Lessons of History: Appealing to the Experience of the Crimean War on the Pages of the Military Press during the Revolutionary Crisis of 1905–1907

Abstract

An attempt is undertaken to analyze the controversy that unfolded among Russian officers around the results of the Russo–Japanese War. In the context of the stated topic, special attention is paid to the consideration of the discussion participants’ appeals to the experience of the Crimean War and its historical memory. The comparison of these two military conflicts seemed very relevant to contemporaries owing to the similar historical context and their results, disappointing for Russia. However, while the defeat in the Crimean War, according to the ideas established in the historical memory of that time, covered Russian weapons with glory, in the events of the war in the Far East, contemporaries found little reason to console wounded national pride. After all, this time Russia was defeated not by a powerful European coalition but by an Asian country that until recently had not been perceived as an equal subject in international relations. In addition to heroic mythology, the memory of the Crimean War was also closely linked with the subsequent Great Reforms of Emperor Alexander II. The hope for national revival, which was supposed to begin after the humiliating defeat that clearly demonstrated the internal crisis, was the pragmatic political meaning of turning to the memory of the Crimean War for many Russian officers who survived the Russo–Japanese War.