History of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Works of Russian Émigré Historians

This article studies and analyses the formation and construction of the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by historians of the Russian diaspora and the preservation of its memory among the Russian emigration, and among young people in particular. Referring to national and foreign historiography, as well as scholarly works of historians of the Russian diaspora (A. K. Jelačić, N. P. Ottokar, E. F. Shmurlo, A. V. Florovsky, G. V. Vernadsky), the authors of the article reveal the key problematic issues of the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The problems of the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the role of “Western Russia” were fully considered in the fundamental generalizing works of E. F. Shmurlo and G. V. Vernadsky. As a result of the analysis, the authors identify several approaches to the study of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Russian-Polish, and Russian-Lithuanian relations: detailed and consistent presentation of the events of the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, including, on the one hand, analyses of the political system of the Lithuanian-Russian state, Lithuanian-Horde and Russian-Polish relations, and, on the other hand, unbiased coverage of ethno-confessional issues of the development of the Lithuanian state; conservative approach, on the one hand, including detailed analyses of the facts and events of the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, on the other hand, preserving and conveying ethno-confessional confrontation; a brief and neutral coverage of the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania within the framework of lecture courses on Russian history; a summary of the events of the history of the Lithuanian state with negative value judgements regarding Polish influence, in the context of Russian-Polish relations.