![\"Misich\"](\"http:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/hst-journeys\/files\/2016\/12\/Misich-300x209.jpg\")
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By Courtney Misich<\/p>\n
DK265.15 .T46<\/p>\n
Thompson, Donald C. Blood Stained Russia<\/em>. New York : Leslie-Judge Co., 1918.<\/p>\n This medium-sized, red book, Blood stained Russia<\/em>, offers insight into the American views of the Russian Empire, war effort, and subsequent Russian Revolution. \u00a0Donald Thompson and Florence MacLeod Harper were in Petrograd (St. Petersburg) during the February Revolution when Thompson decided to record the revolution. MacLeod described the process and published work in the following way: \u201cno important scene in the great Russian drama from the time of the overthrow of the Czar and the brief triumph of the unhappy Russian people, down through the various stages of their undoing by the malignant forces in Berlin until the final overthrow of the Provisional Government, that Captain Thompson did not see and record.\u201d[1]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0These photographs and their captions describe the Western, specifically American, perspective of the Russian Revolution through the descriptions of the sides and causes of the revolution.<\/p>\n In order to understand this source, the photographer and author Donald C. Thompson\u2018s purposes for being in Russia need to be clarified. David Mould\u2019s biography depicts Thompson as a war photographer that relished in the danger and adventure.[2]<\/a> Thompson had several encounters with the law; first for impersonation of army personnel and eight times during the First World War front for not having official permission to be there. Once at the front, he stayed in the trenches with the soldiers. Thompson\u2019s pictures captured the war, specifically the Western front, for the American public. He toured the front with the Belgian army and interacted with the German military on a frequent basis. \u00a0When Thompson went to the Eastern front, he believed \u201cthe Russian army, which had been mobilizing for six months, could change the course of the war.\u201d[3]<\/a> He provided footage for films on the Eastern front with the Tsar reviewing the troops and Russian troops fighting. In January 1917, he went to Russia with Florence Harper through China and the Trans-Siberian railroad. They stayed in Petrograd with trips to Moscow and the front lines filming everything that preceded the October Revolution. The images were originally released as a film titled The German Curse in Russia<\/em>, which was released December 1917.[4]<\/a> Thompson\u2019s views of Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky are clear to readers in the film and this work through the captions he provides.<\/p>\n Thompson frames the work with periodized themes such as \u201cBefore the Revolution\u201d and \u201cHospital Conditions at the Front,\u201d which appear simple until one examines the photograph titles. \u00a0The pictures portray the Bolsheviks being supported by the Germans, loyal Russians being led astray, and the aftermath of war and revolution in Russia. It is important to note, as Joshua Sanborn has written, that \u201cthis antagonism [towards Germans] had been present in central Russia and elsewhere in the empire before the war.\u2026an increasing number of people were growing exponentially angrier and more hostile toward the German element in their midst\u201d[5]<\/a> Before the February Revolution, it was widely believed that the Russian Army\u2019s military inadequacies in part stemmed from German propaganda and spies that had infiltrated the Russian government. Thompson described \u201cwhen supplies were kept back by pro-German agents in Petrograd headed by the Minister of War, Soukhomlinoff,\u201d[6]<\/a> as the one of the main causes of the problems in Russia that led to the revolution as well as the betrayal of the Tsar. \u00a0The betrayal by the Tsar is represented by a picture of Rasputin, which described him as \u201cthe evil genius of the old regime.\u201d[7]<\/a> Thompson depicts these outside influences within the Russian government and military as the causes of the revolution.