I really like to learn about varying people and figures that seem to have been forgotten in History. This term my grad school class was: Russian Revolution. My paper for the term was: Women's Death Battalion. These women were very interesting to read about. Below you will find excerpts from the paper that I turned in so that you can read about them too!
With the overthrow of the
Tsar regime, Russia had started to create a climate that involved major social
change. This would impact women in the military. As we have learned from
previous readings, the time from the March and October Revolutions caused
things to happen quickly. The shift from Imperial Russia – that preferred
autocratic order, patriarchy, privilege, and a class system to the complex mix
of labor reform, women’s rights, land sharing, civil rights, and bread for
masses. Women went from hiding their gender to enlist to be able to join the
Women’s Death Battalion that was led by a peasant girl.
The Revolution brought forth a lot of change for Russian
women. They were now afforded other
opportunities than just being a mother or the wife of a noble. They were now
being offered the chance of higher education. Once the Revolution started the
classes started to work together to keep the forward movement. Women were now
seeking opportunities that they had previously only dreamed about. The creation
of the Women’s Death Battalion would instill hope again in the weary, tired
soldiers of World War I. These women were brave and were able to push past the
enemies when their male counterparts would not.
Maria Bochkareva, is a most significant figures of the Russian
Revolution that is overlooked for her place in history. She grew up as an
illiterate, poor, peasant girl. She overcame these odds, to become commander of
the Women’s Death Battalion. She fought hard and brave. She eluded capture by
the Bolsheviks by going to the United States. She eventually returned, was
captured and was executed. While historians have touched on her in passing, but
have not given her the credit she deserves. To tell the story of the Women’s
Death Battalion it is important to also know the story of Maria Bochkareva. Knowing
her plight and her story helps one to understand the creation of Women’s Death
Battalion.
.
Laurie S. Stoff in her work “They fought for the
Motherland: Russia’s Women Soldiers in World War I and the Revolution” notes
that the all-female military units are often a subject that is scorned then a
serious scholarly study.
During the time of the formation of the
Women’s Death Battalion, The Russian Army was starting to be demoralized. They
were running out of food, water, and gear. While they were hoping everything to
change after the collapse of Nicholas II. However, even Kerensky could not
rouse up the troops. Kerensky resorted to unconventional methods. “The
formation of “revolutionary” units including special “shock” detachments and
“battalions of death”, from volunteers drawn from the rear.”[1] The goal was to try and shame the
soldiers into returning to their combat duties.
Once the Bolsheviks took over, there was a lot of erasing
and hiding of what actually happened with Women’s Death Battalion. There was a
lot of censorship of the press and information that happened after the October Revolution.
We see how the history of the Women’s Death Battalion
is murky due to political propaganda. There is the need to retrace history –
draw from the biography that Bochkareva dictated and rebuild the history of the
Women’s Death Battalion.
[1]
Stoff, Laurie. They Fought for the Motherland: Russia's
Women Soldiers in World War I and the Revolution. Lawrence, Kan.:
University Press of Kansas, 2006. Pg. 61
