Authors

Discussion

Military duty of unprivileged Russian classes reached apogee in 1805–1813. Based on local sources from the council archives of four towns, the paper examines the impact of first nationwide mobilization – militias of 1806-1807 and 1812 - on social relationships and political culture of main urban estates, meshchane and merchants­. Practices and motivations of families and communes are examined. The first part explores nomination for service by the verdict of the meshchane commune. Delays during raising the first militia revealed that communal system of supplying recruits, inherited from rural political culture, reached its limits: bias, arbitrariness, conflicts increased - while mass wars demanded an uninterrupted supply of manpower. The major problems were “sentencing” for dissolute behavior and non-regulated selection from families: meshchane elites used nomination to cleanse the town from “undesirables” more than villagers. In 1808-1810 new legislation was introduced, which improved position of singles, small, poor families, recent newcomers. This encouraged the transition to a nuclear family. The second part explores the collection of money by merchants. The urban elites determined the size of the donation. An equal amount of money was taken from each male in merchant families. Local elites were essential: rich merchants contributed additionally. But merchants' position worsened in 1807-12 as taxation increased.