The development of government and public assistance for disabled veterans in 1914–1921 (evidence from Yenisseyskaya province in Russia)

Abstract

The article explores the interactions between the Russian government and public institutions at a time when social policies to support disabled veterans of the First World War (1914–1918) and the Civil War (1917–1921) were being developed and implemented. The research focuses on the territory of Yenisseyskaya Province, situated within the borders of the province Krasnoyarskiy Krai in modern Russia. The information presented draws on contemporary historiography and a number of primary sources to show how social assistance for disabled war veterans – in the form of pensions, living allowances, care homes and retraining workshops – developed against a challenging backdrop of repeated shifts in power, resource shortages, and rapid changes in ideology, societal values and key actors.