Volunteers of the All-Russian project to combat slavery "Alternative" returned home Pyotr Nikulin, who was freed from slavery in Makhachkala. The sister met the man at the entrance to Voronezh at about 7 pm on Thursday, February 18.

Pyotr Nikulin complained about the cold - the man had only summer rubber shoes. On the bus, his legs became very numb. The rescued Voronezh resident is waiting for a dressing - in Makhachkala, he got frostbite on his legs. Doctors recommended amputation of several fingers. Pyotr Nikulin had to go through police checkpoints with an old military ID and a Soviet-era passport.

Maria Ilkova with her brother Peter Nikulin

Photo — Elena Minnibaeva

Volunteer Alexei Nikitin wrote in the Alternativa group on the social network how Pyotr Nikulin went through the posts.

- In the second hour, a long check at the Artesian post (border of Dagestan with Kalmykia). In addition to passport control, all passengers go through a metal detector and body search, a police officer tries for several minutes to compare a photo of a young Soviet soldier Pyotr Nikulin and a very aged original standing in front of him. In the end, without saying anything, the soldier returns to the owner, as they say, the heart is relieved, - said Alexei Nikitin.

Photo - Elena Minnibaeva

Volunteers of the All-Russian project to combat slavery "Alternative" of a native Voronezh region, 58-year-old Peter Nikulin. The man came to the clinic with frostbite on his legs. For the last six months he lived on the street, and before that he had been a slave for 15 years. The man either worked at a brick factory, or worked on a farm: shepherd sheep, cleaned sheds, and performed various ancillary work. According to Alternativa volunteer Zakir Ismailov, who found the Voronezh man in the hospital, Pyotr was released due to his unfitness for work - he weakened and turned out to be unnecessary to "employers". Wednesday, February 17

former juvenile prisoner of fascist concentration camps

IN real life the enemy looked different

War in its cruel blindness unites the incompatible: children and blood, children and death. By the merciless will of the war, children found themselves in the midst of suffering and adversity and overcame, endured what, it would seem, even an adult is not always able to overcome.

The war takes away childhood from boys and girls - a real, sunny one, with books and notebooks, laughter, games and holidays. What do they remember, children of war? What can they tell? Must tell. Because even now bombs are exploding somewhere, bullets are whistling, crumbling from shells into crumbs, dust at home and cribs are burning. That is why the laconic and very modest Pyotr Semyonovich Nikulin, a former juvenile prisoner

Nazi concentration camps, agreed to talk about his military childhood and came to the lesson of courage in our school.

- Devitsky district in the village of Vyaznovatovka.

In 1940, Peter went to the 1st grade. He usually studied, as they say, "there were not enough stars", but he was not among the lagging behind either. He clearly remembers the day when the whole village came out to see off their fellow villagers to the front.

- We, the children, with our mothers saw off their fathers to the front. My mother Evgenia Akimovna was then 28 years old, there were 4 children in the family. The eldest was Pyotr Semyonovich, born in 1933. Brother Nikolai Semyonovich was born in 1935. Brother Alexei Semyonovich was born in 1938. Sister Maria Semyonovna was born in 1940. So the youngest at the time of the war was not even a year old. It is in the films that they show how the harmonicas are playfully played on the wires. And I remember that everyone was crying, And my mother too ... And we, the children, although we didn’t really understand the meaning of the word “war”. We loved to play pretend war, shoot, "kill". But in our games, the "killed" immediately jumped up unharmed and rushed to the attack.

As it turned out, in real life the enemy looked different. And the dead people did not turn into living ones, as it was in children's games.

• In 1942, at the beginning of July, the Germans entered our village. All adults and old people were shot. They treated the communists with particular hatred. My peer was shot in front of my eyes. He was not a communist. He was killed for a pack of cigarettes, which he dared to take from the table.

Pyotr Semyonovich recalls how the Nazis who entered the village began to rob. They broke into houses, took away all the best things: food, clothes. What else could be taken from the peasants?

• Even before the arrival of the enemy, all the collective farms in the district drove the cattle away, beyond the Volga. so that the invaders won't get it. The Germans drove the guys from our village to work in the fields, forced them to collect green peas and other vegetables for them. The Germans were very fond of walking and feasting. Feasts were arranged in the yards, with abundant food and songs incomprehensible to us. We watched them with hungry eyes. Waited. when they get drunk and fall asleep, so that at least something to profit from the table. Rarely, but it worked. Once they were celebrating so much that when they woke up in the morning, they did not find their weapons and ammunition. Everyone guessed that the partisans had done it. That's why we were sent to a concentration camp.The camp was in the city of Kursk. The prisoners were poorly fed and forced to work hard.I didn't see executions, but hunger and beatings are very familiar to me.

