“Do as good as abroad”: the resorts of the south coast of Crimea during the World War I

Abstract

This article raises the virtually unstudied in Russian historiography topic on the development of resorts of the south coast of Crimea during 1914–1919, the World War I, and revolutionary events of 1917. The situation in the Russian tourism sector in the years of World War I is consonant with the current situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The Russian people, who prefer vacationing abroad, descended on the Russian resorts, which were not ready for such turn of events. This caused a public discussion on the topic of improving the Russian health treatment facilities, the materials on which are barely introduced into the historical discourse. The theme of economic and sociocultural development of the south coast of Crimea in the early XX century, which until recently was farmed out to historians and art historians, remains relevant. In the course of working on this article in the libraries and archives, the author reveals and introduces into the scientific discourse various types of sources that can shed light on the transformation of the south coast of Crimea after the beginning of the World War I. The three most promising vectors for further development of the topic are outlined: work with verbatim reports of the Congress on the improvement of health treatment facilities (1915), advertising materials and documentation of the newly established resort towns Laspi and Foros, as well as the sources of historical memory (memoirs, correspondence, diaries), which reflect the everyday life in the resorts of the south coast of Crimea during the wartime and revolutionary period.