Causes and nature of the First World War. Belarus during the war
One hundred years ago, one of the bloodiest and largest wars in the history of mankind ended. On November 11, 1918, an armistice was signed in the Forest of Compiègne, which ended the First World War. The Belarusian lands, perhaps more than others, suffered from the devastating impact of this unfairly forgotten military conflict, since it was here that the front line stopped for more than two years. The date "1916" is placed in the title for a reason. Beginning precisely in 1916, the troops of both sides began to engage in a major strengthening of their defensive positions. There is a widespread construction of firing points, shelters, observation posts, trenches and artillery caponiers.
The German-Austrian troops, having a high-level material and technical base, strengthened their positions much more thoroughly and better than the Russian army. During 1916-1917, German-Austrian engineers built a huge variety of fortifications from concrete and steel, while on the Russian side the construction was carried out from wood and earth. In addition to various fortifications, auxiliary front-line infrastructure was actively built. The number of buildings built during this time on the territory of Belarus is in the thousands, which makes them the largest monuments in the history of the First World War. We drove almost the entire front line from north to south and looked at the current state of the silent evidence of that terrible time.
Vidzy
Let's start our journey from Vidzy village. This small village in the north of Belarus is largely known for its beautiful church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. The construction of the temple was completed right before the start of World War I, in 1914. At the time of construction, the church was considered one of the tallest buildings in Belarus. Its towers towered over 70 meters above the ground. Once at the forefront, the German troops who occupied Vidzy actively used the church as an observation post.
Observers could look far into the depths of Russian positions and correct artillery fire on them. At the beginning of March 1916, just before the start of a large-scale offensive, known as the Naroch operation, Russian troops fired heavily at the church, almost completely destroying the towers and depriving the Germans of the possibility of observation. In memory of those events, several Russian artillery shells are embedded in the walls of the temple.
On the shore of Lake Vidzovsky there are several rather large concrete observation posts of the German-Austrian army. The dot, located on a hill, is divided into two rooms. It was equipped with a ladder leading to an observation position. The structure was badly damaged by an internal explosion. According to local residents, ammunition found on the beach was blown up here.
Naroch
Military graves occupy a special place in the history of the First World War in Belarus. A huge number of various cemeteries and mass graves were left behind by the front that stopped in Belarus. At the moment, about 200 burials are known - both German-Austrian and Russian. Of course, there were more of them, but after hundreds of years, many were lost and forgotten. An interesting fact is that in cemeteries German graves often coexist with Russian ones. The fact is that after each battle, sanitary brigades worked on the battlefield, which collected the bodies of the dead and buried them without nationality, transferring the documents of the dead to the enemy. There was no more demand from the dead.
At the Catholic cemetery in the village of Naroch there is a large monument with an eagle spreading its wings. At the foot of the monument is a German military cemetery. The inscription on the monument reads "To the heroes who died for their homeland, to their honor and memory." The eagle in the German military tradition is designed to protect the peace of dead soldiers.
The date on the monument is July 1916. Apparently, it was installed here shortly after the Russian army carried out the Naroch operation - the largest diversion in the history of the First World War, the purpose of which was to pull part of the German forces from the Western Front in order to help the very French allies near Verdun, who found themselves in a difficult situation after start of the German offensive. As a result of the fighting, the Russian army lost 78 thousand people, while the losses of the Germans were almost half as much - 40 thousand killed and wounded.
The next burial is located closer to the front line, near the modern village of Pronki. According to estimates, there are more than one and a half thousand graves of soldiers and officers, which makes this burial one of the largest known in Belarus. Many burials date back to 1916, which indicates that a large number of those who died during the Naroch operation were buried here. In the center of the cemetery, a monument with the inscription "To the Heroes of the 80-1st Reserve Division", also dated 1916, was built of stones.
It is curious that this cemetery was originally located south of the village of Pronki and was moved in 1930 during reconstruction. In the old place, only one monument remained with the inscription "To the Heroes of the 250th Reserve Infantry Regiment."
Vishnevo
To the south of Vishnevsky Lake, in fact, the front line passed along the modern border of the Grodno and Minsk regions. The German and Russian positions were opposite each other at a distance of literally a few hundred meters. Given the complex nature of the positional war, which dragged on for more than two years, both sides carried out serious work on the construction of fortifications on the front line - thousands of kilometers of deep trenches and shelters were dug and thousands of firing points were built. The German troops had a higher level of material support and could afford to build steel and concrete fortifications on the front line, while the Russian army built, for the most part, only wood and earthen structures.
In the forests near Vishnevsky Lake, the German defensive lines are very well preserved - clearly traced lines of trenches and trenches winding labyrinths in the impassable forest thicket, every 100 meters there are concreted machine-gun nests, observation posts and shelters.
In addition to building fortifications and shelters, German engineers built a huge amount of related infrastructure along the front line: bridges, roads, railroad tracks and other facilities that were necessary to supply the advanced ammunition, food, medicine and soldiers. Not far from Vishnevo, the pillars of the railway bridge across the Viliya, built by the Germans during the war, have been preserved. A narrow-gauge railway was used for the needs of the front, but the scale with which military engineers approached the matter is amazing: seven massive concrete pillars speak of the capital quality of construction. This approach to the construction of auxiliary infrastructure is striking, especially against the background of the complete absence of concrete fortifications in the Russian army.
Dubatovka
In the village of Dubatovka, there are two German concrete bunkers, which are notable for their artistic design. Most likely, these structures were used as shelters or storage facilities. The first is located right at the entrance to the village and is clearly visible from the road. It is very heavily covered with earth, but is still distinguishable.
Directly above the entrance is a concrete bas-relief with the inscription Gartners Heim, which means "Garden House". Now it is difficult to guess the irony or a serious message, but the level of artistic performance on an absolutely ordinary auxiliary structure is beyond praise. Such details speak of the desire of people to brighten up the terrible military everyday life and strive for beauty in any life circumstances.
The neighboring building also has an inscription above the entrance, but more modest, which says that this fortification was erected by the 2nd battalion of the 33rd regiment in May 1917. For a long time, this fortification was used by one of the local residents as a barn.
Traces of the activity of the nameless sculptor can be found a few kilometers east of Dubatovka. In the forests near the village of Abramovshchina, in addition to trenches and faceless shelters, there is another pearl of military engineering architecture - the German field kitchen. It consists of two large concreted rooms with wide entrances.
A comical bas-relief is depicted above one of them: a cook fills a field kitchen tank with water and melts the stove, and a pig and a rooster, not wanting to become part of a soldier's dinner, scatter in different directions. Such details, a few hundred meters from the advanced trenches, were supposed to cheer up people exhausted by a protracted war.
birches
On a hill near the village of Bereza was a large German stronghold. During trench warfare, each high hill was of great strategic importance: such positions are very difficult to storm by infantry forces, so they were fortified quite strongly. There are several interesting military structures preserved there. One of them is a round machine-gun pillbox.
It did not have an entrance from the surface; it was possible to get inside only from a trench. A metal staircase leads to the embrasures. This small casemate could house one or two machine-gun crews. The unusual shape of this pillbox is due to the use of a semicircular corrugated metal sheet as a formwork for pouring concrete, which was widely used to strengthen the ceiling vaults of almost all German shelters. We have not seen any more pillboxes of a similar design in Belarus.
At the foot of the hill is another concrete shelter for soldiers.
Smorgon
During World War I, the small town of Smorgon became a real stumbling block. The front line passed through the city. As a result of positional battles that lasted 810 days, the settlement actually ceased to exist. The press of that time called Smorgon a "dead city": there was no life here, only death and war. German trenches and pillboxes surrounded the city from the west, and Russian positions from the east. Now in the vicinity there are several dozen different long-term German structures cast in concrete. Russian positions are no longer to be found.
German pillbox at the bypass road
Another machine gun firing point is located on the territory of the modern city cemetery. During the war, this place was located outside the city.
Krevo
Kreva Castle, built in the 14th century, is known not only as a monument of the period of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It was also strongly affected by the First World War, which actually completed the process of destruction of the most important historical monument of modern Belarus. The castle ended up on the territory occupied by the Germans, observation posts and shelters were built near the walls and in the courtyard. A concrete pillbox was built in the small tower of the castle, which added variety to the architecture of the defensive structure, which is almost 800 years old. The current deplorable state of the Krevo Castle is due to the fact that in the summer of 1917 it experienced one of the heaviest artillery shelling in the history of the First World War.
For fire support of the Russian offensive operation, almost 900 guns of various calibers were used, which tirelessly bombarded the German positions near the Krevo Castle with shells. However, the Russian attack did not have any strategic success.
As a result of the fighting in the summer of 1917, the church in the village of Novospassk was seriously damaged. The temple, located between the Russian and German trenches, was shot from both sides. The walls of the church are plentifully dotted with traces of bullets and shells. It has not been possible to restore it.
Chukhny
In the fields between the villages of Chukhny and Verebushki, which is south of Krevo, there is a large number of various German fortifications. Here, the position of the artillery battery located behind the line of the fort, which has four artillery caponiers for small-caliber guns, as well as several concrete shelters and observation posts, has been perfectly preserved.
Shelter for soldiers in the field between the villages of Chukhna - Verebushki
Of particular interest is a detached sanitary dugout. A red cross is laid out with bricks above its entrance. The structure was badly damaged by artillery shelling in the summer of 1917.
From the side of the Russian positions there are characteristic marks from the hit of large-caliber shells. Inside, the I-beams of the ceiling were cut by fragments. Until now, fragments of shells of a hundred years ago are found in the fields.
Boruny and Ten's men
In the village of Boruny, located far from the front line, there is another large German cemetery. Among the hundreds of graves of German soldiers and officers, there is also the grave of the crew of the Russian Ilya Muromets bomber, which was shot down here during an air battle in 1916.
One of the most beautiful and well-groomed memorials to the fallen soldiers of the First World War is the military cemetery in the village of Desyatniki. As on Naroch, here German graves peacefully coexist with Russian ones. This cemetery was equipped in 1922 by the Poles, after the signing of the Treaty of Riga, according to which these territories were ceded to Poland.
The burial is located on a gentle hill near the bend of the river and looks more like a park. It is surrounded by a low stone fence around the perimeter. At the entrance there is a monument with an eagle, which traditionally keeps order and protects the peace of the dead.
Baranovichi
In the Baranovichi area, the German-Austrian army had especially strong artillery support. This area was considered a strategically important sector of the Eastern Front and was seriously reinforced by heavy artillery.
Near the village of Stolovichi there is an interesting artillery battery. It was built before the start of the large-scale Baranovichi operation, which was carried out by Russian troops in the summer of 1916. The Russian offensive lasted almost a month and did not lead to any results, except for the loss of 80 thousand soldiers killed and wounded. German losses were much more modest - 13 thousand people. The artillery battery consists of two separate concrete structures for different types of guns.
QUESTIONS
1. (31). The main directions of the autocracy's policy in Belarus in the first half of the 19th century. The division of the territory of the Belarusian lands into provinces. Class policy of the Russian government. Taxes and duties of peasants.
2. (32). Belarus in the war of 1812. The situation of the population of Belarus during the war. occupation regime. Battle on the river Berezina. The results of the war for Belarus.
3. (33). Socio-political movement in the Belarusian lands in the first third of the XIX century. Philomaths. Filaret. Decembrists. Society of Military Friends. Rebellion 1830-1831 in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus and its consequences.
4. (34). The state of agriculture in Belarus in the first half of the XIX century. P. Kiselyov's reform in the state village (1840-1857). Carrying out an inventory reform in the landowner's village (1844-1857). Industry. Trade. Cities and towns.
5. (35). Education, science and culture of Belarus in the first half of the 19th century. School types. Wilno University. Formation of scientific knowledge about Belarus and the Belarusian people. Formation of the Belarusian literary language. Painting. Theatre. Music.
6. (36). The abolition of serfdom in Belarus. Manifesto and Regulations of February 19, 1861, the order of their application in Belarus. The reaction of the peasantry to the reform. Results and significance of the 1861 reform. Agriculture and industry of Belarus after the abolition of serfdom.
7. (37). Uprising 1863-1864. in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. Causes and nature of the uprising. "Reds and Whites". K. Kalinovsky. The influence of the uprising on the conditions for the liberation of the peasants of the Belarusian provinces from serfdom.
8. (38). Bourgeois reforms (zemstvo, city, judicial, etc.) of the 60-70s. XIX century: features of their implementation in Belarus. The policy of the Russian government on the national-religious issue. Western Russianism.
9. (39). Socio-political life of Belarus in the late XIX - early XX century. Peasant and labor movement. Revolutionary Populists. Group "Gomon". Social Democrats. Formation of the Belarusian socialist community.
10. (40). Belarus during the first Russian revolution of 1905-1907. Causes, beginning and course of the revolution. Manifesto of October 17, 1905 and its consequences for Belarus. The State Duma. Belarusian national movement.
11. (41). Stolypin reforms and their implementation in Belarus. Reasons and goals of agrarian reform. Introduction of zemstvos.
12. (42). Belarus during the First World War. The occupation of the western part of Belarus. The position of the population. Belarusian national movement.
13. (43). Conditions and features of the formation of the Belarusian nation. ethnic territory. National and social composition of the population. The community of economic life. national identity.
14. (44). Education, science and culture of Belarus in the second half of the 19th - early 20th century. Primary schools and secondary education. Scientific study of ethnography and language of the Belarusian people. Belarusian literature. Theatre. Painting.
ANSWERS ON QUESTIONS
1. (31). The main directions of the autocracy's policy in Belarus in the first half of the 19th century. The division of the territory of the Belarusian lands into provinces. Class policy of the Russian government. Taxes and duties of peasants.
After the accession of Belarus to Russia (the end of the 18th century), the tsarist government began to pursue a policy that had the ultimate goal of rapprochement and merging with the Russian regions.
The division of the territory of the Belarusian lands into provinces. The administrative-territorial division was extended to the annexed lands into provinces and counties. In accordance with the reform 1801 created on the territory of Belarus five provinces: Vitebsk, Mogilev, Minsk, Vilna and Grodno. The autocracy, taking into account the border location of Belarus, as well as the tense political and social situation, created here governor generals: Belarusian, which included the Vitebsk and Mogilev provinces and Lithuanian, which included the Minsk, Grodno and Vilna provinces. The governors-general actually had unlimited powers. One of them - Count Chernyshev - emphasized his omnipotence even with a special throne. The power of the governor-generals was based on a powerful administrative, military-political apparatus.
