The district warden is a low-level official in the city police. Such a position arose as early as 1867 and was abolished in 1917, with the coming to power of the Bolsheviks.

District guards were only in large cities, such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, etc. They were directly subordinate to the district bailiff, they also had police officers in their subordination.

Requirements for candidates for

Persons aged 21-40 were admitted to the civil service as a district warder. Applicants must have previously served in the army or have experience in civilian work.

The future police officer must have a good education, be physically developed and, above all, have a pleasant appearance.

Candidates who were suitable in all respects were enrolled in the super-reserve, where they underwent training and, upon completion, took an exam. After successfully passing the commission, the district guards were transferred to the main structure and received a supervised territory (okolotok).

salary

The district warden of the metropolitan police, while in reserve, received a salary of 20 rubles. When he moved to an open vacancy in the police station, the annual income was calculated in three categories and amounted to 600, 660 and 720 rubles, respectively.

For a better understanding of the salary level of this official, you can convert the tsarist rubles into the equivalent of the modern Russian currency. So, a police station with a permanent staff of the lowest category received 59,431 rubles. monthly.

Duties of the District Warden

A petty official of the city police, which was considered a police officer, performed a range of different duties. He had to bypass the site entrusted to him, within which 3000-4000 citizens lived and monitor compliance with the rules of social behavior. The detailed instruction, developed by the city authorities, consisted of more than 300 pages.

The policeman must have known everything about his district. His job was to identify "foreign" citizens on the territory, to draw up protocols in case of various kinds of offenses.

As well as to the modern precinct, all and sundry made claims to the district police officer. The janitor does not remove the snow well - the warden is to blame (he didn’t see it). Someone was bitten by a dog - the district police officer must find out whose dog it is and take action against its owners.

The district guard had no right to call the population to his station or apartment. All the inquiries, the preparation of the necessary papers, the delivery of subpoenas, took place, as they say, "in the fields."

Uniform of a police officer in tsarist Russia

The district overseer was supposed to have a uniform worn by class ranks. If he had an officer's rank, then his uniform was appropriate. However, he usually held the rank of sergeant major or senior non-commissioned officer, in which case his uniform was different.

The police of the Russian Empire, represented by a police officer, wore black trousers with red trim and a double-breasted uniform of the same color, fastened with hooks. The collar, cuffs and side were also decorated with red trim.

The parade version was completely similar to the everyday one, except for the columns of silver galloon on the cuffs.

The shoes were but also it was the police officers who were allowed to wear galoshes, on the backs of which there were holes for spurs lined with copper plates.

The district overseer wore green epaulettes, decorated in the center with a wide silver stripe.

Weapons and other paraphernalia

As a servant of the law, an officer of the tsarist police was supposed to carry a weapon. They wore an officer's saber with a silver band, a revolver in a black lacquer holster, or a Smith & Wesson revolver.

It is impossible to imagine a police officer without his famous whistle. It was attached to the right side of the uniform and had a long metal chain. With the help of a long whistle, the peace officer could call for reinforcements and call the enraged citizens to calm.

The briefcase is also an integral part of the image of this official. All sorts of agendas and protocols that were written with or without it implied the constant wearing of this accessory. Sometimes he did not have enough working day to carry all these papers to the addressees.

The district overseer did not have the right to attend folk festivals and festivals as a private person. He was forbidden to go to taverns and restaurants in his spare time from work and to relax at the tables of drinking establishments in the circle of acquaintances.

He could even marry only with the permission of the mayor, this rule extended, by the way, to police officers.

Each time, leaving the police station, the district warden had to inform his superiors where he was going and where, if necessary, he could be quickly found.

Until 1907, the policeman moved only on foot, and after the highest decree of the mayor, police officers could use bicycles, which greatly facilitated their difficult official life.

Police officials, among other things, had to visit the theater and understand fiction. Beginning in 1876, a police officer was required to attend each performance, sitting in a chair specially reserved for him. He not only kept order during the performance, but also acted as a censor.

The image of a corrupt official

Being a link between the population and the state machine, the police officer was highly respected. Merchants from numerous shops, and holders of state-owned houses, and ordinary townspeople fawned over him.

This attitude is provoked by bribery on the part of these authorities. Conducting inquiries, many police officers gently hinted that in the case of financial gratitude from the suspect, the policeman could turn a blind eye to many undesirable facts and details.

The introduction of Prohibition during the First World War served as another reason for taking bribes. Covering the underground activities of the taverns, the okolotochnye had a stable additional source of income, albeit not a very legal one.

In fiction, this petty official is often presented as narrow-minded, lazy and biased. This stereotype is relatively alive to this day. Although, if you think about it, work in law enforcement agencies under the tsar, and today is a colossal work that is rarely appreciated.

The structure of the police apparatus of tsarist Russia was complex and branched. It was headed by the Police Department of the Ministry of the Interior. The highest official of this department was the Deputy Minister of the Interior, the head of the police; the director of the department reported to him. The department was subject to all types of police: external, detective (criminal), river, horse, zemstvo (rural). The exception was the political and palace police.

Political police (okhrana) was under the jurisdiction of the III branch of "His Majesty's Own Chancellery". The functions of the political police were carried out by the Separate Corps of Gendarmes, which was subordinate to the Chief of the Gendarmes, who at the same time was a friend of the Minister of the Interior. This position was often occupied by a general of the guards, who was also the tsar's adjutant general, which provided him with direct access to the tsar. It should be emphasized that the head of the gendarmerie was not a professional gendarme, but a person close to the king. This has been going on since the time of Nicholas I, the organizer of the gendarmerie, who put his favorite, Count Benckendorff, at the head of it.

D palace police, whose function was the external protection of the palaces, the king and the grand dukes, was under the jurisdiction of the minister of the imperial court.

The personnel of the police department were mainly civilian officials who wore uniforms assigned to the Ministry of the Interior. A few ranks of the outer police usually worked in the apparatus of the department. The middle and highest ranks of the police could have military and civil ranks, depending on how they got into the police service - from the army or from the civil service. Both of them wore the uniform assigned to the external police, with the only difference being that those with a military rank wore military-style shoulder straps, an oval officer's cockade and a silver woven officer's sash, and those with civilian ranks wore narrow bureaucratic shoulder straps with bureaucratic stars, a civilian round cockade and a cloth sash.

If the police department united all police services across the empire, then on a city scale this was carried out by the police department of a given city. It was headed by the mayor. In St. Petersburg and Moscow, this post was occupied by guards generals.

Sotsky Saratov province

Uniform of police officers

The mayor wore the uniform of the regiment in which he was listed, or the uniform of a general of the royal retinue.

The immediate head of the provincial police was the chief of police. The chiefs of police were listed in the police, and not in the regiments, and wore police uniforms, usually had the rank from colonel to major general, and if they were officials, then state and actual state councilor.

The chief of police, if he was a major general or a real state adviser, wore a round astrakhan cap of the Kubanka type, white with a red bottom, and if he was a colonel or state adviser, then black with a green bottom, a silver double-headed eagle was fixed on the cap, an officer’s hat was above it. or official cockade. Caps - dark green, with red piping (two on the band, one on the crown), black lacquered visor. There was no strap on the police caps.

The outer clothing was a light gray overcoat of the same cut as the army one.
Police officers in the rank of major general and above wore a general's overcoat with red edging along the side, collar, cuffs, and with the same red lapels made of instrument cloth. In winter, the overcoat could be on a quilted warm lining; for officers - gray, for generals - red. A black astrakhan collar relied on a warm overcoat, but there could be warm overcoats without fur collars.
Police officers in the ranks of generals sometimes wore overcoats with capes and beaver collars (similar to military "Nikolaev" overcoats).

The everyday uniform of officers and generals of the police was a dark green frock coat of an all-army pattern with a collar of the same color and with red piping along the side, collar, cuffs and back flaps - "leaves". A stand-up starched collar and round cuffs relied on the frock coat. An even more common form was the tunic of an all-army model with straight cuffs, like those of the infantry. Along the side of the tunic, cuffs and pocket flaps were red piping.

Police officers wore trousers of three styles: harem pants and narrowed trousers - in boots or loose-fitting trousers - with boots. A tunic and a frock coat could be worn to choose from - with boots or with boots, and a full dress uniform only with trousers and boots. Boots were certainly worn with spurs, but boots were not always worn.

The ceremonial uniform of police officers and generals remained unchanged from the time of Alexander III, until 1917. And the cut of the army dress uniform introduced at the same time and similar to it changed after the Japanese war of 1904-1905. The police uniform began to look like an anachronism.

The police officer's dress uniform was the same color as the frock coat, with a single-color collar, but without buttons, and fastened on the right side with hooks. There were red piping on the collar, sides and cuffs. It was almost as long as a frock coat; behind, from the waist down, there were smoothed folds.

The collar and cuffs of the general's uniforms were decorated with complex silver embroidery of a special pattern. On officer uniforms, sewing was only in front of the collar, on the cuffs there were columns, but not of a military pattern, but repeating the sewing pattern on the collar - something like commas.

