Abramov A.P., Gavrikov F.A. (2025). Mobilization of the Kursk industry during the First World War, 1914–1918, Herald of an Archivist, no. 4, pp. 1234–1252, doi 10.28995 ...

Abstract

This article describes the efforts of public organizations, government agencies, and private individuals to organize military production in Kursk during the First World War. The study is based on the principles of historicism and objective analysis. Historicism allows us to trace the development of military production in Kursk from the outbreak of the First World War to the October Revolution. Objectivity requires an unbiased, independent approach to assessing the events that took place between 1914 and 1917. The study is based on problem-based chronological and comparative historical methods. The former allows us to formulate problems and track their gradual development over time, while the latter allows us to compare processes occurring in a specific city with similar ones across the country and the world. The main problem of the study is that, just 3-4 months after the start of hostilities, the Russian army began to experience shortages of ammunition, uniforms (primarily boots), and equipment. To somehow address the emerging problem, various public committees and unions began to form in the country, aiming to supply the active army with everything it needed. In May 1915, at a congress of representatives of industry and trade in Petrograd, the Military-Industrial Committee was established. According to the regulations adopted at the congress, the organization's primary goal was to mobilize industry to supply the army and navy. By 1916, committee branches were operating in 33 regions of Russia. The Kursk Military-Industrial Committee was organized on August 2, 1915. In August 1914, at the All-Russian Congress of City Representatives, the Union of Cities was formed. In addition to charitable activities (opening hospitals, providing refugee accommodation, and collecting parcels for soldiers at the front), the Union aimed to mobilize small-scale and cottage industries. The Kursk branch of the Union was one of the first to open, on October 24, 1914. At the Second Congress on February 26–28, 1915, the Union of Cities and the Zemsky Union merged into a single organization, Zemgor (the Main Committee for Army Supply of the All-Russian Zemsky and City Unions). This article examines the activities of both these public organizations and local authorities in matters of army supply. From August 1914 to September 1916, military orders worth 221.49 million rubles were distributed through the Union of Cities (Zemgor) alone. The work presents archival data on contracts concluded with local manufacturers and describes attempts to establish military production in Kursk, both on the basis of existing enterprises and those created from scratch.

Content (in russ)