(^350) Towards a Modern Army, 1825-1874
self-confidence, and high standard of military organization. A spirit of chivalry
that transcended national boundaries was involved as well. An eye-witness
later recalled that 'the antipathy towards the Austrians was transmitted from
the officers to the soldiers, who were well dis'posed towards the Hungarians,
fraternized with them fn:dy, walked around with them arm in arm, and w("nt
drinking with them in the taverns'.^169 A staff captain named A. Gusev
prepared an appeal in wnich he urged his comrades and subordinates to change
their allegiance.^170 He and seven other officers were hanged as traitors;
another eight men were exiled to Siberia. Once again it seems that most who
took the insurgents' part were from the western or south-western (that is,
Ukrainian) provinces, where 1848 gave a fillip to nationalist sentiment among
the educated classes.
There was less trouble during the 'Eastern War', partly because Slavophil
and Pan-Slav ideas had an impact on officer opinion. The campaigns could
plausibly be represented as waged in defence of na•ional and common Slav
interests against the Turks, backed by aggressive Western powers and half-
backcd by 'faithless' Austria. A major security threat^171 arose only after the
end of the war, when it became clear that to continue Nicholas I's harsh
policies would gravely strain military morale. Maintenance of discipline in the
armed forces now became part of a much broader and more complex problem,
the renovation of the empire's political and social order.
169 Alabin, 'Russkiye v Vengrii', p. 102; Averbukh, Revof. i nats.-osvobod. bor'ba, pp. 319-23.
170 Verzhbitsky, Revof. dvizheniye, p. 249. Beskrovnyy (Potentsial, p. 242) states that Gusev
actually delivered his appeal, but Fedosov (Revol. dvizheniye, p. 262) maintains that his intentions
were discovered and forestalled by the authorities.
111 A relatively minor threat arose from would-be recruits to the militia, who hoped by
volunteering to win release from serfdom.
wang
(Wang)
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