The press, military secrecy and prestige of the power: one day in the life of Russian military censorship during the First World War

The article is devoted to the discussion around the problems of military censorship that unfolded in 1915-1916 in the Council of Ministers of Russia, within the walls of the State Duma and beyond. The authors of the article assess the peculiarities of the work of military censors using the example of one day activity of the Petrograd Military Censorship Commission, i.e. June 3, 1916. The preservation by the Commission of special albums containing articles with censorship exemptions of text fragments, as well as completely removed articles provided historians with a unique opportunity to analyze the work of military censors who checked the issues of the capital's newspapers prepared for publication. The analysis of the fragments of Petrograd newspaper articles prohibited for publication reveals the character of monitoring the information for the Russian society about events in the country and the actions of the Russian army at the front. The authors conclude that, due to the guidelines of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of War, the efforts of military censors were not limited to maintaining military secrecy. Their main task was to ensure state influence on the circulation of information in the country, which affected the authority of the government and the reputation of the army among the population, the possibility of public mobilization to fight an external enemy and to help the belligerent army, and public loyalty to military and civilian authorities.