Friedrich Engels was a multi-talented man, an erudite scientist in many fields of science. The versatility and depth of his knowledge, the extraordinary breadth of his horizons have delighted and continue to delight people all over the world. "Nothing is alien to him," wrote Karl Marx's daughter Eleonora in her memoirs of Engels, "natural science, chemistry, botany, physics, philology, political economy, and, last but not least, military tactics." 1
Engels ' military-theoretical and military-historical legacy and his contribution to the development of military affairs are extremely important and interesting. Noting his achievements in this field, Marx believed that Engels could become "the first military authority" 2 . In one of his letters to Engels, he wrote that if any military event occurred, "I rely entirely on the War Office in Manchester, which will immediately send me instructions." 3 V. Liebknecht wrote that if " a revolution had taken place, we would have had our own in the person of Engels... organizer of armies and victories, military thinker " 4 .

All these assessments and conclusions of Engels 'associates were thoroughly confirmed in the monograph of the Deputy Head of the Institute of Military History of the USSR Ministry of Defense, Doctor of Historical Sciences A. I. Babin, who set himself the goal of" illuminating the process of formation and development of Engels ' military-theoretical views based on the study and analysis of his military works and extensive correspondence with Karl Marx and"(p. 12), as well as a number of unpublished documents from the Central Party Archive of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU. The author has successfully completed his task. He showed that Engels was a brilliant thinker and innovator in military affairs. His military-theoretical legacy was included in the golden fund of the most advanced military thought. The book convincingly reveals the significance of Engels ' military-theoretical legacy for the further development of Soviet military science and its solution of the problems of theoretical development of the problems of defending the gains of socialism.

Revealing the process of formation and development of Engels 'military-theoretical views, A. I. Babin poses and solves three main problems: the ideological foundations of Engels' military activity; the formation and development of his military-theoretical views; and the development of Marx's and Engels ' views on war and the army by V. I. Lenin.

The book shows the process of forming Engels ' revolutionary-democratic views, his formation as an ideologist of the proletariat, his interest in military affairs in his youth and during his military service. The author cites a number of interesting and valuable statements by Engels concerning the issues of Marxist understanding of war and the army, in particular Engels ' speeches delivered on February 8 and 15, 1845 in Elberfeld at meetings of sympathizers of communist ideas. In his first speech, he formulated an important point that the idea of defending the real, i.e. socialist, fatherland will give rise to the steadfastness and heroism of its soldiers. A member of the Communist society, says Fr. Engels, "in the event of a war, which, of course, can only be waged against anti-communist nations, ... will fight with enthusiasm, with fortitude, with bravery, before which the mechanical training of the modern army must crumble like straw." 5 Based on the analysis of Engels 'views expressed in his works" The Situation of the Working Class in England", "Principles of Communism", and in his joint works with Marx "Nee-

1 "Memoirs of Marx and Engels", Moscow, 1956, p. 188.

2 K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch. Vol. 33, p. 23.

3 K. Marx and F. Engels, Op. 28, p. 252. Engels was in Manchester at the time.

4 Memoirs of Marx and Engels, p. 87.

5 K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch. Vol. 2, sto. 539.

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Metz Ideology", "Manifesto of the Communist Party" and others, the author characterizes the formation of Engels ' scientific worldview and his contribution to the development of the Marxist doctrine of war and the army and the role of violence in history.

Attention is drawn to the detailed coverage in the monograph of Engels ' military activities in the revolution of 1848-1849, his active participation in the armed uprising in Elberfeld, where he supervised all work on the construction of defensive structures and observation of barricades. The author convincingly shows the significance of Engels 'battle plans for the insurgent army of Baden and the Palatinate and describes in detail how Engels fought in these revolutionary forces. A. I. Babin comes to a well-founded conclusion that Engels' participation in the battles enriched him with " considerable combat experience and played a major role in his further military studies and development Marxist military science" (p. 75). The monograph presents Engels ' analysis of the reasons for the defeat of the armed uprising. "From the experience of the armed struggle for the imperial constitution, Engels," the author notes, "was able to draw valuable lessons and conclusions and use them in developing the basic principles of Marxist military science" (p.82).

