26 February 1714 Propulsion Peter I issued a decree prohibiting assigning officer ranks to nobles who did not serve as soldiers
26 February 1714. Peter I issued a decree not to produce as officers those persons who, relying on their noble origins, did not serve as ordinary soldiers in the guard regiments. This decree was caused by the fact that part of the nobles of Russia, using their origins, either did not serve at all in the lowest army rank, or were limited to short service life by soldiers of several weeks or months, and then transferred to officers. In the circles of the nobility, there was an opinion that, by the right of their high origin, they should correct only commanding posts in the service. Peter Alekseevich held a different view on this question. Peter can be treated differently, but his attitude to military service is a matter of respect. He himself studied military art from a young age, began as a simple soldier, a drummer in the Preobrazhensky regiment, carefully and diligently mastered the service of an artillery bombardier, and only then became an infantry officer (wearing the uniform of a captain after taking Azov, and the non-commissioned officer of the guard was declared in 1700 year). Tsar Peter Alekseevich has not stepped over a single military rank. He did not disdain even simple work, with diligence he did any work — a carpenter or a blacksmith. By this he set an example to the whole nobility. Having met the young nobles who had returned after studying in Europe, Tsar Peter said to them: “I am your king, but I have corns on my hands. And all in order to set an example for you, and at least in old age make you worthy assistants and faithful servants of the Fatherland. ”
He ordered that all nobles begin service as ordinary soldiers in the regiment to which they were assigned. They had to consistently comprehend military science from the lowest military rank. An officer’s rank was produced at the suggestion of the general, taking into account the evidence of the candidate of all the regimental officers.
In addition, for Tsar Peter the main thing was not the origin of a man, but his personal qualities, courage, skills. The good service of ordinary soldiers was encouraged, for the valor and bravery of the soldiers could be awarded the officer rank. And at the end of the year 1720, Peter Alekseevich issued a decree, which ordered the chief officers, not originating from the nobility, to issue patents for the noble title and consider all their descendants to be nobles. Thus, under Peter, the achievement of a noble rank with the help of the service was possible, while the noble origin retained its value. In service relations, the king, provided the senior positions as nobles, born in this rank, and received his loyal service.
Sovereign Peter Alekseevich highly appreciated the military service to the Fatherland and the title of soldier. “What is a soldier?” Asks Peter Alekseevich's “Military Regulations”. “The name of the soldier contains all the people who are in the army. From the highest general, even to the last musketeer, equestrian, or on foot. " The regimental ships included not only headquarters, ober- and noncommissioned officers, but also ordinary soldiers. Moreover, the rank and file, as well as the officers, had the right to a free and decisive vote. Headquarters and chief officers were forbidden to take soldiers into the service, except for batmen, but those too should be taken in a limited number and it was impossible to cruelly treat them. In the army of Peter the general spike was strong, a family principle was inculcated in the regiments and on ships. The Military Regulations demanded from the commanding staff: "The officers must be soldiers, like fathers to children."
Peter consciously created the national Russian army, ahead of its time. The Petrovsky system, when officers began serving as ordinary soldiers, learning all the subtleties of military service, led to the fact that the Russian army surpassed the advanced Swedish army in Western Europe. Rumyantsev, Suvorov, Ushakov were brilliant followers of his business. Founded by Tsar Peter the army will destroy the formidable Prussian army of Frederick the Great of Zorndorf and Kunesdorfe, occupy Berlin and Konigsberg, beat Crimean Turkish hordes at Cahul and Rymnik, taking Ochakov, Izmail and Anapa, pacify the Poles beat the French, to overcome the mountain passes impassable in winter Alps knocking down the enemy with bayonet attacks. The Russian army will courageously face the strike of Napoleon’s “Great Army” assembled from the best soldiers of all Europe, will stand adamantly in the battle of Borodino, destroy the army of the great French commander, liberate Europe and victoriously enter Berlin and Paris.
