Abstract
In hard history times, the interest in the life and work of outstanding historical figures arouses. Zaki Validi Togan being a Turkic scholar and politician of the early 20th century is one of these figures. The many-sided personality of Z. Validi, the impressive results of his scientific and socio-political work, still attract the attention of researchers. In this article, the authors set a specific task: to find out what role the city of Petersburg (Petrograd), the “cradle of 1917 revolution”, played in the fate of Zaki Validi Togan. According to the authors, the city of St. Petersburg played a key role in the development of Z. Validi’s scientific interests and political views. If long before the revolutionary events, the young researcher Z. Validi collaborated with St. Petersburg orientalist scholars, in particular, with V.V. Bartold being an outstanding scientist, founder of the Russian school of oriental studies, then with his arrival in St. Petersburg in 1916 to work in the bureau of the Muslim parliamentary party of the 4th State Duma, Zaki Validi Togan engaged into the political struggle for the autonomy of the Bashkir people and the federal structure of the new Russia. The article also covers the defense of Petrograd by Bashkir troops from Yudenich’s army in 1919, about the organization of Z. Validi’s delivery of food from Bashkiria to starving Petrograd during the Civil War.