Class policy of the Russian government. The gentry of the Belarusian lands were sworn in. Those who refused to take the oath had to go abroad within three months, selling their real estate.
In relation to different social groups of society, the new government pursued different policies. Shlyakhta (nobility), all the rights of the Russian nobility were given. But the government abolished independence magnates, deprived them of the right to have their own troops, fortresses, limited the arbitrariness of the gentry. In order to strengthen its social base in the lands annexed to Russia, tsarism pursued a policy of planting Russian landownership. The tsarist government distributed estates with peasants to Russian landowners, high military officials and officials. The largest owners were Prince G.A. Potemkin, which received the Krichev Starostvo, in the Gomel eldership, A.V. Suvorov in the Kobrin volost of the Brest economy, etc.
The provisions of the “Letter of Letters to Cities” of 1785 were extended to Belarusian cities. Magdeburg law was canceled. To manage the economic activities of cities, representatives of the urban estates were elected city council. Numerous Jewish population decree 1794 came under the influence law on the Jewish Pale of Settlement within the Belarusian General Government and part of the Ukrainian provinces. From 1795 rural Jews were ordered to be resettled in cities.
Taxes and duties of peasants. The position of the peasants of Belarus has hardly changed. They were subject to the Russian tax system, which replaced lifting (household) on the poll tax. 
To The peasantry of Belarus was placed in the same conditions as the peasants of other provinces of Russia. State taxes were collected in Belarus not in paper money (banknotes), but in coins, the real rate of which was much higher.
| Seeing a new recruit. Artist I. Repin (1879) |
Questions and tasks
1. Division of the territory of Belarusian lands into provinces.
2. Class policy of the Russian government in the Belarusian lands.
3. Taxes and duties of the peasants of Belarus in the Russian Empire.
4. Define the terms: province, county, general government, gentry, magnates, Russian land ownership, city duma, laws on the Jewish population, raising (household) tax, poll tax, recruitment duty.
5. Who are they: Prince G.A. Potemkin, Count P.A. Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky, A.V. Suvorov ?
6. Give an explanation for the dates: 1801, 1794
2. (32). Belarus in the war of 1812. The situation of the population of Belarus during the war. occupation regime. Battle on the river Berezina. The results of the war for Belarus.
Political and economic contradictions between France and Russia led these states to war. June 12, 1812 "Great Army"(600 thousand people) Emperor of France Napoleon without a declaration of war crossed in the area of the city of Kovno within the Russian Empire – on the lands of Belarus and Lithuania. On June 16, 1812, the city of Vilna was occupied by the French.
The state of the population of Belarus during the war. Napoleon wanted to turn Belarus into a rear base for his army. He ordered the construction of large food warehouses in Smorgon, Minsk, Borisov, Orsha and other cities. Providing food, fodder for Napoleon's army in many ways 
fell on the shoulders of the peasants, which made their situation difficult, and many went to partisans in order to protect against robbery by the invaders. The French garrison of 12,000 Vitebsk was afraid to leave the city, so as not to fall into the hands of the partisans.
| Partisans of the War of 1812 |
occupation regime. Almost the entire territory of Belarus, except for the southeastern districts, was captured by French troops and controlled by the French military command. One of the means of combating the Russian command with the Napoleonic army was the direction of small military detachments, consisting of light cavalry, to the territories controlled by the "Great Army". Such units captured prisoners, burned food supplies, and initiated the creation of self-defense units among the local population. 
The guerrilla struggle undermined the strength of the French occupiers. To protect their communications, warehouses, to fight partisans, the French command was forced to keep about 30 thousand soldiers and officers on the territory of Belarus.
At the beginning of September 1812, Napoleon entered Moscow, and at the beginning of October he had to leave it with nothing and go back along the same ruined road. Soon the liberation of Belarus began.
Battle on the river Berezina. November 14, 1812 at the village of Studenka north of the city of Borisov, the French began crossing the Berezina River. Russian troops attacked the French on both banks. Napoleon lost more than 20 thousand people, only 10 thousand French were able to cross. The "Great Army" was actually defeated. After the Berezina, Napoleon's army ceased to exist, the remnants of the troops randomly retreated. On November 24, Napoleon left the army and left for Paris. On December 8, 1812, Russian troops occupied Grodno without a fight.
The results of the war for Belarus. Napoleon's campaign in Russia is over. The war of 1812 cost the Belarusians about 1 million people - every fourth. This war brought great devastation: many cities and villages were destroyed, the number of herds and sown areas were reduced by almost half. Serfdom was not abolished.
Questions and tasks
1. The situation of the population of Belarus during the war.
2. Occupation regime.
3. Battle on the river. Berezina.
4. The results of the war for Belarus.
3. 
(33). Socio-political movement in the Belarusian lands in the first third of the XIX century. Philomaths. Filaret. Decembrists. Society of Military Friends. Rebellion 1830-1831 in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus and its consequences.
The liquidation of the Commonwealth, the ideas of the French Revolution, the events of the war of 1812 had a great influence on the development of the socio-political movement in the lands of Belarus. The gentry intelligentsia, student youth, dissatisfied with the divisions of the Commonwealth, united in circles and associations to develop and implement their social and national ideals.
Philomaths. AT 1817 at Vilna University on the initiative of students Adam Mickiewicz, Tomasz Zahn, Jan Cechot a secret patriotic society was created - philomaths(from the Greek - "one who seeks knowledge"). Philomaths promoted the ideas of equality and freedom. They saw the future of Belarus in the elimination of serfdom, the introduction of a constitutional form of government.
Filaret("loving virtue") - a secret pro-Polish patriotic association of students of Vilna University, which operated in 1820-1823 It was aimed at mutual assistance and self-improvement. Tomasz Zan was the chairman of the Philaret society. The society consisted of four sections - physicists and mathematicians, lawyers, writers, physicians. The sections were divided into circles, bearing the names of the colors of the rainbow. The number of society reached 176 people. AT 1825 these societies were opened, one hundred people were arrested, many were imprisoned and exiled to Siberia.
Decembrists .
In Russia, the revolutionaries of the nobility, the Decembrists, came out to fight against the autocracy. In order to change power, they made an attempt to raise an armed uprising in December 1825 (hence the name - Decembrists). The beginning of their activity in Belarus is connected with the transfer of the guards corps here from St. Petersburg. Members of the Decembrist "Northern Society". His leader Nikita Muraviev made the first "Minsk version" of the Russian constitution. This option provided for the creation in Russia of a bourgeois state based on economic and civil liberties, the principles of elective public office and the separation of the functions of the legislative, executive and judicial powers. It also provided for the supremacy of the constitution and the equality of all citizens before the law, freedom of speech, inviolability of the person and private property, the abolition of serfdom and estates. However, this version of the constitution also contained restrictions on the rights of citizens, due to their property status, age, and compulsory knowledge of the Russian language.
Society of Military Friends. AT 1823 philomath Mikhail Rukevich created a secret society of the Decembrist type in Belarus "Military Friends" It united officers of the Lithuanian corps, local officials, gentry, and young students. Members of the society advocated freedom and enlightenment for themselves and others. On December 24, 1825, the “Military Friends” society disrupted the ceremony of swearing allegiance to the new Tsar Nicholas I. The attempted uprising was suppressed, and its organizers were arrested.
Rebellion 1830-1831 in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus and its consequences. In November 1830, a gentry uprising began in Warsaw, the leaders of which set the main goal of restoring the Commonwealth within the borders of 1772. Soon the uprising spread to the northwestern counties of Belarus. Peasants and philistines did not want to go to 
rebel detachments, since there was no question of solving their social problems, moreover, the tsarist authorities carried out active propaganda activities, which promised liberation from the power of the rebel landowners.
In August 1831, the uprising on the territory of Belarus was practically suppressed. Many of its participants were put on trial. Estates of the gentry confiscated. Many participants in the uprising were given as soldiers, sent to Siberia for settlement.
Consequences of the uprising of 1830-1831.After the suppression of the uprising in the lands of Belarus and Lithuania, the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of 1588 was terminated.
In order to prevent possible gentry unrest, the so-called "parsing the nobility", this procedure represented a total verification of documentary evidence of gentry origin. Those who could not confirm their origin were deprived of their noble rank and transferred to the unprivileged classes: odnodvortsev- in the countryside, citizens- in cities. A significant number of these families were resettled in the southern regions of Russia.
AT 1839 at the church council in Polotsk, a decision is made to join the Uniate Church (which supported the uprising) to the Russian Orthodox. The liquidation of the Uniate Church was accompanied by the destruction of its literature and other religious and cult values. The dominance of Russian Orthodoxy is established on the Belarusian lands.
In 1840, the tsar ordered not to use the terms "Belarusian" and "Lithuanian" provinces in business papers, but to list them by name. The name "North-Western Territory" was introduced.
Questions and tasks
1. Who are Philomaths and Philaretes.
2. What do you know about the Decembrists?
3. Tell us about the Society of Military Friends.
4. The uprising of 1830-1831 in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus.
5. What were the consequences of the uprising of 1830-1831?
Philomaths, Filarets, Decembrists, "Northern Society", "Minsk version" of the Russian constitution, "Military friends", confiscation, "parsing of the gentry", one-palace, citizen.
7. Who are they: Adam Mickiewicz, Tomasz Zahn, Jan Chechot, Nikita Muraviev, Mikhail Rukevich ?
8. Give an explanation for the dates: 1817, 1820-1823, 1825, 1823, 1830-1831, 1839
4. (34). The state of agriculture in Belarus in the first half of the XIX century. P. Kiselyov's reform in the state village (1840-1857). Carrying out an inventory reform in the landowner's village (1844-1857). Industry. Trade. Cities and towns.
In the first half of the 19th century, new phenomena related to the development of capitalist relations appeared in the agriculture of Belarus. With the increase in demand for bread in the domestic and foreign markets, the marketability of landowners. The landowners expanded the plowing of new areas, including at the expense of peasant lands.
One of the most important crops was the potato. It became not only an important food product, but also the main raw material for distilleries, which provided up to 60% of all incomes of landowners. On the estates, the landowners began to sow sugar beets and open sugar factories. Large and medium-sized landlord farms began to use agricultural machinery, high-quality seeds, and fertilizers.
Peasants at that time made up 90% of the total population of Belarus - 70% of the peasants were landowners, 19% - the so-called state (state). The rest nominally belonged to the state, but were "leased" from nobles and officials. 97% of peasant farms were on corvée. Increased rates of additional work.
P. Kiselyov's reform in the state village (1840-1857). By decision of the government in the western provinces, a reform began among the state peasants. The initiator and main conductor of the reform was the Minister of State Property of Russia, Count P.D. Kiselev. In 1839, decrees were signed on a new system of leadership
and lustrations state estates in the western provinces. The decree provided for a detailed description of the estates, the creation of management bodies for them, the revision of land allotments and the duties of the peasants. As a result, duties decreased by 30-35% in the west of Belarus and by 62-65% in the east. Later, all state peasants were transferred to quitrent stopped the practice of handing them over to rent. Elected peasant self-government bodies were created locally, which were entrusted with the solution of economic, administrative and judicial cases. Managers of estates were forbidden to apply physical punishment to peasants.
Carrying out an inventory reform in the landowner's village (1844-1857). In order to ease the crisis of serf relations in the landowner's village, the government decided to carry out an inventory reform, which was initiated by a decree of 1844. Its essence was to regulate the size of allotments and fix the duties of serfs. This was done by the provincial inventory committees of government officials and representatives of the nobility. Required Inventory were introduced in all estates of Western, Central and, partially, Eastern Belarus.
The reform met with resistance from the landowners. The authorities changed approaches several times in its implementation, so it dragged on until 1857. Despite the limited serfdom, inconsistency and incompleteness, the reform put a limit on the power of the landlords and opened up certain legal opportunities for the peasants to defend their interests. In general, the reforms of the 40-50s of the XIX century did not affect the foundations of the feudal order.
serfs. A small number of manufactories and factories belonged to merchants and petty bourgeois. They hired workers for money. A characteristic feature of the industry of Belarus was the orientation towards the processing of agricultural raw materials. Therefore, industrial enterprises were located mainly in rural areas, and not in cities. Trade. At the end of the 18th - the first half of the 19th century. work was carried out to improve communication routes. The construction of post roads began, and from the 1830s. - and highways (with a roadbed, roadsides and ditches). The main highway Moscow-Brest-Warsaw ran from east to west, and the Petersburg-Kyiv road ran from north to south. Canals were reconstructed or built to connect the rivers of the Black and Baltic Sea basins. Steamboats went along the Dnieper, Pripyat, Western Dvina. 
The first steamboat with a capacity of 12 horsepower was built by the Englishman A. Smith, a mechanic at the Gomel estate owned by Count N.P. Rumyantsev, and was tested on the Sozh in 1824. . more than doubled.
It was mainly the landowners who worked for the market. They supplied agricultural and livestock products, timber. About half of the income of the landlords was the sale of alcohol.
Cities and towns of Belarus in the first half of the 19th century. remained centers of crafts and trade, industrial enterprises were rare there. The proportion of the urban population in Belarus during the first half of the XIX century. was about 10%. The population of the cities was multinational, but Jews predominated.
The main form of organization of trade in Belarus in the first half of the 19th century was trade fairs. Stationary trade in shops and stores gradually spread. The agrarian nature of the economy of the Belarusian provinces predetermined the structure of trade: raw materials were exported, manufactured goods were imported. In the development of trade, communication routes were important: overland (postal routes, highways), water (canals, rivers).
Questions and tasks
1. P. Kiselyov's reform in the state village (1840-1857).
2. Carrying out an inventory reform in the landowner's village (1844-1857). Industry.
3. Trade.
4. Cities and towns.
5. Show on the map the main trade routes passing through the territory of Belarus.
5. Define the concepts: marketability of the economy, landlord peasants, state peasants, lustration, rent, compulsory inventory, small-scale and manufacturing production.
7. Who is P. Kiselev ?
8. Give an explanation for the dates: 1840-1857, 1844-1857
5. (35). Education, science and culture of Belarus in the first half of the 19th century. School types. Wilno University. Formation of scientific knowledge about Belarus and the Belarusian people. Formation of the Belarusian literary language. Painting. Theatre. Music.
