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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, and skilled workers, many branches of industry have contracted 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

The content of the manual "HISTORY OF BELARUS (XX - beginning of XXI in.)":

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 Belarus in 1946 - 1985

World War I and the situation in Belarus: political, social and economic aspects. Belarusian national movement during the war.

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, it was 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 beyond 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, and skilled workers, many branches of industry have contracted 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 decline in agricultural and industrial production caused a 2-7 times 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.

The war hampered the Belarusian national movement. Some of the leaders of the national movement were mobilized into the army, others were evacuated to Russia. The pre-war Belarusian national-cultural organizations collapsed. The publication of Belarusian-language publications has stopped, including the newspaper Nasha Niva. In Vilna, occupied by German troops, a small group of Belarusian national figures remained, led by the brothers Anton and Ivan Lutskevich, Eloise Pashkevich (Aunt), Vaclav Lastovsky. From the Belarusian side, they entered the so-called Vilna-Kovno committee, created from representatives of different nationalities: Poles, Lithuanians, Belarusians and Jews. Soon the committee was reorganized, and national people's committees were created on its basis.

The government of Kaiser Wilhelm played political games with the population of the occupied territories with the expectation of their separation from Russia. The Germans promoted the idea of ​​restoring the Kingdom of Poland within the borders of the former Russian control, but without Łomża and Suwałki. They planned to annex the districts of Lomza, Suwalki and Courland to Prussia, and in the regions of Kovno, Vilna, Grodno and Bialystok gradually create a puppet state connected with Germany by monetary, customs, economic and military systems under the leadership of the German-Baltic elite.

In order to protect national interests, the Central Union of Belarusian National Public Organizations was created, headed by Belarusian People's Committee (BNK) in Vilna. Under his leadership in 1916-1917. a significant network of Belarusian schools appeared in the occupied territory. The publication of textbooks, the newspaper "Gaumont" was started. It began to appear on December 15, 1916 twice a week in Vilna under the editorship of V. Lastovsky. The Belarusian national movement was promoted by the policy of the German occupation authorities, who in January 1916 recognized the right of the Belarusian language along with other languages.

In April and June 1916, representatives of the Belarusian People's Committee took part in the conferences of the peoples of Russia, held in Stockholm and Lausanne. There they appealed to the peoples of Europe and US President Wilson with a request to support Belarus' secession from Russia, to help the Belarusian people develop their intellectual and economic potential independently, and become masters of their land. In the memorandum of the Belarusian delegation at the congress in Lausanne, for the first time, the idea of ​​creating a state “The United States of Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine from the Baltic to the Black Seas” was put forward. But the Entente countries needed Russia, which would continue the war with Germany. Therefore, they did not respond to this proposal.

In June 1917, a group of leaders of the national movement, headed by V. Lastovsky, created a conspiratorial organization "The Connection of the Independence and Indivisibility of Belarus." This organization was not only against regional autonomy within Russia or Poland, but also considered unacceptable a federation with Lithuania. It aimed to create an independent Belarus within its ethnographic borders and advocated a free democratic Belarus.

In September 1917, with the help of the occupation authorities, the Lithuanian Rada (Tariba) was created as the supreme state body of Lithuania. Under these conditions, in contrast to the Lithuanian tariba, a conference of representatives of the Belarusian national movement in January 1918 elected the Vilna Belarusian Rada, headed by A. Lutskevich. The Vilna Rada headed for breaking ties with Russia and creating an independent state.

On the territory of Belarus, which was part of the scope of activities Russian army, from the end of 1916 - the beginning of 1917. various national cultural and educational organizations began to operate. Belarusian writers, poets and artists united in the organization "Belarusian hut". Some commercial and industrial circles of Belarusians, under the leadership R. Skyrmunta, P. Aleksiuk and others, at the end of 1916 in Minsk launched work on the creation of the Party of Belarusian People's Socialists (PBNS). Among the Belarusian priests, there has been a tendency to create a Belarusian party on the basis of Christian morality.