Sovereign Peter put an end to the misfortune with which Tsar Ivan the Terrible fought - eliminated the remnants of parochialism (the order of distribution of official places, taking into account the origin and official position of the ancestors of the person). First of all, Peter appreciated his personal qualities in a person - intelligence, knowledge, skills, diligence, jealousy and dedication. A nobleman with him, if he did not serve in military service for seven years, or civil, ten, by the order of the king until his old age remained under-grown (a nobleman who did not enter government service). Those nobles who tried to wriggle out of the parades, he deprived of patrimonies. Thus, the king restored the original meaning of the nobility. The nobles were supposed to perform military service, to defend the Fatherland, for which he received the right to the estate, so that the peasants kept it. For that era, it was a fair system, since Russia history fought All estates and groups of the population carried their service - the sense of existence of the nobles was the armed defense of the Fatherland. The nobles were soldiers of Russia, and the king was their general. Unfortunately, other rulers will violate this justice of the life of Russian society. The mythological, blackened knight sovereign Paul will try to restore the truth, to return to the correct system. But they will kill him, and then throw mud on his name.
In medieval Russia, in order to maintain one person who, because of military service, could not feed himself with work in agriculture, craft or other trade (hunting, siding, etc.), it was necessary to have at least 10 peasant households. Due to the low productivity of labor in the harsh conditions of Russia - a zone of risky farming, it was this number of yards that gave a certain additional product, which was enough for the maintenance of one soldier. Therefore, princes and kings secured land and peasant yards for their warriors. It was appropriate. The Russian nobleman defended not only his state, but his land, his estate. Some soldiers for special services received a lot of land and peasant households, but in this case they were forced to form, arm, equip with horses a detachment of soldiers with whom they went to war.
If a nobleman ceased his service for any reason, the land and peasants were withdrawn. The widow of the deceased nobleman received only part of the estate - “oprich”, to feed, which was fair. If the children of the deceased, deceased nobleman did not become a military unit by the 15 years, their father’s estate was taken from them. Although it is not all stopped. Some nobles, because of fear of military service or for other reasons, were recorded in other classes, for example, merchants, and even peasants. In pre-Petrine times, there were decrees that forbade nobles to go to slaves.
At the beginning of the 17 century, the Russian army was about 200 thousand, a quarter of it were noblemen, the rest were from other classes. Peter created such a system, that even in the times of Alexander Suvorov, the service of a hereditary nobleman (especially for landless nobles) to his old age as a private or noncommissioned officer was common, especially if the nobleman was illiterate.
However, after the death of Peter, the nobles began to receive one privilege after another. In 1731, they were given the right to collect the captive tax from the serfs; in 1736, by the manifesto of Anna Ivanovna, their service was limited to 25 for years; in 1746, Elizaveta Petrovna forbade all classes, except nobles, to buy peasants and land. Tsar Peter III freed the noblemen from military service - “Manifesto on the Freedom of the Nobility” (Manifesto from February 18 1762 of the Year). At the same time, the nobles retained all the previous privileges, and even expanded them. They got the right to almost free exit from the state. From now on, for a part of the nobility of Russia, German, Italian or French cities will become nicer than Russian ones. Will begin a significant outflow of capital abroad. Aristocrats lived abroad for years, forgetting about their homeland. One of the consequences of the Manifesto of Peter III was that the nobles from that moment could freely dispose of their lands, regardless of their attitude to the service. There was also an increase in serfdom, the nobles received the right of the peasants belonging to them from one county to another, bureaucratic obstacles to the transition of serfs to the merchant class were strengthened.
Catherine II, in the “Letter to the Nobility” 1785, reaffirmed the main provisions of the decree of Peter III. The nobles were finally turned into a privileged class, which was not obliged to serve the state, did not pay taxes, but had many rights. In particular, the right to freely travel abroad, to enter a foreign service, the exclusive right to own land and serfs, the right to engage in industrial activities and trade, freedom from corporal punishment, the right to their own state self-government.
The actions of Peter III and Catherine II, with domination among the nobility of Western culture, created a huge gulf between the nobles and the people. In fact, two peoples appeared in the Russian Empire. A narrow stratum of nobles, for whom German and French culture were closer to Russia, began to turn into social parasites. The first reaction of the people to this injustice was the uprising of Pugachev. The 1917 revolution of the year was, in many ways, associated with this division of the people.
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