Historiography of the problem related to the legal and material situation of war prisoners during the First World War

DOI: 10.47026/2712-9454-2023-4-4-113-125

УДК 625.1(094)(470)«1914/1918»

ББК Т3(2)-534-68-234(28-8)

Semen N. BLINJAEV

Key words

Soviet and Russian historiography, war prisoners, the First World War, the problems of captivity, domestic researchers in the regions, foreign historiography, legal and material status of war prisoners

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the 105^th anniversary of the end of the First World War, which causes, along with the special military operation being conducted in the Ukraine and the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, close attention of the world community to the problems of war captivity. Colossal geopolitical changes in the international arena are forcing the world community to look more seriously and from a different angle at the aspects of this complex issue, which threatens a humanitarian catastrophe in the conditions of current high-tech ruthless war.

The purpose of the study is to make an analytical review of Soviet, Russian, regional and foreign historiography of the problem related to the legal and material situation of war prisoners during the First World War, which makes it possible to conclude about the degree of knowledge covering the problem in general and the issue of downbedding and using war prisoners during the First World War in the territory of Chuvashia in particular.

Materials and methods. The aspects of the issue are investigated on the basis of the method of analyzing scientific publications of domestic and foreign historiography, information materials of the thematic collection of documents of the State Historical Archive of the Chuvash Republic dated 2014. The historical science contains the historiographical analysis of the experience in studying this topic in Russia and abroad which made it possible to clarify the chronological and geographical framework of the problem of war prisoners during the World War. A comprehensive historiographical assessment helped to establish the level of knowledge of the topic, which affects formulation of tasks, and also highlights those aspects of the issue under study that need additional study. The historical method, which refers to the methods of the theoretical level, made it possible to study the emergence and development of the object of research – the problems of war prisoners – in chronological sequence both abroad and in Russia, and at different stages of its historical development in particular and in a regional context. The general scientific method of generalization enabled us to express the main results in the general position, to draw conclusions on the problem we are studying.

The scientific novelty of this work is complete absence of fundamental research works on the topic under study at the regional level. This article is based on scientific publications of domestic and foreign historiography, information materials of the thematic collection of documents kept in the State Historical Archive of the Chuvash Republic dated 2014.

Study results. The author considers the urgency of the topic which is dedicated to the 105^th anniversary of the First World War’s end, and which is due to colossal geopolitical changes in the international arena. The Soviet historiography was studied, which paid very little attention to the problem of the war prisoners arrival to the territory of the Russian Empire during the World War, examining the issue only in the context of statistics of military losses. The article covers the aspects of the research work carried out by Russian and regional scientists, whose works closed many gaps in the scientific problem related to the legal and material situation of prisoners of war. The article pays attention to the degree of covering the issue in foreign historiography, the main aspects of the study in which were: firstly, psychological practices of mass experience by soldiers and officers behind the barbed wire; secondly, the humanitarian component of military captivity, associated primarily with the exchange of disabled people between warring countries; thirdly, the study of themes related to criminal prosecution and trials against German war criminals who had committed criminal acts against British and French was prisoners; fourth, the topic of social experience of war prisoners in Russia, as well as charitable activities and diplomatic settlement of maintaining war prisoners as the key moments of international politics during the World War.

Conclusions. Despite the extent of previous research of the problems related to military captivity in Russian and foreign historiography, many issues at the regional level were not covered, including the aspects considered in this work. Therefore, it is necessary to continue fruitful research work in this direction.

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Information about the author

Semen N. Blinjaev – Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of General Education Disciplines, Chuvash State Agrarian University, Russia, Cheboksary (semen-blinjaev@rambler.ru; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1686-1214).

For citations

Blinjaev S.N. HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE PROBLEM RELATED TO THE LEGAL AND MATERIAL SITUATION OF WAR PRISONERS DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR. Historical Search, 2023, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 113–125. DOI: 10.47026/2712-9454-2023-4-4-113-125 (in Russian).

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