The renowned American lawyer Clarence Seward Darrow once said, “History repeats itself. That is one of history’s shortcomings.”
Alas, it’s true. After all, the fall of 2014 in Kharkiv was in many ways similar to that of 1914. But certainly not in terms of the weather…
As we recall, on June 28, 1914, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in Sarajevo by a Serbian student named Gavrilo Princip. And on July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. World War I began, a conflict that is still referred to around the world as “the Great War.”
On June 25, the Russian Empire declared a “pre-mobilization period” and a partial mobilization of four military districts—the Kyiv, Kazan, Moscow, and Odesa districts. In many countries, including the Russian Empire (beginning July 31), a general draft into the army began. In response, Germany—which, along with Austria-Hungary and Italy, was part of the Triple Alliance—issued an ultimatum demanding that the mobilization be halted. However, it was ignored. On August 1, 1914, Germany declared war on Russia, and two days later—on its ally, France. On August 4, German troops invaded Belgium.
Naturally, preparations for war were also underway in our city. For example, on July 31, inquiries were sent out regarding the location and number of hospital beds both in Kharkiv and in the surrounding counties.
The East Prussian Campaign of 1914, which took place from August 17 to September 15, ended in a tactical defeat for the Russian Empire. The wounded began arriving in Kharkiv. They were admitted and distributed among both state-run hospitals and private ones, which were organized with funds from compassionate city residents. The scale of the effort, even according to data from September 10, 1914, is simply staggering. Field hospitals were set up at the Alexandrovskaya (with 150 beds) and Nikolaevskaya (with 100 beds) hospitals using city funds.
Funded by the railroad:
— in the station’s reception rooms: 60 beds;
— in the engineers’ on-duty rooms: 45 beds.
Field hospitals were also opened with funding from public organizations and private individuals: Trinkler, Karpova, Fabrikant, Fink, Braunstein, Einhorn, Averbakh, Mangubi, and Golstein. In total, by early September, about 60 large and small field hospitals with 2,183 beds had been established in Kharkiv. The triage stations for the wounded were located at:
— Pushkin School — 550 beds;
— Lysogorsk School — 420;
— 1st Real School — 508;
— Theological School — 550;
— Voznesenskaya Girls’ Gymnasium — 400;
— 3rd Boys’ Gymnasium — 370;
— 4th Boys’ Gymnasium — 370;
— Railway Home — 1,350.
In addition to Kharkiv, hospitals for wounded soldiers were set up in towns and villages throughout the province.
Vovchansky District — Volchansk, Pechenegi, Bely Kolodez, Velikiy Burluk, Shipovatoe, Varvarovka, Stary Saltov, Martovaya, Lebyazhye…
Zmiiv County—Andriivka, Chuhuiv.
Izyum County—Peski, Sloviansk, Savintsy.
Kup’yans’k County—Kupiansk, Svatova Luchka.
Lebedyn County—Lebedyn, Vasylivka, Gudimovka, Vorozhba.
Starobils’k District — Pereezdnaya.
Sumy District — Sumy, Viry, Belopolye, Novaya Syrovatka.
Kharkiv District — Gievka, Dergachi, Zhikhor, Alekseevka.
As of October 10, 1914, the total number of beds for the wounded in all the province’s military hospitals was 6,692. The documents always specified the hometowns of the wounded who were admitted. At the very beginning of the war, the situation throughout Sloboda Ukraine was as follows:
For example, in the Volchansky District, by the end of September, the largest number of wounded came from the Volyn Governorate—162 people. In addition, from other governorates:
Kamenets-Podolskaya – 134 people.
Kurskaya – 88 people.
Bessarabskaya – 60 people.
Kyivskaya – 47 people.
Paragraph No. 5 of the document titled “Procedure for Discharging Wounded and Sick Soldiers from Hospitals” contains some very interesting information. “Soldiers who do not require hospital treatment may be placed by the hospital in the care of local residents or in private apartments, while remaining registered with and under the responsibility of the hospital.”
As of October 10, there were 10 medical facilities in Kharkiv operated by the city, the local council, and the Red Cross, as well as 66 private facilities.
A month and a half later, our beloved city already had 93 infirmaries and hospitals, which had been set up:
— a women’s committee;
— various government agencies, private individuals, and organizations (including a 10-bed infirmary on Molochnaya Street, organized by the “Moskalevsky District Women’s Circle”);
— various organizations providing aid to the sick and wounded;
— the Department of Defense.
The total number was about 10,000. Much of the credit for this goes to the generous residents of our city, who—just like their descendants 100 years later—helped their country’s army in every way they could.
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