Sergey Fyodorovich Platonov () (28 June O.S.">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="6 June Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 1860 – 10 January 1933) was a Russian historian who led the official St Petersburg school of imperial historiography before and after the October Revolution, Russian Revolution.

Life and career

Platonov was born in the city of Chernigov, Russian Empire and attended a private gymnasium in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

until 1878, when he went to the Department of History and Philology of

St. Petersburg University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...

until 1882. He was a student of

Konstantin Bestuzhev-Ryumin Konstantin Nikolayevich Bestuzhev-Ryumin (; – ) was a Russian historian. He was the head of the School of Historiography at the University of St. Petersburg (1864–85) and was elected into the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1890. In 1 ...

, who recommended that he be given the opportunity to "prepare to be a professor." Platonov belonged to the "St. Petersburg school" of Russian historiography, which focused on the study and publication of historical sources. He earned his master's degree in 1888 with a thesis on Old Russian Legends and Tales about the Seventeenth-Century Time of Troubles as a Historical Source, receiving the Uvarov Award of the Academy of Sciences. Platonov's scholarly career was centered at the

University of St Petersburg Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...

, where he was held in highest repute for his detailed studies of the ''

Time of Troubles The Time of Troubles (), also known as Smuta (), was a period of political crisis in Tsardom of Russia, Russia which began in 1598 with the death of Feodor I of Russia, Feodor I, the last of the Rurikids, House of Rurik, and ended in 1613 wit ...

'' (1923) and

Oprichnina The oprichnina (, ; ) was a state policy implemented by Tsar Ivan the Terrible in Russia between 1565 and 1572. The policy included mass repression of the boyars (Russian aristocrats), including public executions and confiscation of their land ...

. His history textbooks, impeccably written and easily readable, enjoyed such popularity that he was asked by the tsar to teach history to his children. In 1909, he was admitted to the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

. Unlike some of his disciples (such as Alexander Presnyakov), Platonov did not change his views after the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

and stood aloof from the mainstream

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

historiography, as represented by

Mikhail Pokrovsky Mikhail Nikolayevich Pokrovsky (; – April 10, 1932) was a Russian Marxist historian, revolutionary and a Soviet public and political figure. One of the earliest professionally trained historians to join the Russian revolutionary movement, Pokr ...

. Nevertheless, he was permitted to administer the

Archaeographic Commission The Archaeographic Commission (Археографическая комиссия) was set up in St. Petersburg in 1834 by Platon Shirinsky-Shikhmatov, Nikolay Gerasimovich Ustryalov, Nikolay Ustryalov, and Pavel Stroyev with the aim of publishing h ...

in 1918-29, the

Pushkin House The Pushkin House (), formally the Institute of Russian Literature (), is a research institute in St. Petersburg. It is part of a network of institutions affiliated with the Russian Academy of Sciences. History Establishment The Russian Lite ...

(i.e., the Russian Literature Institute) in 1925–1929 and the Academy's Library in 1925–1928. On 12 January 1930 Platonov was accused of taking part in a royalist conspiracy, arrested and exiled to

Samara Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 ...

, where he died three years later on January 10, 1933. However, a number of his historical works continued to be reprinted later in the decade, and in 1967 he was formally rehabilitated.

Bibliography

*''History of Russia'' (1925), New York, Macmillan. *'' The Time of Troubles: A Historical Study of the Internal Crises and Social Struggle in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Muscovy'' (1970), Lawrence, University Press of Kansas. *''Moscow and the West'', (1972), Hattiesburg, Academic International. *''Boris Godunov, Tsar of Russia'', (1973) with an introductory essay. Gulf Breeze, Florida, Academic International Press (includes 'S.F. Platonov: Eminence and Obscurity' an introductory essay by John T. Alexander *''Ivan the Terrible'', (1974), Gulf Breeze, Florida, Academic International Press.

References

St Petersburg Encyclopedia
accessed 13 July 2008
Russian History Encyclopedia: Sergei Fyodorovich Platonov
accessed 17 July 2008 *'Sergei Fedorovich Platonov (1860 - 1933): A Life for Russia.' by Aleksei Nikolaevich Tsamutali published in ''Historiography of Imperial Russia'', ed. Tomas Sanders, (1999) Armonk, New York, M.E. Sharpe.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Platonov, Sergey Platonov Platonov Platonov Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Full Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1917–1925) Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Privy Councillor (Russian Empire) 19th-century historians from the Russian Empire