Socio-economic situation in Volyn province before and during the First World War

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the impact of military action on the economy of Volyn during the First World War. The author clarifies the role of Russian military command and state authorities in the deterioration of socio-economic life in the region. The activity of local self-government bodies on price regulation is analyzed. The methodology of the study is based on the use of general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis and generalization), especially historical (comparative, chronological and historical-systemic) in combination with the principles of historicism, objectivity and polyfactory. The scientific novelty of the work is that: the peculiarities of preparation for war in the region during the pre-war period and the course of carrying out evacuation of the population from the frontal counties are determined; the measures taken by the military command and local authorities that accompanied these processes were analyzed; the causes and consequences of the deterioration of the socio-economic situation in Volyn during the studied period were determined; the factors that influenced these processes were identified and the role of the imperial authorities and the military in them was identified. Conclusions. Despite the positive trends that were observed in Volyn on the eve of the First World War, with the outbreak of hostilities, the socio-economic situation in the region began to deteriorate rapidly. First, the front-line, and then the front-line status of the province led to an increase in prices for food and essential goods. The military quartermasters, trying to meet the needs of the Russian army and at the same time using administrative resources, quickly caused a shortage of products in the frontline counties. The forced evacuation of the population, the destruction of crops and the removal of livestock led to the impoverishment of a large number of peasants and, as a result, the cost of essential goods in cities. Negatively influenced the situation in the region and the increase in the number of deserters, which led to the establishment of a special regime of special regime in a number of settlements in the region. This situation contributed to increased dissatisfaction with the actions of the Russian military and government from a significant part of the Volyn population.