XX century: Letters of War. Anthology of Military Correspondence

The wars of the 20th century turned Russia and the USSR into a country of letters. Mandatory military service, universal literacy and good organization of the postal service made letters the main form of communication between military personnel and their relatives. Mass mobilization during large and small wars of the 20th century significantly expanded this form of communication. The collection “XX Century: Letters of War” allows us to trace the origin and end of the phenomenon of military correspondence for a century - from the first war of the last century in South Africa, when a sustainable correspondence became possible, until the last war of the Central Affairs in the North Caucasus, when the written correspondence was finally supplanted by telephone connection. The centuries -old exposition of military letters, presented in the collection, not only shows how the transformation of the war on the letter takes place, but also demonstrates the historical dynamics of the military letter genre. The collection includes collections of letters from private collections, archival and museum funds, as well as previously published, but inaccessible sources. With rare exceptions, the letters are presented entirely, without bills