milestones

New explanatory and derivational dictionary of the Russian language, T. F. Efremova.

milestones

pl. Important, main points, stages in the development of smth.

Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998

milestones

"Collection of Articles on the Russian Intelligentsia" (Moscow, 1909), published by a group of Russian religious philosophers and publicists (N. A. Berdyaev, S. N. Bulgakov, P. B. Struve, S. L. Frank, M. O. Gershenzon , A. S. Izgoev, B. A. Kistyakovsky), who criticized the ideology and practical attitudes of the revolutionary, socialist-minded intelligentsia - atheistic materialism, political radicalism, the idealization of the people (in Marxism, the proletariat), etc. "Milestones" proclaimed the primacy of spiritual life over social life: "the inner life of the individual is the only creative force of human existence."

Milestones

"Milestones", "Collection of Articles on the Russian Intelligentsia", published in Moscow in 1909 by a group of publicists and philosophers of the religious-idealist trend, who opposed the revolution from positions close to the Cadets (N. A. Berdyaev, S. N. Bulgakov, M. O. Gershenzon, A. S. Izgoev, B. A. Kistyakovsky, P. B. Struve, S. L. Frank). The authors of "V." considered the Revolution of 1905-1907 a mistake and asserted that it was the product of the activity of a socialist-minded intelligentsia, which "... was the nerves and brain of the gigantic body of the revolution ... therefore, its history is a historical judgment on this intelligentsia" ("Vekhi", p. 25). The socialist-minded intelligentsia was accused of "worshiping the people", the populist - of false love for the peasantry, the Marxist - of the proletariat. It was characterized as an ideological “schismatic” (ibid., p. 160), called “circle”, “artificially singled out from national life ..., “intelligentsia”, in contrast to the intelligentsia in the broad, national, general historical sense of the word” (ibid. same, s.

Its ideology seemed to the "Vekhiites" historically fruitless. The tragedy of the Russian intelligentsia, in their opinion, consisted in the fact that the people could not accept either its concern for its welfare, or its ideas about the ideal of social order, in the fundamental abyss between the structure of the people's soul and the emotional-volitional qualities of an intellectual. Sharp criticism in "V." the materialism and atheism of V. G. Belinsky, N. G. Chernyshevsky, G. V. Plekhanov, Marxism as an ideology and political strategy were subjected. Representatives of the materialistic and atheistic line in philosophy were accused of philosophical illiteracy, of subordinating philosophy to social utilitarian goals, of far-fetched ideas about the welfare of the people. The Vekhi people considered their main principle to be the recognition of the primacy of spiritual life over social life ≈ "... in the sense that the inner life of the individual is the only creative force of human existence..." (ibid., p. 1). Against the ideology of "V." V. I. Lenin spoke sharply, pointing out its connection with Russian “Kadetism”. This “encyclopedia of liberal renegade”, noted V. I. Lenin, “... covers three main topics: 1) the struggle against the ideological foundations of the entire worldview of Russian (and international) democracy;

renunciation of the liberation movement of recent years and pouring mud over it;

an open proclamation of his “livery feelings” (and the corresponding “livery” policy) in relation to the October bourgeoisie, in relation to the old government, in relation to all of old Russia in general ”(Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 19 , p. 168).

Lit .: Lenin V.I., Another destruction of socialism, Poln. coll. soch., 5th ed., v. 25.

I. F. Balakina.

Wikipedia

Milestones (compilation)

Milestones. Collection of articles about the Russian intelligentsia- a collection of articles by Russian philosophers of the early 20th century about the Russian intelligentsia and its role in the history of Russia. Published in March 1909 in Moscow. Having received a wide public outcry, by April 1910 it had gone through four reprints with a total circulation of 16,000 copies. In 1990, it was reprinted in 50,000 copies.

Milestones

• milestones milestones(poisonous milestone, hemlock, a genus of plants of the umbrella family).
• milestones- plural from noun. milestone .
• "Milestones"- plural from noun. milestone, used only in the plural, a proper name. Including:
  • "Milestones. Collection of Articles on the Russian Intelligentsia” is a collection of works published in Moscow in 1909 by a group of publicists and philosophers (N. A. Berdyaev, S. N. Bulgakov and others).
  • Vekhi (http://www.vehi.net) is a Russian religious and philosophical online library.

