摘要：In recent years, historians created a number of biographical works about figures of the Don Cossacks of the second half of the XIX century. These studies are an interesting and promising new direction in modern historiography. We have prepared their review so that do not mix with other, extremely numerous scientific articles of Cossack subjects. At the same time, we tried to determine which personalities in the history of the post-reform Don have been relatively studied, and which, on the contrary, leave room for further research. Finally, we paid special attention to the question of which approaches are used by various historians, and why there is an interest in the personality factor in the history of the Don Cossacks of the second half of the XIX century, manifested in recent years. The results of our research are the following conclusions: most of the personalities are chosen by historians to study based not on their real significance, but on the volume of archival materials remaining, and as a result the choice of these personalities is quite random (the only relatively developed category is Don atamans); most of the articles are written by several historians who are trying to get away from impersonality in the perception of the government policy of this period; Despite this, most of the work was written in 2010, which makes it possible to speak about real changes in modern Don historiography.
关键词：modern historiography; biographical research; Don Cossacks of the second half of the
XIX century; Ministry of War of the Russian Empire; military officials on the Don; Don scientists.
