The Soviet Union: the defeated victor

REVIEWS 581 war did not have sufficiently deep roots to sustain Russia through the turmoil of revolutions and a civil war that drove wedges deep into Russian society. The Soviet regime largely ignored the direct experience of the First World War, subsuming it into the October Revolution, and failing to construct memorials to the soldiers who had died fighting for Russia. As Stockdale suggests, the new regime used some of the generic qualities identified during the war — love of the motherland and the like — in its own construction of a Soviet identity but the war itself, however, remained as a ghostly presence hidden behind Bolshevik ideas of patriotism and citizenship. School of History Peter Waldron University of East Anglia Motta, Giuseppe. The Great War against Eastern European Jewry, 1914–1920. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2017. 270 pp. Tables. Notes. Bibliography. £61.99. Giuseppe Motta’s book examines the dynamics and consequences of violence inflicted on the Jews of the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires during and after the Great War. Based largely on secondary sources and the documents of the Joint Distribution Committee, it focuses on the pitiful situation of Russian and Polish Jews in wartime and during the revolutionary turmoil, which lasted until the early 1920s. Throughout this turbulent period, Jewish communities were targeted by the belligerent armies and insurgent bands, in part due to traditional religious and socio-economic antagonisms, but also on account of an alleged worldwide ‘Judeo-communist’ conspiracy. As a result, robberies, expulsions and pogroms claimed thousands of victims, turning tens of thousands of Jews into refugees and unwanted migrants. The book’s strengths lie in its rich historiographic foundation and abundance in factual details. Well-written and free of academic jargon, it should inspire interest not only amongst scholars, but also general readers. The author methodically describes the evolution of anti-Jewish prejudices from the nineteenth century to the deportations by the Russian army in World War One, when the existing negative stereotypes of Jews were reinforced by a ‘spyfever ’, which permeated all war-zones. Motta also shows that in the wake of the state-collapse in Russia and Austro-Hungary in 1917–18, anti-Jewish violence became much more widespread and extreme, often acquiring the form of punitive expeditions (p. 81). Nor did the end of the Russian civil wars bring relief to the beleaguered Jews, as various insurgencies continued to claim their victims (p. 167). SEER, 96, 3, JULY 2018 582 The situation of Russian and Ukrainian Jews in 1914–20 has been wellcharted , but the book’s most original elements are its detailed descriptions of the activities of the American Joint Distribution Committee and the Russian Jewish Aid Society to the Victims of War (EVOPO), which attempted to alleviate the plight of Jews by sending funds and acting through diplomatic channels (pp. 41, 57), and the travails of Jewish refugees in the Far East. TheGreatWarconstitutesagoodoverviewofoneofthemosttragicperiodsin Jewish history, but its main flaw is its lack of any sort of conceptual framework (possibly because its main target is a general audience). Consequently, all the chapterstelltheirownparticularstory,whichcompelsthereadertosurmisethe correlations between them and the author’s principal objectives. Accordingly, without some form of analytical apparatus, the book’s title appears misleading, for its geographic scope in fact covers the Pale of Settlement within the Russian Empire and Galicia and Bukovina within Austro-Hungary. The reader is thus left to guess, while other important territories of East European Jewry such as Hungary, Romania or western Poland are not covered. Also, since World War One witnessed the large-scale persecution of non-Jewish ethno-cultural or national groups — such as the Germans in Russia, the Rusyns in AustroHungary and the Armenians in Turkey — the book would have benefited from placing the plight of Jews in a broader historical context, briefly highlighting the commonalities and differences of these cases. Numerous inconsistencies in name-and-locality spelling demonstrate the difficulties of dealing with regions with frequently changing borders. The author disregards any convention (perhaps an explanation or a chart of alternative names would have been helpful), using Polish, Russian, English and Ukrainian spellings randomly — for example, Chernihiv in Ukrainian, but Ekaterinoslav in Russian, although both places are located...

