Organization of the Clothing Supply of the Russian Army during the First World War

Abstract

The article deals with an under-researched problem of the history of the supply of the Russian army during the First World War — the organization of clothing supply. The author adopts a micro-historical approach, focusing his interest on the Shuiskii district of the Vladimir province. On the basis of the analyzed archival documents, the author comes to the conclusion that during the first year of the war, supplies were provided without the creation of special organizations. The situation changed in the summer of 1915. In July — August 1915, a network of army supply committees was created in the Vladimir province. This was the result of an attempt by the state and public organizations to build a single vertical of supply. After that, a range of items supplied to the army from the Shuiskii district expanded significantly — in addition to short fur coats, it includes sledges, carts, bushings, wheels, shell boxes. However, in the real process of fulfilling these orders the administrative and technological chain for the procurement of complex items of equipment was constantly faltering. This led to the refusal to work on complex orders — from the summer of 1916, the Shuiskii Committee switched exclusively to the delivery of cloth for foot wraps and woolen gloves to the army. In general, a detailed analysis of the work of the Shuiskii Supply Committee reveals the main reasons for the inconsistency in the work of zemstvos for supplying the army in 1914–1917.