Russia's Home Front in War and Revolution, 1914–22, Book 2: The Experience of War and Revolution

Description

This book presents original research by an international group of scholars on the social history of Russia across the period of World War I, the 1917 revolutions, and the Civil War. The essays document how the inhabitants of Russia’s multinational empire mobilized in 1914 in response to the myriad demands of what many called the “Second Patriotic War.” They created ambitious new projects as well as adapting existing institutions to meet the military and social needs of total war, and increasingly cited their contributions to support claims for a greater political voice. As the authors demonstrate, the war offered unprecedented opportunities for engagement to groups previously on the margins of civil society, such as women and national minorities. The fall of the tsarist government in early 1917 reinvigorated the movement for social mobilization and renewal, now focused on advancing not only the war effort but also Russia’s new democratic order. The sweeping changes of this period inspired patriotism, hope, and idealism in many on Russia’s home front. But as this collection also shows, the violence, social disruption, and institutional breakdown produced by war and revolution damaged existing social networks and sowed anxiety, disillusionment, and despair. As revolution degenerated into civil war, Russians turned increasingly to devising strategies for survival. The editors of The Experience of War and Revolution hope that these innovative essays will encourage other scholars to study the social impact of total war and revolution, the grassroots mobilization of Russian society during this period, and the methods of adaptation and self-reinvention adopted by ordinary men and women in response to prolonged crisis. The Experience of War and Revolution is the second of four books in the volume Russia’s Home Front in War and Revolution, 1914–22 . All four books constitute volume 3 of the broader centennial series on “Russia’s Great War and Revolution, 1914–22.” Contents From the Series Editors Acknowledgments Introduction Map of the Russian Empire in 1914 Philanthropy and Welfare in Russia, 1914–18 The People’s House in War and Revolution Civil Society in a Confessional State? Muslim Philanthropy in the Volga-Urals Region Fighting “On Our Own Territory”: The Relief, Rescue, and Representation of Jews in Russia during World War I Learned Societies in Russia During World War I: Creating a “Home Front” Associations in Times of Political Turmoil: Science Societies and the Bolshevik Regime, 1917–22 World War I and the Transformation of the Imperial Academy of Sciences The Homeland’s Bountiful Nature Heals Wounded Soldiers: Nation Building and Russian Health Resorts during the First World War Monasticism in War and Revolution From War to Peace: Russian Nurses, 1917–221 Mobilizing Children: Youth and the Patriotic War Culture in Kiev during World War I The Phenomenon of the Liberated Soldier’s Wife Germans in Russia during World War I Transforming Society: Criminologists, Violence, and Family in War and Revolution The Kitchen Gardening Campaign in World War I Russia Alcohol in Russia as a Means of Social Integration, Cultural Communication, and Survival during World War I and the Revolution War, Revolution, and Drugs: The “Democratization” of Drug Abuse and the Evolution of Drug Policy in Russia, 1914–24 Everyday Revolution: The Making of the Soviet Urban Communes Poltava in Revolution and Civil War: From the Diaries of Vladimir Korolenko and Aleksandr Nesvitskii Catastrophe Befell Our House: A Famous Family’s Struggle for Survival in the Russian Civil War The Zenith of Russian Progressivism: The Home Front during World War I and the Revolution Notes on Contributors