The activities of the Belarusian national movement among refugees expanded, the bulk of which settled in the central provinces of Russia and the Volga region. In October 1916, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia allowed the publication in Petrograd of the Belarusian newspapers Dzyannitsa and Svetoch, which were published under the editorship of D. Zhilunovich and E. Budka, respectively. Due to lack of funds and dissatisfaction with censorship in late 1916 - early 1917. newspapers were closed. The further development of the Belarusian national movement was connected with the victory of the February Revolution of 1917.

Remember.

What were the causes and nature of the First World War?

Learning task.

Determine the position of the Belarusian population and the position of representatives of the Belarusian national movement in the conditions of the German occupation policy.

The beginning of the war. The mood in society. From the first days of the war, which for Russian Empire began on July 19 (August 1), 1914, the Belarusian provinces were transferred to martial law. A strict military-police regime was established, the activities of political parties, meetings and rallies were prohibited. Most Belarusian organizations have ceased their activities.

One and a half million tsarist army was stationed in Belarus. Cities and towns were overflowing with soldiers, headquarters, hospitals, warehouses, weapons repair shops. In Minsk alone, 150,000 servicemen were quartered. The Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was located in Baranovichi. passed mobilization(conscription) of hundreds of thousands of residents of Belarusian provinces to the Russian army, on whose officers and soldiers the fate of Belarus now began to depend.

The tsarist government organized numerous "patriotic" manifestations and prayers for the victory of the "Slavic weapons", raising money for the "defense of the Fatherland." The monarchist and liberal parties, as well as the Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, Bundists, came out in support of the tsarist government. In October 1914, Tsar Nicholas II visited Minsk, where he was given a large amount of money for the "needs of the war."

The Bolsheviks opposed the war. They considered it to be imperialistic in character and called for it to be turned into a war for power within the country in order to overthrow the autocracy.

The newspaper Nasha Niva, whose editor at that time was Y. Kupala, condemned the war and showed its senselessness. For this, the editorial office of the newspaper was accused of almost betraying Russia.

". Come not from zgoda and freedom weigh

I do not tell the truth between people, -

Zhytstsem millions you've been zapped,

Way to make your corpses, kastsmi. »

From Y. Kupala's poem "1914"

Military operations on the territory of Belarus. The occupation of the western part of Belarus. Hurray-patriotic moods soon gave way to disappointment, as in early 1915 the Russian troops suffered a series of defeats. The front was rapidly approaching Belarus. In the summer of 1915, it became the scene of hostilities for millions of armies and the main theater of war. The Belarusian land was covered with trenches, surrounded by barbed wire, watered with human blood.

The Russian army was forced to leave a significant part of the territory of Belarus. In August - September 1915, German troops occupied Brest,

Grodno and other Western Belarusian cities. In this regard, the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was transferred from Baranovichi to Mogilev. Offensive German army, known as "Sven-tsiansky breakthrough", created the threat of the capture of Minsk. With great efforts, the Russian troops managed to push the enemy back to the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe Svir and Naroch lakes and eliminate the breakthrough.

After that, the front was established along the line Dvinsk - Postavy - Smorgon - Baranovichi - Pinsk. The defense of Smorgon lasted 810 days. It was the only city on the front from the Baltic to the Black Sea, which the Russian army defended for so long and stubbornly during the First World War.

In 1916, for the first time on the Eastern Front, near Smorgon, German troops used poisonous gas.

The offensive operations of the Russian army in March 1916 in the area of ​​Lake Naroch and in June-July in the area of ​​the city of Baranovichi were unsuccessful. When trying to break through the front, the Russian army lost about 80 thousand soldiers in each of these operations.

Already in August 1914, a native of the Mogilev province, staff captain Sergei Arkadyevich Boyno-Rodzevich, distinguished himself in hostilities. On the eve of the war, he became one of the first and most famous military pilots in the Russian Empire. For the successful conduct of air reconnaissance, he was awarded the St. George weapon, the Order of St. George, 4th degree. The full Knight of St. George, awarded four crosses for courage and heroism shown in battles, was a native of the Volkovysk district, platoon commander Mikhail Ivanovich Zdanovich, who was awarded the rank of senior non-commissioned officer.

German troops captured almost half of the territory of Belarus - its western part, where 2 million people lived before the war. The front line divided Belarus into two parts and remained unchanged until February 1918. West Belarusian lands were under the German occupation.

