Imperial Loyalties and Private Concerns: Nation, Class, and State in the Correspondence of Austro-Hungrian POWs in Russia, 1916–1918

Abstract

one of the most common experiences during World War I (and one of the least researched topics in the historiography of the war) was the experience of captivity. During four years of fighting, an estimated 8.5 million soldiers were taken captive, or roughly 1 out of every 9 men to don uniforms during the war. Among the warring countries, none had a greater prisoner of war problem than Austria-Hungary: out of 8 million soldiers mobilized by the Dual Monarchy during the war, an estimated 2.77 million wound up in POW camps, the great majority (2.11 million) in Russia.