«Forced Migration» of Citizens of Opposing States at the Initial Stage of the First World War and its Reflection on the Pages of the Russian Periodicals

Abstract

The so-called «German strangehold» in Russia during the First World War sparked a massive public outcry and served as the basis for legal restrictions on all subjects of the states waging war with Russia. The article examines the reasons for this phenomenon which was caused not only by a completely natural negative attitude towards the enemy opposing the Russian army, but also by attempts to create a kind of unity in the sphere of ethnic relations. The result was the emergence, along with the refugees, of «forced migrants», whose ranks consisted, among other things, of Russian citizens of German and Austrian origin, who had been living in Russia for many decades. The Russian authorities to some extent assessed the possible economic consequences of such measures, which took place on a massive scale, but, being under constant pressure from society and the army command, they had to take steps to introduce restrictive laws against «internal enemies».