<\/p>\n Figure 1 the Monk Rasputin, the Evil Genius of the Old Regime in Russia, Surrounded by Admiring Women[8]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Bloodstained Russia<\/em> focuses on the February Revolution until the October Revolution with a continued focus on the Germans as the perpetrators of the Provisional Government\u2019s failing. The view of Germany\u2019s baleful influence in Russia is a constant presence throughout the book and demonstrates the American perspective that the German government was funding revolutions in other countries to win the war. \u00a0An image in the \u201cParades and Labor Riots of May\u201d shows the protest that occurred in support of the war. It is captioned, \u201cAs time went on, however they became disheartened. German propaganda insidiously demoralized them and parades like this became fewer and fewer.\u201d[9]<\/a> The perspective of the power of the German propaganda even went initially as far as the Bolsheviks. \u00a0Significantly, Thompson utilizes the term \u201cGerman\u201d to include the Bolsheviks and only separates them when he is forced to. \u00a0Sanborn has also described the connections between the Bolsheviks and Germans in the popular mind. He writes \u201cBolshevik ties to Germany nearly undid them\u2026The Bolsheviks had willingly taken huge payments from a Germany government that had come to see revolution as a far more feasible option for knocking Russia out of the war.\u201d[10]<\/a> This lack of distinction altered once it became clear to Thompson that the Bolsheviks were challenging the Provisional Government.<\/p>\n Figure 2 A Parade in Advocacy of a Vigorous Offensive against Germany[11]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Furthermore, the connections between the Bolsheviks and the Germans are clear with Thompson\u2019s photo titled \u201cHere are seen some of the banners which Lenin had had made in Germany.\u201d[12]<\/a> \u00a0The representation of the Bolsheviks as connected to Germany is one characterized in respect to their perceived disregard for human life and as agents of chaos. Thompson described their methods as a campaign of terror where they attempted to seize the government, shooting up the town with machine guns, and anarchistic. As the revolution continued, Thompson recorded the changing attitudes at the front with soldiers believing that their German comrades would not harm them. \u00a0The changing perspective was best summarized with a statement from one of the soldier\u2019s at the front, \u201cthe Germans were their brothers and would no longer kill them.\u201d[13]<\/a> This changed view stems from increased interaction at the front, as soldiers such as F. Zakharin described.[14]<\/a> This view was quickly dismissed with images of Russian soldier who had died in German gas attacks and the continued fighting at the front.<\/p>\n After focusing on what Thompson labels \u201cfront stuff,\u201d the album turns to the October Revolution, with its \u201cBolsheviki riots, armoured cars, and crowds.\u201d The American war photographer displays his support for the Provisional Government and Kerensky. His portrayal of Kerensky is the opposite of the Bolsheviks:\u00a0 photos capture him actively trying to work for the Russian people, running the war, and honoring Russia\u2019s fallen men. Thompson shows Kerensky arming workers and utilizing the Soviets to defend Petrograd from \u201cGeneral Korniloff.\u201d However the so-called Kornilov [Korniloff] Affair is not depicted visually, and the album suddenly turns toward the Bolsheviks in power. By the end, Thompson calls the Bolsheviks \u201canarchists controlling the Russian government.\u201d<\/p>\n Bloodstained Russia<\/em> provides an American perspective of Russia in the First World War and revolution. The work captures an anti-German mindset held by Americans and some Russians. At the same time, Thompson\u2019s album contains more than just anti-German attitudes. For those who are interested the Women\u2019s Battalion of Death, Thompson\u2019s work contains nearly thirty photos of the unit, their training, and leader, Maria Bochkarieva. Additionally there is significant representation of front hospitals, medical care, and the impact on society from the war with orphans and shortages.<\/p>\n In many ways, Blood Stained Russia <\/em>attempts to counter more positive accounts of 1917 promoted in such pro-Bolshevik albums such as the Album of Revolutionary Russia<\/em>. This book, as Riley Kane argues in his paper, tells a different story using photographs taken as the same time as Thompson\u2019s.[15]<\/a>\u00a0 Just as the meanings of 1917 were fought over on battlefields, so to were they contested in print.<\/p>\n Figure 3 Types of Russian Soldiers[16]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bibliography<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cNew Russian War Film.: Donald Thompson\u2019s Pictures Show Regiment of Women in Training,\u201d in New York Times<\/em> December 10, 1917.