The Military Aspect of Acculturation of the South-Eastern Frontier: the Service of “Foreigners” in the Russian Empire in the 18th — 19th Centuries

Abstract

The frontier approach in the study of the acculturation process makes it possible to determine the basic features of the formation and development of the regions of the south-eastern borderland within the framework of the entry of non-Russian peoples into the development system of the imperial outskirts and the empire as a whole. The analysis of the main activities of the organization of military service of such peoples as Tatars, Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Kalmyks leads to the fact that the service of “foreigners” in the army of the Russian Empire was a significant component of the acculturation policy and allowed attempts to diplomatically build trusting relations of nomadic peoples with the central government. The government was interested in integrating “foreigners” into the imperial system, legally securing the rights and duties of representatives of peoples as full-fledged subjects, investing in the development of national suburbs, creating upward mobility.