School types. In accordance with the reform of education in 1803-1804. The school system was built on the principle of unity and continuity. In each provincial city, a gymnasium, in the county town county school, in the villages parochial schools. All educational institutions of the Belarusian provinces became part of Vilna educational district and began to obey the Vilna University, which exercised control over the work of schools, its teachers prepared training programs, wrote textbooks.
Wilno University. Since 1803, the Main Vilnius School was transformed into the Imperial Vilnius University. Exact sciences have achieved significant development at the university. Outstanding contributions to mathematics and astronomy Jan Snyadetsky, who for a long time was the rector of the university. Thanks to him, an astronomical observatory was opened in Vilna, his textbook on spherical trigonometry was considered the best in Europe and was published in Leipzig. University teachers have made a significant contribution to the development of medicine, physiology, history, literature and other sciences. The works of the historian, university professor have not lost their scientific value even today. I. Lyalevelya.
| Jan Sniadecki |
Formation of scientific knowledge about Belarus and the Belarusian people The formation of scientific knowledge about Belarus and the Belarusian people was associated with the emergence Belarusian studies. One of the first researchers of our history, oral folk art and language was the author of the essays "Journey through Polesye and the Belarusian Territory" Pavel Shpilevsky. One of the first collectors and researchers of Belarusian folklore was a member of the Philomath Society of Vilna University, poet Jan Chechot. He
published 6 folklore song collections (mostly translated into Polish). It is believed that the letter “y” (short for short) appeared for the first time in the Belarusian texts of Jan Chechot. In his poems, he criticized the cruelty of the landlords, urged them to treat the peasants humanely. Brothers made a significant contribution to the development of Belarusian studies Evstafiy and Konstantin Tyshkevichi. On their initiative, 1842 was created in Logoisk the first museum of antiquities in Belarus. Later, in 1855, thanks to the efforts of Eustace, the Vilna Museum of Antiquities was founded, to which Eustace donated a collection of his own archaeological materials. Thus, the beginning of the museum business in Belarus was laid.
Formation of the Belarusian literary language. In the first half of the nineteenth century. the process of formation of a new Belarusian literary language began. It is based on the dialects of Central Belarus. One of the founders of the new Belarusian literature was a graduate of the Polotsk Jesuit Academy Jan Barshchevsky, who wrote both in Belarusian and Polish. He is the author of the 4-volume collection "Shlyakhtich Zavalnya, or Belarus in fantastic stories", published in 1844-1846. Contemporaries compared this work with the famous collection of Arabic tales "A Thousand and One Nights".
The first classic of the new Belarusian literature was a native of the Bobruisk region, a gentry Vincent Dunin-Martsinkevich. In his poetic novels and stories, he reflected rural life, spiritual beauty and labor. 
the affection of the peasants. In the bilingual comedy-opera The Villager (Idyll)
Dunin-Martsinkevich showed the life of that time, when the pans spoke Polish, and the peasants spoke Belarusian. The creation of works in the "peasant" language required considerable courage, since they were not supported by the tsarist authorities and were hostilely met by the Polonized landowners.
V. Dunin-Martsinkevich, making the peasant a full-fledged hero of his works.
Creation A. Mitskevich, V. Syrokomly, Y. Barshchevsky, V. Dunin-Martsinkevich was an example of romantic literature. Romanticism was a common ideological and artistic trend in European literature and art of the late 18th - first half of the 19th century. It was characterized by attention to the inner world of man, the idealization of nature and reality, the poeticization of heroic personalities.
Painting. Pupils played a decisive role in the development of painting Vilna School of Painting- Department of Fine Arts, Faculty of Literature and Art, Vilna University. The founder of the school was Prof. Franz Smuglevitch. For a quarter of a century, the school has trained more than two hundred and fifty artists, engravers, sculptors. Member of the Imperial Academy of Arts Iosif Oleshkevich(1777-1830) wrote
portrait of A. Czartoryski, M. Radziwill, L. Sapieha, A. Mickiewicz and others. Representative of romanticism V. Vankovich(1800-1885) created portraits of the poets A. Pushkin, A. Goretsky, as well as the painting "Mickiewicz on the rock of Ayu-Dag", etc. Painter Jan Damel(1780-1840) created paintings of the historical genre "Glinsky's death in captivity", "T. Kosciuszko's liberation from prison", "French retreat through Vilna in 1812". Ivan Khrutsky(1810-1883) worked in the genre of classical still life and everyday painting. One of the founders of the Belarusian realistic landscape was Vikenty Dmokhovsky(1807-1867). Theatre. In the culture of Belarus in the first half of the XlX century, a significant place belonged to the theater. Both amateur and professional theatrical art developed. An event in the theatrical life of Belarus was the emergence of the first troupe of the Belarusian national theater of V. Dunin-Martinkevich. In September 1841, the comic opera The Jewish Recruitment was premiered. Music was written for it Stanislav Manyushko and K. Kzhizhanovsky , but the libretto – V. Dunin-Martinkevich.
Music. The first half of the XlX century was the beginning of the collection and publication of the Belarusian folk song, attempts to compose and concertize it. Of great interest are the works of A. Abramovich, V. Stefanovich, F. Miladovsky. In the Zalesye estate in the Smorgon region, he wrote polonaises Michal Kleofas Ogiński. A classic of Polish music, a native of Igumen district, left a deep mark on the Belarusian musical culture S. Manyushko.
Questions and tasks
1. Types of schools.
2. Vilna University.
3. Formation of scientific knowledge about Belarus and the Belarusian people.
4. Formation of the Belarusian literary language.
5. Painting. Theatre. Music.
6. Define the concepts: gymnasium, county school, parochial school, Gori-Goret Agricultural Institute, Medical-Surgical Academy, the first museum of antiquities in Belarus, the Vilna school of painting.
7. Who are they: Jan Snyadetsky, Pavel Shpilevsky, Jan Chechot, Evstafiy and Konstantin Tyszkiewicz, Jan Barshchevsky, Vincent, Vikenty Dunin-Martsinkevich, Franz Smuglevich, Joseph Oleshkevich, Jan Damel, Ivan Khrutsky, Vikenty Dmokhovsky, Stanislav Manyushko ?
8. Give an explanation for the dates: 1840, 1848, 1832, 1842
6. (36). The abolition of serfdom in Belarus. Manifesto and Regulations of February 19, 1861, the order of their application in Belarus. The reaction of the peasantry to the reform. Results and significance of the 1861 reform. Agriculture and industry of Belarus after the abolition of serfdom.
After Russia's defeat in the Crimean War 1853-1856, who showed the depth of the backwardness of the feudal Russian state from the advanced European countries, Tsar Alexander II recognized the need to abolish serfdom. The preparation of the reform began with the Belarusian-Lithuanian provinces. AT 1857 appeared rescript (instruction) of the tsar addressed to the Vilna governor-general V. I. Nazimov on the preparation of projects for "improving the life of the landlord peasants." According to this document, the peasants were freed from serfdom and given their personal freedom. However, the landowner retained the right of ownership of the land, for the use of which the peasants had to bear duties. - Manifesto and Regulations February 19, 1861 February 19, 1861 Alexander II(1856-1881) signed the Manifesto and the "Regulations on the peasants who emerged from serfdom." After weighing all the circumstances, the tsarist government did not dare to free the peasants completely without land. However, peasants could get it into their property only for a ransom. Sum redemption payment was determined in such a size that the landowner had the opportunity, putting it in the bank at interest, to receive an annual income equal to the previous quitrent.
In Vitebsk and Mogilev provinces, where a rural community existed, the sizes of peasant allotments were established: the highest - from 4 to 5.5 acres and the lowest - from 1 to 2 acres. In the Vilna, Grodno and Minsk provinces, where household land use existed, the peasants could buy out their pre-reform allotment.
Redemption operation consisted of the following.
The state pledged (contributed) 4/5 of the redemption amount for the peasants so that they could pay off the landowners. It was envisaged that the return of this loan - the so-called redemption payments - the peasants would be within 49 years with high interest. Before the conclusion of the redemption agreement, for the use of allotments, the peasants had to perform in favor of the landowner the former duties - corvée or dues in the amounts established by the state. Such peasants were considered temporarily liable. Land relations between temporarily liable peasants and landowners were formalized in documents called by-laws. They were compiled mediators from local landowners.
| Caricature of the peasant reform of 1861 |
From the received allotments it was difficult to feed the family. Most of the peasants were placed in such conditions that they could not manage their own farms. They were forced to work for the former owners, who remained landowners.
The reform of 1861 caused deep disappointment among the peasants. There were rumors that the king allegedly issued a decree on real freedom, and the pans were hiding it. The peasants quickly realized that they were deceived in their expectations. In 1861, about 400 unrest of Belarusian peasants took place. The peasants thwarted the two-year period after the proclamation of the reform for signing the statutory letters. As of January 1, 1863, almost 4/5 of these letters had not been signed. The peasants did not want to redeem the land, which they had invariably used for decades and considered theirs. The amount of the ransom significantly exceeded the real value of the land.
The results and significance of the reform of 1861 The abolition of serfdom became a kind of border between the two eras - feudalism and capitalism. The most progressive transformation in the countryside was the proclamation of the personal freedom of the serfs, their independence from the landlord. Peasants could no longer be sold, bought, donated. A huge number of people received, albeit limited, civil rights: the conclusion of contracts and transactions, the choice of occupation, admission to educational institutions, free marriage. The emancipation of millions of landlord peasants from serfdom created a market for hired labor so necessary for the development of capitalist production. However, for complete liberation from fetters and slave psychology, it took another decades. Agriculture and industry of Belarus after the abolition of serfdom. After the abolition of serfdom, a significant part of the landlords, who ran the economy by the old methods, could not withstand the competition. Over time, their estates were burdened with debts, mortgaged in banks and sooner or later sold in whole or in parts. Part of the landowners after the reform of 1861 continued to run their household in the old way. In the first post-reform decades, the most widespread in the Mogilev and Vitebsk provinces were working off. Under the labor system of management, small-land peasants were forced to work for the pan for renting the landowners' fields, pastures, hayfields, and for loans in kind or money.
Some of the landowners were able to move to capitalist economic system. This system prevailed in the Vilna, Grodno and Minsk provinces. It consisted in hiring landowners in their farms of permanent or temporary workers who cultivated the land with the owner's inventory. Such farms gradually acquired a commercial, entrepreneurial character. Multi-field crop rotations were introduced here, thoroughbred cattle were bred, mineral fertilizers and improved tools (iron plows, harrows), and later various agricultural machines were used.
Questions and tasks
2. The reaction of the peasantry to the reform.
3. The results and significance of the reform of 1861
4. Agriculture and industry of Belarus after the abolition of serfdom.
5. Define the terms: rescript to Nazimov, redemption payments, mediators, redemption transaction, temporarily liable peasants, statutory charter, cuts, working off, capitalist economic system.
6. Who are they: IN AND. Nazimov, Alexander II ?
7. (37). Uprising 1863-1864. in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. Causes and nature of the uprising. "Reds and Whites". K. Kalinovsky. The influence of the uprising on the conditions for the liberation of the peasants of the Belarusian provinces from serfdom.
Causes and nature of the uprising. The continuation of the struggle for the revival of statehood in the lands of the former Commonwealth was an uprising 1863-1864 Its center was the ethnically Polish territories with Warsaw, and the reason, as before, was the desire to restore statehood on the territory of the former Commonwealth within the borders of 1772. The events in Poland resonated in those regions that were previously part of the Commonwealth, including in Belarus and Lithuania. The uprising in Belarus was directed against the autocracy, the remnants of serfdom and class inequality.
"Reds" and "Whites". In the early 1860s the socio-political movement intensified in the territories of the former Commonwealth. In this movement, two political groups took shape: "Red" and "White".
"Reds" represented the interests of the petty and landless gentry, philistines, intelligentsia, and partly peasants. Part red (right) assumed to restore statehood on the territory of the former Commonwealth within the borders of 1772 through a nationwide uprising. The most determined of "red" (left) constituted the revolutionary-democratic trend in the uprising. They called for the establishment of a democratic republican system through a peasant revolution, for the self-determination of peoples, and counted on the support of the revolutionary forces of Russia.
"White" expressed the interests of large landowners and the top of the bourgeoisie. They sought to prevent the uprising from developing into a peasant revolution. The “whites” associated their hopes for the restoration of the independence of the Commonwealth with pressure on Russia from Western European states. To do this, they established contact with the governments of France and England.
Konstantin Kalinovsky. The active leader of the uprising in Belarus was Konstantin Kalinovsky. He graduated from the Svisloch district school. While studying at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University, he participated in revolutionary circles. Here he became a supporter of the ideas of establishing people's power through a peasant revolution and endowing the oppressed peoples with the right to self-determination of their own destiny. In 1861 he returned to his homeland.
According to the memoirs of one of the participants in the uprising, K. Kalinovsky was “... educated, clean, full of nobility, intelligence and energy. He walked around Lithuania and Belarus, bringing to the people the heat of love for the Fatherland. I didn’t want to have any relationship with the gentry, but relied only on the people.” In 1862-1863. together with his associates K. Kalinovsky published a newspaper "Man's Truth". During 1862-1863. 7 of its issues were published in the form of leaflets-proclamations. They were printed in Belarusian in Latin script, which was used in Polish - the state language in the former Commonwealth. Most of the materials for Muzhitskaya Pravda were written by Kalinovsky himself.
The rebels were most active in the Grodno province. The main participants in the uprising were: the gentry, student youth, the Catholic clergy, part of the bourgeoisie. The majority of the Belarusian peasantry did not support the uprising.
The tsarist authorities fought the uprising with harsh military measures. In May 1863, a new governor-general arrived in Vilna M. Muraviev. Previously, he successively held governorships in Mogilev, Grodno, and Minsk. Public executions of rebels began, and the number of arrests increased. At the same time, a large-scale and quite effective anti-insurgency propaganda. The authorities obliged rural communities to monitor the local gentry, and peasant guards were created to fight the rebels.
In the autumn of 1863 the armed struggle in Belarus ceased. The courageous and indefatigable Kalinovsky continued his revolutionary activities, trying to save people in order to come out again in the spring of 1864. For a long time he managed to hide from persecution, but one of the members of the organization betrayed him during interrogation. Twenty-six-year-old K. Kalinovsky was publicly hanged on Lukishskaya Square in Vilna.
