The Report of the Council of Russian Association of the First World War Historians (RAFWWH) of its activity since June 2011 till February 2013

The Report of the Council of Russian Association of the First World War Historians (RAFWWH) of its activity since June 2011 till February 2013

1. Scientific and organizational activity:

The Council of Association includes:

The president – Doctor of History, Professor E.Yu. Sergeyev

Vice-presidents – Candidate of Historical Sciences, captain D. Yu. Kozlov; Doctor of History, Professor V. V. Romanov, Doctor of History, Professor V. K. Shatsillo, Candidate of Historical Sciences G. D. Shkundin

The Assistant to the President – Doctor of History S.V. Listikov;

The Executive Secretary – – Candidate of Historical Sciences V. V. Tikhonov

 For last one and a half years six meetings of the Council of the Association have taken place with an average frequency of one meeting in three-four months.

Various questions of the current activity were discussed on them, including: organization and holding of conferences and round tables; printing activity; maintenance and development of the website of the Association; implementation of contacts with field-specific associations of historians, public organizations and philanthropic foundations both in Russia and abroad.

As a positive tendency an increase of the members of the Association by 10 people (up to 80) should be noted as well as an increase of Internet users interest to information about the Association, thanks to opening and maintenance of its website.

A lot of work in this direction is carried out by the Executive Secretary of Association V. V. Tikhonov.

It is offered to introduce the dean of the school of International relations of the St. Petersburg University, Doctor of History, Professor Irina Nikolaevna Novikova in the structure of the Board on the position of a vice-president in order to strengthen the connections of the Association with major scientific and educational centers of the Russian Federation.

 2. Holding of conferences, round tables and seminars:

 During the reporting period members of Association have taken part in the organization and carrying out twelve scientific forums, including the international and Russian national conferences, round tables and seminars in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaluga, Yekaterinburg, Perm, and also in Ukraine, in Serbia and Italy.

The most significant among them by their rank and by number of participants were:

 – The international military and historical festival "An Echo of the Great war. To the 95th anniversary of Brusilov’s breakthrough" in Lutsk (Ukraine), June 1-4, 2011;

 – The international presentation of the collection of articles "Versailles-Washington system of international relations and international law: emergence, development and crisis, 1919-1939" in embassy of the Republic of Poland (Moscow, June 29, 2011);

 – The 2nd international conference "The First World War, Versailles System and Contemporary World " at school of the international relations of the St. Petersburg State University (October 7-8, 2011);

 – The international conference " The First World War and Balkan Region" in Belgrade (Serbia, December 6-8, 2011);

 – The international presentation of the first volume of research articles "The peoples of the Habsburg monarchy in 1914-1920: from national movements to creation of the national states" in embassy of the Republic of Poland (Moscow, April 23, 2012);

– The round table "June offensive of armies of the South-Western front in 1917: actual problems of a historiography, results and lessons" at Institute for Military History (Moscow, May 30, 2012);

 – The seminar "Actual problems of the history of the First World War" in Kaluga State University (Kaluga, May 10, 2012);

• Round tables "Actual problems of history of World War I" in Uralsk Federal University and the Perm State Pedagogical University (Yekaterinburg, June 5 and 9, 2012);

 – The international conference "Russia, Italy and Austria in World War I. Tyrolean memory" in the Russian Cultural Center (Merano, Italy, June 20-23, 2012);

 – The international conference "Russian journalism and periodicals of an era of World War I: policy and poetics" in the Institute for World Literature, Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, November 1-2, 2012);

 – The international conference "Disabled soldiers and World War I: historical and moral lessons" in State Historical Museum together with International Independent University of Environmental and Political Sciences (IIUEPS) (Moscow, November 29-30, 2012).

3. Scientific and printing activity

 The Council of Association together with Kvadriga Publishing House exerted reasonable efforts for the sake of emerging of the "Almanac of RAHWWI". In October, 2011 pilot issue of "Almanac" was published.

Collections of articles and reports of the Association members on some abovementioned international conferences were prepared for an edition.

 For 2011-2012 many members of Association managed to publish the research works dedicated to origins, history and consequences of World War I. Among them one should note monographs of S. N. Bazanov, I.B. Belovoy, D.Yu. Kozlov and O.S. Porshnevoy.

