Штрихи к портрету военного исследователя-кавказоведа Н.Н. Забудского

Abstract

The article was prepared with the framework of the contemporary historical studies of the Caucasus at the time of the region annexation and integration into the all-Russia Imperial space. The focus of the paper is on the key milestones of the military career as well as on the investigation initiatives of N.N. Zabudsky, the Major-General, who sets an example of a typical Caucasus military explorer of the 19th century. It reveals his role in the preparation of the military-statistical reviews of different Caucasus regions such as the review of the Stavropol Governorate (Gubernia) with its Caucasus Line Hinterland. Basing \xa0on\xa0 the\xa0 documents\xa0 kept\xa0 in\xa0 the\xa0 fund\xa0 of\xa0 the\xa0 Military-Research Committee\xa0 of\xa0 the\xa0 Russian\xa0 State\xa0 Military\xa0 Historical\xa0 Archives,\xa0 the\xa0 author investigates one of the first examples of preparing a historical research paper on the final stages of the Caucasus War – the paper to which Zabudsky was to\xa0 be\xa0 the\xa0 author.\xa0 She\xa0 characterizes\xa0 the\xa0 researcher\xa0 plans,\xa0 his\xa0 approach\xa0 to selecting materials as well as the reaction of the high command to his creative initiative. The present work comes to the conclusion that such representatives of the Russian officer corps like Zabudskiy became active participants in the complex process of studying the Caucasus. Being under the influence of different circumstances, they shifted the focus of their research from checking up military statistics data to the regional history reconstruction attempts including the analysis of the events which they were participants to. The results of their scientific and practical investigations contributed to the formation of the empirical foundation for writing the official history of the Caucasus War and, in general, for the further development of the historical research on the Caucasus.