The theme of the First World War and Siberia in modern research

The article describes the results of the synthesis and the overall estimated state of historical research in different areas of Siberia during the First World War of 1914-1918. As a result, the author concluded that the topic of the First World War and Siberia is actively studied in the circles of Siberian historians in different directions. It was necessary to combine these areas and create a synthesis study. M.V. Shilovskiy managed to do it. Totally, four directions were identified and described in which the first complex work was made: 1) the military potential of Siberia and its contribution to the First World War in historians' research were assessed. Key researchers involved in this subject were identified, their works were described; 2) the region's economy, the main trends of its development, the main directions of research on wartime economy were analyzed; 3) the pattern of everyday life of the Siberian military logistics was shown, issues of state support for families and charitable aid designed for the army, the wounded and refugees were updated; 4) daily life was linked with the social, political, religious and cultural life of the region in terms of the military, political and religious status of the components in the different periods of the First World War. The problem of having to roll account the combat losses of Siberians during the Great Patriotic War was raised, works in this direction were analyzed. The question of the need to immortalize the memory of the participants of the First World War was discussed. The contribution of historians to this topic was assessed. It is noted that despite the merit of M. Shilovsky in setting the important problem of Siberia during the war and in covering most issues concerning it, not all the problems are included in the broad field of information the authors have. The problem of accounting of the killed, wounded and missing Siberians, of fights each Siberian part had is not studied, except for the overall general picture and several histories of individual Siberian regiments. There is no all-Siberian information on aid organization for mobilized families, the wounded, the disabled, refugees. Some of the material is covered by regions and in fragments. But this is not a fault, but a global problem that a single expert, like, for example, M.V. Shilovsky, cannot solve; it can be solved by a comprehensive program, a group of experts at the level of the Institute of History SB RAS, or of a research center. The theme continues to be developed and already reaches the level of the need to prepare an encyclopedia of the state of Siberia during the First World War.

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