In 1943 we were liberated by the Red Army. After the camp we were sent to our homeland. I remember that those families who had many children - those heifers ...

This is how the family of Peter Semyonovich received a heifer, which soon began to give milk. It was salvation, happiness. All children survived. Happiness was the return from the war father. This happened in 1946. There were more working hands in the family, but life was very difficult, but the main thing was that there was no war.

At the age of 16, Pyotr Semyonovich went to school, in the 5th grade. IN summer period Peter helped his father, worked as a shepherd. In 1952 he graduated from the 7th grade, a seven-year plan, and on June 20, 1952 he was drafted into the army.

— He began his service in the Belarusian city of Grodno. Then he served in the GDR, in the city of Ratinov, in a special-purpose division - heavy artillery, studied for 11 months as a specialty - a computer for artillery units, after school he served at the headquarters of the division as a senior computer. In 1955 he was demobilized and was at home on November 17.

In our hometown Engels Petr Semenovich arrived in 1956 and began working at the Signal plant as a tinsmith. Married in 1958. He studied at night school, and then entered the institute. Having received higher education, P.S. Nikulin worked as a foreman and head of the site.

Pyotr Semyonovich has two children: a daughter, a teacher, and a military son. He also has 3 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. Petr Semenovich's parents lived a long life: mother up to 90 years old, and father up to 95 years old. With great excitement, the former juvenile prisoner of fascist concentration camps recalls how mother took care of each of her children, how father taught them to work.

Yes, not a very easy fate fell to us, the children of the war.But I am happy with my life.My daughter teaches children to be reasonable, love for parents and the Motherland. And the son protects the people and the country. I am calm for our future. We are ready to fight back any invader. But you guys also need to study well in order to be professionals in any field, including the military. And I'm sorry that it didn't work out very well for me ...

You can't write beautifully about the war, Sometimes replacing blood with gouache... I remember how the women were wailing Together with the surviving children.

And then we all ran to the forest (If only we had time!), But at that hour the sky split and sheer

It crashed down on us with a roar.

The machine gun neighed impudently over us,

"Messers" scorched excitedly. The steppe was as flat as a slab, and mother pushed us into an abandoned trench,

And then fell from above like a bird,

Trying to close the three of us... For me, that day lasts even today, Until now, I hear a howl in the sky.

Do not write aesthetes about the war,

Cleansing dirt from a feather! For me, war is a trench and children, The ugliest connection.

Andrey Kovtun

Watch all video interviews of WWII participants, former prisoners concentration camps, home front workers on

H Ikulin Pyotr Ivanovich - gun commander of the 507th army anti-tank artillery regiment (5th shock army, 1st Belorussian Front), sergeant.

Born on January 11, 1921 in the village of Mokrye Niva, now Velizhsky District Smolensk region in a peasant family. Russian. In 1935 he graduated primary school. He worked on a collective farm for several years. Since 1939 he lived in Leningrad (now - St. Petersburg), worked as a plasterer.

In 1940 he was drafted into the Red Army. He graduated from the regimental school of junior commanders. At the front in the Great Patriotic War since June 1941. He fought as part of the troops of the Western, Central, Southern, Stalingrad, Southwestern, 3rd Ukrainian, 1st Belorussian fronts. He fought near Kharkov, participated in the battle on the Volga, liberated Ukraine, smashed the Nazis in Poland and Germany. Member of the CPSU (b) / CPSU since 1942. Particularly distinguished himself in battles during the Vistula-Oder offensive operation.

The gun crew of Pyotr Nikulin was deservedly considered one of the best in the division. During a rapid raid behind enemy lines, artillerymen with well-aimed fire paved the way for riflemen and tanks to strategic points, railway and highway junctions, airfields, and bridges. They swept away barriers, smashed enemy reserves on the approaches, sowed panic.

On January 30, 1945, in the battle for the village of Friedeberg (Stszelce-Krasnskie, Gorzow Voivodeship, Poland), the commander of the gun, Sergeant Nikulin, put the gun on direct fire and opened a sudden fire on enemy firing points. Among the first broke into this village. Pursuing the enemy, he was the first to cross the Oder with a battery and beat off 9 counterattacks of the Nazis before the infantry approached. Remaining one of the calculation, being wounded, continued to fight. In these battles, he knocked out 2 tanks and an enemy self-propelled gun.

