A Minor Apocalypse: Warsaw during the First World War by Robert Blobaum (review)

In 1931, Winston Churchill called the events of the First World War in Eastern Europe "The Unknown War." For the course of the 20^th Century, his judgment remained true. A war that most Eastern Europeans fought in foreign uniforms proved difficult to commemorate. Then the horrible experiences of the Second World War overshadowed the grim experience of the First. Only a handful of publications—many still valid and worthwhile—engaged with the subject of the First World War in Eastern Europe. It was only in the 21^st Century that new interest was ignited. Eventually, the centenary of the First World War also brought new works on the history of Eastern Europe at the beginning of the 20^th Century. Robert Blobaum's book A Minor Apocalypse contributes to this renewed conversation.

Blobaum sets out to deliver an up-to-date account of the history of Warsaw during the First World War for the English-speaking world. He aims to write a history of Warsaw that includes daily social and cultural life in the city and that explores the life of women and the Jewish minority. He also wants to put the events into perspective: on the one hand, by comparing Warsaw to other European cities during the First World War, and, on the other hand, to compare it to the experiences of the Second World War.

To do so, Blobaum focuses on six subject areas: Chapter One, "The Frontline City," engages with the early years of the war and the change of hands from the Russian Empire to German occupation. Blobaum states a pro-Russian attitude in the city, which might very well be true with regard to established loyalties. However, the impact of self-censorship is not really discussed in this regard. Russian sources would also have complemented the Polish view here, but, of course, multilingual Eastern Europe poses never-ending challenges to every researcher which cannot always be fulfilled. Chapter two, "Living on the Edge," explores the wartime economy in the occupied city, following the social and economic historical view on occupation, war, exploitation and slave labour in Eastern Europe as introduced by Vejas Liulevicius and others. The topic leads into chapter three on "Wartime Crisis Management and Its Failure" which shifts the attention from imposed German policy and its impacts to the attempts at self-governance by the Warsaw Citizen Committee and the rise of social divisions after its failure. Passing to the next chapter, Blobaum hints at the effects of social and economic hardship on the already strained relations between Poles and the Jewish community of Warsaw. References to relations during the Second World War under German occupation are introduced, but handled with adequate caution. Blobaum stresses that in his view, German occupation policy from the First to the Second World War was no "road to Auschwitz" (141). The absence of anti-Jewish violence in the aftermath of the First World War, as experienced in other cities like Lwów and Vilnius, is attributed to the lack of a third party contesting Polish hegemony (such as the Ukrainians or Lithuanians) and the fact that Germans easily rendered to submission in 1918 instead of engaging in continued fighting (169/170). Chapter five is dedicated to the history of women and the Warsaw home front, covering gender and social work through the different roles and experiences of women as wives, mothers, prostitutes, and as successful Polish suffragists. Poland was notably one of the first countries in Europe to introduce female suffrage in 1918—albeit the statement that "what is indisputable is that by the end of the war and the emergence of a Polish state, the case for women's suffrage and equal political rights had essentially been won" seems a little overly enthusiastic (my emphasis, 196). Finally, Chapter six engages with the cultural life of the capital during the war. While introducing interesting subjects, this chapter seems a little unsure about what aspects of...