Monetary allowance of captured officers in Russia and Western countries in the 18th century

Abstract

The issues of monetary maintenance of captured officers in the wars of the 18th century have never and nowhere been the subject of special research before. Meanwhile, the study of these issues could contribute to the expansion of our knowledge about Russia’s place in the world in the early Modern period, as well as the establishment of previously unknown features of the country's development determined by Peter the Great’s transformations. The above indicates the relevance of this work and determines its purpose: to reconstruct and compare domestic and foreign practices of material support for enemy officers at the expense of the budget of the captive power throughout the 18th century. The methodological basis of the study consisted mainly of historical-comparative and historical-typological methods. We present a periodization of the evolution of the monetary allowance of prisoners in various countries. The distinctive features of each period are identified and systematized. It is established that in the 18th century in the West, the maintenance of enemy officers went from meeting the primary needs of only individuals from among those in special need, to the regular and unconditional issuance of a permanent monetary allowance equal to the minimum salary of servicemen of the same rank of their own army. It is proved that in the studied chronological framework of the Russian model of material support for captured officers was practically in no way inferior to the Western one and in some matters was ahead of it for decades.