Understanding soviet historiography on the causes of the American Civil War

Abstract

Aim. To analyze the problem of revealing the causes of the American Civil War (1861–1865) in the works of the Soviet historians.

Methodology. The article considers the issues devoted to the scientific analysis of historians’ views on the problems of the causes of the second American revolution and the change in the perception of topics and the evolution of approaches (from the early 1920s to 1991) of the Soviet scientists The main subject of the work is the application of multifactorial content analysis: economic, social, political and ideological factors. The methodological basis of the study was the use of such methods as comparative-historical, historical-typological, problem-chronological.

Results. The conclusions obtained by the Soviet historians who studied the causes of the Civil War in the United States (1861–1865) are debatable, but at the same time are fully confirmed by the modern historical community.

Research implications. The work carried out can be used by researchers on the issues of the Civil War in the USA (1861–1865) to fully understand the essence of the conflict.