Evidence of unidentified «aeroplanes» in Viciebsk guberniya in 1914–1915: a look through the prism of the era
Abstract
The article is devoted to the Belarusian anti-aeroplane campaign of 1914–1915, i. e. to counteract the speculation that rapidly spread across the provinces about the appearance of enemy aeroplanes and airships behind the front line. Documents and materials from the National Historical Archive of Belarus, State Archive of Russian Federation and State Archive of Pskov Region funds concerning the verification of reports about aeroplanes in the Viciebsk guberniya are reviewed and analyzed. It is noted that the mass appearance of rumors about airplanes took place in the Viciebsk guberniya in several stages: at first, according to the descriptions of eyewitnesses, they were only a shapeless flying mass, and later information about them became more specific and even reports about their descent were checked. All this led to a serious problem – under the influence of panic, cases of superstitious soldiers firing at their own planes became more frequent, which could directly affect the course of military operations, in particular, the supply of advanced weapons and the latest intelligence. It is also important to consider the impact of the issue on the rear, which resulted primarily in the population fanning rumors directed against rich landowners, and the growth of social tension as a result. It is shown that the local anti-aeroplane campaign had a Baltic and Pskov «scurf», naturally complementing the actions of local authorities and the population. It is concluded that most of the reports from the Viciebsk guberniya and its borders, cited in the documents, do not describe observations of real combat or reconnaissance aircraft of the enemy, but only give an incorrect interpretation by eyewitnesses of any natural or astronomical phenomena as well as your own aeroplanes that occurred due to phobic images of new equipment in the eyes of the local population, reinforced by military hysteria and militaristic psychosis.
References
- Gershtejn MB, Butov IS. Reflection of the wave of observations of mysterious «aeroplanes» and «airships» of 1914–1916 on the pages of Russian and some foreign periodicals. In: Homo Eurasicus v sisteme ekologicheskikh i sotsial’nykh svyazei. Kollektivnaya monografiya po materialam mezhdunarodnoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii; 24 oktyabrya 2019; Sankt-Peterburg, Rossiya [Homo Eurasicus in the system of ecological and social relations. Collective monograph based on the materials of the international scientific and practical conference; 2019 October 24; Saint Petersburg, Russia]. Saint Petersburg: Svoe izdatel’stvo; 2020. p. 92–110. Russian.
- Butov IS. [«According to reports, air vehicles have appeared in some areas of the Empire»]. Zhivaya starina. 2020;3:32–36. Russian.
- Aksenov VB. Technique and its phobic images in the everyday consciousness of Russian people in 1914–1916. Studia Slavica et Balcanica Metropolitana. 2019;1:38–52. Russian. DOI: 10.21638/11701/spbu19.2019.103.
- Butov IS. [Germans-settlers of the Saratov province in the anti-aeroplane campaign of 1914–1916: unknown pages of the First world war]. Modern Science. 2019;10(1):72–79. Russian.
- Butov IS. The case of unrecognized «aeroplanes» in the Amur General- government in 1914–1915. Modern Scientific Thought. 2019;5:95–104. Russian.
- Andreeva NS. [«In the name of its past, in the name of ever-present loyalty...» (the Baltic knights and the Russian government. From the history of relationships. 1914–1917)]. In: Mikhailova ER, editor. Russkoe proshloe. Istoriko-dokumental’nyi al’manakh. Kniga 8 [Russian past. Historical and documentary almanac. Volume 8]. Saint Petersburg: Publishing House of the Saint Petersburg University; 1998. p. 203–214. Russian.
- Vasil’ev MV. [«Visual observation from the Church bell tower» (German aviation in the sky of Pskov region in 1914)]. Pskov. 2016;45:187–198. Russian.
- Vasil’ev MV. [«Oddly dressed people... something looked at on a large paper»]. Rodina. 2013;8:146–147. Russian.
- Mihajlov AA. Pskov v gody Pervoi mirovoi voiny, 1914–1915 [Pskov during the First world war, 1914–1915]. Pskov: Dom pechati; 2012. 342 p. Russian.
- Butau IS. In search of rumours about aeroplanes in the Minsk Governorate in 1914 (on the basis of the records from the National Historical Archives of Belarus). Archivarius. 2019;17:118–131. Russian.
- Hutarev-Garnishevskij VV. Prizraki izmeny. Russkie spetssluzhby na Baltike v vospominaniyakh podpolkovnika V. V. Vladimirova, 1910–1917 [The ghosts of infidelity. Russian special services in the Baltic in the memoirs of Lieutenant Colonel V.V. Vladimirov, 1910–1917]. Moscow: Rodina; 2019. 304 p. Russian.
- Kryvitski MA. Official reports of the Minsk and Dwinsk chiefs of police about consequences of raids of the German aircraft in the years of World War I. Archivarius. 2013;1:32–43. Russian.
- Hajrulin MA. Legendarnyi «Il’ya Muromets». Pervyi tyazhelyi bombardirovshchik [The Legendary «Ilya Muromets». The first heavy bomber]. Moscow: Jeksmo Jauza; 2018. 205 p. Russian.
- Finne KN. Russkie vozdushnye bogatyri I. I. Sikorskogo [Russian air heroes of I. I. Sikorsky]. Moscow: AST; 2005. 222 p. Co-published by the «Kharvest». Russian.
- Astashov AB. Frontovaya povsednevnost’ rossiiskikh soldat, avgust 1914 – fevral’ 1917 g. [Frontline everyday life of Russian soldiers, August 1914 – February 1917] [dissertation]. Moscow: Russian State University for the Humanities; 2018. 363 p. Russian.
Copyright (c) 2020 Journal of the Belarusian State University. History
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The authors who are published in this journal agree to the following:
- The authors retain copyright on the work and provide the journal with the right of first publication of the work on condition of license Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial. 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
- The authors retain the right to enter into certain contractual agreements relating to the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work (e.g. post it on the institutional repository, publication in the book), with the reference to its original publication in this journal.
- The authors have the right to post their work on the Internet (e.g. on the institutional store or personal website) prior to and during the review process, conducted by the journal, as this may lead to a productive discussion and a large number of references to this work. (See The Effect of Open Access.)