How Russian Historians Searched for the “Good Empire”: Liquidation of the Hetmanshchyna in the Light of the “New” Imperial Historiography (2014-2022)

Abstract

The purpose is to analyze the presentation in modern Russian historiography of the history of the relations of the Russian Empire with the early modern Ukrainian state — Hetmanshchyna, in particular in that segment of it that positions itself as an adept of the direction of the new history of the empire.

The methodology is based on methods of historiographical analysis and synthesis.

Scientific novelty. For the first time, the problem of applying in modern Russian historiography the concept of the new history of the empire borrowed from Western historical science as a way of historiographical reformatting of the image of the Russian Empire, in particular in the context of the development of the problem of relations between the empire and the Ukrainian early modern state, is highlighted systematically. The question of the reaction of the academic community of the Russian Federation to the turn in the historical policy of 2014 is considered. The priority problem areas of the modern historiographic representation of Russo-Ukrainian relations in the early modern times have been reconstructed.

It has been established that the issue of limiting and liquidating the autonomy of Hetmanshchyna attracts the most attention from Russian historians. The process of absorption by the empire of early modern Ukrainian statehood is considered in the context of the paradigms of “regularities of the integration of Little Russia” and the concept of “integration strategies” borrowed from American historiography. The violent nature of incorporation processes is completely ignored. Manifestations of resistance of the Ukrainian elite to the absorption of Hetmanshchyna are interpreted only as certain personal phobias or the pursuit of private beneficial interests. At the same time, the creators of the new version of imperial historiography actively criticize the representatives of the “new historiographies” for teleologism and “ideological prejudices” and declare their intention to “deconstruct the old ideologized myths”. But in the final result, a new imperial myth is being heavily developed, in which the eff orts of the Russian Empire to absorb and assimilate the state entities incorporated by it are presented exclusively in the context of positive changes: “elimination of disorder”, “improvement of management effi ciency”, “social protection of underprivileged sections of the local population”, etc.