The influence of the uprising on the conditions for the liberation of the peasants of the Belarusian provinces from serfdom. In order to divert the peasants from mass participation in the uprising and win them over to their side, the tsarist government was forced to change in their favor some of the conditions of the reform. According to special royal decrees, temporarily obligated relations were terminated in the Belarusian provinces. The peasants, regardless of the consent of the landlords, were urgently transferred to the mandatory redemption of land plots, and the amount of redemption payments was reduced by 20%. Those who were deprived of land by the landlords in the pre-reform period were fully or partially returned to the allotments. These concessions by the autocracy significantly softened the conditions for the liberation of the peasants in Lithuania and Belarus in comparison with other regions of the Russian Empire.
Questions and tasks
1. Causes and nature of the uprising.
2. « Red and white » .
3. Konstantin Kalinovsky.
4. The influence of the uprising on the conditions for the liberation of the peasants of the Belarusian provinces from serfdom.
5. Define the terms: "Reds", "Red" (right), "Red" (left), "White", "Peasant's Truth", anti-insurgent propaganda,
6. Who are they: Konstantin Kalinovsky , M. Muravyov ?
8. (38). Bourgeois reforms (zemstvo, city, judicial, etc.) of the 60-70s. XIX century: features of their implementation in Belarus. The policy of the Russian government on the national-religious issue. Western Russianism.
The abolition of serfdom was combined with a number of other reforms that contributed to the country's transition to the capitalist path of development. A feature of the bourgeois reforms of the 60-70s. in Belarus. was that they were carried out with certain restrictions, in contrast to Central Russia. This manifested itself primarily in the field of land ownership and land use, which was directed mainly against Catholics, Jews and foreign subjects. In addition, the reforms were carried out here with a big delay.
Judicial reform. Only with 1872 judicial reform began in Belarus. For the analysis of petty crimes and minor cases was created magistrate's Court. Unlike the central provinces of Russia, where judges were elected by zemstvo assemblies in the districts, in Belarus they were appointed by the Minister of Justice from among the landowners loyal to the government. Thus, Belarus was immediately deprived of the main feature of the reform - the election of judges and their independence from the government.
Only in 1882 special positions were introduced in the courts of Belarus jurors(non-professional judges). They, independently of the judges, made the final decision on the guilt or innocence of the defendant. Taking into account their decision, the court determined the measure of punishment or announced the release. For legal assistance to defendants and their protection, they also introduced attorneys at law- lawyers who are not in the public service.
Land reform. The Russian government did not agree to hold in the Belarusian provinces zemstvo reform associated with the creation of elective institutions for the management of the local economy, public education, and medical care for the population. Authorities after the uprising of 1863-1864 did not trust the local landlords, who could make up the majority in these elected institutions.
The policy of the Russian government on the national-religious issue in Belarus. The autocracy sought to limit the Polish political and cultural influence, the conductor of which in the Belarusian provinces was the local Polonized gentry. The authorities divided the local nobility into "Poles" (Catholics) and "Russians" (Orthodox). The former were considered unreliable, and Russian tsarism sought to undermine their economic and political position. At the same time, the authorities strengthened the alliance with the Orthodox "Russian" nobility, which was recognized as the backbone of the autocracy. The decisive place was occupied by the Orthodox Church, supported by the tsarist government. The construction of Orthodox churches in the pseudo-Russian style was widely developed.
As for the Jews, the tsarist authorities forbade them to settle and acquire land in the countryside in the Pale of Settlement. In the 1890s a significant number of Jews from Moscow and the cities of Central Russia were returned to Belarus. Such a policy led to artificial overpopulation of Belarusian cities and towns by them. Restrictions were imposed on the admission of Jews to educational institutions and to work.
Western Russianism. In the last third of the nineteenth - early twentieth century. among officials, teachers, Orthodox clergy, especially in the east of Belarus, a system of views spread, called Western Russianism. A native of the Grodno province became the leader of the liberal-democratic trend in Western Russianism Mikhail Koyalovich - historian, ethnographer, publicist, author of works on the political and church history of Belarus. His views were based on the statement about the "eternal Russian character of the region." Supporters of Western Russianism considered Belarusians to be part of a single Russian people, together with Little Russians (Ukrainians) and Great Russians.
Questions and tasks
1. What were the features of the bourgeois reforms of the 60-70s. in Belarus?
2. Tell us about the judicial reform in Belarus.
3. Why did the tsarist authorities not go for the Zemstvo reform in the Belarusian provinces?
4. What was the policy towards the local Polonized gentry and Jews?
5. Who was the preacher of Western Russianism?
6. Define the concepts: world court, jurors, sworn attorneys, Western Russianism.
7. Give an explanation for the dates: 1872, 1882
9. (39). Socio-political life of Belarus in the late XIX - early XX century. Peasant and labor movement. Revolutionary Populists. Group "Gomon". Social Democrats. Formation of the Belarusian socialist community.
peasant movement. The reform of 1861 did not finally solve the agrarian question. Unbearable redemption payments absorbed 2/3 of the peasant income. In order to pay off taxes, the peasants were forced to sell their crops immediately after harvesting - during the season of the lowest prices. Later, in winter or spring, they had to take cash and natural loans from the landowner and go to work for hard and low-paid work. -
Significantly worsened the situation of the peasants striped. As a result of the peasant reform of 1861, the landowners often left land plots among the peasant allotments for themselves in order to tie the peasants to their farm, deprive them of runs for livestock and hayfields.
Most of the peasant families lived in poverty. Their huts were smoke-filled, with earthen or adobe floors. Chaff, linen cake, potatoes, acorns were often mixed into bread. Medical care was almost inaccessible. Due to the lack of schools, even at the end of the XIX century. only every fifth peasant in Belarus was literate.
The peasants, although they received personal freedom, were significantly limited in their rights compared to other classes. Only in relation to the peasants until the beginning of the twentieth century. such a shameful form of punishment as public flogging was used. The peasant had no real opportunity to protect himself from the arbitrariness of officials and the police.
Revolutionary Populists. Since the mid 1870s. populism came to replace the generation of gentry revolutionaries. Populists were supporters socialism- a doctrine in which the principles of social justice, freedom, equality, and a social order based on these principles are singled out as a goal and ideal. Some of the populists shared the idea of peasant socialism: the possibility of a transition to socialism through the preservation of the peasant community, bypassing capitalism. The ideas of peasant socialism spread among the Belarusian youth, mainly among students of secondary educational institutions. Enrolling in Russian universities, young people poured into
| The arrest of the propagandist. Painting by I. Repin, 1880s |
populist circles existing in them. Many of the Belarusian populists became participants "going to the people" with the aim of propagating socialist ideas among the peasantry, "Going to the People" ended in failure. The peasants still continued to believe in the "good tsar" and therefore betrayed the Narodniks to the police.
Some populists supported the tactics of individual terror- forms of armed coercion (murder of state and officials) for political purposes. They hoped that regicide would hasten the start of a popular (peasant) revolution. The death sentence to Tsar Alexander II carried out March 1, 1881 native of Bobruisk district Ignatius Grinevitsky. However, the assassination of the autocrat did not cause any significant unrest among the masses, even in St. Petersburg. The peasants did not revolt. But the throne took Alexander III, who soon abandoned the continuation of the bourgeois reforms of his father and began to carry out counter-reforms.
Group "Gaumon". In the early 1880s. St. Petersburg became the center of activity of Belarusian populists. Students - natives of Belarus created in 1884 group in St. Petersburg "Gaumont". The group outlined its tasks and program in two issues of the illegal magazine Gaumont. The Gomonovites were the first of the revolutionaries to declare the existence of the Belarusian nation and raised the question of its national independence. They argued that the Belarusian people have their own language, territory, culture, way of life, historical past, and Belarus is a single economic region.
Belarusian students-Homonists declared the legal rights of the Belarusian people to an independent and equal position in the "common Slavic family." The Gomonovists saw the future statehood of Belarus in an alliance with socialist Russia - a country of equal and voluntarily united regions.
labor movement . In Russia, after the reform of 1861, the labor movement . This was due to the rapid growth of the working class and the awareness of their rights. Very poor working conditions pushed them to fight for their rights: the working day was 15 hours a day, numerous fines, low wages, lack of insurance and pensions. The main form of struggle of the workers of Belarusian enterprises was strikes. The labor movement did not have its own center, it was mostly spontaneous, the demands that they put forward were mainly to improve their situation, reduce the working day and increase wages. The authorities resorted not only to repression.
Social Democrats. In the 70s of the 19th century, ideas of marxism- teaching based Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the doctrine of the revolution, of the victory of socialism in all countries, of the building of a communist society.
The desire of the working class and the peasantry to protect their interests pushed them to form political parties. AT 1897 at the congress in Vilna, the General Jewish Workers' Union was created in Lithuania, Poland and Russia - Bund. The Bund considered itself the only representative of the interests of the fairly numerous Jewish working class in Belarus.
AT 1898 at the 1st congress in Minsk was proclaimed Russian social
Democratic Labor Party - RSDLP. The party program determined the ultimate goal of the Russian Social Democrats to build a socialist society through proletarian revolution and dictatorship of the proletariat.
Formation of the Belarusian Socialist Community (BSG). Early 20th century was marked by the rise of the national movement. The new generation of the Belarusian intelligentsia gradually matured understanding of the need to create their own political organization. She became Belarusian Socialist Community (BSG)- the first Belarusian political party, which finally took shape in 1903 Among
founders and leaders of the BSG were brothers Ivan and Anton Lutskevich, Aloiza Pashkevich (Aunt), Kazimir Kastrovitsky (Karus Kaganets), Ales Burbis.
At the 1st Congress in 1903, the BSG adopted a program in which it declared its goal to overthrow the autocracy and destroy the capitalist system. The party sought to find support among the working class, the peasantry, and the intelligentsia. In the agrarian issue, the BSG advocated the transfer of land from private to public ownership, proclaimed the right of every person to engage in agriculture without the use of hired labor. The party program included demands for an 8-hour working day, the establishment of a minimum wage, and free medical care.
Political demands of the BSG were the following: equality of people regardless of gender, nationality, religion; universal equal suffrage with secret ballot, free trial, freedom of speech, press, assembly, societies.
On the national question BSG decided to seek autonomy- broad internal self-government for Belarus as part of the Russian Democratic Republic. In this way, Belarusian national idea in the views of the leaders of the BSG was associated with the need for a political struggle for the achievement of self-government by Belarus within Russia, when it becomes a democratic republic.
Questions and tasks
1. Peasant and labor movement.
2. Revolutionary populists. Gomon group.
3. Social Democrats.
4. Formation of the Belarusian socialist community, its political demands and demands on the national question?
5. Define the terms: striped, socialism, "going to the people", terror, "Gaumon", Belarusian national idea, strike, Marxism, Bund, RSDLP, proletarian revolution, dictatorship of the proletariat, Belarusian socialist community (BSG).
6. Who are they: Ignaty Grinevitsky, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, brothers Ivan and Anton Lutskevich, Aloiza Pashkevich (Aunt), Kazimir Kastrovitsky (Karus Kaganets), Ales Burbis ?
10. (40). Belarus during the first Russian revolution of 1905-1907. Causes, beginning and course of the revolution. Manifesto of October 17, 1905 and its consequences for Belarus. The State Duma. Belarusian national movement.
Causes, beginning and course of the revolution. The preservation of an unlimited monarchy, unable to consistently resolve agrarian and national issues through reforms, the aggravation of social contradictions became the causes of the first Russian revolution. It signified the revolutionary way of carrying out the bourgeois-democratic reorganization of society. The economic and political movement of the working people gained strength. The beginning of the revolution was the events January 9, 1905 on Palace Square in St. Petersburg, which went down in history under the name "Bloody Sunday". Here, many thousands of peaceful procession of workers, who were going to submit a petition to the emperor, were shot. Nicholas II.
In January 1905, a wave of political strikes, street demonstrations and protest rallies swept through the cities of Belarus. Most of them were led by the organizations of the Bund, the RSDLP, the Socialist-Revolutionaries (the Party of Socialist Revolutionaries). In many places, the authorities used military force to stop the demonstrations. AT October 1905 covered the country all-Russian political strike. Railroad workers, workers in factories and plants, artisans, merchants, and high school students demanded the abolition of the autocracy and the establishment of a democratic republic. Railway traffic was completely paralyzed in Belarus.
Manifesto of October 17, 1905 and its consequences for Belarus. In the midst of an all-Russian political strike, October 17, 1905 the king signed manifesto, in which the people were promised freedom of speech, assembly, unions, as well as the convocation of a legislative Duma. At the same time, the authorities turned to repression.
Similar information.
Vyacheslav Vasilievich BONDARENKO,
historian, chairman of the board of the charitable cultural and historical foundation in memory of the First World War "Kroki"
(Minsk, Belarus)
The First World War came to the territory of modern Belarus in the late summer of 1915. The reason for this was the large-scale retreat of the Russian Southwestern Front, which was stationed in Ukraine. His withdrawal led to the withdrawal of the North-Western Front, which operated in Poland. Gradually moving east along the map, the Russian armies withdrew from Poland to Belarus. On August 3, at a meeting of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief in Volkovysk, it was decided to divide the North-Western Front into two - the Northern Front with headquarters in Pskov and the Western Front with headquarters in Minsk. The Western Front was headed by an experienced commander, General of Infantry M.V. Alekseev.
The Western Front received the following tasks: “1) To firmly hold the Grodno-Bialystok region and the front from the upper Narew to Brest, inclusive; 2) Cover the paths along the right bank of the upper Bug to the Brest-Kobrin-Pinsk-Luninets front. In addition, it was ordered to "firmly hold the fortress of Brest and its region."
The dividing line between the Northern and Western fronts ran along the Augustow line, the Augustow Canal to the village of Mustard and further to the village of Koptsovo, Leipuny, Duboklantsy, Martsinkantsy, Voronovo, Survelishki, Losk, Molodechno, Senno and Zabolotniki station. The division of the fronts was to be carried out on 17 August.
Having received these orders from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Infantry General M.V. Alekseev issued on August 4 a directive "for preliminary orders." According to it, the Guards, 2nd Siberian and 2nd Caucasian corps were transferred to the Vilna region and the composition of the front was announced. It included the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th armies.
Position for the Western Front M.V. Alekseev proposed the following: from Lipsk to Bialystok, Belsk, Brest-Litovsk; further - to the west of the Neman: Grodno, Krynki, Gainovka, Kamenetz-Litovsky, r. Lesna, Brest-Litovsk, Ratno; Orany, Grodno, r. Neman and Svisloch, Shergaevo, Zhabinka, Divin, Pinsk; Olkeniki, Bridges, Ruzhany, Yaselda.
