Використання сільськогосподарських ресурсів Бессарабії на військові потреби у 1916 р.

Abstract

Providing servicemen with food during hostilities is an extremely important factor in maintaining a high morale and combat capability of army units. In the Russian Empire, during the First World War, the task of providing food and forage for the country and the front was entrusted to the Main Directorate of Land Management and Agriculture (since 1916 – the Ministry of Agriculture). A large role in this process was played by the agrarian regions of the empire, in particular the Bessarabian province. There were representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture for the purchase of grain for the army. The purpose of the article is to study the specific steps of the commissariat, as well as the military and civil authorities of the Bessarabian province, to provide the Russian army with food at the initial stage of the war. To create a more reliable picture, the author involved a number of previously unpublished sources of the State Archives of the Odessa region and the municipal institution «Izmail Archive», as well as the National Archives of the Republic of Moldova. It is proved that in 1916 Bessarabia was assigned a significant role in supplying the army with food and fodder. The military and civil administrations used all means to ensure that the troops had a good supply of food. The military and civil administrations used all means to ensure that the troops had a good supply of food. However, the imperfection of the transport system was often on the way to this. After Romania entered the war, Bessarabia was given the function of providing the new front with food. This hit hard on the state of agriculture in the region, a sharp rise in prices began, and the shortage of food products became noticeable.