Social Composition of Imperial Russian Army in 1870s

The present paper is devoted to the social history of the army in the 1870s. The research reveals the social structure of the army, and focuses on the life conditions of soldiers, officers and the military clergy. Contemporary historiography related to the aforesaid issue fails to provide the complex analysis of the problem. The issues of military pastors are treated apart from the social structure of the army. The author of the present research seeks to provide the system analysis of the army structure with due account to all the three categories. The thesis of the paper is as follows: the failure to complete the military reforms by the time when Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 began entailed such a serious consequence as lacking proper readiness for war. The main sources of the paper are "Vsepoddanneishiye Doklady" ("Humble Reports") by D.A. Milutin kept with the funds of Manuscript Department of the All-Russian State Library, and also diaries and memoires the officers-participants in Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, statistical data, legislation of the Russian Empire and Orders of M.D. Skobelev.