Alexandre Sumpf

The Unfound Peace is the first book dealing with disabled former servicemen of tsarist Russia in all regards—socioeconomic status, healthcare, social reintegration into families and communities, self-representation—and the only one comparing World War I and Russian Civil War veterans. Alexandre Sumpf considers the ways disabled Great War veterans tried to live under the Bolsheviks and compares their experiences with those of the Red Army veterans who received special considerations from the new regime. Offering a history of the body and health in relation to work, The Unfound Peace also compares the situation of disabled veterans with that of disabled workers who were subject to the same demands of extreme productivity but benefited from better social protection, though they dealt with accusations that they were faking their disabilities. Sumpf's exploration of disabled veterans, with transnational comparisons, offers the possibility of rereading the history of the first generation of Soviets through the collective and private memory of war, in the USSR and in exile.

The Broken Years tells the forgotten story of Russia's disabled ex-servicemen through three wars and three revolutions: the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian Civil War and the First World War. Using extensive archival material from national, regional and town archives, Alexandre Sumpf explores the treatment of these veterans by the state, their battle for legal status and their right to both collective and individual health care. He shows how the question of disabled veterans became bound up in broader political and social debates in the early 20th century and fostered healthcare and social welfare policy. The experience of these 1.14 million war veterans reconfigured notions of heroism, sacrifice and patriotism while the period of 1915-1919 was marked by extensive political activism by disabled veterans. Dr Sumpf illustrates how the Bolsheviks condemned disabled veterans as the symbol of the “imperialist war” and brutally negated their rights as part of the broader devaluation of the war experience in early Soviet Russia.

The Broken Years tells the forgotten story of Russia's disabled ex-servicemen through three wars and three revolutions: the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian Civil War and the First World War. Using extensive archival material from national, regional and town archives, Alexandre Sumpf explores the treatment of these veterans by the state, their battle for legal status and their right to both collective and individual health care. He shows how the question of disabled veterans became bound up in broader political and social debates in the early 20th century and fostered healthcare and social welfare policy. The experience of these 1.14 million war veterans reconfigured notions of heroism, sacrifice and patriotism while the period of 1915-1919 was marked by extensive political activism by disabled veterans. Dr Sumpf illustrates how the Bolsheviks condemned disabled veterans as the symbol of the “imperialist war” and brutally negated their rights as part of the broader devaluation of the war experience in early Soviet Russia.