War Affairs Research Articles

CONSEQUENCES OF COVID-19 ON AVIATION INDUSTRY: A MENACE TO GLOBAL AIRLINES

The aviation industry has been considered one of the major contributors to the economy of nations for several decades. As a sub-sector of the aviation industry, airlines are considered the fastest mode of transportation for passengers and cargo across the globe. Since its invention, airlines have served millions of people to move from one country to another as well as within the country. Despite natural calamities and global war affairs, the airline industry has achieved immense growth in recent decades. In addition to the progress of airlines, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a major hindrance to providing services to people around the world. Due to the rapid spread of deadly diseases, several airline firms have halted their air travel services in many parts of the world. As lockdowns and travel restrictions were enforced, this article examines the crisis of the airline industry after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

ВОЕННЫЙ КОМЕНДАНТ ОРЛА ГЕНЕРАЛ ГАМАНН: КАК ПОСТРОИТЬ «НОВУЮ ЕВРОПУ» НА РУССКОЙ ЗЕМЛЕ

The purpose of the article is to analyze some materials from the criminal case of the military commandant of Orel, General Adolf Hamann. Economic departments and teams did not cover all settlements in the occupied territory of our country. In some agricultural areas, the functions of these bodies were performed by local military commandant's offices. They were organized by the headquarters of the operating units. During the first period of occupation, local commandant's offices exercised administrative control and organized the fight against Soviet resistance. They identified communists and Jews among the local population. To simplify the management process, they appointed village elders and burgomasters, organized auxiliary police units and separate civil administrative departments. Commandant's offices in cities were headed by senior officers, and in the largest of them – by generals. For example, General Hamann was appointed commandant of Orel. The commandant's office maintained close contact with the Gestapo and included an intelligence network. Separately, they organized premises for those arrested and a team to protect them. Some commandant's offices had departments: military, police and punitive detachments, agricultural, transport, registration of the population, prisoners of war affairs and financial unit, etc. And even with such an organization, the German policy aimed at the decomposition of the Russian population by intimidation or providing them with any economic handouts in tax collection failed. The Soviet resistance, with the support of the majority of residents of Russian occupied regions disrupted the invaders’ plans. Various methodologies and approaches are used in the research. The goal of the bibliographic method is to consider the life and work of Orel military commandant General Adolf Hamann. Comparing different approaches and views helps to identify various features of a «New Europe» within the political and military context. Analyzing documents, speeches, and other archival materials related to Hamann's activities reveals his strategies, goals, and influence over the modern political space. Due to the new archival materials, the author clarifies the details of the verdict in the case of Nazi troops’ atrocities in Orel, Bryansk and Bobruisk regions during the occupation. Adolf Hamann became the symbol of Nazi regime crimes committing against the Soviet people. He was captured by the Red Army near Bobruisk at the end of June 1944. The director of the documentary «Escorting German Prisoners of War Through Moscow» described him as: « The former commandant of Orel, the commandant of Bobruisk Major General Adolf Hamann is an executioner and a murderer! Tens of thousands of Soviet people became victims of his atrocities! ». At the same time, Hamann tried to avoid punishment in every possible way. He did not answer the Chekists’ questions. He explained that the executions were carried out in Orel in order to fight criminals. Adolf Hamann was hanged under the Soviet court sentence in December 1945 in Bryansk.

Legal grounds of the activity of the Central Committee on Prisoners of War and Refugees (1918-1919)

The subject of this research is the system and types of normative legal acts that regulate the establishment and activity of the Central Committee on Prisoners of War and Refugees as a part  of the Council of People’s Commissars on War Affairs of the RSFSR prior to being assigned to People's Commissariat for Interior Affairs of the RSFSR in May 1919. The establishment of migration authorities took place in the objectively severe conditions of civil war and foreign intervention, which affected their legal status. The scientific novelty of this work consists in provision of classification of legal acts in accordance with the legal force, subjects of compliance, content area, and the nature of regulations contained therein. The conducted research demonstrates that the formation of grounds of legal regulation of the activity of the Central Committee on Prisoners of War and Refugees tool place simultaneously with the establishment and development of the Soviet law as a new historical type of law, and these grounds are its constitute elements. The obtained results significantly broaden our historical knowledge, allow rationalizing experience of the past and implementing it in the educational process along with the current practice aimed at improvement of organization and activity of migration authorities.

