Victor Totfalushin, Associate Professor of the Department of Russian History and Archaeology, is one of the leading experts on the history of the Patriotic War of 1812. Books on the history of the Saratov Volga region by V.P. Totfalushin are very popular. For one of the last – "Saratov Land during the Crimean War" – the author received the All-Russian N.G. Chernyshevsky Prize, and the book sold out in a matter of days. In addition, his monograph on Saratov province in the era of the Napoleonic Wars is recognized as one of the best studies in Russian historiography on the Russian province during the great confrontation between Russia and France.
Mentors
V.P. Totfalushin has been interested in history since childhood, when he read historical and historical adventure novels with a passion. In addition, his father's service in the GDR allowed Viktor, already in his youth, to visit the cities where history was being made – in Berlin, Leipzig, Potsdam.
His student life coincided with the youth and professional rise of respected scientists in scientific circles and brilliant teachers of the Faculty of History. There's a whole constellation of them! If you walk through the corridors of the current institute, V.P. Totfalushin notes, then all of them are represented on the nameplates of the named classrooms. And the scientific interests of Viktor Petrovich himself have experienced unexpected turns. As a student, he enthusiastically studied the history of the Ancient World, since the mythologized events of bygone eras seemed more interesting than modern times. And he fell into the reliable hands of Taisiya Pavlovna Katz, whom he considers his first teacher. Taisiya Pavlovna proposed a military theme – about the legendary Italian tribe, which resulted in the first independent serious study "Samnites and Rome in the struggle for Italy".
Viktor Petrovich's second mentor, Nikolai Alekseevich Troitsky, was vigorously studying the narodnik movement at that time and, of course, offered him cooperation in researching this topic. Alas, the socio-political conflicts were not very interesting to the young historian. That's when the fateful question sounded: "Would you like to deal with Barclay de Tolly, the era of 1812?" Viktor Petrovich responded to this proposal with enthusiasm.
At that time, General Barclay de Tolly was still considered a semi–official, underestimated figure - the consequences of Stalin's directive preferences in history were felt. And in order to restore the name of an outstanding strategist and a true patriot of Russia, it took a lot of work in the central archives. A descendant of an ancient Scottish family, the Minister of War and commander of the 1st Western Army in 1812 became the main character of Viktor Petrovich Totfalushin's scientific dissertation, which was highly appreciated by specialists. Eminent colleagues-historians stated: the conclusions are convincing, historical justice has been restored. And they even thanked him "for his interesting, intelligent and moral work on Barclay."
Later, based on the materials of the dissertation, a book was published in the publishing house of SSU. Applications for it came from various cities of the country, including the capital, and the circulation was 3.5 thousand copies. The monograph had a resonance abroad. As a result, Viktor Petrovich Totfalushin became one of the first teachers of the Faculty of History to receive a foreign grant from the British Academy of Sciences and an internship at the University of Aberdeen, thanks to which he was able to come to Scotland and even visit the ancestral castle of Barclays, from where the branch of the Russian commander originated.
military historian
Since then, the military history of Russia has become the main subject of scientific creativity and teaching. Everything came together at one point. Viktor Petrovich himself explains this by the fact that, as the son of a military man who spent his childhood, adolescence and youth in the army, he is always more attracted to dynamic historical events and heroic personalities. Therefore, since his student years, he was engaged first in ancient, then Russian military history, and even his works on the history of the Saratov Region tend to military subjects.
The number (about 400) and the diversity of his works, including six monographs, are impressive. Specialists are well aware of the work "M.B. Barclay de Tolly in the Patriotic War of 1812". Later, in collaboration with our famous local historian E.K. Maksimov, the book "Saratov Volga region during the First World War" was published. By the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, the study "Saratov Region and the Napoleonic Wars" appeared. Its logical continuation was the monograph "Involuntary countrymen: prisoners of war " of the 12th year" in the Saratov region". The last work devoted to the social everyday life of our region during the years of the Russian wars is "The Land of Saratov during the Crimean War", published in 2022. The local history book "The Childhood years of Saratov Sport" stands out among them. In addition, the historian published a collection of memoirs of prisoners of the 12th year "Volga prisoners".
