154 The Imperial Century, 1725-1825
their exact age, or wish to state it accurately, and no documentary proof of it
was demanded.
The military authorities were concerned as much with a recruit's appearance
as they were with his fighting capacity. This was why they were so obsessed
with hi~ h~ight. The regulation~ prescribed a minimum of 2 ur:!>hiny and 4
vershki, equivalent to 5 ft. 3 in. or 1.60 m., 'without shoes'. This was
established by the use of measuring rods whose length, to the officials' con-
sternation, might not always be uniform.^52 Height criteria were lowered in
1731 and again (after being restored in the interim) in 1737, when shorter men
were to be sent to garrison units or to the navy.^53 Catherine II resorted to the
same expedient during the first Russo-Turkish war of her reign,^54 and so did
Alexander I from 1805 on: the limit was lowered by half an inch in 1805, 1808,
and 1809, one inch in 1806 and 1811, and two inches in 1812.^55
The net was also cast wider in regard to recruits' physical condition, which
was assessed in the crudest manner. During the Seven Years War men were
accepted who had two or three teeth missing or suffered from hair loss
(evidence of some internal malady).^56 The receiving officers were not medical
men, and even when semi-skilled physicians (lekari) were added to the
recruiting boards they had to work under such pressure that many men were let
in who suffered from complaints not visible to the naked eye. This was one
reason for the high casualty rate among recruits. It was not until Alexander I's
reign, however, that the authorities defined the physical requirements more
precisely. Doctors were told to look out for traces of eye disease, consump-
tion, and mental illness, as well as for more obvious deficiencies.57 But in 1812
these controls once again had to be relaxed: men were accepted who squinted
or had six to eight teeth missing (provided that these were not front teeth, for
otherwise they could not bite cartridges!); anxious not to leave anything to
chance, the authorities laid down that even men who had been castrated were
not to be excused.^58 One of the rare soldier memorialists, I. M. Minayev, who
was taken as a recruit in 1813 although he was 3 Y2 inches too short, relates that
at the medical examination 'the doctor would not believe my words that I was
healthy and had all my teeth, but climbed into my mouth as if he were a
gipsy' .59
Throughout the period members of recruiting boards were on the watch for
men who faked illness or maimed themselves in the hope of escaping service.
In 1727 offenders in the latter category were ordered to be dealt with in drastic
52 Cf. for example, PSZ xv. 10891 (23 Oct. 1758).
53 PSZ viii. 5768 (4 June 1731 ), 5914 (20 Dec. 1731: restored), 6004 (22 Mar. 1732), x. 7464 (20
Dec. 1737), xv. 10891 (23 Oct. 1758).
54 PSZ xix. 13483 (20 July 1770), § 13, xix. 13871 (24 Sep!. 1772), 14026 (23 Aug. 1773).
55 Shchepetil' nikov (S VM iv) pp. 11, 15, 41, 43, 45, 55.
56 PSZ xv. 10793, 10996 (15 Jan. 1758, 19 Oct. 1759).
57 PSZ xxix. 22282 (24 Sept. 1806); Shchepetil'nikov (SVM iv) pp. 152-4; Kruchek-Golubov
and Kul'bin, in SVM viii. 162.
18 Shchukin, Bumagi, viii. 130-1; Shchepelil'nikov (SVM iv) p. 55; PSZ xxxii. 25220.
19 [Minayev] 'Vosp. I. Men'shago', p. 52.
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(Wang)
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