Cantonists (
Russian language
Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the First language, native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European langua ...
: кантонисты; more properly: военные кантонисты, "military cantonists") were underage sons of conscripts in the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
. From 1721 on they were educated in special "canton schools" (Кантонистские школы) for future military service (the schools were called
garrison schools Garrison schools (russian: гарнизо́нные шко́лы) in 18th century Russia were military schools that provided the primary education for the children of the military recruits. The institution of the Garrison schools was introduced by ...
in the 18th century). The canton schools and the cantonist system were eventually abolished in 1857, following public and international criticism and the Russian defeat in the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
.
Cantonist schools during the 18th and early 19th centuries
Cantonist schools were established by the 1721 decree of Tsar
Peter the Great
Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
that stipulated that every regiment was required to maintain a school for 50 boys. Their enrollment was increased in 1732, and the term was set from the age of 7 to 15. The curriculum included grammar and arithmetic, and those with a corresponding aptitude were taught
artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
,
fortification
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
, music and singing,
scrivener
A scrivener (or scribe) was a person who could read and write or who wrote letters to court and legal documents. Scriveners were people who made their living by writing or copying written material. This usually indicated secretarial and admini ...
y, equine
veterinary science
Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...
, or mechanics. Those lacking such talents were taught
carpentry
Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters tr ...
,
blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
ing, shoemaking and other trades useful to the military. The most able were taught for additional 3 years, until the age of 18. All entered military service at the completion of their studies. The decree of 1758 required all male children of the military personnel to be taught in the cantonist schools. In 1798 a military "asylum-orphanage" was established in St Petersburg, and all regimental schools were renamed after it, the total enrollment reaching 16,400.
The schools were reorganized in 1805 and all children were now referred to as ''cantonists''. After the War of 1812 their number increased dramatically, when many orphaned children of military personnel killed in the war enrolled in cantonist schools voluntarily. During this period the curriculum of cantonist schools was equivalent to that of
gymnasia, and military subjects were not taught.
In 1824 all cantonist schools were made answerable to the Director of Military Settlements Count
Aleksey Arakcheyev
Count Alexey Andreyevich Arakcheyev or Arakcheev (russian: граф Алексе́й Андре́евич Аракче́ев) ( – ) was an Imperial Russian general and statesman during the reign of Tsar Alexander I.
He served under Tsars Paul I ...
, and in 1826 they were organized into cantonist battalions. The standards of curriculum dropped significantly, and it was limited to the subjects useful to the military.
During the reign of
Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , group=pron ( – ) was List of Russian rulers, Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Congress Poland and Grand Duke of Finland. He was the third son of Paul I of Russia, Paul I and younger brother of his predecessor, Alexander I ...
the number of cantonists reached 36,000. Several cantonist battalions became specialized: they prepared auditors, artillerists, engineers, military surgeons, cartographers.
More children were added to the category of cantonists. Eventually children of the discharged soldiers were also included, illegitimate children of soldiers' partners or widows, and even foundlings.
There were several exemptions:
#Legitimate sons of staff-officers, and all officers awarded the Order of St. Vladimir 4th class.
#A single son of a junior staff-officer, out of a total number of his children, if he had no sons born after his attainment of the officer's rank.
#A single son of a junior officer maimed in battle.
#A single son of a widow of a junior officer or an enlisted man killed in action or deceased during service.
There were considerable differences in cantonists' service obligations:
* Children of nobility were required to serve for 3 years at the completion of their studies.
* Children of senior officers - 6 years.
* Children of clergy - 8 years.
* All other social categories - 25 years.
Cantonism and ethnic minorities
There was forcible conscription of underage recruits from the populations of indigenous peoples,
Old Believers
Old Believers or Old Ritualists, ''starovery'' or ''staroobryadtsy'' are Eastern Orthodox Christians who maintain the liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian Orthodox Church as they were before the reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow bet ...
,
Gypsies
The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...
, and common
vagabonds
Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...
from 1805,
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
s from 1827, and
Poles from 1831.
There were some significant differences in treatment of Jews and non-Jews: all others were required to provide conscripts between 18 and 35, while for Jews the age limit was 12–25, and it was left to the discretion of the Jewish ''
qahal
The ''qahal'' ( he, קהל) was a theocratic organizational structure in ancient Israelite society according to the Hebrew Bible. See column345-6 The Ashkenazi Jewish system of a self-governing community or kehila from medieval Christian Europe ...
