From Chernigov to Smolensk. Military history of the southwestern Russian borderlands from ancient times to the 17th century

In the work of Professor E. A. Shinakova from Bryansk State University named after Academician I. G. Petrovsky, Doctor of Historical Sciences, the history of armament and military culture in one of the most "restless" regions of Russia is considered based on the analysis of a wide range of archaeological and written sources. This region has always been at the frontier of various ethno-cultural and state areas and still remains at the intersection of three countries.

The Russian part of this large historical region is currently occupied by Bryansk and partially by Smolensk and Kaluga regions, the Ukrainian part by Chernigov and Sumy, and the Belarusian part by Gomel and Mogilev regions. The peculiar axis of this region from Smolensk to Chernigov is the Desna River with its tributaries, which is why it is called "Podosenye".

The chronological framework of the work spans from antiquity, the moment of the emergence of weapons and military conflicts, to the moment when Podosenye practically ceased to be a restless military borderland.