Ego-documents as the sources for the study of the psychology of the participants of the First World War (on an example of the Smolyak’s family archive)

Abstract

The article analyzes the previously unpublished diary and letters from the Smolyak’s family archive, which is stored in the State Historical museum, Moscow. on the basis of these documents, the author attempts the historical reconstruction of the identity of a participant of WW1: his moral and ethical appearance, his behavior in extreme situations, and his attitude to life and death. The article also considers the peculiarities of the intra-family relations in the period of WW1.