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Abstract
Researchers have focused on the influence of cultural mobilisation on the population of a belligerent state. Yet, such mobilisation can spread abroad, affecting foreigners who sympathise with the goals of military campaigns led by other nations. For example, the Boer cultural mobilisation during the South African War of 1899–1902 led to the self-mobilisation of foreign volunteers, including Russian adolescents. The pro-Boer messages originating in the South African republics were internalised by other cultures. Although the initial impulse comes from the belligerent nation, cultural mobilisation can have a transnational dimension, defined and developed by its agents in their own countries.
Acknowledgements
The author thanks Dr Louis Venter, War Museum of the Boer Republics (Bloemfontein, South Africa), and historian and literary historian Dr Boris Ravdin (Riga, Latvia) for the materials they provided.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Apollon Davidson and Irina Filatova, The Russians and the Anglo-Boer War 1899–1902 (Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1995), 207–22.
2 Ibid., 45.
3 Alexander Okorokov, Russkiye dobrovoltsy (Moscow: Yauza, Exmo, 2007), 20–5, 38.
4 Davidson and Filatova, 23–4.
5 Boris Gorelik, ed., A Russian on Commando: The Boer War Experiences of Yevgeny Avgustus (Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball Publishers, 2022), xvii–xviii.
6 Gennady Shubin et al., eds, Anglo-burskaya voyna 1899–1902 godov glazami rossiyskih poddannyh, vol. 9 (Moscow: Izdatel I.B. Belyi, 2012), 6, 261–3.
7 The term ‘teenager’ is anachronistic. The word is used in this paper as a synonym of ‘adolescent’, to avoid repetition of the latter noun.
8 Fransjohan Pretorius, The A to Z of the Anglo-Boer War (Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2010), 183.
9 Yevgeny Mar, Chelovek iz pesni. Rasskazy o geroye grazhdanskoy voyny Anatolii Zheleznyakove (Moscow: Gosudarstvennoye izdatelstvo detskoy literatury, 1963), 10; ‘Razniye raznosti’, Nedelya, 7 November 1899; Ryazanets [Anatoly Polovtsov], ‘Sochuvstviye detey buram’, Moskovskiye vedomosti, 5 (18) April 1900; Piotr Szlanta, ‘Opinia publiczna Królestwa Polskiego wobec wojny burskiej (1899–1902)’, Przegląd Historyczny 91, no. 4 (2000), 542.
10 V.I. Romeiko-Gurko, Voyna Anglii s Yuzhno-Afrikanskimi respublikami 1899–1901 gg. (Saint Petersburg: Voyenno-Uchetnyi Komitet Glavnogo Shtaba, 1901), 62–3.
11 Douglas Story, The Campaign with Kuropatkin (London: T Werner Laurie, 1904), 255.
12 The first major work elaborating on this concept is John Horne, ed., State, Society and Mobilization in Europe during the First World War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).
13 John Horne, ‘End of a paradigm? The cultural history of the Great War,’ Past & Present 242, no. 1 (2019), 160, 167; Andrea Fava, ‘War, “national education” and the Italian primary school, 1915–1918’, in State, Society and Mobilization in Europe, 54; Catriona Pennell and Filipe Ribeiro de Menses, Introduction to A World at War, 1911–1949: Explorations in the Cultural History of War, ed. by Catriona Pennell and Filipe Ribeiro de Menses (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2019), 7, 11.
14 Vincent Stolk, Willeke Los and Sjoerd Karsten, ‘Education as cultural mobilisation: The Great War and its effects on moral education in the Netherlands’, Paedagogica Historica: International Journal of the History of Education 50, no. 5 (2014), 687.