At order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 24, 1945 for the exemplary performance of command assignments and the courage and heroism shown in battles with the Nazi invaders to sergeant Nikulin Petr Ivanovich awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the medal " Golden Star" (№ 7346).

In 1945, P. I. Nikulin was demobilized due to disability. Returned to peaceful work. After the war he worked as a flight mechanic in Siberia. In recent years, he lived and worked at the mines on a collective farm in the Olsky district of the Magadan region. Died July 31, 1975. He was buried in the city of Magadan at the Marchekansky cemetery. In 2005, the grave was found, and an obelisk was installed on it.

Awarded with Orders of Lenin (24.03.45), Patriotic War 2nd degree (12.02.45), medals.

At home, in the city of Velizh, a bas-relief monument was erected in the Alley of Heroes.

Kaliningrad: Publishing House of the Russian State University. I. Kant, 2008.

.... By now, the literature on the history of Russia at the end of the 17th - the first quarter of the 18th century has thousands of titles of books, articles, and reviews. Therefore, the historiography of the time of Petrovsky can become the object of a separate study. ….

During the time of Catherine II, the first history of Peter appeared, created thanks to the efforts of the Rylsk merchant I. I. Golikov (1735-1801), who collected a huge amount of material and published 12 volumes of the “Acts of Peter the Great ...” and 18 volumes of “Additions .. ." to them. In terms of content, Golikov's multi-volume work is a panegyric to the first Russian emperor, and in terms of working methods, it is an ordinary compilation of material known to the author about the era of Peter, without any serious scientific criticism.

Golikov noted that Peter's successes on the battlefield and the transfer of the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg contributed to the economic rise of Russia. According to the author of "Acts ...", the king was a thrifty and zealous master in everything, "did not exhaust his subjects." The merit of I. I. Golikov was that he collected and systematized numerous data on the activities of Peter, using a variety of printed and archival sources. In addition, his "Acts.", And "Additions ...", which found a numerous reader at that time, contributed to the dissemination of information on the history of the Petrine time. This could not be hindered by the apologetic nature of the material presented, the author's desire to affirm the purely bright appearance of Peter.

In the discordant choir of panegyrists and detractors of Peter the Great, the voice of A. N. Radishchev (1749-1802) sounded in a peculiar and original way. In a short Letter to a Friend Living in Tobolsk, written in 1782, Radishchev recognized in the first Emperor of Russia "an extraordinary husband, who deserved the name of the great one correctly." Radishchev never considered Peter the Great's reforms to be too radical (such ideas became widespread among some of the aristocrats). At the same time, he highly valued Peter the Great as a determined "renovator" of Russia. In "Letter ..." Radishchev formulated an idea that became extremely fruitful for further development historiography of the Petrine reforms: “And even if Peter did not distinguish himself by various institutions related to the public good, even if he was not the winner of Charles XII, he could have been called great for that, that he gave the first aspiration to such a vast bulk, which, like the primordial substance, was no action." Pyotr Radishchev connected the overcoming of stagnation, routine, inaction with the transformative activity. In his opinion, the significance of the reforms lies precisely in the fact that they put an end to immobility and gave Russia "aspiration", that is, movement.

.... Many Decembrists highly appreciated Peter the Great, but at the same time noted that under him there was no freedom and there were heavy duties that the people had to bear. Noteworthy in this regard is the work of Mikhail Alexandrovich Fonvizin (1783-1854) “Review of the manifestations of the political life of Russia”, written by him in the 40s of the XIX century. Fonvizin considered the main merit of Peter I that the first Russian emperor "drew Russia from that dead state of immobility in which it was immersed" since the time of the Mongol-Tatar invasion and made its further progress possible. Peter's attempts to spread the achievements of European civilization to Russia only led to the borrowing of external parties. Fonvizin believed that the spirit of this civilization, "the spirit of legal freedom and citizenship was alien to him, the despot, and even disgusting." Peter I deserved sharp criticism for the fact that under him not only nothing was done to eliminate the shameful serfdom, but, on the contrary, it was significantly strengthened. Noting that thanks to the activities of Peter, Russia has achieved “gigantic power” and acquired great importance in the political system of Europe, Fonvizin wrote next: “But did the Russian people become happier because of this? Has his moral or even material condition improved in any way? Most of it remained in the same position as it had been for 200 years.

