V. G. TRUKHANOVSKY. Nuclear Weapons in British Policy During the Second World War

The article traces the history of the first atom bomb, from March, 1940 when Peierls and Frisch, two physicists working in Britain, issued a memorandum which stated the theoretical possibility of its creation, through its first use in August, 1945 when the USA dropped atom bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The author shows that the US and Britain hoped to attain world domination through this barbarous weapon of mass destruction. These plans were basically anti-Soviet since the two countries strove to deprive the Soviet Union of the fruits of its victory in the Second World War. Their governments are charged with double responsibility for bombing the Japanese cities and for starting the nuclear arms race in the post-war period. History has demonstrated the futility of the hopes nurtured by London and Washington.

A. I. KOZLOV. The Black Sea Fleet and Soviet-German Relations In 1918.

The author takes as his subject a German attempt to seize the Black Sea fleet in violation of the 1918 Brest Peace Treaty with the RSFSR. On orders from the Soviet government, the main part of it was withdrawn to Novorossiisk by revolutionary sailors as the German offensive in the Crimea threatened Sevastopol. Germany demanded the return of the fleet to the already captured Sevastopol under the threat of expanded military actions. In order to avoid further military confrontation with Germany and the surrender of the Black Sea fleet, the part of it which had been removed to Novorossiisk, was sunk on orders from the government. Thus, Germany was deprived of a pretext for escalating military actions on Soviet territory.

A. M. YULDABASHEV. Social and Economic Stratification of the Multinational Peasantry in Bashkiria under Capitalism.

The author uses zemstvo statistics to analyse the distribution of land and cattle among well-off and poor Russian, Bashkir and Tatar peasants in Bashkiria. He comes to the conclusion that the bulk of the peasantry of the oppressed nations was gradually impoverished, was deprived of land and joined the ranks of the proletariat. The class essence of the national and agrarian policy of tsarist autocracy was vividly demonstrated by its infringement upon the interests of the poorest section of Russian, Bashkir and Tatar peasantry through alienating their land in favour of the upper crust of the ruling nation. The article points to certain connection between the land question and the national movement of Bashkirs and their struggle against tsarism.

M. A. KISSEL. Marx's "The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte" and the Logical and Methodological Problems of Historical Knowledge.

This work by Marx is of an exceptional importance for revealing the specificity of historical science. The structure of historical description is characterised by the dialectical interpenetration of the narration (the establishment of facts), explanation and an ethical-aesthetical evaluation, with the leading role being played by the first element the twi others constituting its inalienable part. The morale-aesthetic tint of the description does not preclude its scientific objectivity. On the contrary, it is its sine qua non especially when determined by the theoretical analysis of reality, as is the case with Marx. "The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte" includes an account of events, the sociological scheme of an explanation and a vivid depiction of dramatic collisions of class struggle. It is precisely these elements that make history a science of man embracing the entire range of his objective and subjective manifestations.

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CONTENTS

"Problems of History", No. 5, 1984

Articles: V. G. Trukhanovsky, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Nuclear Weapons in British Policy During the Second World War; A. I. Kozlov. The Black Sea Fleet and Soviet-German Relations in 1918; A. M. Yuldabashev. Social and Economic Stratification of the Multinational Peasantry in Bashkiria under Capitalism. Methodological Problems. M. A. Kissel. Marx's "The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Binaparte" and the Logical and Methodological Problems of Historical Knowledge. Historical Essауs: A. S. Ezhelev, E. R. Romanov. 1941 - 1942 "This is Leningrad"; B. A. Lapshov, I. V. Khalevinsky. Mohammed (From Myth to Man). Historical Science in the USSR and Abroad. Surveys: L. P. Lapteva. Recent Editions of 12th-15th-Century Czech Chronicles. Book Reviews: D. L. Zlatopolsky. The Supreme Soviet of the USSR as an Embodiment of the Will of the Soviet People. To the 60th Anniversary of the Formation of the USSR; B. V. Levshin. Soviet Science in the Great Patriotic War; Essays on the History of the Moscow Party Organisation; M. G. Vandalkovskaya. History of the Study of Russian Revolutionary Movement of the Mid-19th Century, 1890 - 1917; Yu. S. Girenko. Soviet-Yugoslav Relations (Pages of History); I. E Levit. The Part Played by Fascist Rumania in Anti-Soviet Aggression Sources, Plans, Realisation (September 1, 1939-November 19, 1942); idem. The Collapse of the Aggressive Policy of the Antonescu Dictatorship (November 19, 1942-August 23, 1944); D.P. Ursu. Contemporary Historiography of the Countries of Tropical Africa. 1960 - 1980; S. P. Pozharskaya. Spain and the USA. Foreign Policy and Society. 1936 - 1976; History of US Labour Movement in the Contemporary Times. 1965 - 1980; N. N. Yakovlev. Washington Profiles, and others. Scientific Notes, Facts, Events, People. Articles, in Soviet and Foreign Historical journals. New Books in' the USSR and Abroad.

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