SOME SOCIAL AND POLITICAL VIEWS M.D. SKOBELEVS

The article analyzes social and political views of M.D. Skobelev, an outstanding military commander, a hero of the Russian-Turkish and Balkan wars¸ who contributed greatly to the entry of Central Asia (Turkestan) and other regions into the Russian Empire. The author concludes that M.D. Skobelev’s views were close to those of the Slavophiles, though they differed greatly on a number of key issues. They both considered that it was necessary to restore national identity, to consolidate Orthodoxy, to give up European values to the detriment of national ones, to search for the own development way instead of the western one, which was deadlock and destructive.

M.D. Skobelev, people, liberalism, intellectuals, Russian identity, Central Asia, Kokand khanate, Turkestan, Russian Empire, Russian nihilism, Slavophile concept