V.V. ROZANOV ABOUT “THE LAST TIMES” OF RUSSIA AT THE END OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR

The article reveals the actual significance of V.V. Rozanov’s thoughts, recorded in his archive heritage. Those thoughts are relevant to determine the objective assessment of the events that took place in the theater of ope­rations of the First World War and their impact on the future of Russia. It is noted that the attitude of the thinker was changing while moving to the final of the combat campaign. These facts are reflected in his famous “Apocalypse of our Time”. In the process of increasing the number of military defeats at the front, V.V. Rozanov in his texts less and less believed in a successful outcome of the war. His first thoughts about what had happened did not see the light during the life of the writer and survived only in his literary-epistolary archive, part of which is stored in the Manuscripts Department of the Russian State Library. For the first time, a significant fragment of V.V. Rozanov’s letter to his eldest daughter Tatyana is published, telling about the imminent tragedy that threatened the country after the army’s defeat. V.V. Rozanov saw that a significant role in Russia’s military failures was played by the corrupting liberal and revolutionary press, its influence on the public consciousness. It was not only he who foresaw the catastrophic finale. In this regard, the article gives an analogy with the ideas of his newspaper colleague, journalist M.O. Menshikov, who entrusted his thoughts in the last months of the war only to his Diary. The studies reveal much in common not only in their individual lives, but also in the attitudes and views on the historical process in the last literary creations of the thinkers.

1. Zhukov V.N. First World War, Rozanovskaya entsiklopediya [Rozanov’s Encyclopedia]. Moscow, Rossiiskaya Politicheskaya Entsiklopediya (ROSSPEN) Publ., 2008, 2422 columns, 1216 p. (in Russ.).

2. Baranov A.N., Chugunov E.A. V.V. Rozanov about the Confrontation of the German and Slavic Spirit in the First World War, Entelekhiya [Entelechia], 2001, no. 1, 140 p. (in Russ.).

3. Rozanov V.V. The Probable “Hegemon” of Europe, Novoe vremya [New Time], 1905, June 29 (in Russ.).

4. Rozanov V.V. Ital’yanskie vpechatleniya [The Italian Impressions]. St. Petersburg, A.S. Suvorina Publ., 1909, 318 p.

5. Ern V.F. The Sword and the Cross: The Raid of the Valkyries, Sochineniya [Works]. Moscow, Pravda Publ., 1991, 576 p. (in Russ.).

6. Rozanov V.V. The Apocalypse of our Time, Sobranie sochinenii: v 30 t. [Collected Works: in 30 volumes]. Moscow, Respublika Publ., 2000, vol. 12, 429 p. (in Russ.).

7. Berdyaev N.A. On the “Forever-Womenish” in the Russian Soul, Birzhevye vedomosti [Stock News], 1915, January 14 and 15 (in Russ.).

8. Berdyaev N.A. Sud’ba Rossii [The Fate of Russia]. Moscow, 1990, 240 p.

9. Rozanov V.V. The War of 1914 and Russian Renaissance, Sobranie sochinenii: v 30 t. Poslednie list’ya [Collected Works: in 30 volumes. Last Leaves]. Moscow, Respublika Publ., 2000, vol. 11, pp. 253—340 (in Russ.).

10. Danilevsky N.Ya. Rossiya i Evropa [Russia and Europe]. Moscow, Kniga Publ., 1991, 576 p.

11. Rozanov V.V. Last Leaves. 1916, Sobranie sochinenii: v 30 t. Poslednie list’ya [Collected Works: in 30 volumes. Last Leaves]. Moscow, Respublika Publ., 2000, vol. 11, 382 p. (in Russ.).

12. The Archive of V.V. Rozanov. A Letter from V.V. Rozanov to T.V. Rozanova, Otdel rukopisei Rossiiskoi gosudarstvennoi biblioteki [Manuscripts Department of the Russian State Library], coll. 249, carton 6, item 39, 37 p. (in Russ.).

13. Nikolyukin A.N. Rozanov. Moscow, Molodaya Gvardiya Publ., 2001, 511 p.

14. Rayfield D., Makarova O. Preface, Dnevnik Alekseya Sergeevicha Suvorina [The Diary of Aleksey Sergeyevich Suvorin]. London, Moscow, 1999, vol. XL, 670 p. (in Russ.).

15. Gollerbakh E.F. Rozanov V.V. His Personality and Works: An Experience of Critical and Biographical Study, Veshnie vody [Torrents of Spring], 1918, vol. 31—34, pp. 26—37 (in Russ.).

16. Menshikov M.O The Materials to Biography: The Diary of 1918, Rossiiskii arkhiv (Istoriya Otechestva v svidetel’stvakh i dokumentakh XVIII—XX vv.) [Russian Archive (The History of Fatherland in Testimonies and Do¬cuments of the 18th—20th Centuries.)], issue IV. Moscow, Studiya “TRITE” Publ., Rossiiskii Arkhiv Publ., 1993, 271 p. (in Russ.).

17. Lomonosov A.V. “The Limit of Eternity” of V.V. Rozanov, Zapiski Otdela rukopisei Rossiiskoi gosudarstvennoi biblioteki [Notes of the Manuscripts Department of the Russian State Library], 2000, issue 51, 407 p. (in Russ.).