THE “FORGOTTEN” REGION IN THE “FORGOTTEN WAR”: RIGHT-BANK CHERKASY REGION IN 1914 – 1917
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24919/2519-058X.38.354881Abstract
The purpose of this article is to reconstruct the everyday life of the urban population of Right-Bank Cherkasy region during World War I, with an emphasis on identifying general Ukrainian trends characteristic of that period, as well as specific local features determined by the socio-economic and geographical characteristics of the region. The methodology of the research is based on an interdisciplinary approach that combines historiographical analysis, everyday history, and regional context. In the study historical and comparative, statistical, and typological methods have been used. The scientific novelty consists in the fact that it is the first comprehensive study of the region's cities history in the context of World War I. Conclusions. The analysis of Right-Bank Cherkasy region population's everyday life during World War I (1914 – 1917) shows how even a rear region far from the front became an integral part of the global conflict, while retaining its local specificity. At the beginning of the war, there were mass patriotic actions, mobilization, and volunteer activity in the cities and towns. Over time, enthusiasm gave way to panic, apathy, distrust of the authorities and the official press, and growing corruption. Mobilization caused labour shortage, which led to the involvement of marginalized groups in the workforce, including foreign prisoners of war, prisoners, and even arrested illegal prostitutes, while the wives of conscripted men went to work en masse. Food shortages, inflation, and interethnic tensions deepened the material and moral psychological crisis. Military priorities and a new economic situation caused by the war made it impossible to implement important infrastructure projects, in particular the construction of a sewage system in Cherkasy and the launch of tram service in Uman. All this testifies to profound social transformations which, despite the region's “obscurity” in historiography, reflected nationwide processes and were precursors to the revolutionary events of 1917.
Key words: Right-Bank Cherkasy Region, World War I, cities, everyday life, Cherkasy, Uman.
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