The Memoirs of Pranas Virakas on Mobilisation for the Russo–Japanese War, 1904–1905

Abstract

This article analyses the impact of the Russo Japanese War (1904–1905) on the population of Lithuania, drawing on Pranas Virakas’s memoirs of mobilisation into the tsarist army. The study is based on a unique manuscript preserved at the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania. The memoirs reveal processes of mobilisation, the conscripts’ mood, interethnic relations, and the authorities’ conduct. This source contributes to an underresearched topic and provides a clearer understanding of the preconditions for the revolutionary events of 1905–1907.