Russian famine of 1921–1922
part of the Russian man-made famine of 1921-23 in the Volga region
The Russian famine of 1921–1922, also known as the Povolzhye famine (Russian: Голод в Поволжье 'Volga region famine'), was a severe famine in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic that began early in the spring of 1921 and lasted until 1922. The famine resulted from the combined effects of severe drought, the continued effects of World War I, economic disturbance from the Russian Revolution, the Russian Civil War, and failures in the government policy of war communism (especially prodrazvyorstka). It was exacerbated by rail systems that could not distribute food efficiently.
The famine killed an estimated five million people and primarily affected the Volga and Ural River regions. Many of the starving resorted to cannibalism. The outbreaks of diseases such as cholera and typhus were also contributing factors to famine casualties.
Origins
Before the famine began, Russia had suffered three-and-a-half years of World War I and additionally the Russian Civil War of 1918–1920, many of the conflicts being fought inside Russia. There were 7–12 million casualties during the Russian Civil War, mostly civilians. Historians have noted that both Tsarist Russia government councils and other opposition parties had advocated for food requisitioning prior to the ascent of the Bolsheviks.
Before the famine, all sides in the Russian Civil Wars of 1918–1921 (the Bolsheviks, the Whites, the Anarchists, and the seceding nationalities) had provisioned themselves by seizing food from those who grew it, giving it to their armies and supporters, and denying it to their enemies.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Russian famine of 1921–1922” is part of the Russian man-made famine of 1921-23 in the Volga region. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Russian, famine and part, not as a finished interpretation.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2172846. The Library of Congress control number is sh2010013246. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1921, 1922, 1918 and 1920.
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This entry incorporates text from “Russian famine of 1921–1922” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.