The administrative-territorial division of the country into provinces was introduced immediately after the uprisings of 1707-1709, when the inability of the old voivodship administration to prevent local unrest was discovered. Governors with great power were placed at the head of the provinces, their assistants were vice-governors. The first governors were appointed especially trusted persons from the environment of Peter I (Moscow province - T.N. Streshnev, St. Petersburg - A.D. Menshikov, who had this title since 1704, Azov - Admiral F.M. Apraksin, Siberian - M. P. Gagarin). In 1713-1719. the governors ruled the provinces together with the "landrats" elected (8-12 people in each province) by the local nobility. In 1719, the number of provinces was increased to 11 (Riga, Revel, Astrakhan, Nizhny Novgorod provinces were established and Smolensk was abolished).

For Russia, with its vast territory, the grid and the principle of administrative-territorial division have always been the most important components of the state structure. The division of the territory of the state into administrative-territorial units, their consolidation or disaggregation were dictated by the current political needs of the state.

The process of evolution of the administrative-territorial division of Russia began in the 16th century, with the formation of a single Russian state, the development of which was accompanied by the gradual elimination of appanages. In the 17th century, the territory of Russia was divided into counties, in many cases roughly corresponding to the former principalities.

By decree of Peter I of December 18, 1708, the territory of Russia was divided into 8 large provinces: Moscow, Ingermanland (since 1710 St. Petersburg), Arkhangelsk, Kiev, Smolensk, Kazan, Azov, Siberia. The internal division of the provinces changed: in 1710-1715. they were divided into chief commandant provinces, in 1715-1719. - into landrat shares (administrative-fiscal units). In 1713, the Riga province was formed on the newly annexed lands in the northwest, while the territory of the Smolensk province was divided between the Riga and Moscow provinces. In 1717, the Astrakhan province was separated from the southern part of the Kazan province.

By decree of May 29, 1719, a new reform of the provinces was carried out. The landrat shares were abolished, the provinces were divided into provinces, and the provinces into districts. Under the reform of 1727, the districts were liquidated, instead of them the counties were restored. Gradually, new provinces arose due to the disaggregation of the former ones: Nizhny Novgorod, Revel, Belgorod, Novgorod. In total, after the reform of 1727, there were 14 provinces and about 250 counties in the empire.

During the first period of the reign of Empress Catherine II (1762-1796), there were some changes in the administrative-territorial division. They mainly consisted in the formation of new provinces on the annexed lands. In the south, the Novorossiysk province was established (with a center in Kremenchug), and in the Left-bank Ukraine - the Little Russian province, divided into 10 regiments, subordinate to the Little Russian governor-general. From southern parts Belgorod and Voronezh provinces, a new Sloboda-Ukrainian province was formed (with the center in Kharkov). After the first division of the Commonwealth in 1772, the Pskov (center - Opochka) and Mogilev provinces were created on the newly annexed lands. Due to the new lands acquired in the south under the Kyuchuk-Kainarji peace of 1774, a new Azov province was formed (which included the lands of the Don army). At the same time, the Zaporizhzhya Sich was liquidated, and its lands were annexed to the Novorossiysk province. In Siberia, a separate Irkutsk province was allocated. As a result, the territory of the empire began to be divided into 23 provinces and 62 provinces.

As a result of the provincial reform of 1775, the size of the provinces decreased, their number doubled, the provinces were liquidated, regions were allocated within a number of provinces, and the borders of the counties were changed. On average, 300-400 thousand people now lived in the province, 20-30 thousand people in the county. The process of reorganization of the old provinces into new ones, which became known as governorships (with the exception of the Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kolyvan provinces, as well as the Taurida region), stretched out for 10 years (until 1785).

With the acquisition of new lands by the Russian Empire in the south and west, new governorships and provinces were formed. After the second division of the Commonwealth in 1793, Minsk, Izyaslav and Bratslav provinces appeared. In the same year, Empress Catherine II granted the Don Cossacks the eternal possession of the land on which it was located, this territory was called the Land of the Don Cossacks. In 1795, Voznesensk (southwest of Novorossia) and Courland governorships, Vilna and Slonim provinces were created on the annexed lands; The Minsk and Bratslav provinces were transformed into viceroys, the Izyaslav province was reorganized, as a result of which the Podolsk and Volyn viceroys were created. By 1796, the Russian Empire was divided into 44 governorships, 5 provinces, 1 region, and the Land of the Don Cossacks was a separate unit.

