The Great Reforms in Modern Russian Historiography: Pessimistic and Optimistic Models

The paper provides a historiographical analysis of the views of modern Russian authors on the problems of the Great Reforms. The paper notes that modern historiography has accumulated a large number of research works devoted to the analysis of the prerequisites, content, course and results of the transformations of the 1860s - 1870s. The paper concludes that Russian historiography has a wide range of assessments of the reforms of this period, both positive and negative content. The discussion of «pessimists» and «optimists» contributed to the increment of historical knowledge, during which new historical approaches were worked out and some historiographical gaps were filled.