Parade uniform worn both with shoulder straps and with epaulettes - silver, on a red lining with red piping and gaps. For police officers with a military rank, all-army epaulettes are all silver, with gold stars, for civilian ranks only stars were silver, and the epaulette field was made of cloth, in the color of the uniform, with white nickel-plated piping along the wide end of the epaulette.

The ceremonial uniform was always worn with a belt (sash); for military ranks it was silver, for civilians - cloth, in the color of the uniform, with red piping along the edges and along the interception (buckle).

Police officers and generals wore an infantry saber on a silver sling. With a frock coat and a white tunic, sometimes a sword. On the checker of the police military officials were infantry-type lanyards with a brush barrel. The lanyard ribbon was black, with silver double stitching around the edges. Those who have the Order of St. Annas of the 4th degree wore a lanyard on the "Annensky ribbon" - crimson, with a yellow border around the edges. Civilian police officers wore a silver lanyard with an "open" tassel on a silver round cord instead of a ribbon.

Police officers usually wore a revolver in a black lacquered holster only with a tunic or over an overcoat; a silver sash served as a belt in ceremonial occasions, and a black leather belt in others. The revolver cord was of an all-army officer's model.
In the summer, police officers pulled a white cover over the top of their caps and put on a white cotton double-breasted tunic without piping, a style that the army had not worn since the Russo-Japanese War. Police officers also relied on gray capes-capes with a hood of a general officer's cut and color. The cape had buttonholes and shoulder straps. Dark green buttonholes with red edging; the same buttonholes and overcoats. Silver buttons with double-headed eagle. Officers and generals wore white suede gloves.

In 1915 - 1916, individual police officers, imitating the army, began to wear jackets and khaki caps.

Starting from 1866, all cities were divided into police stations. The district police officer was at the head of the section. The police stations, in turn, were divided into districts, which were in charge of the district guards. The lower ranks of the police, who served on guard duty, were called police officers.

In addition to the police, the station staff consisted of officials who were in charge of passports, the office and maintained the police telegraph. Officials wore the uniform of the Ministry of the Interior. Bailiffs and police officers (assistant bailiffs) wore the uniform described above. If the district warden had an officer's rank, then he wore an officer's uniform. But most often they had the rank of senior non-commissioned officer or sergeant major. In this case, their uniform was different from the uniform of police officers.
The main difference was in the color and cut of the uniform - black, double-breasted with hooks; on the collar, side, cuffs - red piping; along the collar and cuffs there was also a silver convex "forged" galloon. The parade uniform of the police officer was of the same color and cut, but on the cuffs there were columns of silver galloon. Over the uniform, the police officers wore a black cloth belt with red piping along the length and along the intercept (buckle). Black lacquered leather belts with a nickel-plated one-prong buckle were worn to the overcoat.

About knock-outs they wore black trousers with red edging, boots on hard footer, with lacquer tops; on the street, police officers, unlike the military, had the right to wear galoshes. The backs of the galoshes had special slots for spurs, bound with copper plates.

In winter, they wore a black astrakhan hat of the same type as that of police officers, but on the bottom, instead of galloon, there were red piping (crosswise and around the bottom). On it is the silver coat of arms of the city. Above the coat of arms is a cockade. The police officer wore the same cap as the police officers: on the band - a coat of arms, on the crown - a cockade; an overcoat of an officer's cut and color, in winter it could be insulated, with a black astrakhan collar.

Desyatsky. Petersburg

The police officers were armed with infantry-style officers' checkers on a silver sling with an officer's lanyard on a black ribbon, as well as a Smith and Wesson revolver or a revolver in a black lacquered holster. The holster was attached to the belt. The revolver had a neck silver cord, like an officer's. An indispensable attribute of the police officer was a whistle on a metal chain hanging on the right side of the uniform. Shoulder straps - black, narrow, with red piping and silver galloon on the sides and in the middle. For length of service in the police, stripes were placed on shoulder straps (as for non-commissioned officers - across the shoulder strap, closer to the button). In winter, police officers wore light brown camel hoods with a silver lace, army-style hoods and black cloth earmuffs. In summer, a white cover was pulled over the cap. The summer uniform was a white cotton uniform made of elastic, the same cut as the cloth one, but without galloons and piping. Instead of an overcoat, they wore a coat of gray rubberized fabric, the same cut as the overcoat. In Chekhov's story "Chameleon", the police officer constantly either puts on or takes off just such a coat.

District guards were usually appointed middle-aged or elderly people. They walked with beards or sideburns, and certainly with mustaches. The chest was almost always hung with medals; on the neck is a huge silver, similar to the ruble, medal "For Zeal" with the profile of the king.

In St. Petersburg and Moscow, police officers often wore orders and medals granted by foreign monarchs. The Emir of Bukhara and the Shah of Persia were especially generous in this respect.

The lower ranks of the city police, police officers, were recruited from soldiers and officers who had served urgent and extra-long service.

The policemen wore a black lambskin round hat with a black cloth bottom, red piping crosswise and around the circumference, or a black cap with three red piping (two on the band, one on the crown), with a black lacquered visor, without a chin strap. In summer, a light Kolomyankovy cover was put on the crown. On the crown of the cap and on the fur hat of the policemen there was a nickel-plated metal round ribbon with sharp ends. The number of this policeman is punched on the ribbon. Above the ribbon is the coat of arms of the city.
The overcoat of the policeman was sewn from black overcoat cloth with a hook-and-eye closure, black buttonholes and red edging, on the buttonholes there is a light metal button with a double-headed eagle.

Uniform of a policeman almost did not differ from the police uniform, but was black. The trousers were also black. On the uniform, the policemen wore a sash made of the same material as the uniform, with red piping along the edges and along the interception, or a black drawstring belt with a metal buckle for one prong. In the summer, the policemen wore a uniform of the same cut, but from a kolomyanka. They also wore soldier-style tunics, without pockets and cuffs, with a clasp on the left side with four buttons. They sewed tunics from Kolomyanka or from cotton fabric of light mustard color. Leather belts relied on tunics and overcoats. Footwear - yuft boots of an infantry sample. The policemen did not wear cords.
On the badge, which was fastened to the left on the chest, the street number of the policeman, the number and name of the district, as well as the city were indicated.

The policemen carried their personal weapons (a revolver of the "Smith and Wesson" system or revolver) in a black holster fastened to the belt. In the period from 1900 to 1917, the revolver was worn either on the right or on the left side: before the war of 1914 - on the left, and before the revolution - on the right. Attached to the revolver was a red wool cord with a copper interception at the neck. Along the side of the overcoat or uniform, a whistle made of horn hung on a metal chain.
The police officers also wore an infantry soldier's checker with a brown wooden handle and black scabbard, copper metal parts. On this checker, popularly nicknamed "herring", hung a leather lanyard of a soldier's infantry model. They wore a checker on the left side on a black belt sling. In addition to the saber and revolver, the policeman had a leather bag fastened with a buckle on his belt.

St. Petersburg and Moscow policemen, standing at crossroads with heavy traffic, held wands in their hands - short white wooden sticks with brown handles; they used them to stop traffic (the regulation of traffic - from a modern point of view - the police did not deal with). The wands hung on the left side of the belt in front of the saber in a black leather case. In big cities, policemen wore white cotton gloves. In the rain, black oilcloth capes with a hood were worn over an overcoat or uniform.

The shoulder straps of the policemen were of a special style. Almost square "cards" of black cloth were sewn on the shoulder near the sleeve, trimmed on all sides with red piping. They were attached to the insignia in the form of transverse strips of yellow wool braid with two red stitching along the edges. These stripes could be from one to three or not at all. A red braided woolen cord ran from the shoulder to the collar, crossing the "card" and fastened at the collar with a shoulder button. Brass rings were attached to the cord. Their number corresponded to the stripes on the "card".

In cases of "riots" the policemen were additionally armed with rifles with attached bayonets. During the days of the February Revolution of 1917, the policemen were even armed with machine guns, from which they fired at revolutionary soldiers and workers from attics and roofs.

In addition to the policemen assigned to a certain area and serving on guard duty, there was also the so-called police reserve, which was directly subordinate to the mayor or police chief. The reserve was taken out into the street in extraordinary cases - strikes, demonstrations, revolutionary speeches, passage of the king, members of the royal family or foreign monarchs. The policemen who belonged to the police reserve wore the same uniform as ordinary policemen, but without breastplates.
There were also formations of equestrian policemen, called equestrian police guards.

K onno-police guard was available only in the capitals and large provincial cities. She obeyed the mayor (where he was) or the provincial police chiefs. This guard was used as a strike force during the dispersal of demonstrations, strikers, was exhibited at royal passages along the streets, and also carried out patrol service (usually mounted policemen traveled four or two each while patrolling).
The uniform of the equestrian police guard combined elements of the police and dragoon uniforms: like the police, black uniforms, shoulder straps, buttonholes, badges on caps and hats; the cut of the uniforms, with six buttons at the back, weapons, the style of winter hats and boots with spurs, like dragoons.

The officers of the horse-police guards wore greatcoats, tunics, similar in cut to the uniform of army officers, gray-blue trousers with red piping, reminiscent of the uniform of cavalrymen, caps with a chin strap, winter hats - "dragoons" made of black astrakhan fur. On the front of the hats there was a wedge-shaped cutout into which a cockade was inserted, and in ceremonial cases - a black horsehair sultan. The bottom of the cap is black, with a narrow silver lace crosswise and along the outline. The galloon at the back ended in a loop. The dress uniform of an officer was double-breasted, of an all-army type, with a button closure. The color, piping, sewing of the shape are the same as those of the ordinary police.