These orders of Alekseev were approved by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. He noted that he "does not want to hamper the general with any instructions" and stressed that the leadership of all operations on both fronts "should be entirely your responsibility."
Direct hostilities on the territory of the present Republic of Belarus began on August 12, 1915, when German and Austro-Hungarian troops attempted to capture the Brest-Litovsk fortress. The Germans approached the fortress from the northwest, the Austro-Hungarians from the southwest. The guns of the western forts began shelling the enemy, the Germans began to respond. Soon the bombing of the fortress from aircraft began; in addition to bombs, they also dropped leaflets in which the date of the fall of Brest was announced in advance - August 14th. Meanwhile, a demolition team under the command of Staff Captain Eremeev, under enemy fire, was preparing the caponiers of the first line forts of the Terespol department for an explosion. On the morning of August 12, the Austrians went on the attack, deciding to effectively break into the fortress in front of the allies. The following eyewitness account has survived: “The Austrians, who were sent forward to attack the forward defenses of the fortification that protected the entrance to Brest-Litovsk, were nominally commanded by their own officers, in reality they were Germans ... Early in the morning ... they began a desperate assault on the forts that stretched from the village of Vysoko-Litovsk, where the luxurious castle of Countess Pototskaya stood, to the very city of Brest. For a whole day they fought without a break, and thousands of people died in trenches that had to be taken by a bayonet charge. The Russians withdrew to the Bug, defending their positions centimeter by centimeter. This description is inaccurate - for example, there were no forts near the village of Vysoko-Litovsk, and the impulse of the Austrian infantrymen was quickly tamed by sudden explosions of land mines laid by Russian miners near Fort "K". The ensuing counterattack by the regiments of the 81st Infantry Division left the Austrians no chance of success.
However, the units stationed in the fortress put up fierce resistance, as a result of which the battles for the fortress stretched out for the whole day. On the night of August 12-13, the fortress garrison, by order of the command, blew up the fortifications and left the fortress. A little earlier, the city of Brest-Litovsk itself was 80 percent destroyed.
On the night of August 13, M.V. Alekseev ordered to begin a general withdrawal to the Neman, Grodno, Kuznitsa, Gorodok, Rudnya, Shereshevo, Kobrin lines. The withdrawal must be carried out in two or three marches at the earliest order of the commanders of the armies. By the 22nd, it was supposed to move the left flank to the line of Grodno, Mosty, Ruzhany, r. Yaselda; for the time being, this area was ordered to be held, since trench work was in full swing there.
But already on August 16, the Germans with huge forces attacked all the corps of the 3rd Army, except for the left flank. As a result, the city of Pinsk was abandoned. Some units were knocked down from their positions, and the army commander Lesh asked for permission on the night of August 17 to withdraw to the line of Pruzhany, Mukhovlok, Bolshie Boloty. The position of the 2nd and 4th armies also changed - they left the Neman line and retreated to the line of Mstibovo, Novy Dvor, Pruzhany. The 1st Army was ordered to hold the line Grodno, Indura for three days: it was necessary to complete engineering work in Grodno.
Based on the above information, the idea may arise that this entire endless retreat was carried out by the Russian armies in a hurry, almost in a panic. As we remember, the head of the military ministry, A.A., came to the same conclusions. Polivanov. However, we repeat once again - all the movements of our armed forces were sanctioned by the higher authorities. “We retreated to positions prepared in advance by the engineering department, sometimes even fortified with barbed wire,” recalled Major General D.I. Romeiko-Gurko, in the summer-autumn of 1915, chief of staff of the 14th Army Corps of the 3rd Army. - When the Germans approached such a position, they turned around and carried out enhanced reconnaissance, usually the next day. The next day they usually opened artillery fire on us, and on the third day they attacked vigorously. We retreated to the next, previously fortified position. Next to us was the 3rd Siberian Corps. He acted more vigorously, sometimes detaining the Germans for more than a day. This went on for about 10 days. We shot a little, because there was a big shortage of shells and cartridges.
On August 20, 1915, the Commander-in-Chief of the Western Front M.V. Alekseev was replaced by General of Infantry A.E. Evert (M.V. Alekseev took over the post of chief of staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief).
At the same time, the German military leaders were making plans for the further development of the 1915 campaign in Belarus. There was no unanimity at the top of the German army at that time about how exactly it was necessary to fight further. The Chief of the General Staff, General of the Infantry Erich von Falkenhayn, for example, believed that after the Russians were forced out of Poland, major operations should not be undertaken. He wrote: “As early as August 9, there seemed to be a strong hope that it would be possible to prevent the large Russian forces, constrained in the Narew, Vistula, Veprzh, Vlodava, from breaking through to the east, and to destroy them ... But soon, however, it became clear that from this will have to be abandoned ... The enemy, obviously, managed to timely withdraw his main forces from the area dangerous to him. In this he was helped by the operational freedom he retained in the space to the north-west and north of Brest-Litovsk. Thus, Falkenhayn actually admitted that the German army did not win the battle for Poland - the Russians leveled the front and, therefore, it makes no sense to develop the offensive.
Generals Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff strongly disagreed with this view. They believed that it was necessary to immediately develop offensives deep into Russian territory, because the salvation of Germany was only in the speedy withdrawal of Russia from the war. The final decision remained with the Supreme Commander-in-Chief - Emperor Wilhelm II. He took the side of Hindenburg and Ludendorff and ordered them to conduct an offensive operation in Belarus. The main blow was supposed to be delivered from Vilna to Minsk, and the auxiliary one - from Kovno to Dvinsk and from the upper reaches of the Neman - to Lida and Baranovichi. On August 24, the troops of the German 10th Army read out an order on the German Eastern Front: “The 10th Army goes on the offensive with its left wing from August 27th. General Garnier with the 1st and 9th cavalry divisions, as well as with the 3rd, which is being transferred from the Neman Army, has been energetically operating from the same date from the Vilkomir area in the Kukutsishki-Utsyany strip. The army should try to strengthen its advancing left wing as much as possible.
This is how it started Vilna operation of 1915- an attempt by German troops to break through the Russian front and, sowing panic in the rear, capture the city of Molodechno. At that time, Molodechno was the most important railway junction, in addition, it was on this city that the lines of secret military and government communications were closed. If the Germans had captured Molodechno, chaos would have begun in the management of the Russian fronts, which would have led to disaster. The task of capturing Molodechno was assigned to the mobile cavalry group of General O. von Garnier, consisting of four divisions.
However, the commander-in-chief of the Western Front A.E. Evert guessed the enemy's plan in time and threw the newly created 2nd Army under the command of General V.V. Smirnova. Created "from the world on a thread", badly battered in the rearguard battles, the 2nd Army managed, however, not only to delay the advance of the enemy deep into Belarus, but also to throw it back. In mid-September 1915, Russian troops liberated the cities of Smorgon and Vileyka, captured by the enemy. By October 1915, the offensive impulse of the German troops finally fizzled out - the front line began to freeze at the turn of Postavy - Smorgon - Krevo - Baranovichi - Pinsk. Both sides began to dig into the ground, build powerful lines of defense.
Thus, the Battle of Vilna in 1915 was actually lost by Germany, which did not fulfill any of its goals - did not withdraw Russia from the war and did not defeat its armed forces.
On February 11, 1916, a meeting was held at the Mogilev Headquarters on the further actions of the Western Front. In connection with the difficult situation that developed on the French front, near the walls of the Verdun fortress, it was decided to provide assistance to the allies and launch an offensive in the area of Lake Naroch. Commander-in-Chief of the Western Front A.E. Evert pointed out the unfavorable weather conditions, the unpreparedness of his troops for the operation, but his arguments were not heard. As a result, the Naroch operation was instructed to be carried out by General of Infantry A.F. Ragoza, a native of Vitebsk, a graduate of the Polotsk Cadet Corps. He was temporarily appointed commander of the 2nd Army.
"The Sovereign Emperor ordered:
1. Armies go on the offensive to deliver an energetic blow to the German troops operating against the Northern and right-flank armies of the Western Fronts.
2. The overall goal of the actions during this operation is to reach the line Mitava - Bausk - Vilkomir - Vilna - Delyatichi.
3. The immediate goal of action is to seize and firmly establish itself on the line of the Lauce River - Sauken Lake - Oknisty - Novo-Aleksandrovsk - Dukshty - Davgelishki - Sventsiany - Mikhalishki - Gervyaty.
4. Main blows to direct:
Northern front from the Yakobstadt region in the general direction to Ponevezh; To the Western Front by the troops of the 2nd Army - in the general direction to Sventsiany - Vilkomir.
5. Regardless of this, the Northern Front attacks with units of the 12th Army from Pulkarn and Cape Ikskulya in the general direction of Bausk - Schoenberg; The Western Front, in accordance with the development of the operation in the main direction, strikes in the direction of Vilna.
6. In the interests of delivering a decisive and strong blow, the Northern Front should leave in the Valka-Wolmar region only the strictly necessary forces to protect the coast north of Riga, if it is deemed necessary to leave troops there.
7. The blow must be decisive and carried out with full energy and tension, providing mutual assistance in the fronts and armies.
8. The left-flank armies of the Western Front and the South-Western Front hold the enemy forces in front of them, and in the event of his weakening, they attack decisively.
9. The start of the offensive is scheduled for the fifth of March, the Northern Front is allowed to start on the sixth.
10. It is necessary to make extensive use of the cavalry to introduce the greatest possible disorder into the organization of the rear of the enemy after a breakthrough, at least during the first two or three days. A raid in the direction of Muravyevo - Shavli is especially desirable.
11. Guards detachment to continue concentrating in the area indicated to it, from where it will be sent to develop the operation in accordance with the situation.
12. Headquarters of the fronts to take care of the approach of staffing to replenish losses during the operation.
Thus, during the operation, the Russian Imperial Army had to decisively knock out the enemy from the Belarusian lands and develop an offensive in Lithuania and Latvia with access to Mitava (now the Latvian city of Jelgava), Bauska (now Bauska), Vilkomir (now the Lithuanian city of Ukmerge) and Vilna (Vilnius). However, the strategic goal of the operation, which would later be called Narochskaya, was different: to prevent the Germans from attacking France with all their might. The Russian Western Front was supposed to save Verdun and Paris...
The task facing the Western Front was very difficult. Since October 1915, the front line, which divided Belarus in two, managed to harden. The Germans approached the strengthening of their positions very thoroughly. As a rule, they tore off several lines of trenches, which made up a fortified zone up to one and a half kilometers deep. After 15-20 steps - closed traverses, slit-like, triangular and rectangular loopholes. Trapezoidal loopholes for mortars and machine guns were arranged in many trenches. Dugouts were made 30 steps behind the trenches, each for 9 people, then a second line of trenches was erected 100-150 steps away. The first line was covered with wire barriers in one, and in some places - in two lanes, covered in front and behind with slingshots. The first lane was advanced 50-60 steps from the trenches, the second usually passed near the parapet itself. The first line is usually two slingshots, 2 arshins high, 5-6 paces wide. The second - stakes in 5-6 rows, in places 10-11. Hollows and ditches, as a rule, were littered with felled trees. To the south, in the area of Smorgon - Krevo, the Germans erected many concrete pillboxes (they are perfectly preserved to this day), but they were not in the offensive zone of the 2nd Army.
Throughout the front, the Russian troops were opposed by the 10th German Army of General of Infantry Hermann von Eichhorn - the same 10th Army, which in the fall of 1915 rushed deep into Russia. It was as if fate itself brought the Russian 2nd and German 10th armies together. True, their forces in March 1916 were incomparable. The German 31st, 42nd, 115th Infantry, 75th Reserve, 10th Landwehr Divisions, 9th Landwehr Brigade, 3rd, 9th and Bavarian Cavalry Divisions combined amounted to 282,214 bayonets (against 355,989 Russians) and 8,200 sabers (against 16,943 Russians). Only the amount of artillery was more or less comparable - 576 light German guns against 605 Russians and 144 heavy German guns against 282 Russians.
For two weeks, the 2nd Army heroically "broke" the German defenses on Naroch. Officers and soldiers, falling knee-deep into melted water, went into murderous frontal attacks on barbed wire and German machine guns ... But they failed to break through the German front. As a result of the Naroch operation of the Western Front, which lasted from 5 to 17 (and in fact - to 18) March 1916, Russian troops captured 1200 prisoners, 15 machine guns, several hundred rifles and 10 square kilometers of enemy territory. But these trophies were by no means comparable to the losses. The same territory on the right flank lost 70 square kilometers. And the losses in manpower were simply horrifying. In the Pleshkov group, 582 officers and 47,896 lower ranks were killed and wounded, in the Baluev group, 423 and 28,672, respectively, in the Sirelius group, 13 and 859. In total, 1,018 officers and 77,427 lower ranks were killed and wounded! 12,000 people were frostbitten and frozen to death, and 5,000 died on German barbed wire. The author of the "History of the Russian Army" A.A. Kersnovsky estimates the losses at Naroch at 20,000 killed, 65,000 wounded and 5,000 missing.
The Germans estimated Russian losses at 110,000. However, this figure should be questioned, since the Germans underestimated their losses and determined them to be 20 thousand. Most likely, the German side in the Naroch operation lost about 30-40 thousand killed and wounded.
For many years, the Naroch operation of 1916, “Naroch Golgotha,” as A.A. Kersnovsky, remained one of the most "unmentioned" battles of the Great War. The reasons for this lie on the surface. No one likes to remember actions that did not lead to any results. And besides, two years later the Naroch martyrs turned from heroes into war criminals who defended the “rotten tsarist regime”, and no one ever thought of glorifying their courage from now on ...
But the crown of thorns of Naroch, which the Russian regiments won in March 1916, deserves at least reverence and memory. The valor of our soldiers, who, falling knee-deep into melt water, went to the German barbed wire, is admirable, and this was noted by all German military leaders, starting with Hindenburg and Falkenhayn. In addition, the very attempt of the Western Front to break through the enemy’s fortified zone deserves respect, thereby showing the Germans that they were not located in Belarus forever. The battle of Naroch was the first offensive operation of the Russian Imperial Army after the Great Retreat of 1915. A.A. Brusilov when developing plans for the battle of Lutsk - the famous Brusilov breakthrough.
