World War I: about 15 million killed on the battlefields and civilians, countless invalids, collapsed empires and - as a result - a redrawn map of Europe ... How to tell about all this, how to show in an exhibition a war that is called a "proto-catastrophe" twentieth century? The German Historical Museum in Berlin found the optimal solution. The exposition leads along 14 key points of the First World War. Carefully selected exhibits show the past clearly, history is reconstructed using the example of private destinies.

Victorious march to death

The exhibition begins already in the foyer, where the geopolitical situation in Europe on the eve of the great massacre is succinctly outlined: then, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the continent was in a fever from mutual claims and power ambitions. European capitals were ruled by aristocratic elites, business and banks gained enormous power, kings, tsars and kaisers were each other's relatives. Something like one big family, which was torn apart by political and economic strife and among whose members there was a competitive struggle for the redivision of the world.

The German Empire, in the person of Kaiser Wilhelm II, pursued a dangerous policy starting in 1890, claiming colonies and building a nasty navy in a few years. This is clearly shown in the exposition. Close and understandable to us today is the daily life of the big cities of that era, their peaceful way of life. But the military marches that sounded everywhere seem alien. Aggression is felt almost physically.

Six weeks after the assassination attempt on the heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne and his wife, war broke out in Sarajevo. The world went crazy. At the Deutsches Historisches Museum, the visitor walks past ruined walls pasted over with European newspapers from those weeks, and then walks up to August von Kaulbach's painting "Germania". A long-haired, blond Valkyrie in armor, with a sword and shield, is ready to meet the enemy.

CONTEXT

"Then they believed," explains Andreas Nix, one of the curators of the exhibition, "that the war was being waged in a just, defensive way." And they went to the front as they did in the 19th century, under fluttering standards, marching pace. But this march was met by a fiery tornado of machine-gun bursts.

New weapon

Between 1914 and 1918, about 12 million people fought on the side of Germany. In total, about 60 million soldiers participated in the First World War. During the Battle of the Marne, one of the key battles of the First World War, she first showed herself in a new dimension. Machine guns and rapid-fire artillery mowed down the soldiers in rows, and the number of casualties in the first weeks of the war turned out to be unexpectedly high. The soldiers began to dig trenches and trenches, erect parapets and build dugouts. They soon formed a dense network stretching from the English Channel to the Swiss border. The front froze, no one was talking about an imminent victory. The white gloves that one of the German soldiers kept in his duffel bag in case of a victorious entry into Paris were never useful to their owner. The First World War dragged on for a long time.

During the battles in close trenches, archaic medieval clubs were used for mutual extermination, which also became exhibits of the exhibition. On land, in the air and at sea, however, there was already competition for more modern, more deadly weapons. On April 22, 1915, German troops used chlorine gas during the battles in the vicinity of the Belgian town of Ypres - the first chemical weapon in history. By the end of 1916, 26 million conventional shells and 100,000 shells filled with poisonous gases had been blown up in the "sheer hell" of Verdun.

In the Deutsches Historisches Museum, these incredible figures are complemented by installations: behind a gauze curtain, for example, illuminated gas masks hang. When approaching them, the noise of rattles turns on, which, in the real trench conditions of the First World War, warned soldiers about the beginning of a gas attack.

total war

The exposition in Berlin should be built chronologically. It tells about the battles in the East and the West, about the war in Africa, about the fronts of the Ottoman Empire and about the battles in the mountain passes. Skis, toilet paper and board games are exhibited as "everyday" exhibits, "Field checkers", for example, easily fit in soldier's satchels along with photographs and letters from home. The exhibition also shows "patriotic" toys, in particular, a miniature field infirmary. The everyday life of a soldier is also cripples immortalized in photographs, prisoners hanged who were suspected of espionage, diary entries ...

In total, about 500 exhibits from 13 countries - weapons, uniforms, everyday items, as well as diaries, letters, drawings, paintings, photographs, films - show in the German Historical Museum how terrible the First World War was, this first in the twentieth century total catastrophe.

From-departure from-from-yes-ny RSL to the centenary of the day on-cha-la -current. Kar-dot-ki from-ra-zha-yut in a-li-ti-che-sky and would-be-th-one hundred-ro-na in-en-no-go conflict-ta: according to the photo- gra-fi-che-skim and ri-so-van-nym image-ra-ni-yam can-but get information about the countries - participants in the war , in-know-to-mite with the text of the ma-ni-fe-hundred of the Russian tsar, in a sense-to-vate on the building of the Russian-th -studies, to get an idea of ​​​​the development of the art of gra-fi-ki and photo-gra-fi in the beginning of the twentieth century ka. You-betting from-open until September 27th.

