Sergey Mikhaylovich Solovyov, sometimes Soloviev or Solovyev (; , in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

– , in Moscow), was one of the influential

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n historians whose influence on the next generation of Russian historians (

Vasily Klyuchevsky Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky (; – ) was a leading Russian Empire, Russian Imperial historian of the late imperial period. He also addressed the contemporary Russian economy in his writings. Biography A village priest's son, Klyuchevsky studi ...

, Dmitry Ilovaisky, Sergey Platonov) was paramount. His older son Vsevolod Solovyov was a historical novelist. His son Vladimir Solovyov was one of the most influential Russian philosophers. His youngest child, daughter Polyxena Solovyova, was a noted poet and illustrator.

Life and works

Solovyov studied in the

Moscow University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

under Timofey Granovsky and traveled in Europe as a tutor of Count Stroganov's children until 1844. The following year he joined the staff of the

, where he rose to the position of dean and then rector (1871–77). He also administrated the

Kremlin Armoury The Kremlin ArmouryOfficially called the "Armoury Chamber" but also known as the cannon yard, the "Armoury Palace", the "Moscow Armoury", the "Armoury Museum", and the "Moscow Armoury Museum" but different from the Kremlin Arsenal. () is one of ...

and acted as tutor to the future

Alexander III of Russia Alexander III (; 10 March 18451 November 1894) was Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland and Grand Duke of Finland from 13 March 1881 until his death in 1894. He was highly reactionary in domestic affairs and reversed some of the libera ...

. Solovyov's magnum opus was the ''History of Russia from the Earliest Times'', totally unprecedented in its scope and depth. From 1851 until his death, he published 29 volumes of this work. Among his other books, the ''History of Poland's Downfall'' (1863) and the ''Public Readings on Peter the Great'' (1872) were probably the most popular.

Views and influence

Solovyov appreciated Russia's position as the outpost of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

in the East. In his opinion, the Russian statehood resulted from a "natural and necessary development" of numerous political and social forces, which he attempted to trace. He took particular interest in 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 ...

and

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

's reforms, which he described as temporary diseases of the organism of the Russian state. In the words of the 2004

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

, his ''History'' "wove a vast body of data into a unified and orderly whole that provided an exceptionally powerful and vivid picture of Russia's political development over the centuries. The work inaugurated a new era in Russian scholarship with its depiction of Russia as evolving through organic and rational processes from a primitive, family-based society into a centralized, autocratic state". His book ''History of Russia from the Earliest Times'' is mentioned in

Fyodor Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian and world literature, and many of his works are considered highly influent ...

's famous novel ''

The Idiot ''The Idiot'' (Reforms of Russian orthography, pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform ) is a novel by the 19th-century Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published serially in the journal ''The Russian Messenger'' in 1868–1869. The titl ...

''.Kostalevsky, Marina. (1992). Dostoevsky and Vladimir Soloviev: The continuous dialogue. Yale University ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.

References

Solovyov, Sergey Mikhailovich
i

(in Russian) *Sergey Solovyov. History of Russia from the Earliest Times,

(in Russian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Solovyov, Sergey 1820 births 1879 deaths Writers from Moscow People from Moskovsky Uyezd Privy Councillor (Russian Empire) Historians of Russia 19th-century historians from the Russian Empire Rectors of Moscow State University Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Historians of Kievan Rus'

Life and works

Views and influence

See also

References