UDC

94(47).084.2

DOI

10.37482/2227-6564-V002

Authors

Tat’yana I. Troshina
Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov; prosp. Lomonosova 2, Arkhangelsk, 163002, Russian Federation;
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5517-5949 e-mail: tatr-arh@mail.ru

Abstract

This article presents the historical material that supplements and extends our knowledge about the role of the rear garrisons in the growing revolutionary activity during the period “from February to October”. Further, it indicates the specifics of the units located in the Arkhangelsk military district, which explains the unique character of the processes that were taking place there. Due to the special location of Arkhangelsk, during the First World War a great number of generally small military units of different attachments were positioned there and performed various functions. Some military units under particularly difficult service conditions had preferential food and financial supplies, which created tension not so much between privates and commanding officers as between the military units representing various branches of the armed forces. It is concluded here that at the first stage of the Revolution, the creation of military “democratic organizations” was largely initiated by the high command, who were forced to obey orders from the capital. Military units’ involvement in the political life was uneven, depending on the soldiers’ and navy men’s understanding of the importance of their service for the benefit of the state. The most active were the “labour battalions”, which included a large number of people of urban professions who saw this type of service as an alternative to going to the front, as well as those mobilized from the Empire’s outlying national regions. These categories of servicemen were especially interested in ending the war by any means and being demobilized as soon as possible. The most disciplined were the navy men. The transformation of the Arkhangelsk garrison soldiers and navy men into an anarchist mass occurred later than in most of the rear garrisons and at the front.
For citation: Troshina T.I. The Arkhangelsk Garrison in 1917. Vestnik Severnogo (Arkticheskogo) federal’nogo universiteta. Ser.: Gumanitarnye i sotsial’nye nauki, 2020, no. 2, pp. 16–25. DOI: 10.37482/2227-6564-V002

Keywords

Russian Revolution of 1917, servicemen, soldier committees, rear garrison, Arkhangelsk garrison

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Received: 29 December 2019
Accepted: 27 March 2020