«Free quarter is definitely one of the heaviest duties for citizens». Free quarter and barracks building in the Russian Empire of the second half of the XIX century

Abstract

The article analyzes the transformation of free quarter duty and the issue of building barracks for the Russian army through Russian publications of the second half of the XIX century. Free quarter was definitely one of the heaviest obligations for all groups of citizens. In the second half of the XIX century the government of the Russian Empire attempted to relieve common people of this burden. Special facilities for the army were built then, but there weren’t many of them. During the «great reforms» of Emperor Alexander II there worked a committee on revision of the system of duties and obligations. But it failed to significantly change free quarter system and relieve citizens of physical duties. However, starting from 1881 the Russian Empire began to actively build barracks for the army. As result, by the beginning of the XX century the government managed to accommodate all army forces in barracks, thus entirely relieving the citizens of free quarter duty.