Latvia in World War I: Latvian women and children in the Russian army (1914–1917)

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the experiences of Latvian women and children in Russian military service during World War I, seeing their involvement as a logical result of the societal developments and a rise in the level of patriotism. It discusses voluntary military service, nursing, and other activities closely connected to the army that women and children participated in right from the beginning of the war. This was the first time in history that women and children took part in warfare in such relatively large numbers.

KEYWORDS:

• World War I
• latvians
• women
• children
• Russian army
• sanitary services

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. See: Razvedchik, 20 January 1909.

2. According to other sources, ‘Anatoly’. See: (Stoff 2006), 40; Ermolov 2020.

3. Dates are given according to the ‘Old Style,’ which was in effect in Russia during the time described in this article.

4. Latvijas Nacionālais arhīvs – Latvijas Valsts vēstures arhīvs (hereafter – LVVA), 2575. f., 15. apr., 12. l., 12. lp.

5. See, for example: Jaunais Vārds, 29 August 1915.

6. See: Jaunais Vārds, 27 October 1915, 3; and 28 October 1915, 3.

7. LVVA, 1304. f., 1. apr., 287. l., 1.–7. lp. See also: (“Lāčplēša ordenis” 1921; Andersons 1991), 33.

8. Given the complicated and fraught Latvian–Baltic German relationship dynamic, the choice of joining the Latvian Riflemen battalions was even more unusual; it has been suggested that von der Borch was motivated by a love interest among the battalion’s officers (Andersons 1973).

9. Edgars Andersons (Andersons 1973, 8) cites this book as: von Glasenapp, M. 1969. Soldatka: Die Kriegerischen Abenteuer der Gräfin B. Cologne: Wissenschaft und Politik.

10. Rossiiskii Voenno istoricheskii arkhiv, f. 2551, op. 1, d. 175.

11. Latvijas Kara muzejs, LKM-9179/12,818-VII, 129. lp.

12. LVVA, Politiskās pārvaldes kartotēka (Kazimiras Brāles kartiņa); Archiwum Akt Nowych (Warsaw), Attachaty, A-II, 67/2, k. 358. See also (Pepłoński 1999), 284–5.

13. See: Jaunākās ziņas 17, 27, 28, 30 September 1914; 25, 26 November 1914; 4, 6 March 1915; 22 April 1915; 15 December 1915; 13 March 1916; 24 February 1917.

14. LVVA, 3318. f., 1. apr., 373. l., 235.–237. lp.

15. LVVA, 5601. f., 1. apr., 4126. l., 3. lp.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the project, ‘The territory of Latvia as a contact zone between different cultural spaces, religions, and political, social, and economic interests from prehistory to the present day’ (ZD2015/AZ85);Latvian Council of Science [Research grant nr. Nr. ZD2015/AZ85];

Notes on contributors

Ēriks Jēkabsons

Ēriks Jēkabsons, Doctor of history (UL, 1995). Author of 22 books (4 of them published abroad) and 280 scientific articles (about half of them published in 13 foreign countries), took part in 190 scientific conferences, expert of Latvian Scientific Council, foreign expert of Polish and Romanian National Scientific Councils, member of editorial board of 5 Latvian and 17 foreign scientific journals. Visiting professor at universities in Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus. Decorated with Poland’s Gold Merit Cross, in 2012/13 academic year took part in Fulbright Scholar Program at Stanford University. Research interests: political and military history of Latvia and the wider region (Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus) in first half of the twentieth century.

Klāvs Zariņš

Klāvs Zariņš holds a MA degree in History (UL, 2013). PhD candidate at the Faculty of History and Philosophy (UL), Research Assistant at the Institute of Latvian History (UL), Head of the Collection and Research Department at the Latvian War Museum in Riga. Research interests: World War I in the Baltic region, political and social history of Latvia in the 20th century.