Mounted police officers wore cavalry checkers more curved than infantry ones, with a cavalry lanyard ending in a tassel. Revolvers, revolver cords and belts were the same as those of ordinary police officers.

Mounted policemen (private and non-commissioned officers) wore the same caps as ordinary policemen, but with chin straps. Winter hats - "dragoons" - the same as those of officers, but with a red piping instead of galloon and not from astrakhan fur, but from lambskin.
The rank and file of the Mounted Police were armed with dragoon sabers with bayonet sockets on the scabbard and a revolver hanging on the right side of the belt in a black holster with the handle forward. A red wool cord was attached to the revolver. Shortened dragoon rifles were rarely worn by mounted police. They were worn behind the back, throwing the belt over the left shoulder.
Most often, the mounted police used a rubber whip with a wire inserted inside. The blow of the whip was so strong that it cut through the thickest coat like a knife. The "weapon" was also the wide croup of huge bay horses, specially trained to "siege" the crowd. "Siege on the sidewalk!" - the professional shout of the mounted police.

With ceremonial uniforms and headdresses with sultans, the mounted police wore white suede gloves.

City police. Petersburg. 1904

Provincial (County) Police

The structure of the organization of the police in small (district) towns, villages and villages was different than in the capitals and provincial cities. At the head of the county police department was police officer 15. This position was usually held by a police officer in the rank from captain to colonel. The police of this county town and the peripheral - the county mounted police guard were subordinate to him. Geographically, each county was divided into two or four camps, at the head of each was a bailiff - a police officer, with the rank of captain or captain, less often a lieutenant colonel. The closest assistant to the bailiff was a police officer.

Rows were called Cossack non-commissioned officers. According to Dahl, "order" is order, everyday life, legal or ordinary move, device. Hence the constable - a person who looks after the order. The rank and file of the county police were also called the old word "guards".
The guards were representatives of the mounted police and were recruited from local residents who had served active military service in artillery or cavalry. In their appearance, they looked more like soldiers than policemen. This impression was facilitated by their soldier's gray overcoats.

The caps of the guards were dark green with orange piping. On the band there is a badge depicting the coat of arms of the province, on the crown there is a small soldier's cockade.
In summer, the guards wore a light-colored Kolomyanka tunic without pockets, belted with a drawstring belt (or long double-breasted white tunics), grayish-blue narrow trousers, the same as those of cavalry soldiers, and high yuft boots with spurs.
In winter, they wore cloth tunics or double-breasted dark green uniforms of the same cut as the mounted police guards, but with orange piping. The epaulettes of the guards were of a twisted orange cord, like the policemen, but without cards at the sleeve. The buttons are smooth, without embossing.

The weapons were checkers of the same type as those of the policemen, and a revolver in a black holster. The revolver cord was the same color as the shoulder straps. In special cases, the guards were also armed with dragoon rifles or carbines.

The saddle of the horses was of the general cavalry type, but the headband was usually without a mouthpiece, but with only one snaffle (rein). The guard's outfit was supplemented by a whip or whip.
In winter, in severe frosts, as well as in the northern part of the country and in Siberia, the guards wore black long-haired hats, hoods, and sometimes short fur coats.

The horses of the guards were variegated, undersized, reminiscent of their type of peasant horses. And the guards themselves, who lived in the villages and were engaged in agricultural work in their free time, had a resemblance to the peasants - they wore long hair, "out of shape", often beards and did not differ in a brave appearance.
District police officers - police officers, police officers and their assistants - wore uniforms the same as city police officers, with the only difference being that their epaulettes and buttons were "gold" (copper), and the edges were orange. In the 1990s, red edging was assigned to the metropolitan police, and only the provincial ones had orange ones.

Police chiefs and police officers traveled around their "domains" in winter in sledges, and in summer in cabs or chariots harnessed by a troika or a pair of horses with bells and bells. Police officers relied on a coachman, and at the bailiffs, a guard often sat behind the coachman. Police officers and bailiffs traveled, accompanied by an escort of several mounted guards.

Police officers in provincial and district cities differed little in appearance from those in the capital. Only buttons, badges on headdresses and badges were copper, not silver plated.

detective police

The detective police, as its name implies, was engaged in a detective, that is, a criminal investigation. In addition to the special department of the detective police, the police units had representative offices of the detective police. In each part there were detective rooms. The vast majority of the apparatus of the detective police were officials. They wore their official police uniform only in the office. Operational work was carried out by them in civilian clothes (cabbers, lackeys, vagrants, etc.). In addition to the administrative investigative and operational apparatus, the detective police had a numerous staff of informers in the person of janitors, porters, tavern floor, peddlers and simply criminal elements. Like all police services, the detective police were also engaged in political investigation, carrying out orders from the Okhrana or the gendarmerie.
Among the leadership of the detective police were also police officers who wore the uniform assigned to the outside police without any special distinctions.

The external protection of numerous bridges and embankments in St. Petersburg-Petrograd was carried by a special river police. The personnel of the river police was recruited from sailors and naval non-commissioned officers of extra-long service. The officers were also from former naval officers who, for one reason or another, left the service in the navy.

The river police had rowing and motor boats. In addition to the usual police functions, she carried out a rescue service. The cap and overcoat of the river policemen were the same as those of the land policemen, but the river policemen wore trousers over their boots, like sailors. In the summer they wore white cotton tunics of a marine style made of matting. With a white tunic, a white cover was pulled over the cap. In winter, they wore blue cloth tunics and naval-style pea coats. Instead of a checker, each of them had a heavy cleaver with a copper handle. On the other side, a revolver in a black holster hung from the river policeman's belt. The belt was black, lingering, with one hairpin; buttons - silver plated; on the chest badge - the inscription: "St. Petersburg river police" and the personal number of the policeman.

The officers of the river police wore exactly the same uniform and weapons as naval officers, with the only difference being that they had red piping, and buttons, shoulder straps and epaulettes (on dress uniform) were silver, not gold. The exception was the officers of the economic and administrative staff, who wore naval bureaucratic shoulder straps - "Admiralty" (narrow, special weaving, with the same arrangement of stars as on bureaucratic buttonholes).

Palace Police

The palace police carried the external protection of the royal palaces and palace parks. Privates and non-commissioned officers were recruited here from among the former soldiers of the guard regiments, who were distinguished by their tall stature and gallant bearing.

The palace police had a special uniform.
F wore the colors of the sea wave with red piping, a cockade of a special pattern (with a black double-headed eagle on a golden background) on the crown. In winter, black lambskin caps with a sea-green bottom, with galloon for officers and piping on the crown for privates; white suede gloves.

Sh ineli privates and officers were double-breasted, officer-style, gray, somewhat darker than officers. The uniforms were of the same style as those of the ordinary police, but not black, but navy blue. The shoulder straps of privates and non-commissioned officers were of a silver cord with red stripes, while those of officers were the same as those of ordinary police. Sea green buttonholes with red piping. Silver plated buttons with double-headed eagle.

Armament consisted of a sword and a revolver in a black holster. Our revolver neck cord was silver for officers and red-striped silver for privates and non-commissioned officers.

The Palace Police were subordinate to the Minister of the Court. It was headed by the chief police chief (adjutant general or major general of the royal retinue). The police guarding this or that palace was headed by a special palace police chief - usually an adjutant wing with the rank of colonel, who was operationally subordinate to the commandant of the palace, in whose hands the command of both the military and police guards of this palace was concentrated. If the military guard of the palace changed all the time (individual guard regiments sent in turn the corresponding military outfits led by officers), then the police guard of each given palace was constant in its personnel.
The external posts of the military guard were duplicated by the military police, which actually controlled all the entrances and exits of the palace.

After the overthrow of the autocracy, the palace police was liquidated and the guards of the palaces, as the centers of the most valuable monuments of art and culture, were guarded by the soldiers of the suburban garrisons.

The bailiff of the admiralty unit. Petersburg

Gendarmerie Captain. Petersburg

Gendarmerie

The most powerful protection system of the tsarist regime was the gendarmerie - the political police of the empire. She was subordinate to the local provincial authorities, but in fact she controlled them and directed their activities "to protect the foundations" of the empire, in turn, reporting only to the "center" in the person of the chief of gendarmes, the commander of a separate corps of gendarmes, who was directly subordinate only to the king.

The gendarmerie, like the police, had its own varieties: the gendarmerie of the capital and provincial departments, the railway gendarmerie (each railway had its own gendarmerie department), the border guard (it served to protect the borders and control entry into and exit from the empire) and, finally, the field gendarmerie, which performed the functions of the military police (it can also include the serf gendarmes who performed the same functions in the fortresses).

The uniform of all gendarmes, excluding field and serfs, was the same.
The personnel of the gendarmerie consisted mainly of officers and non-commissioned officers; there were almost no privates, since the junior ranks were recruited mainly from those who had served extra-long service in the cavalry units (the gendarmes were considered to belong to the cavalry, although there were very few actual cavalry units of the gendarmerie). The officers had military cavalry ranks: cornet instead of second lieutenant, staff captain instead of captain. Among the non-commissioned officers there was also a cavalry rank: sergeant major instead of sergeant major.

