Name the difficulties revealing the truth of the story. Speculation on historical events. Historical heritage of Russia

There are many blank spots in the history of our country. The lack of a sufficient number of reliable sources gives rise not only to speculation, but also outright falsifications. Some of them are very durable.

Older than usual

According to the official version, statehood came to Russia in 862, when the Finno-Ugric and Slavic tribes called on the Varangian Rurik to rule over them. But the problem is that the theory known to us from school is taken from The Tale of Bygone Years, and the reliability of the information contained in it is being questioned by modern science.
Meanwhile, there are many facts confirming that the state in Russia existed before the calling of the Varangians. So, in the Byzantine sources, when describing the life of the Rus, obvious signs of their state structure were reflected: developed writing, the hierarchy of the nobility, and the administrative division of lands. Petty princes are also mentioned, over whom "kings" stood.
The data of numerous excavations, presented by the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, testify that where the Central Russian Plain is now located, life was seething even before the advent of a new era. The well-known domestic archaeologist and anthropologist Tatyana Alekseeva found a sufficient amount of evidence that on the territory of modern central Russia in the period from the 6th to the 2nd millennium BC. e. there was a flourishing of large proto-cities.

Ukraine-Rus

Ukrainian historian Mikhail Grushevsky created one of the most famous falsifications on which modern Ukrainian historiography relies. In his writings, he denies the existence of a single ancient Russian ethnic group, but speaks of a parallel history of two nationalities: "Ukrainian-Russian" and "Great Russian". According to Grushevsky's theory, the Kyiv state is the state of the "Russian-Ukrainian" nationality, and the Vladimir-Suzdal state is the "Great Russian".
Already during the Civil War, Grushevsky's scientific views were subjected to serious criticism from colleagues. One of the most notable critics of his "Ukraine-Rus" concept was the historian and publicist Andriy Storozhenko, who viewed this approach as an attempt to clothe the political goals of Ukrainian separatism in historical form.
An influential Kyiv public figure and publicist Boris Yuzefovich, having familiarized himself with the works of Grushevsky, called him a "scientist-liar", hinting that all his writing activity was connected with the desire to take the place of professor at the Department of Russian History at Kyiv University.

"Veles book"

In 1950, emigrants Yuri Mirolyubov and Alexander Kur in San Francisco published the Book of Veles for the first time. According to Mirolyubov's stories, the text of the Book of Veles was written off by him from wooden planks lost during the war, created around the 9th century.
However, the falsity of the printed document was soon established. So, the photographs of the plates presented by Mirolyubov and Kur were actually made from specially prepared paper.
Philologist Natalya Shalygina says: rich factual material convincingly proves that the Book of Veles is a complete historical fake both from the point of view of linguistic and philological analysis, and from the point of view of the historical inconsistency of the version about its acquisition.
In particular, it became known that in response to the arguments of scientific criticism, the authors of the fake made changes and additions to the already published material in order to make it more believable.

Testament of Peter the Great

This tendentious falsification first appeared in French in 1812. According to the compilers of the document, it was based on a strategic plan of action for the successors of Peter the Great for many centuries with the aim of establishing world domination by Russia; the goal was "to get as close as possible to Constantinople and to the Indies."
Historians have come to the conclusion that the main provisions of the Testament were formulated in October 1797 by a Polish emigrant close to Napoleon, General Sokolnitsky. The abundance of errors and absurdities in the text make us assume that the author of the document was not familiar with the foreign policy of Peter I. It is also established that the Testament was originally intended not for propaganda purposes, but for internal use.

Unnecessary Alaska

Russia's sale of its overseas territory to the United States is explained in history textbooks simply: maintaining Alaska became more and more expensive, since the costs of maintaining it far exceeded the income from its economic use. There was another reason for the sale of Alaska - to improve relations with the United States.
Historian Ivan Mironov says that there are many documents that refute the official version. The history connected with the sale of Alaska is very reminiscent of the current events in terms of corruption scandals, “kickbacks” and the “cutting” of budget and public funds by a handful of oligarchs and politicians.
Work on the sale of the American colony began as early as the reign of Nicholas I. In addition to the sale of Alaska, the government planned to get rid of the Aleutian and Kuril Islands, of course, for money. The main lobbyist for the 1867 deal was Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, brother of Emperor Alexander II, among his accomplices was a number of influential people, including the head of the Foreign Ministry, Alexander Gorchakov.

Rasputin's personality

In the memoirs of his contemporaries, Grigory Rasputin often appeared as an odious person. He was accused of a mass of sins - drunkenness, debauchery, sectarianism, spying for Germany, interfering in domestic politics. However, even the special commissions investigating the case of Rasputin did not find anything compromising.
What is curious is that the accusers of Rasputin, in particular, Archpriest Georgy Shavelsky, admitted in their memoirs that they themselves did not personally know the elder or saw him several times, and all the scandalous stories they describe were based solely on a retelling once and somewhere heard.
Doctor of Philology Tatyana Mironova says that the analysis of the testimonies and memories of those days tells about the methods of banal and brazen manipulation of public opinion with the help of falsifications and provocations in the media.
And not without substitution, the scientist continues. The atrocities attributed to Grigory Rasputin were often a clownery of doubles, organized by swindlers for selfish purposes. So, according to Mironova, it was with the scandalous story that took place in the Moscow restaurant "Yar". The investigation then showed that Rasputin was not in Moscow at that moment.

Tragedy in Katyn

The mass murder of captured officers of the Polish army, carried out in the spring of 1940, was attributed to Germany for a long time. After the liberation of Smolensk by the Soviet troops, a special commission was created, which, after conducting its own investigation, concluded that Polish citizens were shot at Katyn by the German occupying forces.

However, as evidenced by documents published in 1992, the executions of Poles were carried out by decision of the NKVD of the USSR in accordance with the decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of March 5, 1940. According to published data, a total of 21,857 people were shot, in addition to the military, there were mobilized Polish doctors, engineers, lawyers, and journalists.

Vladimir Putin, in the status of prime minister and president of the Russian Federation, has repeatedly voiced the opinion that the Katyn massacre is a crime of the Stalinist regime and was caused, first of all, by Stalin's revenge for the defeat in the Soviet-Polish war of 1920. In 2011, Russian officials announced their readiness to consider rehabilitating the victims of the execution.

"New Chronology"

There are many falsifications in historiography - events, documents, personalities - but one of them clearly stands apart. This is the famous theory of the mathematician Anatoly Fomenko, according to which all previous history is declared false. The researcher believes that traditional history is biased, tendentious and designed to serve a particular political system.
Official science, of course, calls Fomenko's views pseudo-scientific and, in turn, calls his historical concept a falsification. In particular, Fomenko's statement that the entire history of antiquity was falsified during the Renaissance, in their opinion, is devoid of not only scientific, but also common sense.
According to scientists, even with a strong desire it is impossible to rewrite such a voluminous layer of history. Moreover, the methodology used by Fomenko in his "New Chronology" is taken from another science - mathematics - and its application to the analysis of history is incorrect. And Fomenko's obsessive desire to unite all ancient Russian rulers with the names of the Mongol khans among historians does cause a smile.
What historians agree on is Fomenko's statement that his "New Chronology" is a powerful ideological weapon. In addition, many believe that the main goal of a pseudoscientist is commercial success. Historian Sergei Bushuev sees a serious danger in such scientific fiction, since its popularity may soon oust the real history of the country from the consciousness of society and our descendants.