The First World War was the first war in which millions of people were taken prisoner by both sides. However, little has been written about the railways as part of the everyday lives of prisoners of war. This paper presents a socio-cultural analysis of the role of railways in the lives and activities of prisoners of war during the Great War in the Russian Empire, focusing on the Trans-Siberian Railway. After being captured by Russian troops on the Eastern Front, Austro-Hungarian officers and soldiers were transported to assembly camps in the rear to be distributed according to their nationality to other camps throughout Russia. Most of the Austrians and Hungarians were transported to Siberia and the Far East, while their fellow countrymen of Slavic origin remained in the central provinces of Russia. As a result, the citizens of the Danube Monarchy had different experiences of imprisonment and transport.

Imperial Russia’s Civil Society, 1750–1917 Mary Schaeffer Conroy A. S. Tumanova, Obshchestvennye organizatsii Rossii v gody Pervoi mirovoi voiny (1914–fevraĺ 1917 g.). ( Public/Civic Organizations in Russia during World War I [1914–February 1917]). 327 pp., illus. Moscow: R osspen, 2014. ISBN-13 978-5824319002. A. S. Tumanova, ed., Samoorganizatsiia rossiiskoi obshchestvennosti v poslednei treti XVIII–nachale XX v. ( Self-Organization of the Russian Public from the Last Third of the 18th Century to the Beginning of the 20th Century). 883 pp. Moscow: Rosspen, 2011. ISBN-13 978-5824315288. The two works under review—a compilation describing self-organization of society in imperial Russia from the 18th century through the beginning of the 20th century, which Anastasiia Tumanova has edited and to which she contributes four chapters, and Tumanova’s monograph on Russian society during World War I—determine the strength and liveliness of civil society in imperial Russia. These works leave no doubt that the still influential view of pre-Soviet Russia as an agrarian backwater, whose populace was devoid of initiative and cowed by a capricious, authoritarian government, and the correlative theory that political repression precipitated the revolutions of 1917 must both be relegated to the dustbin. The publications under review document that the Russian government was paternalistic, intrusive, and often moved at a glacial pace. Still, sometimes the government moved with lightning speed, implementing the Great Reforms in the 1860s and 1870s and establishing the State Duma, the reformed State Council, and a modicum of civil rights in 1905–6. Moreover, and this is important, the imperial Russian government did allow Russian citizens space in which to manage their own affairs. Tumanova’s two works, under review here, emphasize that Russian citizens had plenty of capacity for self-organization. The 1991 American compilation [End Page 193] Between Tsar and People: Educated Society and the Quest for Public Identity in Late Imperial Russiaprovided introductory information on diverse voluntary and civic groups. 1Tumanova’s edited volume and her monograph are more detailed and, additionally, focus on the laws and legal aspects of establishing civic societies and maintaining them in imperial Russia. The compilation is an encyclopedic tome, synthesizing secondary sources and newly available archival evidence. Its 14 packed chapters analyze a myriad of voluntary societies and contain more than 20 pages listing voluntary societies. V. Ia. Grosul’s chapter 1, Tumanova’s chapter 2, and I. S. Rozental´’s chapter 6 recount that educated wealthy nobles, following familiarity with organizations in Western Europe, began to organize themselves into clubs in the 18th and early 19th centuries. These chapters and Tumanova’s chapters 3 and 4 (proffering precise statistics), as well as her chapter 7, co-authored with Rozental´, affirm that even though in Russia, as in Germany and Austria, societies had to be approved by the government, from the mid-19th-century clubs and societies of all kinds—philanthropic, literary and artistic, educational, leisure, nature, sports-related, devoted to gambling and to politics—proliferated astronomically among merchants and broad swaths of the rest of the population, including religious organizations and members of the imperial family. Tumanova’s forte is legal analysis, and she reviews in detail how legislation affected the organization of societies and clubs (193–216). In particular, she emphasizes that the Temporary Regulation on Societies, issued by the tsar in March 1906, speeded up this process (209–16). The volume also vividly illustrates peasant involvement in voluntary societies. The Russian Empire was predominantly agrarian, and more than 80 percent of the population was listed under the rubric of “peasant.” However, the peasantry was very diverse and not inert. Although, until 1861, half the peasants were serfs, nonpersons who had no right to own property or sue in a court of law, peasants did so anyway. As early as the 1960s, Jerome Blum detailed that both serfs and so-called state peasants established businesses—some small but others large—which indicated initiative and gave considerable autonomy. 2Ben Eklof documented that some peasant communes hired teachers in the 19th century. 3Charles A. Ruud illustrated peasant social [End Page 194]mobility in his biography of Ivan Sytin, illiterate peasant turned publishing magnate. 4...

