11THE PRAETORIAN OPTION
ON his accession Alexander I introduced a number of measures designed to
heal ·the breach that had begun to open between government and 'society'.^1
The army was among the beneficiaries of this thaw. Officers wbo had been
discharged were transferred to the retired list, and so in effect rehabilitated.^2
One edict granted a formal pardon to 115 persons of rank who had been kept
under surveillance or arrested by the Secret Expedition; of these 58 were
officers or ex-officers, and of the 41 commoners 7 were soldie.-s.3 Some of
Paul's unpopular changes to military uniform were countermanded. Char-
acteristically, his equally unpopular army regulations remained in force until
1811-12, when they were quietly superseded rather than annulled. Regiments
got their old territorial names back. Something was done to improve the supply
system, and educational facilities were expanded.^4 Still more important, new
pay scales were announced, which brought a colonel's salary from 900 to
l ,040-1,250 roubles a year, according to the arm of service. Captains received
a minimum increase of 17.7 per cent and ensigns.one of 18.0 per cent-in
paper money, the value of which was rising at this time.' Officers' future
material prospects were also catered for. In 1803 the government introduced a
pay-related pension scheme, with benefits proportionate to length of service.^6
Last but not least, the military build-up, which between 1802 and 1805 added
about 50,000 men to the army's strength, provided extra vacancies for super-
numerary officers and so eased their discontents.
All this-and the burgeoning national consciousness-helps to explain why
the army responded with apparent relish to the war of the Third Coalition. The
mood changed after Austerlitz, a defeat for which the tsar bore some of the
responsibility. There was once again understandable dissatisfaction at the per-
formance of Russia's central European allies, first Austria and then Prussia.
The grim winter war of 1806-7 sparked a lively debate about strategic issues, in
which the qualifications of individual leaders, especially the commander-in-
chief L. L. Bennigsen (who was German-born), were freely called into question.
1 McConnell. "Alexander l's Hundred Days'.
2 PSZ xxvi. 19782 (13 Mar. 1801).
l PSZ xxvi. 19784 (15 Mar. 1801).
' PSZ xxvi. 19809, 19826 (31 Mar., 9 Apr. 1801), xxvii. 20224 (9 Apr. 1802); Stein, Gachichte,
pp. 232, 246.
s PSZ xxvi. 19926 (24 June 1801); SJein, Geschichte, p. 244; Petrov, Ru.sskaya voyenn11ya si/a,
ii. 262.
6 PSZ xx vii. 20631, 20770 (23 Feb., 21 May 1803); cf. Solov'yev, 'O pensiyakh', p. 304.