Crimes and Punishments of Russian Officers at the Time of the Decembrists
https://doi.org/10.25205/1818-7919-2022-21-8-67-76
Abstract
During the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, military forces of Western European countries transformed into the armies of the modern type, and their officers acquired a professional character. It can be assumed that the of ficers of Russian army of the Decembrist era, formed in a modern way, also represented a class of professional military men. In fact, the General Staff expected responsible actions from the officers in managing the daily life of the lower ranks. But some officers abused discretion and were punished for this. The article analyzes five cases of military trials of officers. In the 1st case, 2 officers left some soldiers to die in the cold weather sometime in March. In the 2nd case, a company commander killed a soldier in self-defense. In the 3rd case, a lieutenant appeared in plain clothes in front of the regiment commander and tried to beat him with a stick. In the 4th case, a company commander lynched a deserter and buried the dead body secretly. In the 5th case, a major frequently was violent to his orderlies. All of these officers were punished and some of them were reduced to the ranks, what is more, some were deprived of the nobility. These cases show that, although the Russian army has already transformed into an element of the state bureaucracy, part of the officers still treated the lower ranks as serfs. The process of professional formation of officers in this period was not yet completed.
Keywords
history of the Russian army,
Russian officers,
daily life of Russian soldiers,
the state system,
Decembrists,
crimes
Supporting agencies: The author expresses his heartfelt gratitude to M. A. Davydov, V. S. Parsamov, M. L. Batalina and A. A. Iserov, professors of the Higher School of Economics, as well as to D. G. Tselorungo, the head of the scientific department of the Borodino Field Museum-Reserve. Without their help in organizing work in Moscow the author could not have written this article. The author also expresses gratitude to the Daito Bunka University, which provided the author with the opportunity to make a trip to Moscow in 2014
About the Author
T. Matsumura
Daito Bunka University
Japan
Japan
Takeshi Matsumura, Doctor of Economics, Professor
Tokyo
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For citations:
Matsumura T. Crimes and Punishments of Russian Officers at the Time of the Decembrists. Vestnik NSU. Series: History and Philology. 2022;21(8):67-76. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.25205/1818-7919-2022-21-8-67-76
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