Danube Transit. Russian Military Smuggling during the First World War

The article is devoted to a poorly studied topic in the history of the First World War: Russian military smuggling on the Danube in 1914—1915. Not only were the armaments and ammunition necessary for the Allied army delivered to the Serbian river ports on the Danube, but but they were also used in the Russian military interests, namely for the transportation of modern equipment necessary for the Russian army, which either were not produced the by Russian industry at all, or were produced in insufficient quantities, from the Entente countries. After the outbreak of hostilities, a special Expedition headed by captain of the first rank M. M. Veselkin was established to deliver military materials to Serbia. Cargo was delivered by ships of the Danube shipping company, and the delivery and payment of Serbian military orders was carried out by its representative office in Odessa. They arrived by rail at the Russian port of Reni in the lower reaches of the Danube, from where barges were delivered to the Serbian city of Prahovo, where they were unloaded, and the cargo was taken into trains that traveled all over Serbia. Despite the fact that Russian military smuggling did not have time to reach a significant level of military supplies both due to objective circumstances prevailing on the Balkan front in the autumn of 1915 and to interdepartmental incoordination, the study of its activities is closely linked to the study of general questions regarding Russia's strategic presence in the Danube region in the early 20th century, which can become the subject of new studies by both Russian and foreign historians.

Keywords

World War I, Russian - Serbian military cooperation, Danube transit, military smuggling

Received

14.04.2020

Publication date

19.06.2020

Number of characters

27282

Cite

GOST	Vishnyakov Y. Danube Transit. Russian Military Smuggling during the First World War // Novaia i noveishaia istoriia – 2020. – Issue 3 C. 70-79 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://nni.jes.su/S013038640009582-8-1 (circulation date: 16.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013038640009582-8
MLA	Vishnyakov, Yaroslav "Danube Transit. Russian Military Smuggling during the First World War." Novaia i noveishaia istoriia 3 (2020):70-79. DOI: 10.31857/S013038640009582-8
APA	Vishnyakov Y. (2020). Danube Transit. Russian Military Smuggling during the First World War. Novaia i noveishaia istoriia (3), pp.70-79 DOI: 10.31857/S013038640009582-8

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