'' to choose conscripts from whatever age they decided. Thus in practice, Jewish children were often conscripted as young as eight or nine years old. This system created a disproportionate number of Jewish cantonists, and betrayed the utilitarian agenda of the statute: to draft those more likely to be susceptible to external influence, and thus to assimilation.
Jews
After 1827, the term was applied to Jewish and
Karaite boys, who were drafted to military service at the age of twelve and placed for their six-year military education in cantonist schools. Like all other
conscripts
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
, they were required to serve in the
Imperial Russian army
The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...
for 25 years after the completion of their studies (in 1834 the term was reduced to 20 years plus five years in reserve and in 1855 to 12 years plus three years of reserve). According to the "Statute on Conscription Duty" signed by
Tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...
Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , group=pron ( – ) was List of Russian rulers, Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Congress Poland and Grand Duke of Finland. He was the third son of Paul I of Russia, Paul I and younger brother of his predecessor, Alexander I ...
on August 26 (September 7
new style
Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, this is the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries between 158 ...
), 1827, Jews were made liable to personal military service and were subject to the same conscription quota as all other tax-paying estates ("sosloviya") in the Russian Empire. The total number of conscripts was uniform for all populations (four conscripts per each thousand subjects); however, the actual recruitment was implemented by the local ''qahals'' and so a disproportionate number of Jewish conscripts were underage.
[
In the aftermath of the Polish uprising of 1831, children of political prisoners and boys on the streets of captured cities often were abducted, and placed in cantonist schools, with the intent of their Russification,] see for more.
The vast majority of Jews entered the Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
with the territories acquired as the result of the last partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland were three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place toward the end of the 18th century and ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland and Lithuania for 12 ...
of the 1790s; their civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
were severely restricted (see Pale of Settlement
The Pale of Settlement (russian: Черта́ осе́длости, '; yi, דער תּחום-המושבֿ, '; he, תְּחוּם הַמּוֹשָב, ') was a western region of the Russian Empire with varying borders that existed from 1791 to 19 ...
). Most lacked knowledge of the official Russian language
Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the First language, native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European langua ...
. Before 1827, Jews were doubly taxed en lieu of being obligated to serve in the army and their inclusion was supposed to alleviate this burden. However, the number of recruits reduced the number of young men that could go into the workforce, and this in combination with political restrictions led to widespread destitution.
Russia was divided into northern, southern, eastern, and western "conscription zones" and the levy was announced annually for only one of them. The Pale of Jewish settlement was outside conscription in the fallow years, so the conscription in general and of cantonists in particular occurred once every four years, except during the Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
, when conscription was annual. The first 1827 draft involved some 1,800 Jewish conscripts; by the ''qahal's'' decision half of them were children. In 1843 the conscription system was extended to the Kingdom of Poland that was previously exempt from it.
Strains within the Jewish community
The 'decree of August 26, 1827' made Jews liable for military service, and allowed their conscription between the ages of twelve and twenty-five. Each year, the Jewish community had to supply four recruits per thousand of the population. Strict quotas were imposed on all communities and the ''qahals'' were given the unpleasant task of implementing conscription within the Jewish communities. Since the merchant-guild
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...
members, agricultural colonists, factory mechanics, clergy, and all Jews with secondary education were exempt, and the wealthy bribe
Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Corr ...
d their way out of having their children conscripted, fewer potential conscripts were available; the adopted policy deeply sharpened internal Jewish social tensions. Seeking to protect the socio-economic and religious integrity of Jewish society, the ''qahals'' did their best to include “non-useful Jews” in the draft lists so that the heads of tax-paying middle-class families were predominantly exempt from conscription, whereas single Jews, as well as "heretics" (Haskalah
The ''Haskalah'', often termed Jewish Enlightenment ( he, השכלה; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Euro ...
-influenced individuals), paupers, outcasts, and orphaned children were drafted. They used their power to suppress protests and intimidate potential informers who sought to expose the arbitrariness of the ''qahal'' to the Russian government. In some cases, communal elders had the most threatening informers murdered (such as the Ushitsa case, 1836), see mesirah
Mesirah (or mesira, he, to turn over, italic=yes) is the action in which one Jew reports the conduct of another Jew to a non-rabbinic authority in a manner and under the circumstances forbidden by rabbinic law.
This may not necessarily apply ...
.
