MILITARY SERVICE IN THE PERCEPTION OF RUSSIAN SOCIETY IN THE EARLY 20th CENTURY
He article examines the attitude of citizens to the army service in the last years of the Russian Empire. It is noted that under the influence of the social and political processes taking place in the country, the mentality of the people and the moral and psychological situation in society underwent changes that are characterized as rather contradictory. The factors thatcontributed to the growth of nihilistic sentiments and the complication of the situation in the country are indicated. One of the consequences of this phenomenon was the negative attitude of the majority of the people towards the army, as a social institution of the state. The influence of public sentiments on the attitude of conscripts to the service, the fulfillment by soldiers of their duties, the increase in the number of violations of military discipline, the main motives for violations in the troops are examined. The reasons for the decrease in the prestige of the officer’s profession and the shortage of officers in the troops in peacetime are considered. It is noted that in the educated strata of society there is a negative attitude not only to the officer service, but also to the officers themselves; in many respects this circumstance was determined by the internal function of the army, which was the most powerful pillar of the existing state system. It is shown that the cadre officers, as a special social and professional community, in the conditions of internal political cataclysms in the country held different views from the politically active segments of the population.