... From the middle of the 19th century, the formation of the Marxist concept of the history of Russia in the first quarter of the 18th century began. In 1989, for the first time in Russian, the journal Voprosy istorii published an unfinished work by K. Marx (1818-1883) "Revelations of the Diplomatic History of the 18th Century", on which the author worked in 1856-1857. It contains estimates of individual events and processes of the Petrine time. It must be taken into account that this work was written on the basis of a very meager and extremely tendentious source - anti-Russian pamphlets from the time of the Northern War. He noted that Peter's foreign policy was determined by the needs of Russia's internal socio-economic development. Peter the Great had to fight for the implementation of plans to turn his state into a maritime power, relying on unreliable allies: “... No great nation has ever lived and could not live in such a distance from the sea, in which the empire of Peter the Great was at first, .. ... no nation has ever put up with the fact that its seashores and estuaries were cut off from it ... Peter - at least in this case - captured only what was necessary for the natural development of his country. Marx was able to draw a complex and controversial figure of the first emperor of Russia: in the activities of Peter, along with the features of autocratic despotism and cruelty, he noted the courage of state policy, perseverance in achieving the goal of turning "Muscovy into Russia."

.... In Soviet historiography, Peter the Great and his time have always been given quite a lot of attention, although it was unevenly distributed. The objects of attention of researchers have also repeatedly changed. There is an extensive literature on almost all the main problems, but there are topics that were constantly and more persistently developed in Soviet historiography - these are socio-economic relations, class struggle, Russia's foreign policy in the first quarter of the 18th century.

Soviet historical science, based on the Marxist-Leninist methodology, was characterized by close attention to the history of the class struggle in Russia. All folk performances of the late 17th - first quarter of the 18th century have been comprehensively studied. The Streltsy uprisings of 1682 and 1698 were scrupulously studied by V. I. Buganov. His conclusion that these uprisings had an anti-feudal character was disputed by N.I. Pavlenko, who believed that the performances of the archers were nothing more than an element of the struggle for power of court groups. The history of the Astrakhan uprising is described in detail in the monograph by N. B. Golikova.

One of the most developed trends in Soviet historiography was history. foreign policy Russia at the end of the 17th - the first quarter of the 18th century. This problem has been studied especially actively since the 1950s. The works of L. A. Nikiforov, V. E. Vozgrin (in comparison with the works of B. B. Kafengauz, E. V. Tarle, N. N. Molchanov, V. S. Bobylev) are characterized by a more rigorous scientific approach to many subjects of history bilateral and multilateral relations of Russia with foreign countries. Wide use of materials foreign archives(primarily Denmark and Sweden), thanks to the expansion of scientific ties and the active publication of sources, it has made it possible to increase the research level of work Soviet historians.

In the 1980s, the attention of researchers to individual reforms of Peter the Great and to his contemporaries increased. This is evidenced by articles and monographs by N. I. Pavlenko, E. V. Anisimov.

In the first decade and a half of Soviet power, Russian historiography was practically dominated by the views of M. N. Pokrovsky, a prominent Bolshevik, one of the famous students of Klyuchevsky, the author of the famous Russian History in the Most Concise Essay. According to Pokrovsky, the development of Russia was not at all determined by the activities of individuals, but by economic processes, in particular, the formation and strengthening of merchant capital. The historian did not highly appreciate the business and personal qualities of Peter the Great. Pokrovsky was later criticized for exaggerating the role of the merchant class. The opinion prevailed about the importance of a fair approach to the most positive stories in the history of pre-revolutionary Russia. Peter began to be praised for the fact that he created the Russian fleet and army, corresponding to his time. Historians positively assessed the fact that Peter started and won the Great Northern War, thereby making Russia a great European and even world power. The researchers paid tribute to Peter for creating a more centralized, efficient and modern Russian administrative system.

The events of the Great Patriotic War, which caused an unprecedented rise in the patriotic feelings of the people, had a great influence on the assessment of the personality of Peter the Great in the writings of Soviet historians. A striking example of such literature is the book by V. V. Mavrodin "Peter the Great". Comparing the two crowned opponents, the author wrote that Charles XII was “compared to Peter, an ordinary commander, although not without merit. Peter was an outstanding tactician and strategist. Karl was a military leader, Peter was a statesman. Charles won battles, Peter won wars. Peter did not immediately win success, but won it firmly. Such an assessment of Peter was fixed for a long time on the pages of historical works and in popular science literature.

