2014 Issue №12

This article describes the major issues in studying the gender aspects of the First World War in modern historiography. Major topics of studies include women on the battlefield and on the home front, gender-specific propa¬ganda, and the crisis of masculinity. The author argues that the explanation of history of societies during and after WWI is incomplete without taking into account the gender aspects.

This article describes different aspects of the everyday life of the German military elite during World War I. The author stresses the effect of protracted hostilities on professional high-ranking officers in view of their age, special social standards, and family relations. Special attention is paid to a new little-studied area of research.

This article analyses the cycle War (Krieg) by the German painter Käthe Kollwitz as a testimony of the First World War. The author argues that the testimony of the painter has been underestimated. Current gender studies make it possible to interpret K. Kollwitz’s works as a historical source for reconstructing the memory of the war.

This article explores the contentious issue of the role of Russian generals in the Gumbinnen battle of 1914 and the operations of Russian army in East Prussia in 1914—1915. The relations of Generals Pavel Rennenkampf and Nikolai Yepanchin are analysed in the context of the military activities of Russian troops at the initial stage of the First World War.