<\/p>\n Album of Revolutionary Russia<\/em>. [New York] : Russian Socialist Federation, [1919].<\/p>\n Daly, Jonathan W.\u00a0 and Leonid Trofimov,\u00a0Russia in War and Revolution, 1914-1922: A Documentary History<\/em>. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub., 2009.<\/p>\n Mould, David Harley. Donald Thompson: Photographer at War<\/em>. Kansas State Historical Society, 1982.<\/p>\n Sanborn, Joshua. Imperial Apocalypse:<\/em> The Great War and the Destruction of the Russian Empire.<\/em> Oxford, 2014.<\/p>\n Thompson, Donald C.\u00a0 Blood stained Russia<\/em>. New York : Leslie-Judge Co., 1918.<\/p>\n Thompson, Donald C. Donald Thompson in Russia<\/em>. New York: Century, 1918.<\/p>\n Thompson, Donald C. Fighting the war<\/em>. Los Angeles: Flicker Alley, 1916.<\/p>\n Suggested Readings<\/strong><\/p>\n Billington, James H. “Six Views of the Russian Revolution.” World Politics<\/em> 18, no. 3 (1966): 452-73. doi:10.2307\/2009765.<\/p>\n Castellan, James W., Ron van Dopperen, and Cooper C. Graham, eds. American Cinematographers in the Great War, 1914-1918<\/em>. Indiana University Press, 2015.<\/p>\n Dopperen, Ron Van. “First World War on Film.” First World War on Film. 1970. Accessed December 14, 2016. http:\/\/shootingthegreatwar.blogspot.com\/.<\/p>\n Goldenweiser, Nicholas. “Antecedents of the Russian Revolution.” The American Political Science Review<\/em> 11, no. 2 (1917): 383-85. doi:10.2307\/1944013.<\/p>\n Lieven, D. C. B. The end of tsarist Russia : the march to World War I and revolution<\/em>. n.p.: New York, New York : Viking, 2015.<\/p>\n PBS Online. \u201cAmerican Photography: A Century of Images.\u201d Photography and War<\/em>.<\/p>\n Poe, Marshall.\u00a0 A People Born to Slavery: Russia in Early Modern European Ethnography, 1476-1748.<\/em> Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000.<\/p>\n Ray-Dye, Chelsea. “Within the Looking Glass: How a War Photographer Became a Hero during World War I.” IUSB Undergraduate Research Journal of History<\/em> 5 (2015): 185.<\/p>\n Stewart, H. L. “Some Repercussions of the Russian Revolution.” International Journal<\/em> 1, no. 3 (1946): 218-28. doi:10.2307\/40194082.<\/p>\n Von Mohrenschildt, Dimitri. “The Early American Observers of the Russian Revolution, 1917-1921.” The Russian Review<\/em> 3, no. 1 (1943): 64-74. doi:10.2307\/125233.<\/p>\n Von Mohrenschildt, Dimitri. “The Early American Observers of the Russian Revolution, 1917-1921.” The Russian Review<\/em> 3, no. 1 (1943): 64-74. doi:10.2307\/125233.<\/p>\n Zimmerman, William. “The American View of Russia.” The Wilson Quarterly (1976-)<\/em> 1, no. 2 (1977): 118-28. http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/40255188<\/a>.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Donald C. Thompson, Blood stained Russia<\/em>, ( New York : Leslie-Judge Co., 1918) v.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> David Harley Mould, Donald Thompson: Photographer at War,<\/em> (Kansas State Historical Society, 1982), 154.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Mould, Donald Thompson<\/em>, 163.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> \u201cNew Russian War Film.: Donald Thompson\u2019s Pictures Show Regiment of Women in Training,\u201d in New York Times<\/em> (December 10, 1917), 15.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Joshua Sanborn, Imperial Apocalypse:<\/em> The Great War and the Destruction of the Russian Empire<\/em> (Oxford, 2014), 95.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Thompson, Blood stained Russia,10<\/em><\/p>\n [7]<\/a> Thompson, Blood stained Russia, 19.<\/em><\/p>\n [8]<\/a> Thompson, Blood stained Russia, <\/em>19. \u201cThe Monk Rasputin, the Evil Genius of the Old Regime in Russia, Surrounded by Admiring Women\u201d<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> Thompson, Blood stained Russia,<\/em> 44.<\/p>\n [10]<\/a> Sanborn, Imperial Apocalypse, <\/em>224-225.<\/p>\n [11]<\/a> Thompson, Blood stained Russia,<\/em> 44. \u201cA Parade in Advocacy of a Vigorous Offensive against Germany\u201d<\/p>\n [12]<\/a> Thompson, Blood stained Russia,<\/em> 136.<\/p>\n [13]<\/a> Thompson, Blood stained Russia,<\/em> 164.<\/p>\n [14]<\/a> Jonathan W. Daly and Leonid Trofimov,\u00a0Russia in War and Revolution, 1914-1922: A Documentary History<\/em>\u00a0(Indianapolis: Hackett Pub., 2009), 86-87.<\/p>\n![\"Misich2\"](\"http:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/hst-journeys\/files\/2016\/12\/Misich2-300x200.jpg\")
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