Vilna Military District (russian: Ви́ленский вое́нный о́круг) was a

military district Military districts (also called military regions) are formations of a state's armed forces (often of the Army) which are responsible for a certain area of territory. They are often more responsible for administrative than operational matters, and ...

of the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

. The district was formed in 1862 as part of Russian military reforms and was responsible for parts of modern Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. The district was disbanded at the beginning of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in July 1914, and its headquarters were used to form another district farther to the rear.

History

In the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

s were first formed by

Dmitry Milyutin Count Dmitry Alekseyevich Milyutin ( rus, Граф Дми́трий Алексе́евич Милю́тин, tr. ; 28 June 1816, Moscow – 25 January 1912, Simeiz near Yalta) was Minister of War (1861–81) and the last Field Marshal of I ...

in 1862–64 to replace the pre-existing

Military Inspectorate A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

s. The military districts were organised to include civilian administration regions of

gubernya A governorate, gubernia, province, or government ( rus, губе́рния, p=ɡʊˈbʲɛrnʲɪjə, also romanized ; uk, губернія, huberniia), was a major and principal administrative subdivision of the Russian Empire. After the empir ...

s and

uyezd An uezd (also spelled uyezd; rus, уе́зд, p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context ( uk, повіт), or Kreis in Baltic-German context, was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Russian Empire, and the ea ...

s. The Vilna Military District was created on 6 July 1862. The district headquarters were in

Vilna Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional u ...

(now Vilnius, Lithuania), and were formed from the headquarters of the 1st Army Corps, which it replaced. In 1864, the district opened the Vilna Junker Infantry School to prepare non-commissioned officers. In 1870, it had the second highest concentration of troops in the military district system after the

Warsaw Military District The Warsaw Military District ( pl, Warszawski Okręg Wojskowy, WOW) was one of three military districts in Poland, the other two being the Pomeranian Military District and the Silesian Military District. It was the regional executive body of the ...

, with 78,180 men. By 1871, the district's troops had been reduced to seven infantry divisions, a cavalry brigade, a demining brigade and four reserve battalions, an organization proposed in 1864. The district commander often simultaneously held the position of Governor-General of Vilna. On 17 July 1914, just before the beginning of the First World War, martial law was imposed in the district. After the outbreak of the war later that month, the district headquarters became the headquarters of the new Dvinsk Military District. Combat units stationed in the district at the time became part of the new 1st Army, under the command of district commander

Paul von Rennenkampf Paul Georg Edler von Rennenkampf ( rus, Па́вел Ка́рлович Ренненка́мпф, r=Pavel Karlovich Rennenkampf, p=ˈpavʲɪɫ ̍karɫəvʲɪtɕ ˈrʲennʲenˈkampf; – 1 April 1918) was a Baltic German nobleman, statesman an ...

Area covered

Map of Military Districts of Russian Empire 1913

The Vilna Military District comprised the following ''gubernyas'': *

Grodno Grodno (russian: Гродно, pl, Grodno; lt, Gardinas) or Hrodna ( be, Гродна ), is a city in western Belarus. The city is located on the Neman River, 300 km (186 mi) from Minsk, about 15 km (9 mi) from the Polish b ...

Kovno Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

Courland Courland (; lv, Kurzeme; liv, Kurāmō; German and Scandinavian languages: ''Kurland''; la, Curonia/; russian: Курляндия; Estonian: ''Kuramaa''; lt, Kuršas; pl, Kurlandia) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. ...

Livonia Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...

(excluding the Pernov, Fellinskiy, Valkskiy and Verrosskiy uyezds) *

Vitebsk Vitebsk or Viciebsk (russian: Витебск, ; be, Ві́цебск, ; , ''Vitebsk'', lt, Vitebskas, pl, Witebsk), is a city in Belarus. The capital of the Vitebsk Region, it has 366,299 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth-largest ci ...

Mogilev Mogilev (russian: Могилёв, Mogilyov, ; yi, מאָלעוו, Molev, ) or Mahilyow ( be, Магілёў, Mahilioŭ, ) is a city in eastern Belarus, on the Dnieper River, about from the border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from the bor ...

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

Suwałki Suwałki ( lt, Suvalkai; yi, סואוואַלק) is a city in northeastern Poland with a population of 69,206 (2021). It is the capital of Suwałki County and one of the most important centers of commerce in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. Suwałki ...

