Дана стаття присвячена проблемі організації поселень солдатів, відставних нижчих
чинів і військових переселенців у Росії протягом XVI – XVIII ст. Автор аналізує намагання російських монархів створити засічні смуги, укріплені лінії й поселяти на них
ландміліційні й кавалерійські полки, а також організувати поселення з вихідців інших
країн. У статті досліджуються характерні особливості облаштування військових поселень на південних та південно-східних кордонах. Основну увагу приділено функціям і
обов’язкам військових поселенців та їхній корисності для охорони державних кордонів.
The history of military settlements in the Russian empire of the XIX century in recent
decades has been actively explored, however, until recently, there were almost no works
devoted to the history of the organization of military settlements in Russia during the XVI–
XVIII centuries. Therefore, there is a need to address the predecessors of military settlements
of the Russian empire of the XIX century, to follow the history and characteristics of the
establishment of settlements of soldiers, retired lower ranks and military migrants in Russia
during the XVI–XVIII centuries.
For its kind military settlers can be considered troops, which formed the border guard in
the XVI century. The defense of the serpentine stripes was assigned to horse-drawn groups of
soldiers, who constantly carried the sentinel service, changing each other. But in connection
with the movement of the Russian border in the south, the value of serpentine stripes. In the
seventeenth century the organization of military settlements on the Swedish border and in
Ukraine began. The soldiers were given the land, and they combined military service with
farming. Emperor Peter I at the beginning of the XVIII century began to arrange fortified lines
on the borders and settle with them a significant number of people, which could constantly
reflect the attacks of the enemy and protect the entire border. Also, immigrants from other
countries (Serbs, Hungarians, Moldovans and Georgians) settled on the southern borders of
the empire as military settlers. Empress Catherine II considered it dangerous for the state’s
internal calm of the numerical accumulation of armed people and therefore at the end of the
XVIII century military settlements were eliminated. During the reign of Paul I, the idea of the
transfer of troops to the settlement was not developed.
This was the historical experience of the introduction of military settlements in Russia
during the XVI–XVIII centuries. The main impetus for the implementation of this idea in
life has always been the reduction of the cost of maintaining troops, convenient for the state
of their placement and the protection of borders from attacks. But the placement of military
settlements cost treasury considerable funds and did not bring the desired results.