Turkey’s Unravelling Economy Resembles the Ottoman Empire’s Financial Collapse

Already fragile Turkish-American foreign relations became severely strained when US Pastor Andrew Brunson was indicted on espionage charges in October 2016 and was sentenced to 38 months in prison after a guilty verdict by one of Turkey’s high criminal courts. As a US retaliation, bank executive Mehmet Hakan Atilla (Turkey's state-controlled Halkbank) was arrested in New York in March 2017 and sentenced to 32 months after he was found guilty of helping Iran to evade the US sanctions. These along with the domestic issues fostered a currency crisis in August 2018 (most severe since the 2001 economic crisis), the farfetched implications of the currency and debt crisis caused the economy of Turkey to debilitate and find itself in a severe financial emergency. Since the August rout, the Turkish economy has been on a wild roller-coaster ride. First, all economic indicators recorded their worst levels in more than a decade (since 2003); interest rates in October 2018 skyrocketed, 36% for commercial loans, 28% for housing loans, and as high as 24% for deposits in lira. Second, after central bank (TCMB) has cut 750 basis points in its key policy rate (reduced from 24% to 16.50%), interest rates for commercial loans dropped to below 20%, 16% for housing loans, and as low as 14% for deposits in lira. The events that contributed to the Ottoman Empire’s collapse are strikingly similar to the financial collapse of the Turkish economy at the end of 2018. The Ottoman’s financial problems began with its engagement in the costly Crimean War (1853-56); likewise, Turkey’s gloomy economic situation was contributed by its war affairs alongside the Iraq and Syria borders as well as its costly military operations to eradicate terrorists at home and near borders. The Ottoman borrowing spree in mid-19th century onward turned into an elongated addiction to foreign capital which resulted in Ottoman’s default on its public debt in 1876, and in 1878 at the Congress of Berlin, France and Britain took control of the Ottoman finances by forcing sultan Abdulhamid II to create the Ottoman Public Debt Administration (OPDA) in 1881. Similarly, the increased military spending even though Turkey did not take part in WWII and repeated economic disruptions in the post-WWII era often resulted in balance of payments crises as well as consequent devaluations of the Turkish lira; political turmoil coupled with economic difficulties prompted the military to intervene (coup) in 1960 and this paved the road to Turkey’s first standby agreement with the IMF in 1961.

Activity of the UNR Military and Sanitary Mission on prisoners’ of war affairs in Germany (1919)

The relevance of the article lies in the necessity to discover major aspects of the UNR Military and Sanitary Mission’s activity on prisoners of war (POWs) in Germany. The Mission’s crucial task was to facilitate their repatriation. It should be noted that the main obstacle for Ukrainian POWs’ transportation was based on the development of the destructive political processes on the territory of former Russian empire, particularly due to the consolidation of power in the hands of Bolsheviks in Petrograd. The study is to determine the features of the cooperation between the Mission and Ukrainian POWs’ camp communities, as well as the quantity and characteristics of the humanitarian assistance provided to POWs. The research identifies that the Mission succeeded in improving living conditions for POWs at camps through sending food supplies, clothes and shoes. In addition, it cared for POWs’ moral needs by implementing courses, lessons, theatrical plays and sending Ukrainian periodicals and books to the camps. What is more, the Mission was responsible for the sanitary care, especially in regard to sending medicaments and medical staff. The mission also developed the ways and logistics of POWs’ repatriation process as well. The study’s novelty lies in in a comprehensive research of the Mission’s activity which resulted in organizing, in September-October 1919, the transportation of small POWs group to Czechoslovakia with Ukraine as a final destination. Nonetheless, the negotiations regarding a massive repatriation were not successful and, thus, a considerable part of POWs stayed in camps until May 1920. Despite these events, the Mission’s activity had positive consequences for most Ukrainian POWs, particularly organizing their national life in camps.

Koncepcje i działalność polskiej centralnej administracji morskiej w latach 1918–1921

The article presents the initiatives and operations of the organization (Stowarzyszenie Pracowników na Polu Rozwoju Żeglugi „Bandera Pol-ska” (Employees’ Association for Naval Development “Polish Flag”), individuals such as Kazimierz Porębski and national institutions – Navy section at Ministry of War Affairs, within Ministry of Public Works, Mi-nistry of Industry and Commerce and finally the emergence of Department for Naval Affairs within the Ministry of War Affairs as the beginning of naval administration of the Second Republic of Poland.

