XI International Conference of the Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia
10th-14th July 2023
Mikhail Belan (University of Oxford, UK), "The Impact of the Mobilisation of Society during the Napoleonic Wars on Russian Townspeople: The Towns of St Petersburg Province"
The paper explores how the mobilization of the Russian society – the increased demands of the State in the 1800s-1810s – impacted the commoners – merchants, craftsmen, and workers, who constituted most of the population of the Russian town. The paper analyses the economic, social, political, and cultural impact on families of various social groups, their communes and local councils. The focus is on the everyday life in three towns of the Russian Northwest – Novaia Ladoga, Sofia-Tsarskoe-Selo, and Gdov during the 1800s-1810s. I look at the actions and motivations of families, communes and councils: how they reacted to various mobilization measures of the government announced during the periods of peace (such as the years of the Continental blockade), war years, and in the months of extreme mobilization in 1806-07 and 1812-14 – when militias were raised.