During the reign of Emperor Paul I (1796-1801), a new reform of the administrative-territorial division took place. All governorships returned the name of the provinces. Many of them have been renamed and enlarged. During the Pavlovian reform, the number of higher units of administrative-territorial division decreased from 51 to 42.

Emperor Alexander I (1801-1825) began to restore the former grid of provinces. In fact, during the reform of Alexander I, all the "enlargement" measures of Paul I were canceled. Throughout the 19th century the formation of new administrative-territorial units took place mainly in the newly annexed territories (Bessarabia, Finland, Poland, Transcaucasia, Central Asia), partly due to the reform and disaggregation of existing ones (in Siberia, the Volga region, the Urals, Far East). In 1861, in connection with the peasant reform there were changes in the structure of local government, as the counties began to be divided into volosts. Territories on the outskirts of the empire were usually called regions, not provinces. By 1914, most of the regions were part of 4 governor-generals (Irkutsk, Amur, Stepnoe, Turkestan) and the Caucasian vicegerency.

The provinces were headed by governors, in some cases by governor-generals (Azov - in the early 18th century, St. Petersburg - in the 18th-19th centuries, Moscow - in the 18th - early 20th centuries). The provincial administration consisted of a number of officials who were subordinate to the governor, among them - the vice-governor, in the XVIII-XIX centuries. - officials who were directly in charge of tax collection (chief commissar), military affairs (chief commandant), provision of food and fodder for the troops quartered in the province (chief food master), and court cases (landricht). In 1713, to resolve issues of local government in the province and represent the interests of the district nobility, a landrat council was formed under the governor. It consisted of 8-12 (depending on the size of the province) landrats elected by the local nobility, the governor had two votes in the council. The landrat offices (disbanded in 1719) were subordinate to the landrats (two of them permanently resided in the provincial city). In 1715, the Landrats were also entrusted with the responsibility of managing shares. Landrats in 1719-1720 were placed at the disposal of the Chamber Collegium for appointment to other places (in the Baltic provinces, landrat councils remained until 1786). At the same time, a number of local institutions were formed in the provinces: the office - search cases, Waldmeister cases, "evidence of souls", as well as rental offices, offices of cameramen's affairs and recruitment cases, etc. (some of them were liquidated in 1726-1727). Since 1728, the direct control of the provinces was carried out by the governors through the provincial office, to which the provincial offices were subordinate, and to them, in turn, the county offices.

According to the provincial reform of 1775, provincial governments, orders of public charity, as well as state chambers were created in the provincial cities (in 1862, the management of indirect taxes was transferred from them to excise departments). Protection of order in the territory of the province in the European part of the Russian Empire in 1811-1864. carried out internal guards, then various formations of local troops. For the collection, processing and publication of statistical data from 1834-1835. provincial statistical committees were created in the provinces. Since 1837, the Gubernskie Vedomosti newspapers have been published in a number of provinces. In 1864, in 34 provinces of European Russia (by 1916 - in 43 provinces), in accordance with the zemstvo reform, elected bodies of local all-estate self-government were formed - provincial and county zemstvos, in their jurisdiction were issues of local economy, health, education, statistics, etc. .In the 1860s. under the governor, provincial presences began to be created, most of which were local institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Finance. The local bodies of the Ministry of State Property (since 1894 - the Ministry of Agriculture and State Property) were chambers (since 1866 - management) of state property that operated within several provinces. For holding the Stolypin agrarian reform in 1906, first in a number of provinces, and since 1911, land management commissions operated everywhere - local bodies of the Main Directorate of Land Management and Agriculture (since 1915 - the Ministry of Agriculture).

