The political choice of general Alexander Andogsky: historiography of the problem

The article deals with one of the topical problems of the historiography of the Civil War in Russia, which includes the analysis of the social behavior and life strategies of the officers of the old Russian army in 1917-1922 on the basis of research works investigating the fate of General A. I. Andogsky. This problem is quite debatable today, therefore, the appeal to the history of the study of the General’s political choice goes beyond the private aspect of the modern historiography of the officers of the period of the Russian Troubles and contributes to solving a number of large-scale research problems. The author identifies and compares the existing concepts regarding the political choice of A. I. Andogsky in order to evaluate the persuasiveness of the historians’ arguments. For this purpose, both historiographical and archival historical sources are involved. The article partly reflects the author’s own positions on the issue under consideration. This applies to such topics as the time and reasons for the general to make his political choice. The author emphasizes that a large-scale historical and biographical study, which systematically covers the most diverse aspects of the life of this extraordinary personality, can lead to more accurate and reasonable characteristics of Andogsky’s social behavior.