The city of district status of the Russian governorate during the First World War (a case study of the mayor I.N. Kibardin activities)

The study presents the focuses of city government bodies in Yelabuga, one of the centers of district status in Vyatka Governorate, during the First World War. The effectiveness of the emergency policy is associated with a specific person. It was proved that the meaningful strategy of the Mayor I.N. Kibardin, who gave priority to the solution of social, economic and political issues, allowed one to maintain the stability of urban life in many respects. Considering the measures to implement the military program that ruined the city’s budget, the author clarified the flexible economic policies of the government, the methods for the urban economy rationalization. The researcher stated that the potential of the governorate centers of district status was an important resource of the military economy. Towns were able to support the government’s course even in the pre-revolutionary situation at the end of 1916.