Examples of the use of the word milestone in the literature.

From milestones to the milestone, from Sign to Sign - forward, to the beautiful and alluring U-Narinna.

I wonder what obstacles and what milestones meet on the path of sorcerers?

Then it dawned on me that nothing else but milestones land, it can't be.

Already falling into the dense sea of ​​darkness, I thought: but about milestones surely the Guardian is loitering.

In addition, previous milestones looked completely different from each other.

The road to it leads through the Wildlands, through our souls with Turi, through faith and unbelief, through milestones air, water, fire, earth and iron, through the word that must be kept, once given, through the blood of the Horings and their lost and newly acquired knowledge, through magic penetrating deeper and deeper into souls.

Exploring the language, way of life, folklore, religion of the peoples of the North and Siberia, Castren, according to the language, ancient customs of peoples, the names of rivers and villages, restored milestones the forgotten path by which the Finno-Ugric and related Samoyed peoples came from their ancient habitats to their modern territory.

"VEKHI" AND VEKHOVTSY."Milestones" - a collection of articles, published in 1909 with the subtitle Collection of articles about the Russian intelligentsia.

Russian culture of the early 20th century. largely developed in contradiction with the traditions of Tue. floor. 19th century The revolutionary, democratic, atheistic ideas of the people of the sixties and seventies, of course, were preserved and developed to some extent - and led to the first Russian revolution. In the same years, artists begin to perceive art not as a source of benefit or a tool for achieving the public good, but as a way to create beauty, to understand the spiritual foundations of the world.

The search for people of art in many respects echoed the thoughts of those who were concerned about the religious problems of being. Rethinking the world and their place in it in a new way, the thinkers of that time not only turned to God, but also tried to take a fresh look at the place of the intelligentsia in the world, at its relationship with the church, religion, society, and power. Already in 1901-1903 in St. Petersburg, with a large confluence of both the secular public and representatives of the clergy, "Religious and Philosophical Meetings" were held, organized by the outstanding thinker and writer D.N. Merezhkovsky. On them, secular and church intelligentsia made the first attempt to understand each other, but the experience was not very successful. Writers and philosophers were annoyed by representatives of the official church, who seemed to them the embodiment of a bureaucratic machine capable of suppressing any free religious feeling. The clergy were shocked by many speeches in which views on religion and Christianity, quite unexpected for that time, were expressed.

The intelligentsia's interest in philosophical and religious problems was not far-fetched, but lively and sharp. The scornful attitude to religion and the church that had been widespread by that time for half a century, going back to Belinsky and Chernyshevsky, did not suit many thinking people at the beginning of the century. For them, the atheism of the Russian intelligentsia was only one, albeit a very significant manifestation of the characteristic features of the thinking of this layer of people. The intelligentsia was more and more reproached for intolerance, the absence of a true internal culture, real spiritual aspirations ...

In the early years of the twentieth century, thinkers who shared both an interest in religion and a critical attitude towards the Russian intelligentsia made several attempts to articulate and publicly express their thoughts. This happened for the first time in 1902, when a collection of Problems of Idealism. Among its authors were the future creators of Vekhi. Here, for the first time, the intellectuals themselves dared to criticize their predecessors, attacking primarily the Narodnik revolutionaries and public figures of the second half of the 19th century. The irreligiousness of the revolutionaries, their conviction that the intelligentsia is indebted to the people, their desire primarily for the benefit, and not for the achievement of spiritual ideals - all this irritated many philosophers of the early 20th century.

N.A. Berdyaev later wrote: “Our renaissance had several sources and belonged to different aspects of culture. But along all lines it was necessary to overcome materialism, positivism, utilitarianism, from which the left-wing intelligentsia could not free itself. It was at the same time a return to the creative heights of the culture of the 19th century. But the trouble was that the people of the Renaissance, in the heat of struggle, out of a natural reaction against an outdated worldview, often did not sufficiently appreciate the social truth that was in the left intelligentsia and which remained in force.

