Russian Army as a Phenomenon of Empire: Analysis of Historiography

The article deals with analyzing the historiography, which is devoted to studying the role and significance of the army in the context of Russian development as Empire. The authors study the approaches and assessments that have been shown by researchers in relation to the factor of language, confession and origin "heterogeneity" of Russian army during XVIII-XIX centuries. The research sources are the works of Russian historians beginning from the XIX century and up to the present day. Some works of contemporary Western researchers also came to the attention of the authors. As a result the authors distinguish the factors which made an impact upon a reconfiguration of research "methodological optics": practical issues in forming and using national units in military forces, understanding the causes of the collapse of Russian army during the Great War, anti-Imperial consideration of Soviet historiography, "complimentary" ethnocentric approach of the late Soviet and post-Soviet time, attention to the phenomenon of Empire in nowadays studies. The authors point out the role of Western historiography as an additional incentive that disposes Russian historians to move away from the "battle" paradigm of studying army to conceptual understanding of the relationship between the army, state and society. However, according to the authors of the article, it was the collapse of the USSR, that had been crucial in changing the focus of research attention.