What Russia was like in 1915 (PHOTOS)
World War I, the everyday life of the tsar’s family and views of the Russian Empire. These images capture a country that no longer exists.
A decade after the end of the Russo-Japanese War had passed, Russia entered another war, World War I.
This was perhaps the first war to be captured in such detail on photographic film.
Pictures of soldiers in trenches appeared…
…as well as discussion of weaponry and examination of explosive devices.
And below is a mobile theater of a regiment.
Below, Russian soldiers are poking fun and making a snowman to look like their enemy, a German soldier doing the ‘heil’ salute.
Priests blessing the army before the battle were also captured on film. As well as conducting a Christmas prayer service, as in the photo below.
Even aviators were captured on film.
The photo below depicts George Mewes on an airship. This Brit worked for the ‘Daily Mirror’ newspaper in London and was authorized as the official photographer of the Russian Imperial Army.
In particular, Mewes took this photo of a field kitchen.
As well as one of General Alexey Brusilov.
Emperor Nicholas II, meanwhile, took an active part in the hostilities. He himself often traveled to the front line.
In these years, the tsar can often be seen in military uniform. By the way, he was often accompanied by his son and heir to the throne, Tsarevich Alexei.
‘Sisters of Mercy’ courses became very popular and many girls graduated and began caring for the wounded.
The empress and her eldest daughters also became sisters of mercy.
While hospitals for officers were set up in imperial palaces in St. Petersburg, the empress and her daughter even helped treat wounds (as in the photo below).
Mobilization Commission in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg). Read why the city changed its name during World War I here.
During the war, charity flourished in the Russian Empire. The whole country was raising money and stuff for the needs of the front and soldiers. The photo below shows one of such fundraising campaigns in the Urals city of Miass.
Meanwhile, the Russian avant-garde art reached its peak. The main event of 1915 is Kazimir Malevich's ‘Black Square’, presented for the first time to the public at an avant-garde exhibition (and hanging in the “red corner”, where a religious icon was usually placed in houses).
This time was also marked by the heyday of Vladimir Mayakovsky's creativity (in the photo below, he is pictured with his muse and mistress, Lilya Brik).
Faces of the era. A group portrait of female gymnasium students.
Views of Russia. A market in downtown Nizhny Novgorod.
A panoramic view of the Spassky Monastery in Arzamas, not far from Nizhny Novgorod.
A couple pose in front of their wooden mansion in Moscow.
Crimea. Pictured are streets near the Khan's Palace in Bakhchisaray.
An elephant gets fed in the St. Petersburg Zoo.
A woman of a new formation. Below, the wife of Andrei Nagel, editor of the ‘Automobile’ magazine, is pictured with her car in front of the Winter Palace in Petrograd.