In 1958, Academician E. V. Tarle published the book “The Northern War and the Swedish Invasion of Russia”, which substantiated the thesis that the Russian victories were not won due to the mistakes made by Charles XII; they were the result, above all, of the heroism of the Russian people in defending their independence. The historian argued that earlier researchers exaggerated the need for Peter the Great in foreigners to strengthen the army and create a navy. What was new was that Tarle personified the whole policy of aggression directed against Russia. In this he saw the reason for the popularity of Charles XII not only in Sweden (which is natural), but in many other Western European countries.

In the 70-90s. In the 20th century, N.I. Pavlenko became the main specialist on Peter the Great and his era. His works on Peter - the result of many years of painstaking and inspired work of the researcher - represent the first truly scientific biography king.

Pavlenko devoted a significant place in his writings to the economic and social history of Russia during the Petrine era. Political processes also received great attention from the historian. Like many historians before him, Pavlenko compared Peter and Charles XII: “The talents of the Swedish king Charles XII were fully manifested only in one area - the military. An insanely brave warrior, an excellent tactician, an introverted ambitious man, he considered himself unworthy of doing everything that was not connected with campaigns, bloody battles, dashing raids, rifle fire, the sound of sabers and artillery cannonade.

... N. I. Pavlenko’s sympathies are entirely on the side of the social movement towards “high ideals” and the active hero-sovereign. He sees the source of Peter's deeds in the fact that the king was "obsessed with the idea of ​​statehood." Having comprehended “the call of the times, he gave to the service of this command all his outstanding talent, temperament, stubbornness of the obsessed, courage, patience inherent in a Russian person and the ability to give the case a state scale. Peter imperiously invaded all spheres of the life of the country and greatly accelerated the development of the principles inherited. Perhaps, in some ways, this author's sympathy unnecessarily "purifies" the image of Peter, although at the same time the author does not forget to note both Peter's cruelty and his state "manner" to intimidate his subjects with decrees.

Pre-Petrine Rus' does not arouse great sympathy in Pavlenko; was deprived, as he noted, of the guiding idea and legislation of the young Peter. The requirements of the time have not yet found political implementation. The main directions of Peter's activity were formed to a large extent in the course of the struggle for Russia's access to the sea; Peter's reforms are the only possible path for the historical movement of the country. Such is the philosophical and historical position of the author. From this point of view, the book assesses the conflict between old and new social forces: either along the path of transformation, or backwardness.

Pavlenko noted that Peter's policy had a pronounced class character. His reforms achieved their result at the cost of huge sacrifices among the working population, which responded to Peter's reforms with numerous speeches.

N. I. Pavlenko did not stop at creating a biography of Peter the Great. As is known, he also turned to the tsar's inner circle and became a pioneer in a detailed study of the activities of the "chicks of Petrov's nest." His Serene Highness Prince A. D. Menshikov was the first to rightfully attract his attention. In 1984, his next book in the "Petrovskaya Series" book "Petrov's Nest Chicks" was published with historical portraits three assistants to Peter - the first combat field marshal B.P. Sheremetev, distinguished diplomat and the statesman P. A. Tolstoy and the cabinet-secretary of the tsar A. V. Makarov. The author focused on the fact that any era of "revolutionary" transformations spontaneously puts forward its outstanding figures. Pavlenko specifically focused on revealing the exceptional gift of Peter to find people endowed with certain talents and, no less important, skillfully use their talents exactly where they could give the greatest effect.

A somewhat different assessment of the associates of Peter the Great and the tsar himself was given in a review of the book by N.I. Pavlenko, the historian O. A. Omelchenko. He identified almost the main feature of Peter's personality as his complete immorality. This quality, according to the reviewer, determined the properties of those associates - the nestlings of Petrov's nest - without whom the reforms would be unthinkable. According to O. A. Omelchenko, in his book Pavlenko gave an excellent generalizing description of the tsar’s company, but, “paying tribute to the activities of Menshikov and Yaguzhinsky, Shafirov and Tolstoy, their dedication to the cause of reforms, it would be worth noting that literally all the people newly called by Peter were scammers and scoundrels regardless of any time. And when the monarch needed to solve a state matter in honor and conscience, he had to call the Golitsyns and Dolgorukovs, so hated by him. The author of the review gave preference to aristocrats, suggesting that they have innate high moral principles.

