They Fought for the Motherland

Women have participated in war throughout history, but their experience in Russia during World War I was truly exceptional. Between the war's beginning and the October Revolution of 1917, approximately 6,000 women answered their country's call as the army was faced with insubordination and desertion in the ranks while the provisional government prepared for a new offensive. These courageous women became media stars throughout Europe and America, but were brushed aside by Soviet chroniclers and were largely neglected by history. Laurie Stoff draws on deep archival research into previously unplumbed material, including many first-person accounts, to examine the roots, motivations, and legacy of these women. She reveals that Russia was the only nation in World War I that systematically employed women in the military, marking the first time that a government run by men had organized women for combat. And although they were originally envisioned as propaganda — promoting patriotism and citizenship to inspire the thousands of males who had been deserting or refusing to fight — Russian women also proved themselves more than capable in combat. Stoff sheds light on the social and educational backgrounds of women soldiers, while recounting a number of amazing individual stories, including that of Maria Bochkareva, commander of the First Russian Women's Battalion of Death, and how her unit met its baptism of fire in combat as well as Bochkareva's travel to the U.S. to meet President Woodrow Wilson. There also is an account of Maria Bocharnikova, who served with the First Petrograd Women's Battalion that defended the Winter Palace during the Bolshevik Revolution and whose detailed account of her experience dispels much of the misinformation concerning that storied event.