The recruitment of officers was carried out in the gendarmerie in a very special way. All other military formations were served by officers who were released to one or another regiment from cadet schools or transferred from other regiments in the course of military service. The gendarme officers were officers of the guards (mainly) cavalry, forced to leave the regiment for one reason or another (unseemly stories, debts, or simply the lack of the necessary funds to continue the expensive service in the guards).

Going to serve in the gendarmerie, the officer was formally registered in the military service, but there was no way back to the regiment for him. Despite all the power of the gendarmerie - the most trusted and all-powerful apparatus of the tsarist government - the gendarmerie officer found himself outside the society to which he belonged by birth and former service in the army. The gendarmes were not only feared, but also despised. First of all, they despised those circles (the aristocracy, the highest bureaucratic nobility, officers), whose social and property interests were protected by the gendarmerie. This contempt, of course, was not caused by the progressive views of the ruling nobility and bureaucracy. It was primarily contempt for people who were forced to leave the environment from which they came; it was directed at this or that person who served in the gendarmerie, and not at the institution as a whole.

The transfer of a guards officer to the gendarmerie was associated with the need to hush up this or that ugly story in which he was involved, or to correct his financial situation: gendarmes received salaries much higher than officers in the regiments, and in addition, they had at their disposal various special appropriations for which an account was not required.

From their Guards past, gendarmerie officers retained their outward gloss (which distinguished them from the police) and dapperness. This was also helped by the shape, which was similar in cut to the uniforms of the Guards.

Since the rank and file of the gendarmerie was recruited from non-commissioned non-commissioned officers, his age ranged from thirty to fifty years. The gendarmes carried out guard duty at railway stations, marinas (station gendarmes), made arrests, escorted the arrested. At political trials, gendarmes stood guard at the dock.
Unlike city gendarmes, they were not on duty at posts, but appeared on city streets only in exceptional cases, usually on horseback with rifles over their shoulders. Such cases, in addition to the dispersal of demonstrations and strikes, included celebrations with the participation of high-ranking or even high-ranking persons, and so on.

Gendarmerie officers. Petersburg

Uniform of gendarmerie ranks

Gendarmerie officers wore caps with a dark blue band and a blue crown. The blue color was a special, turquoise, shade, it was called: "gendarmerie blue". The piping on the cap was red, the cockade was an ordinary officer's.

The tunic of the usual cavalry type with triangular cuffs served as the everyday uniform of the gendarme. His epaulettes are silver with a red edging and a blue light. With high boots, they wore narrower or half-breeches, gray, with a red edging, with boots - loose-fitting trousers. On boots and boots there were necessarily spurs - on boots, heeled, screwed, without a belt.

Like cavalrymen, all gendarmes wore cavalry checkers and lanyards, and in ceremonial cases, curved broadswords in a nickel-plated scabbard.

A distinctive feature of the gendarme uniform were silver aiguillettes on the right shoulder (only adjutants wore aiguillettes in military units).
Gendarmerie officers wore blue double-breasted frock coats with a blue collar and red piping. With a frock coat, trousers were usually loose. The frock coat could have both shoulder straps and epaulettes.

The dress uniform of the gendarmes was double-breasted, dark blue, with a blue collar and triangular cuffs. The embroidery on the collar and cuffs was silver.
The uniform of the gendarmes was worn with shoulder straps or epaulettes (metal, scaly and even silver), as well as with a silver belt of the general officer type and a frog (bandolier for revolver cartridges) thrown over the left shoulder on a silver belt. On the silver lid of the carcass is a golden double-headed eagle. The ceremonial uniform was worn only with trousers in boots.

The headdress was a black astrakhan hat with a cutout in front - a dragoon. Its bottom was blue, with a silver galloon. A metal double-headed eagle was fastened in front of the dragoon, and under it was an officer's cockade, somewhat smaller than on the cap. The cap was topped with a white horsehair plume.
In dress uniform, gendarmerie officers wore a revolver in a black lacquered holster. The revolver hung from a silver neck cord. From edged weapons they had a hussar saber - a curved broadsword in a nickel-plated scabbard with a cavalry lanyard. The broadsword was attached to a silver belt belt.

With a tunic, gendarmerie officers wore a broadsword or an ordinary cavalry saber. If they put on a broadsword, then the indispensable attributes were a frog and a silver officer's belt.
With a frock coat they wore a saber on a shoulder silver harness or a sword.
The overcoat of the gendarme was of the general officer type with blue buttonholes and red piping.
Before the World War, gendarmerie officers sometimes wore "Nikolaev" overcoats in winter.
Gendarmerie officers almost never took off the insignia of the cadet corps, cadet schools and the insignia of their former regiments; often flaunted in chain bracelets with flat links cut off.

Non-commissioned officers of the gendarmerie had caps of the same color as officers, but with a soldier's cockade. The daily uniform of the gendarme was: a general military type tunic with a clasp of four buttons on the left side (epaulettes on the tunic are red with a blue edging); gray narrow trousers, boots with spurs, a drawstring belt with a single prong buckle; red woolen aiguillettes with copper tips on the right shoulder.

Parade uniform non-commissioned officer was of the same style and colors as the officers. He was wearing a dark blue cloth belt with red piping. On the left sleeve of the tunic of the uniform and overcoat there were silver and gold triangular chevrons, which meant years of service in extra-long service - in the army or in the gendarmerie, service in which was considered extra-long. Almost every gendarme had a large neck medal "For Diligence". The ceremonial headdress of the privates was the same as that of the officers, but not from astrakhan, but from lambskin, and on the bottom, instead of silver, there was a red piping.

The gendarmes were armed with cavalry sabers on a brown sash, a revolver or a Smith and Wesson revolver. A revolver in a black holster hung from his belt, attached to a red woolen neck cord. The overcoat of the gendarmes of the general cavalry sample, with buttonholes, like those of officers. She had one row of fake buttons and fastened with hooks. In full dress, gendarmes wore broadswords instead of checkers.

In preparing the article, materials from the book by Ya. N. Rivosh were used
"Time and things: An illustrated description of costumes and accessories in Russia
late XIX - early XX century. "- Moscow: Art, 1990.

On March 1, the law "On Police" comes into force. The law, in particular, provides for the renaming of the militia into the police, as well as the reduction of personnel by 20%. All employees will be withdrawn from the state, and after passing an extraordinary recertification, they will return to the service already as police officers.

The word militia is traditionally used in Russian in two main meanings: a) an administrative institution in charge of protecting public order, state and other property, the security of citizens and their property; b) voluntary military squad, people's (zemstvo) militia (obsolete).

Historically word "police" goes back to the Latin militia - "military service, army", as well as "military campaign, campaign" (according to the verb milito - "to be a soldier, infantryman", the same root as in the word militarism). The word militia most likely entered the Russian literary language through French or Polish mediation (see the old French form milicie; Polish milicija).

The term "militia" was used in ancient Rome, where it meant the service of infantry soldiers. In medieval Europe (mid-15th century), militia were called militia units from the local population, convened during the war.

In Russia, the Zemstvo army, which existed in 1806-1807, was called the militia, and at the end of the 19th century, the troops put up by the indigenous population of the Caucasus and the Trans-Caspian region (permanent mounted police). The main difference between the militia and the regular troops was that it was recruited not on the basis of military service, but on a voluntary basis.

The origin of the militia as a public order service body is associated with the Paris Commune of 1871, where the police prefecture was liquidated, and the responsibility for ensuring order and security of citizens was assigned to the reserve battalions of the National Guard. In Russia, during the February Bourgeois-Democratic Revolution (1917), the Provisional Government abolished the Police Department and proclaimed the replacement of the police by "people's militia with elected authorities subordinate to local governments." Its legal basis was the government decree of 30 (17 old style) April 1917 "On the establishment of the police" and the Provisional Regulations on the police. However, these solutions have not been fully implemented.

In Soviet Russia, the Workers' and Peasants' Militia (RKM) became the executive body for the protection of revolutionary social order. The foundations of the RKM were laid by the NKVD decree of November 10 (October 28, O.S.) 1917 "On the workers' militia."

According to Ozhegov's dictionary, police- "in tsarist Russia and in some other countries, an administrative body for the protection of state security, public order."

In Russian, the word police has been known since the beginning of the 18th century, and it entered the dictionaries in its first third. (Dictionary of Weismann, 1731).

The word "police" itself goes back to the German polizei - "police", which comes from the Latin politia - "state structure, state". The Latin word politia itself has its origin in the Greek word politeia - "state affairs, form of government, state" (it is based on the word poliz - originally "city", and then - "state").

As one of the main instruments of state power, the police appeared along with the formation of the state.

At one time, Karl Marx emphasized that the police is one of the earliest signs of the state: for example, in Ancient Athens "... public power originally existed only as a police force, which is as old as the state" (K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 21, p. 118).