Soviet military historians liked to cite the Naroch operation as an example of how the "talentless and criminal military leadership of tsarist Russia" needlessly ruined 78,000 lives in 10 square kilometers. Yes, the losses suffered near Naroch were enormous. But breaking through the enemy's defense in depth at all times cost any army great sacrifices. For example, in the four months of the Battle of the Somme, which began on July 1, 1916, British and French troops advanced 13 kilometers, while losing 794 thousand people killed and wounded. And note that there are no books or articles on mediocre and criminal English and French commanders. In addition, according to the military theory of the early 20th century, losses of 1:4 were the “norm” during such offensive operations. The losses of the parties near Naroch are 1:2. Those. in theory, the Germans should have suffered much smaller losses in manpower.
And most importantly - the strategic goal of the Naroch operation was achieved. Assessing the situation in the Naroch region as critical, the Germans were forced to hastily transfer four fresh divisions (two from East Prussia and two from Belgium) to the combat area, which were supposed to operate against Verdun. Not a single German unit was withdrawn from the Russian front. Moreover, from March 9 to March 16, the German onslaught on the Verdun fortress was significantly weakened. The echo of Naroch flew to France ...
After the failure on Naroch, the commander-in-chief of the Western Front A.E. Evert was completely devastated. And he was terribly upset when on April 1, 1916, at a meeting at Headquarters, he heard that his front would again play the role of a "ram". This time the blow was to be delivered from the Molodechno region to Oshmyany and Vilna. The northern front was entrusted with an auxiliary strike from Dvinsk to Sventsiany.
Evert had more than enough strength. As of June 1916, the Western Front included:
2nd Army (General of Infantry V.V. Smirnov) consisting of the 27th (General of Infantry D.V. Balanin), 34th (General of Infantry V.P. Shatilov), 15th (General of Infantry infantry F.I. von Torklus), 37th (general of infantry N.A. Tretyakov) and 1st Siberian (general of cavalry M.M. Pleshkov) army corps. The 5th Army Corps (Infantry General P.S. Baluev) was in reserve. The army was based in the Naroch region.
4th Army (Infantry General A.F. Ragoza) consisting of the 20th (Infantry General A.I. Ievreinov), 24th (Infantry General A.A. Tsurikov), 35th (Infantry General lieutenant P.A. Parchevsky), 3rd Siberian (lieutenant general V.O. Trofimov) and 2nd Caucasian (artillery general S.B. Mehmandarov) army corps. The army was based near Smorgon.
10th Army (General of Infantry E.A. Radkevich) consisting of the 38th (Lieutenant General V.V. Artemiev), 44th (Lieutenant General N.A. Brzhozovsky), 3rd Caucasian (General from the artillery V.A. Irmanov), the 1st Turkestan (general from the cavalry S.M. Sheideman) army corps and the 7th cavalry corps (general from the cavalry Prince G.A. Tumanov). The army was based in the Kreva region.
3rd Army (Infantry General L.V. Lesh) consisting of the 9th (Infantry General A.M. Dragomirov), 25th (Infantry General Yu.N. Danilov), 31st (Infantry General artillery P.I. Mishchenko) of the army corps, the Grenadier Corps (Lieutenant General D.P. Parsky) and the 6th Cavalry Corps (Lieutenant General A.A. Pavlov). The army was based in the Baranovichi region; On June 10, its administration and the 31st Corps were transferred to the Southwestern Front.
The 23rd Army Corps (Infantry General A.V. Sychevsky) stood in the reserve of the front. In addition, the reserves of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command were located in Belarus - the 1st and 2nd Guards, the 4th Siberian Army and the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps.
However, the commander-in-chief of the Western Front still could not overcome the fear of a decisive offensive that had developed in him after Naroch. Shortly before May 18, he unexpectedly contacted the Headquarters and asked for a delay, citing the unpreparedness of the front in terms of engineering. On May 27, the Headquarters allowed to postpone the offensive until June 4, but set a condition - the left flank of the front was to free Pinsk and accumulate strength for a further attack on Kobrin.
It is difficult to say what considerations A.E. Evert was guided when he allocated one single corps for the offensive - the Grenadier Corps under the command of Lieutenant General D.P. Parsky. Perhaps, by deliberate failure, he wanted to show the Stavka that offensive tasks should be solved to the south. One way or another, neither commander L.V. Lesh, nor the commander did not dare to protest the order of the commander-in-chief. The grenadiers were supposed to direct the general direction of the strike to Stolovichi, a village located four kilometers east of Baranovichi (now this site is located near the Moscow-Brest highway). The Russian 1st and 2nd Grenadier Divisions (26 thousand bayonets, 125 guns) were opposed by the 11th, 19th and 51st Landwehr regiments of the 22nd Infantry Brigade of the 4th Landwehr Division (9 thousand bayonets, 60 guns) . Both sides occupied fortified positions along the hilly banks of the Shchara River. The advanced trenches of the enemy were 2 kilometers apart.
But the Stolovichi battle ended in complete failure. The color of the Russian grenadier regiments fell into the Belarusian land, failing to break through the heavily fortified defense line of the Germans. And most importantly, the Stolovichi battle alarmed the enemy and actually revealed the cards of the Russians to him. If until May 31 the Germans expected the Western Front to attack Oshmyany and Vilna (intelligence reports said this), now it became clear that Evert would strike the main blow on Baranovichi. It was much more dangerous for the Germans: if the attack by Oshmyan and Vilna would inevitably result in a local operation, then the decision of A.E. Hitting Evert on Baranovichi, if successful, would have opened the way for the Russians to Brest-Litovsk, and in this case, the victorious troops of Brusilov would have helped the Western Front from the south.
However, Evert made the decision to finally abandon the Vilna direction only on June 2. He reported to Headquarters that the weather at the front had changed dramatically - due to rain and fog, artillery preparation and the supply of ammunition were difficult, and the Polesie region had become practically impassable. Therefore, Evert rejected the idea of an attack on Pinsk (and at the same time on Vilna), and proposed to concentrate efforts on the Baranovichi direction. For this, 2-3 corps were supposed to be transferred from Molodechno to Baranovichi. M.V. Alekseev agreed, and on June 3 a Stavka directive appeared, stating: “Although the troops of the Western Front are ready to strike, but due to the extremely hard work of the troops with an extremely heavily fortified front of enemy positions and frontal attacks, promising only a slow and with great difficulty the development of the operation - the Western Front should not attack in the Vilna, but in the Baranovichi direction. The attack is postponed for 18 days with the utmost secrecy and preparation.
On the same day, A.E. Evert issued the following order:
“The attack of the 4th and 10th armies in the Vilna direction should be canceled. The attacks of the Grenadier Corps near Baranovichi and the 31st Army Corps near Pinsk should be postponed until further notice. All corps of the 4th Army, now occupying the front, will be transferred to the 10th Army. Transfer the management of the 4th army to Nesvizh. From 24.00. 21.6. - to form a new 4th army consisting of: the 25th army, Grenadier, 35th army, 9th army corps, the 11th Siberian rifle division, the 2nd Turkestan Cossack division and the Ural Cossack division on the front Delyatichi - oz . Vygonovskoe. The armies hastily prepare the initial bridgeheads for the attack. Located to the right of its 10th Army in the new composition, continue to sight batteries and work to attract the attention of the enemy. To the left, the 3rd Army thoroughly prepare for 19.6. strike near Pinsk in order to take it at all costs, coordinating actions with the South-Western Front.
In the tenth of June on the Western Front, according to the order of A.E. Evert dated June 3, the formation of a new 4th Army began - in fact, an offensive strike group like the one into which the 2nd Army was turned on the eve of Naroch. A sad comparison also suggested itself because the general of infantry A.F., already familiar to us, was again appointed to lead the operation. Ragoza, whose name was firmly associated in the army with Naroch's failure. But Evert still trusted Ragoza, moreover, he highly appreciated him since the June battles of 1914 near Tanev - otherwise he would have entrusted another commander to conduct a decisive offensive.
A.F. Ragosa did not agree with the commander-in-chief of the front. Thus, showing complete military myopia, he believed that after a three-month preparation for a throw on Oshmyany and Vilna, it was not worth changing plans and attacking Baranovichi. Considering the good attitude of the commander-in-chief towards him, A.F. Ragoza could have objected to A.E. Evert, however, he did not show integrity and did not argue with his superiors, but acted according to the principle "We instructed - we will do it, albeit without much desire." If in March Ragoza led a “foreign” army, now he is “his own”, but at the same time, the “alien” for the general was the task that was set before him.
Baranovichi operation 1916 lasted from 20 to 27 June. For a week of continuous fighting, the Russian Imperial Army lost up to 46 thousand people killed, 60 thousand people wounded and 5 thousand prisoners (according to A.A. Kersnovsky). Author of the book “Baranovichi. 1916" IN AND. Oberyukhtin gives slightly different figures: 30,000 killed, 47,000 wounded, 2,000 prisoners. The Germans, as usual, estimated their losses very modestly - 56 officers and 1100 soldiers killed, 124 officers and 5150 soldiers wounded, 1020 people missing. The exact number of losses among the Austro-Hungarians is unknown, but, according to A.A. Kersnovsky, it amounted to at least 7,500 people. According to V.I. Oberyukhtin, enemy losses - 8 thousand killed, 13 thousand wounded, 4 thousand prisoners.
Further battles were actually imposed on the Russian army by the enemy and formally cannot be considered part of the Baranovichi operation, but are inextricably linked with it. Only on July 17, 1916, a lull finally set in at the front. According to V.I. Oberyukhtin, the total losses of the Russian side near Baranovichi amounted to 120 thousand people killed, wounded and captured, of which 50 thousand were killed; the losses of the Austro-Hungarians and the Germans - 40 thousand people, of which 20 thousand were killed.
On July 30, the Special and 3rd Army were transferred to the Western Front. August 3 A.E. Evert scheduled their attack for August 15, but then moved his date to August 22 and 24. On the morning of August 22, 1916, artillery preparation began at the front, but the heavy rain that began confused all the plans of the command - Evert canceled the offensive, because. the thaw made it deliberately unsuccessful. Only on August 27, the 3rd and 26th Army Corps of the 3rd Army carried out a local offensive on the Cherevishchensky bridgehead, which ended in failure. In early September 1916, there was an operational pause on the Western Front...
... German military historians tend to write about the Baranovichi (option: Skrobovo-Gorodischenskaya) operation of June-July 1916 as a brilliant defensive battle of fundamental importance for the course of the entire Great War, which was carried out by R. von Woyrsch at minimal cost to his side. Russian military historians did not have time to write anything about Baranovichi - 1917 was on the nose, after which a serious thoughtful analysis in military theory was replaced by a “class approach” for a long time. In general, Baranovichi deserved the notoriety of the “continuation of Naroch”, a kind of summer version of the March failure, the bloodiest and most senseless battle of the First World War. In order to downplay the significance of this operation, it was retroactively recorded as “distracting”, secondary - they say, the Brusilov South-Western Front turned out to be well done, all the laurels were for him, and there is simply no reason to remember the shame of the Western Front. Again and again you are convinced of the sad truth: we do not like lost battles, the memory of which, moreover, does not promise any political dividends in the modern world. They try to pretend that they simply did not exist.
But the fact of the matter is that the battle near Baranovichi was not lost. And in general, what operation can be considered lost? .. The one in which one of the parties suffered a crushing defeat, gave the enemy a strategically important territory, lost most of its manpower and equipment, shamefully surrendered without resistance. In this regard, neither Baranovichi nor the earlier Naroch can be considered lost battles. According to their results, the Russian Imperial Army, although it suffered heavy losses, was by no means defeated. These were worthy attempts to break through the heavily fortified enemy zone, drive the enemy out of their native land and, most importantly, fulfill their allied duty - to help France and Italy who were in trouble. Both there and here, the Russian troops had tactical success - Postavy was liberated near Naroch, and Ferdinand Nose and Skrobovo near Baranovichi. Both there and here prisoners and trophies were taken, and some parts of the enemy were completely destroyed.
Like Naroch, Baranovichi became one of the examples of the unbending spirit and courage of the Russian army. Even the enemy was forced to admit this, noting that all Russian attacks were distinguished by amazing courage and contempt for death. It is no coincidence that, as a result of the operation, many officers became holders of the Order of St. George and the St. George arms, and the lower ranks - St. George's crosses. And it does not matter in which operation - successful or unsuccessful - they participated. Courage, selflessness and courage always cause admiration, wherever they are shown.
The last major operation of the Western Front - Krevskaya- was undertaken in June 1917, already in completely different political circumstances - after the February coup and the fall of the monarchy, power in the country passed to the Provisional Government, the army was "democratized" (a committee was created in each unit that could cancel the order of the commander). The plan of this operation was an exact copy of the unrealized offensive of the summer of 1916 in the direction of Oshmyany, Vilna. The main blow in this case was to be delivered by the 10th Army. However, as the army became politicized, it became clear that the offensive could fail no longer because of the invincible defensive line of the enemy or the lack of heavy shells, but because of the state of its own troops. A.I. eloquently recalled what was happening in the army. Denikin: “I watched the troops in the ranks. I saw the units, however, as an exception, retaining an almost normal, pre-revolutionary appearance both in external forms and in internal order - in the corps of the stern and adamantly upholding the old discipline Dovbor-Musnitsky; I saw most of the units - although they retained a semblance of order and some obedience, but in their inner life they were like a torn anthill: after the review, going around the ranks and talking with the soldiers, I was literally overwhelmed by a new mood for me that engulfed them: endless complaints, suspicion, distrust, resentment against everyone and everything: against an individual chief and corps commander, for lentils and long standing at the front, for a neighboring regiment, and for the Provisional Government, for its irreconcilable attitude towards the Germans. I saw, finally, such scenes that I will not forget until the end of my days ... In one of the buildings he ordered to show me the worst part. They took me to the 703rd Surami regiment. We drove up to a huge crowd of unarmed people standing, sitting, wandering in a clearing outside the village. Dressed in torn rags (the clothes were sold and drunk), barefoot, overgrown, unkempt, unwashed, they seemed to have reached the last degree of physical coarsening. I was met by the head of the division (Major General E.G. Katlubay. - Author) with a trembling lower lip and the regiment commander with the face of a man sentenced to death. No one gave the command "attention", none of the soldiers got up; the nearest rows moved up to the cars. My first move was to scold the regiment and turn back. But this could be considered cowardly. And I entered the crowd.
