LOSSES OF THE LANDOWNERS IN THE KINGDOM OF POLAND IN THE FIRST YEAR OF THE GREAT WAR

In 1914-1915 the Kingdom of Poland was an area of wide-scale military operations, incurring considerable material losses in the estates of the local landowners. Some of the losses were not the outcome of the hostilities, but the outcome of the 'burnt earth' tactic applied by the retreating Russians. Apart from the devastation produced by the military campaigns, considerable losses were also due to army requisitions. as well as ordinary plunder committed by the soldiers. In certain terrains such damage was caused by the movement of the population evacuated from regions in which the battles were waged. The state of agriculture in the Kingdom of Poland was adversely affected by the absence of a sufficient labour force. Another serious problem, which sometimes outright rendered farm work impossible, was the declining number of horses. All those factors led to a considerable reduction of the area under cultivation, lower crops , and a drop in the livestock.