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The Ural Cossacks in World War I and the Civil War: a Demographic Aspect

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The Ural Cossacks in World War I and the Civil War: a Demographic Aspect Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences 11 (2014 7) 1957-1964 ~ ~ ~ УДК 94(470) The Ural Cossacks in World War I and the Civil War: a Demographic Aspect Eduard G. Kolesnik* and Mikhail G. Tarasov Siberian Federal University 79 Svobodny, Krasnoyarsk, 660041, Russia Received 14.07.2014, received in revised form 24.08.2014, accepted 20.10.2014 The article is devoted to the Ural Cossacks’ demography in the first half of the XX century. The major focus is given to the periods of World War I and the Civil War as well as to the post-war years as the most significant changes in the Ural Cossacks’ demography took place at this time. Starting from 1914 the Ural Cossacks were drawn into the hardest demographic catastrophe, resulting from a sequence of politico-military and social conflicts. The catastrophe had led to a virtually complete disappearance of this social group. The article dwells on the analysis of the whole complex of social and natural factors, which influenced the Ural Cossacks’ demography in 1914 – 1922. During World War I the Ural Cossacks suffered relatively few losses. As for the Civil War, the losses of the Cossacks were significant, especially during the final stage when the front line was on the territory of the Ural Cossacks’ Host and the civil population started suffering from the losses. The Cossacks’ housekeeping economy also bore damages. This seriously effected the Cossacks’ demography. However, the post-war period, when the Cossacks’ population was influenced by a whole set of negative factors, such as political and economical repressions, drought, crop failure, and epidemic, was the period of major losses for the Ural Cossacks. It was the post-war time when, having born huge demographic losses, the Ural Cossacks stopped their existence as a social group. Thus, the death of the Ural Cossacks at the beginning of the XX century was a result of a whole set of negative factors, connected, first and foremost, with home policy processes. Keywords: the Cossacks, World War I, Civil War, revolution, demography, repressions, economy. Research area: History. Point population turned out to be safe and got an The Ural (Yaik) Cossacks are one of the opportunity for the rural economy development ancient Cossacks’ communities in Russia. only after the second half of the XIX century Formed in the XVI century at the border of when the Russian border was moved deeper the Slavic and Turkic worlds, the region with into Central Asia and the nomads stopped their complex natural-and-climatic and military- attacks on the Cossacks’ lands. This favoured and-political conditions, it had long been the improvement of the Ural Cossacks’ strongly influenced by the negative factors, demographic situation, resulting in a significant connected with these conditions. The Cossacks’ growth of their number. © Siberian Federal University. All rights reserved * Corresponding author E-mail address: [email protected] – 1957 – Eduard G. Kolesnik and Mikhail G. Tarasov. The Ural Cossacks in World War I and the Civil War: a Demographic Aspect Statement to the problem 1918. Bibliograficheskii spravochnik (Officer At the beginning of the XX century the Ural personnel of the Ural Cossack Host’s military Cossacks experienced a negative influence of units. 1914 – 1918. Bibliography)” (Kartaguzov political factors, connected with the complication 2012), V.F. Kurokhtin “Ural‘skoe (Yaitskoe) of the home policy in Russia and, above all, with kazach‘e voisko (The Ural (Yaik) Cossack 1905 – 1907 and 1917 revolutions. Foreign policy Host)” (Kurokhtin 2011), V.A. Moiseev “Novoe factors, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I v sovremennoi kazakhskoi istoriografii politiki being the major ones, played no less negative role tsarskoi Rossii v Kazakhstane (The new in in the Ural Cossacks’ fate. The period of 1914 – modern Kazakh historiography of the tsarist 1922, connected with the Cossacks’ participation Russia’s policy in Kazakhstan)” (Moiseev 2003), in World War I, revolutionary events of 1917, the D.А. Sapunov “Uchastie kazachestva Urala i Civil War, and subsequent repressions, was the Sibiri v prisoedinenii Srednei Azii k Rossii 40 – most unfavourable in the Ural Cossacks’ history. 