Famous Russian Historians

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a Russian novelist, philosopher, historian, and political prisoner. An outspoken critic of Communism and the Soviet Union, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn helped raise awareness of the Gulag, a government agency that oversaw forced labor camps set up in accordance with Vladimir Lenin's order. His non-fiction text The Gulag Archipelago was a highly influential work and sold millions of copies.

Best known as the coauthor of a collection of works, entitled Mitrokhin Archives, Vasily Nikitich Mitrokhin was the First Chief Directorate of the KGB before his defection to the United Kingdom. The 25,000 pages of files he had handed over became the basis of these books, the most significant of them being The KGB in Europe and the West.

Lyudmila Alexeyeva was a Russian human-rights activist and historian. She is credited with co-founding the Moscow Helsinki Watch Group, which is currently one of the most prominent human rights organizations in Russia. She was also one of the most important members of the Soviet dissident movement in post-Soviet Russia. Alexeyeva received many prizes and awards for her human rights activities.

Russian historian Mikhail Ivanovich Rostovtzeff is best-known for producing significant works on ancient Roman and Greek history. He emerged as an influential authority on ancient-history of South Russia and Ukraine while working in Russia. The term caravan city is believed to have been coined by him. Noted books of Rostovtzeff include Dura-Europos and Its Art and Skythien und der Bosporus.

Russian historian Simon Dubnow is best remembered for instilling a sociological element in the study of Jewish history. A well-known teacher and author, he was also involved with the Jewish magazine Voskhod. He escaped to Germany to avoid Bolshevism but was eventually killed by the Nazis.

Russian naturalist and philosopher Nikolay Yakovlevich Danilevsky is remembered for opposing Darwin’s theory of evolution and for mingling Russian nationalism with his own study of natural history. He likened cultures to species and claimed that each culture was unique and could not pass on cultural traits to other cultures.

Zinovia Dushkova is a Russian poet, historian, philosopher, and author. A prominent writer, Dushkova's works have been translated into seven languages. In 2015, she was honored with the 20 Years of Gagauzia Medal. In 2017, Zinovia Dushkova’s book, The Call of the Heart, was honored at the Nautilus Book Awards with a silver medal in the United States of America.

Russian political-economist, historian and editor Peter Struve, initially a Marxist, became a liberal following his arrest and exile from Russia in 1901. After returning to Russia in 1905, he co-founded the liberal Constitutional Democratic Party. He joined the White movement after the Bolshevik Revolution. He lived in exile in Paris from 1920 and emerged as a noted critic of Russian Communism.