Kazimierz Sarnecki o wojnie. Relacje magnackiego rezydenta z lat 1691–1696

Supporting materials on Polish history for graduates have been examined from the statistic side. Counting was not the individual parts of speech, but the word-forming bases of autosemantic words. In the material studied, relatively high frequency of concepts connected with the phenomenon of war was observed. Common concepts are war, fighting, army. On the other hand, related to the notion of war, rare words form long lists in the layer of hapax legomena. It allows to interpret some historical narrations intended for high school students as focused on the phenomenon of war. Kazimierz Sarnecki, the courtier of the Lithuanian magnate, Karol Stanisław Radziwiłł, prepared for his master written reports from the court of Jan III Sobieski, at which he stayed between 1691 and 1696, with a few interruptions. They consist of a systematically kept diary and longer epistolary relations. Sarnecki writes in them about the matters that interested his patron the king’s health, court life, government appointments, war affairs, he rarely mentions himself. The subject of my interest is the way in which Sarnecki recounts Sobieski’s Moldovan expedition of 1691 in which he participated himself, the subsequent Polish-Tatar struggles in Podolia, battles on the other fronts of the Holy League, and the Nine Years’ War these events he knows only vicariously. He describes the Moldovan expedition completely. Just as authors of the official war diaries, he lists the stages of the march, the grouping of troops, in the reports of battles you can see the professionalism. He informs very vaguely about the killed, accentuates only losses, incurred by the forces from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He emphasizes active participation of Lithuanian troops in the fighting. He does not hide the difficulties with supplies, although he does not shift the blame on Sobieski. He will also repeat — as other authors of the war memories did — a rumour about a miraculous event during the campaign. He limits relations about nature to its impact on warfare; similarly he looks at the buildings he passes through the prism of their military utility. War reports from later times 1692–1696 are different. The civil matters dominate, while the battles with the Tatars or battles in Western Europe Sarnecki mentions irregularly and perfunctorily

Liaison Officers, Imagined Love and War Affairs, and History Displaced

The article is a critical discussion of a collaborative project of a writer, Darek Foksa, and an artist, Zbigniew Libera. The project" Liaison Officer" provides a critique of history and its interpretations carried out through a unique and intriguing combination of word and image. History is understood here as an ideologically saturated dominant fiction. The author of the article argues that this piece belongs to a tradition whose potential as a critical tool in understanding the meanders and politics of memory is yet to be (re)discovered. Both visual and literary practices here seem to contribute to the reactivation of social imagination.

For Collectors Only

For Collectors Only EDITED BY RALPH G. NEWMAN 18 East Chestnut Street Chicago 11, Illinois COVERING THE CIVIL WAR "BEAT" these days we are constantly reminded that there is a "Civil War revival ," and that books relating to the War Between the States are (at least according to some authorities) outselling all other books in both the fiction and nonfiction fields. Life devotes 18 pages to the epic story; Time features a special section with color photographs of the battlefields ; Collier's begins a new series with an elaborate (and expertly written) account of Lincoln's visit to Richmond; the usually blasé New Yorker devotes its entire literary section to a discussion of Civil War books; Holiday has begun publishing accounts of the major battles and other publications follow suit and plan even more impressive tributes to the Lincoln-Lee era. New Civil War books are appearing at the staggering rate of more than a new title a week and at least one book club which attempts to distribute literature in this field has had to determine whether to become a "bookof -the-week club" or reconcile itself to distributing what its editors believe are the better books. It was not always this way. Many of us recall the not-too-distant past when a first-rate Civil War title might be considered a success if the publisher could manage to sell 3,500 copies and a 5,000 copy sale was regarded as amazing. Sad enough, some of the best books in our favorite field never even reached these figures. Among the titles that graced the "remainder" lists were such classics as Marshall's An Aide-de-Camp of Lee, Sir Frederick Maurice's Statesmen and Leaders of the Civil War and the first edition of Randall's Constitutional Problems Under Lincoln. 75 76R A L G H G. N E W M A X Ordeal By Fire, the Fletcher Pratt book appeared on the list of non bestsellers until the new boom rescued it from publishing oblivion. It seems incredible to think that ten years ago the editor of the best single volume collection of the writings and speeches of Abraham Lincoln almost sold his rights to the book for a few hundred dollars because almost every major publisher had decided that a satisfactory market did not exist for the work. It was finally accepted and has remained in print ever since and I suspect will remain in the publisher's catalogue as long as the firm remains in business. The plates of Robert Selph Henry's "First with the Most" Forrest and Stanley F. Horn's The Army of Tennessee were melted down and the most colossal blunder of all occurred when the greatest of all of the classics, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, was allowed to go out-of-print. What caused the present boom? Some say it is the imminence of the Civil War centennial; others that interest is cyclical and at regular intervals reappears. It would seem to your editor that good books and writing were responsible for the present happy state of Civil War affairs. I figure it all began back in 1926 when a comparatively young but already prematurely gray-haired poet and newspaperman turned to the writing of American history and the first two volumes of Carl Sandburg's Abraham Lincoln appeared. Sandburg showed that it was possible to write history and write excitingly at the same time. This was not new — Carlyle had known it, but evidently too many had forgotten or had never known the technique. It required a combination of genius, curiosity and story-telling ability. Stephen Vincent Benét's John Brown's Body, published in 1928, helped stir the kettle. The journalists were about to take over from the academicians. The Civil War was just another "beat" and they covered Grant and Lee, the Shenandoah Valley and Shiloh just as they had handled local crime, the world series or current politics. Lloyd Lewis, Douglas Southall Freeman, Allan Nevins (newspaperman turned professor), Stanley F. Horn, John W. Thomason, Jr., Robert Selph Henry and a lovely lady named Margaret Mitchell and many, many others put real...