the Russian state where they actively were involved in the implementation of its geostrategic tasks.

New book of famous Russian historians S. A. Kropacheva and E. F. Krinko dedicated to the coverage of the Soviet and modern mennoy Russian historiography Masheadquarters and forms of repression and loss of population research Institute of the USSR in 1937-1945.

Following the analysis of a wide range of sources - both published and newly discovered in the funds of the State Archive of the Russian Federation and the National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia - the paper examines the final stage of Soviet construction in Kalmyk Steppe. With the use of fresh conceptual approaches, peculiarities of the following issues are considered: constitutional recognition of the national and state entity, the first representative and executive bodies of state power of the Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast. In the short aftermath of the Russian Civil War (late 1919 - early 1920), the Soviet rule in Kalmyk Steppe was completely restored and a new system of local government was established. Due to activities of Bolshevik supporters and the new authorities, a considerable assistance on behalf of the Government and People’s Commissariat for Nationalities (Narkomnats), the Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast was institutionalized by the central authorities in 1920 - in accordance with the Soviet nationalities policy and the Constitution of the RSFSR. The Founding Congress of Soviets formed regional bodies of state power and administration as part of the corresponding unified and centralized system of Russia. The administrative division system of the autonomous oblast was determined by the boundaries and features of territories historically inhabited by the Kalmyk people. Kalmykia as a national and state entity obtained the status of a federal subject within the RSFSR on the principles of internal territorial self-determination. The paper concludes that the Bolsheviks’ program statement on granting the peoples of Russia the corresponding right on the principles of internal territorial self-determination was implemented in Kalmykia in 1920 in the form of a national and state entity following the model of a Soviet autonomy within the RSFSR. Due to the fact the Kalmyk people had been considerably allocated throughout separate territories for quite a long time, it took a number of years to determine and establish the precise boundaries between the Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast and the neighboring governorates and oblasts (regions) which was generally completed in the late 1920s - early 1930s.

After abolition of the Kalmyk Khanate in 1771 and through the February Revolution of 1917 its population was administered by the Astrakhan Governor’s Executive Office. In accordance with the Provisional Government’s policies a reorganization of the Kalmyk people’s administrative system was initiated. At the First Congress of the Kalmyk people held in March of 1917, the curatorial system was abolished and a decision was made to introduce local self-government headed by the Central Committee for Kalmyk People’s Administration in Kalmyk Steppe. Pursuant to introduction of the zemstvo an attempt was made to reorganize Kalmyk Steppe into a self-governing region (oblast). At the same time movement for conversion of the Kalmyks to Cossacks was initiated. After the establishment of the Soviet regime in Astrakhan Governorate, a Kalmyk Section was formed under the Governorate’s Executive Committee. It was able to create a system of soviets (councils), hold a number of the soviets’ meetings and form the Kalmyk Executive Committee with sectoral government bodies. The Kalmyk Executive Committee directed its activities to create national statehood on the principles of internal territorial self-determination.

On the eve of the XX century one of the fastest growing districts of the Don Cossack Host province appeared to be Salskiy district which was rather young in comparison with others. It consisted of 12 villages, including 9 Kalmyk villages with a population of nearly 30 thousand people, i.e. about 50% of the district’s population. Kalmyks living in the district complied with corresponding Cossacks rights and obligations. The majority professed Buddhism and a small part - Orthodoxy. Despite diverse ethnic environment and changes in social status Kalmyks preserved their self-identity. The basis of the economic well-being of Kalmyks of Salkiy district who switched to a steady economic still was livestock breeding, mainly horse breeding. The Kalmyk people were actively developing farming as well. Kalmyk children also went to schools and colleges of stanitsas (villages inside a Cossack Host).

