Mobilization of Kursk Industry during World War I, 1914-1918

Scientific article

doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2025-4-1234-1252

For citation

Abramov, Aleksandr P., Gavrikov, Fedor A. (2025). Mobilization of the Kursk industry during the First World War, 1914-1918, Herald of an Archivist, no. 4, pp. 1234-1252, doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2025-4-1234-1252

Abramov, Aleksandr P., Federal Research Sociological Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

Gavrikov Fedor A., Kursk State University, Kursk, Russia

Mobilization of Kursk Industry during World War I, 1914-1918

Abstract

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

Keywords

World War I, Kursk, military production, industrial mobilization, Union of Cities, Military-Industrial Committee, Zemgor, military orders, enterprises, artisans.

Download the article: abramov_gavrikov_doi

References

Belova, I. B. (2011). The First World War and the Russian Provinces, 1914 – February 1917, Ed. G. A. Bordyugov, Moscow, AIR0-XXI publ., 288 p.

Borisov, S. P. (1948). The Bolsheviks' Struggle Against the Military-Industrial Committees (1915–1916), Moscow, State Publishing House of Political Literature, 88 p.

All-Russian Union of Cities. Kursk Regional Committee (1916). Report on the Activities of the Kursk Regional Committee [from its Organization on October 24, 1914, to February 27, 1915], All-Russian Union of Cities Aiding Sick and Wounded Soldiers, Moscow, 19 p.

Golikov, A. G. (1977). On the Eve of October, The Growing National Crisis, Moscow, Mysl' publ., 127 p.

Danilov, N. A. (1922). The Impact of the World War on the Economic Situation in Russia, Petrograd, State Publishing House of the RSFSR, 33 p.

Kitanina, T. M. (1985). War, Bread, and Revolution (The Food Question in Russia 1914 – October 1917), Leningrad: Nauka publ., 384 p.

Laverychev, V. Ya. (1988). Military-State-Monopoly Capitalism in Russia, Moscow, Mysl' publ., 340 p.

Mayorov, A. A. (1997). Zemgor's Activities in Providing Aid to the Russian Army During the First World War (Reorganization of Engineering and Construction Squads and Automobile Columns), Abstract of Cand. Sci. (History) Dis., Orel, 24 p.

Markov, A. P. (1915). On the Fight Against High Prices in Kursk, Materials for the Economic Conference of the Main Committee of the Union of Cities Aiding Sick and Wounded Soldiers, Kursk, Electric Typolithography of P. Z. Liberman publ., 50 p.

Mikheyev, P. V. (2000). Kursk Provincial Administration During the First World War. IN: Invincible Sons of the Fatherland, Proceedings of the All-Russian Scientific Conference, Kursk, Kursk State Pedagogical University, pp. 83–86.

Moskvitin, V. P. (1939). Kursk in the Past and Present, Kursk, Kursk Regional Publishing House, 53 p.

On the Impact of the War on Some Aspects of Russia's Economic Life (1916). Ministry of Finance, Department of Salary Collections, Petrograd, Electric Typography. N. Ya. Stoykova publ., 517 p.

Report on the Activities of the Kursk Regional Committee (1916). All-Russian Union of Cities Assisting Sick and Wounded Soldiers, 1915–1916, Moscow, 19 p.

Prokopovich, S. N. (1918). War and the National Economy, Second ed., supplemented, Moscow, N. A. Sazonova publ., 265 p.

Purishkevich, V. M. (1915). Results of the First Year of Combat in the Rear and at the Front, Report at the Russian Assembly, September 4, 1915, Petrograd, K. A. Chetverikova Electroprinting publ., 19 p.

Raisky, Yu. L. (1957). Kursk in the Period of Capitalism. IN: Kursk, Essays on the History of the City, Kursk, Book Publishing House, 251 p.

Sidorov, A. L. (1973). The Economic Situation of Russia during the First World War, Moscow, Nauka publ., 654 p.

Sudorgin, N. S. (2011). Activities of the All-Russian Zemstvo Union and the All-Russian City Union to Overcome the Economic Crisis during the First World War, Legal Culture, Journal. Saratov, All-Russian State University of Justice, No. 1, pp. 181–184.

Tyutyukin, S. V. (1972). War, Peace, Revolution, Ideological Struggle in the Labor Movement in Russia, 1914–1917, Moscow, Mysl' publ., 304 p.

Yakovlev, A. F. (1955). Economic Crises in Russia, Moscow, State Publishing House of Political Literature, 404 p.

Yakovlev, N. N. (1994). The Last War of Old Russia, Moscow, Prosveshchenie publ., 254 p.

Baberowski J., Beyrau D., Calic M.-J., Kossert A. (2014). Totentanz, Der Ersten Welt krieg im Osten Europas, Osteuropa, v. B, heft 2–4, 424 s.

Gilbert, M. (1994). First World War, Toronto, Stoddart publ., 616 р.

Grenville, John (2000). A History of the World in the 20th Century, Cambridge, Harvard University publ., 1040 р.

Keegan, John (2000). The First World War, New York, Vintage Books publ., 500 р.

Krumeich, G. (2014). Juli 1914. Eine Bilanz, Mit einem Anhang, 50 Schl?sseldokumente zum Kriegsausbruch, Ferdinand Sch?ning, 362 s.

Krumeich, G., Weber T., Weinrich A., Zimet J. (2013). 100 Jahre Erster Weltkrieg, Weltweit vor Ort, Das Magazin der Max Weber Stiftung, Bonn, № 2, s. 5–17.

About authors

Abramov Aleksandr P., Doctor of Sociological Sciences, Associate Professor, Federal Research Sociological Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Social Demography, Chief Researcher, Moscow, Russian Federation, 8-908-126-01-68, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

ORCID 0000-0001-9913-2449

Gavrikov Fedor A., PhD in History, Kursk State University, Institute of Economics and Management, Department of Public and Municipal Administration, Associate Professor, Kursk, Russian Federation, 8-960-683-27-37, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

ORCID 0000-0002-1338-7262

The article was received in the editorial office on 28.12.2024, recommended for publication on 20.09.2025.