The zoning rule was suspended during the Crimean war
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
, when conscription became annual. During this period the ''qahals'' leaders would employ informers and kidnappers (Russian: "ловчики", ''lovchiki'', khapper {{Unreferenced, date=February 2008
The Khappers were employed by the Kahals to fulfill the recruit quotas imposed on the Jewish communities from 1827 to 1857 in the Russian Empire.
The Khappers were employed to kidnap Jewish boys (sometimes as ...
s), as many potential conscripts preferred to run away rather than voluntarily submit. In the case of unfulfilled quotas, younger boys of eight and even younger were frequently taken.
Training and pressures to convert
All cantonists were institutionally underfed, and encouraged to steal food from the local population, in emulation of the Spartan
Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referred t ...
character building. On one occasion in 1856, a Jewish cantonist, Khodulevich, managed to steal the Tsar's own watch during military games at Uman
Uman ( uk, Умань, ; pl, Humań; yi, אומאַן) is a city located in Cherkasy Oblast in central Ukraine, to the east of Vinnytsia. Located in the historical region of the eastern Podolia, the city rests on the banks of the Umanka River ...
. Not only was he not punished, but he was given a reward of 25 roubles for his prowess.
The boys in cantonist schools were given extensive training in Russian grammar (and sometimes literature), and mathematics, in particular geometry necessary in naval and artillery service. Those who showed aptitude for music were trained in singing and instrumental music, as the Imperial Army had a large demand for military wind bands and choirs. Some cavalry regiments maintained equestrian bands of torban
The torban ( ua, Торбан, also ''teorban'' or ''Ukrainian theorbo'') is a Ukrainian musical instrument that combines the features of the Baroque lute with those of the psaltery. The Тorban differs from the more common European bass lute kno ...
players, and cantonist schools supplied these as well. Some cantonist schools also prepared firearms mechanics, veterinarians for cavalry, and administrators ("auditors").
The official policy was to encourage their conversion
Conversion or convert may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman''
* "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series
* "The Conversion" ...
to the state religion
A state religion (also called religious state or official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state), while not secular state, secular, is not n ...
of Orthodox Christianity
Orthodoxy (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion.
Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Late antiquity, A ...
and Jewish boys were coerced to baptism
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
. As kosher
(also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...
food was unavailable, they were faced with the necessity of abandoning of Jewish dietary laws
(also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...
. Polish Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
boys were subject to similar pressure to convert and assimilate as the Russian Empire was hostile to Catholicism and Polish nationalism. Initially conversions were few, but after the escalation of missionary activities in the cantonist schools in 1844, about one third of all Jewish cantonists would have undergone conversion.
Other
In the era of Arakcheev
Count Alexey Andreyevich Arakcheyev or Arakcheev (russian: граф Алексе́й Андре́евич Аракче́ев) ( – ) was an Imperial Russian general and statesman during the reign of Tsar Alexander I.
He served under Tsars Paul ...
's military settlement
Military settlements (russian: Военные поселения) represented a special organization of the Russian military forces in 1810–1857, which allowed the combination of military service and agricultural employment.
The beginning of ...
s (1809-1831), indigenous peasants who fell within the territory of a military settlement were subject to incorporation into the military in various ways. In particular, indigenous children (under the age of 18) were considered military cantonists and divided into three age groups: minor (under the age of 7), middle (ages 8–12), and senior, with the latter group assigned to the military school of the settlement. Minors stayed with the parents, while minor orphans were transferred to military settlers, with an award of 10 rouble
The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union.
, currencies named ''rub ...
s. All male newborns automatically became cantonists. Later it turned out that instead of 11 years,
8 years of military training were enough. Correspondingly, the age groups were changed: under 10, under 14, and under 18.
In the aftermath of the Polish uprising of 1831, children of political prisoners and boys on the streets of captured cities were often abducted, and placed in cantonist schools for Russification
Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...
: see for more.
In the army
For all cantonists, their 25-year term of service began after they reached the age of 18 and were recruited into the army.
Discriminatory regulations ensured that unconverted Jews were held back in their army promotions. According to Benjamin Nathans,
"... the formal incorporation of Jews into Nicolas I's army was quickly compromised by laws distinguishing Jewish from non-Jewish soldiers. Less than two years after the 1827 decree on conscription, Jews were barred from certain elite units, and beginning in 1832 they were subject to separate, more stringent criteria for promotion, which required that they "distinguish themselves in combat with the enemy."
Jews who refused to convert were barred from ascending above the rank of "унтер-офицер" i.e. NCO; only eight exceptions were recorded during the 19th century. These restrictions were not lifted until the February Revolution
The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...
in 1917.
