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World War I: Tragic and Heroic Pages of History

On August, 1, next year, it will be the 100^th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War (1914–1918). For this date the Museum-Reserve of M.A.Sholokhov and the Rostov Regional Museum of Local Studies are preparing a joint exhibition “The Artists of the Unknown War”, where the events of those past years will be shown through the art of the two authors – the great writer Mikhail Sholokhov and the master of battle painting Mitrofan Grekov.

The First World War completed the whole historical epoch and led to the collapse of the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires. New states appeared on the map of the world: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and others denoting a cardinal redistribution of the world which determined the future course of the world history in the XX century. The war was unprecedentedly widespread as never experienced before, it was total in character and resulted in massive loss of life and destruction. The First World War was a particular impact on the Russian state. It was a severe trial for the country, which lost on the fronts about two million people. Its tragic consequences were revolution, devastation, civil war and ruin of the imperial Russia.

Due to a number of objective and subjective reasons the First World War has been little-known in our country. Its history is full of distortions and omissions, its heroes went to unfair oblivion. The same can be said about participation of the Cossacks in this war.

More than 125 thousand Don Cossacks fought in the battlefield and covered themselves with everlasting glory. The Don people were sent to the most responsible, hazardous, unpredictable and important sites of the front, where “they beat the enemies and didn’t trip up their heads in vain.” According to D.S.Babichev, a historian, ”during the war, neither the Hungarian, nor German cavalries, even in superior forces, dared to attack Cossacks or rebuff them”. The enemies were overwhelmed with horror and panic at the sight of the rushing Cossack avalanche.

In the war years the Cossack units showed their high reliability and responsibility in the performance of their military duty. This is proved by the numerous awards of the Don Cossacks including the order of St.George, George Arms, St.George’s crosses and medals. During the war, 193 Don officers and more than 37000 Don Cossacks were awarded these highest marks of valour and glory.

During the war the Don Cossack units suffered minor losses: 182 officers and 3444 soldiers died in the battles, 777 officers and 11898 soldiers were wounded and shell-shocked, 54 officers and 2453 soldiers were missing, 32 officers and 132 soldiers were taken prisoners. Such a low rate of combat deaths was unknown in any of the armed services of the Russian army. This indicates a high level of professional military training of the Don Cossacks.

M.A.Sholokhov in his novel “The Quiet Don” wonderfully recreates the scenes of the First World War and the inner state of a person involved in it. A realistic depiction, historicity and authenticity of the events make the fictional text a documentary narrative. The novel “The Quiet Don” is one of the few domestic works on the topic. In the novel the author shows a combat history of the 12^th Don Cossack regiment which from the first to the last days participated in the battles. The Cossacks of Vyoshenskaya, Kazanskaya and Migulinskaya stanitsas served in that regiment.

One of the personages of “The Quiet Don”, Pavel Nazarovich Kudinov, shown in the book under his own name, was among the well-known Cossacks who served in that regiment. In the October of 1915, he became a full knight of St.George, received a rank of horunzhy and in the Civil War became the leader of the Vyoshenskaya uprising.

Even more famous was Kharlampy Vasiliyevich Yermakov, one of the prototypes of Grigory Melekhov, who was also shown in the novel under his own name. Yermakov was also awarded a rank of horunzhy and four crosses of St. George. According to the research of G.I.Manotskov, a local ethnographer from Stanitsa Preobrazhenskaya, the Volgograd Region, from the June of 1914 to January, 1, 1917, in the 12^th regiment, 4 officers were awarded the George Arms, 522 Cossacks got crosses of St. George and 632 Cossacks got medals of St. George. The heroism of the Cossacks of the regiment is proved by the fact that by January, 1, 1915, 323 Cossacks had got a Cross of the IV degree, 31 Cossacks had got that of the III degree, 30 Cossacks had got that of the II degree, and 10 Cossacks had got “a complete bow” of St. George.

In 1917, after the February and October revolutions the Russian Army began breaking up. M.A.Sholokhov wrote: “The front was collapsing. While in the October the soldiers were leaving in scattered, unorganized groups, then late in the November the companies, battalions, regiments were withdrawn from the positions… and were rolling down home in a free, wild, floodwater avalanche”.

Unlike the units of the regular Russian army the Cossack troops maintained discipline and loyalty to their military duty to the last. This was brilliantly shown by M.A.Sholokhov in the novel “The Quiet Don”: “Under those circumstances it was pointless to assign the 12^th regiment for detention deserters, and the regiment thrown back to the positions trying in vain to plug those holes and gaps made by the infantry which had hastily left its positions, in the December took off from its positions and marched to the nearest station; and having loaded all the regimental property, machine-guns, ammo, horses it set off inward Russia which was boiling over in battles”.

On March, 3, 1918, the representatives of the Soviet Russia signed a peace treaty with the countries of the Central Powers (Germany, Austro-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria) which marked the defeat and withdrawal of Russia from the First World War.

 On June, 27, 2012, the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, called the losses of Russia unique: “…our country lost this war to the loser country. It is a unique situation in the history of mankind. We lost to loser Germany, in fact, capitulating to it; some time later Germany itself capitulated to the Allies”.

In the December of 2012, the President of Russia approved the amendment to the Federal law “About the days of glory and anniversaries in Russia”, which has come into force since January, 1, 2013, according to which the first of August is announced the Day of Remembrance of the Russian soldiers died in the First World War of 1914–1918.

Valery Yemeliyanov