Vol 18, No 1 (2019): THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE VERSAILLES PEACE. THE GREAT WAR’S ECHO IN RUSSIA

The author analyses Russian military reforms of the late 19th and early 20thcenturies and their influence on the efficiency of the army and the behavior of the lower ranks in military action. Strategic failures of the national army in the early twentieth century are explained by the fact that even in the modernized armed forces military service was not the same for all groups of citizens. These aspects of the Russian experience are compared to military reforms among the Great War’s other belligerents. The notion of the military as ‘the armed nation’ came in two variants. In Great Britain, the 1916 law on universal conscription and the effective mobilization of the civilian population became possible due to the high levels of public support for the political system, the proclaimed values of their country, and a national-civil identity. The German model, by contrast, was built on the foundation not of political integration but of the nation’s identification with its army. Russia chose this model but was unable consistently to implement it, primarily because of the extremely low literacy rate among the lower social classes. The low quality of recruits made it necessary to maintain long periods of service for most of the lower ranks. This resulted in a lack of loyalty on the side of the conscripts, and in a negative attitude not only towards military service but also towards the state that established the heavy standards of military duty. The feeling of social injustice was reinforced by the spartan regime that lower class soldiers encountered, while well-educated conscripts - as a rule, from the upper strata of Russian society - were treated better. This discontent increased during the unsuccessful war, further alienating the mass of the conscripts from autocracy and its army.

This article examines the economic cooperation between representatives of the Czechoslovak Republic and the governments in the Urals during the Russian Civil War to restore production, supply industrial enterprises, and solve social problems. This relationship began in summer 1918 with to the establishment of the Technical Department of the Czech troops in the region. The Russian-Czechoslovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Ural region operated in Yekaterinburg from January to July 1919. The article’s research is based on a wide range of previously unpublished holdings in the Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic (thereafter - AMZV ČR). These documents are particularly important given the paucity of relevant sources in Russia. The author demonstrates that this bilateral cooperation, resolved many issues, including the establishment of governing bodies. Geographically, the Chamber’s area of responsibility in the Urals included Perm, Vyatka, Ufa, and Orenburg provinces and the Turgay region. The Chamber had its own branches and appointed correspondents almost everywhere. At the same time, it gradually increased the number of participants and expanded its practical activities, thus actively helping to restore industry in the Urals. The author concludes that the Russian-Czechoslovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry laid the foundation for future cooperation between Czechoslovakia and liberated Russia. Even the Czechoslovaks’ subsequent rejection of military support to the government of Admiral A.V. Kolchak did not halt economic cooperation, which both Russian industrialists and the Czechoslovak representatives supported.

This article is devoted to the life, political views and activities of Le Figaro correspondent René Marchand (1888-1962). Marchand became widely known in Soviet Russia thanks to his open letter to French President Raymond Poincaré in 1918, which criticized the republic’s policy vis-à-vis Moscow as well as acts of sabotage by the Allies. The missive became an important episode in the confrontation between the Entente’s special services and the young Bolshevik regime. French and Russian historians tend to argue that the French journalist’s sympathies turned to socialism and Bolshevism in 1918. However, they generally pay little attention the French Left in Soviet Russia. Based on research in French diplomatic and military archives at Courneuve and Vincennes, respectively, the author concludes that René Marchand was a multi-faceted individual and the nature of his sympathies to the Bolsheviks remains questionable

Abstact: This article studies the fate of World War I veterans in the Russian diaspora. The author discusses the settlement of former combatants, assistance by émigré organisations, and historical memory. Her research relies on a broad source base, including archival and published documents, as well as émigré periodicals. The article demonstrates that the former combatants were scattered in various countries and included prisoners of war, officials of the Russian Expeditionary Corps, as well as the members of the White movement. She concludes that, in contrast to Soviet Russia, the Russian diaspora sought to commemorate the “bearers of Russian honour” and perpetuate the memory of their exploits with memorials to those died in foreign lands.