At the same time, Viktor Petrovich sincerely believes that he has not done anything exceptional in historical science. Simply due to his innate perseverance, hard work and perseverance, he achieved certain results and occupied his research niche. So those of the students who consider him overly demanding should pay attention to how demanding one of the leading historians of Saratov University is, first of all, to himself. When asked about the scientist's creative laboratory, about his attitude to the motto "Not a day without a line!", he replied that his supervisor, Professor Troitsky, definitely lived by this rule. Here he really had two pages of white text as the norm of the working day!
V.P. Totfalushin at the International Scientific and Practical Conference "The Great feat of the people in defense of the Fatherland: milestones of history"
‘two small, but specific discoveries’
As for his contribution to science, Viktor Petrovich is sure that he has two small but specific discoveries in the history of the war of 1812. The first is connected with the famous Battle of Maloyaroslavets in October 1812, after which Napoleon lost his strategic initiative and no longer tried to turn the tide of the war, but only retreated. At that time, the mayor of Maloyaroslavets was Peter Bykov. It was he, as the researcher managed to establish, and not the locally revered hero Savva Belyaev, who destroyed the bridge over the Luga River and the dam, thereby delaying the crossing of the enemy. During the battle that took place on the streets of the city, Maloyaroslavets was completely burned, and Bykov was transferred as a reward to the mayor in our county town of Petrovsk, and then to Tsaritsyn. The researcher found these materials in the State Archive of the Saratov region, reported on this discovery at a conference in Maloyaroslavets, and representatives of the local community made corrections to the history of this battle.
The second discovery is connected with the legendary Saratov old-timer Nikolai Saven. It was born in creative collaboration with Yves Gauthier, a French Russian writer, with whom Totfalushin also established friendly relations. At first, the historian adhered to the Savenov legend, which was replicated by State Councilor Konstantin Adamovich Voensky, grandson of the famous governor A.D. Panchulidzev. According to her, Saven was a native of a noble family, an officer who lived for 126 years, having died in Saratov. However, as the work progressed, the archives accumulated material that allowed them to question and make some adjustments to the textbook biography of Savin. In particular, it was found out that the captured Frenchman was not an officer. Well, then, on the waves of the Internet, correspondence with Gauthier began, and information exchange was established. The writer carried out work in the Vincennes Castle, where the French military archive is located, and brought the search to its logical end.
The found materials were combined and a very detailed article was written, which was published on the pages of the Rodina magazine, debunking the legend. It became clear that Savin was a native of the lower classes, an ordinary participant in the campaign to Russia, who did not perform any feats, and he lived only 103 years. Unfortunately, many local historians and journalists, who are still replicating the old version about the non-existent exploits of 126-year-old Savin, obviously do not know about this article!
Presentation of the book by Yves Gauthier, 2017
Viktor Petrovich admits that when starting a new topic, he does not expect inspiration. Simply, after completing a certain work, he pauses to think about what to do now. But when he manages to "take the trail", he, like a hound, goes to the cherished goal, combs the archive, selects, compares, studies the material. The daughters have grown up, the wife, being the headmaster, is at work from morning to evening, no one interferes with the investigation. Yes, yes, the real investigation! After all, every historical event – no matter what scale, in his opinion, needs to be studied comprehensively and objectively!
Currently, the scientist is thinking about covering the social everyday life of the Saratov Volga region during the Russian-Japanese War. After all, although our region was far from the theater of military operations, it lived by the interests of the country.
At the presentation of the N.G. Chernyshevsky All-Russian Prize
Tamara Korneva, the photos from the interviewee’s and the Office of Media Communications, SSU, archives
Translated by Lyudmila Yefremova
