Lessons from Defeat
Russia and the First World War
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Russia has a long history of wars. Despite the alternation between defeats and victories, Russia’s territorial expansion seemed almost like a law of nature to contemporaries and historians alike. The First World War ended in defeat for Russia. Under its pressure, the Tsarist empire fell apart. The new elites and the population reacted differently to the experience of war and defeat: desertion and the militarisation of the economy, society, and culture occurred simultaneously. The Bolsheviks and the Soviet Union interpreted the First World War as an “imperialist war”. Therefore, they did not see themselves as losers of the war.
(Osteuropa, 3-4/2023, pp. 57–81)