Denys Khrustalev (2008)
Nicholas Zharkikh
Shortened text of the section. Full text in ukrainian version.
During the time that I was reading the book mentioned below (April 29 – May 2, 2022), our soldiers destroyed 62 Pushkinist tanks and only 5 Lermontoid aircraft (it seems that Muscovites are running out of aircraft, and they began to spend them more sparingly). Also, two russian boats were sunk and the command post of the 2nd russian Army near Izyum was destroyed, Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff of the Muscovites, was wounded.
The latter did not happen either to Moltke, or to Keitel, Shaposhnikov or Antonov.
While our soldiers are setting new world records, I can continue (May 3, 2022 at 8:15 am).
Looking into , I learned that the Russian actor Denis Khrustalev (b. 1973) has a very wide range of directions for his efforts – from art criticism to the automation of production management and from the organization of cartels to archery.
He also wrote many books on history, one of which – "Rus’ from invasion to the yoke" – has already five editions from 2004 to 2018 and brought the author the gold medal of Kublai Khan (this is not a joke!). I don’t have the most recent edition of it, and I read what was readily available online:
Khrustalev D. G. . – St. Petersburg: Eurasia, 2008. – 384 p.
The general impression of this book is quite positive (I continue my attempts to stay within the framework of science, although I consider D. Khrustalev guilty of all the crimes committed by Muscovites in Ukraine). It is written in a popular style, in an easy and understandable language, while preserving the main features of science. So the publishers of the book, who often release new editions, can be understood: the book turned out to be really interesting and not at all similar to the "dryest things" that real "academic scientists" feed us.
(May 3, 2022) that a large warehouse of printed production burned near Moscow. On the one hand, it is possible that Denys Khrustalev was not harmed because there were not his books. And on the other hand, it is possible that all three hectares of the warehouse to a height of 10 meters were lined with stacks of Khrustalev’s books and now it all burned down. Beauty!
So, on this optimistic note, I continue (May 4, 2022 at 8:00 a.m.).
The reign of Yaroslav Vsevolodovych in Kyiv was short-lived. He arrived in the city in the spring of 1237, at the end of the same year he left the south of Rus’ and rushed to Novgorod to collect help for his brother Yuri, who entered into a deadly confrontation with Batu. Yaroslav did not have time to help North-Eastern Rus’ [p. 152].
I think that this return of Yaroslav to Novgorod, not recorded in the sources, was technically impossible.
Finally, the main idea of D. Kh.’s entire book is presented at the very beginning:
The onslaught of the horde, which swept through Rus’ lands like a tornado, caused significant (catastrophic) damage to the population and economy of Rus’, and affected social and demographic processes in many regions. However, it did not destroy the internal political structure, the social system of the Rus’ principalities [p. 5].
The destruction of the four principalities of southern Rus’ (Kyiv, Pereyaslav, Chernihiv, and Halych) is, from D. Kh.’s point of view, no destruction of the internal political structure and social system of ancient Rus’.
That is why he prefers to write not about the destruction of Chernihiv and Pereyaslav, but about their transformation into small towns; not about the destruction of the Kyiv principality, but about its transfer under the rule of the Vladimir and Moscow princes; not about the destruction of the Galician principality, but about the final establishment of Daniil’s power there.
This is unconditional and systematic distortion of the content of the described events.
I also adopted a popular presentation style for my story, and that independently of D. Khrustalev (I opened his book for the first time on April 29, 2022, when the main part of my work was already written). I think that this style of presentation is really timely, and I hope that I came out more scientifically.