90 gg. XIX v. (The Ural and Siberian Cossacks’ As a result, by the middle of the 1920-s the Ural participation in the alignment of Central Asia to Cossacks virtually stopped their existence as Russia (the 40-s – 90-s of the XIX century))” a social group. Moreover, they were physically (Sapunov 2001). Among foreign authors’ works destroyed in essence. on this issue it is worth while mentioning Methods M. Khodarkovsky’s “Russia’s Steppe Frontier: The article attempts to consider the The Making of a Colonial Empire, 1500 – 1800”, influence of external factors on the Ural analyzing the Ural Cossacks’ specific character Cossacks’ demography in the first quarter of the and their relations with the nomads from Central XX century. Political, economical, natural-and- Asia (Khodarkovsky 2001), A. Morrison’s climatic and other factors, which determined “Revoliutsiia naoborot. Tsentral’naia the dynamics of the Ural Cossacks’ population Aziia mezhdu padeniem tsarskoi imperii i during the period under the study, are viewed obrazovaniem SSSR (A revolution in reverse. upon in a chronological order. The military-and- Central Asia between the fall of the tzarist empire political factors and the influence of World War and the USSR formation)” (Morrison 2009). Ch. I and the Civil War on the demography of the Bachner’s doctoral thesis “Das Vordringen des Cossacks’ population above all will be given the zaristischen Rußlands nach Zentralasien und most intent attention as specifically significant. der Aufbau der russischen Verwaltung bis 1890 A special focus of attention will be given to (Tzarist Russia’s penetration to Central Asia and the combination of factors and their integrated Russian system of administration up to 1890)” impact on the demography of the social medium is of a peculiar interest. The researcher studies considered. the Cossacks as a special military, police and Extensive scientific literature is devoted administrative force in Central Asia at the end to the Ural Cossacks’ history of the beginning of the XIX century, that is also topical for the of the XX century. The most notable recent analysis of the events of the beginning of the works are the following ones: M.Zh. Abdirov XX century (Bachner, 2001). The peculiarities “Istoriia kazachestva Kazakhstana (The of the interaction between the Russians, the history of the Kazakh Cossacks)” (Abdirov Cossacks including, and the Turkic population 1994), S.V. Kartaguzov “Ofitserskii sostav of Kazakhstan, that determined the relations chastei Ural’skogo kazach‘ego voiska. 1914 – of the Cossacks and the Kazakh people at the – 1958 – Eduard G. Kolesnik and Mikhail G. Tarasov. The Ural Cossacks in World War I and the Civil War: a Demographic Aspect beginning of the XX century to a large extent, are It is already in July 17, 1914 according to considered in G. Aldashev and C. Guirkinger’s Order No 647 special regiments of the second- article “Deadly anchor: Gender bias under and third-rate importance were mobilized from Russian colonization of Kazakhstan” (Aldashev, the Ural Cossack Army. These included the Guirkinger 2012). headquarters of a newly formed Ural cossack regiment and management of the brigade, Discussion regiments 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, spare squadrons 1, 2 and At the beginning of World War I the number 3, the first, second and third departments of of the Ural Cossacks was nearly 166 thousand the horse stock (Ural’skie kazach’i vedomosty people. Their financial conditions were quite (The Ural Cossacks’ vedomosti (journal)). satisfactory. At the beginning of the XX century July 20, 1914). Thus, in total the Ural Cossack the Ural Cossacks were one of the most well off Army engaged 9 mounted regiments, 2 artillery cossack armies. Thus, in 1904 they had 31,1 tithes batteries, 1 artillery squadron, 6 separate and of good land and a total of 95,4 tithes of inarable special squadrons (10 squadrons according to land per a male Cossack. Only the Semirechinsk other data) and 2 convoy fifty for the needs of Cossacks owned a bit larger plots of land (95,3 the front (Grazhdanskaia voina i inostrannaia tithes per a male Cossack) (Vorob’ev 1906, p. 23). interventsiia v SSSR (Civil war and international Large allotments ensured a high standard of the intervention in the USSR) 1983, p. 591; Istoriia Ural Cossacks’ living. This, evidently, resulted kazachestva … T. 3 (The history of the in the dynamics of the Cossacks’ population Cossacks… Vol. 3) 1996, p. 24). number. In 1913 the birth rate in the cossack The total number of those participating in environment was twice higher than the death rate World War I was 320 Ural officers and 13175 (Sdykov 2004, p. 165). ordinary Cossacks or 7,8 % of the cossack Good socio-economical and demographic population (Istoriia kazachestva … T. 3 (The situation of the Ural Cossacks at the beginning of history of the Cossacks… Vol. 3) 1996, p. 216). the XX century was destroyed by eternal factors, 335 people were killed, 1793 people were injured and chiefly military and political ones. The and contused, 92 Cossacks were reported missing. Russo-Japanese war didn’t have a serious negative 48 officers of this number were killed and missing influence on the Ural Cossacks’ demography. A (Kartaguzov 2012, p. 26). relatively low number of the Ural Cossacks (a Separation of a significant number of men bit more than 2 thousand Cossacks of the Ural from their families could not but influence the Cossacks’ regiments 4 and 5), participating region’s demographic situation. An overall in military actions, and a comparatively short decline in the population of Ural’skiy, Gur’evskiy, duration of these actions resulted in insignificant Kalmykovskiy and Temirskiy uezds (districts) losses among the Cossacks.
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