The state had also had a hand in inspiring a wave of pogroms across Russia in 1905. Given that general attitude, it is not surprising that the army leadership in 1914 suspected Jews of “consorting with the enemy through the use of underground telephones and airplanes” and supplying German troops with gold smuggled across the front line in the stomachs of cattle and the eggs of geese.29 Swirling conspiracy theories about Jewish treachery supplied a plausible explanation for unpalatable facts: the defeat of a unit, the loss of a division, the poor performance of the entire army.
