»MY HEART BREAKS WITH SORROW« Everyday Life of the Bovec Region Inhabitants During the Great War

The present contribution about everyday life in the Bovec region begins in the first half of 1914 when the situation was still normal. However, with the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, everyday life in the Bovec region changed profoundly. As in the other parts of Austria-Hungary – at least those not on the front lines – life was determined by wartime absolutism. After the proclamation of war, men started to leave their homes to serve in the military. However, they kept in touch by sending letters or greetings to their families and friends through newspaper advertisements. Shortly after the war broke out, the soldiers were not the only victims: in Srpenica, Countess Lucy Cristalnigg was shot in a military incident and became one of the first civilian casualties of the Great War in the territory of present-day Slovenia. This incident announced the beginning of a total war. Schools soon closed, while the war occupied the children with various patriotic and charitable tasks. The first year of the Great War also significantly changed the local diet, which worsened further by the coming winter.