It should be noted that Association’s Council have established close cooperation with editorial boards of such chief scientific magazines, as "Modern and Contemporary History", "The Russian history", "Magazine of Military History", "Slavic Studies", "Science and Life" and others. We are ready to give support to those our colleagues who seek to publish results of the researches on the pages of these and other reputable editions.

 But the main task of Association remains a preparation for an edition of the encyclopedic dictionary "The First World War" (by volume of 60 press sheets). Russkiy Mir Foundation provides the financing, and the publication will be carried out in the Moscow Publishing House "Whole World". Term: May 1, 2014.

 4. Communications with scientific centers of the Russian Federation and with public

 Members of Association closely cooperate not only with leading academic institutes – Institute for Russian History, Institute for Slavistics and Institute for History of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science, but also with many scientific and scientific educational institutions of the Russian Federation. It is enough to mention universities of Moscow, St-Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Ryazan, Kaluga, the Orel, Tambov, Volgograd, Saratov, Yekaterinburg, Perm, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Ussuriisk.

Besides, we are in contact with museum staff members of the State Historical Museum, the Museum of Modern History, the State Hermitage, Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Preserve, museums of local lore of Arkhangelsk, Tambov, Samara, Kaluga and others.

 An important place in our activity is taken by establishment of communications with the Russian public. For last period as it had already been noted, the Council of Association established a close contact with Russkiy Mir Foundation, charity foundation of the former governor of the Yaroslavl region, nowadays the deputy of the State Duma A.I. Lisitsyn according to the “Memory of the Fatherland, 1914-1918” Program, the Centre of Russian National Glory, Andrey Pervozvanny Foundation, Charity foundation of the Marfo-Mariinsky monastery, and also with the recreated now Russian Society for Military History.

 The announcement by the President of the Russian Federation of August 1 as a the First World War  Commemoration Day, and also creation of the governmental commission in which structure E.Yu. Sergeyev as the president of Association is included have become a pleasant event of the last time.

5. International contacts

International contacts had played an important part of the Association’s activity.

We can state with satisfaction a fruitful cooperation with the German Historical Institute in Moscow, Society of enthusiast of military history in Italy, Society of protection of military memorials of Austria "Black cross", Uzhansky national park of the Zakarpatian area of Ukraine, universities of London, Aberdeen, Budapest, Washington, Poznan, Torun and others.

The Association develops contacts with two public organizations in Ukraine: Association of scouts "Galitskaya Rus" (Lviv) and "The Russian cultural center of V. S. Chernomyrdin" (Lutsk).

Perhaps, one of the most noticeable achievements in the period under consideration is an establishment of contact with The International Collective for Research and Debate on the First World War I (CRID), whose president have expressed sincere aspiration to realization of a joint celebration program of the 100-years anniversary of the beginning of the Great war. It hasn't succeeded to develop these communications to the right degree yet, however we are hoping for strengthening of contacts with the European colleagues in the forthcoming years. Besides, a restoration of communications with the American Association for the First World War Studies is in our plans. It would be good to enter into closer contacts also with colleagues from the Balkan countries, Turkey, Armenia and even Australia.

6. Development of electronic resources. Radio- and telecasts.

The website of Association “www.rusasww1” exists since 2010. Its content includes excerpts from the Charter, the list of members, summary of Association activity from the moment of its establishment in 1991, the list of the most significant publications and data on the current activity.

Though continuous administration of the site demands considerable efforts, we assume to expand and update further its content, to establish new links, and also to pay more close attention for the English-language version.

 Besides a site, it is supposed to turn more attention to on-line publications, in particular, on the pages of on-line journal "Istoriya" which is administered by the Institute for World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

 So, we plan to prepare the thematic issue of the journal devoted to the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I up to the middle of 2014.

 At last, a number of our colleagues – members of the Association participate actively in the international Internet projects together with historians of Europe, Turkey, the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia.

