The Stuff of Soldiers (eBook)

A History of the Red Army in World War II through Objects

Brandon M. Schechter (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2019
344 Seiten
Cornell University Press (Verlag)
9781501739811 (ISBN)

Infos

The Stuff of Soldiers uses everyday objects to tell the story of the Great Patriotic War as never before. Brandon M. Schechter attends to a diverse array of things—from spoons to tanks—to show how a wide array of citizens became soldiers, and how the provisioning of material goods separated soldiers from civilians.

Through a fascinating examination of leaflets, proclamations, newspapers, manuals, letters to and from the front, diaries, and interviews, The Stuff of Soldiers reveals how the use of everyday items made it possible to wage war. The dazzling range of documents showcases ethnic diversity, women's particular problems at the front, and vivid descriptions of violence and looting.

Each chapter features a series of related objects: weapons, uniforms, rations, and even the knick-knacks in a soldier's rucksack. These objects narrate the experience of people at war, illuminating the changes taking place in Soviet society over the course of the most destructive conflict in recorded history. Schechter argues that spoons, shovels, belts, and watches held as much meaning to the waging of war as guns and tanks. In The Stuff of Soldiers, he describes the transformative potential of material things to create a modern culture, citizen, and soldier during World War II.

Autor

Brandon M. Schechter has taught at Columbia, New York University, NYU Shanghai, Brown, and the University of California at Berkeley, where he received his PhD. He is a contributor to Objects of War, edited by Leora Auslander and Tara Zahra.

Inhalt

Prelude: Outgunned and Outmanned
Acknowledgments
List of Archival Sources and Their Abbreviations
Terms and Abbreviations
Explanatory Notes
Introduction: Government Issue
1. The Soldier's Body: A Little Cog in a Giant War Machine
2. A Personal Banner: Life in Red Army Uniform
3. The State's Pot and the Soldier's Spoon: Rations in the Red Army
4. Cities of Earth, Cities of Rubble: The Spade and Red Army Landscaping
5. "A Weapon Is Your Honor and Conscience": Killing in the Red Army
6. The Thing-Bag: A Public-Private Place
7. Trophies of War: Red Army Soldiers Confront an Alien World of Goods
Conclusion: Subjects and Objects
Notes
Index

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 15.10.2019
• Reihe/Serie: Battlegrounds: Cornell Studies in Military History
• Reihe/Serie: Battlegrounds: Cornell Studies in Military History
• Zusatzinfo: 40 b&w halftones
• Verlagsort: Ithaca
• Sprache: englisch
• Maße: 150 x 150 mm
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► 1918 bis 1945
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
• Themenwelt: Technik
• Schlagworte: 20th century • Adolf Hitler • Allied Powers • atomic bomb • Axis powers • Battle of Midway • Battle of Normandy • battle of okinawa • Battle of Stalingrad • belts and watches • citizen-soldiers • diaries and letters • diversity in the Red Army • Ethnic Diversity • everyday objects • Front-line Experiences • Great Patriotic War • material culture • Military Strategy • modern culture creation • objects in war • provisioning soldiers • Red Army • Red Army, World War II, Material Culture, Stalinism, Great Patriotic War • soldierâ€"civilian divide • soldier identity • soviet society • spoons and shovels • Stalinism • transformation through objects • violence and looting • war diaries • weapons and uniforms • women at the front • World War II • World War II USSR
• ISBN-13: 9781501739811 / 9781501739811