The book examines the journalism of the oldest Russian magazines Vestnik Evropy and Russian Wealth during the First World War. Particular attention is paid to the magazine discussion about the causes and nature of the war, relations between the authorities and society, the historical fate of the autocracy and democracy in Russia. Since the political and socio-economic problems that caused the revolutionary explosion of 1917 in our country remain largely unresolved so far, the discussions about them by pre-revolutionary publicists have also not lost their relevance.