After the February Revolution of 1917, the Provisional Government faced the need to make certain changes in the administrative-territorial division, since even with late XIX V. there were projects for its disaggregation, as well as the establishment of new provinces in areas where industry was growing rapidly. In 1914-1917. the press actively discussed the need to organize new provinces in the central part of the country and in Siberia. The Provisional Government took the first steps in this direction, but they were interrupted by the October Revolution of 1917 and the beginning civil war. In the early years of existence Soviet state The gubernias were preserved, they began to be managed by provincial executive committees, elected at provincial congresses of councils. During the first Soviet reform administrative-territorial division (1923-1929) the provinces were liquidated, they were replaced by regions and territories.

Nominal given to the Senate

From now on, we command the following provinces to be composed: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novgorod, Tver, Pskov, Smolensk, Tula, Kaluga, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Vologda, Arkhangelsk, Vyatka, Kazan, Perm, Tobolsk, Irkutsk, Orenburg, which before now it was Ufimskaya, Simbirskaya, Penza, Astrakhanskaya, Voronezhskaya, Tambovskaya, Ryazanskaya, Kurskaya, Orelskaya, Sloboda-Ukrainskaya instead of the former Kharkovskaya, and Novorossiyskaya instead of Ekaterinoslavskaya; Yes, on special rights and privileges of their bases of Little Russia, Livonia, Estland, Vyborg, Courland, Lithuania, Minsk, Belarus, Volyn, Podolsk and Kiev. As a result, 1. the former Olonets Gubernia, similar to the local situation, is divided between Novgorod and Arkhangelsk, so that the parts closest to the North are assigned to the Arkhangelsk Gubernia, and the rest to Novgorod, leaving that to the agreement of the governors of these latter. 2. Restore the Sloboda-Ukrainian Gubernia to the exact borders in which it was arranged in 1765, adding to it those who departed and deducting to others those assigned to it after that place. 3. Kolyvanskaya Gubernia, abolishing its circumference, ascribe to those to which it belonged until 1779. 4. Voznesenskaya Gubernia and the Tauride Region should be destroyed in the same way, and the Novorossiysk Province made up of everything that is beyond the return to Little Russia separated counties, and from the former Voznesenskaya assigned to it from the lands acquired from Poland, also now returned to the Sloboda-Ukrainian Governorate, it will remain, adding here the Tauride Region, divided simply into counties, in accordance with the number of inhabitants and the vastness of the local. 5. There will be no Saratov Province, but the places included in it should be annexed, according to the ability, to the Provinces of Penza and Astrakhan. 6. From the former Polish Ukraine, Volhynia and Podolia, annexed to Our Empire, after separating a sufficient number of souls and a circle to form the Kyiv Province, to form two Provinces: Podolsk and Volyn. 7. From Polotsk and Mogilev to unite into one Belorussian Province, appointing the Gubernia city to be conveniently in Vitebsk. 8. From the provinces previously determined in Vilna and Slonim, to form one Lithuanian one in the first of the cities mentioned, providing in general about the borders between all adjacent provinces to be reunited on the agreement of their governors, about which they must submit to the Senate for reporting to Us. However, We will not hesitate to supply all the aforementioned provinces with staffs, which We, with the benefit of the state and with successful production in accordance with the good, recognize.

Legislation of Emperor Paul I. — M., 2008. - S.3-4.

Legislation on legal status population

LETTER OF RIGHTS, Liberties, and Benefits to the NOBLE RUSSIAN NOBILITY (1785, April 24)

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The province is the highest territorial and administrative division Russian state, which took shape in the 18th century as a result of the reforms of Peter I to form an absolutist state.

The decree of 1708 stated that the Russian Empire was divided into 8 provinces.
At the head of the province was the governor or governor-general, who was appointed by the sovereign himself.

To create such an administrative division, there were both economic and military-political prerequisites, in addition great importance had a natural-geographical factor.

Huge territories needed reasonable management.
The province consisted of the administrative center, which was the provincial city and the cities assigned to it. Each assigned city had its own county.
Somewhat later, after the second administrative reform. The number of provinces increased to 11, and subsequently they were divided into 50 provinces, which became the basic unit of the province.
Counties united and formed provinces, and provinces formed provinces.
In 1727, the territorial division of Russia was presented as follows: 250 counties formed 47 provinces, which, in turn, made up 14 provinces.

The governor remained the only viceroy of the tsar in the province, and in the provinces and counties such a body was the voivode.
The county governor was directly subordinate to the provincial governor, who in turn was subordinate to the governor.