- deliberate distortion of historical events, or historical myth-making. The goals and motives of falsifications can be very diverse: ideological, political, creating public or commercial interest in a particular problem, event or scientist, etc. Examples of historical falsifications have been known since ancient Egypt.

Methods of falsification

The methods of falsifying history are varied, but in general they can be summarized as follows:

1. direct composition of facts and forgery of documents; destruction of documents and historical research; hiding existing documents.
2. one-sided selection and arbitrary interpretation of facts, as a result of which connections are built between facts, are absent in reality, and conclusions are drawn that cannot be drawn on the basis of the full picture.

The first group of methods refers to the falsification of information sources. The sources of certain “factual” judgments may not be indicated at all, indicated with reference to fictitious publications, or are clearly not related to the primary sources of the work (usually journalistic ones) in which these “facts” were first voiced. In this case, it is more correct to speak not so much about falsification (fake of the known), but about myth-making (additions of the fictitious). The most subtle means of falsification is the falsification of primary sources (“sensational” archaeological discoveries, previously “unknown” and “not yet printed” chronicle sources, memoirs, diaries, etc. In this case, a special examination is required to refute incorrect data, which is either not carried out, or carried out with a predetermined result, that is, it is also falsified.

In the second case, all the facts used separately can correspond to reality, but the conclusions are made with a gross and purposeful violation of the methodological foundations. For processing primary information, non-traditional methods can be used, leading to "sensational" conclusions, the truth or falsity of primary sources can be confirmed depending on the goal, incomplete citation can be used, extrapolation of certain trends, etc.

This process reaches a special scope in countries with totalitarian regimes, where the apparatus of propaganda is controlled only by the authorities, and not by the public, and alternative information is blocked. As a result, the authorities get the opportunity to create completely arbitrary pictures of the past and then change them at their discretion. This was reflected in the well-known joke: "The USSR is a country with an unpredictable past."

Historical examples

Ancient Egypt

In ancient Egyptian documents, the activities of the pharaohs were, of course, depicted in an exaggerated and exaggerated form. For example, it was pointed out that Ramses II made a decisive personal contribution to the victory at the Battle of Kadesh, independently destroying hordes of enemies. In fact, Ramses II personally participated in the battle when he broke through with a small detachment from the encirclement, and the battle itself ended in a draw. The Hittites retreated to Kadesh, the Egyptian troops remained on the field, and each side presented itself as the winner. But, undoubtedly, the result of this battle was the strengthening of the influence of Egypt.

After the death of Pharaoh Akhenaten, he carried out a religious reform and tried to introduce monotheism, the new cult was declared a heresy. Images and sculptures of Akhenaten were destroyed, and his name was removed from documents.

Ivan IV the Terrible

One of the first documented cases of falsification of history for political reasons in Russia refers to the reign of Ivan the Terrible. At the direction of the king, the "Face Chronicle" was written - a holistic record of history from ancient times to that time. In the last volume (the so-called “synodal list”), which already talked about the reign of Grozny himself, who made the corrections, in which the governors and boyars, who fell out of favor with the tsar, were accused of various unseemly acts. According to some assumptions, the boyar rebellion of 1533, which was described only in the synodal list, but was not mentioned in any other written sources, was also completely invented.

In connection with the monopoly position of the Communist Party, throughout the entire period of the existence of Soviet Russia and the USSR, history was interpreted according to its ideological guidelines and goals under the control of the relevant party structures - departments of the Central Committee of the CPSU and republican party organizations (departments of propaganda and agitation, department of science, etc.). etc.), - and the main body of state censorship in the USSR, Glavlit, subordinate to the Central Committee of the CPSU.

Total control over the media allowed the leadership of the party to falsify any information and any events.

So, already at the beginning of 1918, the head of the Bolshevik government of Soviet Russia, V. Ulyanov, in his speeches for propaganda purposes, cited false information. Shaumyan", although at that time he was not even arrested; On April 23, he also said that "the first courageous counter-revolutionary Kornilov was killed by his own, indignant soldiers," although L. Kornilov was killed in the battle near Ekaterinodar.

Historians Dyakov Yu.L. and Bushueva T.S. noted that "the Stalinist regime created its own history in order to falsify the past by historical means." As a result, historical science in the USSR "lost one of its main functions - the study of the lessons of the past in the name of the present and the future."

One example of the falsification of history in the USSR is the falsification of the history of the CPSU, certified by scientists from the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, members of the Scientific Council "History of the Great October Socialist Revolution", scientists from the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Central Party Archive of the CPSU.

Back in 1932, Leon Trotsky showed examples of Stalin's falsification of the history of the October Revolution in Russia and later events at a time when their direct participants and witnesses were still alive.

Indications of the falsification of the history of the October Revolution, the history of the USSR and earlier periods in the history of the Russian Empire are contained in many scientific studies and encyclopedic publications, especially those published during the periods of the next debunking of the previous government: in the 1920s - in relation to the period before 1917, for example, "Small Soviet Encyclopedia"; after the 20th Congress of the CPSU - in relation to the period of Stalin's dictatorship, such as, for example, the studies of A. Solzhenitsyn; after 1991 - in relation to various periods of history, both the Russian Empire and the lands seized by it at different times, and the history of the USSR, such as, for example, the Encyclopedia of the History of Ukraine in 10 volumes; A short encyclopedic dictionary published in Moscow and many, many others. The biographies of the leaders - V. Ulyanov, I. Dzhugashvili, many other party and state leaders L. Bronstein, V. M. Skryabin, L. M. Kaganovich were falsified. and etc.

The history of such important events in the state as the Holodomor in Ukraine 1932-1933, the Holodomor in Ukraine 1921-1923, the Holodomor in Ukraine 1946-1947, the mass deportations of the population by nationality, the signing of the Non-Aggression Treaty between the USSR and Germany and related documents, was falsified and hushed up, the formation of the USSR, the creation and activities of the GULAG, the CPSU, the destruction of Polish prisoners, the execution of peaceful demonstrations (from January 1918 until the 60s, as, for example, in Novocherkassk) and many others.

A member of the London "Committee on Non-Intervention" during the Spanish Civil War, Soviet Ambassador to Great Britain Ivan Maisky, at a meeting of the Committee on November 4, 1936 (and then, in his memoirs), refuted the assertion of the representative of Italy, Dino Grandi (ital. Dino Grandi about the participation at that time of tanks, planes and Soviet troops in the battles in Spain. But in the notes to the edition of "Spanish Diaries" by M. Koltsov 1987, the participation of tankers of the Red Army under the command of brigade commander S.M. Krivoshein in the defense of Madrid already on October 27, 1936. Brigade commander Ya.V. Smushkevich fought in Spain "since October 1936." The first victims among the Soviet pilots were already at the end of October, as Dino Grandi informed the Non-Intervention Committee.