A. I. Babin focuses on the problem of the formation and development of Engels ' military-theoretical views after the revolution of 1848-1849. The book emphasizes that for Engels, "the need to study military affairs was primarily caused by the tasks of the proletariat, conditioned by the revolutionary situation of the first half of the nineteenth century, when the working class rose up to fight for its liberation" (p.89). The author notes that Engels was interested in military affairs primarily from the point of view of using military knowledge in the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat (see p. 90). "The study of military affairs," notes A. I. Babin, "was also caused by the role that the army should play in the upcoming revolution" (p. 91). At the same time, as the book rightly says, "the need for a thorough study of military affairs was also caused by the fact that the proletariat must have its own point of view on the armed clash of the ruling classes among themselves" (p.91). It was precisely in order to make it possible for Communists to direct the armed struggle of the proletariat directly, if necessary, that the founders of Marxism saw their task in developing a proletarian military science. All these conclusions are supported and justified by the corresponding statements of Engels.

The book shows that he made an exceptionally great contribution to the development of the Marxist doctrine of war, the army, and military science. The thoroughness of his study of military affairs is evidenced by the fact given by A. I. Babin that "in the second edition of the Works of Karl Marx and F. P. Blavatsky, the author writes: Engels named 250 works by almost 100 authors that were read by Engels. He was familiar with the military history of ancient Greece and Rome" (p.100). Engels read books by contemporary authors on various issues of the theory and history of military construction and the art of war. Engels ' personal acquaintance with the army, armament, and engineering work broadened his military outlook and allowed him to formulate many opinions that are of great methodological significance for modern Marxist military - theoretical and historical thought. A deep study of the theory and history of military affairs enabled Engels "to create in the 70s and 90s a number of fundamental works on the strategy, tactics and methods of conducting armed struggle, the tactics of the proletariat and its party in the impending world war" (p. 112).

The book presents in a systematic form the statements and assessments of Engels expressed in connection with the coverage of the Crimean War of 1853-1856, the national liberation struggle of the peoples of Asia and Africa in the middle of the XIX century, the Austro-Italo-French war of 1859, the American Civil War of 1861-1865, the Franco-Prussian War Engels ' opinions and thoughts are presented in connection with the analysis of the main stages of the development of the armed forces and individual branches of the armed forces, the history of military equipment and the art of war. "In his works, Engels gave a materialistic explanation of all the main problems of war and the army, developed the main provisions of the military science of the proletariat," A. I. Babin emphasizes (p.231). Based on the rich material, the author was able to convincingly show that the works of F. Engels are brilliant

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an example of the creative application of dialectical and historical materialism to the analysis of such phenomena as war and the army, in which he first gives a materialistic explanation of the main problems of military affairs.

In the last part, the author justifies the idea expressed by Lenin that the Bolsheviks acted "according to what Marxism taught us"in solving military questions, 6 describes the issues of Engels' military-theoretical heritage, which were comprehensively developed in Lenin's works, and shows his merits in developing the theoretical foundations and principles for building the Soviet Armed Forces and the Soviet Army. military science, in the creation of the doctrine of the defense of the socialist Fatherland.

Unfortunately, not all questions are fully covered in the book. In particular, the author did not make full use of the articles written by Marx and Engels for the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, which contain a number of very valuable statements about the war, the army, and the revolution. Drawing on this material would help to shed more light on the approach of the founders of scientific communism to solving such issues as arming the people and their struggle against the bourgeoisie, preparing the proletariat for armed struggle and the inadmissibility of premature action, and barricade tactics. It would be desirable to explain in more detail the propositions of Marx and Engels on the forms and methods of the proletariat's conquest of political power, on the struggle against militarism and the outbreak of wars by the exploiting classes, on the development of the art of war, and on the correlation of man and technology in war. The views of Marx and Engels on the history of military equipment and armaments and their revolutionizing influence on the development of military affairs in general need to be studied in more depth. This can be helped by the large number of articles they have written for the New American Encyclopedia. These articles are still rarely addressed by Soviet researchers. Finally, I would like to draw attention to a more complete use of the correspondence between Marx and Engels between themselves and their associates, which contains many valuable theoretical propositions. Through their letters, you can trace the development of their thoughts, their approach to considering certain problems, and their creative laboratory.

6 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 38, p. 138.

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