The Beginning of the Steel Cannon Production in the Urals in the Estimates of Russian Researchers

The article analyses the study by Russian historiography of the initial stage of the steel cannon production at state-owned mining plants in the Urals. The relevance of this article is determined, on the one hand, by the lack of works summarizing scientific discussions on this issue in Russian historiography, and, on the other hand, by the importance of understanding the experience of the formation and deployment of a new type of military production in Russia, innovative for its time. The purpose of the article is to colligate the views formed in Russian historiography on various aspects of the emergence of steel-shell production at Ural mining plants. To achieve this goal, the following research tasks will have to be solved: to analyze the available publications of researchers of the pre-revolutionary, Soviet, and post-Soviet periods on this issue; to consider various aspects of the process under study – the prerequisites for the emergence of steel cannon production in the Urals, the reasons for choosing the Zlatoust Plant as a production site, the progress of construction and equipment, as well as the production activities of the Knyaze-Mikhailovskaya Steel Cannon Factory, the reasons for the curtailment of steel cannon production and its importance for the further development of this segment of the military industry in Russia. The methodological basis of the research was the principles of historicism and objectivity, as well as analysis, typologization, and problem-chronological methods. As a result of the study, estimates of the first attempts to create artillery pieces from steel, undertaken in the first half of the 19th century, are presented. The circumstances that predetermined the creation of the first specialized enterprise on the basis of the Zlatoust Mining Plant are shown. The process of construction and equipment of the steel mill and its production activities are analyzed within the framework of the periodization identified by the researchers. A fairly wide range of researchers' opinions is presented regarding the reasons for the cessation of steel cannon production at the Knyaze-Mikhailovskaya Factory and also the role and place of the enterprise in the history of the Russian military industry. It is concluded that the studied problem has a certain research potential, primarily due to the need for further investigation into the formation and evolution of military-technical policy of imperial Russia