Until 1917, there were a vast number of various interest-based societies and clubs in the Russian Empire, both at the local and regional levels. Our Kharkiv was no exception. In our view, the most significant of these was the “Imperial Russian Military-Historical Society.” It was founded way back in 1907.
The company’s goals were extremely simple:
— bringing together subjects of the Russian Empire to study and preserve information about military
history– locating and conducting archaeological research at historic battle sites– establishing and documenting military history museums– collecting military uniforms, weapons, and paraphernalia
— publishing information about our ancestors’ heritage and current events
— constructing and restoring monuments
— organizing archival records
The Military History Society was one of the four Imperial Societies, along with the Russian Geographical Society, the Russian Historical Society, and the Orthodox Palestinian Society.
Among the society’s founders was the distinguished Kharkiv historian Yevgeny Alexandrovich Albovsky. Having served for many years in the Kharkiv Regiment, Albovsky gradually gathered historical information about its past, for, as he himself recalled, “to my shame, I had absolutely no idea about the Sloboda Cossacks or the circumstances under which the Kharkiv Regiment was founded.”
Although the Kharkiv branch of the society was never actually established, there were quite a few of our fellow countrymen there. It is noteworthy that these were outstanding figures of their time—the intellectual elite of the Empire, so to speak—rather than wealthy “rich kids.”
The Kharkiv chapter, through its activities, made an enormous contribution to historical research on the Russian Empire.
- About the military pilot school and the airfield in Kharkiv… - 04.11.2020
- Nikanor Savich—A Political Career by Mistake - 13.07.2020
- And once again, about the Cavalry Guards… - 21.01.2020