(excluding

Shchuchinsk Shchuchinsk ( kz, Щучинск, ''Şuchinsk''; russian: Щучинск, ) is a city in northern-central Kazakhstan, located 75 kilometres south-east of Kokshetau on Lake Shchuchye. It is the seat of Burabay District (form. Shchuchinsk District ...

uyezd)

Military units

The following units were based in the Vilna Military District upon the outbreak of the First World War in 1914: * 2nd Army Corps * 3rd Army Corps * 4th Army Corps * 20th Army Corps

Commanders

The district was commanded by the following officers: *

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

and

Adjutant General An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer. France In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staf ...

Vladimir Nazimov (6 July 1862 1 May 1863) * General of Infantry Mikhail Nikolaevich Muravyov (May 1863 - April 1865) * Adjutant General, Engineer General

Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufmann Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufmann (russian: Константи́н Петро́вич Ка́уфман; 2 March 1818 – 16 May 1882), was the first Governor-General of Russian Turkestan. Early life His family was German people, German in orig ...

(17 April 1865 - October 1866) * Adjutant General, Lieutenant General Eduard Trofimovich Baranov (9 October 1866 -2 March 1868) * Adjutant General, Lieutenant General Alexander Lvovich Potapov (28 February 1868 - July 1874) * Lieutenant General (Promoted to

General of cavalry General of the Cavalry (german: General der Kavallerie) was a General officer rank in the cavalry in various states of which the modern states of German and Austria are successors or in other armies which used the German model. Artillery officers ...

April 1878)

Pyotr Albedinsky Pyotr Pavlovich Albedinsky (1826–1883) was a Russian military officer and politician. Personal life Descended from the nobility of Smolensk province, Pyotr Pavlovich Albedinsky was born in Moscow on 4 September 1826 and died in Warsaw on Ma ...

(22 July 1874 18 May 1880) * General of engineers

Eduard Totleben Franz Eduard Graf von Tottleben (russian: Эдуа́рд Ива́нович Тотле́бен, tr. ; – ), better known as Eduard Totleben in English, was a Baltic German military engineer and Imperial Russian Army general. He was in char ...

(18 May 1880 19 June 1884) *

General of infantry General of the Infantry is a military rank of a General officer in the infantry and refers to: * General of the Infantry (Austria) * General of the Infantry (Bulgaria) * General of the Infantry (Germany) ('), a rank of a general in the German Impe ...

Alexander Nikitin Alexander Konstantinovich Nikitin (russian: Алекса́ндр Константи́нович Ники́тин; born 16 May 1952) is a Russian former submarine officer and nuclear safety inspector turned environmentalist. In 1996 he was accused ...

(23 September 1884 11 March 1886) * General of infantry Nikolay Ganetsky (13 March 1886 11 February 1895) * General of infantry and Adjutant General Vitaly Trotsky (18971901) * General of infantry Alexander Gurchin (19011902) * General of infantry

Oskar Grippenberg Oskar Ferdinand Gripenberg (russian: Оскар-Фердинанд Казимирович Гриппенберг, Oskar-Ferdinand Kazimirovich Grippenberg; 13 January 1838 – 7 January 1916) was a Finnish-Swedish general of the Russian Second M ...

(10 November 1902 11 September 1904) * General of infantry Alexander Freze (12 October 1904 19 December 1905) * Lieutenant General (Promoted to General of infantry 1906) Konstantin Krzhivitsky (19051909) * Lieutenant General (Promoted to General of infantry 1910) Sergei Gershelman (17 March 1909 17 November 1910, died of illness) * Lieutenant General (Promoted to General of infantry 6 December 1910) Fyodor Martson (23 November 1910 17 January 1913) * General of cavalry and Adjutant General Paul von Rennenkampff (20 January 1913 19 July 1914)

Commanders of the Dvinsk Military District

* General of Infantry Alexei Evgrafovich Churin (19 July - 30 August 1914) * Engineer-general Prince Nikolai Evseevich Tumanov (30 August 1914 - 14 September 1915) * Infantry General Dmitry Petrovich Zuyev (16 September 1915 - 25 April 1917)

References

{{coord missing, Russia Military districts of the Russian Empire History of Vilnius