Who is a recruit? This is a person admitted to military service for hire or military service. In tsarist Russia, he received the rank of sailor or soldier, and this title remained with him even after his dismissal.
"Recruit": meaning, origin
This word is a borrowing from the French language. Translated into Russian means " recruit troops. " Gang words: recruit, recruit. What does the Dahl dictionary say? A recruit is a recruit, a man who enters the soldiers.
Who served military service?
In order to understand who these recruits are, it is worth a little familiarization with the history of the Russian army of the 18th century. Beginning in 1705, this term was used in relation to persons who were enlisted in the armed forces for military service. Among them were both peasants and philistines.
A serf in Russia could become a recruit, which meant liberation from serfdom for him. But they could not become a nobleman. Representatives of the merchant class, clergy, honorary citizens and residents of remote areas of Siberia were also exempted from recruitment in the middle of the 18th century .
Terms and conditions
Who are the recruits in the Russian Empire? These are people drafted into the army for a period of 25 years. True, such conditions were until 1793. At the beginning of the XIX century, recruitment served for 20 years. After the vacation began, which lasted five years.
Recruiting took about two months. Each of them had to be tall, healthy, not crippled . Recruits carried shoes, clothes, and food. Their delivery to the duty station was provided by Cossacks and soldiers' teams. The road took several weeks. In good weather, recruits went through at least twenty miles. In bad - about seven. Roll call was carried out twice a day. In order to prevent recruits from escaping, they cut their hair in a special way.
In the 18th-19th centuries, the recruitment set was perceived by many as a death sentence. There was nothing worse for a woman than becoming the wife of a soldier doomed to serve for 25 years. Her fate was worse than the fate of a widow. She , at least, had the hope of remarrying. After her husband was called up for service, the soldier put on mourning clothes and did not wear jewelry. The Russian army demanded new victims. She did not take into account the problems of the population.
Who is a recruit? This is a representative of the taxable class, which is deprived of simple family happiness. According to the first recruitment decree, it was possible to take exclusively single men into the army. However, in 1707, the call of the married began. Single men were clearly not enough for the Russian army.
The fate of the soldiers
In the twenties and thirties of the eighteenth century, women had the right to follow their husbands. From the middle of the century they should already have remained in their former places. The position of the soldiers was unenviable. Sometimes they did not know whether their husbands were alive. Are they soldiers or widows of soldiers? A recruit could return home in the event of a serious illness or disability. By the way, the wives of soldiers in society were treated negatively.
Many years of separation led to the fact that both husband and wife were looking for partners on the side. For a man, a random connection could end in the worst case with a sexually transmitted disease or flogging in the barracks. The woman had to pay the crisis of family life. And most importantly , she was condemned by others.
By the end of the 18th century, wives were again allowed to follow husbands . In addition, the soldier had the right to marry during the service. Children of recruits received maintenance. Soldier widows retire.
Children of recruits entered the service at the age of 15 years. Not everyone was sent to the regiment. Only those that were suitable for growth and health. The rest served as clerks, apprentices of blacksmiths and locksmiths. Since 1805, soldiers' children began to be called cantonists.