On July 20, 1914, in response to the announcement of the Ger-ma-ni-her war of Russia, there was a sub-pi-san you-so-tea-shi ma-ni-fest about joining le-nii of Russia in the howl-well. Ni-ko-lai II announced him from the ball-to-on the Zim-not-go-palace in front of you-sya-cha-mi people, gathering-shi-mi-sya at the Dvor- tso-howl square in St. Petersburg. In the ma-ni-fe-sta, you-ra-zh-elk are the same-la-nie, so that "this year is scary-th-th is-py-ta-niya internal disputes would it be for you, so that the union of the tsar and for-ro-yes was strengthened. The text of the ma-ni-fe-sta, pictures of the July ma-ni-fe-sta-tsy and mo-bi-li-za-tion, de-mon-stri-ru-yu-schi pat-ri- oh-ti-che-sky rise, appeared on the pages of newspapers and on open-airs.

One of them would have been photo-gra-fi from the West-Pe-ter-burg-sko-fo-to-gra-fa on-cha-la of the twentieth century Kar-la Bull-ly, someone can be seen at the present-day you-betting in the RSL. Soon-re to pho-to-gra-fi-che-sky from-open-cams to-ba-vis-lis-ri-co-van-nye images-ra-same-nia, av-to-ra-mi ko -something became the best hu-doge-no-ki of that time-me-no. It can be said that there is an open co-leader-yes-whether a military conflict in all of its pro-tye-zhe-nii.

At the beginning of the war, eight states of Europe were included in it: Germany and Austria-st-ro-Hungary against Ve-li- co-bri-ta-nii, France, Russia, Belgium, Serbia and Cher-no-go-rii. By the end of the war, most of the countries of the world were already involved in it: four states participated in the not av-st-ro-ger-man-sko-go block and 34 on the hundred-ro-not An-tan-you.

Il-lu-stri-ro-van-nye open-ki and other vi-zu-al-ny ma-te-ri-a-ly, especially ben-but in the first year of the war , at-look-but-know-mi-with the countries-on-mi-participants-no-ka-mi, representing the personalities of the kings and right-wi-te-lei, maps of Euro-ro-py, on-chi-o-nal flags and hymns, views of ob-moon-di-ro-va-niya sol-dat. On the postcards, you can see an interesting iso-hundred-ti-sti-ku: the number of on-se-le-tion and army, volume-e- we are bread-for-pas-owls. For example, on one of the cards-the-check on you-bet-ke-for-but how many lo-sha-days in Zhav: most of all from the side of Russia (33 million heads).

In the na-cha-le of the war, the hu-do-same-new in-tel-li-gen-tion for-whip-well-la wave-na pat-ri-o-tiz-ma. At the moment of the en-noy threat, make your contribution to the help of the ra-no-no-mu, convince the combatants in the is-to-ri- che-sky not-from-beige-but-sti about-is-ho-dya-shche-go, all-pourconfidence in in-be-de - all these for-da-chi ve-li-ko-lep-but re-sha-were hu-do-the-same-us-mi means-mi-pla -ka-ta.

The idea of ​​\u200b\u200b“Russian-go-on-qi-o-nal-no-go” became-la in the pla-ka-te especially-ben-but ak-tu-al-noy and breath-no-vi-la many some of the best zhi-vo-pi-tsev and gra-fi-kov. Among them are Ab-ram Ar-khipov, the brothers of Vas-not-tso-you, Ser-gei Vi-no-grad-dov, Kon-stan-tin Ko-ro-vin, Leo-nid Pa-ster-nak, Ig-na-tiy Ni-vin-sky and others. Many of them are ra-bo-ta-li without-a-way-mezd-but. One of them-they created a poster “To help the victims of the war” Leo-no-yes king. This poster in the form of an open can also be seen at the headquarters in the RSL - the image of then ti-ra-zhi-ro-va-liss one-but-time-men-but for pla-ka-t and open-current.