When were the provinces formed in Russia, how many were there and what were they called?

The governor in all his actions was guided by the instructions of the central institutions or, directly, by the personal instructions of the sovereign.
The governor, like the governors, organized their activities through the office, available in each county, province and province.

In 1763, military commands were assigned to each governor, which were supposed to ensure unquestioning obedience to his orders. Also, police chiefs and fiscal authorities were returned under the authority of governors and governors.
In the future, further reforming of the province as a territorial administrative unit continued.
Governors began to be appointed by the Senate, of course with the consent of the emperor.

As a result, a complex bureaucratic system of provincial administration was formed, in which the leading role belonged to the nobility.
The provincial administrative apparatus and territorial division persisted until the 20th century and were abolished after the establishment of Soviet power.

From this article it will become clear to everyone what a province is.

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Collegiate Commissioner, board commissioner- state class rank in the Russian Empire.

He belonged to the XIV class of the Table of Ranks, was equal in status to the collegiate registrar, that is, he was lower than the provincial secretary, and was titled "your honor."

During the existence of this rank, personal nobility complained about it.

The name of the rank came from the position of an authorized representative, an official for special assignments in the Petrovsky collegiums, a member of a commission or an official of a profile (in areas of work) office, created at the collegium on a permanent or temporary basis. Initially, the rank was absent in the General Regulations of February 28, 1720, since it was assumed that the officials of the colleges would solve a strictly defined range of tasks, but by 1722 it became already obvious that, as usual in Russia, a lot of completely unexpected and unforeseen questions arise (in including the smallest and smallest), often also requiring a business trip to the place, for the solution of which it is impossible to constantly distract staff officials of the office.

In addition, a number of tasks have appeared on the ground that require the constant presence of a representative of the Board. This is what they all did collegiate commissioners, they, for example, performed the functions of managers at state-owned factories and lands, controlled procurement for state needs, etc.

Later, the rank was also assigned to the owners of private industries, procurement offices, estates that carried out deliveries in the public interest.

At the head of the commission, the profile office at the collegium, was usually the collegiate chief commissar, to whom the commissars reported in the corresponding line of work. Accordingly, there could be several chief commissars in the collegium.

The rank quickly fell into disuse, and the holders of universal ranks, as a rule, of higher classes began to perform the corresponding duties, however, in the 1770s, individual collegiate commissars still met.

Changes in the administrative-territorial division of Russia over the past 300 years

stood apart commissars at gunpowder and nitrate factories military and naval departments (despite the fact that there were also ordinary collegiate commissars in the corresponding colleges) - they had it not a civil rank, but a military rank, moreover, assigned to the IX class, with all the ensuing legal consequences: the hereditary nobility complained about it , the commissar could curry favor with majors or captains from artillery.

Just like the civil rank, this title quickly fell into disuse.

see also

Literature

The article was compiled based on the materials of the book by P.M. Koryavtsev “The Great Abevega of Ranks and Titles”

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Peter I

Peter I Alekseevich, nicknamed Great(May 30, 1672 - January 28, 1725) - the last Tsar of All Rus' (since 1682) and the first All-Russian Emperor (since 1721). From a young age, showing interest in the sciences and a foreign way of life, Peter was the first of the Russian tsars to make a long journey to the countries of Western Europe.

Upon returning from it, in 1698, Peter launched large-scale reforms of the Russian state and social order. One of the main achievements of Peter was the solution of the task set in the 16th century: the expansion of Russian territories in the Baltic region after the victory in the Great Northern War, which allowed him to take the title of Russian emperor in 1721.

IN historical science and in public opinion from the end of the 18th century to the present, there are diametrically opposed assessments of both the personality of Peter I and his role in the history of Russia.

In the official Russian historiography, Peter was considered one of the most prominent statesmen that determined the direction of Russia's development in the 18th century.

However, many historians, including N. M. Karamzin, V. O. Klyuchevsky, P. N. Milyukov and others, expressed sharply critical assessments

Reforms of Peter I

Most of all, Peter I was occupied with the thought of the fleet and the possibility of trade relations with Europe.