Collection Problems of Idealism did not attract much attention. However, several years have passed, and the problems posed in it have become especially acute. The role of the intelligentsia in the revolution of 1905 was exceptionally great. It was during these turbulent events that many of its positive and negative features appeared. In addition, the uniqueness of that social stratum, which for several decades, with the light hand of the writer P. Boborykin, was called the intelligentsia, was very clearly manifested. There is a growing conviction that there is no such social group anywhere in the world, that simple definitions - "an educated person" or "intellectual" do not exhaust the fullness and complexity of this concept. In a word, the best representatives of the Russian intelligentsia felt the need to comprehend their own position in the world, their relationship with the authorities, God, their good and bad qualities. This is how the idea of ​​creating the collection "Milestones" arose.

The authors of "Milestones" were the outstanding minds of their time. The idea of ​​creating a collection belonged to the remarkable historian, literary critic and philosopher Mikhail Osipovich Gershenzon (1869–1925). He managed to attract his like-minded people to work on it and became the editor of the book. It is interesting that Gershenzon set one condition for the authors. They were asked not to read each other's articles and not to discuss them. It would seem a rather strange requirement for the collective preparation of a collection of articles. However, when the work was completed, it became clear that all the participants, using different material and in different forms, expressed surprisingly close thoughts. "Milestones" turned out to be fully the work of like-minded people, despite the fact that some of the authors clearly gravitated towards the Slavophile philosophical tradition, while others focused primarily on the Western European cultural heritage.

Gershenzon himself was one of the greatest experts of his time on the literature and social thought of the nineteenth century. From his pen came such wonderful books as Griboedovskaya Moscow, History of young Russia. The scientist wrote a lot about Pushkin, Herzen, Chaadaev, Slavophiles. He knew all the subtleties of the development of Russian spiritual life. And already in the preface to "Milestones" he was not afraid to declare that "the revolution of 1905-1906 and the events that followed it were, as it were, a nationwide test of those values ​​that our social life has kept as the highest shrine for more than half a century" and to say that "ideology Russian intelligentsia ... seems to the participants of the book internally erroneous ... and practically fruitless. These words alone crossed out all those shrines to which several generations of Russian intellectuals prayed - selfless service to the people, devotion to revolutionary ideals, etc. Each subsequent article in "Milestones" dealt more and more blows, debunking former idols.

The collection opened with an article by N.A. Berdyaev (1874–1948) Philosophical truth and intellectual truth.

In the article, Berdyaev attacked the Russian intelligentsia for its excessive commitment to politics and public service, forcing them to forget about any other problems, and most importantly, depriving people of internal moral guidelines, replacing them with generally accepted opinions. “The following kind of misfortune happened to the Russian intelligentsia, due to its historical position: love for egalitarian justice, for the public good, for the people's welfare paralyzed the love for truth, almost destroyed interest in truth.” It would seem that what could be better than striving for justice and the good, but elevated to the absolute, these noble feelings, according to Berdyaev, deprived the intellectuals of spiritual independence, made them slaves of established "progressive" opinions, forcing them to turn away with contempt from any judgment, in which does not see the desire for the benefit of the people. The Russian intelligentsia practically deified the people and the revolution, the struggle against the autocracy became the criterion by which any phenomena were evaluated. “But it is unworthy of free beings to always blame external forces for everything and justify ourselves by their guilt ... We will be freed from external oppression only when we are freed from internal slavery, i.e. Let's take responsibility and stop blaming external forces for everything. Then a new soul of the intelligentsia will be born.” With these words, Berdyaev's article ends. For a society in which the struggle against the autocracy turned into a kind of holy war - with its own "icons", martyrs and saints - such a thought was not just unexpected, but clearly shocking.

The next article was no less sharp - the work of O. S. N. Bulgakov Heroism and asceticism.(from reflections on the religious nature of the Russian intelligentsia).

The subtitle of Bulgakov's article in Vekhi, "from reflections on the religious nature of the Russian intelligentsia," spoke volumes. Bulgakov subjected the intelligentsia to absolutely devastating criticism. He accused her of unconditional maximalism, turning into cruel intolerance and narrowness of thinking, saw the childish underdevelopment and lack of culture of her consciousness, immature admiration for the romance of death, isolation from folk roots. The source of all troubles, according to the philosopher, is atheism, contempt for religion, which has already been common among several generations of Russian people. What kind of religious nature of the Russian intelligentsia can we talk about? However, in the disinterestedness and purity of the thoughts of these people, Bulgakov sees a resemblance to a religious feeling, which is why he concludes his article with an expression of hope for the future revival of the intelligentsia, which for him meant, first of all, a return to religion. “The soul of the Russian intelligentsia, like all Russian life, is woven from contradictions, and it arouses contradictory feelings in itself. It is impossible not to love her, and it is impossible not to repel her. Along with negative traits, which are a symptom of uncivilization, historical immaturity and force one to strive to overcome the intelligentsia, traits of spiritual beauty shine through in its suffering appearance, which make it look like some very special, dear and delicate flower grown by our harsh history ... " .

