The Great War of 1914–1918 in the Memoirs of Ordinary Participants and Eyewitnesses: the Ukrainian Context
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/uhj2021.06.135Keywords:
World War I, ego-documents, diary, memoirs, reminiscence, everyday life on the front, war’s perceptionAbstract
The purpose of the publication is to draw attention to the problem of the value of private written documents of the World War I, emphasize the importance of ego-sources in scientific circulation, show their uniqueness and significance for understanding the events of 1914–1918 in Ukraine.
Methods of heuristics, source research, selection and synthesis of information, structural-functional and content analysis, determination of historical and scientific value of ego-documents were used to identify and study such sources. The methodology is based on the principles of historicism, objectivity, systematics, as well as the principles of the history of mentality.
Scientific novelty. Information about ego documents, including memoirs and diaries, is presented as part of the source base for the study of the World War I; the necessity and importance of elaborating the material on a micro-historical level, from the point of view of “everyday history” and anthropological approach, where the object is not “depopulated” social structures, but specific participants in historical events. The key thematic blocks that appear in the memoirs are identified and characterized: the perception of war, the attitude of officers to soldiers, their relationships, life and nutrition of soldiers, conflicts and ways to resolve them, issues of desertion, self-harm and more.
The main results. Narrative documents of the Great War period of 1914–1918 are multifaceted and important historical sources, which record not only the chronology of events, but also, above all, clearly present the individual, subjective attitude of representatives of different segments of the population. The importance of ego-documents is to reflect in them the unique psychological moments, views, reactions of certain people to contemporary events, their perception and understanding of the historical moment. Among such documents is a layer of memoirs, the authors of which are ordinary people – peasants, soldiers, nurses, teachers and others – that is, those who perceived the war “from below”. This is what helps to feel the depth of the human tragedy brought about by the first global armed confrontation, allows us to expand the boundaries of the study of the role of the human factor in history, social psychology and mass consciousness.
References
Astashov, A. B. (2014). Russkii front v 1914 – nachale 1917 goda: voennyi opyt i sovremennost. Moscow: Novyi khronograf. [in Russian].
Chop, V. (2005). Selianski rukopysy Pivdennoi Ukrainy yak istorychne dzherelo. A.Boiko, S.Plokhii (Comps.). Memuary ta shchodennyky. Chastyna 1: Dzherela z istorii Pivdennoi Ukrainy, 5, 1, 47–73. Zaporizhzhia: Tandem-U. [in Ukrainian].
Dekker, R. (2002). Jacques Presser’s Heritage: Egodocuments in the Study of History. Memoria y Civilizaciόn (MyC), 5, 13–37.
Fass, P. S. (2006). The memoir problem. Reviews in American history, 34 (1), 107–123. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.1353/rah.2006.0004
Howell, M. C., Prevenier, W. (2001). From reliable sources: an introduction to historical methods. Cornell University Press.
Kisarchuk, Z. H. (Ed.). (2015). Psykholohichna dopomoha postrazhdalym vnaslidok kryzovykh travmatychnykh podii: metodychnyi posibnyk. Kyiv: Logos. [in Ukrainian].
Koliastruk, O. A. (2008). Dokumenty osobovoho pokhodzhennia yak dzherela z istorii povsiakdennosti. Ukrainskyi istorychnyi zhurnal, 2, 145–153. [in Ukrainian].
Liubovets, N. I. (2009). Memuary (spohady) yak dzherelo biohrafichnykh doslidzhen. Naukovi praci Natsionalnoi biblioteky Ukrainy imeni V. I. Vernadskoho, 24, 277–291. [in Ukrainian].
Liubovets, N. I. (2010). Vyvchennia memuariv yak istorychnoho ta biohrafichnoho dzherela: do istoriohrafii problemy. Ukrainska biohrafistyka, 7, 66–104. [in Ukrainian].
Malkina-Pykh, I. G. (2005). Psikhologicheskaia pomoshch v krizisnykh situatciiakh. Moskva: Eksmo. [in Russian].
Milchev, V. (2005). Memuary ta shchodennyky selian Pivdennoi Ukrainy v arkheohrafichnomu vymiri. A. Boiko, S. Plokhii (Comps.). Memuary ta shchodennyky. Chastyna 1: Dzherela z istorii Pivdennoi Ukrainy, 5, 1, 74–96. Zaporizhzhia: Tandem-U. [in Ukrainian].