The article analyzes the image of Germany, which was formed by the journalists of the domestic daily newspaper “Russian invalid” in 1914–1915, when the Russian Empire was in active military confrontation with the states of the Triple (later Quadruple) Alliance in the European Theater of Operations, and Germany was its main and most dangerous enemy on the Eastern Front. Correspondents of the “Russian Invalid”, the official printed organ of the Russian Military Ministry, in the first years of the First World War (1914–1915) on the pages of their newspaper paid special attention to the Hohenzollern Empire, its army, socio-economic and political development, direct participation German armed forces in the fighting of the Great War. The main part of the information about Germany by the authors of the publication we studied was placed in the headings “From Foreign Life”, “Public Life”, “Naval Department”, “Military Chronicle”, “Telegram” and “Articles”. At the end of the study, it was concluded that the German Empire on the pages of “Russian Invalid” appeared as the economic and military-political locomotive of the Triple (later Quadruple) Alliance, which made enormous efforts to implement the redistribution of spheres of influence in the then world and potential redistribution in its own benefit of colonial possessions.

Among the major diseases of interest to the Rockefeller Foundation in the 1920s and 1930s was typhus. The Foundation's anti-typhus focus was sharpened at the end of the 1930s by the expectation of another European war: its public health staff anticipated that enormous numbers of refugees and the repetition of World War I’s trench warfare would lead to typhus epidemics. The Foundation increased its investment in Rickettsia research, decided to test existing anti-typhus vaccines, and studied the insect transmission of typhus. An outbreak of typhus in Spain right after the Spanish Civil War caught the interest of the Foundation as an opportunity to both study the vaccines and to study the transmission of the disease. The Foundation sent a young researcher there to study the disease and also shipped several guinea pigs to Spain to be infected with the typhus-carrying lice. American newspapers covered the story of the transport of the Guinea pigs via Pan-American’s flights to Lisbon (and delivery to Spain), and their return to the United States to study the strain of typhus that was rampant in Spain. The work in Spain gave the foundation clear evidence that the existing anti-typhus vaccines were not very effective and provided impetus for the Foundation’s future focus on insecticidal approaches to typhus control. It was an important step toward the Foundation’s collaboration with the United States’ military’s plans for the invasion of North Africa and led directly into the Foundation’s later acceptance of DDT as an effective anti-typhus strategy. Ultimately the Foundation turned its experience with DDT into a global attack on malaria – one of the most important stories in 20th century tropical medicine.

Russia’s first experience of chemical warfare occurred during the First World War. Although the first use of chemical weapons on the Eastern Front was long thought to have taken place in April/May 1915, in actual fact, the first time the Russians experienced a chemical agent in action was earlier than that, in January 1915 at Bolimow. Using a variety of Russian, English, and translated German material, the article analyzes the use and effect of gas on operations in the Eastern Front throughout 1915–1917. Given the newness of the weapon, its impact was less considerable than it could have been and its effectiveness hampered less by technological counter-measures and more by a lack of serious thought given to its potential operational impact.

The paper summarizes the crucial concerns of the author's two major book contributions (see note above) to peace research and peace policy. On the basis of some hypotheses about militarism as a means of societal rule, the economic role of arma ment-expenditures, particularly in the Federal Re public, are described. It is shown that, since the middle of the 1950s, there has existed an intensive interest on the part of industry for high domestic armament orders of the government. The principles of disarmament economics are discussed; and the absence of any governmental effort in this direction as well as the general aver sion of the economic power elite against effective economic alternatives (welfare planning etc.) to a militarization of (parts of) the economy are noted. Principles for a socially oriented peace policy in Western Europe are then formulated. These are based on the ideas of strong intensification of socio-economic and socio-cultural exchange (learn ing processes) between Western and Eastern Europe and a growing cooperation of the progressive social forces in Western Europe.

