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August the first 1914
100 years ago on August the 1, 1914 Germany declared war to Russia. One of the episodes of the War took place in the Caucasus on Dombai-Ulgen.
The climbing history of this mountain also started on August the 1 1914. The ascent to the main summit was done by two German climbers, Oscar Schuster and Werner Fischer. By 1914, they had already made more than 20 first ascents on Caucasus summits among them Southern Ushba, Aday-Hokh, Lagau and others. In the summer of 1914, climbers planed to visit Western Caucasus and ascent Dombai-Ulgen and they were successful.
Having descended from the summit, Schuster and Fischer learned about the beginning of the war. Finding themselves on the enemy territory, the climbers decided to get to Germany secretly, through Turkey. They hiked over 65 kilometers to the Black Sea coast, but were detained in Sukhumi by the Russian authorities and put into a Prisoner-of-war camp. Oscar Schuster died of disease in a POW camp near Astrakhan at the end of 1917.
To day on August the 1 2014 the new war in Europe is already on.