As an example of falsification by the method of arbitrary selection of historical facts, historians S. Volkov and Yu. Emelyanov cite the brochure "Falsifiers of History (historical reference)", produced by the "Sovinformburo" in 1948 in response to the publication by the US State Department, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Great Britain and France, collection of documents "Nazi-Soviet Relations 1939-1941". Pointing to a significant list of real events of that time, at the same time, the anonymous authors of the brochure do not mention the secret Soviet-German agreement of 1922, which allowed Germany to make a significant breakthrough in the preparation of the armed forces, bypassing the Treaty of Versailles. And this agreement was signed on August 11, 1922

Lenin portends at a rally on Sverdlov Square in Moscow May 5, 1920 Trotsky and Kamenev stand on the steps of the platform.

Photo falsified: Trotsky and Kamenev are no more.

Nikolai Yezhov next to Stalin.

Falsified photo: Yezhov is no more.

Ulyanov and A. Bogdanov play chess in Capri (1908). Standing: V. Bazarov, M. Gorky, his son Z. Peshkov, Bogdanov's wife

the same photo, but seized by V. Bazarov and Zinovy ​​Peshkov

Modern Ukraine

In Ukraine, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a number of Ukrainian pseudo-historians also appeared who tried, on the basis of false evidence, to exalt the role of the Ukrainian people in history. In particular, it has been argued that the original Indo-Europeans were Ukrainian or prominent historical figures, like Jesus Christ and Buddha, were from Ukraine. The official Ukrainian historical science is fighting against such falsification of history.

Modern Russia

In Russia there are also a number of historians who seek to raise the greatness of Russia on the basis of many falsifications or the suppression of some historical circumstances. Thus, N. Zagladin's school textbook "History of Russia and the World in the 20th Century", which, on the instructions of V. Putin, was supposed to teach "more patriotic" history, deliberately keeps silent or one-sidedly interprets many dark pages of Russian history - Stalinist repressions and famines, Chechen wars the like.

The Soviet Union collapsed almost a quarter of a century ago. Soviet history in the media and in textbooks has long and habitually been painted in the gloomy colors of communist terror, which was supposedly the meaning of the Soviet political system.

It seems that the authorities are waiting for the last witnesses of the Soviet past to die out, and the new generations of Russia to lose all interest in the heroic image of the great country, which for seventy years gave hope to the whole world for the triumph of justice. In the meantime, other values ​​​​are promoted and other heroes are famous.

However, a movement for the revival of the historical dignity of Russia has arisen and is growing in Russian society. This happens after the strengthening of its political positions in the world. So far, these are public organizations of a club format. Their main task is to fight the falsification of history, opportunistic disinformation and forgery of documents aimed at destroying the unity of peoples and social groups of our vast country. In fact, in response to the informational aggression of the falsifiers of the past, a search is being made for a consolidating national Russian idea or ideology, contrary to the vague definition of political diversity in Article 13 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

"Forget your kind, and you are nobody"

As you know, history is a policy directed to the past. The writing of history, the factual interpretation, is an exclusively ideological work. There is no future without the past. In the ideological basis of self-identification of the individual and patriotism lies, first of all, historical memory, around which the culture and language of communication in its diversity is formed. Everything together unites people into a society inhabiting a historical territory, and with the development of the economy, a nation is formed from a historical community. If this algorithm for the formation of a nation is destroyed, if its identification historical basis is distorted, then society will begin to disintegrate and the nation will not take place.

The main sign of the distortion of historical facts is manifested in the direction of the description of the fact itself, its interpretation. If the orientation is anti-Russian or anti-Russian, anti-Soviet, then this is probably a propaganda goal and disinformation, informational intervention in the historical consciousness of Russian society with the aim of its decomposition, the formation of an inferiority complex. This is the direct goal of the so-called information war of the West against the Russian Federation and the former Soviet republics.

The goal is neither new nor exclusive. Information sabotage against Russia has been actively used in politics by Western governments for hundreds of years. In this case, parrying the intervention systematically, new historians and journalists who study history need to be able to perceive the factual series of events, tying them to the political situation of the time in which the events took place, abstracting from modern ideological clichés and not mentally introducing them into the social relations of the past. . Only then, based on the analysis and modeling of events, such an interpretation of facts or processes, alternative to Western propaganda, can appear, which will serve to comprehend the past and consolidate society.

Without a worthy comprehension of the past, it is impossible to build the future without destroying oneself. Moreover, the Russian state, losing the historical continuity of generations, condemning its own history and renouncing the choice of previous generations, runs the risk of blindly following the ideological guidelines of Western competitors, losing its sovereignty. We have no reason to be ashamed of our past. It was worthy, historically predetermined within the framework of the laws of evolution.

Below are several examples of distortions in the interpretation of historical events adopted in Western historiography, and a real alternative to them, based on the cause-and-effect relationships of social processes and facts. This is a purely subjective opinion of the author.

1. There is a persistent message that the Red Army and Stalin forcibly imposed communism on Eastern Europe. That is, the fear of the USSR and the Bolsheviks paralyzed the democratic forces in the countries of Eastern Europe, which were allegedly against communism and socialism.

In fact, everything was the opposite. By the beginning of World War II, almost all European countries were affected by fascism to varying degrees. The fascisization of Europe was due to the response of the bourgeoisie, primarily financial, to the growing popularity in Europe of left-wing movements and parties, the authority of the Comintern after the First World War.

Fascist bourgeois political regimes in European countries were the norm. Moreover, many of them covered themselves with ultra-left slogans of nationalist socialism. So it was in Italy - the birthplace of fascism - led by Mussolini. Hitler's party was called the National Socialist, the national flag of Germany was red with a swastika in a white circle, symbolizing the absolute vitality of the National Socialist idea. It was a prudent propaganda trick of the Nazis in the conditions of the crisis depression of the 30s.

World War II was unleashed as an anti-communist war, in which Germany was the striking force in the intrigue of financial cartels against the USSR and the core of the anti-Soviet European or Western coalition. Fascist Europe concluded peace treaties with fascist Germany. It was the quintessence of political strategy in the next campaign of Europe to the East, as a continuation of the First World War. For this, Germany was armed by the financiers of the United States and Europe.

The allies of the USSR, really the Anglo-Saxons, were hypocritical in this war and were looking for an advantageous middle ground in playing off the two major powers and at the same time their historical competitors - Germany and the USSR.

At the same time, one cannot fail to say that the birthplace of the communist project Marx-Engels was France and England, and the project itself, as conceived by the British Prime Minister Palmerston, a skilled political intriguer who tacitly supported Marx, was intended for rival Germany in order to undermine its economy and state.

Marxov "Communist Manifesto" was developed and freely published in London in 1848 as a program document of the Communist League, and in Germany the manifesto appeared only in 1872. The First International, as an international organization of workers, was founded in 1864, also in London.

At that time, a complete translation of Marx's Capital was first printed in St. Petersburg, and Marxism was a little-known philosophical movement. The CP Manifesto was published in Russia only in 1882, and before that there were attempts to translate it into Russian abroad, in particular in Geneva.