In the Middle Ages, the institution of the police was most developed: it was the period of its heyday, especially in the conditions of the police states of the era of absolute monarchy. The bourgeoisie, having won political power in its turn, not only preserved but improved the police, which (like the army) became the bulwark of the state.

In Russia, the police was established by Peter the Great in 1718. It was divided into general, keeping order (its detective departments investigated criminal cases), and political (information and security departments, later on - the gendarmerie, etc.). There were also special police services - palace, port, fair, etc. City police departments were headed by police chiefs; there were also district bailiffs (guards) and police officers (police guards). (Military Encyclopedia. Military Publishing. Moscow, 8 volumes, 2004)

In Russia, the police was abolished on 23 (10 old style) March 1917.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

Let's talk about how order was kept in our country during the "deep antiquity". At first everything was simple and uncomplicated. Some prince in the territory subject to him recruited a squad - strong and well-trained guys. They not only collected taxes from the population, but also performed some more serious tasks - catching bandits, suppressing riots, executions - where without it. In general, these were the beginnings of legislative regulation.

After the establishment of more or less centralized power in Russia, then Novgorod, military power begins to be divided into divisions. And we see the results of this even now. For example, the first guardsmen, who were part of the regular army of that time, are now best represented by the militia. But the special squad under the princes, the well-remembered regiments of archers - this is the most direct predecessor of modern special services.

Further, everything developed along the given three trajectories: order within the country, order on the country's borders, and security of state power. The very first Ministry of the Interior controlled the police (including the political police - the gendarmerie), the press, the post office, the telegraph, "managed" military service, dealt with statistics and even spiritual affairs and people's food.

The term "police" for the first time in Russia was introduced by Peter I when in 1718 a special service for supervision of public order was established. Inside the tsarist Ministry of Internal Affairs was the Police Department. His system included:
- city police departments headed by police chiefs,
- police units and districts headed by private and district bailiffs (guards),
- districts headed by district guards.

In 1890, the Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs looked like this:

1. Minister of the Interior, who simultaneously served as chief
corps of gendarmes
2. Deputy Minister
3. The Police Department, headed by the director, which included the departments:
3.1. General (arrangement and supervision of the activities of the police
institutions) 3.2. Personnel 3.3. Protection of state borders.
3.4. Issuance of passports to foreigners.
3.5. Investigation.
3.6. Supervision of drinking establishments.
3.7. Fire fighting.
3.8. Approval and permission of statutory companies and public performances.

Its system included - city police departments headed by police chiefs, police units and stations headed by private and district bailiffs (guards), districts headed by district guards, and the lower link was the police posts. The policemen wore a black lambskin hat with a black cloth bottom, red piping crosswise and around the circumference, or a black cap with three red piping, with a black lacquered visor, without a chin strap. The overcoat of the policeman was sewn from black overcoat cloth with a hook-and-eye closure, black buttonholes and red edging, on the buttonholes there is a light metal button with a double-headed eagle. The policemen carried their personal weapons in a black holster fastened to the belt.

The city non-commissioned officers, who were subordinate to the police officers, conducted external street surveillance. Their posts were located at convenient for observation corners and intersections of streets so that the townsmen of adjacent posts could also hear each other. They stopped swearing and quarrels on the streets, did not allow singing and playing the balalaika, harmonica, guitars, detained drunks and sent them to police stations for sobering up, and helped the sick.

Those wishing to become a policeman had to have a good-looking appearance, a strong physique, good diction, height not less than 171 cm, not younger than 25 years old, be in the army reserve and be immaculate in behavior. They underwent special training that lasted from two weeks to a month.

Each policeman served 8 hours a day. It was his duty to report daily in the morning and in the evening to the warden about all the riots he noticed, "rumors of the people", meetings, preparations for balls and parties. Law enforcement officers were charged with ensuring that goods brought into the city were sold at places designated by the police. In addition, the police officers monitored the serviceability of the scales, the cleanliness of the shops, especially in the meat and fish rows, and the sale of essential goods at the established rate. For valiant service, many police officers were awarded the silver medal "For Diligent Service." The work of the policemen was well paid.

The chief of police was the immediate head of the provincial police. The chief of police, if he was a major general or a real state adviser, wore a round astrakhan cap of the Kubanka type, white with a red bottom, a silver double-headed eagle was fixed on the cap, and an officer or bureaucratic cockade above it.

A light gray overcoat served as outerwear. Police officers in the ranks of generals sometimes wore overcoats with capes and beaver collars. The everyday uniform of officers and generals of the police was a dark green frock coat of an all-army pattern with a collar of the same color and with red piping along the side, collar, cuffs and back flaps - "leaves".

Police officers wore trousers of three styles: Harem pants and narrowed trousers - in boots or trousers for release - with boots. Boots were certainly worn with spurs, but not always boots. The police officer's dress uniform was the same color as the frock coat, with a single-color collar, but without buttons, and fastened on the right side with hooks. Police officers and generals wore an infantry saber on a silver sling. With a frock coat and a white tunic, sometimes a sword. Police officers also relied on gray capes - capes with a hood of a general officer's cut and color.

Beginning in 1866, cities were divided into police stations. The district police officer was at the head of the section. Police stations, in turn, were divided into districts, which were in charge of district guards.

At the head of the county police department was a police officer.

Geographically, each county was divided into two to four camps, each headed by a bailiff - a police officer, with the rank of captain or captain, less often a lieutenant colonel. The closest assistant to the bailiff was a police officer.

The first gendarmerie units on the territory of the Russian Empire were created during the reign of Paul I. Later, the new emperor Alexander I renamed the Borisoglebsky dragoon regiment into a gendarme regiment. The tasks of the corps of gendarmes (KZh) included monitoring the situation on the territory of the empire and carrying out all the work on the political search in the field. In essence, the KJ performed the functions of territorial security agencies that acted in close connection and interaction with the III branch of the Chancellery of His Imperial Majesty. The main operational-search load of the gendarmerie units was reduced to the study of cases through the political search.

The provincial administrations were the main link in the structure of QOL. The staffing for the Olonets GZhU provided for the presence of positions: the head of the department, his assistant, an adjutant and two clerks, as well as eight non-commissioned officers of additional staff positions, through which the gendarmerie points in the counties were completed. Thus, the GJU staff did not exceed 12-13 people.

Upon entering the service of a non-commissioned officer in the QOL, detailed information was collected about the reliability, behavior, criminal record, religion, the political reliability of the wife, father, mother, brothers, sisters - "with whom he communicates." Received gave a subscription that he undertakes to serve in the gendarmerie for at least five years.

The history of the police of the Russian Empire ended three days after the October Revolution. But that's a completely different story...

Generality:
General chase and:

-Field Marshal General* - crossed wands.
-general of infantry, cavalry, etc.(the so-called "full general") - without asterisks,
- lieutenant general- 3 stars
- major general- 2 stars

Headquarters officers:
Two gaps and:


-colonel- without asterisks.
- lieutenant colonel(since 1884, the Cossacks have a military foreman) - 3 stars
-major** (until 1884 the Cossacks had a military foreman) - 2 stars

Ober-officers:
One light and:


-captain(captain, captain) - without stars.
- staff captain(headquarters captain, podesaul) - 4 stars
-lieutenant(sotnik) - 3 stars
- second lieutenant(cornet, cornet) - 2 stars
- Ensign*** - 1 star

Lower ranks


-zauryad-ensign- 1 galloon stripe along the length of the shoulder strap with the 1st star on the stripe
- Ensign- 1 galloon stripe in the length of the epaulette
- sergeant major(wahmistr) - 1 wide transverse stripe
-st. non-commissioned officer(st. fireworks, st. constable) - 3 narrow cross stripes
- ml. non-commissioned officer(ml. fireworks, ml. sergeant) - 2 narrow cross stripes
- corporal(bombardier, orderly) - 1 narrow transverse stripe
-private(gunner, cossack) - without stripes

*In 1912, the last General-Field Marshal Dmitry Aleksevich Milyutin, who held the post of Minister of War from 1861 to 1881, dies. This rank was not awarded to anyone else, but nominally this rank was preserved.
** The rank of major was abolished in 1884 and was no longer restored.
*** From 1884, the rank of warrant officer was left only for wartime (it is only assigned during the war, and with its end, all warrant officers are subject to either dismissal or they should be assigned the rank of second lieutenant).
P.S. Ciphers and monograms on shoulder straps are not conditionally placed.
Very often one hears the question "why does the junior rank in the category of staff officers and generals begin with two stars, and not with one like the chief officers?" When, in 1827, stars on epaulettes appeared in the Russian army as insignia, the major general received two stars on the epaulette at once.
There is a version that one star was supposed to be a brigadier - this rank had not been assigned since the time of Paul I, but by 1827 they still existed
retired brigadiers who had the right to wear uniforms. True, epaulettes were not supposed to be retired military men. And it is unlikely that many of them survived until 1827 (passed
for about 30 years since the abolition of the brigadier rank). Most likely, the two general's stars were simply copied from the epaulette of a French brigadier general. There is nothing strange in this, because the epaulettes themselves came to Russia from France. Most likely, there was never a single general's star in the Russian imperial army. This version seems more plausible.

As for the major, he received two stars by analogy with the two stars of the Russian major general of that time.