The policy of the German authorities in the occupied territory. Status of the population of Western Belarus. The German authorities considered Belarus as an economically and culturally backward part of Russia with its own ethnographic specifics. The German command had a program of colonization and Germanization of Belarus through the resettlement of Germans to the occupied lands.

In the occupied territory of Belarus, the German military administration established its own laws, a regime of robbery and violence. There was a rigid system of various taxes, fines, forced labor, requisitions were carried out - the forced alienation of property and products to provide for the German army. The population between the ages of 16 and 60 paid a poll tax. Food, horses and livestock were taken from people. German soldiers occupied houses and apartments of civilians. Any attempt at resistance was brutally suppressed, up to and including the death penalty.

The able-bodied population was exported to Germany, as well as material values ​​- equipment of industrial enterprises, agricultural products, animals (**).

The German authorities banned education in Russian and introduced primary school teaching in the Belarusian language, but only on the basis of the Latin alphabet. The study of the German language was compulsory.

Belarusian national movement. Political activity was prohibited on the territory of Belarus occupied by German troops. All pre-war Belarusian national-cultural organizations collapsed. In 1915, a charitable Belarusian Society for Assistance to War Victims was established in Vilna, headed by brothers Anton and Ivan Lutskevich and Vaclav Lastovsky. It was engaged in the organization of food points, canteens, hostels, orphanages, providing material assistance to refugees, opened Belarusian schools in the occupied territory, and published textbooks for them. The society grouped national forces around itself, which remained in Vilna occupied by the Germans.

The German occupation policy did not give grounds to hope for the creation of a Belarusian state. Therefore, the Belarusian People's Committee (BNK), formed in 1915 in Vilna, turned to the idea of ​​reviving the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. According to this idea, the Belarusian and Lithuanian lands occupied by Germany were to be united into one state with the Sejm in Vilna.

Supporters of the idea of ​​the revival of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania formulated the goal of their activity as follows: so that “Lithuanian and Belarusian lands, which have long belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and now captured by German troops, become, under new historical conditions, an indivisible body on the foundation of the independence of Lithuania and Belarus, as an integral state, preserving all nations within its limits all rights.

The occupation authorities verbally supported the idea of ​​the revival of the GDL. They sought to use the national movement to strengthen their power in the occupied territories. However, Germany's plans did not include the creation of an independent Belarusian-Lithuanian state. This romantic project was not destined to come true. The very idea of ​​reviving the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was unrealistic at that time.

In 1916, the idea of ​​reviving the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was replaced by another one - the creation of a union of independent states - the United States of Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The Baltic-Black Sea Union, according to the author of this idea A. Lutskevich, could ensure the independence of the young states from Poland and Russia, strengthen the defense capability and help restore the economy destroyed during the war. With this idea, the Belarusian delegation headed by V. Lastovsky spoke at the international conferences of the peoples of Russia in 1916 in Stockholm and Lausanne.

In a speech by V. Lastovsky in Lausanne, it was noted: “Now, thanks to the conference of peoples, we. we can finally hope that, whatever the end of the war, the European peoples will help us to assure Belarus of all political and cultural rights that will enable our people to freely develop their intellectual, moral and economic powers, and that these rights will allow us to be masters of our own land."

But governments European countries involved in world war, remained deaf to the needs of the Belarusian nation.

In June 1917, a group of leaders of the Belarusian national movement, headed by V. Lastovsky, came out for the complete state independence and territorial integrity of Belarus within its ethnographic borders. Lastovsky was the first among the Belarusian political leaders who expressed the idea of ​​complete independence of Belarus.

Concepts and terms to be learned: mobilization, "Sventsyansky breakthrough", occupation.

Cultural and historical environment

** The German invaders plundered the forest riches of Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Several sawmills and 300 km of narrow-gauge railway. During the two years of occupation, 4.5 million cubic meters of timber of the most valuable species were exported to Germany. This is almost the same as it was harvested in the entire previous history. By 1919 bison and fallow deer had practically disappeared from the forest, and the number of deer and wild boars had sharply decreased. At the same time active work on the conservation of Pushcha began.

In 1992, by decision of UNESCO, the State National Park "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" was included in the World Heritage List, it was given the status of a biosphere reserve, which in 1997 was awarded a diploma of the Council of Europe for success in nature protection. In 2009, the 600th anniversary of the establishment of the protected status of Belovezhskaya Pushcha was celebrated.