To put his ideas into practice, he equipped the Great Embassy and visited a number of European countries, where he saw how Russia lagged behind in its development.

This event in the life of the young tsar marked the beginning of his transformational activity. The first reforms of Peter I were aimed at changing the external signs of Russian life: he ordered beards to be shaved and ordered to dress in European clothes, he introduced music, tobacco, balls and other innovations into the life of Moscow society, which shocked him.

Foreign policy of Peter I

main goal foreign policy Peter I had access to Baltic Sea, which would provide Russia with a connection with Western Europe. In 1699, Russia, having entered into an alliance with Poland and Denmark, declared war on Sweden. The outcome of the Northern War, which lasted 21 years, was influenced by the victory of the Russians in the Battle of Poltava on June 27, 1709.

On August 30, 1721, the Treaty of Nystadt was signed, according to which Russia retained the conquered lands of Livonia, Estland, Ingermanland, part of Karelia and all the islands of the Gulf of Finland and Riga. Access to the Baltic Sea was secured.

awarded the tsar with the title of Father of the Fatherland, Peter the Great and Emperor of All Russia.

In 1723, after a month and a half of hostilities with Persia, Peter I acquired the western shore of the Caspian Sea.

Simultaneously with the conduct of hostilities, the vigorous activity of Peter I was also aimed at carrying out numerous reforms, the purpose of which was to bring the country closer to European civilization, improve the education of the Russian people, strengthen the power and international position Russia.

A lot has been done by the great tsar, here are just the main reforms of Peter I.

Reform government controlled Peter I

Instead of the Boyar Duma, in 1700 the Council of Ministers was created, which met in the Near Chancellery, and in 1711 - the Senate, which by 1719 had become the highest government agency. With the creation of the provinces, numerous Orders ceased their activity, they were replaced by Collegiums, which were subordinate to the Senate.

The secret police also operated in the management system - the Preobrazhensky order (in charge of state crimes) and the Secret Chancellery. Both institutions were under the jurisdiction of the emperor himself.

Administrative reforms of Peter I

Regional (provincial) reform of Peter I

The largest administrative reform of local government was the creation in 1708 of the

8 provinces headed by governors, in 1719 their number increased to 11.

1796, December 12 - On the new division of the State into Provinces

The second administrative reform divided the provinces into provinces headed by governors, and the provinces into districts (counties) headed by zemstvo commissars.

Urban reform (1699-1720)

To manage the city, the Burmister Chamber in Moscow was created, renamed in November 1699 into the City Hall, and magistrates subordinate to the Chief Magistrate in St. Petersburg (1720).

The members of the City Hall and the magistrates were elected through elections.

Estate reforms

The main goal of the estate reform of Peter I was to formalize the rights and obligations of each estate - the nobility, the peasantry and the urban population.

Nobility.

  1. Decree on estates (1704), according to which both boyars and nobles received estates and estates.
  2. Decree on Education (1706) - all boyar children are required to receive primary education.
  3. Decree on single inheritance (1714), according to which a nobleman could leave an inheritance only to one of his sons.
  4. Table of Ranks (1722): the service to the sovereign was divided into three departments - the army, the state and the court - each of which was divided into 14 ranks.

    This document allowed a man of the lower class to curry favor with the nobility.

Peasantry

Most of the peasants were serfs. Kholops could sign up as soldiers, which freed them from serfdom.

Among the free peasants were:

  • state, with personal freedom, but limited in the right to move (i.e.

    at the will of the monarch, they could be transferred to serfs);

  • palace, which belonged personally to the king;
  • sessional, assigned to manufactories. The owner had no right to sell them.

urban estate

Urban people were divided into "regular" and "irregular". The regular ones were divided into guilds: the 1st guild - the richest, the 2nd guild - small merchants and wealthy artisans.

Irregular, or "mean people", made up the majority of the urban population. In 1722, workshops appeared that united masters of one craft.

Judicial reform of Peter I

The functions of the Supreme Court were carried out by the Senate and the College of Justice.

Courts of appeal and provincial courts headed by governors operated in the provinces. The provincial courts dealt with the cases of peasants (except for monasteries) and townspeople not included in the settlement.

Since 1721, the court cases of the townspeople included in the settlement were conducted by the magistrate. In other cases, cases were decided by the Zemstvo or city judge alone.

