A fluid enemy, economic resource and bacteriological hazard: Galician rivers in anthropological constructs and occupation practices of the First World War

The occupation of Galicia played a special role for the Russian military and civilian administrations, for public organisations and combatants at the front as well as for the civilian population in the hinterland. The study draws on correspondence between military and civilian administrations on war strategies and tactics, plans and practices for the development of Galicia. Although actors did not attempt to explicitly capture the impact of the war on the occupied landscapes, this impact was overwhelming enough to shape many individual and institutional narratives both during the World War and in the interwar period. The horizons of expectation of combatants and the military administration were propaganda, which postulated the inseparability of Galicia and Russia. postulating the inseparability of Galicia and Russia, in part by arguing with the ecological motives: the similarity of landscapes and the integrity of river systems and wildlife. The formation of Galician mental spaces was facilitated by slavish-sounding toponyms, which were deliberately russified in many propaganda publications. After the initial contact with the Galician landscape these attitudes led many writing combatants to romanticisation of natural objects, which were described with the help of elevated metaphors. Due to its unpredictability during the war, however, Galician nature was gradually perceived as a dangerous enemy. The rivers were in the individual narratives as well as in the later works on military strategy often negatively anthropomorphised and even demonised.