15 Shubin et al., eds, vol. 7, 232–3, 241, 383; vol. 8, 32, 71–2, 342–3.
16 ‘Izvestiya’, Moskovsky listok, 21 July 1902; ‘Korrespondetsiya’, Novoye vremya, 27 January 1902; ‘Provintsialny dnevnik’, Rossiya 14, no. 26 (February 1900); ‘Razniye novosti’, Nedelya, 10 October 1899; ‘Razniye raznosti’, Nedelya, 7 November 1899; Ryazanets [Anatoly Polovtsov], ‘Sochuvstviye detey buram’, Moskovskiye vedomosti 5, no. 18 (April 1900).
17 Ruby J. Martinez, ‘Understanding runaway teens’, Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing 19, no. 2 (2006), 85.
18 Don-Aminado, Poyezd na tretyem puti (New York: Izdatelstvo im. Chekhova, 1954), 11; Gennady Shubin et al., eds, Anglo-burskaya voyna 1899–1902 godov glazami rossiyskih poddannyh, vol. 11 (Moscow: Izdatel I.B. Belyi, 2012), 104; ‘Izvestiya’, Moskovsky listok, 21 July 1902; Yevgeny Mar, Chelovek iz pesni. Rasskazy o geroye grazhdanskoy voyny Anatolii Zheleznyakove (Moscow: Gosudarstvennoye izdatelstvo detskoy literatury, 1963), 10; Piotr Szlanta, ‘Long distance solidarity: Polish public opinion and the Boer War 1899–1902’, Werkwinkel 12, no. 1 (2017), 56–7; ‘Provintsialny dnevnik’, Rossiya 14, no. 26 (February 1900); ‘Razniye novosti’, Nedelya, 10 October 1899.
19 Shubin et al., eds, vol. 11, 104; ‘Razniye raznosti’, Nedelya, 7 November 1899; А.М. ‘Vospominaniya ob anglo-burskoy voyne’, Na perelome 3, (1943), 26; Piotr Szlanta, ‘Long distance solidarity: Polish public opinion and the Boer War 1899–1902’, Werkwinkel 12, no. 1 (2017), 56–7.
20 Shubin et al., eds, vol. 7, 232–233, 241, 383; vol. 8, 71–2.
21 I.G. Ehrenburg, Sobraniye sochineniy, vol. 3 (Moscow: Hudozhestvennaya literatura, 1991), 445.
22 For a description of a degrading punishment suffered by pro-Boer runways after their capture: Don-Aminado, 11.
23 Szlanta, 56–7.
24 Kolce, 27 November 1899, 4.
25 ‘Izvestiya’, Moskovsky Listok, 21 July 1902.
26 Stephanie Brooks Holliday, Maria Orlando Edelen and Joan S. Tucker, ‘Family functioning and predictors of runaway behavior among at-risk youth’, Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal 34, no. 3 (2017), 247; Martinez, 79.
27 Laurie Schaffner, Teenage Runaways: Broken Hearts and ‘Bad Attitudes’ (Abingdon; New York: Routledge, 2013), 5–6, 17; Joan S. Tucker et al., ‘Running away from home: A longitudinal study of adolescent risk factors and young adult outcomes’, Journal of Youth and Adolescence 40, no. 5 (2011), 508.
28 Alexander, Grand Duke of Russia, Once a Grand Duke (New York: Cosmopolitan Book Corporation, Farrar & Rinehart, 1932), 26.
29 Ken Libertoff, ‘The runaway child in America: A social history,’ Journal of Family Issues 1, no. 2 (1980), 151–2.
30 A.P. Chekhov, Polnoye sobraniye sochineniy i pisem. Sochineniya, vol. 16 (Moscow: Nauka, 1979), 236.
31 A.P. Chekhov, Polnoye sobraniye sochineniy i pisem. Pisma, vol. 5 (Moscow: Nauka, 1977), 224.
32 F.V. Kuvshinov, ‘Tema Afriki v russkoy literature pervoy treti 20 veka’, Vestnik Voronezhskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. Seriya: Filologiya. Zhurnalistika 2, (2015), 45.
