THE SOVIET HISTORIOGRAPHY AND THE QUESTION OF KAZAKHSTAN’S HISTORY

THE QUESTION OF KAZAKHSTAN’S HISTORY 185
taken fundamental place for Russian historians for almost four and a
half centuries. N. Karamzin and S. Solovyov, who are two of the first
Russian historians in the nineteenth century, included the writings
of this author in their works without even analyzing it, promoting all
other Russian historians to repeat their assessment without question. 338
Russian poets and literary types were impressed and influenced from
these interpretations too. For example, the Russian poet Alexander
Pushkin wrote that, Mongolians (Golden Horde) were “Arabs who
have no Aristotle and algebra” and therefore they were deprived of
giving a culture that could enrich the Russian lands. Pushkin stated
that, “Golden Horde’s impression on Russia was on such a really low
level that it cannot compare to the Arabs’ impression on the west.” 339
While the approach to Golden Horde and its history was maintained
far into the time of Peter I, attempts were made to erase the traces
of Golden Horde in Russia, to achieve some serious reforms, and to
transform Russia into a “western” state. The USSR moved everything
forward though. In 1944, during the Second World War, which was
namely a life or death situation for Russians, and in which Russian lost
millions of citizens, the USSR Communist Party forbade the research of
Golden Hordes’ history completely. This prohibition was symbolically
important because of the Edigey Legend, which was based on the
conflict between Toktamis, the khan of Golden Horde, and Emir Timur. 340
This prohibition caused an interesting situation. The history books
written during this prohibition ignored this two-hundred and fifty years
of Golden Horde. Thus, Russian history books written in the time of
USSR have the Tsarist Russia’s origins (Fifteenth century) beginning
right after Kiev Russia’s collapse (Twelfth Century). In the earlier
writings and Soviet history books, which were penned before this
prohibition, Golden Horde was mentioned negatively and repeatedly
as follows “Golden Horde, was far behind the west in the terms of its
cultural development. Golden Horde’s dominance caused the Russian
economy, agriculture, construction, and crafts to regress….”
Besides, the exceptions such as Lev Nikolayevich Gumilyov and
the Russian historians who fled abroad and founded the study of
Eurasianism, Soviet historians always approached Golden Horde in
338 For the approach of Russian historians to general history of Golden Horde and Tatar,
see P. H. Alişev, “İzvraşenie i Falsifikatsiya İstorii Tatar v Russkoy İstoriçeskoy Nauke”, Tatarskiy
Narod Posle 1552 Goda: Poteri i Priobreteniya, Kazan 2003, pp. 235-240; Kamalov, İlyas,
Altın Orda ve Rusya. Rusya Üzerindeki Türk-Tatar Etkisi, pp. 51-55.
339 d’Encausse, H. C. Tamamlanmamış Rusya, (Translation R. Uzmen), Ötüken Press, İstanbul
2003, p. 46-47.
340 Edigey Destanı, prepared by. R. Sultî, Türksoy Press, İstanbul (t).