Questions and tasks

1. Compare the attitude towards the war of various political parties and the newspaper Nasha Niva. Explain the reasons for the jingoistic moods of a part of the Belarusian society at the beginning of the war and disappointment in 1915. 2. Describe, using a map in a paragraph or a map in an atlas, the military-political situation of Belarus during the First World War. 3. Describe the occupation policy of the German authorities in the territory of the western part of Belarus. 4. Work on the keyword method with the text of the paragraph beginning with the words: “The German occupation policy did not give grounds. ”, as well as with the heading “Voices of the Past”, which begins with the words: “Supporters of the idea of ​​​​revival of the GDL have formulated. ". 5. Fill in the table “Projects for the formation of the Belarusian statehood” in your notebook.

6. Why was it impossible to implement the idea of ​​reviving the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Western Belarusian territory occupied by German troops? Explain your opinion.

To the lesson "Our land". Find out about the fate of your fellow countrymen - participants in the First World War, as well as monuments in your area that testify to the events of this war.

• SECTION I. Belarus at the end of feudalism: the end of the 18th - the middle of the 19th centuries.
  • § 1. The situation of the Belarusian lands at the end of the 18th - the middle of the 19th century. general characteristics
  • § 2. The policy of the tsarist government in Belarus in the late 18th - early 19th century.
  • § 4. Socio-political movement in the first third of the nineteenth century.
  • § 5. Changes in the policy of the Russian government in Belarus in the 1830-1840s.
  • § 6. Confessional relations at the end of the 18th - the first half of the 19th century.
  • § 7. Agriculture and the situation of the peasants in the first half of the nineteenth century.
  • § 9. Industry, trade, cities and towns in Belarus in the first half of the 19th century.
  • § 12. Belarus in the late 18th - mid-19th centuries. Generalization lesson
• SECTION II. The establishment of capitalism in the Belarusian lands: the second half of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th century.

German occupation of Western Belarus. The First World War lasted 4 years and 4 months. The war involved 38 countries with a population of over 1.5 billion people - 75% of all inhabitants of the Earth, were killed, wounded and maimed, according to incomplete data, about 30 million people.

The main cause of the First World War was the struggle between the major imperialist countries for the redistribution of the already divided world, for new spheres of influence, sources of raw materials and markets for products. July 19, 1914 Germany declared war on Russia, and on July 21 on France, captured Belgium and Luxembourg. On July 22, England declared war on Germany. Together with England, her dominions Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the colony of India entered the war. Japan was on the side of the Entente, Turkey was on the side of Germany. The First World War began.

At the very beginning of the war in Minsk, Mogilev, Vitebsk and other cities of Belarus, local authorities held patriotic meetings, at which it was argued that the war was being waged in order to protect the Motherland. A special patriotic upsurge was observed in Mogilev, where in the summer of 1914 congresses of the leaders of the nobility, members of the zemstvo, honorary citizens, clergy and teachers were held, the participants of which assured that the population of the province unanimously supported the government policy and was ready for any sacrifice for the sake of the Motherland.

From the beginning of 1915, the main forces of Germany were on the Eastern Front. As a result of the German offensive, Russian troops left Galicia in June 1915, having lost about 600 thousand prisoners, killed and wounded. Having captured Galicia, Germany concentrated its main forces on the Polish theater of operations. Russian troops, suffering defeat after defeat in Poland, surrendered Warsaw in July 1915. During the attack on Warsaw, the German command for the first time used a gas attack, as a result of which 9 thousand Russian soldiers died.

The front was rapidly approaching Belarus. AT August 1915 the German offensive began in the direction of Kovno - Vilna - Minsk. After failed attempt to take Vilna, German troops launched a new offensive and on September 9, 1915 broke through the front in the vicinity of Sventsyan, penetrated the rear of the Russian troops, captured Vileyka and approached Molodechno. Separate German formations reached Smolevichi and Borisov. The headquarters of the Russian Supreme Commander-in-Chief was transferred from Baranovichi to Mogilev.

