Entry to World war I: historical time and everyday aspects (based on the materialsof Zhytomyr)

Abstract

The purpose of the research is a new historical and temporal interpretation of the problem of the society entry into World War I based on the analysis of an everyday life of Zhytomyr population. The research methodology is based on observance of scientific knowledge fundamental principles of dialectics and determinism and general scientific principles of historicism and objectivity made it possible to comprehensively consider the problem of city residents’ reception of events and phenomena related to upcoming and beginning of World War I. Owing to the interdisciplinary approach, the peculiarities of a social behaviour of society under specific historical conditions have been elucidated. The application of a historical and genetic method made it possible to highlight the regularities of the city’s population mood before and after August 1, 1914. The scientific novelty consists in the conceptualization issue of “entry into the war” using the example of the history of Zhytomyr before and at the beginning of World War I. Conclusions. On August 1, 1914, the population of Zhytomyr faced a new objective reality – the beginning of World War I. The reaction of Zhytomyr population to this event corresponded to a standard behaviour of the society in similar circumstances: a strong emotional excitement that had signs of a collective psychosis, militant cheer-patriotism combined with panicked moods, an instinctive desire to stock up on basic necessities. At the same time, the analysis of the pre-war moods of the city’s residents indicated a noticeable presence of the feeling of an inevitable upcoming war in their minds. That is, we can say that at that moment the war began to become part of reality, although still at the level of a subjective reception. In this context, the issue remains open regarding the completion of the process of society’s entry into war, which, according to the authors, is defined by the time of society’s adaptation to wartime, until it became an everyday norm. This necessitates a further research on the issue.