Socio-natural aspects of the causes and consequences of the famine of 1921–1923 in the Volga region

Abstract

This paper analyzes socio-natural aspects of the causes and consequences of the famine in the early 1920s in the Volga region. Ecological problems of anthropogenic nature, which appeared in this region in the second half of the 19th century, are considered as an essential cause of famine. It was those problems that largely caused periodic droughts and crop failures that led to famine. The author considers large-scale irrigation and land reclamation, construction of waterworks and reservoirs, as well as afforestation, which began in the Middle Volga region in the 1930s, to be important consequences of the famine. Thanks to the interaction of the authorities and society in the implementation of state programs to combat drought and crop failures, in the second half of the twentieth century, it was possible to eliminate the threat of food shortages and the emergence of severe social problems in this regard. The research is based on a number of published and unpublished documents, including archival materials, which contain evidence of contemporaries of the events and processes described. The content of the paper and the conclusions formulated by its author correspond to the current trends in the development of socio-economic and environmental history of Russia.