The gendarme district in Siberia: system of organization and transformation

The purpose of the article is to study the process of formation and the changes that took place in the structure of the gendarme district in Siberia throughout its existence. To achieve this goal, the following tasks are to be solved: 1) to determine the circumstances of the establishment of the gendarme district in Siberia; 2) to analyze the changes in the structure of the district; 3) to identify the reasons for these changes; 4) to try to define the reasons for the liquidation of the Siberian gendarme district. The main sources of this research were legislative acts of the central Russian government, orders for the Gendarme Corps, as well as archival materials, most of which are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The main method used is comparative historical analysis. During the research, the author came to the following conclusions. The establishment of a gendarme district in Siberia took place in 1833 for two reasons: firstly, the territory of Siberia had not yet been covered by gendarme surveillance, like the European part of the country, where by that time six gendarme districts were already functioning. Secondly, the creation of a gendarme district was supposed to solve the problem of overseeing state criminals in Siberia, whose number was constantly increasing. Throughout the existence of the gendarme district in Siberia, its structure has repeatedly changed, the reasons for this were the changes taking place in the political police system of the Russian Empire, and also the need to enhance efficiency of the management system of this gendarme district, which was the largest among all similar districts. By the beginning of the 20 century the Siberian gendarme district remained the only one in the structure of the Special Gendarme Corps, all other districts had already been liquidated. The leadership of the political police came to the conclusion that there was no urgent need for the existence of the district and that the gendarme units located in Siberia can be controlled directly, without the district administration, thanks to the construction of the Trans-Siberian railway, which contributed to the integration of the Siberian region into the general imperial socio-economic space. In addition, the liquidation of the last gendarme district made it possible to save money that could be used to finance other gendarme units. In 1902, the Siberian gendarme district was liquidated, but at the same time, gendarme units in Siberia remained, and the number of their employees increased all the time until the liquidation of the gendarmerie in 1917.

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