Plokhii, S. (2005). Selianska klio: istorychna pamiat ta natsionalna identychnist v radianskii Ukraini. A. Boiko, S. Plokhii (Comps.). Memuary ta shchodennyky. Chastyna 1: Dzherela z istorii Pivdennoi Ukrainy, 5, 1, 12–32. Zaporizhzhia: Tandem-U. [in Ukrainian].
Reient, O. P. (Ed.). (2015). Velyka viina 1914–1918 rr. i Ukraina, 2: Movoiu dokumentiv i svidchen. Kyiv: Klio. [in Ukrainian].
Santsevych, A. V. (1981). Dzhereloznavstvo z istorii Ukrainskoi RSR, 1917–1941. Kyiv: Nauk. dumka. [in Ukrainian].
Seniavskaia, E. S. (1999). Psikhologiia voiny v XX v.: Istoricheskii opyt Rossii. Moskva: ROSSPEN. [in Russian].
Skakalska, I. (2016). Persha svitova viina: istorychna pamiat (iz spohadiv henerala, soldata, sviashchenyka). H. Bondarenko, A. Syliuk, P. Khomych (Comps.). Mynule i suchasne Volyni ta Polissia: Persha svitova viina na Volyni ta Volynskomu Polissi, 58: Materialy 58 Mizhnar. nauk. konf., prysviachenoi 100-richchiu podii Pershoi svitovoi viiny na Volyni, smt Manevychi, 5–6 lypnia 2016 r., 44–47. Lutsk. [in Ukrainian].
Tartakovskii, A. G. (1980). 1812 god i russkaia memuaristika: Opyt istochnikovedcheskogo izucheniia. Moskva: Nauka. [in Russian].
Toroptseva, A. (2015). Ukrainske pytannia v yevropeiskykh memuarakh chasiv Pershoi svitovoi viiny. Spetsialni istorychni dystsypliny: pytannia teorii ta metodyky, 26/27, 305–312. [in Ukrainian].
Toroptseva, A. (2015). Viiskovo-politychna istoriia Ukrainy u memuarakh inozemnykh avtoriv (1914–1918 rr.). Visnyk Luhanskoho natsionalnoho universytetu im. Tarasa Shevchenka: Istorychni nauky, 4 (293), 85–92. [in Ukrainian].
Toroptseva, A. (2018). Problema psykholohizmu ta subiektyvnosti eho-dokumentiv yak dzherel z istorii u pohliadakh zarubizhnykh naukovtsiv. Naukovyi visnyk Mykolaivskoho natsionalnoho universytetu im. V.O.Sukhomlynskoho: Istorychni nauky, 2, 91–95. [in Ukrainian].
Turchenko, H. F. (2014). Sotsialno-ekonomichni protsesy v pivdenno-ukrainskomu rehioni. O. P. Reient (Ed.). Velyka viina 1914–1918 rr. i Ukraina, 1: Istorychni narysy, 408–433. Kyiv: Klio. [in Ukrainian].
Wallach, J. J. (2004). Remembering Jim Crow: The literary memoir as historical source material (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Massachusetts: Amherst.
Wallach, J. J. (2006). Building a bridge of words: the literary autobiography as historical source material. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 29 (3), 446–461. doi: https://doi.org/10.1353/bio.2006.0063
Zvarych, M. (2011). Rodynni spohady. (T. M. Zvarych, A. M. Korchak, Comps.). Brody. [in Ukrainian].
Zvarych, T., Korchak, A. (2016). Persha svitova viina na Bridshchyni u spohadakh ochevydtsia Mykhaila Zvarycha. H. Bondarenko, A. Syliuk, P. Khomych (Comps.). Mynule i suchasne Volyni ta Polissia: Persha svitova viina na Volyni ta Volynskomu Polissi, 58: Materialy 58 Mizhnar. nauk. konf., prysviachenoi 100-richchiu podii Pershoi svitovoi viiny na Volyni, smt Manevychi, 5–6 lypnia 2016 r., 14–17). Lutsk. [in Ukrainian].
