The State Militia of the Smolensk Province in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878: Legal Norms and Practical Implementation

The article aims to study the militia of the Smolensk province during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. Based on previously unknown documents stored in the State Archive of the Smolensk Province, as well as documents from the Central State Archive of Moscow and the State Archive of the Russian Federation, this article is the first in historiography to examine the process of forming a militia during the Second Eastern War in one of the zemstvo provinces of Central Russia. The article focuses on the analysis of legislation regarding the militia as part of the military reform of 1874, which resulted in the militia becoming part of the Russian armed forces. It also examines the actions of the local administration and zemstvos in preparing for the conscription of soldiers, as well as the specific features of recruitment during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 compared to the Crimean War. The military conscription of soldiers took place in the new conditions of Russia’s post-reform development, which allowed for the use of new post-reform institutions such as peasant and zemstvo self-government. The author concludes that as a result of the military reform, despite the introduction of general military service, the number of militiamen in the Smolensk province decreased dramatically; that the militia was used to replenish reserve units stationed in the Smolensk province; and that the local administration carried out extensive preparations before the conscription, but the recruitment of soldiers, which was carried out for the first time based on the military reform of 1874, was accompanied by difficulties caused by wartime circumstances and administrative errors. The negative experience of creating a militia led to the development of military legislation regarding the militia and a change in the system of its provision, as a result of which the zemstvo was relieved of this duty.