Buldakov  V.P.

FORGOTTEN REALITIES OF THE FIRST WORLD: FRONT COMMON

Authors

Buldakov V.P.

Keywords:

World War I, Russian front, soldiers, officers, everyday life, diseases, self-mutilation, mental deviations

Abstract

The author shows that the trench’s life of Russian soldiers was far from newspaper descriptions. Patriotic sentiment was steadily on the wane. The relationship between officers and soldiers remained alienated. The soldiers periodically lacked food and uniforms and suffered from illnesses. Demoralization progressed both among soldiers and officers. In general, fron-tline reality produced the most diverse forms of evasion by soldiers from the performance of military duty. Looting and robbery intensified, various types of desertion and self-mutilation spread. Modern law has turned out to be powerless in the face of war-related deviations, which so thoroughly marked the behavior of traditional minded persons. In the soldiers’ letters pacifist sentiments and an antiwar theme intensified.

FORGOTTEN REALITIES OF THE FIRST WORLD: FRONT COMMON