33 A.T. Averchenko, Sobraniye sochineniy, vol. 5 (Moscow: Dmitriy Sechin, 2012), 207–8.
34 V[asily] R[ozano]v, ‘Poputniye zametki’, Novoye vremya 14, no. 26 (November 1899), 4.
35 See, for example, A Russian on Commando, 7, 62, 85.
36 A Russian on Commando, 152, 154, 161, 165, 169, 170.
37 Davidson and Filatova, 183–90.
38 Ibid., 179–80.
39 Ibid., 180–1.
40 For example, in December 1899, the Kharkov Municipal Council authorised naming three streets in a new suburb after General Piet Joubert, President Paul Kruger and the Transvaal itself: ‘Russkaya pechat’, Novosti i Birzhevaya Gazeta 5, no. 17 (December 1899), 2. The latter name, Transvaalskaya St, could still be found on city maps seventy years later.
41 Davidson and Filatova, 177.
42 Volna, ‘S beregov Nevy’, Moskovskiye Vedomosti, 2 December 1900, 3; Davidson and Filatova, 177–8. Dozens of books and pamphlets on the South African War that came out in the Russian Empire in 1900 appear on the official list of Russian publications for that year: Spisok izdaniy, vyshedshikh v Rossii v 1900 godu (Saint Petersburg: Tipografiya ministerstva vnutrennikh del, 1901).
43 Leonid Andreyev, Polnoye sobraniye sochineniy i pisem, vol. 13 (Moscow: Nauka, 2014), 82–3; Yury Dmitriev, Russkiy tsirk (Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1953), 192–3; Vladimir Lidin, ‘Ulitsa moyego detstva’, Smena 7, (1947), 422; Vladimir Mikhailov, Rasskazy o kinematografe staroy Moskvy (Moscow: Materik, 2003), 23; Nikolai Shebuyev, Negativy. Felyetony iz ‘Russkogo slova’ i ‘Novostey dnya’ (Moscow: M.A. Drobyshev, 1903), 204–5.
44 Bury i anglichane (Saint Petersburg: Tipografiya Doma prizreniya maloletnikh bednykh, 1900), 3; Anastasiya Tsvetaeva, ‘Iz proshlogo’, Noviy mir 1, (1966), 81.
45 Russian State Historical Archive, fonds 1654, series 1, reference 2042, 227 reverse.
46 Jan Gebethner, Młodość wydawcy (Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1977), 82.
47 L.A. Petukhov, ‘Obraz Velikobritanii v rossiyskom obshestvennom mnenii v period anglo-burskoy voiny (1899–1902 gg.)’ (PhD diss., State Academic University for the Humanities, Moscow, 2009), 199.
48 See, for example: ‘Bury’, Tovarishch 10, (1900), 172–4; ‘Dyadya Pavel. Biografiya odnogo zamechatelnogo cheloveka’, Zadushevnoye slovo 22, (1899), 340–6; Emiliya Pimenova, ‘Dve voyny’, Yuniy chitatel, 15 December 1900, 147–51.
49 Horne, Introduction to State, Society and Mobilization in Europe, 6; Stolk, Los and Karsten, 705.
50 For an analysis of the First World War coverage in contemporary Russian periodicals for young readers: Ben Hellman, ‘Mobilizatsiya detey: voennaya tematika v zhurnalah dlya detey i yunoshestva perioda Pervoy mirovoy voyny’, in Politika i poetika: russkaya literatura v istoriko-kulturnom kontekste Pervoy mirovoy voyny. Publikatsii, issledovaniya i materialy (Moscow: Gorky Institute of World Literature, 2014), 745–7.
51 Bury i anglichane (Saint Petersburg: Tipografiya Doma prizreniya maloletnikh bednykh, 1900), 5.
52 ‘Voyna v Transvaale’, Zadushevnoye slovo 33, (1901), 129; E. Pimenova, ‘Priroda i lyudi Afriki’, Yuniy chitatel, 1 October 1900, 150–1.
53 ‘Transvaal’, Vskhody, 1 November 1899, 759.
