The ethnic composition and features of the deployment of military formations in the Lublin province according to the results of the First General population census of the Russian Empire in 1897

This report continues the research on the ethnic and national composition of the Armed Forces and Cossack formations of the Russian Empire according to the results of the First All-Russian Census of 1897, this issue has been little studied both in pre-revolutionary Russian historiography and in subsequent works by historians of the Soviet and post-Soviet period. The purpose of this study is to show the ethnic (national) composition of the armed forces and Cossack troops of the Russian Empire in the Lublin province based on the results of the First General Population Census of 1897; An attempt has been made to identify patterns and cause-and-effect relationships (dependence of dislocation, places of residence, military service on their national composition and socio-political qualities and characteristics of the local population). Also, the goal is not only show the management system of national policy in the military sphere of tsarist Russia, but also to preliminarily analyze the causes of its occurrence using the example of the western Lublin province. The analysis of the data obtained from the 1897 census makes it possible to fully assess the dependence of the national composition of army and Cossack units in the territory of the Lublin province on deployment in accordance with operational plans and plans for the strategic deployment and mobilization of the General Staff of the Russian Empire. The Lublin province was one of the administrative fragments of the Kingdom of Poland, which was actually transformed after the Polish uprising of 1863-64 into one of the 10 provinces of the Privislinsky Region with an external border -Austria. Rather mild climate, fertile lands, abundance of water resources and the colossal centuries-old habitation of the province territory contributed to the formation of a multi-confessional, Europeanized in cities and historically stable Russophobic society. It was characterized by fairly well-developed road network (including a railway) and a water network with 10 counties, a high population density of 78.49 people per square mile. Favorable conditions for the population and a high level of well-being, coupled with a high percentage of literacy -50.4% and the border with Austria, preserved and "warmed up" Greater Poland sentiments. The national composition of the province is typical for the Privislinsky region and differs only in a fairly large percentage of Little Russians and Jews, which is explained by the historical proximity to Volhynia and the assimilation policy of Poland in the "sovereign" years (lack of a residence permit, free religion, etc.). So, at the time of the provincial census, the total population was 1160,662 people, of whom the share of Poles was 62.86%, Great Russians - 4.1%, Little Russians - 16.93%, Jews - 13.4%. The tables below have distributed quantitative indicators for the categories the author is considering: - according to the armed forces: the total number of the population in the provinces, the number of amateur ("leading an independent household") men (in the armed forces and in the Cossacks in the "combat" number at that time, only men were taken into account) of the population, members of their families of both sexes, the percentage ratio for comparative analysis-the indicator of the share of the armed forces of the total the amateur population of the province; - for military Cossacks: the Cossack population of men and women, the total number of the Cossack population and the percentage ratio for comparative analysis-the indicator of the share of the Cossack population not from the amateur male population, but from the total population of the province (since the tables did not indicate amateur military Cossacks, but only male and female population - that is, calculate the number Cossacks of military age is not possible). The Lublin province was part of the Warsaw Military District - the largest, most staffed, and best equipped of all the districts of the empire. The commanders of the district's troops usually consisted of Warsaw governors-general at the same time. The situation in the Lublin province in the counties bordering Austria, as mentioned above, in the sphere of national relations and historical memory of the population, was not easy - Germans lived on these lands, following the Great Russians in number, historically immigrants from the border areas of Austria and Prussia - 2.5% of the population of the province, which also caused tension in the social sphere and socio-political life. Thus, the national composition of the troops in the province and in general in the Privislinsky region (Warsaw military district) fully corresponds to the described situation. All staffing on a national basis was carried out based on the provisions of the Charter on Military Service of 1874 (the draft of 1896-97 was analyzed in detail and scheduled up to each military district by province, nationality, religion and estates in the materials of the annual report of the Ministry of War to the Head of State). In our case, the territory of all the Privislinsky provinces was considered by St. Petersburg as extremely unstable and dangerous from the point of view of the internal political situation, as well as from a military-strategic point of view, based on Plans for strategic deployment against possible actions of the opposing border countries (Austria). Hence there was large number of troops in the province (the fifth largest in the Russian Empire) and the high density of deployment of armed formations in the province near the border. All of the above factors were completely natural for the internal policy of the Russian Empire in terms of ensuring its security from external and internal threats. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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