Birth of the Military Intelligentsia 237
The purchasing power of officers' pay seems to have improved, even though
the nominal rate5 in silver currency vwcrc in the san1c order uf ti1Ct~uit.uUe. Dur-
ing the early years of Catherine H's reign an infantry colonel in the field army
drew 600, a lieutenant-colonel 460, and a major 310-390 roubles; after the
return to metal, in 1839, the figures were 575, 430, and 375 roubles respec-
tively.30 A further difficulty here is that of estimating the value of allowances.
Officers drew 'rations' in cash on a scale that varied according to rank: in 1763
an infantry colonel drew 17 'rations' together worth 91.80 roubles, roughly
equal to one-sixth of his pay. They also, as we know, enjoyed the 'free' ser-
vices of orderlies (denshchiki); and unit commanders received so-called 'table
money', which amounted to 3,000 roubles for a regimental chief. There were
wide differentials between the better-paid officers in special forces such as
artillery, grenadier, or guards units and the less well-paid who did duty in pro-
vincial garrisons.
On the other hand, whatever their station, they had obligations-for
instance, to maintain horses and items of clothing and equipment, the cost of
which would normally be deducted from their pay at source.^31 These burdens
were heavy, especially in privileged units, where it is impossible to distinguish
between those that were functionally necessary and those that were imposed
merely by social convention. A~ in other armies of the period, wealthy officers
with private means might actually spend more than they earned in the service.
A. A. Blagovo, a guards lieutenant who noted down pedantically all his
expenditure, spent 285 roubles in 1740, which must have been considerably
more than his pay; ten years later, when he was evidently living in retirement
on his estate, he spent 741 but earned 1,034 roubles.^32 A Cossack major-
general, A. K. Denisov., states in his memoirs that in the early 1800s his salary
was inadequate to keep him in his lofty station, so that he 'went short even of
necessities'; but this was partly because he had purchased an estate and incur-
red a debt of 50,000 roubles-a predicament from which he was rescued by
two comrades.^33 Many officers ran up huge debts from gambling, which was
part of the accepted life-style.^34
At the other end of the spectrum were genuinely impoverished officers who
had to support themselves and several relatives wholly from their pay. Such
men were often dependent on the charity of their fellows or the colonel; the
latter could, if he chose, draw on the unit's reserve funds for this purpose.
Some commanders made a regular practice of entertaining their subordinates.
Lieutenant-General F. M. Num(m)sen, inspector of cavalry in Livonia, who30 PSZ xliii. I 173S (14 Jan. 1763), and for 179S and 1811 rates xliii. 17369, 24729; Stein,
Geschichte, pp. 219, 244 (1798, 1801); MAE (as cited inn. 28), f. 117.
31 von Hupe!, Beschreibung, pp. 131, 148; Stein, Geschichte, p. 199.
32 'Pamyatnaya knizhka', Shchukinskiy sbornik, ii. 440, iii. 93.
33 Dcnisov, 'Zapiski', pp. 244-9.
34 Lowenstern, as a major in temporary retirement, won and los1 about half a million roubles in
1810: Memoires, i. ISS-62; cf. Mosolov, 'Zapiski', p. 173; Glinka, Zapiski, pp. 13, 137.