In mid-September 1915, the offensive of the German troops was stopped. The Germans retreated to the region of lakes Naroch - Svir. For 810 days and nights there were stubborn battles for the city of Smorgon, which was completely destroyed and went down in history as a "dead city" and "a place of cruel gas attacks by the Germans." No wonder the soldiers then said: "Whoever has not been near Smorgon, he has not seen the war."

In October 1915 the front stabilized on the Dvinsk-Smorgon-Baranovichi-Pinsk line. A quarter of the territory of Belarus with a population of over 2 million people was occupied.

State of Belarus during the First World War. On the eve and in the first days of the war, the Western, including Belarusian, provinces were declared under martial law. Strikes, meetings, processions, manifestations were forbidden, military censorship was introduced. In connection with the offensive of the German troops, a large flow of refugees from Poland, Lithuania and the western districts of Belarus (more than 1.3 million people) moved to the east.

On the defense work(digging trenches, building bridges, repairing roads, guarding military facilities, etc.) involved the entire population of the front line. Massive requisitions livestock, food and fodder. Requisitions and forced labor for the needs of the front were also introduced by the German authorities. The occupiers forcibly took horses, cows, other livestock, food, fodder, clothes, shoes from the peasants, forced them to perform various duties.

The war caused great damage to the economy of Belarus. On the unoccupied territory of Belarus in 1914-1917. due to the lack of raw materials and fuel, the number of large enterprises decreased from 829 to 297, and workers - from 37.7 thousand to 25.1 thousand. At the same time, individual industries (clothing, footwear, metalworking, etc.) that fulfilled military orders significantly increased the output. Many factories and plants were re-equipped, and many temporary enterprises and workshops were created to serve the army. For the production of ammunition, Vehicle and other military equipment, all enterprises of the metalworking industry were switched. Shells and grenades were made by 5 factories in Minsk and 5 in Gomel, bombs were made by the Rechitsa and Orsha wire and nail factories. Workshops were set up in Gomel, Orsha, Vitebsk, Minsk and other cities for the manufacture and repair of weapons and vehicles.

The production volume of the enterprises of the bakery and rusk industry has increased several times. Large orders of the military department to provide the army with clothing and footwear were carried out at the Vitebsk flax-spinning factory "Dvina", the Dubrovno cotton-spinning factory, the Mogilev hosiery factory, as well as at other enterprises and in small workshops.

In exclusively plight turned out to be the agriculture of Belarus. More than half of all able-bodied men of the Belarusian village were mobilized and sent to the front. Only from the Minsk, Mogilev and Vitebsk provinces, 634 thousand people were drafted into the army. During the war years, the sown areas of Belarus decreased: rye - by 18.7%, wheat - by 22.1%, potatoes - by 34.2%.

In connection with the severe ruin of agriculture, essential items almost ceased to enter the market, which caused a rise in prices and a decrease in the living standards of the people. By 1917, prices for food and clothing in Belarus had increased 5–8 times compared to 1913. In conditions of extreme poverty, high population density and famine, various epidemic diseases such as typhus, cholera, etc., spread widely in the front-line provinces.

Since 1915, Belarus has been growing labor movement. In April 1915, workers and employees of the Gomel railway junction took action. In the summer of the same year, the workers of the depot of the Libavo-Romenskaya railway in Gomel went on strike. In 1916, the strike movement covered 11 settlements of Belarus, 1800 people took part in it. The main demand of the strikers was an increase in wages.

It should be noted that the strikes in Belarus were scattered, only a part of the workers took part in them. There was no mass labor movement. This was due to the frontline position of Belarus, the presence of troops, police, and gendarmerie on its territory. Strike organizers were arrested and sent to the front.

Peasant movement in Belarus during the war years, it acquired a peculiar form, which manifested itself in the destruction of landowners' estates, food stores and shops.

At the beginning of the war, such cases were observed in 20 out of 35 districts of Belarus. In fact, these were spontaneous pogroms, accompanied by robberies of the property of landlords and merchants. Peasant unrest expanded significantly in 1915 due to the transfer of hostilities to the territory of Belarus and the growth of requisitions. During 1915 there were 99 peasant uprisings. In 1916 their number decreased to 60, in January - February 1917 - to 7.