The only exception was the insignia in the hussar regiments in the front and ordinary (everyday) form, in which shoulder cords were worn instead of shoulder straps.
Shoulder cords.
Instead of an epaulette of a cavalry type, the hussars on dolmans and mentics have
hussar shoulder cords. For all officers, the same from a gold or silver double soutache cord of the same color as the cords on the dolman for the lower ranks, shoulder cords from a double soutache cord in color -
orange for regiments having the color of the instrument metal - gold or white for regiments having the color of the instrument metal - silver.
These shoulder cords form a ring at the sleeve, and a loop at the collar, fastened with a uniform button sewn half an inch from the collar seam.
To distinguish the ranks, gombochki are put on the cords (a ring from the same cold cord covering the shoulder cord):
-y corporal- one, of the same color with a cord;
-y non-commissioned officers tricolor gombochkas (white with St. George's thread), in number, like stripes on shoulder straps;
-y sergeant major- gold or silver (as for officers) on an orange or white cord (as for lower ranks);
-y ensign- a shoulder cord of a smooth officer with a gombochka of a sergeant-major;
officers on officer cords have gombos with stars (metal, as on shoulder straps) - in accordance with the rank.

Volunteers wear twisted cords of Romanov colors (white-black-yellow) around the cords.

The shoulder cords of the ober and headquarters officers do not differ in any way.
Headquarters officers and generals have the following differences in uniform: on the collar of a dolman, generals have a wide or gold galloon up to 1 1/8 inches wide, and staff officers have a gold or silver galloon 5/8 inches wide, which has the full length "
hussar zigzags", and for chief officers, the collar is sheathed with only one cord or filigree.
In the 2nd and 5th regiments of the chief officers along the upper edge of the collar, there is also galloon, but 5/16 inches wide.
In addition, on the cuffs of the generals there is galloon, the same as the one on the collar. The stripe of galloon comes from the cut of the sleeve with two ends, in front it converges over the toe.
For staff officers, the galloon is also the same as the one on the collar. The length of the entire patch is up to 5 inches.
And the chief officers are not supposed to galloon.

Below are pictures of the shoulder cords

1. Officers and generals

2. Lower officials

The shoulder cords of the chief, staff officers and generals did not differ in any way from each other. For example, it was possible to distinguish a cornet from a major general only by the appearance and width of the braid on the cuffs and, in some regiments, on the collar.
Twisted cords relied only on adjutants and aide-de-camp!

Shoulder cords of the adjutant wing (left) and adjutant (right)

Officer's epaulettes: lieutenant colonel of the air squadron of the 19th army corps and staff captain of the 3rd field air squadron. In the center are shoulder boards of the cadets of the Nikolaev Engineering School. On the right is the epaulette of a captain (most likely a dragoon or lancer regiment)

The Russian army in its modern sense began to be created by Emperor Peter I at the end of the 18th century. The system of military ranks of the Russian army took shape partly under the influence of European systems, partly under the influence of the historically established purely Russian system of ranks. However, at that time there were no military ranks in the sense in which we are accustomed to understand. There were specific military units, there were also quite specific positions and, accordingly, their names. company commander. By the way, in the civil fleet even now, the person in charge of the ship's crew is called the "captain", the person in charge of the seaport is called the "port captain". In the 18th century, many words existed in a slightly different sense than they do now.
So "General" meant - "chief", and not just "highest military leader";
"Major"- "senior" (senior among regimental officers);
"Lieutenant"- "assistant"
"Outbuilding"- "younger".

"Table of ranks of all ranks of military, civilian and courtiers, in which class the ranks are acquired" was put into effect by the Decree of Emperor Peter I on January 24, 1722 and lasted until December 16, 1917. The word "officer" came into Russian from German. But in German, as in English, the word has a much broader meaning. In relation to the army, this term means all military leaders in general. In a narrower translation, it means - "employee", "clerk", "employee". Therefore, it is quite natural - "non-commissioned officers" - junior commanders, "chief officers" - senior commanders, "headquarters officers" - staff members, "generals" - the main ones. Non-commissioned officer ranks also in those days were not ranks, but were positions. Ordinary soldiers were then named according to their military specialties - musketeer, pikeman, dragoon, etc. There was no name "private", and "soldier", as Peter I wrote, means all military personnel ".. from the highest general to the last musketeer, cavalry or on foot ..." Therefore, soldier and non-commissioned officer ranks were not included in the Table. The well-known names "second lieutenant", "lieutenant" existed in the list of ranks of the Russian army long before the formation of the regular army by Peter I to designate military personnel who are assistants to the captain, that is, the company commander; and continued to be used within the framework of the Table as Russian-language synonyms for the positions "non-commissioned lieutenant" and "lieutenant", that is, "assistant" and "assistant". Well, or if you want - "assistant officer for assignments" and "officer for assignments." The name "ensign" as more understandable (wearing a banner, ensign), quickly replaced the obscure "fendrik", which meant "candidate for an officer's position. Over time, there was a process of separation of the concepts of "position" and "rank". After the beginning of the 19th century, these concepts were already separated quite clearly. With the development of means of warfare, the advent of technology, when the army became large enough and when it was necessary to compare the official position of a fairly large set of job titles. It was here that the concept of "rank" often began to obscure, divert the concept " position".

However, in the modern army, the position, so to speak, is more important than the rank. According to the charter, seniority is determined by position, and only with equal positions is the one with a higher rank considered older.

According to the "Table of Ranks", the following ranks were introduced: civil, military infantry and cavalry, military artillery and engineering troops, military guards, military fleets.

In the period from 1722-1731, in relation to the army, the system of military ranks looked like this (the corresponding position in brackets)

Lower ranks (ordinary)

By specialty (grenadier. Fuseler ...)

non-commissioned officers

Corporal(part-commander)

Fourier(deputy platoon commander)

Captainarmus

Ensign(foreman of a company, battalion)

Sergeant

Feldwebel

Ensign(Fendrik), junker bayonet (art) (platoon leader)

Second Lieutenant

lieutenant(deputy company commander)

lieutenant captain(company commander)

Captain

Major(deputy battalion commander)

Lieutenant colonel(battalion commander)

Colonel(commander of the regiment)

Brigadier(brigade leader)

Generals

Major General(division commander)

lieutenant general(corps commander)

General-anshef (General Feldzekhmeister)- (commander of the army)

Field Marshal General(commander-in-chief, honorary title)

In the Life Guards, the ranks were two classes higher than in the army. In the army artillery and engineering troops, the ranks are one class higher than in the infantry and cavalry. During the period 1731-1765 the concepts of "rank" and "position" are beginning to separate. So in the state of the field infantry regiment of 1732, when indicating the staff ranks, it is already written not just the rank of "quartermaster", but the position indicating the rank: "quartermaster (of the lieutenant rank)". With regard to officers of the company level, the separation of the concepts of "position" and "rank" is not yet observed. In the army "fendrick" is replaced by " ensign", in the cavalry - "cornet". Ranks are being introduced "Second Major" and "Prime Major" During the reign of Empress Catherine II (1765-1798) ranks are introduced in the army infantry and cavalry junior and senior sergeant, sergeant major disappears. Since 1796 in the Cossack units, the names of the ranks are the same as the ranks of the army cavalry and are equated to them, although the Cossack units continue to be listed as irregular cavalry (not part of the army). There is no rank of second lieutenant in the cavalry, and captain corresponds to the captain. During the reign of Emperor Paul I (1796-1801) the concepts of "rank" and "position" in this period are already separated quite clearly. The ranks in the infantry and artillery are compared. Paul I did a lot of useful things to strengthen the army and discipline in it. He forbade the registration of minor noble children in the regiments. All recorded in the regiments were required to serve really. He introduced disciplinary and criminal responsibility of officers for soldiers (preservation of life and health, training, clothing, living conditions) forbade the use of soldiers as labor force on the estates of officers and generals; introduced the awarding of soldiers with insignia of the orders of St. Anne and the Maltese Cross; introduced an advantage in promotion in the ranks of officers who graduated from military educational institutions; ordered to be promoted in ranks only on business qualities and ability to command; introduced holidays for soldiers; limited the duration of officers' vacations to one month a year; dismissed from the army a large number of generals who did not meet the requirements of military service (old age, illiteracy, disability, absence from service for a long time, etc.). Ranks are introduced in the lower ranks ordinary junior and senior salary. In the cavalry sergeant major(company foreman) For Emperor Alexander I (1801-1825) since 1802, all non-commissioned officers of the nobility are called "junker". Since 1811, the rank of "major" was abolished in the artillery and engineering troops and the rank of "ensign" was returned. During the reign of Emperors Nicholas I (1825-1855) , who did a lot to streamline the army, Alexander II (1855-1881) and the beginning of the reign of Emperor Alexander III (1881-1894) Since 1828, army Cossacks have been given ranks other than army cavalry (In the Life Guards Cossack and Life Guards Ataman regiments, the ranks are like those of the entire guards cavalry). The Cossack units themselves are transferred from the category of irregular cavalry to the army. The concepts of "rank" and "position" in this period are already completely separated. Under Nicholas I, the discord in the naming of non-commissioned officers disappears. Since 1884, the rank of warrant officer has been left only for wartime (assigned only during the war, and with its end, all warrant officers are subject to either dismissal or they should be assigned the rank of second lieutenant). The rank of cornet in the cavalry is retained as the first officer rank. He is a class below the infantry lieutenant, but in the cavalry there is no rank of second lieutenant. This equalizes the ranks of infantry and cavalry. In the Cossack units, the classes of officers are equated with the cavalry, but have their own names. In this regard, the rank of military foreman, previously equal to major, now becomes equal to lieutenant colonel

"In 1912, the last General Field Marshal Milyutin Dmitry Alekseevich, who served as Minister of War from 1861 to 1881, dies. This rank was not assigned to anyone else, but nominally this rank was preserved"

In 1910, the rank of Russian Field Marshal was awarded to the King of Montenegro, Nicholas I, and in 1912, to the King of Romania, Carol I.