Some baptized cantonists eventually reached high ranks in the Imperial Army and Navy; among them were generals Arnoldi, Zeil; admirals Kaufman, Sapsay, Kefali.
Literary references
The cantonists' fate was sometimes described by Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
and Russian literature
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia and its émigrés and to Russian language, Russian-language literature. The roots of Russian literature can be traced to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in Old East Slavic were c ...
classics.
Alexander Herzen
Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Ге́рцен, translit=Alexándr Ivánovich Gértsen; ) was a Russian writer and thinker known as the "father of Russian socialism" and one of the main fathers of agra ...
in his ''My Past and Thoughts
''My Past and Thoughts'' (russian: Былое и думы, translit=Byloje i dumy) is an extensive autobiography by Alexander Herzen, which he started in the early 1850s and continued to expand and revise throughout his later life. Serialized in ' ...
'' described his somber encounter with Jewish cantonists. While being convoyed to his exile in 1835 at Vyatka, Herzen met a unit of emaciated Jewish cantonists, some eight years old, who were marched to Kazan
Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...
. Their (sympathetic) officer complained that a third had already died.
Nikolai Leskov
Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov (russian: Никола́й Семёнович Леско́в; – ) was a Russian novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and journalist, who also wrote under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky. Praised for his unique w ...
described underage Jewish cantonists in his 1863 story "The Musk-Ox" (Ovtsebyk).
Judah Steinberg described underage Jewish cantonists in his novel "In Those Days" (English translation in 1915, from the Hebrew).
The agony of Polish children incorporated into the Imperial Russian Army was presented in Juliusz Słowacki
Juliusz Słowacki (; french: Jules Slowacki; 4 September 1809 – 3 April 1849) was a Polish Romantic poet. He is considered one of the "Three Bards" of Polish literature — a major figure in the Polish Romantic period, and the father of mode ...
's narrative poem
Narrative poetry is a form of poetry that tells a story, often using the voices of both a narrator and characters; the entire story is usually written in metered verse. Narrative poems do not need rhyme. The poems that make up this genre may be s ...
''Anhelli''.
Abolition and results of cantonist policy
The cantonist policy was abolished by Tsar Alexander II's decree on 26 August 1856, in the aftermath of the Russian defeat in the Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
, which made evident the dire necessity for the modernisation of the Russian military forces. Nonetheless, the drafting of children lasted through 1859. All unconverted cantonists and recruits under the age of 20 were returned to their families. The underage converted cantonists were given to their godparents. However the implementation of the abolition took nearly 3 years.
It is estimated that between 30,000 and 70,000 Jewish boys served as cantonists, their numbers were disproportionately high in relation to the total number of cantonists. Jewish boys comprised about 20% of cantonists at the schools in Riga
Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...
and Vitebsk
Vitebsk or Viciebsk (russian: Витебск, ; be, Ві́цебск, ; , ''Vitebsk'', lt, Vitebskas, pl, Witebsk), is a city in Belarus. The capital of the Vitebsk Region, it has 366,299 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth-largest ci ...
, and as much as 50% at Kazan
Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...
and Kiev
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
schools. A general estimate for the years 1840–1850 seems to have been about 15%. In general Jews comprised a disproportionate number of recruits (ten for every thousand of the male population as opposed to seven out of every thousand), the number was tripled during the Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
(1853–1856).
At the conclusion of the conscription term, former cantonists were allowed to live and own land anywhere in the Empire, outside the Pale of Settlement
The Pale of Settlement (russian: Черта́ осе́длости, '; yi, דער תּחום-המושבֿ, '; he, תְּחוּם הַמּוֹשָב, ') was a western region of the Russian Empire with varying borders that existed from 1791 to 19 ...
. The earliest Jewish communities in Finland were Jewish cantonists who had completed their service. The rate of conversion was generally high, at about one third, as was eventual intermarriage. Most never returned to their homes.
Statistics
Jewish cantonist recruits in 1843–1854, according to statistics of the Russian War Ministry. Only in the eleven years listed below – the total of 29,115 children were conscripted. Basing on these data, it was estimated that between 1827 and 1856, there were over 50,000 of them.[
* 1843 - 1,490
* 1844 - 1,428
* 1845 - 1,476
* 1846 - 1,332
* 1847 - 1,527
* 1848 - 2,265
* 1849 - 2,612
* 1850 - 2,445
* 1851 - 3,674
* 1852 - 3,351
* 1854 - 3,611
]
See also
* 1917 film: "The Cantonists" (Кантонисты), historical drama, by director and screenwriter Alexander Arkatov
Military training of children
* Devşirme system
* Janissary
A Janissary ( ota, یڭیچری, yeŋiçeri, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and the first modern standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established under sultan Orhan ( ...
