War, Population Displacement and State Formation in the Russian Borderlands, 1914–24

Peter Gatrell

The Russian revolution, the collapse of the Russian empire, and the ensuing Civil War (1917–21) had profound consequences for the displacement of population. In 1917, as a result of the world war, the number of displaced persons (defined as men in uniform, foreign prisoners of war, and refugees) in Russia exceeded 17.5 million, equivalent to more than 12 per cent of the total population. The revolution generated fresh population displacement, adding to Russia's woes. In towns and cities, the severe economic collapse in 1917–18 compelled tens of thousands of Russian workers to leave for the villages in search of means of subsistence, thereby reversing a generation of sustained urban in-migration before World War One. Millions of other men and women experienced the Civil War as population displacement – as conscripts in the Red and White armies, or as members of various irregular military units, including the numerous peasant armies that fought Reds and Whites with equal determination. Fresh population displacement also resulted from the German military occupation of the western borderlands of the former Russian empire that came to an end only in November 1918. The prolonged dislocation caused by the Russian Civil War, battles between Polish, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian troops, the Soviet – Polish war, and continued turmoil in the Caucasus, all contributed to further migrations. Having failed to overthrow the new regime, anti-Bolshevik elements hastened to exit Russia. Most of them left, never to return, forming a large refugee and stateless population that was eventually scattered across three continents.

This chapter provides an overview of the causes and consequences of population displacement during the years 1914–24, when the old empire fragmented as a result of war and revolution. It looks at population movements during World War One, and then proceeds to examine the implications for population displacement of the collapse of the Russian empire, the conflicts unleashed by the Bolshevik revolution and the terms of the postwar peace settlement. Many of the issues it raises are taken up by other contributors to this volume.

WORLD WAR ONE: HUMANITY UPROOTED

The war that broke out in 1914 was widely expected to be of short duration. Huge European armies were thought likely to engage in military manoeuvres, without great consequence for civilian populations. This vision quickly evaporated. The armies of the belligerents had a seemingly inexhaustible capacity to absorb fresh manpower, transporting troops – often across great distances – in order to confront the enemy. For hundreds of thousands of these men, the war resulted in captivity and thus further displacement. Unexpectedly, civilians also experienced war as displacement. Civilian populations scattered as they sought to escape either punitive action or subjugation by enemy forces. Belgian civilians sought refuge in Holland or Britain; Serbian refugees made their way to Albania and Greece; Polish and Lithuanian refugees fled to the Russian interior. Belligerent states also contributed to population displacement by deporting entire groups that were deemed capable of aiding the enemy: the deportation of Armenian civilians by Ottoman Turkish troops was the most egregious example of state-sponsored migration. World War One turned into a prolonged conflict in which civilian suffering in Belgium, Serbia, Armenia, Lithuania, Poland and elsewhere registered alongside the trauma of the Somme and Gallipoli.

Nowhere was this unexpected drama of civilian population displacement more evident than in the Russian empire. The rapid German advance into Poland in 1914 prompted nervous tsarist officials to abandon their posts; civilians, fearful of enemy brutality, joined them in the journey eastwards. The simultaneous Russian occupation of Austrian-ruled Galicia was accompanied by the expulsion or flight of civilians opposed to the campaign of Russification. In 1915, the continued German onslaught in Russia's north-western territories, combined with Austria's reconquest of Galicia, created further waves of refugees. They had been forced to leave their homes, either by the threat of enemy violence or at the behest of the Russian high command. According to a decree issued in 1915, 'refugees (bezhentsy) are those persons who have abandoned localities threatened or already occupied by the enemy, or who have been evacuated by order of the military or civil authority from the zone of military operations.' Domestic military considerations, and not just enemy violence, created the conditions for displacement.

The attempt to identify the refugee population for administrative and legal purposes betrayed uncertainties about the origins of displacement – was it caused by the Tsar's troops who targeted particular groups, or by enemy troops who behaved in an uncivilized fashion, provoking civilians to lose a sense of self-control? According to one explanation, 'as soon as our troops withdraw, the entire population becomes confused and runs away.' Sometimes people fled lest they lose contact with relatives on Russian territory, including fathers and sons who were currently serving in the tsarist army. This did not necessarily imply a move to distant locations; during the initial phase of retreat refugees would often stay close by Russian troops, in the hope or expectation that the army would quickly recapture land from the enemy, allowing them to go home. Many peasants, however, despaired of continuing to farm when their horses and livestock had been badly depleted by requisitioning. They expressed a wish to seek a better life 'in the depths of Russia.' Other motives also came to the surface. Sometimes civilians were warned that 'voluntary' departure was the only alternative to almost certain conscription by the enemy. Civilians were also prompted to leave their homes by the fear of being terrorized by enemy...