Military clergy reorganization in the Paul’s I of Russia military reform

The article examines an important historical stage in the development of military clergy. During this period, effective systems of military administration, training and recruitment and social protection of its members were established. In the process of the Emperor Paul's reform the military clergy acquired the features of a political institution. This was manifested in the active intervention of the state in the managerial system of the clergy. And the head of the military priests becomes the ober-priest of the Russian army and navy. A system of candidates selection for the positions of military priests has been built. A specialized educational institution was established for recruiting military clergy from the children of military clergy - the Army Seminary. After leaving the military department, martial ober-priests are provided with places in urban parishes, and martial priests are appointed to the rural churches of the dioceses from which they came to serve. A pension was introduced for the military clergy who were unable to continue serving because of age or illness. The military clergy were extracted from the subordination of the Holy Synod. And in the person of the ober-priest it was subordinated to the highest political leadership. As a result, the organization of the military clergy, which was optimal from the point of view of military-political management and effective use, was integrated into the military organization of the state. But this came into conflict with the canonical church norms and the position of the holy synod. After the tragic death of emperor Paul, this organization was largely dismantled.

Training of commanding (technical) staff for the Red Army’s railway troops at the military railway technicians’ schools in the first half of the 1920s

The article deals with the training of commanding (technical) staff at schools of military railway technicians’ during the period of military staff training system foundation for the Red Army railway troops in the first half of the 1920s. Topicality of the study is caused by insufficient research of training problems of Red Army railway painter technicians throughout the days of the Civil War ending, the military reform of the 1920s, reorganisation of system of military professional education and stabilisation of a staff contingent. The article reveals the primary activities of the military administration, managing and teaching staff of military railway technicians’ schools in the interests of training technical specialists for the Red Army railway troops. An analysis is made of the disbandment background of mentioned military educational institutions, as well as of the countermeasures taken to preserve them. The finding is about the unreasonableness of the total abolition of military-railway technicians’ schools with the transfer of training junior technical personnel functions directly to the units of railway troops in the format of regimental schools. A brief generalised comparison is made of the Red Army technicians’ historical experience versus the modern training system of junior specialists and technicians of railway troops.

"The Worst Place in the World for Women"

This paper explores the nature of conflict-related sexual violence committed by the State Armed Forces (FARDC) in the Democratic Republic of Congo, through the application of the general strain theory. Findings show that sexual violence committed by the FARDC is commonly used as a form of personal catharsis and emotional release from perceived strains, as opposed to resulting from sexual desires or external institutional pressures. Further, the most influential contextual elements present in the local context of the FARDC, and which particularly encourage the propagation of sexual violence, include female FARDC soldiers receiving desired military positions, the centrality of strains to personal notions of masculinity and aspirations, the dismantling of social cohesion through patronage networks, and a lack of behavioural coping options. In turn, these factors reduce the efficiency of non-criminal coping strategies. Hence, interventions aimed at reducing the propagation of conflict-related sexual violence may benefit from more bottom-up and inductive approaches improving the individual circumstances of soldiers as opposed to solely focusing upon organisational change and military reform.

Jacobitism, Coastal Policing, and Fiscal-Military Reform in England after the Glorious Revolution, 1689–1702

Customs activity during the 1690s has mainly been studied from a fiscal-military perspective that attributes administrative growth and bureaucratic efficiency to the rise of fiscal necessities in the wake of the Nine Years’ War. This article challenges that view with a focus on the one truly momentous change of the Customs during the 1690s: the establishment of a preventive coastal police. Changes in the Customs were occasioned not primarily by fiscal concerns but resulted from the government's preoccupation with Jacobitism and the successful lobbying of Parliament by the wool interest. As the politics of the wool ban before 1689 demonstrate, coastal policing was a losing bargain in fiscal terms and mainly reflected the interests of certain sections of the merchant community. Fiscal pressures alone do not, therefore, explain the fundamental reform of the Customs in the wake of the Glorious Revolution. The beginnings of systematic coastal policing are instead linked to the rise of Parliament and anti-Jacobite precautions of William III's government. The article offers a new, coherent picture of such changes and calls into question the validity of a central assumption about the rise of the fiscal-military state in Britain after the Glorious Revolution, suggesting a more complicated explanation for fiscal reforms.

Joint finds of knives and swords in burial complexes of the early nomads in the Southern Urals

The paper considers iron knives which have been found together with swords or daggers in burials of the early nomads of the Southern Urals. The aim of this work was to collect information about joint findings of edged weapons and knives and to determine the functional purpose of such bladed sets. This research uses data on seven joint finds of a sword/dagger and a knife in the early nomadic burials of the Southern Urals, originating from six burial grounds. The paper also addresses the issue of origins of this tradition. The functional affiliation of the object as a weapon has been determined by the localization of the knife directly on the sword or dagger in the military burial. Knives which have been found together with a dagger or a sword could represent elements of mili-tary weapons of the early nomads of the Southern Urals. Most likely, the sword scabbards had an additional pocket for knife on the frontal side. This explains the location of the knifes directly along the axis of the sword blade. Such knives probably were used as auxiliary weapons and only in a close combat. If knives are considered as a category of military auxiliary weapons, then their disappearance could be related to some kind of military «reform», expressed in appearance of heavy armed cavalry, distribution of spears, standardization of swords, daggers and arrowheads. The time of existence of such edged sets fits into the middle/second half of the 5th — turn of the 4th/3rd c. BC. A limited number of finds in the early nomadic complexes in the Southern Urals indicates a rather rare use of this weaponry element. The tradition of such edged kits possibly dates back to the nomadic cultures of Central Asia. The edged sets of a dagger and a knife have been found in tombs of the late stage of the Uyuk (Saghlyk) Culture (5th–3rd c. BC). The placement of a knife on the waist of the deceased (sometimes in the same scabbard together with dagger) during the Early Scythian and later periods suggests the conceptualization of knife as a weapon.

Russian Hard Power

This chapter examines Russia’s renewed defensive and offensive capabilities. It defines hard power as conventional and nuclear forces. The chapter compares Russian military power to that of the United States and China. The material in this chapter demonstrates that Russia has rebuilt and modernized its hard power resources considerably since the 2008 military reform. In some areas, by 2020, Russia was capable of seriously challenging NATO’s combined capabilities. The chapter covers the New Look military reforms that began in 2008 in Russia. It looks also at Russian spending on the military in dollar and ruble terms in order to get a more complete understanding of how much Russia actually spends compared to the United States and China. It provides a detailed overview of Russia’s existing conventional capabilities in land, sea, and air, as well as comparative nuclear upgrades.