Irina Nikolaevna Litvinova,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Volgograd State University, Volgograd, Russia, е-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Traditions and Innovations in the Field of Target Capital during the World War I (Based on Materials from the Southern Cities of the Russian Empire)
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2025-4-17
The article examines the life of the Russian society in the southern rear provinces during the First World War. It focuses on the desire of citizens to actively participate in solving many problems that were typical of wartime, such as providing charitable assistance to the army and compatriots who had been affected by the war. The article identifies appeals made by local authorities and social associations to their fellow citizens to support frontline soldiers and the wounded. It also provides examples of public responses to these appeals, such as public fundraising events, where people gathered money, items, and food to support their compatriots during the war. It is noted that civil society initiated the creation of charitable organizations and committees aimed at helping the wounded, the front, and the families of soldiers. One of the new forms of assistance to wounded soldiers during the First World War, the “named beds” of donors, is analyzed. The article shows the circumstances under which “named beds” or “named chambers” transformed from the usual forms of donations from citizens into a form directly related to the established trust funds. The interest earned was used to pay for such named beds and chambers. The article also provides information about prominent Tsaritsyn benefactors − merchants A.V. Voronin, G.N. Serebryakov and V.F. Lapshin.
Publishing: 28/08/2025
The article has been received by the editor on 20/01/2025
How to cite: Litvinova I.N. Traditions and Innovations in the Field of Target Capital during the World War I (Based on Materials from the Southern Cities of the Russian Empire) // Historical Courier, 2025, No. 4 (42), pp. 252−260. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2025/ISTKURIER-2025-4-17.pdf]
The work was carried out with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation as part of project No. 24‑28‑01304 “Volunteer and Charitable Practices of Russian Society in Extreme Living Conditions (The First Quarter of the 20th and 21st Centuries): A Comparative Analysis”.
Links: Issue 4 2025
Keywords: World War I; charity; merchants; trust funds; medicine