Standing squarely in the middle of the Soviet Union's timeline is the Great Patriotic War, the Russian name for the eastern front of the Second World War. During the nineteenth century international trade, lending and migration developed without much restriction. The Soviet Union was an active partner in the process that led to the opening of the 'eastern front' on 22 June 1941. Soviet war preparations began in the 1920s, long before Adolf Hitler's accession to power, at a time when France and Poland were seen as more likely antagonists. In June 1941 Hitler ordered his generals to destroy the Red Army and secure most of the Soviet territory in Europe. The main features of the Soviet system of government on the outbreak of war were Joseph Stalin's personal dictatorship, a centralised bureaucracy with overlapping party and state apparatuses, and a secret police with extensive powers to intervene in political, economic and military affairs.

У статті розкривається сутність основного закону війни. Показано, що основний закон війни визначає залежність ходу і результату війни від політичних цілей і від співвідношення сил воюючих сторін. Використовуючи сучасні підходи у військовій методології основний закон війни розглянуто як модель, адекватну реальному ходу війни, що охоплює широкий спектр чинників обстановки і не втрачає при цьому своєї конструктивності. Такий підхід дозволяє осмислити основний закон війни у контексті нових форм ведення війни у сучасних умовах.

The purpose of the study – generalization of world experience in the invention of incendiary weapons during World War I, the analysis of tactics for its employment in defensive and offensive operations. The methodology was based on the general scientific principles of historicism, objectivity, systemics, determinism and the dialectical unity of the historical and the logical methods. They are implemented through the application of general scientific methods of a scientific research: generalization, analysis and synthesis, logical, chronological, periodization, as well as specific methods of historical research, in particular: historical and genetic, historical and comparative ones. The combination of these methods of a scientific research in a comprehensive analysis of sources and literature has triggered achievement of the designated objective. The Scientific Novelty. On account of a significant source base and modern methodological approaches, the world experience due to the invention of the incendiary weapons during World War I has been generalized and systematized. The tendencies which emerged in the course of evolution of diverse incendiary weapons, in particular land, aviation and sea types have been revealed. The data related to the place of the incendiary weapons among other types of weapons, their tactical and technical specifications and methods of employment in defensive and offensive operations, including Ukraine, have been clarified and supplemented. The Conclusions. During World War I, under the influence of science and the conditions of war, new promising incendiaries (jet flamethrowers based on land and sea, incendiary air bombs, shells, hand grenades, subversive incendiary devices, etc.), as well as incendiary substances and mixtures were rapidly to be created. Under modern conditions their unique combat properties have not lost their significance. Under conditions of a maneuverable and “trench warfare” flamethrowers, as auxiliary weapons of close combat, proved efficiency against tanks and various defensive structures, which the infantry could not destroy or suppress with artillery, machine gun or rifle fire. They turned out to be efficient under specific circumstances, in particular during the offensive or defensive combat in the urban area, especially in producing powerful fires and smoke screens. In addition to the destruction and fires caused, the incendiary weapons crucially impacted on the morale of troops and civilians, causing panic and fear.The experience gained by mankind in development of the incendiary weapons and their use during World War I has not only scientific but also practical significance from the perspective of enhancing the combat capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Its consideration will contribute to the further development of incendiary means, as well as tactics for employment in diverse combat environment. Key words: World War I, incendiary weapons, flamethrower, incendiary substance, flame tank, incendiary bombs, incendiary means for subversive activities

The tragic slaughter of the trenches is imprinted on modern memory; but it is more difficult to grasp the wider extent and significance of the First World War. This book gives a clear chronological account of the campaigns on the Western and Eastern Fronts and then moves on to investigate areas that many studies ignore - the war poets, the diplomacy of war aims and peace moves, logistics, and ‘the experience of the war’. It was soon seen that `war has nothing to do with chivalry any more’, but it was harder to say what the First World War was fought for, or what the combatants gained. Professor Robbins approaches this problem from two angles: he analyses the complex political and diplomatic background to the alliances between the Great Powers; he also explores the mood of Europe between 1914 and 1918 by examining the experience of war from the different standpoints of the nations and individuals caught up in it.

