The historiography of the Habsburg monarchy in the Russian intellectual tradition of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

There are topics in historiography which have a peculiar destiny. Following public preferences, they may rise to the peak of attention triggering heated discussions or may fall from that height. Such was the case with the studies of the Habsburg monarchy phenomenon in the Russian intellectual tradition. The efforts to embrace it fall into several stages. The surges of acute attention were followed by its decline as the history of this state on the Danube emerged as a background for more significant developments in the Slavic lands. And then, as a response to contrastive imperial studies, interest was aroused toward holistic studies of monarchy, which brought about new discussions and conceptions. Despite its 150-year-long tradition, the Russian historiography of the Habsburg monarchy failed to shape into a separate intellectual project. It is accounted for by a number of factors coexisting for a long time, which directly influenced the historiographic situation. These are: 1) geopolitical factors; 2) Slavic factors; 3) gaps in the continuity of scientific schools and the abrupt change of paradigms in Russian historical science. Huge historiographic materials are used to analyze the turning points and crucial stages in the study of the phenomenon of the Habsburg monarchy in Russia's intellectual tradition during one and a half century.