Voices of War

Donna Tussing Orwin is Professor Emerita of the Department of Slavic, Eurasian, and European Studies at the University of Toronto. She is a member of the Royal Society of Canada and a recipient in 2008 of the Pushkin Medal for her contribution “to the rapprochement and mutual enrichment of different people’s cultures and the study and popularisation of Russian language and culture.”

• Introduction Part I: The Nineteenth CenturyThe Napoleonic Wars and their AftermathFyodor Glinka, Letters of a Russian Officer (excerpts)Nikolai Gnedich, Introduction to his translation of the Iliad, and from his notebook (excerpts)Denis DavydovMeeting with Field Marshall Count Kamensky (excerpts) The Field of Borodino To Count P. A. Stroganov. For the chekmen’ he gave me during the 1810 war in TurkeySoldier Turned Officer: Ivan Nikitich SkobelevA Gift to My Comrades, or The Correspondence of Russian Soldiers in 1812, Published by a Russian Veteran, Ivan SkobelevPamfilii Nazarov. Memoirs of The Soldier Pamfil Nazarov The Historical Novel: Preface to Zagoskin’s Roslavlev, or Russians in 1812 The CaucasusA. S. Griboedov, Predators on the ChegemA. A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, “The Story of an Officer in Captivity among the Mountaineers” (excerpts)Rebellious Officer N. A. Mombelli, On the corporal punishment of a soldier (excerpts from Mombelli’s diary) The Crimean WarD. Stolypin, “A Night Raid in Sevastopol” Theorist D. A. Miliutin on Suvorov The Russo-Turkish WarV. M. Garshin At the First Exhibition of Vereshchagin’s PaintingsLetters to his Mother Further ReadingNotesPart II: The Russo-Japanese War A Chronicle of the War with Japan (excerpts) F. I. Shikuts, Memoir on land war (excerpts) V. S. Kravchenko, Memoirs: The End of the Borodino; Epilogue (excerpts)Further ReadingNotesPart III: World War I Anna Akhmatova, “July 1914” N. S. Gumilyov, “The Offensive”M. A. Voloshin, anti-war poem Shtukaturov, Diary (excerpts) V. S. Babadzhan, poem (excerpt)Fyodor Stepun, memoirs and letters (excerpts) K. V. Anan’ev, diary (excerpts) Further ReadingNotesPart IV: Revolution and Civil War 1905P. Ia. Iakubovich, “Red Snow” 1917Aleksandr Blok, “The Twelve” The Civil WarV. V. Mayakovsky, “Vladimir Ilich!” A. A. Ianysheva, My Past Demian Bednyi, “The Red Army Soldier Ivanov” (excerpt)N. N. Turoverov, “Crimea”M. I. Tsvetaeva, “The Demesne of Swans” Further ReadingNotesPart V: World War II N. N. Nikulin, Memoirs (excerpts)L. N. Rabichev, Memoirs (excerpts)A. Platonov, “Young Rosa” V. Grossman, “The Soul of a Red Army Man”Further ReadingNotesPart VI: The Soviet-Afghan War, 1979–1989 E. Evtushenko, “An Afghan Ant”L. L. Molchanov, response to “An Afghan Ant”I. Morozov poem, “Farewell, Mountains”A. Liakhovskii, The Tragedy and the Glory of Afghanistan (excerpts) Further ReadingNotesPart VII: The Chechen Wars, 1994–1996, 1999–2009 G. N. Troshev, My War (excerpt) Interview with a Chechen who experienced both wars Further ReadingNotes

Emphasizing a sweeping and manifold perspective, Professor Donna Tussing Orwin marshals an impressive array of materials depicting the impact of war over time on the Russian consciousness. With attention to context and to content, including in the main original English translations, she traces the legacy of war from ninth-century Kievan Rus to twenty-first century Chechnya. The result is an intriguing and enlightening assemblage of testimonies from practitioners, witnesses, observers, and victims, the sum of which is sure to spur further speculation and investigation.