P.S. After the October Revolution of 1917, by the Decree of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars (Bolshevik government) of December 16, 1917, all military ranks were abolished ...

The officer epaulettes of the tsarist army were arranged completely differently than modern ones. First of all, the gaps were not part of the galloon, as we have been doing since 1943. In the engineering troops, two harness galloons or one harness and two headquarters officer galloons were simply sewn onto the shoulder strap. For each type of troops, the type of galloon was determined specifically. For example, in the hussar regiments on officer shoulder straps, a galloon of the "hussar zig-zag" type was used. On the shoulder straps of military officials, a "civilian" galloon was used. Thus, the gaps of officer epaulettes were always the same color as the field of soldier epaulettes. If shoulder straps in this part did not have a colored edging (edging), as, say, it was in the engineering troops, then the edgings had the same color as the gaps. But if in part the epaulettes had a colored edging, then it was visible around the officer's epaulette. A silver-colored epaulette button without sides with an extruded double-headed eagle sitting on crossed axes. and letters, or silver monograms (to whom it is necessary). At the same time, it was widespread to wear gilded forged metal stars, which were supposed to be worn only on epaulettes.

The placement of the stars was not rigidly fixed and was determined by the size of the encryption. Two stars were supposed to be placed around the encryption, and if it filled the entire width of the shoulder strap, then above it. The third asterisk had to be placed so as to form an equilateral triangle with the two lower ones, and the fourth asterisk was slightly higher. If there is one asterisk on the chase (for the ensign), then it was placed where the third asterisk is usually attached. Special signs were also gilded metal patches, although it was not uncommon to find them embroidered with gold thread. The exception was the special signs of aviation, which were oxidized and had the color of silver with a patina.

1. Epaulette staff captain 20 engineer battalion

2. Epaulette for lower ranks Lancers 2nd Leib Ulansky Courland Regiment 1910

3. Epaulette full general from the cavalry suite His Imperial Majesty Nicholas II. The silver device of the epaulette testifies to the high military rank of the owner (only the marshal was higher)

About the stars on uniform

For the first time, forged five-pointed stars appeared on the epaulettes of Russian officers and generals in January 1827 (during the time of Pushkin). Ensigns and cornets began to wear one golden star, two - lieutenants and major generals, three - lieutenants and lieutenant generals. four - staff captains and staff captains.

A with April 1854 Russian officers began to wear embroidered stars on the newly established shoulder straps. For the same purpose, diamonds were used in the German army, knots in the British, and six-pointed stars in the Austrian.

Although the designation of a military rank on shoulder straps is a characteristic feature of the Russian army and the German one.

Among the Austrians and the British, shoulder straps had a purely functional role: they were sewn from the same material as the tunic so that the shoulder straps would not slip. And the rank was indicated on the sleeve. The five-pointed star, the pentagram is a universal symbol of protection, security, one of the oldest. In ancient Greece, it could be found on coins, on the doors of houses, stables and even on cradles. Among the Druids of Gaul, Britain, Ireland, the five-pointed star (druidic cross) was a symbol of protection from external evil forces. And until now it can be seen on the window panes of medieval Gothic buildings. The French Revolution revived the five-pointed stars as a symbol of the ancient god of war Mars. They denoted the rank of the commanders of the French army - on hats, epaulettes, scarves, on the tails of the uniform.

The military reforms of Nicholas I copied the appearance of the French army - this is how the stars "rolled down" from the French sky to the Russian one.

As for the British army, even during the Anglo-Boer War, stars began to migrate to shoulder straps. This is about officers. For the lower ranks and warrant officers, the insignia remained on the sleeves.
In the Russian, German, Danish, Greek, Romanian, Bulgarian, American, Swedish and Turkish armies, shoulder straps were insignia. In the Russian army, shoulder straps were for both lower ranks and officers. Also in the Bulgarian and Romanian armies, as well as in the Swedish. In the French, Spanish and Italian armies, insignia were placed on the sleeves. In the Greek army, the officers on shoulder straps, on the sleeves of the lower ranks. In the Austro-Hungarian army, the insignia of officers and lower ranks were on the collar, those were lapel. In the German army, only officers had insignia on shoulder straps, while the lower ranks differed from each other by the galloon on the cuffs and collar, as well as the uniform button on the collar. The exception was the so-called Kolonial truppe, where as additional (and in a number of colonies the main) insignia of the lower ranks were chevrons made of silver galloon sewn on the left sleeve of a-la gefreiters of 30-45 years.

It is interesting to note that with service and field uniforms in peacetime, that is, with a tunic of the 1907 model, the officers of the hussar regiments wore shoulder straps, which were also somewhat different from the shoulder straps of the rest of the Russian army. For hussar shoulder straps, galloon with the so-called "hussar zigzag" was used
The only unit where epaulets with the same zigzag were worn, except for the hussar regiments, was the 4th battalion (from 1910 a regiment) of the riflemen of the Imperial family. Here is a sample: the epaulette of the captain of the 9th Kyiv Hussars.

Unlike the German hussars, who wore uniforms of the same tailoring, differing only in the color of the fabric. With the introduction of khaki shoulder straps, the zigzags also disappeared, the encryption on the shoulder straps indicated belonging to the hussars. For example, "6 G", that is, the 6th Hussar.
In general, the field uniform of the hussars was of the dragoon type, those combined arms. The only difference indicating belonging to the hussars was indicated by boots with a rosette in front. However, the hussar regiments were allowed to wear chakchirs with field uniforms, but not all regiments, but only the 5th and 11th. The wearing of chakchira by the rest of the regiments was a kind of "non-statutory". But during the war, this happened, as well as the wearing by some officers of a saber, instead of the standard Dracoon saber, which was supposed to be with field equipment.

The photograph shows the captain of the 11th Izyum Hussar Regiment K.K. von Rosenshild-Paulin (sitting) and Junker of the Nikolaev Cavalry School K.N. von Rosenshield-Paulin (also later an officer of the Izyum regiment). Captain in summer full dress or dress uniform, i.e. in a tunic of the 1907 model, with galloon epaulettes and the number 11 (note that on the officer epaulettes of the peacetime cavalry regiments, there are only numbers, without the letters "G", "D" or "U"), and blue chakchirs worn by officers of this regiment in all forms of clothing.
Regarding "non-statutory", during the years of the World War, apparently, the wearing of galloon epaulettes of peacetime by hussar officers was also encountered.

on the galloon officer shoulder straps of the cavalry regiments, only numbers were affixed, and there were no letters. which is confirmed by photographs.

Zauryad Ensign- from 1907 to 1917 in the Russian army, the highest military rank for non-commissioned officers. The insignia for ordinary ensigns were ensign shoulder straps with a large (larger than officer's) asterisk in the upper third of the shoulder strap on the line of symmetry. The rank was assigned to the most experienced non-commissioned officers, with the outbreak of the First World War, it began to be assigned to ensigns as an encouragement, often immediately before the first senior officer rank (ensign or cornet) was awarded.

From Brockhaus and Efron:
Zauryad Ensign, military During mobilization, with a lack of persons who meet the conditions for promotion to an officer's rank, some. non-commissioned officers are awarded the rank of Z. Ensign; correcting the duties of a junior. officers, Z. great. limited in the rights of movement in the service.

Interesting history of ensign. In the period 1880-1903. this rank was assigned to graduates of cadet schools (not to be confused with military schools). In the cavalry, he corresponded to the rank of standard junker, in the Cossack troops - to the cadet. Those. it turned out that it was a kind of intermediate rank between the lower ranks and officers. Ensigns who graduated from the Junkers School in the 1st category were promoted to officers not earlier than September of the graduation year, but outside the vacancies. Those who graduated from the 2nd category were promoted to officers not earlier than the beginning of the next year, but only for vacancies, and it turned out that some were waiting for production for several years. According to the order of the BB No. 197 for 1901, with the production in 1903 of the last ensigns, standard junkers and cadets, these ranks were canceled. This was due to the beginning of the transformation of cadet schools into military ones.
Since 1906, the rank of lieutenant in the infantry and cavalry and cadet in the Cossack troops began to be assigned to overtime non-commissioned officers who graduated from a special school. Thus, this title became the maximum for the lower ranks.

Ensign, standard junker and cadet, 1886:

The epaulette of the staff captain of the Cavalry Guards Regiment and the epaulettes of the staff captain of the Life Guards of the Moscow Regiment.

