History can involve studying one people, culture, or country in particular, but it also often involves general overviews of broad trends. Students of history may be required to conduct research in a specific topic.

Russia or, also officially known as the Russian Federation, is a country in northern Eurasia. Education in Russia is provided predominantly by the state and is regulated by the Ministry of Education and Science. In Russia, it takes about 70 % of training time for the contact lessons with a teacher, the rest 30 % of the workload are devoted to the independent study of the material.

The PhD is a doctoral degree, specifically called a "doctor of philosophy" degree. This is misleading because PhD holders are not necessarily philosophers (unless they earned their degree in philosophy!). That said, PhD recipients are able to engage in thought experiments, reason about problems, and solve problems in sophisticated ways.