* Garrison school
* Suvorov Military School
The Suvorov Military Schools (russian: Суворовское военное училище) are a type of boarding school in the former Soviet Union and in modern Russia and Belarus for boys of 10–17. Education in these schools focuses on mil ...
* Nakhimov Naval School
The Nakhimov Naval School (russian: Нахимовское военно-морское училище) or Nakhimov School (russian: Нахимовское училище) is a form of military education for teenagers introduced in the Soviet Union ...
Extra burdens on the Jews
* Abstinence (conscription) Abstinence ( he, הִסתַגְפוּת, Ashkenazi pronunciation: ''Histagfus'') was a form of draft evasion and a form of hunger strike (or other forms of self-harm, such as sleep deprivation, tending to cause tachycardia, or self-inflicted wound) ...
* Jizya
Jizya ( ar, جِزْيَة / ) is a per capita yearly taxation historically levied in the form of financial charge on dhimmis, that is, permanent Kafir, non-Muslim subjects of a state governed by Sharia, Islamic law. The jizya tax has been unde ...
- tax
* Leibzoll
The Leibzoll (German: "body tax") was a special toll that Jews had to pay in most European states from the Middle Ages to the 19th century.
Rate of the toll
The origin of the Leibzoll may be traced to the political position of the Jews in Germ ...
- tax
* More Judaico
More or Mores may refer to:
Computing
* MORE (application), outline software for Mac OS
* more (command), a shell command
* MORE protocol, a routing protocol
* Missouri Research and Education Network
Music Albums
* ''More!'' (album), by Booka ...
* Tallage Tallage or talliage (from the French ''tailler, i.e. '' a part cut out of the whole) may have signified at first any tax, but became in England and France a land use or land tenure tax. Later in England it was further limited to assessments by the ...
References
Bibliography
* 2008 YIVO encyclopedia http://www.yivoinstitute.org/downloads/Military_Service.pdf
* Simon Dubnow
Simon Dubnow (alternatively spelled Dubnov, rus, Семён Ма́ркович Ду́бнов, Semyon Markovich Dubnov, sʲɪˈmʲɵn ˈmarkəvʲɪtɕ ˈdubnəf; yi, שמעון דובנאָװ, ''Shimen Dubnov''; 10 September 1860 – 8 Dece ...
, ''The Newest History of the Jewish People, 1789-1914'' Vol. 2 (Russian ed. ) pp. 141–149, 306-308
CANTONISTS, by Herman Rosenthal
at Jewish Encyclopedia
''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...
, 1901–1906
* Benjamin Nathans, ''Beyond the Pale: The Jewish encounter with late imperial Russia'' (University of California Press, Berkeley, CA. 2002). pp. 26–38
*
* Larry Domnitch, ''The Cantonists: The Jewish Children's Army of the Tsar'' (Devora Publishing, 2004).
External links
Lecture on the story The Cantonists:
(Beyond the Pale exhibition)
Military conscription in 19th century Russia
by Dan Leeson (JewishGen)
(Jewish History on the Web)
*
*
*
Былое и думы. Часть вторая
(Alexander Herzen, ''My Past and Thoughts'', Part Two)
* Э. Шкурко
(E. Shkurko. ''Jewish Boys in the Army Overcoats, or "Life for the Tsar"'')
* В. В. Энгель. Курс лекций по истории евреев в России, тема 6
(V.V.Engel. Lectures on the history of Jews in Russia. Part 6: ''Tsarist Politics Concerning the Jews in the Second Quarter of the 19th century'')
* {{in lang, ru Феликс Кандел
(Felix Kandel
Feliks Solomonovich Kandel (russian: Фéликс Соломóнович Кáндель; born 21 October 1932) is a Russian Jewish writer, residing in Jerusalem, Israel.
Early life
He was born in 1932 in Moscow, Soviet Union to a Jewish family ...
. ''Jewish history. Essay 7'') (chassidus.ru)
Jewish Finnish history
Jews and Judaism in the Russian Empire
Military of the Russian Empire
Jewish military history
Society of the Russian Empire