Not-ma-lo from-open-current would-lo-religiously-but also ra-bo-those b-go-tvo-ri-tel-nyh-or-ga-ni-za-tsy, number some-rykh in the years of war-us signified-chi-tel-but increased-whether-chi-moose. On-a-row with the su-stvo-vav-shi-mi of the Russian Red Cross and the Russian society of the Ze-le-no-go Cross, inoz-nick-lo many new, re-shav-shih lo-kal-nye for-da-chi. For example, Ko-mi-tet by the eye-for-help of the families of persons called to the war-well, Ko-mi-tet "Book - sol-yes -tu", Moscow-kov-sky ko-mi-tet for supplying ta-ba-com in-and-new re-do-outs in-zi-tsy.

Charity has become the task of not only zemstvos, special ko-mi-te-tov, communities, but also private individuals . Difficult to re-evaluate the thread and the contribution of co-mi-te-tov, acting-vav-shih under the protection of the members Im-pe-ra-tor-sko- go-ma, among-something-ryh would be Im-pe-ra-three-tsa Alexander Fe-do-rov-on and before-che-ri tsar. So, on one of the photo-gra-fi-che-cards-the-cheque for-pe-chat-len vi-zit Im-pe-ra-tri-tsy and Ve-li-ki-knya- zhon Ol-gi and Ta-tya-ny in the Tsar-sko-sel-sky courtyard-tso-vy la-za-ret.

On-a-row with re-a-li-sti-che-ski-mi and sa-ti-ri-che-ski-mi su-same-ta-mi in the open-kah I especially-buy on-load -ku carried al-le-go-ri-che-sky and sim-vo-li-che-images. Particularly so-der-zha-ni-em on-half-ni-las and the whole state-su-dar-stven-naya sym-vo-li-ka - two-headed eagle, three-color flag, signs of im-pe-ra-tor-sky power. They are with respect and love-view of the image-ra-zh-whether on the open-air.

In addition to that, the howl-forever-was-received-by-no-ma-shall on-kind-with-knowing-it as a my-sti-che-events - not about -a hundred battles between two hostile states, but the struggle began between Good and Evil. Is-ho-dya from such a trak-tov-ki, not-rarely voz-no-cal about-times of an enemy - the same-one-hundred-of-ver-ga, uni-what-mrs. -yu-sche-go on its way all living things. To fight with him, it’s not-rarely-to breath-new-la-whether about-ra-zy Russian gods-ga-you-ray and saints in-and-new - Dmitry Don-sko- go, Ge-or-gia Po-be-to-nose, ri-co-van-nye images of someone multiplied on popular ones from -covered-kah.

In the same place, from the current of the First World War, a significant place from the ve-de-but pra-in-glorious ve-re. In the conditions of the same hundred stra-da-ny and once-lu-ki mi-li-o-new se-mey faith in God strengthened-la-la spirit, in my opinion ha-la to-stay-but re-live howl-well. Pro-vo-zhaya on front of relatives, wives and ma-te-ri yes-wa-whether in-and-to us about-times-ki saints, b-go-words-la-li, go-rya-cho- were about the preservation of their lives. All this served to mo-ti-va-mi for opening. “The Lord will not leave the house of good-ro-go-on-and-on,” says one of the card-to-cheques, depicting a mountain no-tsu with mo-la-shche-sya sol-danish mother-te-ryu and enters-dya-sche-go into ok-but an-ge-la.

The higher powers are, in a way, both native in-and-new, and they themselves are on the battlefield. So, on the other hand, on the other hand, you can find confirmation from the funds of the RSL. Here comes the communication from the “Bir-same-ve-do-mo-stay” dated September 25-rya 1914: “After our step-step-le-niya, our officer with a whole po-lu-es-cad-ro-nom vi-del vi-de-nie . They've just ras-po-lo-zhi-lis on a bi-woo-a-ke. It was 11 o'clock ve-che-ra. Then, when-be-ga-et, row-do-howl with a surprised face and go-vo-rit: "You-she-so-bla-go-ro-die, go -those". R. went in a hand and suddenly sees in the sky the Mother of God with Jesus Christ on one hand, and the other hand decrees -va-yu-schey to the west. All the lower ranks are standing on knees and praying to the not-devil Po-kro-vi-tel-ni-tse. Therefore, this is a vision from me-ni-elk into a big cross and disappeared. After this rally, there was a big battle in the za-pa-de under Av-gu-sto-vym, I know-me-but-vav-she-e-sya big no matter what.