In Germany, in 1918, a communist political party appeared and, if not for the Nazi pogroms of the communists, it would have had a chance to come to power. The communist idea in Eastern Europe also appeared earlier than in Tsarist Russia. In 1919, a Soviet republic was proclaimed in Hungary and a red army was formed to defend it, while a civil war was in full swing in the RSFSR, in which European internationalists also participated. So Europe was ready for communism long before World War II and Stalin.

Rather, Russia followed the European left and allowed a grand experiment to take place. There was no diktat to Europe on its part, just as there has never been a forcible planting of Russian Orthodoxy. It is no coincidence that after the war in the 70s of the last century, Eurocommunism was cultivated in Europe, different from the Soviet version. What does the USSR and Stalin have to do with it?

After the victory in 1945, the authority of the USSR and the ideas of socialism were in themselves very high, and the USSR was perceived in the world by the broad masses of the people as a role model in solving such acute political problems as social justice and the prosperity of peoples, their independence.

Therefore, the influence of the left-wing parties in European countries increased sharply as a result of the war, while the right-wing bourgeois parties, who collaborated with the Germans in governments during the war, collapsed. This is the main reason for the political parties in Europe, as well as Asia, South America, and Africa to the left. The process also affected the United States. This is how the International Socialist System arose, which was represented by socialist countries and countries with a socialist orientation. And then there were the associations of Eastern European countries in CMEA and Warsaw Pact.

No one forced them into these organizations. Albania voluntarily withdrew from these organizations. Socialist Yugoslavia and Austria did not participate in them, on the territory of which Soviet troops were located until 1954, and the hammer and sickle flaunted on the Austrian coat of arms from 1919 to 1934.

In order to prevent left-wing revolutions in their countries, in America and France, for example, in the post-war period, pro-fascist measures were taken and communist parties were banned there. This is anti-communist policy de Gaulle in France, and McCarthyism in the USA. In Spain and Portugal, the fascist dictatorship was established earlier, but was not overthrown immediately after the war, but only decades later ceased due to the death of the dictators. Franco and Salazar. It is noteworthy that in Portugal, the constitution of 1974 (the so-called Carnation Revolution) proclaimed a course towards the construction of socialism. Later this article was removed from the text of the constitution.

One may ask, how can we regard the events in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968, if we do not consider them dictated by the USSR? Very simple. The Warsaw Pact provided for mutual military assistance in crisis situations. The putsch in Hungary and Czechoslovakia was inspired from outside, as it was much later in Yugoslavia. That's why in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, troops were introduced not only from the USSR, but also from Poland, the GDR, and Bulgaria. The operation was collective, not exclusively Soviet. At the same time, modern Russia bears no historical responsibility for these events.

Moreover, the Warsaw Pact provided for a self-dissolution procedure if a pan-European system of collective security was created. The treaty was open to accession by other countries, regardless of their political system of power, on the basis of equal sovereign rights.

2. Western propaganda and opposition in Russia fan the myth of the notorious Iron Curtain between the USSR and the West, allegedly lowered by the Soviet dictatorship. This is a complete perversion of the essence of the isolation of the USSR. The Iron Curtain was lowered by the West, that is, the economic and political isolation of the USSR was declared, the blockade of its entry into the world market immediately after the establishment of Soviet power after the revolution.

World War II did not change the position of Western governments. Churchill's Fulton speech in 1946 Truman Doctrine and other policy statements by American presidents confirm this fact. The strategy of the "Iron Curtain", i.e. isolation in the post-war period, was implemented in the form of the Cold War. All this continues now in the form of sanctions and trade restrictions, but already against Russia.

Nevertheless, the Soviet Union managed to conduct successful foreign trade. In addition to raw materials, timber and oil, products of mechanical engineering, energy and chemical industries, aircraft industry, etc. were exported. gold ruble, which protected the domestic market and the CMEA from the influence of the US dollar and ensured market stability. However, this created a shortage of foreign currency in the state treasury, which was necessary for industrial development and foreign policy activities.

There was a widespread opinion among the intelligentsia that the state was deliberately forbidding travel abroad for ideological reasons. In fact, the reason for the restrictions was the shortage of foreign currency, since the government had to provide foreign currency for citizens traveling abroad in rubles according to international standards. For the same reason of the currency shortage, trade in foreign consumer goods was organized through the system of Vneshtorg stores for checks of the VPT, which were paid instead of currency to Soviet citizens for work on foreign business trips, and the earned currency itself went to the state treasury.

As for ideological obstacles, then for this reason the dissident emigration of the 60s and 70s would hardly have taken place. Compared to the emigrants of the first wave, Soviet dissidents did not play any significant role in the ideological confrontation between the West and the USSR, they were dangerous at home, and not abroad, where they sent dissidents out of harm's way. The very ideological background of the travel restrictions has become a kind of cover story for the real cause of the problem - saving foreign exchange reserves.

The exchange of tourists and students was also normalized due to the foreign exchange deficit, but it existed on the basis of quotas for the exchange of tourists and students. There were also visa restrictions on both sides. In the USSR, by law, citizens who had access to secret documents were also limited in traveling abroad.

In addition, bilateral agreements on the free crossing of borders were then concluded between the states. The USSR did not have such agreements with foreign countries. But this was determined not by ideology, but by the migration policy of each country. It was possible to leave for a socialist country at the invitation of an organization or relatives. The procedure for obtaining an exit visa to a capitalist country for the same reasons was more complicated. But it depended on the rules of the other side. In our time, when almost all restrictions on leaving the Russian Federation have been lifted, restrictive conditions for entry into some countries remain.

What was the currency spent on in the USSR? First of all, for foreign policy goals to ensure the balance of power and world influence of the two systems in the conditions of the blockade and the Cold War, to put it briefly. Peaceful coexistence cost money. Therefore, the USSR supported materially friendly states in their development and ensuring sovereignty. The maintenance of foreign state institutions, the provision of maritime navigation, international communications also required foreign exchange costs.

The task of world revolution, for which the USSR is reproached, was never set by the Soviet leadership after Trotsky's departure and the collapse of the Comintern. But the myth of the "world revolution of the Soviets" remained, thanks to the slogan of the Comintern era "Proletarians of all countries, unite!". This tradition did not reflect real Soviet foreign policy, but was used tendentiously in Western anti-Soviet propaganda, now the soviet threat is replaced by the russian one.

3. Russophobes and opposition shout about the technological backwardness of the USSR and Russia. But the USSR was not technologically backward. On the contrary, most of the advanced technologies in the world were developed by Soviet scientists, but they were implemented in other countries. For example, laser, television, mobile phone, space exploration and nuclear power.

In military technologies, we were ahead of the developed capitalist countries, and we are ahead of them now, however, in the production of consumer goods, the state did not allow excess consumer qualities, focusing on domestic demand in the absence of competition. Many high dual-purpose technologies were unnecessarily classified.

