A. M. SAMSONOV, Corresponding Member, USSR. Academy of Sciences. The Road to the Great Victory

Analyzing the causes that sparked off the world conflict of 1939 - 1945, the author discloses the sources of the hegemonistic schemes harboured by the fascist states, as well as the policy of forcible seizure of other countries? territory and of enslaving other peoples. Particular attention is devoted in the article to highlighting the truly national character of the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945 and the consolidation of the antifascist forces on the international arena. The author traces the main stages of the struggle on the various battlefronts, reveals the decisive role played by the U.S.S.R. in routing the bloc of the fascist states, underscores the liberating mission of the Soviet Armed Forces in relation to the enthralled peoples of Europe and Asia. The article substantiates the conclusion about the epoch-making significance of the Soviet people?s victory over fascism and the imperialist aggressors.

A. I. ZEVELEV, V. P. NAUMOV. The Historiographic Fact: Criteria of Appraisal and Analysis

The article elucidates the nature and social function of the historiographic fact as well as the scientific criteria of its selection, appraisal and analysis. The authors maintain that the historiographic fact is a fact of historical science which carries information on historical knowledge, prominent historians, institutions and organizational forms of work carried on by the researchers. The social conditionality of the fact is manifested in the information on the class and party positions of the historian, his place in the ideological struggle, his views, his adherence to a definite trend of science. An important aspect of the socio-political function of the historiographic fact is expressed in the role it plays in affirming the unity of the past, the present and the future in the cognitive process. The principles of partisanship and historism are the cardinal principles in the selection, appraisal and analysis of historiographic facts. The article illustrates the significance of the comparative historical method and concrete analysis in the process of work with historiographic facts. The authors also raise the question of verifying the objectivity of the facts, their conformity to the objective reality.

Academician B. A. RYBAKOV. The City Founded by Prince Kiy

Kiev is situated on the territory belonging to the Slavs from time immemorial and representing their earliest mother country. As far back as in the first centuries A. D., we learn from the ancient chronicles, an important part was played by the territory on the banks of the Dnieper, near the mouth of the Desna, where trade was conducted with the Roman merchants. At the turn of the 6th century, when the Slavs began to migrate to the Balkans, the role of the Kiev heights increased immeasurably: the armed detachments of all tribes inhabiting the basin in the upper reaches of the Dnieper passed through this section of the river. The chronicle telling about Prince Kiy, who stood at the head of the Polyane tribe and was an ally of the Byzantine emperor, should be backdated to that period. Prince Kiy had his first residence on the so-called Castle Mountain in Kiev, where Byzantine coins minted at the close of the 5th century were found. Somewhat later Prince Kiy built a fortress on the Starokievsk (Andreyevsk) Mountain, which formed the core of medieval Kiev - "the mother of the Russian towns."

A. I. SIZONENKO. Normalization of Relations Between the U.S.S.R. and the Countries of Latin America During the Great Patriotic War

The article demonstrates the broad solidarity shown by the peoples of Latin America with the Soviet Union?s struggle against nazi Germany, as well as their active campaign in support of the Soviet people and their vocal demand to normalize relations with the U.S.S.R. As a result of this solidarity campaign twelve Latin American countries established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union between 1942 and 1945. The article stresses that the war convincingly showed the unity of purpose inspiring the peoples of the U.S.S.R. and Latin America in the struggle against fascism, for peace and democracy.

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M. I. ORLOVA. Marxist Historiography of the November Revolution in Germany

The article analyzes the Soviet and German Marxist historiography of the revolution of 1918 - 1919 in Germany. The author focusses attention on the formation of the Marxist-Leninist conception regarding the character of the German revolution and singles out several stages in its development: in the period of the revolution and of the postwar revolutionary crisis a uniform appraisal of the revolution did not yet crystallize in publicistic literature; from the beginning of the temporary, partial stabilization of capitalism to the latter half of the thirties the viewpoint was fairly widespread that the proletarian revolution in Germany had suffered a defeat; from the second half of the thirties to the second half of the fifties the emphasis was laid on the incompleteness of this revolution, on its bourgeois character; from the second half of the fifties and particularly in the seventies it became the generally accepted principle to appraise the revolution of 1918 - 1919 in Germany as a bourgeois-democratic revolution which had a tendency to develop into the socialist revolution.

I. E. FYODOROVA. The British Policy in Iran During the Revolution of 1905 - 1911

The article examines the principal trends, forms and methods of Great Britain's colonialist policy in Iran in the period of the anti-feudal and anti-imperialist revolution of 1905 - 1911. The author shows the baneful influence of Britain?s expansion on the socio-economic and internal political development of Iran, effectively refuting the assertions of bourgeois historiography about the progressive role which Great Britain allegedly played in the period of the above-mentioned Iranian revolution.

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