54 Yury Smolich, Detstvo (Moscow: Gosudarstvennoye izdatelstvo hudozhestvennoy literatury, 1937), 7.
55 ‘Yuniy burofil’, Zabaykalye 61, (1902), 3.
56 Schaffner, 95, 140.
57 ‘Bury—v detskoy’, Zadushevnoye slovo 16, (1900), 63.
58 Bury i anglichane (Saint Petersburg: Tipografiya Doma prizreniya maloletnikh bednykh, 1900), 22; Emiliya Pimenova, ‘Voyna boerov s anglichanami’, Yuniy chitatel, 6 November 1899, 1262; ‘Transvaal’, Vskhody, 1 November 1899, 758; ‘Voyna anglichan s burami’, Zadushevnoye slovo 2, (1900), 2.
59 Viktor Shklovsky, ‘Piter Marits—yuniy bur iz Transvaalya’, Detskaya literatura 10, (1940), 52.
60 Martinez, 77, 80, 141; Schaffner, 142, 147.
61 ‘Transvaal’, Rodnik 11, (1899), 461.
62 ‘Voyna anglichan s burami’, Zadushevnoye slovo 2, (1900), 2.
63 Fransjohan Pretorius, Life on Commando during the Anglo-Boer War 1899–1902 (Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1999), 237–8.
64 ‘Bury-malchiki na voyne’, Zadushevnoye slovo 15, (1900), 63.
65 August Niemann, Piter Marits, molodoy bur iz Transvaalya (Saint Petersburg: A.F. Devrien, 1900).
66 August Niemann, Pieter Maritz: Opowiadanie z dziejów walki o niepodległość Transwalu (Warszawa: Nakład Gebethnera i Wolffa, 1900).
67 Konstantin Paustovsky, Sobraniye sochineniy, vol. 4 (Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya literatura, 1982), 44; Shklovsky, 52.
68 Kurt Wildenstein, Dolf—geroy bur. Prikljucheniya i opasnosti molodogo nemtsa vo vremya posledney voyny (Saint Petersburg: F. Bitepazh, 1900); Kurt Wildenstein, Bohater z pod Spionskopu. Powieść osnuta na tle ostatniej wojny burów z anglikami (Warszawa: M. Arct, 1900).
69 Louis Boussenard, Kapitan Łamigłowa, wódz Boerów: Niezwykłe przygody młodego ochotnika w wojnie południowo-afrykańskiej (Warszawa, 1902).
70 Quoted in Hellman, ‘Mobilizatsiya detey: voennaya tematika v zhurnalah dlya detey i yunoshestva perioda Pervoy mirovoy voyny’, 747.
71 P. Levashov, ‘Krestyanskoye gosudarstvo’, Vskhody 3, (1900), 97; ‘Transvaal’, Rodnik 11, (1899), 461.
72 Translated from G. Galina, Stikhotvoreniya (Saint Petersburg: Tipolitografiya M.I. Troyanskogo, 1902), 159–61.
73 Transvaal. Sbornik pesen (Moscow: Izdatelstvo Maximova, 1905), 6–7.
74 Yury Dmitriyev, Russkiy tsirk (Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1953), 192–193; Ryazanets [Anatoly Polovtsov], ‘Sochuvstviye detey buram’, Moskovskiye vedomosti 5, no. 18 (April 1900).
75 Y. Komarov [Bronislav Sosinsky], ‘Transvaal’, Novoselye 26, (1946), 96.
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Boris Gorelik
Boris Gorelik lives in Moscow and specialises in the history of cross-cultural encounters and interactions between Russia and South Africa. His books, published in Russia, South Africa and the United Kingdom, include The Past and Current Russian Immigration to South Africa (2007) and ‘An Entirely Different World’: Russian Visitors to the Cape 1797–1870 (2015). His latest book is A Russian on Commando: The Boer War Experiences of Yevgeny Avgustus (2022).