Mobilizing the Russian Nation Patriotism and Citizenship in the First World War Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare Series

The First World War had a devastating impact on the Russian state, yet relatively little is known about the ways in which ordinary Russians experienced and viewed this conflict. Melissa Kirschke Stockdale presents the first comprehensive study of the Great War's influence on Russian notions of national identity and citizenship. Drawing on a vast array of sources, the book examines the patriotic and nationalist organizations which emerged during the war, the role of the Russian Orthodox Church, the press and the intelligentsia in mobilizing Russian society, the war's impact on the rights of citizens, and the new, democratized ideas of Russian nationhood which emerged both as a result of the war and of the 1917 revolution. Russia's war experience is revealed as a process that helped consolidate in the Russian population a sense of membership in a great national community, rather than being a test of patriotism which they failed.

Introduction; 1. A sacred union: patriotic narratives and the language of inclusion; 2. National mobilization: government, propaganda, and the press; 3. 'On the altar of the fatherland': the orthodox church and the language of sacrifice; 4. 'All for the war!': war relief and the language of citizenship; 5. 'United in gratitude': honoring soldiers and defining the nation; 6. Fantasies of treason: sorting out membership in the Russian national community; 7. 'For freedom and the fatherland': shaping citizens in revolutionary 1917; Conclusion; Select bibliography; Index.

Melissa Kirschke Stockdale is a Brian and Sandra O'Brien Presidential Professor and Associate Professor of History at the University of Oklahoma, specializing in modern Russian history. Her previous publications include Paul Miliukov and the Quest for a Liberal Russia, 1880–1918 (1997) and Russian Culture in War and Revolution, 1914–1922 (with Murray Frame, Boris Kolonitskii and Steven G. Marks, 2014).