Around that time, he formulated a ruralist and nationalist perspective on life, rejecting what he deemed "the hybrid urban world" for "the world of our national realities". In Călinescu's analysis, this signifies that, like his predecessor, the conservative Eminescu, Sadoveanu believed the cities were victims of the "superimposed category" of foreigners, in particular those administrating leasehold estates. Following the 1907 Peasants' Revolt, Sadoveanu sent a report to his Minister of Education Spiru Haret, informing him on the state of rural education, and, beyond this, of the problems faced by villagers in Moldavia. It read: "The leaseholders and landowners, no matter what their nationality, make a mockery of the Romanians' labors. Every "surtucar" [that is, urbanized character] in the village, mayors, notaries, paper-pushers, shamelessly [and] mercilessly milk this milk cow. They are joined by the priest—who [...] is in disagreement with the teacher." With "Neamul Șoimăreștilor", the burdens of feudal society and mercantilism, most of all the restriction of economic rights, were becoming a background theme in his fiction, which later depicted Stephen the Great as the original champion of social justice ("Frații Jderi"). During most of his World War I activity, Sadoveanu also followed the Poporanists' Russophobia and dislike of the Entente side, describing the Russian Empire's national policies in Bessarabia as far more barbaric than Austria-Hungary's rule over Transylvania. In 1916, he abruptly switched to the Entente camp: his enthusiasm as propaganda officer was touched by controversy once Romania experienced massive defeats; Sadoveanu himself abandoned the Entente cause by 1918, when he was decommissioned, and resumed his flirtation with Constantin Stere's Germanophile lobby.