100 years ago, the Historical Museum began to collect everything related to the First World War. But it became possible to see unique exhibits and documents only now, a century after the start of the events that claimed the lives of millions of people and radically changed the political picture of the world.

Cannons and endless rows of barbed wire, whose deadly web will soon entangle the whole of Europe ... But when the secret telegram that the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary Archduke Franz Ferdinand, according to rumors, was killed in Sarajevo by a Serbian terrorist, was just sent, the world was still possible. A month will pass before the declaration of war. German ambitions will grow, they are marked in red on the world map.

"All the Baltic States for sure. Poland - for sure. Lithuania - for sure. Kyiv - for sure, you see? But as for northern Europe - the same thing. We see huge territories in Africa that Germany would like to have. We see China here We see America with you, so the ambitions were really very high," says Irina Zhuravskaya, curator of the exhibition.

On August 1, 1914, Germany will declare war on Russia, and the whole world will be drawn into the conflict, which, it seemed, was just waiting for an excuse to send troops to the front. As a result, Europe will be in ruins. More than twenty million will die. Four empires will disappear - Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman. And the soldiers will spend four long years in the trenches and will equip life. The British will warm themselves with home-made vests, the Russians will start making mugs from cartridge cases or armchairs from the butts of captured German rifles. And right in the trenches, try to upgrade weapons in order to survive in this meat grinder.

“An elongated butt, beveled down, and a special tool on the butt, which made it possible to mount a periscope. Thus, the shot was fired, and the soldier did not raise his head above the trench cut, that is, to some extent, this saved the life of the shooter,” shows one of the exhibits is Alexei Levykin, director of the State Historical Museum.

Warring armies devised ever more sophisticated methods of mass murder. Tanks appeared on the battlefields. There are also archival footage of the use of weapons of mass destruction - gas is sprayed along the front line. The soldiers do not yet know that they are already doomed.

Gas mask as a means of protection against poisonous gases. World War I put an end to romantic notions of war once and for all. For the first time, they were killed not with a bayonet in the stomach, but from three kilometers from a cannon or a bomb dropped from an airplane. Without seeing the eyes of the enemy. Anonymous war, nothing personal.

Fights - not only on land, but also at sea. Then torpedo boats and submarines were used for the first time, real air battles between aviators were going on in the sky. The British flew in special leather suits. They were supposed to protect from wind and cold in an open cabin. It was only aces who could carry out heavenly battles.

“It was very difficult to conduct a battle, because there were no such reliable and well-developed aviation systems for small arms machine guns that could operate by pressing a conventional trigger, which is located on the pilot’s handle, and which could shoot through the propeller of an aircraft,” explains Aleksey Levykin.

Newsreel footage: the last Russian emperor with headquarters officers is wearing a Circassian hat, which is now an exhibit of the Historical Museum. Next door in the museum showcases are dragoon drafts and the first automatic magazines. Bloomers of the Algerians, they fought on the side of the Allies, and helmets of German soldiers.

"As they called them -" pickelhilma "or" pickelhaube ". They were made of felt. And during the war, a cover was put on so that the sparkling detail would not give out. So the helmet was better preserved. Later they were made of felt in Germany, when power outages began leather and felt. Sometimes they made helmets pressed from potato peelings," says Andrey Matveev, a researcher at the State Historical Museum.

Artists were also sent to the front. Special order from Nicholas II - to draw all the Knights of St. George, in order to collect portraits of heroes in the Museum of the Great War after the victory. But this was not destined to happen. For Russia, four years of fighting were like a revolution. She gave birth to new heroes. It was not customary to talk about the courage of Russian soldiers and officers who fought in the war, which in Soviet textbooks was called nothing less than "imperialist". But even after a hundred years, they continue to watch from thousands of portraits and newsreels. Young, breasts in orders...

Exhibition “1914. May all of Russia rise to a feat of arms"
The historical and documentary inter-museum exhibition dedicated to the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War was held in seven halls of the Arsenal Square of the Gatchina Palace from September 24, 2014 to January 31, 2015.
About 500 items from private collections, museums and state archives are presented in seven halls of the palace, telling the story of the First World War.

The exhibition itself was conditionally divided into several parts, telling about the various sides of the conflict.

Visitors could get acquainted with the main allied blocs of states and talk about diplomatic relations between the countries.
Particular attention of the exhibition is drawn to the ammunition of the troops of the countries participating in the conflict. So, you can see the form and weapons of the Russian Empire, France, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the German Empire.