M.O. Gershenzon in the article creative self-awareness as if picking up the baton, taking it from the first two authors. He also attacks the intelligentsia with criticism, and, like Berdyaev and Bulgakov, leaves hope for its spiritual rebirth. For Gershenzon, the most serious sin of the intelligentsia is complete irresponsibility, which he associates with excessive, reckless concentration on the problems of the political struggle. Such a situation, in his opinion, destroyed any personal responsibility, deprived people of the need to make a moral choice - since the main and only task was to serve the people. “What has our intellectual thought been doing for the last half century? – I am talking, of course, about the intelligentsia masses. - A bunch of revolutionaries went from house to house and knocked on every door: “Everybody out on the street! It's embarrassing to be at home!" - and that's all ... poured into the square ... For half a century they hustle in the square, wailing and squabbling. At home - dirt, poverty, disorder, but the owner is not up to it. He is in public, he saves the people - and it is both easier and more entertaining than menial work at home.

Gershenzon denies the Russian intelligentsia even the possibility of real unity with the people. Atheist revolutionaries and the deeply religious masses of the people are unlikely to be able to understand each other. It was in this article that perhaps the most famous words of the entire collection were heard. “There is a different strife between us and our people. We are not robbers for him, like our village fist brother, we are not even just strangers for him, like a Turk or a Frenchman: he sees our human and specifically Russian appearance, but does not feel a human soul in us, and therefore he hates us passionately, probably with unconscious mystical horror, the deeper he hates that we are our own. What we are, we not only cannot dream of merging with the people, we must fear it more than all the executions of the authorities and bless this authority, which alone with its bayonets and prisons still protects us from the fury of the people. The explosion of indignation caused by these words was so strong that even some members of the collection later tried to declare that they did not share this shocking opinion. Praising bayonets and prisons was too much even for those who could afford to sharply and uncompromisingly criticize Belinsky, Chernyshevsky and their followers. Gershenzon himself, in the second edition of Vekhi, was forced to make a note and explain that he had no intention of welcoming the "executions of the authorities." “The meaning of my phrase is that with all its past the intelligentsia has been placed in an unheard of, terrible situation: the people for which it fought hates it, and the government against which it fought turns out to be its defender, whether it likes it or not.”

The next two articles About intelligent youth A.S. Izgoeva and In defense of the right B.A. Kistyakovsky to some extent continue and develop Gershenzon’s idea about the internal irresponsibility of Russian intellectuals.

The life of Aron Solomonovich Lande, who wrote under the pseudonym Alexander Izgoev (1872-1935), recalls the fate of his co-authors on "Milestones". It evolved from Marxism to the liberal ideas of the Cadets party. Before the revolution, he survived the Jewish pogrom in Odessa, after the revolution he was imprisoned by the Bolsheviks in a camp, then expelled from the country. Bohdan Alexandrovich Kistyakovsky (1868–1920) grew up in a completely different circle - he was the son of a law professor and one of the leaders of the national Ukrainian movement - but his life experienced similar upheavals. Kistyakovsky was repeatedly persecuted for his national beliefs. He was expelled from the university, arrested, expelled. He was also a Marxist for some time, and, like other authors of Vekhi, he became disillusioned with this teaching and began to seek the truth along completely different paths.

Articles by Izgoev and Kistyakovsky are formally completely different - the first wrote about the life of student youth, the second - about the legal consciousness of the Russian intelligentsia. At the same time, the main ideas of the authors clearly echo each other. We are talking about the same internal immaturity and spiritual irresponsibility of the Russian intelligentsia, no matter whether they mean their personal and family lives and a weak desire to study or respect for the laws and the courts. The conclusion is the same - any intellectual activity is dictated only by external conditions, and not by internal need, or, in the words of Kistyakovsky, "our intelligentsia sees in the legal norm not a legal conviction, but only a rule that has received external expression."

