The Literature of War—A New Perspective: Case Study: Romanian War Diaries (1914–1916)
The Literature of War—A New Perspective: Case Study: Romanian War Diaries (1914–1916)

Summary/Abstract: War diaries represent a particularly important source for reconstructing various aspects relating to the Great War, a source that has been relatively little explored in Romanian historiography so far. This study focuses on two such war diaries preserved in the National Archives of Sibiu and Bistriþa, respectively. The two authors were elementary school teachers. In terms of their discourse and register, the two diaries are different, reflecting the personality of their authors, but their analysis reveals a few central themes, equally present in both texts, such as the atmosphere in the trenches, the soldiers’ moods and inner feelings on the frontline, the hostility of the local population, the theme of alienation and deracination, the methods of maintaining discipline among soldiers, the rumors which circulated among them, propaganda and misinformation, the topic of the so-called “flying machines,” the reliability and spirit of sacrifice of the Romanian soldiers or their duty to their homeland and the emperor, etc.

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