The First World War as personal experience of historians

Abstract

The article considers the personal experience and perception by Russian historians, such as M. M. Kovalevsky, A. N. Savin, and N. I. Kareev, of the causes, events and atmosphere of the First World War. The change in the attitude of the academic community to Germany and the Germans is analyzed, and the activities of such organizations as the “Anglo-Russian Friendship Society” and assistance to Russian citizens who'd been caught in captivity are discussed. The article deals with the problem of the infuence of war on the academic society, the transformation of relations between intellectuals depending on their nationality. The personal experience of historians who survived captivity in Germany or Austria-Hungary, the diffculties experienced by Russians on the way to Russia through a warring Europe, all this forced intellectuals to see a new relationship of the warring countries, which was refected in their public speeches and sociopolitical position. The author seeks to show that the so-called” war of professors “ contributed to the development of nationalist traits in Russian historical science.