Soviet goods were simple, cheap, and in terms of quality they were quite satisfied with the demand of the bulk of the population, and the state saved on this. Although the industry could also produce more sophisticated household appliances, if they did not save on costs in the light and food industries in order to carry out grandiose space programs - the basis of the country's security. At a time when the West was switching to plastic and food surrogates at the whim of speculators, the USSR preferred natural products and fabrics, building materials. Today it is proved that the shortage of goods in the USSR was deliberate, a form of political pressure in the struggle for power.

In reality, according to the results of participation in international exhibitions, our goods, including cars, enjoyed a fairly wide potential demand abroad among the population because of their cheapness and utility. This was one of the reasons for the market isolation of the USSR in favor of Western concerns that produced products, for example, the same cars, with inflated consumer properties at a higher price and a relatively short service life even with a well-organized technical service.

Overproduction, an excess of goods in relation to demand, leads to overexpenditure of resources and their depletion, an increase in industrial waste and garbage. But a competitive market cannot exist without this commodity glut and intensive financial turnover. Today we see it firsthand.

After the collapse of the USSR, Russia entered the world market, but limited in the implementation of its capabilities by the obligations of membership in the WTO. The ruble has become freely convertible and unprotected from the influence of stock market conditions. As a result, the economy of the Russian Federation, like other former Soviet republics, turned out to be controlled by Western financial cartels. Russia imports consumer goods that it could produce itself with better quality. Gradually, consumption develops into pathological consumerism, which ensures the growth of capital of financial speculators-usurers, morally corrupting society.

What is the benefit to the population of Russia from participation in the WTO and is there any? The benefits of speculators do not improve the standard of living of the population and the quality of goods.

4. The West constantly accused the USSR and accuses Russia of aggressiveness, naming far-fetched aggressiveness in the first place among other threats. However, in world history there is no other state with many peace-loving initiatives, such as the USSR and the Russian Federation.

Even at the Genoa Conference in 1922, the Soviet delegation, on behalf of the head of state, proposed general disarmament. The USSR offered peace and the fulfillment of the obligations of the former government (tsarist and bourgeois-republican) for debts and compensation for the losses of foreign companies from the revolution in exchange for the official recognition of the Soviet government as legitimate and full in international relations. The West rejected both proposals. The Soviet state remained in a trade blockade and political isolation. The West is now pursuing the same policy towards Russia.

5. The outright lie is circulating in the media and the Internet that the West was forced to create NATO and expand it because of the threat of a communist invasion from the East. Few people know that initially, at the end of the war, the UN was planned like the pre-war League of Nations, from which the USSR was expelled in 1940. The League of Nations itself collapsed due to insurmountable political differences between its members on the eve of the World War and was formally dissolved in 1946, but after the establishment of the UN in 1945.

The membership of the USSR in the UN was also not supposed, and the new international organization was conceived by the Western powers as a consolidated tool in the fight against communism, by analogy with the League of Nations.

However, this could not be done, thanks to the authority of the then leadership of the Soviet Union, which became one of the founders of the modern UN. Obviously, in opposition to the anti-communist UN, the Comintern could be revived with the Soviet Union at the head, which before the war caused a lot of anxiety to world capital. This was a weighty argument in favor of the USSR's membership in the UN, which did not seek confrontation. The inclusion in the UN of the USSR and two union republics - the Ukrainian SSR and the BSSR - as independent members of the organization was a victory for Soviet diplomacy.

Soviet lawyers, experts in international law, actively participated in the development of the UN Charter. At their suggestion, the UN Security Council was formed with the right of veto for each of the five countries members of the Security Council: the winners of WWII and China. The inclusion of China in the UN Security Council was proposed by the Soviet leadership. Thus, the plans of the leading Western powers to aggravate the confrontation in the Cold War were frustrated, which was fraught with the Third World War with the use of nuclear weapons.

As a result, the UN was established in 1945 in the status of a universal subject of international law to develop international cooperation, ensure security and maintain peace on Earth with the authority to form and use peacekeeping armed forces.

Having failed in the UN project, the Western states united with the same anti-Soviet and anti-communist goal, creating the NATO North Atlantic Alliance in 1949. This organization was originally not only commercial and political, but also military, which included the combined armed forces of NATO member countries. In response, in Eastern Europe, six years later, in 1955, the military organization of the Warsaw Pact appeared., and before that there was already an intergovernmental consultative economic body of the socialist countries of the CMEA (1949). Both organizations were dissolved in 1991.

This is the reason and sequence for the emergence of these international organizations. To this must be added the perfidious eastward expansion of NATO after the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. So who is the real aggressor here?

6. A special place in Western propaganda is given to the shortage of goods in the USSR and low wages, the infringement of agricultural workers' rights. This issue is very difficult to discuss, since there are no unambiguous methods and comparable statistical data to compare two different systems of government and distribution of national income related to the solution of specific domestic economic and social problems.

Of course, the USSR was "catching up with America." But by what criteria? The Soviet economy was built on the basis of its own resources and labor, and America, which did not fight on its own territory, dominated the world market through dollar speculation and military force.

Nevertheless, today we can quite compare life in the USSR under socialism with life in the Russian Federation under capitalism in many ways: in terms of income, self-realization of the individual and spiritual life.

In Soviet times, the real incomes of the population were much higher than wages. They consisted of earnings and government subsidies. The state subsidized expenses for the maintenance of housing and communal services, kindergartens and nurseries, provided free education at all levels from primary to higher specialized, maintained at the expense of the budget an extensive network of institutions for out-of-school education and rehabilitation of children and youth, sports clubs and sections, sports schools and houses of pioneers. Today in Russia this is practically non-existent. You have to pay for everything. For many families, comprehensive childrearing is out of reach due to low incomes. Thus, from generation to generation, the marginal part of society is growing as a social base for extremism and criminality.

Speculation on historical events

In addition to the ideological falsification of historical facts, the distortion of the essence of the events of the Soviet past, Western political technologists look for episodes in our past that could become an ideological ground for dividing peoples and regions. That is, they are looking for ideological cracks along which Russia could be split.

Among such events, for example, the episode of the capture of Kazan in 1552 by the tsar was chosen. Ivan IV the Terrible, the main city of the former Kazan ulus of the Golden Horde. This was the fifth campaign against Kazan, the previous ones were unsuccessful, which speaks of the power of the Kazan Khanate, comparable to Moscow.

This event is presented by Western and many Soviet historians as the conquest, the conquest by the Russians of the Kazan sovereign Khanate of the Volga Tatars in order to expand Moscow's possessions. Thus, an aggressive image of the Russian Moscow state is sticking out, which should encourage modern Tatars to historical revenge, stimulate separatist sentiments in Tatarstan.

In fact, Kazan was taken by the troops of the Russian Tsar, which included squads of Kazan Tatars, Mari, Chuvash, Mordovians with their khans and princes. Free Don Cossacks came to the rescue.

Together, a protege of the Crimean Khan and the Ottoman Empire was expelled from Kazan, blocking the Volga trade route and raiding Russian lands to rob and capture slaves. The slave trade was one of the industries of the Crimean Khanate. After the capture of Kazan, the tsar, according to the custom of that time, himself became the khan of the Volga Tatars, the Volga trade route became free, and the peoples of the Volga region joined the Russian state, with which they repeatedly turned to the tsar. Neither the way of life, nor the faith, nor the customs of the annexed peoples, including the Tatars, were changed or violated by force. Nevertheless, the capture of Kazan is presented as a war of conquest.

