Cantonist
Cantonists were underage sons of conscripts in the Russian Empire. From 1721 on they were educated in special "cantonist schools" for future military service. The cantonist schools and the cantonist system were eventually abolished in 1857, following public and international criticism and the Russian defeat in the Crimean War.
Cantonist schools during the 18th and early 19th centuries
Cantonist schools were established by the 1721 Tsar Peter the Great's decree, which 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 7 to 15. The curriculum included grammar and arithmetic, and those with a corresponding aptitude were taught artillery, fortification, music and singing, scrivenery, equine veterinary science, or mechanics. Those lacking such talents were taught carpentry, blacksmithing, shoemaking, and other trades applicable to the military. The most able were trained for a further three years, until 18. All entered military service after 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 Saint 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. Their number increased dramatically after the French invasion of Russia in 1812, when many orphaned sons of military personnel killed in the war enrolled in canton schools voluntarily. During this period, the curriculum was equivalent to that of gymnasia and military subjects were not taught.
In 1824, all canton schools were made answerable to the Director of Military Settlements, Count Aleksey Arakcheyev, and in 1826, they were organized into canton battalions. Curriculum standards dropped significantly, and subjects were limited to those applicable to the military.
During the reign of Nicholas I of Russia, cantonists reached 36,000. Several canton battalions became specialized: they prepared auditors, artillerists, engineers, military surgeons, and cartographers.
More boys were added to the category of cantonists. Eventually, sons of discharged soldiers, illegitimate sons of soldiers' partners or widows, and even foundlings were included.
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 he attained 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.
- Children of nobility were required to serve for three years after their studies.
- Children of senior officers – six years.
- Children of clergy – eight years.
- All other social categories – 25 years.
Cantonism and ethnic minorities
There were some significant differences in the 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 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 Jews and Crimean Karaites, 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 conscriptions, they were required to serve in the Imperial Russian army for 25 years after the completion of their studies. According to the "Statute on Conscription Duty" signed by Tsar Nicholas I on August 26, 1827, Jews were made liable to personal military service and were subject to the same conscription quota as all other tax-paying estates in the Russian Empire. The total number of conscripts was uniform for all populations ; 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. They placed in cantonist schools, with the intent of their Russification, see Incorporation of Polish children into the Imperial Russian Army for more.
The vast majority of Jews entered the Russian Empire with the territories acquired as the result of the last partitions of Poland of the 1790s; their civil rights were severely restricted. Most lacked knowledge of the official Russian language. 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, 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. Every four years, 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 members, agricultural colonists, factory mechanics, clergy, and all Jews with secondary education were exempt, and the wealthy bribed 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", 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, see mesirah.The zoning rule was suspended during the Crimean War, when conscription became annual. During this period the qahals leaders would employ informers and kidnappers, 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 character building. On one occasion in 1856, a Jewish cantonist, Khodulevich, managed to steal the Tsar's own watch during military games at Uman. 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 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 players, and cantonist schools supplied these as well. Some cantonist schools also prepared firearms mechanics, veterinarians for cavalry, and administrators.
The official policy was to encourage their conversion to the state religion of Orthodox Christianity and Jewish boys were coerced to baptism. As kosher food was unavailable, they were faced with the necessity of abandoning of Jewish dietary laws. Polish Catholic 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's military settlements, 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 were considered military cantonists and divided into three age groups: minor, middle, 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 roubles. 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: see Incorporation of Polish children into the Imperial Russian Army for more.