The next author, Pyotr Berngardovich Struve (1870–1949), went through the same stages of spiritual development as the other Vekhi people, but perhaps he rushed from side to side more sharply and stronger than the others. In his youth, this son of the Perm governor was not just fond of Marxism, but was one of the spiritual leaders of the socialists. All revolutionary-minded youth read his books, Lenin argued with him, he was one of the most authoritative Russian socialist thinkers. His "track record" includes arrests, deportations, emigration, underground activities, then - a departure from Marxism and joining the Cadet Party. After 1917, Struve did not leave the political struggle. Participates in underground organizations, becomes an active member of the white movement, eventually ends up in exile, where he begins to defend extreme monarchist and nationalist views.

In the article Intelligentsia and revolution Struve essentially posed the same problem of the internal emptiness of the Russian intellectuals. For him, this emptiness manifests itself primarily in "departure ... estrangement from the state and hostility towards it." The origins of apostasy lie in the irreligiousness of the intelligentsia, and this, in turn, gave rise to confusion in the Russian revolution and “credulity without faith, struggle without creativity, fanaticism without enthusiasm, intolerance without reverence…”. Despite such a disappointing assessment of the situation, he leaves hope for a favorable outcome. True, unlike his colleagues, he does not predict a spiritual rebirth of the intelligentsia and its conversion to God. According to Struve, most likely it "will cease to exist as a certain cultural category", becoming bourgeois and abandoning socialist ideas.

Semyon Ludwigovich Frank (1877-1950) also evolved from Marxism to liberalism and Orthodoxy, also went through the persecution of both the tsarist authorities and the Bolsheviks, and later, in exile, was forced to hide from the Nazis. His article Ethics of nihilism It is no coincidence that it turned out to be the final one in the collection. Having expressed claims to the Russian intelligentsia, more or less similar to those formulated in previous articles, Frank tried to create a certain generalized image of an intellectual. His definition of an intellectual as "a militant monk of a nihilistic religion of earthly prosperity" sums up all the numerous reflections on the irreligiousness and maximalism of Russian educated society. Frank develops this idea in detail, emphasizing that the intellectual "avoids reality, runs away from the world, lives outside the true historical everyday life, in the world of ghosts, dreams and pious faith." But his faith is not a real religion, which does not prevent the intelligentsia from creating "a special world with its strictest and strongest traditions, with its own etiquette, with its own mores, customs, almost with its own culture ...". It is monastic asceticism and isolation from real life that give rise to "all the attitudes of the intelligentsia to politics, their fanaticism and intolerance, their impracticality and ineptness in political activity, their unbearable propensity for factional strife, their lack of state sense."

Such a final, perhaps the most merciless judgment made about the intelligentsia by one of its best representatives. However, the last phrase "Milestones", as well as all the articles in the collection, leaves hope for a transformation. "From an unproductive, anti-cultural nihilistic moralism, we must move to a creative, culture-creating religious humanism."

The publication of "Milestones" had the effect of an exploding bomb. On the one hand, the book aroused unprecedented interest. The collection was reprinted several times, its circulations numbered in many thousands of copies. In many cities, special meetings were held to discuss the ideas of the Vekhi people, the number of articles that responded to the output of Vekhi exceeded two hundred. At the same time, most of the Russian intelligentsia indignantly rejected the accusations against them. The revolutionaries saw in "Milestones" not reflections on the Russian intelligentsia, but a condemnation of the revolutionary movement and interpreted the book as a simple call for the rejection of the revolutionary struggle. Gershenzon's "terrible phrase" was indignantly repeated and commented on. Lenin's famous phrase - "an encyclopedia of liberal renegade" clearly shows the attitude of revolutionaries towards their former brethren. However, Vekhi's liberals were no less outraged. For all their divergence from the revolutionaries, the populist tradition meant no less to them, and they, too, for the most part, saw in Vekhi simply a criticism of the social struggle, and not at all a harsh moral accusation brought against several generations of Russian people. Even PN Milyukov, the leader of the Cadets, tried to draw a clear line between the interesting and vivid thoughts of famous philosophers and the political program of the party to which they belonged. The few laudatory reviews that belonged to the philosophers V. Rozanov, E. Trubetskoy, the poet Andrei Bely simply drowned in a sea of ​​general indignation.