Turkey for several years tried to restore its influence in the Kazan Khanate and put its khan on the throne, organizing rebellion after rebellion against Russia with the help of the Nogais, but was never able to do this. This period is taught as the national liberation war of the Kazan Tatars against the Russians.

In the same manner, the settlement of the provinces of the North Caucasus in the 18th century and later is played up. The fact is that most of the settlers were from the regions of Little Russia, the Kuban and Terek Cossacks were mainly formed from Zaporozhye Cossacks, and therefore, up to our time, an original Ukrainian dialect was spread in the Stavropol and Krasnodar Territories, and Ukrainian culture was also introduced. Modern Ukrainian Nazis took this episode of Russian history as the basis for territorial claims against the Russian Federation, threatening to spread their ideology to the Kuban and even annex the Kuban lands to Ukraine. They talk about this openly, blurting out in the context of Western scenarios of stimulating the collapse of Russia.

It is no coincidence that scholars — historians, ethnographers, sociologists and political scientists from European and American universities are quite actively conducting research work in the North Caucasus, reports on which become the property of specialists of a different kind. Probably, as a result of such scientific contacts with representatives of the local intelligentsia in Stavropol, the opinion suddenly began to spread that "Russians have lost their culture." What will follow?

It is also no coincidence that publications about the peasant war under the leadership of Emeliana Pugacheva or about the Pugachev uprising of 1773-1775. This topic has always aroused great interest in Russia. Too many mysteries remain for posterity about that distant event. But what is the intrigue of the current popularity? It is covered in just a few lines. The peasant war is interpreted as a war between two states - tsarist Russia and the Cossack Yaik (Urals). Pugachev allegedly had a full-fledged government with its own orders and ministers, and the army was regular.

If we compare these curious statements with the activity of the American embassy in the Urals, then we can judge the possible preparation of some kind of ideological basis for an anti-Russian American project in this region. It is quite possible that the authors of historical studies are unaware of such intentions of the customer. But this does not mean that there are no such intentions at all.

In the same series of historical speculations is the problem of the revival of the monarchy in Russia, candidates for the royal throne have already been prepared from imaginary Bagrationi-Romanovs.

The society was shocked by the news of a certain scientific dissertation justifying the betrayal of the commander of the 2nd shock army, General Vlasov. They say that in modern anti-communist Russia, Vlasov cannot be considered a traitor, since he did what higher leaders repeated in the Cold War in the 80-90s of the last century. In addition, the remains of a white general Denikin and his wife were reburied at the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow as a sign of reconciliation of the past. But everyone knows that Anton Ivanovich Denikin refused to cooperate with the Germans against Soviet Russia, although he was an implacable enemy of the Soviet government and the Bolsheviks.

As the old Russian proverb says, you can’t throw a scarf over every mouth. Bans on provocative topics will not improve things here. It is necessary to adequately respond to such challenges with counterinformation, new historiography with a clear ideology of statehood.

In recent years, in our country, such a concept as “falsification of history” has become especially widespread. Of course, at first glance, this phrase seems incomprehensible. How can you distort the facts that have already taken place? But, nevertheless, the rewriting of history is a phenomenon that takes place in modern society and has its roots in the distant past. The very first examples of documents in which history was falsified have been known since the time of Ancient Egypt.

Methods and techniques

The authors whose works reflect the distortion and falsification of history, as a rule, do not indicate the sources of their "factual" judgments. Only occasionally in such works are references to various publications that either do not exist at all, or they clearly do not relate to the subject of the publication.

One can say about this method that it is not so much a forgery of the known as its addition. In other words, this is not a falsification of history, but ordinary myth-making.

A more subtle way of distorting the existing facts is the falsification of primary sources. Sometimes the falsification of world history becomes possible on the basis of "sensational" archaeological discoveries. Sometimes authors make references to previously unknown documents. These can be “unpublished” chronicle materials, diaries, memoirs, etc. In such cases, only a special examination can reveal a fake, which the interested party either does not conduct, or falsifies the results obtained by it.

One of the methods of distorting history is the one-sided selection of certain facts and their arbitrary interpretation. As a result of this, connections are being built that were absent in reality. It is simply impossible to call the conclusions made on the basis of the obtained picture true. With this method of falsifying history, certain events or documents described actually took place. However, researchers draw their conclusions with a purposeful and gross violation of all methodological foundations. The purpose of such publications may be to justify a certain historical character. Those sources that give negative information about him are simply ignored or their hostility is noted, and therefore falsity. At the same time, documents that indicate the presence of positive facts are used as a basis and are not criticized.

There is another special technique that, in essence, can be located between the methods described above. It lies in the fact that the author gives a real, but at the same time truncated quote. It omits places that are in clear contradiction with the conclusions necessary for the mythologist.

Goals and motives

Why falsify history? The goals and motives of the authors who publish publications that distort the events that have taken place can be very diverse. They relate to the ideological or political sphere, affect commercial interests, etc. But in general, the falsification of the history of the world pursues goals that can be combined in two groups. The first of these includes socio-political motives (gepolitical, political and ideological). Most of them are closely connected with anti-state propaganda.

The second group of goals includes commercial and personal-psychological motives. In their list: the desire to gain fame and assert themselves, as well as to become famous in a short time, giving the society a "sensation" that can turn over all existing ideas about the past. The dominant factor in this case is, as a rule, the material interests of the authors, who earn good money by publishing large editions of their works. Sometimes the motives that prompted the distortion of historical facts can be explained by the desire for revenge on individual opponents. Sometimes such publications are aimed at belittling the role of government representatives.

Historical heritage of Russia

A similar problem exists in our country. At the same time, the falsification of national history is considered as anti-Russian propaganda. Often, publications that distort the events that have taken place are born in states both near and far abroad. They are directly related to the current material and political interests of various forces and contribute to the justification of material and territorial claims against the Russian Federation.

The problem of falsification of history and opposition to such facts is very relevant. After all, it affects the state interests of Russia and damages the social memory of the country's citizens. And this fact has been repeatedly emphasized by the leadership of our state. In order to respond to such challenges in a timely manner, a special commission has even been created under the President of Russia, whose task is to counter any attempts to falsify history that damage state interests.

Main directions

Unfortunately, in modern times, the falsification of the history of Russia has begun to take on quite impressive proportions. At the same time, the authors who explore and describe the past boldly cross all ideological barriers in their publications, and also grossly break moral and ethical norms. The reader was literally flooded with a stream of disinformation, which is simply impossible for an ordinary person to understand. What are the main directions of falsification of history?

Classic

These historical falsifications have migrated to us from past centuries. The authors of such articles claim that the Russians are aggressors and that they are a constant threat to all civilized mankind. In addition, such publications characterize our people as dark barbarians, drunkards, savages, etc.