At the same time, he somehow lost sight of how in 1721, in the presence of the tsar and the whole court, the Siberian governor, Prince M.P. brought by merchants from China, and even jewelry bought there for the queen. The position of A. B. Kamensky, who noted that “the absolute majority of them ( new nobility. - L. Zh), as well as their colleagues, who represented noble aristocratic families, did not differ in high moral principles.

The same historiographical tradition as the works of N.I. Pavlenko includes a brief outline of the history of Russia in the Petrine era, written by V.I. Buganov. However, individual approaches and judgments of Pavlenko and Buganov differ markedly. So, N. I. Pavlenko supports the point of view of those researchers who wrote about the “chaotic and hasty” nature of the administrative reforms of Peter the Great, about his lack of a “thought-out plan”. His assessment of individual transformations in the sphere of management is also excellent. “Innovations in the highest and central apparatus of the state,” he believes, “deserve a positive assessment”; "less successfully and with big overlays, the reform of the regional administration was carried out." Judicial reform, according to Pavlenko, is "the most unfortunate brainchild of the tsar-transformer." V. I. Buganov also noted that in the implementation of the reforms “there were both inconsistency and individual improvisations,” “but in general,” the historian believed, “they formed a system, covering all aspects of the life of a large state.” He did not touch upon the question of the degree of success of one or another of Peter's transformations.

IN last years in scientific historiography, researchers practically do not use the doxology of Peter, so characteristic of the recent past. Top took accusatory mood. This is quite clearly seen in the work of the historian E. V. Anisimov. The critical jet is most noticeable in the book "The Time of Peter's Reforms". This work is an attempt to look at Peter's transformations from a different, non-traditional point of view for Russian historiography. Anisimov's book is characterized, first of all, by the desire to comprehend the significance of the Petrine era from the standpoint of historical experience. The author has no doubt that the direction of the Petrine reforms was the path along which the country "sooner or later would inevitably have passed", but Peter, by his actions, "dramatically intensified the processes taking place in the country, forced it to make a giant leap, transferring Russia through several stages at once" .

The author believes that the "midwife" of all Peter's reforms was violence, which became the core of all changes in the country. Violence found its expression in the laws adopted in the Petrine era, the state apparatus functioned with the use of violence, the entire system of power was saturated with it. According to Anisimov, the use of violence was not new for Russia, but it was Peter who became the first to use violence so stubbornly and systematically in order to achieve higher goals, as he understood their state tasks.

Anisimov believes that the reforms of Peter the Great not only contributed to rapid development Russia in the direction of capitalism, how much, on the contrary, was cemented by the foundations of the "old regime". The main question for him is not whether reforms were needed or not, but their price and moral content. The price of the reforms turned out to be too high, and the moral content of the reforms was closely connected with the realization of the idea of ​​progress through violence. In an extensive article to a collection of documents about the Petrine era, E. V. Anisimov wrote that “violence, which was the essence of extraordinary measures, was recorded in laws, incorporated in the structure of the state apparatus of an administrative-repressive type, reflected in the entire system of hierarchical power” .

Concerning the problem of the reasons for the transformations of the first quarter of the 18th century, Anisimov suggested that Peter's reforms were based on a personal factor. “It was the hatred of the “old times”, the people and institutions that embodied it,” the historian noted, “became the main engine of the Petrine reforms, sometimes an unconscious, unmotivated and unreasoned reason, the main motive for the destruction of the old system, which, nevertheless, already managed under Peter with their functions.

In the direction of a critical assessment of the reforms of the first quarter of the 18th century, the historian Ya. E. Vodarsky went further than Anisimov. In his opinion, the path of reforms in no way corresponded to the national interests of Russia. He believes that the actions of the tsar-reformer "were not historically justified and to the maximum extent consistent with the interests of Russia's development." On the contrary, they “slowed down the progressive development of Russia to the maximum extent possible and created the conditions for its slowdown for another century and a half.” Vodarsky's conclusion is unequivocal: Peter's reforms, forcibly imposed on the country, were essentially reactionary.

The history of Peter the Great, to one degree or another, was touched upon in the works of many foreign historians. Among them, Robert C. Massey is best known for his extensive monograph. Unfortunately, the author practically did not use archival materials. In 1996, his three-volume work on Peter I was published in Russian in Smolensk by the Rusich publishing house and became available to the Russian reader.

