Singer of the Trans-Baikal Cossacks: F. F. Tyutchev in the Russian-Japanese War

Abstract

Russian Army and Border guard Colonel Fyodor Fyodorovich Tyutchev (1860–1916), a well – known chronicler of the Russian army and the border guard, served in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905.The purpose of the publication is a comprehensive description of the stay in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904– 1905. The work used sources that had not been previously introduced into scientific circulation, which allowed analyzing the formation of F. F. Tyutchev as a military professional, as well as concretizing the literary and aesthetic concept of the writer. Russian-Japanese War correspondent F. F. Tyutchev, being a correspondent of the newspaper Novoe Vremya, promptly transmitted “hot” information about the affairs of the Russian army to the editorial office. The writer collecting material for future literary works talked with the participants of the Japanese campaign, valuing the opportunity to have conversations not only with the lower ranks who were on the front line but also with the generals whose decisions the outcome of hostilities sometimes depended on. According to the works by Fyodor Fedorovich, we can judge not only the events that took place in the Far East but also analyze the writer’s civil and author’s position, investigate his philosophical beliefs on what is happening, clarify his thoughts, compare the assessments given to him from what he saw and experienced in the war. The presented article develops scientific ideas and traditions in the field of national historiography, generalizing and analyzing individual, previously unknown materials about the Russian-Japanese war and its participants. F. F. Tyutchev, being on the staff of the 1st Argun regiment not only participated in the fighting but also proved himself as a talented artist of the word, conveying the truth of the Japanese campaign in his writings, creating a portrait gallery of the personnel of the regiments of the Trans-Baikal Cossack army.