Russophobic

These falsifications are picked up by our intelligentsia and transplanted into our own soil. Such a distortion of history gives rise to a complex of self-abasement and national inferiority. After all, according to him, everything is fine in Russia, but people do not know how to live culturally. This supposedly forces one to repent for one's past. But before whom? Foreigners, that is, those ideological enemies who organized such sabotage, become judges.

These directions of distortion of historical facts at first glance seem antagonistic. However, both of them fit perfectly into the anti-Russian and anti-Russian channel. Anyone who tries to denigrate our history perfectly uses both tools at the same time, despite their apparent opposite. So, when relying on communist arguments, tsarist Russia is humiliated. At the same time, in order to denigrate the Soviet Union, the arguments of the most rabid critics of the idea of ​​communism are used.

Distortion of the activities of key figures

Another direction in which the falsification of the history of Russia is carried out is criticism directed against various prominent personalities.

Thus, the distortion of facts can often be found in works about St. Vladimir the Baptist, St. Andrei Bogolyubsky, St. Alexander Nevsky, etc. There is even a certain pattern. The greater the contribution to the development of the country was made by this or that figure, the more persistently and aggressively they try to denigrate him.

Distortion of the events of national history

This is one of the favorite directions of mythologists who are trying to slander our country. And here special priority belongs to the events of the Great Patriotic War. It's pretty easy to explain. In order to belittle Russia, these authors are trying to cross out and obscure the most grandiose and brilliant feat of our state, which, without any doubt, saved the entire civilized world. The period from 1941 to 1945 provides a large field of activity for such mythologists.

Thus, the most distorted moments of the war are the assertions that:

• The USSR was preparing for an attack on Germany;
• the Soviet and Nazi systems are identical, and the victory of the people occurred against the wishes of Stalin;
• the role of the Soviet-German front is not so great, and Europe owes its liberation from the fascist yoke to the allies;
• Soviet soldiers who have accomplished feats are not heroes at all, while traitors, SS men, and others are praised;
• the losses of the two opposing sides are clearly exaggerated by politicians, and the number of victims of the peoples of the USSR and Germany is much less;
• the military art of the Soviet generals was not so high, and the country won only due to huge losses and victims.

What is the purpose of falsifying the history of the war? Thus, the "purifiers" of the facts that have already occurred are trying to ground and crush the war itself and nullify the feat of the Soviet people. However, the whole truth of this terrible tragedy of the 20th century lies in the great spirit of patriotism and the desire of ordinary people to come to victory at any cost. This was the most defining element in the life of the army and the people of that time.

Theories that go against Westernism

At present, many of the most amazing versions of the development of the social system in Russia have appeared. One of them is Eurasianism. It denies the existence of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, and these mythologists raise the Horde khans to the level of Russian tsars. A similar direction announces the symbiosis of the Asian peoples and Russia. On the one hand, these theories are friendly to our country.

After all, they call on both peoples to work together to counter the common slanderers and enemies. However, upon closer examination, such versions are a clear analogue of Westernism, only vice versa. Indeed, in this case, the role of the great Russian people, which supposedly should be subordinate to the East, is belittled.

Neo-pagan falsification

This is a new direction of distortion of historical facts, which at first glance seems pro-Russian and patriotic. With its development, works are allegedly discovered that testify to the primordial wisdom of the Slavs, their ancient traditions and civilizations. However, they also contain the problem of falsifying the history of Russia. After all, such theories are in fact extremely dangerous and destructive. They are aimed at undermining true Russian and Orthodox traditions.

Historical terrorism

This rather new trend sets itself the goal of blowing up the very foundations of historical science. The most striking example of this is the theory that was created by a group led by a mathematician, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences A. T. Fomenko. This work considers questions about a radical revision of world history.

The scientific community has rejected this theory, explaining that it contradicts established facts. Opponents of the "New Chronology" were historians and archaeologists, mathematicians and linguists, astronomers and physicists, as well as scientists representing other sciences.

Introduction of historical forgeries

At the present stage, this process has its own characteristics. Thus, the impact is carried out in a massive way and has a clearly targeted character. The most dangerous fakes for the state have solid sources of funding and are published in huge circulation. These, in particular, include the work of Rezun, who wrote under the pseudonym "Suvorov", as well as Fomenko.

In addition, today the most important source of dissemination of articles about the falsification of history is the Internet. Almost every person has access to it, which contributes to the mass impact of fakes.

Unfortunately, the financing of fundamental historical science does not allow it to provide tangible resistance to the emerging works that are in conflict with the events that actually happened. Academic works are also published in small editions.

Sometimes some Russian historians are also captivated by falsifications. They accept Soviet, anti-Soviet or Western theories. To confirm this, one can recall one of the school history textbooks, in which statements were made that the turning point of World War II was the battle of the American army with the Japanese at Midway Atoll, and not the Battle of Stalingrad.

What are the attacks of counterfeiters? They are aimed at accustoming the Russian people to the thought that they do not have a glorious and great past, and the achievements of their ancestors should not be proud of. The younger generation is turning away from their native history. And such work has its depressing results. After all, the vast majority of today's youth are not interested in history. In this way, Russia is trying to destroy the past and erase the former power from memory. And therein lies a great danger to the country. Indeed, when a people is separated from its cultural and spiritual roots, it simply dies as a nation.

Plan
Introduction
1 Techniques and methods
2 Historical examples
2.1 Ancient Egypt
2.2 Ivan the Terrible
2.3 Nazi Germany
2.4 I. V. Stalin
2.5 N. S. Khrushchev
2.6 Denial of genocides

3 Nationalist falsifications of history
3.1 Azerbaijan
3.2 Baltics
3.3 Russia and the USSR
3.4 Ukraine
3.5 Kazakhstan

4 Falsification of history in literature and art
5 Sayings

Bibliography

Introduction

Falsification or rewriting of history is a deliberate distortion of historical events.

Examples of historical falsifications have been known since ancient Egypt.

1. Techniques and methods

The authors of historical falsifications may not indicate the sources of certain “factual” judgments at all or refer to non-existent publications or obviously not related to the primary sources of the work (usually journalistic ones), in which these “facts” were first voiced. In this case, it is more correct to speak not so much about falsification (forgery of the known), but about myth-making (adding on the unknown). The most subtle way of falsification is the falsification of primary sources (“sensational” archaeological discoveries, previously “unknown” and “unpublished” chronicle materials, memoirs, diaries, etc.). In this case, to refute false data, a special examination is required, which is either not carried out by the authors themselves and / or their supporters at all, or is also falsified.

2. Historical examples

2.1. Ancient Egypt

In ancient Egyptian documents, the activities of the pharaohs were usually depicted in a hypertrophied and exaggerated form. For example, it was pointed out that Ramses II made a decisive personal contribution to the victory at the Battle of Kadesh, having independently destroyed the hordes of enemies. In fact, Ramses II personally participated in the battle when he broke through with a small detachment from the encirclement, and the battle itself ended in a draw. The Hittites retreated to Kadesh, the Egyptian troops remained on the field, and each side portrayed itself as a winner. But, undoubtedly, the result of this battle was the strengthening of the influence of Egypt.

