Deepening of the food crisis in the years of the First World War (on the example of the Tver province)

The purpose of the research is to study the activities of the Tver provincial institutions to counter the food crisis during the First World War. In order to achieve the objectives, it is necessary to analyze all existing source types available to the researcher. The first group of sources is represented by unpublished records of administrative institutions studied in the State Archive of the Tver Region (SATR), among which are the funds of the Governor 's Office, the Tver Provincial for Military Duty of Presence, the Personal Fund of N. G. Bunting (the Tver Governor from 1906 to 1917). Published sources include a number of documentary publications. In documentary collections «Tver province in the 20th century. Documents and materials» there are archival documents related to the formation and activities of provincial institutions. In the collection «Tver Province during World War I. 1914-1918» the documents on the organization of assistance to the front, placement of wounded soldiers and troops arriving in the province, including a part of the orders and mandatory orders of the Governor, have been systematized. At the turn of the 19th-XX centuries there were a number of periodicals in the Tver province. The first of these was an official newspaper of the provincial administration «Tver Province Gazette» published since January 1839 until 1917 under the authority of the Tver Provincial Board. The newspaper published information on culture, economy, social life of the province, works on reconstruction of the water pipeline in Tver, construction of a bridge over the Volga River, measures to combat cholera, etc. The methodological basis of the study is the principle of historism in the integrated study of local administrative institutions of the Tver Province, the principles of objectivity and science in the study of documents, as well as historical determinism, which results in the establishment of a sequence of development of causal relations of events. The provision of food to the population in the context of World War I was a priority. The war that began not only caused numerous problems related to the supply of the army and the rear, but also caused a reform of the food system, although the latter was implemented late. The attempt to emerge from the food crisis through increased administrative influence failed in wartime conditions. It can be assumed that the food crisis had a significant impact on the approach of the February Revolution of 1917, as it formed an attitude towards power, as being unable to support the population and solve the most important tasks to the institution. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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