Ober Ost
Supreme Commander of All German Forces in the East Oberbefehlshaber der gesamten Deutschen Streitkräfte im Osten (German) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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1914–1919 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Status | Military occupation authority of the German Empire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Capital | Königsberg (HQ, 1919)[citation needed] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Supreme Commander | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1914–1916 | Paul von Hindenburg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1916–1918 | Prince Leopold of Bavaria | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chief of Staff | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1914–1916 | Erich Ludendorff | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1916–1918 | Max Hoffmann | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Historical era | World War I | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Established | 1914 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
3 March 1918 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
11 November 1918 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Disestablished | 1919 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Currency | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Today part of | Latvia Lithuania Poland Belarus |
The Supreme Commander of All German Forces in the East (
Extension
Ober Ost was set up by Kaiser
By October 1915, the
After the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk of March 1918, the German Empire effectively controlled Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, parts of Poland, and Courland, all of which had been part of the Russian Empire.[1] Ober Ost itself controlled present-day Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, Poland, and Courland.
Policies
Ober Ost governed in a very strict and often cruel way. The movement policy (Verkehrspolitik) divided the territory without regard to the existing social and ethnic organization and patterns. Movement between the districts was forbidden, which destroyed the livelihood of many merchants and prevented people from visiting friends and relatives in neighboring districts.[2] The Germans also tried to "civilize" the people in the Ober Ost-controlled land, attempting to integrate German ideals and institutions[2] with the existing cultures. They constructed railroads but only Germans were allowed to ride them and schools were established and staffed with German instructors.[3]
In 1915, when large territories came under Ober Ost's administration as a result of military successes on the Eastern Front, Erich Ludendorff, von Hindenburg's second-in-command, set up a system of managing the large area now under its jurisdiction. Although von Hindenburg was technically in command, Ludendorff had actual control of the administration. There were ten staff members, each with a specialty (finance, agriculture, etc.). The area was divided into the Courland District, the Lithuania District and the Bialystok-Grodno District, each overseen by a district commander. Ludendorff's plan was to make Ober Ost a colonial territory for the settlement of his troops after the war and to provide a haven for German refugees from Russia.[3] Ludendorff quickly organized Ober Ost so that it was a self-sustaining region, growing all its own food and even exporting surpluses to Berlin. The largest resource was one that Ludendorff was unable to exploit effectively: the local population had no interest in helping obtain a German victory, as it had no say in the government and was subject to increasing requisitions and taxes.[3]
Communication with locals
There were many problems with communication with local persons within the Ober Ost. Among the upper-class locals, the soldiers could get by with
Russian Revolution
The uncertain situation caused by the Russian
Administrative divisions
The Ober Ost was divided into three Verwaltungsgebiete (administrative territories): Kurland, Litauen, and Bialystok-Grodno. Each was, like Germany proper, subdivided into Kreise (districts); Landkreise (rural districts) and Stadtkreise (urban districts). In 1917 the following districts existed:[5]
Bialystok-Grodno | Kurland |
---|---|
Alekszyce | Bauske |
Bialystok, Stadtkreis | Doblen |
Bialystok, Landkreis | Goldingen |
Bielsk | Grobin |
Grodno, Stadtkreis | Hasenpot |
Grodno, Landkreis | Libau, Stadtkreis |
Lida, Stadtkreis | Mitau, Landkreis |
Ost | Talsen |
Planty | Tuckum |
Radun | Windau |
Sokolka | |
Swislocz | |
Wasilischky | |
Wolkowysk |
Litauen | |
---|---|
Augustow | Rossienie |
Birshi | Russisch-Krottingen |
Johanischkele | Saldugischki |
Kiejdany | Schaulen |
Koschedary | Schirwinty |
Kowno, Stadtkreis | Sejny |
Kowno, Landkreis | Siady |
Kupzischki | Skaudwile |
Kurszany | Suwalki |
Maljaty | Telsze |
Mariampol | Uzjany |
Okmjany | Wiezajcie |
Olita | Wilkomierz |
Podbrodzie | Wilna, Stadtkreis |
Pojurze | Wilna, Landkreis |
Poniewiez | Wladislawow |
Rakischki | Wylkowyschki |
The total area was 108,808 km2 (42,011 sq mi), containing a population of 2,909,935 (by the end of 1916).[6]
Main military units in 1919
- the 10th Army (10. Armee or Armeeoberkommando 10), Commanding Officer Erich von Falkenhayn, Grodno
- the Army Group Mackensen (Heeresgruppe Kiew)
Aftermath
With the end of the war and collapse of the empire, the Germans started to withdraw, sometimes in a piecemeal and disorganized way, from Ober Ost around late 1918 and early 1919.
- Soviet westward offensive of 1918–19, part of the Polish–Soviet War(the largest of the resulting conflicts)
- Ukrainian–Soviet War and Polish–Ukrainian War
- Estonian War of Independence
- Latvian War of Independence
- Lithuanian Wars of Independence
Parallels with Nazi German policy
This section needs additional citations for verification. (April 2024) |
The Lithuanian historian Vėjas Gabrielius Liulevičius postulates in his book War Land on the Eastern Front: Culture, National Identity, and German Occupation in World War I, that a line can be traced from Ober Ost's policies and assumptions to Nazi Germany's plans and attitudes towards Eastern Europe. His main argument is that "German troops developed a revulsion towards the 'East' and came to think of it as a timeless region beset by chaos, disease and barbarism", instead of what it really was, a region suffering from the ravages of warfare.[8] He claims that the encounter with the East formed an idea of "spaces and races", which needed to be "cleared and cleansed". Although he has garnered a great deal of evidence for his thesis including government documents, letters and diaries in German and Lithuanian, there are still problems with his work. For example, he does not say much about the reception of German policies by native populations.[8] Also, he "makes almost no attempt to relate wartime occupation policies and practice in Ober Ost to those in Germany's colonial territories overseas".[8]
See also
Notes
- ^ Under the authority of the Government General of Warsaw after October 1915.
References
- ^ Figes 1998, pp. xxiii, 548.
- ^ a b Gettman, Erin (June 2002). "The Baltic Region during WWI". Retrieved 2008-03-02.
- ^ JSTOR 1844652.
- ^ JSTOR 1982990.
- ^ "Kreise im Generalgouvernement Warschau 1917". territorial.de. Retrieved 2019-12-21.
- ^ "Ober Ost (Kurland, Litauen, Bialystok-Grodno) 1917". www.brest-litowsk.libau-kurland-baltikum.de. Retrieved 2019-12-21.
- ISBN 978-0-19-879448-6.
- ^ JSTOR 2697514.
Further reading
- Davies, Norman (2003) [1972]. White Eagle, Red Star: The Polish–Soviet War, 1919–20 (2nd ed.). ISBN 0-7126-0694-7.
- Figes, Orlando (1998). A People's Tragedy: the Russian Revolution, 1891–1924. ISBN 0-670-85916-8.
- Schwonek, M. R. (January 2001). "Book Reviews: War Land on the Eastern Front: Culture, National Identity, and German Occupation in World War I by Vejas, Gabriel Liulevicius". The Journal of Military History. 65 (1). JSTOR 2677470.
- Stone, Norman (1975). The Eastern Front, 1914–1917. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 978-0-68414-492-4.