Famine in Central Kazakhstan at the beginning of the XX century and its socio-demographic consequences

Abstract

The political events of the beginning of the XX century: the First World War, military intervention, civil war, the first events of Soviet power, collectivization, industrialization, brought severe disasters to the masses, caused enormous damage to the economy of the region. A wide range of sources, including archival materials, facts show three periods of catastrophic mass famine in Central Kazakhstan: 1917–1918, 1921–1922, and 1929–1933. In total, more than four million people died because of three hunger strikes in Kazakhstan. The tragic events of those years affected social and demographic processes; changed not only the number and settlement of the population but also qualitative characteristics, as well as reproduction processes.