The first shoulder strap is declared as the shoulder strap of an officer (captain) of the 17th Nizhny Novgorod Dragoon Regiment. But Nizhny Novgorod residents should have a dark green piping along the edge of the shoulder strap, and the monogram should be of an applied color. And the second shoulder strap is presented as the shoulder strap of a second lieutenant of the guards artillery (with such a monogram in the guards artillery there were shoulder straps of officers of only two batteries: the 1st battery of the Life Guards of the 2nd Artillery Brigade and the 2nd battery of the Guards Horse Artillery), but the shoulder strap button should not whether to have in this case an eagle with cannons.

Major(Spanish mayor - more, stronger, more significant) - the first rank of senior officers.
The title originated in the 16th century. The major was responsible for guarding and feeding the regiment. When the regiments were divided into battalions, the battalion commander, as a rule, became a major.
In the Russian army, the rank of major was introduced by Peter I in 1698, and abolished in 1884.
Prime Major - a staff officer rank in the Russian imperial army of the 18th century. He belonged to the VIII class of the "Table of Ranks".
According to the charter of 1716, the majors were divided into prime majors and second majors.
The Prime Major was in charge of the combat and inspector units in the regiment. He commanded the 1st battalion, and in the absence of the regimental commander - the regiment.
The division into prime and second majors was abolished in 1797."

"It appeared in Russia as a rank and position (deputy regiment commander) in the streltsy army at the end of the 15th - early 16th centuries. In the streltsy regiments, as a rule, lieutenant colonels (often of "mean" origin) performed all administrative functions for the head of the streltsy, appointed from among the nobles or boyars In the XVII century and the beginning of the XVIII century, the rank (rank) and position was referred to as a lieutenant colonel due to the fact that the lieutenant colonel usually, in addition to his other duties, commanded the second “half” of the regiment - the back rows in formation and the reserve (before the introduction of the battalion formation of regular soldier regiments) From the moment the Table of Ranks was introduced until its abolition in 1917, the rank (rank) of lieutenant colonel belonged to the VII class of the Table of Ranks and gave the right to hereditary nobility until 1856. In 1884, after the abolition of the rank of major in the Russian army, all majors (with the exception of the dismissed or those who have stained themselves with unseemly misconduct) are promoted to lieutenant colonels.

INSIGNIA OF CIVIL OFFICERS OF THE MILITARY MINISTRY (here are military topographers)

Ranks of the Imperial Military Medical Academy

Chevrons of combatant lower ranks of extra-long service according to "Regulations on the lower ranks of the non-commissioned officer rank, remaining voluntarily in extra-long active service" dated 1890.

From left to right: Up to 2 years, Over 2 to 4 years, Over 4 to 6 years, Over 6 years

To be precise, the article, from which these drawings are borrowed, says the following: "... the awarding of chevrons to super-enlisted lower ranks holding the positions of sergeant majors (wahmisters) and platoon non-commissioned officers (fireworks) of combatant companies, squadrons, batteries was carried out:
- Upon admission to long-term service - a silver narrow chevron
- At the end of the second year of long-term service - a silver wide chevron
- At the end of the fourth year of long-term service - a gold narrow chevron
- At the end of the sixth year of long-term service - a gold wide chevron"

In army infantry regiments to designate the ranks of corporal, ml. and senior non-commissioned officers, an army white braid was used.

1. The rank of WRITTEN, since 1991, exists in the army only in wartime.
With the beginning of the Great War, ensigns graduate from military schools and ensign schools.
2. The rank of WARNING OFFICER of the reserve, in peacetime, on the shoulder straps of an ensign, wears a galloon patch against the device at the lower rib.
3. The rank of WRITTEN OFFICER, in this rank in wartime, when military units are mobilized with a shortage of junior officers, the lower ranks are renamed from non-commissioned officers with an educational qualification, or from sergeants without
educational qualification. From 1891 to 1907, warrant officers on the shoulder straps of an ensign also wear rank stripes, from which they were renamed.
4. Title ZAURYAD-WRITTEN OFFICER (since 1907). Shoulder straps of a lieutenant with an officer's star and a transverse stripe according to the position. Chevron sleeve 5/8 inches, angle up. Shoulder straps of an officer's standard were retained only by those who were renamed Z-Pr. during the Russo-Japanese War and remained in the army, for example, as a sergeant major.
5. The title of WRITTEN OFFICER-ZURYAD of the State Militia Squad. Non-commissioned officers of the reserve were renamed into this rank, or, in the presence of an educational qualification, who served for at least 2 months as a non-commissioned officer of the State Militia Squad and was appointed junior officer of the squad. Ensigns-zauryad wore epaulettes of an active duty ensign with a galloon stripe of instrument color sewn into the lower part of the epaulettes.

Cossack ranks and titles

On the lowest rung of the service ladder stood an ordinary Cossack, corresponding to an ordinary infantry. This was followed by an orderly, who had one badge and corresponded to a corporal in the infantry. The next rung of the career ladder is the junior officer and the senior officer, corresponding to the junior non-commissioned officer, non-commissioned officer and senior non-commissioned officer and with the number of badges characteristic of modern sergeants. This was followed by the rank of sergeant major, who was not only in the Cossacks, but also in the non-commissioned officers of the cavalry and horse artillery.

In the Russian army and gendarmerie, the sergeant-major was the closest assistant to the commander of a hundred, squadron, battery for drill, internal order and economic affairs. The rank of sergeant major corresponded to the rank of sergeant major in the infantry. According to the regulation of 1884, introduced by Alexander III, the next rank in the Cossack troops, but only for wartime, was the cadet, an intermediate rank between a lieutenant and ensign in the infantry, which was also introduced in wartime. In peacetime, in addition to the Cossack troops, these ranks existed only for reserve officers. The next degree in the chief officer ranks is cornet, corresponding to a second lieutenant in the infantry and a cornet in the regular cavalry.

According to his official position, he corresponded to a junior lieutenant in the modern army, but wore shoulder straps with a blue gap on a silver field (the applied color of the Don Cossacks) with two stars. In the old army, compared to the Soviet one, the number of stars was one more. Next came the centurion - the chief officer rank in the Cossack troops, corresponding to a lieutenant in the regular army. The centurion wore epaulettes of the same design, but with three stars, corresponding in his position to a modern lieutenant. A higher step - podesaul.

This rank was introduced in 1884. In the regular troops, it corresponded to the rank of staff captain and staff captain.

The podesaul was an assistant or deputy to the Yesaul and in his absence he commanded a Cossack hundred.
Shoulder straps of the same design, but with four stars.
According to his official position, he corresponds to a modern senior lieutenant. And the highest rank of chief officer rank is Yesaul. It is worth talking about this rank especially, since in a purely historical sense, the people who wore it held positions in both civil and military departments. In various Cossack troops, this position included various official prerogatives.

The word comes from the Turkic "yasaul" - chief.
In the Cossack troops it was first mentioned in 1576 and was used in the Ukrainian Cossack army.

Yesauls were general, military, regimental, hundreds, stanitsa, marching and artillery. General Yesaul (two per Army) - the highest rank after the hetman. In peacetime, general captains performed inspection functions, in war they commanded several regiments, and in the absence of a hetman, the entire Army. But this is typical only for Ukrainian Cossacks. Troop captains were chosen on the Military Circle (in the Don and most others, two per Army, in the Volga and Orenburg - one each). Dealt with administrative matters. Since 1835, they were appointed as adjutants to the military ataman. Regimental captains (originally two per regiment) performed the duties of staff officers, were the closest assistants to the regiment commander.

Hundreds of Yesauls (one per hundred) commanded hundreds. This link did not take root in the Don Cossacks after the first centuries of the existence of the Cossacks.

The stanitsa Yesauls were typical only for the Don Cossacks. They were selected at stanitsa gatherings and were assistants to stanitsa atamans. They performed the functions of assistants to the marching chieftain, in the 16th-17th centuries, in his absence, they commanded the army, later they were executors of the orders of the marching chieftain. The artillery captain (one per Army) was subordinate to the chief of artillery and carried out his instructions.

Only the military captain was preserved under the military ataman of the Don Cossack army. In 1798 - 1800. the rank of captain was equated to the rank of captain in the cavalry. Yesaul, as a rule, commanded a Cossack hundred. Corresponded to the official position of the modern captain. He wore epaulettes with a blue gap on a silver field without stars. Next come the headquarters officer ranks. In fact, after the reform of Alexander III in 1884, the rank of Yesaul entered this rank, in connection with which the major link was removed from the headquarters officer ranks, as a result of which the soldier from the captains immediately became a lieutenant colonel. The name of this rank comes from the ancient name of the executive authority of the Cossacks. In the second half of the 18th century, this name, in a modified form, spread to persons who commanded certain branches of the Cossack army. Since 1754, the military foreman was equated with a major, and with the abolition of this rank in 1884, with a lieutenant colonel. He wore shoulder straps with two blue gaps on a silver field and three large stars.

Well, then comes the colonel, shoulder straps are the same as those of the military foreman, but without stars. Starting from this rank, the service ladder is unified with the general army, since the purely Cossack names of the ranks disappear. The official position of a Cossack general fully corresponds to the general ranks of the Russian Army.