A Whole Empire Walking

[aiwac]

I recently read this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. It tells the story of as many as 7 million civilian refugees - most of them women, old men and children - who fled or were driven into the Russian lines on the Eastern Front between 1914 and 1917. These included Jews who were expelled wholesale on suspicion of being spies, Armenian survivors of the genocide, and Polish, Latvian, Lithuanian and Russian peasants and townsfolk who ran from the front line for fear of the invader.

The author combines personal stories with a fascinating discussion of the reaction of Russian officialdom and civil society to this human flood. It's a compelling story of how millions of people dealt with the shock and destruction of war, trying to make sense of their predicament and rebuild. It is a story just as fascinating as that of how soldiers interpreted and reinterpreted their world to endure four years of almost unceasing slaughter. Highly recommended.

http://www.amazon.com/Whole-Empire-Walking-Refugees-Indiana-Michigan/dp/0253213460/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397741815&sr=1-1&keywords=whole+empire+walking