They Fought for the Motherland: Russia's Women Soldiers in World War I and the Revolution (Modern War Studies)

Carefully packaged and book is in excellent condition. Thanks!

Although women fought in World War I in Russia under the Czar, the huge impetus for women in combat came under the Provisional Government from February to October 1917 when that government created separate all female military units. See especially the chapter, “Russia’s First All-Female Combat Unit.” As many as 6000 women were involved. Most famous was Maria Bochkareva who was in the 1st Russian Women’s Battalion of Death. Called “The Russian Joan of Arc,” she fought for the Provisional Government and was wounded numerous times, eventually being captured by the Bolsheviks and made it to the U.S. by way of Siberia, only to return to try to fight for the Whites under Kolchak. This time she was captured and shot when Kolchak pulled out of Tomsk. All told, 80,000 women fought for Russia in World War I and the Revolution. The Bolsheviks kept women in the army but broke up the sexually segregated units and integrated them into their majority male units. This work is a very valuable contribution to our knowledge of women at war.

This book was chock-full of information about Russian women in WWI. I think it is a good reference book, with more than you ever expected about a little-known aspect of Russia's involvement in WWI (and afterward.)I disagree about it being a real page-turner unless that is meant skimming topic sentences of each paragraph as you plow through page after page of minute details. I think there is a great 50 page book buried in the almost 300 pages. I obviously was looking for an interesting overview rather than a somewhat scholarly reference book. Still, it will stay on my Russian bookshelf as a resource.

Professor Stoff has turned her exhaustive research on a tiny subject into a large, immensely readable story. After reading this book you will likely want to expand your knowledge of Russia and World War I.If you are looking for a blood and gunfire war story, this is not your book. The women in the story did not make it to the front lines as much as they would have liked, but when they did they performed admirably. Their story, along with concise thumbnail biographies of each known character, makes for a real page-turner. Included are the behind the scenes struggle to be allowed to take up arms in the first place. Sometimes the women were more threatened by fellow male soldiers than by the enemy in the opposing armies.The author has included exhaustive notes, bibliography, photos, and index for scholars interested in early 20th Century feminism, 1917 Russian politics, and World War I.This book also contains corrections to earlier research by other authors that insures this work will withstand the test of proofreading. This book is definitely a keeper in my library.The author is presently working on another book on World War I Russian women, and I look forward to reading it as soon as it is available.

Stoff has written an excellent work on a group of women in Russia whoplayed an important role during a turbulent time in the country'shistory. Long forgotten, this work brings these women to life througha combination of meticulous archival research and superb writing.A welcome contribution to the field of research on Russian militarywomen.

Informative...fills in many blanks in popular history. Exposes a side of the conflict seldom covered by writers about this period.

The book is very good. Not much pictures tho...