Andrei Bely, who himself created a prophetic book about the revolution - a novel Petersburg, subtly felt the grandiose meaning of "Milestones".:

“The wonderful book “Milestones” has been released. Several Russian intellectuals said bitter words about themselves, about us; their words are imbued with living fire and love for the truth. ... But through the mouths of their heralds, the intelligentsia transferred the center of the accusation from itself, as a whole, to the seven ill-fated authors. ... By an unfair trial of Vekhi, the Russian press proved that it was unacceptably biased; the authors of Vekhi did not even think of judging the intelligentsia; they only pointed out what prevents the Russian intellectual from being a slave of abstract dreams of freedom from becoming its creator…”. "Milestones" were brutally repressed by Russian critics; everything outstanding that appeared in Russia was subjected to this massacre. The noise aroused by "Milestones" will not subside soon; it's an indicator that the book hit the mark."

The events of 1917 showed how right the "vekhites" were in their assessment of the Russian intelligentsia and its role in the history of the country. After the fall of the monarchy and the coming of the Bolsheviks to power, philosophers naturally had a desire to comprehend the dramatic changes taking place before their eyes. So, in difficult conditions, during the persecution of the Cadet Party and the destruction of freedom of speech, the collection “From the Depths” was created, in which many Vekhi people took part - Berdyaev, Bulgakov, Izgoev, Struve, Frank. The deep assessment of the Russian revolution contained in it, as well as the "Vekhi" warnings, were never truly heard and appreciated.

Tamara Eidelman

"Milestones" - a collection of articles about the Russian intelligentsia, published in 1909, in Moscow, by a group of religious philosophers (Berdyaev, Bulgakov, Struve, Frank, Gershenzon, Izgoev, Kistyakovsky), who criticized the ideology and practical guidelines of the revolutionary, socialist-minded intelligentsia , political radicalism, idealization of the people (proletariat).

Exploring the problem of the intelligentsia in different planes, the participants of "Milestones" were united in the fundamental principle of recognizing "the theoretical and practical primacy of spiritual life over external forms of community life." The authors proved the existence of absolute moral values, the priority of the value search in the national philosophical and cultural tradition over Western borrowings.

Criticism, firstly, of the unprofessionalism of the intelligentsia and, secondly, of the prevailing importance of extreme elements in any area of ​​human life. (A striking example of this is the downplaying of law as one of the cultural values ​​and the rejection of the idea of ​​compromise).

The authors of "Milestones" called on the intelligentsia to a kind of repentance, awareness of their role in the present and past of Russian history, to deepen into the inner world and move towards religious humanism. "The world does not revolve around the creators of new noise - the world revolves around the creators of new values!" - this is how S. Frank characterized the peculiarity of the experienced moment in the development of the intelligentsia, its further existence, with the words of Nietzsche.

The resonance of "Milestones" was great. The reason for this lies in the meaning incommensurably greater than the meaning of those historical events that inspired the collection. The basis of his problematics concerned the eternal questions of correlation " spirituality"- in history and in personality, expressing this spirituality.

At the same time, many representatives of the secular educated society preferred to interpret the "Vekhi" platform as a call to the intelligentsia to withdraw from the political struggle and focus on the task of religious improvement.

G. V. Plekhanov gave brief references to "Milestones" in a series of articles in the journal "Modern World" for 1909. He characterized the state of the authors of the collection, as well as a number of representatives of the intelligentsia opposite to them in terms of worldview - A Lunacharsky, D. Merezhkovsky, N. Minsky and others. Plekhanov emphasized that "religion does not create morality," but only sanctifies its rules, which grow on the basis of a concrete historical social system.

D. Merezhkovsky spoke from a negative position, who in the article "Seven Humble", published in the newspaper "Rech" on April 26, 1909, called the collection an excommunication of the Russian intelligentsia, and its authors "seven humble, seven colors of the rainbow, merged into one white color in the name of a common cause - hatred." He contrasted the idea of ​​inner self-improvement with catholicity, community, the Church, outside of which there is no salvation.

A. Bely in the journal "Vesy" called the collection "a wonderful book", the purpose of which is "not a judgment, but a call for self-deepening."

