![]() Traditional scholarship focused more on the empire’s collapse, and less on the experience of the war itself. Part of this void around the Austro-Hungarian war effort can be explained by historians’ preoccupation with studying nationalist political conflict within Austro-Hungarian society. Finally, when historians do analyze the actions and experiences of the Central Powers, most concentrate overwhelmingly on Germany with Austria-Hungary barely mentioned. There, regimes of occupation covered vast territories, involved far more people than did the German occupations in the west and sometimes served as sites of ambitious social experimentation. The war in the east also involved more movement than the war of attrition fought in the trenches of Belgium and northern France the hostile powers occupied and re-occupied large swathes of territory in the east. In the east, several regional wars pitted the newly formed militaries of the successor states against each other and against bands of irregular paramilitaries that wreaked havoc on each other and on civilians from the Baltics to the Balkans until well into the 1920s. ![]() The history of the war in the east fits badly with traditional understandings of war in the west, which ended decisively with an armistice on 11 November 1918 that determined clear winners and a clear loser. Yet despite scholars’ more global focus in recent years, the Western Front remains hegemonic in shaping narratives of the war. Austria-Hungary’s wartime experiences, however, rarely warrant mention in general histories of the First World War, even though the country’s wartime economic organization, food rationing, pioneering refugee provision, and military occupation in Serbia, Lublin, and Albania, were critical elements of the war in the east. Arguably it was eighty-three-year-old Francis Joseph I, Emperor of Austria (1830-1916), pressured by military advisers, government ministers, and his German ally, who unleashed the war. Original resource at: The British Library.ĭescription based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.The assassination of the Habsburg heir in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 set in motion events that led to a global war. Title devised, in English, by Library staff. ![]() Ukraine-Volyns'ka Oblast-Volodymyr-Volynsky During World War I, lubok informed Russians about events on the frontlines, bolstered morale, and served as propaganda against enemy combatants. Initially, this artistic style was not taken seriously by the upper classes, but by the end of the 19th century, lubok was so well-regarded that it inspired professional artists. Prints could be reproduced inexpensively, and were thus a way for the masses to display art at home. The images were clear and easy to understand, and some of the pictures were serialized, predecessors of the modern comic strip. These expressive prints had a wide range in tone, from humorous to instructive to sharp political and social commentary. The prints, which often depicted narratives from a historical event, literature, or a religious tale, were used to make such stories accessible to illiterate people. Lubok gained popularity in Russia beginning in the late 17th century. The prints were often characterized by simple, colorful graphics depicting a narrative, and could also include text. Within three minutes the cavalrymen dashing into attack turned into a pile of bodies, and individual riders rushed back to their own lines in frantic terror." Lubok is a Russian word for popular prints created from woodcuts, engravings, etchings, or later, by using lithography. The screams of dying people, horses neighing, and the moaning of dying men were heard. ![]() Horses fell at full speed and falling riders were seen tumbling several times to the ground. But loud sounds and strange crackling were heard: machine guns from our trenches started firing, and something terrible and unforgettable happened. It seemed that after a few minutes they would enter the city. Hungarian cavalry, arrayed in a wide semi-circle in front of the city, bravely raced forward. The caption explains: "Enemy artillery, firing over its own cavalry, shelled the trenches in front of the city occupied by our troops. ![]() This print showing a battle near Volodymyr-Volynsky (present-day Ukraine) is from the collection of World War I lubok posters held at the British Library. ![]()
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