War, Peace, Diplomacy and International Relations in Ukrainian Chronicles of the 18th Century's Beginning

The theory and history of international relations as a scientific direction needs more attention to sources related to Ukrainian historical heritage. In particular, little attention is paid to those monuments of the past that contain both historical information and theoretical ideas about international processes. Among them, in particular, are the Annals of Samovidets, Annals of Grigory Hrabianka, and Annals of Samiyla Wieliczka, created at the beginning of the 18th century. They are mainly used in purely historical studies, but not in works related to the theory and history of international relations. The scientific novelty of the study is determined by the need for researchers of the theory and history of international relations to update historical sources of Ukrainian origin and to involve them more in scientific research. The article examines the informational potential of Ukrainian chronicles of the beginning of the 18th century and draws attention to the peculiarities of the presentation of historical facts related to international relations in them. Attention is focused on the reflection in the annals of issues of war, peace and diplomacy on the territory of the Central-Eastern European region. It should be borne in mind that the presentation of their texts is Ukrainian-centric and based around the events related to the international processes of the second half of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th centuries. The combination in the views of the chroniclers of their idealistic and realistic ideas is emphasized. It is also important to understand the practical activity of the authors of the respective works, which was also reflected in their texts. The research methodology is based on the general scientific logical method, the principles of historicism and the comparative analysis of sources