V. Rozanov believed that the authors of "Milestones" contributed to the spiritual uplift of the Russian intelligentsia through self-denial and self-deepening into the essence of the inner world: "This is the saddest and most noble book that has appeared in recent years."

Sources:

1. Solovyov A. A. The path of faith and knowledge: antinomies "Milestones" // Intelligentsia and the world, Ivanovo State University Publishing House, 2010.

People tend to remember important dates for society: over time, if the date is joyful, cities or even countries make it a national holiday. For example, such a number is the date of liberation from the German troops of Odessa - April 10, and Nikolaev - March 28. And although these numbers remain common throughout the world, for the inhabitants of these cities they are memorable and are the so-called milestones. There are more global events. Let's consider what milestones are, what they are in history using the example of Kievan Rus, and later - Russia, and in relation to what else this word can be applied.

Key in meaning

More details about this word are mentioned in the dictionaries of Ozhegov, Ushakov and Efremova. The most common definition is as follows: "Milestones of history are significant incidents, events and decisions in a person's life, the development of an enterprise or the history of an entire country." Their number can be varied depending on the density of events in a single year or in the entire history of the existence of a person, enterprise, country.

On a superficial examination of the issue, without particularly delving into what milestones are, one can be satisfied with the answer that these are dates that are important to someone. And if we talk about global history, then such dates can be considered moments that influenced further history.

It is best to analyze this concept on the example of your own country. Before the formation of the Russian Federation, the USSR and Tsarist Russia, there was one more state from which the countdown of milestones should begin. Naturally, this refers to Kievan Rus. Here are some dates that best illustrate what milestones are:

• IX century - the formation of a state with a code of laws, borders and a prince at the head.
• X century - the reign of Oleg up to Olga, her reforms in the state, the adoption of Christianity, religious reform.
• XI century - the throne of Vladimir, Yaroslav, the formation of a code of laws as a written document ("Russian Truth").
• XII-XIII centuries - from the beginning of the reign of Monomakh to the end, "Teaching children", the division of Kievan Rus into principalities and internecine wars.
• XV-XVI centuries - the continuation of the feudal war, the annexation of the khanates, the implementation of reforms and the introduction of the oprichnina.
• XVII century - the reign of Shuisky, the beginning of the uprising and its defeat, the abolition of copper coins and the split of the church due to the disagreement of their members with politics.
• XVIII century - the reign of Peter I, Catherine, Peter II, Elizabeth, Peter III, palace coups, the Northern War.
• XIX century - the reign of Alexander I, Nicholas I, the Decembrists, the reforms of Alexander II, the cessation of serfdom by order of Nicholas II, the October Revolution
• XX century - the formation of the USSR, wars (civil, Great Patriotic, World War I, World War II), the rule of Stalin, Lenin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, the collapse of the USSR, the formation of the Russian Federation.
• XXI century - the reign of Medvedev, Putin, the annexation of the Crimea.

Life is also a milestone

The years of the beginning of the reign and its end of the above people can also be counted as milestones. But one does not need to be a famous astronaut, writers, ruler, so that years are counted among the milestones of life. For a grandmother, special moments can be those when her grandson said the first word, went, went to school, and later - to college.

For some people, milestones can be when they first meet their significant other, get promoted at work, graduate from school, or move to another country. Also, no one forgets the dates of their birth and the birth of relatives - these are also milestones in certain circles, but these dates mean nothing to all of humanity.

It is interesting that the creations of writers can serve as milestones in literature. So, the writing of “Eugene Onegin”, “Tales of Belkin”, “Ruslan and Lyudmila” can be considered similar events in the life and work of Pushkin, since it was they who subsequently became the most recognizable works of the author.

Remembering Your Milestones Is Important

Knowing what milestones are and what role they play in daily life will give you an advantage over those who ignore them and do what they see fit. Why? First of all, important events influence the course of history, and it would be good for future generations to take into account the sad experience of the past. In addition, those who remember important events in the lives of loved ones acquire a reputation for being more empathetic and caring than those who do not.

Summing up, we can also say that it depends on a person whether he will "change the milestones" of his life (that is, radically transform something) and, in the end, change the milestones of history with his life or leave everything for the discretion of other heroes.