Sacred and Mythological Aspect of the Combat Experience of Russian Soldiers in 1914-1915
Евгений Сергеевич Голованов
IZVESTIYA VUZOV SEVERO-KAVKAZSKII REGION SOCIAL SCIENCE March 26, 2026 DOI: 10.18522/2687-0770-2026-1-69-80 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Russian Army soldiers during the initial period of the First World War (1914-1915) |
| Key points | Argues that Russian soldiers' wartime religious beliefs formed a syncretic, pragmatic system in which icons, crosses, psalms, and apocryphal prayers functioned as practical protection and as tests of divine patronage, with collective visions and miraculous-rescue stories confirming that system. The author contends that this mythological worldview was socially differentiated, contrasting mass mythologization with officer rationalism, and that it depended on repeated confirmation through personal survival, eroding as military failures mounted. |
Abstract
This article examines the sacred and mythological aspects of the combat experience of Russian Army soldiers during the initial period of the First World War (1914-1915). The focus is on the process of transformation of traditional religious ideas into a syncretic system that performed the functions of psychological adaptation and mobilization of the individual in extreme conditions. Based on the concept of religious pragmatism by W. James, the mechanisms by which sacred objects (icons, pectoral crosses) and texts (psalms, apocryphal prayers) acquired a functional character are examined, turning into instruments of practical protection and means of empirical verification of the idea of Divine patronage. The article attempts to reconstruct the hierarchy of front-line beliefs: from official ecclesiastical symbols to folk magical practices and talismans. Based on a wide range of ethnographic and archival sources, the article analyzes the phenomena of collective visions and stories of miraculous rescues, which served as confirmation for combatants of the official commitment to divine protection. Particular attention is given to the social differentiation of frontline consciousness, expressed in the contrast between the mass mythologization of experience and the rationalism of the officer corps. It is concluded that the stability of this mythological system depended on regular confirmation of personal survival through facts. The changing nature of war and the increase in military failures led to the gradual deprecation of this worldview and its replacement by other explanatory models.