Original Item. One-of-a-Kind. This is a very tremendous piece of Russian “trench art”, a hand-carved swagger stick made by a soldier in 1915, as below the handle is carved the dates 1914-1915, indicating the year it was made. Above this, in Russian, is the phrase, In Memory of the Warriors, meant to commemorate the 1,000,000+ Russian soldiers who had already become casualties. 

The swagger stick measures 28¾” long and shows heavy service-use, with one large crack in the wood about 8” from the bottom, but it doesn’t affect the structural integrity of the entire piece. This is a really phenomenal piece of Russian trench art from the year after the Battle of Galicia which the Russians won, only to be defeated months later in 1915 during the Gorlice–Tarnów offensive, being pushed back into mainland Russia.

A very scarce hand-made piece with tons of character, ready for further research and display.

The Russian Empire entered World War I in the three days preceding July 28, 1914. This began with Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia, which was a Russian ally at the time. The Russian Empire sent an ultimatum, via St Petersburg, to Vienna, warning Austria-Hungary not to attack Serbia. Following the invasion of Serbia, Russia began to mobilize its reserve army near its border with Austria-Hungary. Consequently, on July 31, the German Empire in Berlin demanded Russian demobilization. There was no response; and so, on the same day (1 August 1914), Germany declared war on Russia. In accordance with its war plan, Germany ignored Russia and moved first against France, declaring war on August 3rd. Germany sent its main armies through Belgium to surround Paris. The threat to Belgium caused Britain to declare war on Germany on August 4. The Ottoman Empire soon after joined the Central Powers and fought Russia along their border.