Troops of the Vilna and Warsaw military districts of the Russian Empire in Belarus (1864–1914)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33581/2520-6338-2020-3-5-22

Abstract

The article reflects the processes of concentration and territorial deployment of troops of the Russian Empire in Belarus during the existence of the Vilna and Warsaw military districts after the end of the uprising of 1863–1864. The analysis of the reasons for the concentration of formations and units of the Russian army in the region, taking into account the current military-political situation in Europe and socio-political processes that took place within the Belarusian provinces themselves, allowed the author to determine the goals and tasks of the troops that were solved by the latter in Belarus from the middle 1860s to the beginning of the World War I. This research is based on a wide range of sources that were first introduced into scientific circulation, identified by the author in the archives and book repositories of Russia and Belarus. The author identifies the causes and preconditions of creation of system of territorial administration of the armed forces of the Russian Empire in Belarus. The process of creating organizational structures of the Vilna military district and the composition of the military contingent stationed in Belarus and the locations of individual parts and units of the Russian army within the borders of Belarusian provinces are discovered. The author identifies the causes of changes in the composition and the scheme of territorial deployment of troops during the period of military districts.On the basis of a comparison of the results obtained in the study of the above aspects of the subject, the author tried to give an overall assessment of the role and place of Belarusian lands in the system of ensuring military-strategic interests of the Russian Empire, as well as the role of the army in political life of Belarus in the second half of the 1860s until the outbreak of the World War I.

Author Biography

Alexander В. Arlukevich, Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno, 22 E. Ažeška Street, Hrodna 230023, Belarus

lecturer at the department of political science, faculty of law

References

  1. Zakharova LG, editor. Vospominaniya general-fel’dmarshala grafa Dmitriya Alekseevicha Milyutina 1860–1862 [Me­moirs of field Marshal count Dmitry Alekseyevich Milutin 1860–1862]. Moscow: Rossiiskii arkhiv; 1999. 488 p. Russian.
  2. Arlukevich AB. Troops of the Russian Empire in Belarus during the uprising of 1863–1864. Vestnik Polotskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya A. Gumanitarnye nauki. 2020;1:7–17. Russian.
  3. Zaionchkovskii PA. Samoderzhavie i russkaya armiya na rubezhe XIX–XX stoletii [Autocracy and the Russian army at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries]. Moscow: Mysl’; 1973. 349 p. Russian.
  4. Kienko D, Slivkin V. Aerodrom Lida: sto let poletov [Lida airfield – one hundred years of flying]. Smolensk: Kharteks; 2013. 180 p. Russian.
  5. Kienko D. Karolin (Grodno): pervyi aerodrom Belarusi [Karolin (Hrodna) is the first airfield in Belarus]. Minsk: Rubon; 2018. 82 p. Russian.
  6. Kiselev AA. [Reasons for the participation of military units of the Russian army in law enforcement in the Belarusian provinces in 1905–1907]. Ideologicheskie aspekty voennoi bezopasnosti. 2010;1:16–18. Russian.
  7. Kopysskii ZYu, Fikh BM, editors. Grodno: istoricheskii ocherk [Hrodna: historical essay]. Minsk: Belarus; 1964. 202 p. Russian.
  8. Petrov VA. Ocherki po istorii revolyutsionnogo dvizheniya v russkoi armii v 1905 g. [Essays on the history of the revolutionary movement in the Russian army in 1905]. Leningrad: Nauka; 1964. 426 p. Russian.
  9. Platonov RP, editor. Prolog Velikogo Oktyabrya: po materialam respublikanskoi nauchnoi konferentsii, posvyashchennoi 80-letiyu revolyutsii 1905–1907 gg. v Rossii [Prologue of the Great October: based on the materials of the Republican scienti­fic con­ference dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the revolution of 1905–1907 in Russia]. Minsk: Vyshjejshaja shkola; 1986. 157 p. Russian.
  10. Tokts S. [Materials for the history of Hrodna and its environs in the training camp of the National Library named Ossolinskich «Ossolineum» in Wroclaw]. In: Smalenchuk AF, Slіzh NU, editors. Garadzenski palimpsest. Dzjarzhawnyja wstanovy i palitychnae zhyccjo XVI–XX stst. Matjeryjaly Mizhnarodnaj navukovaj kanferjencyi; 7 listapada 2009 g.; Grodna, Belarus’. [Hrodna palimpsest. State institutions and political life of the 16th–20th centuries. Materials of the International confe­rence; 2009 November 7; Hrodna, Belarus]. Hrodna: [s. n.]; 2009. p. 318–331. Belarusian.
  11. Bondarenko VV. Polkovodtsy i voenachal’niki Pervoi mirovoi voiny – urozhentsy Belarusi [Warlords and military leaders of the World War I – natives of Belarus]. Minsk: Zvjazda; 2014. 120 p. Russian.
  12. [Local government and administration]. In: Zhitko AP, editor. Istoriya belorusskoi gosudarstvennosti. Tom 2 [The history of the Belarusian statehood. Volume 2]. Minsk: Belaruskaja navuka; 2019. p. 55–105. Russian.
  13. Shagal MZ. Moya zhizn’ [My life]. Moscow: Azbuka; 2000. 416 p. Russian.
Published
2020-07-31
Keywords: dislocation of troops, Belarusian lands in the Russian Empire, Vilna military district, the Russian troops, the Belarusian province
How to Cite
ArlukevichA. В. Troops of the Vilna and Warsaw military districts of the Russian Empire in Belarus (1864–1914) // Journal of the Belarusian State University. History. 2020. 3. PP. 5-22.
Issue
No 3 (2020): Journal of the Belarusian State University. History
Section
Belarusian History

Copyright (c) 2020 Journal of the Belarusian State University. History

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

The authors who are published in this journal agree to the following:

  1. The authors retain copyright on the work and provide the journal with the right of first publication of the work on condition of license Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial. 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
  2. The authors retain the right to enter into certain contractual agreements relating to the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work (e.g. post it on the institutional repository, publication in the book), with the reference to its original publication in this journal.
  3. The authors have the right to post their work on the Internet (e.g. on the institutional store or personal website) prior to and during the review process, conducted by the journal, as this may lead to a productive discussion and a large number of references to this work. (See The Effect of Open Access.)