2012 Issue №6

This article addresses the controversial issue of the strength of the Russian garrison and the Polish-Lithuanian army during the Siege of Pskov in the period of the Livonian War. The article offers data provided in the Russian Chronicles on the Siege of Pskov by Stefan Batory and the works of Polish contemporaries. The author describes the perspectives of prerevolutionary, Soviet and contemporary researchers on the strength of the opposing forces. The author comes to a conclusion that Stefan Batory's army of was at least 2—2,5 times stronger than the Russian forces defending Pskov, including armed citizens.

This article focuses on the features of the re-evacuation of World War I refugees in 1920, i.e. the spontaneous movement of the hungry mass of refugees to the Western border, the South and South-East, as well as Siberia, in early spring, which was supported by local authorities aspiring to reduce the pressure on their own regions but opposed — to no effect — by the central authorities. The planned evacuation solely to the Baltic Republics at the end of summer of 1920 was accompanied by violations, abuse of power and the absence of proper organization.