The Army Takes to the Countryside 277
The treaty of Adrianople ( 1713) pushed Russia's frontier in the rnuth-west
back to a line above the great bend in the river Dnieper. To bobter defem:es in
this region Peter I called into being a force known as the Ukrainian land-
militia. This took shape slowly, and by the 1720s numbered about 9,000 men,
organized in Lu fivt: 1 t:~i1nents, ea~h of ten com panic:~. Tho~;e -,vho ',er'.'ed in it
were in the main 'single-homesteaders' (odnodvort!>y), offspring of the lower-
grade old-formation troops who had performed a similar role in the Muscovite
era. They were joined by veterans of the new regular army, which abo provided
command personnel.^4 The state contributed arms and munitions, equipment,
and horses, and paid a salary equivalent to that of garrison troops, but for the
rest of their supplies (food, clothing, etc.) the militiamen were expected to sup-
port themselves. This was asking a great deal. To be sure, land was plentiful,
but they had few other resources; apart from the risk of hostile attack and the
vagaries of the climate, they were obliged, like Muscovite gentrymen earlier, to
perform service assignments which took them away from their plots during the
summer months when their presence there was most necessary. In fau much of
the farming had to be done by their relatives or other dependants, the latter
known as pomoshch(n)iki (literally, 'assistants'). Average yields were extremely
low: two-to three-fold for most grains,^5 and hunger was seldom far away. In
principle militiamen were required to take turns in bearing arms, and to do so
only between the ages of 15 and 30. But during Anna's reign they were
mobilized en masse for the war against the Turks, and each homesteader was
also under orders to supply one labourer to help build yet another fortified line
along the border. This was a major construction enterprise, 800 versts long
with forts spaced at 10-verst intervals, and although strategically effective it
claimed the lives of many of its builders. During the 1730s the number of land-
militia regiments was doubled, but only half of the men in them were actually
settled. Even in those that were many soldiers still lacked proper housing-still
less a farm-and had to subsist in temporary shelters. Not surprisingly, deser-
tion was rife. Once the war was over the new government had to reduce the
land-militia's effectives once again and to come to the survivors' aid.b
Evidently disappointed at the performance of this force, from 1751 onwards
the authorities turned to another source of military manpower: immigrants
from south-eastern Europe, mostly Serbs (or other South Slavs), of whom
many had gained relevant experience on the Austrian Mililiirvenze.^7 These
men, who comprised six regiments, served on terms similar to the Ukrainian
land-militia, from whom they soon began to draw reinforcements. They also
(^4) PSZ v. 2643 (2 Feb. 171)), vi. 4131 (12 Dec. 1722), vii. 4nJ (14 II.lay 172.l); Sulov vc,,
'Kra1kiy ist. ocherk', pp. 315-18; Stein, Geschichle, pp. 71, 92; Ferguson, '1.am.l-mili1ia ',pp. 14i-2.
' Rabinovich, 'Set. khoz. odnodvor1sev', p. 142.
(^6) PSZ viii. 6055 (12 May 1732), "· 6Jl5 (27 Jan. 17.13), .\i. 8787, 8801 (28 Sepl., 7 0.-1. 17-Pl.
xliii. 5680, 5778 (22 Jan., 15 June: 17.ll); Huldc, .\tam1e111, p. 78; Ye,,lJI ye,, I 11\/U1111e.
pp. 30-1.
7 IRusinov] Zup1ski. pp. 116-20; S1cin, Ge.1chid11e, p. 150; for lhe Jiplo111a1i, bac~g1ound 'l'<'
H. L. Dyck, 'New Serbia and the < lrig1n' of the I a'lern ()ue,1 ion ... ', RR 411 l I YX I l pp. 1-I'!.