Organization of the First General Population Census of 1897 in the Armed Forces of the Russian Empire

The article examines the problems faced by the compilers of the 1897 census during its conduct in the armed forces of the Russian Empire. Despite extensive plans and programs, the involvement of prominent scientists and statesmen of Russia (P.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, I.O. Struve, N.A. Troinitsky, etc.), insufficient funding for the census, the lack of lengthy preparatory work and truthful information about it, and as a result, distrust of the census itself among the population, as well as the catastrophically low overall literacy, the result was not perfect. The census materials could not be published in full. The census in the armed forces was conducted on a national basis, but by special Military committees. The new Charter on Universal Military Service and the new requirements for mobilization resources and principles of army recruitment that arose with its adoption had the greatest impact on these circumstances. The Charter radically changed the system of recruitment, deployment and mobilization deployment of the Imperial army and irregular formations of Cossack troops. A Military Committee was established as part of the Main Census Commission and a special member with the rank of deputy chairman, General P.O. Shcherbov-Nefedovich (a representative from the Military Department), was appointed to the commission. In accordance with the Regulations on Conducting the Census, local commanders were directly responsible for the census in military departments, data was accumulated at headquarters and departments at all levels, checked and submitted through the Military Committee of the Main Census Commission headed by the Minister of the Interior. The main problem was to collect and summarize information from all other departments that had military personnel in their composition (the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, a separate corps of Gendarmes, a Separate Corps of Border Guards and some other departments). Many military personnel were the members of the census commissions, especially in the governorates - General. Since the percentage of literate people in the armed forces was several times higher than that of civilians, the calculations in these subjects were more accurate and faster. The author believes that despite all the errors and inaccuracies, the census materials can unambiguously give an idea of the trends in the development of the society of the Russian Empire in all matters, and, in particular, the national (ethnic) composition and deployment of armed groups at the end of the 19th century. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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