While the main theatres of the First World War were the western and eastern fronts, the war involved a great deal of fighting in peripheral theatres. These included Italy (see Maps 20 and 38), Salonika (see Map 22), Gallipoli (see Map 17), the Caucasus (see Map 16), Africa, the Far East (see Map 12), Palestine (see Map 35) and Mesopotamia (see Map 16). On the high seas, the German threat was largely eradicated by early 1915, but German commerce raiders continued to attack shipping throughout the war (see Map 9). There were also low-level conflicts in the Western Desert of Egypt (the Senussi), in South Africa (the Maritz revolt), in Nyasaland (Malawi) (John Chilembwe’s revolt), in the Hedjaz with the Hashemite Arab revolt against the Turks (see Map 34), in the Yemen with Turkish forces facing British-controlled Aden, and in Russia when Allied forces intervened towards the end of the war (see Map 49). These all suggest that the First World War was a ‘world’ war and not just another European civil war.KeywordsWestern DesertPeace TalkEntente PowerAlly ForceWestern FrontThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Between Sovereignty and Integration. Edited by Ghita Iosescu.The Death of Communal Liberty: A History of Freedom in a Swiss Mountain Canton. By Benjamin R. Barber.The Security Council. A Study in Adolescence. By Richard Hiscocks.The Rise and Fall of the League of Nations. By George Scott.Lessons From America. Edited by Richard Rose.Privacy. Edited by Mervyn Jones.Total War. Causes and Courses of the Second World War. By Peter Calvocoressi and Guy Wint.The Politics of the European Community. By Roy Pryce.Bidwell's Guide to Government Ministers. Vol. I, The Major Powers and Western Europe, 1900–1971; Vol. II, The Arab World, 1900–1972; Vol. III, The British Empire and Successor States, 1900–1972. Compiled and edited by Robin Bidwell.Britain and Her Army, 1509–1970. A Military, Political and Social Survey. By Corelli Barnet.Social Democracy in Post War Europe. By William E. Paterson and Ian Campbell.The SPD and European Integration. By William E. Paterson.Beyond Contract: Work, Power and Trust Relations. By Alan Fox.The Conservative Leadership 1832–1932. Edited by Donald Southgate.The Political Impact of Mass Media. By Colin Seymour‐Ure.

Some of you chaps who had a rough time during the war may consider that because we were footballers we had a much better time. So we did, and I should be the last man to deny it.Ron Burgess, Football – My Life (London: Souvenir Press, 1952), p. 62

The history of Polish-Russian relations was marked by rivalry, conquest and power play. Generally, Russia’s policy towards Poland revolved on Tsarist expansionism, Soviet security concerns, advancement of socialism; while that of Poland towards Russia centered on the dream of revival of an old empire or Polish supremacy among the Slavic nations. The author investigates primarily the inter-war period, because it precipitated Poland’s re-emergence as independent state in the 20th century, her downfall 20 years later and subordination to the USSR. The Polish-Soviet interwar relations include the following important issues: a) Background - Polish-Lithuanian Empire/ Rise of Muscovy - The Partitions of Poland / Tsarist Empire - WWI aftermath/ 1920 Polish-Soviet War b) Independent Poland / Communist Soviet Union - Poland foreign policy - Soviet diplomacy and Soviet-German collaboration c) WWII - Eastern Poland under Soviet occupation - Western, Polish, Soviet diplomatic overture - Polish communists and war development - Towards a Soviet Satellite The thesis presents in detail the Polish-Soviet relations on the eve, during and the aftermath of WWII, analyzing the circumstances and revealing the motives of the diplomatic moves of both countries and to a certain extent the position of Poland’s Western allies. The mechanism of Soviet hegemony’s encroachments on Poland is also given due attention.