Man versus nature: perception of militarized landscapes in ego-documents and works of military specialists

Alexandra Likhacheva (PhD Yaroslavl): Man versus nature: perception of militarized landscapes in ego-documents and works of military specialists

The collision of millions of combatants with foreign terrain, about which soldiers and officers had only a vague idea before the war began, gave rise to a new “existential experience” and left a bright trace in sources of personal origin. This study will reconstruct military landscapes as a cultural construct that influences behaviour patterns. It will be a consideration of combatants’ perception of combat landscapes, including defeated territories, reflections on the “existential experience” of being in a foreign environment, and the practice of using specific terrain for military purposes.