Russian Cities and Towns as Perceivedby Czechoslovak Legionnaires (1914–1920)

Abstract

On the eve of the First World War, about one hundred thousand Czechs and Slovaks lived and worked in Russia. With the outbreak of the war, some of them came out in support of Russia and expressed their willingness to fight on its side. Soon the formation of the Czech Druzhina began in Kiev. Later it became replenished with captured soldiers and officers, and by the fall of 1917, Czechoslovak units counted about 30 thousand men. But the process of replenishment of the corps continued, and by the time of evacuation of the Czechoslovak army from Russia in 1920, its number exceeded 60 thousand people. Legionnaires spent several years in Russia, moving across its vast expanses, first as part of the Russian army to the Carpathian ranges, and then after the revolution and the coming to power of the Bolsheviks from Ukraine to Vladivostok. At the same time, they visited different cities, gathered first-hand experience of city life, got acquainted with the local population, and noticed the peculiarities of the urban environment everywhere. The purpose of the article is to depict the perception of the Russian reality by foreigners, which adds colour and unexpected details to the Russian history of the eve and period of the First World War and the Civil War. Recently, imagology (the science of the laws of creating and interpreting images of the “alien” and “strangers”) has been actively developing. The history of cities and their perception — part of local history, which combines elements of natural history, geography, culture, architecture, population and urban economy — is also at the centre of attention of both historians and literary critics. The memoirs, diaries and military journalism of Czechoslovak legionnaires reflect different periods and aspects of life in Russian cities: from the peaceful picture of a seaside resort town to Siberian large and small centres under the conditions of the revolution and the Civil War. From these sources it is possible to trace both the history of the corps itself and the history of Russia of the period in question. A whole kaleidoscope of cities and towns passes before the readers’ eyes, allowing them to trace the dynamics of the rapidly changing situation on the ground, to compare and classify cities, revealing the typology and specificity of each. The legionnaires did not forget to portray themselves as well, without hiding the truth about the changing attitudes of the local population towards them. Comparing these descriptions, one can conclude that their authors were sufficiently objective, although, of course, the difficult military situation, especially under the conditions of violent civil confrontation, would inevitably affect their narratives. The article uses material from different genres: diaries, memoirs, opinion journalism and autobiographical documentary prose.