Publisher Description

Here is the first social history devoted to the common soldier in the Russian army during the first half of the 19th-century--an examination of soldiers as a social class and the army as a social institution. By providing a comprehensive view of one of the most important groups in Russian society on the eve of the great reforms of the mid-1800s, El

Author Biography

Elise Kimerling Wirtschafter is Professor of History at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona. Her previous books include: " From Serf to Russian Soldier" (1990); "Structures of Society: Imperial Russia's "People of Various Ranks"" (1994); "Social Identity in Imperial Russia "(1997); and "The Play of Ideas in Russian Enlightenment Theater" (2003).

Table of Contents

*FrontMatter, pg. i*CONTENTS, pg. vii*LIST OF TABLES, pg. ix*ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, pg. xi*INTRODUCTION, pg. xiii*ONE. Conscription, pg. 3*Two. Military Society and the State, pg. 26*THREE. From Peasant to Soldier: Education and Training, pg. 55*FOUR. The Limits of Bureaucratic Regulation: The Regimental Economy, pg. 74*FIVE. Justice with Order: Autocratic Values and Military Discipline, pg. 96*Six. Soldiers in Service: Expectations and Realities, pg. 120*CONCLUSION. The Semi-Standing Army, pg. 149*NOTES AND LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, pg. 153*SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY, pg. 199*INDEX, pg. 209

Long Description

Here is the first social history devoted to the common soldier in the Russian army during the first half of the 19th-century--an examination of soldiers as a social class and the army as a social institution. By providing a comprehensive view of one of the most important groups in Russian society on the eve of the great reforms of the mid-1800s, Elise Wirtschafter contributes greatly to our understanding of Russia's complex social structure. Based on extensive research in previously unused Soviet archives, this work covers a wide array of topics relating to daily life in the army, including conscription, promotion and social mobility, family status, training, the regimental economy, military justice, and relations between soldiers and officers. The author emphasizes social relations and norms of behavior in the army, but she also addresses the larger issue of society's relationship to the autocracy, including the persistent tension between the tsarist state's need for military efficiency and its countervailing need to uphold the traditional norms of unlimited paternalistic authority.By examining military life in terms of its impact on soldiers, she analyzes two major concerns of tsarist social policy: how to mobilize society's resources to meet state needs and how to promote modernization (in this case military efficiency) without disturbing social arrangements founded on serfdom. Originally published in 1990. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

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