Viennese urban life during the First World War: a perspective on everyday life

Abstract

Everyday life history (Alltagsgeschichte, histoire de la vie quotidienne) is a relatively new field in historical science, the subject of which is the everyday life of a person in various historical and cultural, political, ethnic and confessional contexts. The core of the research consists of a comprehensive analysis of the normal, familiar way of life of different social strata of the population. The relevance of studying the everyday life of Vienna's citizens in World War I is determined by the lack of research on this topic in the Russian scientific community. Therefore, the analysis of socio-political and economic problems of the rear in the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire on the basis of the works of German and English authors is of practical importance. The article deals with various aspects of everyday life in Vienna society in the period from 1914 to 1918 -the period of World War I, when the European continent was engulfed in fear and chaos caused by military actions. Through an analysis of the internal policies of the Austro-Hungarian government, in particular the introduction of a military dictatorship, and through the identification of public reactions to the changes, a general picture of the transformation of the lives of ordinary citizens in Vienna is formed. The author investigates how the everyday reality of women in the rear has changed when most working age men were drafted to the front. "Home Front Soldiers", as the women of military Vienna are called by A. Pfoser and A. Weigl in their work "In the Epicenter of the Breakup: Vienna in World War I", were forced to take up male jobs in factories, raising their children in conditions of hunger, social tension and constantly rising housing prices. The author draws attention to the fact that internal political problems in the Austro-Hungarian Empire have created a conflict between the government and the army leadership. Soldiers dissatisfied with the living conditions of their relatives and the loved ones in Vienna, what they learned about through personal letters, refused to fight. The unrest on the front and in the rear forced the Austro-Hungarian government to take extreme measures - a brutal suppression of uprisings. However, social tensions and difficult living conditions for the inhabitants of Vienna remained until the end of the war and had a direct impact on the further collapse of the empire.