The exposition was complemented by original documents and military awards. The history of the medical support of the Russian Army was presented in a separate hall of the exhibition.

Messages are merged 24 Oct 2017, first edit time 24 Oct 2017

As Andrey Pavlov, senior scientific consultant of the exhibition, lecturer at St Petersburg University, said, this is the first time such a detailed and diverse exposition about the First World War has been assembled.
- Previously, there were no such complex expositions, and it is interesting that, while putting together this exhibition, without interacting with Moscow exhibitors (in Moscow, the exhibition opened at the State Historical Museum), we came up with the same idea - to present the war in a “section”, where different aspects would fit into the overall picture. We tried to show the war as a phenomenon not only of military strategy, but above all of politics. In general, the First World War is the first war in the history of mankind, where not monarchs fought with their armies, but peoples. The first major war, where such a huge amount of resources was involved, where European societies worked for the war, where all production was aimed at it.

Seven halls - seven themes that reveal the content of the war. Meetings of European politicians, actions of Tsar Nicholas II on the eve and during the First World War, military ranks, awards, printing during the years of battles (including posters, artistic lithography, postcards), military aviation, warfare, land and sea battles, creation The native army, the arrangement and operation of infirmaries, the participation of members of the royal family who worked in infirmaries during the war (in particular, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna), in rescuing the wounded - this is the focus of the exhibition. Those exhibits are presented that the viewer rarely saw: military ammunition, household items - an officer's camping bed, a stove, dishes, a brass washbasin, a chest for a regimental cash desk. Something exhibited in general for the first time - for example, the timpani of the Life Guards Cuirassier Regiment. An enlarged photograph from the Central State Film and Photo Archive of St. Petersburg (Karl Bulla's studio), where Her Majesty's Cavalry Cuirassier Regiment lined up on the parade ground against the backdrop of the Gatchina Palace, demonstrates the power and fighting spirit of the Russian army. It should be noted that it was in Gatchina that the first aviation courses in the country were opened before the war of 1914, the famous Ilya Muromets military aircraft were tested here, under the wings of which it was possible to install firearms.

France was Russia's main ally in this war. An interesting detail: 350 thousand helmets were produced in France for the soldiers of the Russian army. At the exhibition you can see these helmets, quite refined for their durability. The uniform of an officer of an infantry regiment of the Austrian army with shiny silver buttons also strikes with "foppery".

In fact, the knightly armor that was used by the soldiers of the enemy army - Germany, is surprising: these are cast-iron "aprons" that covered the entire front of the body - from the neck to the hips. The “horns” present on the German helmets are, it turns out, the screws on which the metal visors (helmets) were screwed onto the head. Leaning out of the trench, the soldier thus saved his head from bullets. True, a warrior’s neck simply broke from a tough meeting with a projectile, so helmets were practically not used. Since the war was often just trench warfare, daggers or even home-grown tools were often used - flails, brass knuckles, maces, clubs.

The First World War was very cruel and bloody, millions died, tens of millions of wounded, gas attacks were used for the first time in it, so every soldier had a necessary item in his backpack - a gas mask.

At the exhibition, you can see archival photographs related to the arrival in Russia on the eve of the war of the heads of European states, primarily French President Raymond Poincaré, in 1915 - General P. Poe, which depict meetings, meetings, military parades and exercises, visits of French officers to Russian front. Beautiful color chromolithographs from the Hermitage show in detail details of battles on land, at sea and in the air. Such exhibits are also impressive - large red crosses on the bags, on the white aprons of the sisters of mercy. This has its own aesthetics of the First World War ...

The exhibition leaves a strong impression, as it makes you feel the unity of the nation, connect the events of a century ago with the present troubled time, build your own analogies.

At the same time, an exhibition of one exhibit “To the August fellow soldier ...” was opened in the Gatchina Palace - the broadsword of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, presented to him by officers of the Life Guards of Her Majesty's Cuirassier Regiment (blue cuirassiers) in 1909. The broadsword is a "descendant" of the knight's sword and, due to its size and bulkiness, already in the 19th century it was not used in the army, but only in peacetime at parades. The presented broadsword was made in 1909 in St. Petersburg by the craftsmen of the Shaf and Sons company.

Both exhibitions will run until January 31, 2015.