The military defeats of the Russian army, huge human losses caused soldiers' discontent. Unrest broke out among the troops, connected with the poor provision of food and uniforms, and the lack of weapons and ammunition. In total, 62 significant actions of soldiers took place in Belarus during the war. Desertions have become more frequent. Entire military units and formations refused to go on the offensive. Increased anti-government agitation among the soldiers. It was impossible to stop the process of decomposition of the army, it gradually lost its combat effectiveness.

Belarusian national movement. During the war there were significant changes in the Belarusian national movement. All pre-war Belarusian national-cultural organizations collapsed. The newspaper "Nasha Niva" was closed. In the eastern, unoccupied part of Belarus, the national movement was suspended. On the territory occupied by Germany, well-known Belarusian figures brothers Ivan and Anton Lutskevich, V. Lastovsky and others came up with the idea of ​​creating a confederation of Lithuania and Western Belarus in the form of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with a Sejm in Vilna. However, it was not possible to create a confederation. The German government was not interested in such a state.

After the occupation of Vilna, the German command announced that the Belarusian lands would be subordinate to the Polish Crown. In this regard, the Polish landlords and priests, with the support of the occupiers, began to persistently Polonization Belarusian population. A wide network of Polish schools and various associations of Polish "unity" was created on the occupied Belarusian territory. Forced Polonization caused resentment among the local population. Disputes began between Poles and Belarusians. This led to the abandonment of the idea of ​​creating a confederal state of Poland and Belarus. Moreover, a split occurred in the Belarusian national movement itself. A group of Belarusian figures led by V. Lastovsky founded a secret organization "Svyaz' Nezalezhnastsі and Nepadselnasts of Belarus”, which set as its goal the creation of an independent Belarus within its ethnographic borders.

Germany, seeking to strengthen its power in the occupied territory, took appropriate measures to, on the one hand, prevent the creation of an independent state here, and on the other, to prevent Polish dominance in these lands. At the beginning of 1916, in the German order on schools in the occupied region, the Belarusian language was declared equal to the Polish, Lithuanian and Jewish languages. The Belarusian national movement has significantly revived.

Belarusian schools were opened in the occupied territory, publishing houses were created. The publication of newspapers and magazines in the Belarusian language has begun. The newspaper began to appear "Gaumont". In Vilna was organized " Belarusian club', associations ' Zolak», « scientific fellowship», « Belarusian Teachers' Union"and others. This work was created in 1915 in Vilna. Belarusian People's Committee, headed by A. Lutskevich. Representatives of the committee took part in the conferences of the oppressed peoples of Russia, which were organized by the Germans in Stockholm and Lausanne in April and June 1916. There they asked for help from the peoples of Europe in the liberation of the Belarusian people "from under the Russian occupation."

At the end of 1916, the Belarusian People's Committee tried to negotiate with Lithuanian National Committee on the creation of a common Lithuanian-Belarusian state. However, the Lithuanian National Committee refused to negotiate, finally severed ties not only with the Belarusian People's Committee, but also with the Polish and Jewish National Committees, and created the Lithuanian State Rada (Tariba) in Vilna as the supreme state body of Lithuania. The Belarusian lands occupied by Germany were also included in this Lithuanian state. Belarus received two seats in Tarib.

Gradually, Petrograd, Moscow and other Russian cities became the main centers of the Belarusian national movement outside the region, where Belarusian refugees created their communities. In October 1916, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia allowed the publication in Petrograd of Belarusian newspapers “ Dzyannitsa" and "Svetach".

The newspaper "Svetach" promoted the ideas of the unity of Belarusians, regardless of their class affiliation, called on all civil forces to implement the "Belarusian national ideal." However, the newspaper did not have much influence on the development of the Belarusian national movement. In early 1917, its publication ceased.

D. Zhilunovich (T. Gartny) published the newspaper "Dziannitsa" at his own expense. She raised sharp social problems, issues of the development of Belarusian culture, condemned the policy of the German occupation authorities, propagated the idea that the free development of the Belarusian people is possible only in alliance with the Russian people. The newspaper published the works of D. Zhilunovich, K. Buylo, K. Chernushevich, F. Shantyr and other figures who stood on revolutionary democratic positions. The revolutionary-national direction of the newspaper attracted the attention of censors. The censors threw out all the materials about the situation in Belarus from the newspaper, accused the newspaper of supposedly serving Germany. In December 1916 "Dzyannitsa" ceased to exist.