Stayed in the crowd for about an hour. My God, what happened to people, to a rational creature of God, to a Russian plowman... Possessed or demon-possessed, with a clouded mind, with stubborn, devoid of any logic and common sense speech, with hysterical cries, spewing blasphemy and heavy, vile curses. We all spoke, we were answered - with malice and stupid persistence. I remember that in me, little by little, the indignant feeling of the old soldier faded somewhere into the background, and it only became infinitely sorry for these dirty, dark Russian people, to whom too little was given and therefore little will be exacted from them ... From the Surami regiment I went, at the insistent invitation of a special delegation, to the corps congress of the same 2nd Caucasian corps. Elected people gathered there, and therefore their conversations were more reasonable, their aspirations were more real: in different groups of delegates, among whom the retinue got mixed up, there was a conversation that here was the commander in chief, commander, corps, headquarters and all the authorities; it would be nice to finish them all at once, that's the end of the offensive ... "
It is clear that leading such "warriors" on the offensive was like death. Therefore, the offensive of the Western Front was constantly postponed - to the end of April, then to June 15, June 22, July 3, and finally, July 9, 1917. The composition of the forces of the Western Front changed greatly by the beginning of the offensive. Now it included the following connections:
2nd Army (commander from April 8, 1917 - Lieutenant General A.A. Veselovsky): 9th (Lieutenant General P.D. Schrader), 50th (Lieutenant General B.A. Dzichkanets) , 3rd Siberian (Lieutenant General A.E. Redko, then V.F. Dzhunkovsky), Grenadier (Lieutenant General D.P. Parsky) Corps.
3rd Army (commander from April 3, 1917 - Lieutenant General M.F. Kvetsinsky): 10th (Infantry General N.A. Danilov), 15th (Lieutenant General I.Z. Odishelidze) , 20th (Lieutenant General A.Ya. Elshin), 25th (Lieutenant General V.V. Bolotov) army corps.
10th Army (commander from April 9, 1917 - Lieutenant General N.M. Kiselevsky): 3rd (Lieutenant General D.N. Nadezhny), 38th (Lieutenant General I.R. Dovbor- Musnitsky), 1st Siberian (lieutenant general E.A. Iskritsky), 2nd Caucasian (lieutenant general G.I. Choglokov) army corps.
On June 9, the commander-in-chief of the front held a meeting with the commanders of the armies and made the following conclusions based on its results: “ 3rd army. The army committee is satisfactory in terms of composition ... The divisional committees are well-disposed and are assistants to the chiefs of divisions ... In terms of mood, artillery is ahead of the others; the offensive is welcomed. In the infantry, the mood is more motley. The 20th Corps is better than the others ... The infantry of the 15th Corps is somewhat weaker. The 35th Corps is even weaker ... 10th Army... Artillery is better than others. The 1st Siberian Corps should be considered the strongest ... The 2nd Caucasian Corps is especially painfully experiencing the transition from the old regime to the new one and, according to the army commander, the 2nd Caucasian Grenadier, 51st and 134th divisions are not combat-ready in their mood ... The 38th Army Corps is more relaxed ... The size of the army continues to noticeably decrease. The general attitude of the soldiers of the 10th Army towards the offensive is rather negative ... 2nd army. The army committee is unintelligent, not independent, blindly follows the front committee, even in its extreme manifestations ... The mood is quite good in the artillery, in the infantry it is motley, but in general it is much worse than in other armies ... Desertion from the front has almost ceased. Fraternization is rare, single people. Mannings arrive at the front so badly that the shortage is threateningly progressing. Supreme Commander A.A. Brusilov imposed an eloquent resolution on the report: “In this mood, is it worth preparing a blow here?”
And, nevertheless, "prepared". To understand the situation in which the offensive was being prepared, it is enough to mention that on June 8 the congress of front committees spoke out against the operation, on June 18 - in favor and on June 20 - again against. Along the way, other committees also expressed their opinion, for example, the Minsk Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies (decided not to attack), divisional committees (in the 169th division - decided to consider the offensive a betrayal of the revolution), etc. The work of preparing the operation actually fell on the shoulders of the officers , who had to simultaneously engage in their direct official duties and literally beg the soldiers to go on the offensive ... Now this is perceived as a delusional dream, but, alas, these were the everyday life of the Russian revolutionary army - the “army of free Russia”, as they liked to call it then.
"one. Parts of the 10th and 12th armies of the enemy occupy a fortified position along the line of the lake. Naroch, the village of Novo-Spasskoe, the towns of Krevo, Geverishki, Delyatichi, Baranovichi.
2. The army of the Western Front was entrusted with the task of delivering a blow to the enemy in the general direction of Vilna.
The 10th Army was ordered to strike the main blow, attacking the enemy on the Gavenovichi, Geverishki front, with the initial goal of capturing the line of Sola, Zhuirany, Oshmyany, Grauzhyshki.
The 2nd and 3rd armies were ordered to assist the advance of the 10th army by all means and, as success develops, go on the offensive in the general direction of Vilna and Slonim.
3. In pursuance of the assigned task, the commander of the 10th Army decided to deliver the main blow to the enemy in the sector of the Sutkovsky and Novospassky forests with the further development of the main blow in the direction of the forest, which is between the villages of Glinnaya and Bazary.
4. The immediate task of the army commander was to go out with three shock corps (2nd Caucasian, 1st Siberian and 38th) to the line of the river. Oksna, the villages of Glinnaya, Asany, the western edge of the Bogushdnsky forest, Popelevichi, Chukhny.
For a further offensive in order to capture the line of Sola, Zhuirana, Grauzhishka, instructions were supposed to be given additionally.
5. Corps - tasks:
a) Caucasian - to attack the section of Gavenovichi, Novospasskoye in order to take possession of the massif with the Sutkovsky forest and develop further actions to consolidate on the line of the river. Oksna to Glinnaya;
b) 1st Siberian - attack the area from Novospasskoye to the northern outskirts of Krevo with the aim of capturing the Novospassky and Bogushinsky forests and a group of forests west of the first and north of the second and securing on the Glinnaya, Asana line (inclusive);
c) the 38th - to attack the sector of Krevo, Chukhna (inclusive) with the aim of capturing the Krevo massif and the forest to the west of it and securing it on the line of Asana (exclusively), Popelevichi (inclusive);
d) 3rd - to defend the sector from Geverishka, inclusive, up to a height of 1 1/2 versts southeast of the village of Bor, inclusive, facilitating the offensive of the 38th Corps, concentrating artillery fire on enemy batteries, grouped in the areas of the villages of Vishnevka, Ordashi, Kuta, and having a corps reserve (three regiments of the 73rd Infantry Division) on the right bank of the Berezina River. In the future, the corps should take part in the general offensive on the line of Sola, Oshmyany, Grauzhishki.
To break through the enemy's powerful line of defense, a huge amount of artillery was concentrated in the main strike area: 788 guns, of which 356 were large-caliber. The 38th Army Corps was the most saturated with artillery. All guns, with the exception of 12-inch howitzers, had full ammunition. The adjustment of the shooting was to be carried out by the 15th, 35th corps and 11th army aeronautic, Grenadier, 1st Siberian and 34th corps aviation detachments. It is worth mentioning that the special units of the Russian army - artillery, aviation, armored detachments, engineering troops - were much less affected by revolutionary decay than the infantry, and therefore it was quite possible to rely on them.
The operation began with a powerful artillery preparation, which lasted from July 6 to 9, 1917. Its results, without a doubt, were the most brilliant in the history of the Western Front. In some places, the enemy's wire fences were completely destroyed, the trenches of the 1st, and part of the 2nd and 3rd lines simply ceased to exist. Dugouts and machine-gun nests were destroyed; the reinforced concrete bunkers were almost undamaged, but their entrances were densely littered with fragments of logs and earth.
But the Krevskaya operation itself, which was completed in one day - July 9, ended in complete failure. Of the 14 Russian divisions preparing for the attack, 7 went on the offensive, of which 4 turned out to be fully combat-ready. The soldiers simply did not want to follow the orders of the officers, went en masse to the rear, went to "crossbows" - anything, just not to fight.
And yet this operation was in many ways brilliant. Some Russian units showed real heroism and selflessness on July 9th. The 51st Infantry Division proved to be the brightest of all, whose 202nd Gorisky, 204th Ardagano-Mikhailovsky and three companies of the 203rd Sukhumi regiments demonstrated what a bayonet strike of Russian troops is worth. Russian officers fought with rare courage and contempt for death. The exploits of many of them already bordered on martyrdom and were possible only in the carbon monoxide atmosphere of 1917. For example, in the 38th Corps, the following case is described: “In vain, the officers who followed in front tried to raise people. Then 15 officers with a small handful of soldiers moved forward alone. Their fate is unknown - they did not return. A brilliant feat was accomplished by Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Ivanovich Yanchin, who gathered a detachment of 44 officers and 200 soldiers faithful to duty and went on the attack with this detachment. None of the brave men returned from it.
And most importantly, one cannot ignore the fact that one of the goals of the Kreva operation was achieved. We mean that the troops of the 10th Army, for the first time in the history of positional warfare on the Western Front, managed to partially destroy and break through the heavily fortified enemy defense line in the Kreva area. From the bitter lessons of Naroch and Baranovichi, the right conclusions were finally drawn ...
In the autumn of 1917, the fighting at the front began to die down (the last major battles were noted on October 26 and 31) and finally subsided after the Bolshevik coup. In mid-November, the troops themselves began to conclude a truce with the enemy at the local level. The first, on November 10, to offer a truce to the enemy was the headquarters of the Grenadier Corps of the 2nd Army. But the 55th and 69th Infantry Divisions were the first to conclude a truce - at 22.00. On November 13, the shooting stopped near the village of Novoselki. The next day, at noon on November 14, the Grenadier Corps and the 67th Infantry Division began negotiations with the Germans.
On the same day, November 14, an order was issued by the Bolshevik Commander-in-Chief of the Western Front, V.V. Kamenshchikov - to conclude a truce on the ground ourselves. So the negotiations between the Grenadier Corps and the 67th Infantry Division suddenly received an official basis. The 67th division ceased combat operations on the same day, the Grenadier Corps - at noon on November 16 (at the 30-verst section of Baranovichi, Gorbachi, Polonechko). On November 15, he began negotiations with the Germans, and on the 19th he "stabbed his bayonets into the ground" on the site of the northern shore of Lake Naroch - the town of Petrusha, the 15th Army Corps. On the evening of November 17, 1917, the committees of the 2nd and 10th armies stopped the fighting in their army sectors and turned to the German command with an official proposal to start negotiations on a truce.
Nevertheless, “private” truces at the corps, divisional and regimental levels were concluded at the front for several more days. On November 18, hostilities ceased in the sector of the 7th Turkestan Rifle Division, on November 19 - the 3rd Army Corps. “Private” truces were concluded both long-term, for three months, and for two weeks (from November 15 to November 30 - in the sector of the 515th Pinega Infantry Regiment, from Telekhan to the village of Valishche). Many units undertook to facilitate the conclusion of truces in the combat areas of neighboring units. Sometimes the initiative for truces came from the Germans.
Well, on November 23, a “general”, front-line truce followed. It was concluded by the front-line Military Revolutionary Committee in the town of Soly. It came into force from noon on November 23, 1917, and was valid until noon on January 24, 1918, or “until the conclusion of a general truce on the entire Russian-German front, if such follows earlier than the indicated date” (which happened). On the entire Western Front from Vidz to Pripyat, all combat operations with all types of weapons and means of mass destruction, mine and sapper work, air flights over the enemy’s location and in a 10-verst strip from the front line of their trenches, and the actions of scouts immediately ceased. The parties pledged not to carry out preparatory work for the offensive and not to transfer large forces from one front to another. Particularly “good” was the point on wire obstacles: soldiers were not allowed to cross their wire, but no penalties were applied to those who did it.
Formally, the truce signed in Soly did not last long - about two weeks, from November 23 to 14.00 on December 4, 1917, when the 28-day truce signed on December 2 in Skoky near Brest-Litovsk came into force on the entire Russian-German front from the Baltic to the Danube.
Well, the last clashes with the enemy on the territory of Belarus were already noted in February-March 1918. Then the German army, violating the truce, went on the offensive along the entire front. On February 20, the Germans entered Polotsk, on the 21st - in Minsk, Rezhitsa and Dvinsk, on the 24th - in Kalinkovichi, on the 25th - in Borisov, on the 27th - in Zhlobin, on the 28th - in Rogachev and Rechitsa, March 1 - to Gomel, March 3 - to Orsha, March 5 - to Mogilev. Of the major Belarusian centers, only Vitebsk remained unoccupied. During the February-March offensive of 1918, the German army, with almost no losses, captured 23 Belarusian districts out of 35 with small forces, accomplishing in two weeks what the opponents of Russia had been unsuccessfully striving for for more than two years ...
The fragmented and combat-ready remnants of the old Russian army and the tiny detachments of the newborn Red Army were only able to offer token resistance to the invaders. Nevertheless, battles with the Germans took place on the outskirts of Minsk, Tolochin, Kalinkovichi, Zhlobin, Rechitsa, Vitebsk, Gomel, Vetka. The battles for Orsha continued for several days, and, according to the testimony of the commandant of Orsha I.F. Skuratovich, the Germans did not manage to completely capture the railway junction: they controlled the freight station, and Orsha-Passenger remained in the hands of the Reds. The last battles took place on March 6-7, 1918, when the 2nd Gomel Red Guard Detachment cleared the Dobrush that they had just occupied from the Germans and recaptured the armored train lost on March 3.
Formally, the war for Bolshevik Russia ended on March 3, 1918, with the conclusion of the shameful Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. On March 5, the position of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was liquidated, and on March 16, the Headquarters itself. The headquarters of the Western Front was captured by the Germans in Minsk on February 21, only a small part of it, headed by A.F. Myasnikov managed to evacuate to Smolensk two days before. On March 24, the headquarters moved from Smolensk to Tambov, where on April 12 its department was disbanded.
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Belarus during the First World War
HISTORY OF BELARUS (XX - early XXI century)
On July 19 (August 1), 1914, the First World War began. Gradually, 38 countries with a population of 1.5 billion people were involved in it. The five-year war took the lives of 10 million people and crippled 20 million. It was a struggle for the redistribution of the already divided world, for the expansion of spheres of influence, colonies, sources of raw materials and markets for goods between the main two groups of European states: the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Turkey, Bulgaria) and the Entente (Great Britain, France , Russia). Later, the United States and Japan joined them.
