"War of Patriotisms": Review of Vladislav Aksenov's Monograph

Though the main events described by Aksenov concern the period 1912-17, overlapping with key anniversaries for state ideology (the 100th anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812 and the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov), the author also goes beyond the scope of the study and touches on the origin of the main forms of patriotism in the 19th century.

An undoubted achievement of Aksenov's study is the "overthrow" of many established myths in the historiography associated with the so-called "general patriotic mobilization" of 1914. Unlike many historians of recent decades, Aksenov, relying on facts, argues that a large part of the peasant population lacked an understanding of the goals of the war (anecdotally, in a number of cases villagers did not understand whether "Pskov was with us or not"), responding to the mobilization by desertion (up to 30% of those taken to the front deserted along the way) or buying, for very considerable amounts of money, a "white [military ID] card." Aksenov records such facts – and this also strikingly distinguishes the work – not at the end of the war or at the turn of 1916-17, but as early as the summer of 1914.

Aksenov revisits many of the myths created by tsarist propaganda during World War I. One of them is the feat of Kozma Kryuchkov, who by chance became the face of Russian propaganda after receiving an award from General Pavel Rennenkampf. It is also worth citing the example of one of the most famous volunteers during World War I, Maria Bochkareva, whose desire to join the fighting army was held up by propaganda, while her true motives for escaping her past – a rather controversial and ambiguous pre-war biography that included prostitution and crime – were kept quiet.

Aksenov also masterfully demonstrates the rejection by many of the militant anti-German propaganda. Though some examples of disappointment in the anti-German actions of the authorities are quite well covered in the historiography, like the case of Zinaida Gippius, some other aspects associated, for example, with the renaming of St Petersburg and the Petersburg Side are less known. Aksenov not only examines well-known anti-German events, such as the destruction of the German embassy and people's refusal to speak German in everyday life, but also delves into the issues in more detail.

Many of the events described in the book have direct parallels with today, although the author does not say so explicitly. We shall discuss three of the most striking aspects: the atrocities of the Russian army during World War I and the reaction to them in the rear; anti-German propaganda and the transformation of attitudes toward it; and the "epidemic" of denunciations.

As for the issue of anti-German propaganda, here too Aksenov goes beyond the previously widely discussed issues in the scientific literature related to the perception of lubok literature by the peasant population. The author's focus is on the techniques, including the bribery of wounded soldiers, used by zealous propagandists to obtain the most odious evidence of atrocities committed by the Germans and their allies.

Importantly, the author provides examples proving that not just the peasant population and ordinary subjects were subjected to propaganda and spy mania, but also the cream of intellectual society in the two capitals (the poet Mikhail Kuzmin is given as an example).

The issue of denunciation is studied in detail by Aksenov as well. Note that he draws a line between denunciations out of an excessive sense of patriotism and those whose purpose is to gain personal benefits or settle scores. A good assessment of denunciations and their impact on society is also given (sometimes the law enforcement agencies could not cope with the big influx of defamatory information and would not take many denunciations into account).

Aksenov also touches upon the issue of a certain desacralization during World War I of many institutions and symbols that had previously embodied honest service to the interests of the state. The most notable examples include the Orthodox Church. A decline in spirituality has previously been considered by historians, but Aksenov manages to prove that the personal behavior of each individual priest was of great importance, while clergy who were not afraid of battle, but could lead soldiers and admonish the wounded were in the minority or were practically not recorded in the memory of soldiers, including high-ranking ones. The author also presents differing attitudes toward nurses during the war, calling attention to the fact that among them there were former prostitutes who used the war for their own interests. Meanwhile, some soldiers who came from rural areas would perceive the nurses decorated by the tsar as his mistresses.

Aksenov details the various patriotic mobilizations at the beginning of the war, the demonstration of various incentives in the emperor's manifesto in 1914 and the diametric understanding on the part of opposition-minded politicians, zemstvo leaders and the government itself of what unification to solve national, patriotic problems meant.

Among the shortcomings of the work, in our view, is the chapter related to the transformation of patriotism in 1917. This topic has already been well covered by other researchers, and Aksenov brings forward no new facts or evidence; moreover, his analysis looks insufficient and limited. An exception is the phenomenon identified by Aksenov of the replacement of Germanophobia by Francophobia among many subjects, as well as the change in attitudes toward the allies and the collapse of the idea of Pan-Slavism with the general public.

Unfortunately, Aksenov does not draw parallels with the events of World War II and the periods that followed the collapse of the USSR. However, reading between the lines will help to understand many current events and apply prescriptions to address them.