Further activation of the Belarusian national movement was due to the February Revolution of 1917.

World War I (July 28, 1914 - November 11, 1918) is one of the largest armed conflicts in human history.

This name was established in historiography only after the outbreak of World War II in 1939. In the interwar period, the name " Great War"

As a result of the war, four empires ceased to exist: Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and German (although the Weimar Republic that arose instead of Kaiser Germany formally continued to be called the German Empire).

The participating countries lost more than 10 million soldiers and about 12 million civilians killed, about 55 million people were injured.

Opponents

Triple Alliance - Central Powers

The Triple Alliance is a military-political bloc of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, formed in 1879-1882, which marked the beginning of the division of Europe into hostile camps.

In 1915, Italy withdrew from the Triple Alliance and entered the war on the side of its opponents.

The Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria joined Germany and Austria-Hungary already in the course of the war. The Ottoman Empire entered the war in October 1914, Bulgaria - in October 1915. The existing military-political bloc was called the "Central Powers" (Quadruple Union)

Entente

Entente (fr. entente - consent) - the military-political bloc of Russia, England and France, created as a counterweight to the "Triple Alliance"; formed in 1904-1907 and completed the delimitation of the great powers on the eve of the First World War.

Dates

June 28, 1914 Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb, a student, a member of the Mlada Bosna organization, kills the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in Sarajevo.

The war in 1914 unfolded in several theaters of military operations - French and Russian, as well as in the Balkans (in Serbia), the Caucasus and the Middle East, in the colonies - Africa, China, Oceania. In 1914, all participants in the war were going to end the war in a few months by a decisive offensive. No one expected that the war would take on a protracted character.

September 14, 1917 The collapse of the Russian Empire - the Provisional Government proclaimed the country a republic.

March 3, 1918 concluded Brest Peace- a separate peace treaty signed by representatives of Soviet Russia on the one hand and the Central Powers on the other. It marked the defeat and exit of Soviet Russia from the First World War. The Entente countries decided to support the forces that did not recognize the power of the new regime.

On November 9, 1918, as a result of the November Revolution in Germany, the last German emperor and King of Prussia, Wilhelm II, was overthrown.

November 11, 1918 The Armistice of Compiègne was signed between the Entente and Germany. Germany's allies Quadruple Union capitulated earlier. 101 volleys of the artillery salute of the nations were fired, heralding the end of the First World War.

June 28, 1919 The Treaty of Versailles is signed, officially ending the First World War of 1914-1918.

Chronology of events 1914-1991 within the borders of Belarus

1919 Defeat of the BNR in the fight against the Bolsheviks. On January 1, the Soviet Socialist Republic of Belarus was proclaimed in Smolensk; on January 8, the government of the SSRB moved from Smolensk to Minsk. On February 27, the creation of the Lithuanian-Byelorussian SSR was announced.

1919-1921 Soviet-Polish war. Decree of the All-Russian CEC "On the unification of the Soviet republics: Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus for the struggle against world imperialism"

1924-26 After the transfer of the eastern Belarusian territories to the BSSR, the eastern border of Belarus began to correspond to the border of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1537.

1939 (September 17) The Polish campaign of the Red Army and the parade in Brest - the Soviet Union (USSR) entered the Second World War. On November 2, the "Law of the USSR of November 2, 1939 on the inclusion of Western Belarus in the USSR and its reunification with the BSSR" was issued.

1946 As a result of the Yalta Conference of 1945 (summing up the WWII), the Bialystok region, as well as small sections of the Grodno and Brest regions, were transferred to the Polish People's Republic.

1991 (August 25) The Declaration of Sovereignty is given the status of a constitutional law. On September 19, the BSSR was renamed the "Republic of Belarus".

1991 (December 8) In the estate of Viskuli (Belarus), the Belovezhskaya agreements were signed on the termination of the existence of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as a "subject international law and geopolitical reality” and on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)

1991 (December 26) The Council of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a declaration on the demise of the USSR, thereby officially dissolving the USSR and its institutions of power. The USSR ceased to exist.

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