An Age of Reform 377
higher scholastic attainments-and from privileged backgrounds. This was
because only as many volunteers could be accepted as there were vacancies;
and unit COs naturally preferred to take the pick of the crop. Having joined
the forces, volunteers had to serve at the front, not as auxiliaries;^151 but on the
other hand they enjoyed certain important advantages. They did not have tc
mess together with conscripts if they could afford not to do so, and could live
in 'free quarters' instead of barracks; they wore a distinguishing badge and
were exempt from labour duties; finally, COs were enjoined 'to supervise their
life-style and material conditions', which was virtually an invitation to accord
them preferential treatment.^152 Last but not least, men in the first three educa-
tional categories (whether they were volunteers or conscripts) enjoyed swifter
promotion to NCO and officer rank. Under pressure from the conservatives
Milyutin had to accept a proviso whereby men in the third category, on becom-
ing officers, had to serve a further three years before acquiring gentry status.^153
This discrimination was clearly based on socio-political rather than profes-
sional considerations. Concessions such as this were necessary to make the
reform palatable to members of the privileged classes, whose enthusiasm for
military service was in any case waning.
For conscripts in the new army there was much that was familiar. The
minimum height requirement was lowered by^1 Vi vershki ( 6.6 cm.) but measured
in the time-honoured way. There were privileges on family grounds for the only
sons of widows or incapacitated fathers, the only brothers of orphans, the
younger brothers of men already serving, and so on.^154 Such individuals might
still be called up if tlie quota could not be filled by men without such privileges.
Among the innovations, besides the shorter term of active service, were
improved pensions (36 roubles p.a.) for men incapacitated while on service
and an explicit mention of the civil rights (for example, to ownership of pro-
perty) which they retained as soldiers.^155 Once relegated to the reserve men had
few duties in peacetime: a maximum of two six-week training periods, and
those who held government jobs were spared mobilization. Once in the militia
their obligations were even fewer: in a national emergency only men in the first
of two categories were liable to be called up to reinforce the reservists, and no
one over 40 had to serve at all.^156 These significant alleviations offset the fact
that the incidence of service was now higher than before.
Figures for the first decade after the reform show that^27 per cent of men
deemed liable to conscription were actually called up.^157 These two million
individuals were overwhelmingly (85 per cent) peasants; gentry accounted for
Ill II PSZ xlix.^52983 (I Jan. 1874), IV, § 58; XII,§ 175.
L52 Ibid., XII,§§ 176-80; Kursakov, Spravochnaya kniga, pp. 19-20.
153 II PSZ xlix.^52983 (I Jan. 1874), XII, § 181; Kursakov, Spravochnaya kniga, pp. 22-3;
Zayonchkovsky, 'Podgotovka', p. 195.
154 II PSZ xlix. 52983 (I Jan. 1874), VI, § 45.
155 Ibid., Ill, §§ 25-30, 33.
156 Ibid., V, §§ 36, 38.
157 Syrnev, Vseobshchaya voinskaya povinnost ·, p. xii.