The article examines one of the topical questions in Kalmykia’s history - the beginnings of the political rehabilitation of the indigenous population groundlessly repressed in December 1943. The USSR’s policy for the rehabilitation of repressed peoples was determined by the Decree of the 20th Congress and a corresponding prescript of the governing Communist Party of the Soviet Union dated 24 November 1956. The rehabilitation policies, fi rst and foremost the political and territorial aspects, were conducted in accordance with defi nite legislative acts. The documents that laid foundation of the Kalmyk people’s rehabilitation process include as follows: Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR ‘On Establishment of the Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast as Part of the RSFSR’ and Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR ‘On Establishment of the Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast as Part of Stavropol Krai’ of 9 January 1957. The acts had the legal force of laws of the USSR and RSFSR, and, thus, virtually abolished the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR of 27 December and Enactment of the Council of People’s Commissars of 28 December 1943 according to which the Kalmyks had been deported, restoring their national statehood in the form of an administrative autonomy. In natural sequence, the paper considers the graduated arrangements of the party and state aimed to mitigate the ‘special’ regime within ‘special settlements’, partially reinstate civil rights of separate categories of ‘special settlers’. The measures preceded the subsequent rehabilitation of repressed peoples and proved an important milestone on the way there. The Kalmyk people’s political rehabilitation was meaningful not only in terms of restoration of national statehood but also in terms of justice towards innocent victims of the dictatorship when knowingly false accusations against a whole people were fi nally withdrawn.

The article considers the formation in 1917 of the Constituent Assembly in accordance with the regulations adopted by the Provisional government. The democratic principles of the voting right and the electoral process imposed by the Provisional government, allowed individual ethnic groups, including the Kalmyks, to take an active part in the preparation and conduct of elections of deputies to the Constituent Assembly, as well as in the implementation of passive and active electoral rights. As a result, in the Constituent Assembly, which declared in January 1918 Russia to be a democratic Federal Republic, the Kalmyk people was first introduced in the Supreme legislative body of the country by his two deputies. However, Russia was not destined to follow the path designated by the Constituent Assembly. Only in 75 years Russia was forced to return to the path of a democratic federative law-governed state with a republican form of government, to the path, the Constituent Assembly wanted it to follow.

Owing to patriotism, solidarity of the people, scientific and economic potential, the Soviet Union not only withstood the attack of Nazi Germany but crushed the Nazis seventy years ago. In order to protect the freedom and independence of the country, the multinational Kalmyk ASSR (Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) along with the entire country and the population, rose to the defense of Russia from the earliest days of World War II. In the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War, almost 34.5 million people (including 21.2 million of Russians) put soldiers’ overcoats to fight the enemy. Among them there were 43,210 citizens of Kalmykia. The peoples of the Kalmyk ASSR participated not only in the fighting on the front lines of the war and partisan detachments but also worked selflessly in the rearward, assisting the Red Army. As a result, at the cost of thousands of lives the Soviet people defended their territory and state sovereignty. In July 1942 in conjunction with other compounds of the 51st Army, the 110th Kalmyk Detached Cavalry Division successfully completed its mission on the Don, repulsing an attack of superior enemy forces. According to the manual of the General Staff of the Red Army, Marshal A.I. Yeremenko, the fighting on the Don prepared the ground for a fundamental turning point in the Second World War at Stalingrad.

Implementing national policy, the Soviet power provided many peoples of Russia, including the Kalmyk people, with national statehood. In spite of great difficulties and costs, it was creating the necessary conditions for overcoming economic and educational backwardness and was doing much in improving their well-being and training personnel. Thus, much was done for implementing the nation-building policy. Being based on the documentary materials from the Soviet higher authorities, the article considers the evolution and objectives of the national policy of the Bolsheviks before and after the October revolution, its implementation in the first years of the Soviet power. The author concludes that Soviet national policy since the first years of the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat became a program of involvement of the peoples of Russia in socialist construction with the elements of federalism in a unitary state. It is specifically noted that, in addition to the principles of Unitarianism, this state is distinguished by the fact that the organization and activity of bodies of the ruling party, built on the principles of democratic centralism, were solid enough to save centralized and ideologically-based system of governance, which played an important role in ensuring the unity and indivisibility of the Federal state.