In his article, historian Said Zalyaev traces the emergence and subsequent transformations of the meaning of the term "civil war" from Antiquity to the 21st century. At the same time, using examples from England, France, the USA, and Russia, he examines how "civil war" relates to "revolution."

In his article, historian Said Zalyaev examines how during the Modern Era in Western Europe, the meaning of the concept of "state" transformed from a statement of a ruler's effectiveness to the definition of an abstract political entity with territory and population. Additionally, the author traces the history of the Russian-language concept of "gosudarstvo" and compares it with Western European counterparts.

In the popular consciousness, the central conflict of the Russian Civil War is the confrontation between the "Reds" and the "Whites." However, in the summer of 1918, at the forefront of the anti-Bolshevik resistance in eastern Russia were the Socialists—the SRs, who formed the Komuch. Read about its history in the article by historian Said Zalyaev.