 Recently radio- and TV channels have started to demonstrate a considerable interest to expert activity of the Association. In particular, on December 1 Ekho Moskvy radio station broadcast on the subject of "Unknown Pages of World War I" took place in which E.Yu. Sergeyev participated. TV Center and the Russia-1 Channel begin the production of  the documentary "Heroic Defense of Osovetsky Fortress" with involvement of experts – our colleagues from the Association. Other projects are in prospect.

7. Problems

 So detailed narration of our achievements doesn't mean that there were no omissions or defects in the activity of the Association and its Council.

 First of all, it would be desirable to note that, despite increase in number of members of the Association, there is still a problem of involvement of new members in its ranks, especially young one’s though one should note to be fair, that not all researchers share aspiration of our Association to see them in its ranks.

Hereafter, there are a lot of objective and subjective problems with the organization and holding of conferences, from which insufficient financing is principal. The same concerns also printing activity as one can see with the example of Association’s “Almanac” and collections of articles of its participants terms of issue prolongation . That led us to task of activation of contacts with various funds and sponsors, considering increase of public interest to the history of the Great, and for Russia – the Second Patriotic war.

The Council of Association would like also to strengthen regular exchange of information between the capital and regions concerning the held arrangements, new publications and all public initiatives connected with preservation of the memory of the First World War.

8. Activity prospects.

 Speaking about the Association prospects from the point of view of its Council, it is necessary to concentrate our attention on elaboration and fulfillment of the Program of preparation to celebration of the 100th anniversary of World War I for 2012-2018.

 I believe that today we can discuss proposals of the members of the Association concerning the content of this program.

 Listing the most significant scientific actions which will take place in 2013-2014, it should be named:

 – The round table "Origins of World War I: new approaches" on April 10, 2013 (the venue will be specified);

 – The round table "Moonzund battle in October 1917" (The Institute for Military History, May, 2013, date will be specified);

 – The international meeting of search groups of East European countries (May-June, 2013, Volhynia, Ukraine) (the exact place and date will be specified);

 – The international colloquium " Warfare on an individual scale " in St. Petersburg on June 17-20, 2013. (The St. Petersburg Institute for History, Russian Academy of Sciences together with the European university);

 – The third international conference "The First World War, Versailles System and Contemporary World " in St. Petersburg, October 10-12, 2013, where Association acts as a coordinator;

 – The international exhibition "World War I in Historical Destinies of Russia" (March-April, 2014);

 – The international bus memorial trip along the route: Trieste – Gorition – Peremyshl – Budapest – Trieste (May – June, 2014);

 – An opening of the Museum of World War I in Tsarskoye Selo (August 1, 2014);

 – Large international conference in the Institute for World History, Russian Academy of Sciences planned for the beginning of September, 2014 (exact terms will be specified).

 Besides, according to available information both the state structures and many scientific centers of the Russian Federation are planning to hold the international conferences with problematic under consideration.

Certainly, our foreign partners also will not stand aside. Major conferences are planned in Germany, Austria, France, Great Britain and Italy.

 It is obvious that further work on perpetuating of the memory of the war in cooperation with searchers and charity foundations is necessary. Finally we have to seek for creation of the Central memorial of the First World War in Moscow, probably, on a place of the Brotherly cemetery around the Sokol metro station.

 The organization of military and tourist activity in cooperation with large travel agencies could become a new aspect of Association’s activity.

Within the programme of anniversary actions it is necessary to provide an organization of a series of radio- and telecasts via one of federal channels on scope of World War I.

 It would be possible to consider the carrying out of competitions and delivery of awards for the best historical works and popular scientific works, literary works and arts, and even cinematography with World War I problematic in course of anniversary celebrations of 2014-2018.

 I believe that the list of the possible directions of our perspective activity is by far not exhausted. Council of Association waits for offers from you, dear members of the Association.

 In the conclusion I suggest to appraise the work of the Council and RAFWWH activity for the reporting period of 2009-2010 as satisfactory.

President of RAFWWH, Doctor of History, professor E.Yu. Sergeyev

Conference of the members of RAFWWH

Moscow, Institute for World History, Russian Academy of Sciences, Room 1406, February 18, 2013.

Автор: E.Yu. Sergeyev | Дата добавления: 2013-09-27 | Просмотров: 2819