About the book: 1999 / In its history, Russia has experienced many armed conflicts, but it was in the 20th century that a massive socio-psychological phenomenon arose " a fighting man." This book tells how this phenomenon was reflected in the popular consciousness and influenced the fate of several generations of our compatriots. Its main theme is a person in extreme conditions of war, his thoughts, feelings, behavior. Psychology of combat and soldier's fatalism; heroic impulse and panic; features of front-line life; relationships between rank and file and officers; interaction and competition between military branches; the role of ideology and propaganda; symbols and myths of war; soldiers' superstitions; formation and evolution of the enemy image; the phenomenon of women’s participation in combat is not a complete list of problems that are revealed for the first time in historical literature using the example of all the external wars of our country in the 20th century - from the Russian-Japanese to the Afghan. The book is based on rare archival documents, letters, diaries, memoirs of war participants and “oral history” materials. It will be of interest not only to specialists, but also to everyone who cares about the history of the Fatherland. This book is a return of debt to our ancestors, soldiers and officers of the Russian Army, undeservedly forgotten heroes of ancient wars. This is a tribute of respect and memory to the front-line generation of the Great Patriotic War, my father and his comrades in arms. This is a tribute to the participants of the “small wars”, my peers and friends who fought in Afghanistan. This is a pain for those boys who are shedding blood today in “hot spots”, and for those who are yet to go through the war…