Dmitriy Aleksandrovich Astafiev,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Orenburg State Pedagogical University, Orenburg, Russia
The Fate of a Combatant in the Era of Wars and Revolutions: To the Biography of Pavel Ivanovich Astafiev (1892−1937)
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2024-6-11
The article presents the results of a historical and biographical study dedicated to the combatant Pavel Ivanovich Astafiev (1892−1937), whose fate was affected by most of the key events of the first half of the 20th century (the First World War, the Great Russian Revolution, the Civil War, political repressions of the 1930s). Now in the historiography of the Civil War in Russia there is a tendency to increase the number of scientific works devoted to ordinary participants in this conflict, which largely determines the relevance of this article. The research was carried out primarily on the basis of unpublished sources from federal, regional and departmental archives. The author relied on the following methods and approaches: analytical, biographical, microhistorical, historical and anthropological. Life path of P.I. Astafiev reflects the difficulties and vicissitudes that many of his compatriots faced during a turning point for the country. The main stages of the biography of the hero of the story are characterized, and the key events that influenced his fate are identified. The First World War was to a certain extent a social lift for Pavel Ivanovich; in the Civil War he managed to visit both sides of the front, then quite successfully integrated into Soviet society, but, unfortunately, in the end he shared the sad fate of the majority of former «white» officers and was repressed in the late 1930s. As a result, in the course of the study, the «personal history» of the hero of the story − P.I. Astafiev, was reconstructed in sufficient detail. The article is addressed to specialists in the Civil War in Russia, the social adaptation of combatants to Soviet reality, as well as researchers in the field of genealogy and family history.
Publishing: 28/12/2024
The article has been received by the editor on 20/06/2024
How to cite: Astafyev D.A. The Fate of a Combatant in the Era of Wars and Revolutions: To the Biography of Pavel Ivanovich Astafiev (1892−1937) // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 6 (38), pp. 150–161. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-6-11.pdf]
Links: Issue 6 2024
Keywords: biography; microhistory; officers; First World War; Civil War; social adaptation; P.I. Astafiev