In Massey's presentation, the first Russian emperor appears as a man of extraordinary industriousness and efficiency, a monarch who constantly and first of all sets state tasks for himself and his entourage. In an effort to implement them, Peter did not stop at cruel measures against those who interfered with him. Massey believed that the central place in the activities of Peter was occupied by reforms, during which he intended to introduce a strict labor morality. In the field of trade and crafts, Peter issued decree after decree, but they did not work well in the intended direction. The historian believed that it was here that Peter the Great needed foreigners, whom he hired in the West to work in Russia. It is told in detail how, already on his first visit to Amsterdam and London, Peter managed to hire over a thousand specialists, and how later Russian ambassadors and agents at foreign courts sought out and persuaded artisans, engineers and military men to be hired in Russia.

The American researcher gave an extremely high rating to the construction of St. Petersburg, as well as the construction of a large system of navigable canals that connected the Volga with the Neva. According to the historian, Peter improved the public finances by introducing the poll tax at the end of his reign, which he noticed in France. This tax "from the soul" removed the problem of state revenues, but at the cost of even more severe oppression for the peasants, strengthening the serf bonds with which they were tied to the land. Massi noted not only the piety of Peter 1, but also his religious tolerance. Lutherans, like Catholics, were free to practice their faith in Russia. Women received greater rights during the reign of Peter, men and women began to communicate more freely and more often than before. Massey's general conclusion about the activities of Peter the Great is concluded in the words: “Peter was an element, and, perhaps, therefore, a final judgment on him will never be made. How to measure the mighty onslaught of the ocean or the immense power of a hurricane?

Family, education

Parents P.F. Nikulin - from the Old Believer peasants. Father P.F. Nikulina, Fedor Vasilyevich (1926–2003), served in the Red Army, participant in the Great Patriotic War. Mother P.F. Nikulina - Lukerya Maksimovna (girl Melentyeva, 1929-2000). In the city, the family moved to the village of Kurlek Tomsk region Tomsk region, where parents before retirement worked at the sawmill of the Kaltai timber station of the Timiryazevsky timber industry enterprise. P.F. Nikulin studied first at the Kurlek 8-year school, then at high school in with. Kaftanchikovo, Tomsk region. P.F. Nikulin is married to Tatyana Viktorovna Yurkova (maiden Pasko, b. 1967). She graduated from the Faculty of Economics of TSU (1999), works as a senior laboratory assistant at the Department of National History of the Faculty of History of TSU.

Service in the Armed Forces, the beginning of studies at Tomsk University and professional activities

After graduating with a silver medal of the school () he served in the Armed Forces of the USSR. After demobilization () he entered the Faculty of Physics and Technology of TSU. Since 1973 - a teacher of mathematics and physics at the Poperechenskaya and Lebyazhye-Asanovskaya schools of the Yurginsky district Kemerovo region, since 1999 - at the Kurlek secondary school, where, along with physics and mathematics, he taught history to evening students, was class teacher, led circles and a sports section, organized the military-patriotic game “Zarnitsa”.

Student and postgraduate years, work at PNRL of INPP of Tomsk University

Postgraduate study at Moscow State University M.V. Lomonosov

Hobbies

Hobbies P.F. Nikulina - reading fiction, summer fishing.

Prizes

• TSU Award in the section “Small-volume textbooks and guidelines” ().

honorary titles

• Honorary Worker of the Higher vocational education RF().

Proceedings

• On the socio-economic nature of rent in the peasant economy of Western Siberia at the beginning of the 20th century. // Economic development Siberia: Issues of the history of the 19th - the first third of the 20th centuries. Tomsk, 1994;
• The place of hired labor in the system of peasant economy in Western Siberia at the beginning of the 20th century. // Questions economic history Russia XVIII–XX centuries. Tomsk, 1996;
• Information possibilities of materials of the agricultural census of 1916 for the study of agrarian relations in Western Siberia at the beginning of the 20th century. // Bulletin of Tomsk state university. Ser. Story. Local history. Ethnology. Archeology. 2005. No. 288;
• Commodity-money management system in the West Siberian village at the beginning of the 20th century. // Bulletin of the Tomsk State University. 2007. No. 296;
• // Bulletin of the Tomsk State University. 2008. No. 307;
• Reproduction of the peasant economy of Western Siberia at the turn of the XIX - XX centuries. // Bulletin of the Tomsk State University. 2008. No. 313;.