The problem of revolutionism of the Upper Don Cossacks in 1917-1918 in national historiography

The Khoper and Ust-Medveditskiy districts of the upper Don in the revolutionary years 1917-1918 are of great interest from the viewpoint of studying the regional socio-political processes taking place in this region and the role of the local Cossacks in these transformations. These districts, being part of the strategically important Don region, became the object of close attention of all political forces trying to take power in the country at that time. The Provisional Government, the Soviet government, the leaders of the White Movement regarded the Cossacks as a potential military force that could be used in the forthcoming struggle. Social and political mood of the upper Don Cossacks in the years of political shocks (1917-1918) became the subject of study of Soviet historians already in the 1940s. Since that time and for many years, the historiography has affirmed that in the years of revolution shocks the upper Don Cossacks had revolutionary moods and were less susceptible to Whiteguard propaganda in comparison with the lower Don Cossacks. Only in the 1990s a different vision emerged in historiography on the question of the formation the socio-political views of the Cossacks in 1917-1918, and on the dominance of the position of neutrality in the mood of the upper Don Cossacks. The article cites a number of arguments that cause doubt on the established ideological schemes and provide an opportunity, based on declassified materials, to form a new historical view on the question of the involvement of the Cossacks of the upper Don districts in the events taking place in the period 1917- 1918 both in the country and in the Don region particularly.