After the death of Pharaoh Akhenaten, who carried out a religious reform and tried to introduce monotheism, the new cult was declared a heresy. Images and sculptures of Akhenaten were destroyed, and his name was removed from documents.

2.2. Ivan the Terrible

One of the first documented cases of falsification of history for political reasons in Russia refers to the reign of Ivan the Terrible. At the direction of the king, the "Facial Vault" was written - a complete record of history from ancient times to the present day. In the last volume (the so-called “synodal list”), which already talked about the reign of the Terrible himself, someone made changes in which the governors and boyars, who fell out of favor with the tsar, were accused of various unseemly acts. According to some assumptions, the boyar rebellion of 1533, described only in the synodal list, but not mentioned in any other written source, was also completely invented.

2.3. Nazi Germany

With the advent of Hitler to power, the entire history of mankind was brought by Nazi scientists into line with racial theory, that is, completely and completely falsified. The "fundamental" work that served as the starting point for further falsifications was Alfred Rosenberg's The Myth of the 20th Century (1929).

In Nazi Germany, the myth of the "stab in the back" (Germ. Dolchstoßlegende). Its essence was that by November 1918 Germany could still continue the war, and if it were not for the revolution organized by the “traitors” of the Social Democrats, the war could have ended in its favor. In fact, Germany by that time was in a hopeless situation: all the allies capitulated, there were no reserves, and the Entente intensified after the US entered the war. It was clear that Germany was doomed. However, it was stated that she could still resist.

In 1939, Hitler assembled a group of Protestant theologians and founded a theological institute for "de-Jewishization". Theologians interpreted religious texts in an effort to change data about Jews. In particular, in 1940 it was officially proclaimed that Jesus Christ was not a Jew. It was also claimed that he arrived in Bethlehem from the Caucasus.

2.4. I. V. Stalin

In Stalin's times, along with the physical destruction of party, army and cultural figures, their names were also erased from historical sources (books, textbooks, encyclopedias, photographs). At the same time, the role of Stalin in historical events was falsified, in particular, in 1917, the thesis was promoted that Stalin was one of the leaders of the entire revolutionary movement in Russia until 1917, etc.

A fundamental role in creating the mythological picture of Soviet history was played by the “Short Course in the History of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks” created, partly personally by Stalin, partly under his editorship. Among the myths created by the “Short Course”, the absolutely unfounded myth of the “decisive repulse” near Pskov and Narva, allegedly given to the German invaders by the “young Red Army” on February 23, 1918, turned out to be especially tenacious (see Defender of the Fatherland Day).

By the end of the Stalin era, almost all the figures who really played prominent roles (except Lenin) disappeared from the history of the revolution and the Civil War; their actions were attributed to Stalin, a narrow circle of his associates (who usually played secondary and tertiary roles in reality) and several prominent Bolsheviks who died before the start of the Great Terror: Sverdlov, Dzerzhinsky, Frunze, Kirov and others. The Bolshevik Party was presented as the only revolutionary force; the revolutionary role of the other parties was denied; the real leaders of the revolution were credited with "treacherous" and "counter-revolutionary" actions, and so on. In general, the picture created in this way was not even distorted, but simply mythological in nature. Also under Stalin, especially in the last decade of his reign, more distant history was actively rewritten, for example, the history of the reign of Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great.

2.5. N. S. Khrushchev

During Khrushchev's "thaw" ideological fetters loosened and greater freedom of scientific thought became possible. However, the “thaw” was not accompanied by a renunciation of attempts to rewrite history, only the specific topics of falsifications and attitudes towards individual historical figures changed.

· The perpetrators of the repressions were called personally Stalin and a narrow circle of his associates (Yezhov and Beria), then somewhat expanded by members of the "anti-party group". However, the involvement in the terror of Khrushchev and a number of other persons (Anastas Mikoyan, Serov), as well as persons who had died earlier and were canonized (Mikhail Kalinin, Zhdanov) was hushed up.

Major events in the USSR, including the development of heavy industry in the 30s, the victory in the Great Patriotic War, the restoration of the destroyed economy, the creation of nuclear weapons, were presented as committed without the participation of Stalin and a number of his closest associates (such as Beria). It came to curiosities: for example, due to the censorship ban on the positive and simply neutral mention of the name of Stalin, which arose after the XXII Congress of the CPSU, it turned out to be impossible to publish a book about Soviet diplomacy during World War II.

· Repressions and related phenomena, called by the euphemistic term "personality cult", were declared the product of some personal "mistakes" of Stalin; the question of the objective prerequisites for the "cult of personality" and its connection with the essence of the Soviet socio-political system was not raised; moreover, such a position could become the basis for criminal prosecution. On the whole, the Stalinist political line was not called into question either: the beneficence of Stalinist industrialization, collectivization, the struggle against the “right” and “left” opposition, etc., was emphasized; Stalin's actions in foreign policy, including the Non-Aggression Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union, were also viewed entirely in line with the Stalinist tradition. Only after the 22nd Congress did these acts begin to be attributed not to Stalin personally, but to the “party” and the “Soviet government” (in foreign policy). In connection with the need to preserve the Stalinist version of history and thereby legitimize the existing system, Khrushchev also refused to rehabilitate prominent oppositionists - Bukharin, Kamenev, Zinoviev, and others. The traditional Stalinist version of events such as the Katyn massacre, etc., was still preserved.

· The extent of Stalinist repressions and such events as the Famine in the USSR (1932-1933), “dispossession of kulaks”, etc. were still concealed. In some cases, published data on the number of repressed people were greatly inflated. For example, it was indicated that in the period 1937-1940, up to 40 thousand commanders of the Red Army were destroyed. In fact, this is the number of commanders, retired from service during the specified period, and this includes those dismissed for seniority, and the sick, and those dismissed for disciplinary offenses. In reality, 15557 people were repressed - in general, every tenth commander, while the repressions had little effect on the junior command staff, and the main burden hit the highest.

2.6. Denial of genocides

Despite the presence of many testimonies, such historical facts as the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide are sometimes questioned. Unable to completely disprove the reality of these events, the authors of "alternative theories" question or falsify minor historical evidence, such as individual documents, figures or photographs. In view of the impossibility of a complete refutation of these events, the purpose of such falsifications is to relativize the perception of these facts, an attempt to plant a seed of doubt in their veracity.

3. Nationalist falsifications of history

This type of falsification in the post-Soviet territory is the most common at the present time, although it was also practiced in Soviet times. Such a falsification is not of the events themselves, but only of their interpretation, more subtle and cunning. It comes down, as a rule, to “ennobling” the history of your people as much as possible - to attribute to them the most ancient origin, the greatest possible cultural merits, various glorious deeds (so that in the nationalist picture of history, for example, an insignificant skirmish and even an obvious defeat can be presented as a great victory); connected with this is the striving in every possible way to belittle the significance of other ethnic groups in the history of one's country, to ascribe to oneself or hush up their culture and their contribution. At the same time, as a rule, their own ethnic group is endowed with all the virtues, while neighboring ones look insidious and aggressive. In this case, often genuine sources are used, the memories of individuals, individual phrases taken out of the general context, but giving a deliberately certain assessment of events.