In the chaotic period at the end of World War I on the Eastern Front, the Polish I Corps fought against the Red Army, cooperated with the German Ober Ost forces in taking Minsk, and after acknowledging the Regency Council in May 1918, it surrendered to the German forces in Babruysk.

[citation needed] In the immediate aftermath of the February Revolution, the Russian Provisional Government's obvious weakness, its half-hearted declaration of the right of nations to self-determination and Germany's promises of autonomy in occupied Poland stirred up long suppressed nationalist feelings among ethnic Poles living within the Russian Empire since the partitions of Poland.

The reorganization process was complicated by the October Revolution of 1917, which brought Bolsheviks to power, but Dowbor-Muśnicki was able to take advantage of the new government's weakness and general anarchy and, by mid-January 1918, had organised his forces into: At that time the I Corps numbered almost 30,000 men, although the number would fall to 23,500 over the coming months.

At first, after the fall of the Provisional Government, Dowbor-Muśnicki declared that his corps is neutral towards the Russian factions, and its intent is to join the Entente forces to fight against Germany and Austria-Hungary.

After a week, on 28 February, the Polish agreed to work with Germans and thus occupied 6 Belarusian districts in the triangle of Mogilev-Zhlobin-Slutsk, with their headquarters at Babruysk.