Since the beginning of the war, militaristic-chauvinistic propaganda has unfolded in Russia, a wave of “patriotic” demonstrations, meetings, prayers in support of Russian weapons has swept across the country, and a campaign has begun to collect money and jewelry for the fatherland fund. The war was approved not only by the bourgeois-landowner parties, but also by socialist and national organizations. In the western provinces, the Social Revolutionaries created the "Military Revolutionary Union", which took an active part in serving the front. The Bolsheviks called for a struggle to turn the imperialist war into a civil one. For this, they believed, the working people of the belligerent countries should strive to defeat their governments in the war, which would help to overthrow the ruling classes. The newspaper Nasha Niva opposed the war, the editor of which since March 1914 was Y. Kupala.
On July 18, the western provinces were transferred to martial law. A rigid military-political regime was established on their territory. Meetings and manifestations were banned, the press began to be subjected to military censorship, courts-martial were introduced. Almost all the settlements of Belarus were filled with troops. There were about 150,000 military and military officials in Minsk.
In August 1915, the German offensive began in the direction of Kovno-Vilno-Minsk. On August 31, the Germans captured Sventsiany and Vileyka. Due to the threat of encirclement, the Russian army left Vilna, Grodno, Lida, and Brest in early September. The headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was transferred from Baranovichi to Mogilev. On September 19, advanced German patrols cut the Minsk-Moscow railway line in the Smolevichi area. Only at the cost of a huge effort of the forces of the Russian army was it possible to eliminate the Sventsyansky breakthrough and push the Germans back to the area of \u200b\u200bthe Svir and Naroch lakes. In October 1915 the front stabilized along the Dvinsk-Postavy-Smorgon-Baranovichi-Pinsk line. The Germans captured almost half of the territory of Belarus, and this situation continued until the beginning of 1918, since the offensive operations of the Russians in March, June-July 1916 in the areas of Lake Naroch and Baranovichi were unsuccessful. In the Naroch operation alone, more than 90,000 Russian soldiers and officers were killed, wounded and captured.
In the occupied territory, where 2 million people lived before the war. man, robberies and violence began. Requisitions, cash and food indemnities followed. A system of taxes, fines, forced labor was introduced. Material values and part of the able-bodied population were taken to Germany. The captured territory was included in the military-administrative district of Ober-Ost.
A difficult socio-economic situation has also developed in the non-occupied part of Belarus. The retreat of the Russian troops in 1915 was accompanied by a mass flight of the civilian population to the eastern regions of Belarus. By the autumn of 1915, refugees filled the entire eastern part of Belarus. Thousands of homeless, hungry, poor people died from epidemics, hunger and disease. Since the refugees "constantly threatened order and tranquility" in the rear of the army, they were forcibly evicted across the Dnieper. In May 1918, 2.3 million refugees from Belarus lived in Russia.
More than half of men of working age were mobilized from Belarus for the war. Old men, women and children were used in forced military labor. The Belarusian village suffered great losses from constant requisitions of horses, cattle, fodder, and grain. During the war years, sown areas decreased by 20-30%, and the number of cattle decreased by 11%.
Due to the lack of raw materials, fuel, skilled workers, many branches of industry have been reduced or ceased production activities. By the end of 1915, only 35.7% of pre-war large (qualified) enterprises were operating. The volume of production of goods for the civilian population amounted to 15-16% of the pre-war. At the same time, the clothing, footwear, metalworking, and baking industries, which carried out military orders, increased production. In 1915 10 large sewing workshops, 5 factories for the production of shells and grenades, artillery workshops were opened in Bobruisk and Gomel.
The reduction in agricultural and industrial production caused a 2-7-fold increase in prices for food and basic industrial goods. Treasury, bribery, speculation have become commonplace. The wages of workers did not keep pace with the rise in prices for food, fuel, and housing. In Belarus, factory workers received almost half as much as in Russia.
The workers and peasants quickly got rid of patriotic sentiments. Since 1915, there has been an increase in the labor movement. In 1915 there were 15 strikes in 6 settlements. In 1916, strikes took place in 11 settlements. However, the labor movement in Belarus was much weaker than in Russia.
The peasant movement at the beginning of the war manifested itself in the speeches of conscripts who sacked the estates of landowners and shops of Jewish merchants, counting on the fact that they, as "defenders of the tsar and the fatherland", would not be punished. However, the authorities reacted to these speeches with punitive detachments and courts-martial. According to their verdict, 16 people were hanged in Senno, Mozyr and Igumen districts.
Major military defeats in 1915, failures in 1916, huge human and material losses aroused dissatisfaction among the soldiers. Desertion became widespread. By the end of 1917, over 13,000 soldiers had deserted from the Western Front. Cases of refusal of entire units and formations to go on the offensive, fraternization with German soldiers became more frequent. In total, 62 significant performances of soldiers took place in Belarus during the war years. The largest was the uprising in October 1916 at the distribution point in Gomel, in which about 4 thousand military personnel took part. The tsarist authorities brutally dealt with the rebels. Sixteen people were brought to trial, nine of them were shot, the rest were sent to hard labor.
Thus, the First World War exacerbated all the contradictions in the country, led to an acute economic and political crisis. The revolution became inevitable.
Developed by Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Zelinsky and Candidate of Historical Sciences Pinchuk V.N.
References:
1. History of Belarus. Lecture course. Part 1. Mn., 2000
2. History of Belarus. Lecture course. Part 2. Mn., 2002
3. History of Belarus. Educational and information manual. Mn., 2001
4. P.G. Chigrinov. Essays on the history of Belarus. Mn., 2002
5. History of Belarus. Ch. 1.2. Mn., 2000
- Political and socio-economic development of Belarus in the early twentieth century. (1900 - 1917)
- Revolutionary and socio-political movement during the rise of the revolution of 1905 - 1907
- Politics and tactics of tsarism, all-Russian and national parties during the decline of the revolution of 1905 - 1907
- Economic and political development of Belarus in 1907 - 1913
- Belarus during the First World War and revolutionary upheavals (1914 - 1920)
- Belarusian national movement at the beginning of World War I
- Belarus during the February Revolution (February - October 1917)
- The rise of the Belarusian national movement after the victory of the February Revolution
- The struggle for national self-determination in Belarus in the first months of Soviet power. Proclamation
- Creation of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic
- Belarus in the 20s - 30s
- Nation-state construction in the BSSR (1921 - 1927)
- National liberation movement in Western Belarus
- BSSR during World War II
- Beginning of World War II. Reunification of Western Belarus with the BSSR
- Belarus in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War
- Socio-economic, political and cultural development of Belarus in 1946 - 1985
11/11/2018 TUT.BY
100 years ago, on November 11, 1918, the First World War ended. What was it for Belarus, what consequences did it bring, and why do we hardly remember it?
Today, a huge part of the globe, and indeed the whole of Europe, is celebrating the centenary of the Compiègne truce, the end of the First World War. Who fought, why, what happened on the lands of Belarus -Denis Martinovich collected some answers.
Who fought?
Before the war, almost all participants in the conflict had territorial claims against their neighbors, so you should not consider Germany an aggressor, and her opponents victims and noble heroes. For example, France dreamed of regaining Alsace and Lorraine, which were lost after the war of 1870-1871. The main European countries claimed the territory of the Ottoman Empire, which was in crisis (for example, Russia dreamed of capturing Constantinople). These and many other factors (for example, allied obligations, militarism as the main policy of European countries, etc.) made the conflict inevitable. Therefore, the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand was just a pretext for starting a war. If it hadn't happened, the "great powers" would have found another suitable event.
Germany and Austria-Hungary entered into a military alliance in 1879. Italy joined in 1882. Thus the Triple Alliance was born. On the other hand, there was a "cordial union" - the Entente as part of France, the Russian Empire and Britain. Already during the hostilities, regroupings occurred: Italy moved to the Entente camp, and Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire joined the Triple Alliance (which turned into a Quarter).
Also on the side of the Entente were Serbia and Montenegro, Japan and Romania, in 1917 the United States joined the war, as well as some countries in Africa, Asia, South and Latin America.
What happened during the First World War in Belarus?
According to various sources, from 800 to 923 thousand Belarusians were drafted into the Russian army. 70 thousand of them died. These losses are quite comparable with the losses of Belgium, which is considered one of the main victims of the First World War.
The main events of the First World War on the territory of Belarus were the Naroch, Baranovichi and Krevo operations. Most of the time of the war on all fronts was occupied by positional confrontation - it is not for nothing that Remarque's famous novel was called “All Quiet on the Western Front”.
In 1915, the German-Russian front stabilized for two and a half years along the line Dvinsk - Postavy - Smorgon - Baranovichi - Pinsk. Belarus became the scene of hostilities (the civilian casualties amounted to about 60 thousand people), and the western part of the country was under the control of the Germans. This led to numerous requisitions and robberies (both by the Germans and Russians - we are talking about both the army and the civil administration).
According to the historian Vladimir Bogdanov, the Russian command used the scorched earth tactics.
We tried not to leave anything for the enemy to cling to. They took out equipment, livestock, property, destroyed plants, factories, blew up bridges. People shared their memories: when the Germans approached Smorgon in September 1915, the Cossacks gave the locals three hours to pack up and leave the city.
The authorities wrote receipts and promised people to reimburse everything after the end of the war. But revolutionary times came, and no one, of course, remembered these promises.
As a result, many Belarusians became refugees. It is impossible to determine the total number exactly. Nevertheless, it is known that on June 1, 1916, there were 2,757,735 refugees. Slightly less than half of them (47.1%) were residents of Belarus. Two years later, in the spring of 1918, there were 2,292,395 refugees in Russia from the Belarusian provinces. Not all of them returned to their homeland.
How did World War I change the map of the world?
The changes have been drastic. The main result of the war is the collapse of empires (Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman). Instead, many independent states appeared on the European map. Some nations have been waiting for independence for many years (for example, the Poles - since the third partition of the Commonwealth in 1795).
The First World War was a blow to the monarchies. The German Empire was replaced by a republic. Yes, and the state formations that appeared on the site of the Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires were originally created precisely as republics (although later, due to the weakness of democratic institutions, authoritarian regimes arose in them).
After the First World War, the German colonies came under the control of Great Britain and France. In addition, there was a serious "redrawing" of European borders. At the same time, the knots of future conflicts were already tied. Many states were given territories with a compact population of national minorities. For example, the Sudetenland, which was densely populated by Germans, became part of Czechoslovakia. Later, this gave Hitler an excuse to interfere in the affairs of this country. And the Belarusian and Ukrainian lands were included in Poland, which did not even receive autonomy.
Another outcome of the war was the emergence of the League of Nations - a kind of predecessor to the UN. An organization arose with the help of which the victorious countries sought to prevent hostilities and settle disputes between countries through diplomatic negotiations. But the real mechanisms for curbing the aggressor states have not been formulated. Therefore, the League of Nations could not prevent the Second World War.
What is the main result of the First World War?
World War I set the stage for World War II. We will try to explain the reasons for this through the differences between these two conflicts.
With a certain similarity between the two totalitarian monsters (Stalin's USSR and Hitler's Third Reich), World War II was really a struggle "for the sake of life on Earth." The struggle for freedom and independence (Germany occupied a number of European countries from Denmark and Norway to Poland and Czechoslovakia). The struggle against the anti-human Nazi ideology, the carriers of which destroyed entire nations (Jews and Gypsies).
The policy of the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition (with all the numerous disagreements) was common: Germany should be denazified, fascism should not be revived. And this position was clear both to the majority of participants in the war and to their contemporaries in different countries. To some extent, these actions can be called the restoration of justice in memory of people who died or died during the hostilities.
But the First World War as a whole was a battle of aggressors equal to each other. There were practically no right and wrong countries in this conflict (with the possible exception of Serbia). The punishment of Germany and its allies was not a way to restore justice, which was not discussed in that situation, but only an attempt to shift responsibility onto someone else's shoulders.
If France and Great Britain lost, it would be they who would pay reparations, would be forced to give Germany part of their territories (including colonies). In any case, there would be a desire for revenge among the losers. Therefore, future conflict was inevitable.
How did the First World War affect the development of Belarus?
The Belarusian national movement began to seriously develop only at the beginning of the 20th century (noticeably later than that of its neighbors), so the majority of Belarusians were characterized by a low level of national self-consciousness. In Belarus, a national bourgeoisie has not been formed, which could be interested in creating its own state and would finance its activities.
Perhaps the gradual growth of self-consciousness would have occurred in peacetime. And then the question of autonomy within the Russian Empire would have been put on the agenda first, and then it would have turned to independence.
But the processes had to be forced under the conditions of war. On the one hand, Belarusians were able to take advantage of certain contradictions between other nations. For example, the Germans who occupied Western Belarus were not interested in the development of the Polish national movement. Therefore, they allowed Belarusian schools to be opened (which the tsarist administration opposed). And most importantly, the Russian Empire ceased to exist, which allowed Belarus to take another step towards independence.
On the other hand, the fragile Belarusian national movement turned out to be unprepared for a sharp jump (from the outside it looked like a break in a teenager during a transitional age). Perhaps that is why the BPR (unlike the Baltic countries and Poland) could not be realized as a full-fledged state.
Let's not forget that there was a multinational front on the territory of Belarus, and Bolshevik sentiments were popular among the soldiers. This largely determined the victory of the Soviet government and the subsequent inclusion of Belarus into the USSR.
Why do Belarusians have little memory of this conflict?
In Western Europe, the First World War is still called the Great. Largely because the warring countries suffered huge losses. According to some estimates, twice as many British, three times as many Belgians and four times as many French died in the First World War as in the Second World War.
The nature of the fighting was also different. The French and English armies fought on the fronts for all four years. Whereas during the Second World War, France capitulated rather quickly, and the Resistance still had the character of an underground and partisan struggle.
For England, France, the war ended with a concrete victory - the Compiègne truce and the subsequent Treaty of Versailles. But the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, according to which Russia withdrew from the war, was just one of many events for the inhabitants of these countries.
For Belarus (as, indeed, for Russia and Ukraine), the First World War smoothly turned into a revolution, a struggle for power and an endless change of political regimes. These events obscured this conflict in the minds of the people. And the new authorities, based on ideological principles, focused on the victory of the Bolsheviks and considered the First World War only as a prerequisite for October 1917.