Church reform of Peter I

Peter I abolished the patriarchate, deprived the church of power, and transferred its funds to the state treasury.

Instead of the post of patriarch, the tsar introduced a collegiate supreme administrative church body - the Holy Synod.

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PROVINCE, in the Russian Empire (in the USSR until 1929) the main administrative-territorial unit; V different time provinces existed along with regions and territories. The first provinces were created in accordance with the decree of Tsar Peter I dated December 18 (29), 1708: Azov, Arkhangelsk, Ingermanland (since 1710 St. Petersburg), Kazan, Kiev, Moscow, Siberian and Smolensk. Their education and the formation of the staff of the provinces were completed by 1710.

In the provinces, the district division was preserved [existed from the end of the 15th century; fixed by the royal decree of 17 (28). The number of provinces was constantly increasing: 23 by 1775, 41 by 1800, 78 by 1914 (see the essay "Administrative-territorial division" in the volume "Russia", section of the Appendix). In the course of the reform of local government in 1719, the provinces were divided into provinces (headed by governors), and the provinces into counties (from 1710 headed by commandants).

According to the provincial reform of 1775, two or three provinces were merged into governor-generals, most of the provinces became known as governorships (the name "province" was returned as a result of the reforms of Emperor Paul I in 1796), the division of provinces and governorships into provinces was eliminated (division of districts was preserved) .

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The provinces were headed by governors, in some cases by governor-generals (Azov province - in the early 18th century, St. Petersburg - in the 18-19th centuries, Moscow - in the 18th - early 20th century).

The provincial administration consisted of a number of officials subordinate to the governor, among them - the vice-governor, in the 18-19 centuries - officials who were directly in charge of tax collection (chief commissar), military affairs (chief commandant), provision of food and fodder stationed in the province troops (Ober-proviantmeister), court cases (landricht). In 1713, to resolve issues of local government in the provinces and represent the interests of the county nobility, a landrat council was formed under the governor.

It consisted of 8-12 (depending on the size of the province) landrats elected by the local nobility, the governor had two votes in the council. Landrat offices (disbanded in 1719) were subordinate to the landrats (two of them permanently resided in the provincial town).

In 1715, the landrats were also entrusted with the responsibility of managing shares. Landrats in 1719-20 were placed at the disposal of the College of Chambers for appointment to other places (in the Baltic provinces, landrat councils remained until 1786). At the same time, a number of local institutions were formed in the provinces: the office - search affairs, waldmeister cases, "evidence of souls", as well as rental offices, offices of cameramen's affairs and recruitment affairs, etc.

(some of them were liquidated in 1726-27). Since 1728, the direct administration of the provinces was carried out by the governors through the provincial office, to which the provincial offices were subordinate, and to them, in turn, the county offices. According to the provincial reform of 1775, provincial governments, orders of public charity, as well as state chambers were created in the provincial cities (in 1862, the management of indirect taxes was transferred from them to excise departments).

The protection of order on the territory of the province in the European part of the Russian Empire in 1811-64 was carried out by internal guards, then by various formations of local troops. For the collection, processing and publication of statistical data from 1834/35, provincial statistical committees were created in the provinces. Since 1837, the Gubernskiye Vedomosti newspapers have been published in a number of provinces. In 1864, in 34 provinces of European Russia (by 1916 - in 43 provinces), in accordance with the zemstvo reform, elected bodies of local all-estate self-government were formed - provincial and district zemstvos, which were in charge of local economy, health, education, statistics, etc.

In the 1860s, provincial presences began to be created under the governor, most of which were local institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Finance. The local bodies of the Ministry of State Property (since 1894, the Ministry of Agriculture and State Property) were chambers (1838-66, then management) of state property, State Control - control chambers (established in 1865-68) operating within several provinces.

To carry out the Stolypin agrarian reform in 1906, in a number of provinces (in 1911 everywhere) land management commissions were created - local bodies of the Main Directorate for Land Management and Agriculture (since 1915, the Ministry of Agriculture). After October revolution In 1917, provincial executive committees, elected at provincial congresses of soviets, began to govern.

During the first Soviet reform of the administrative-territorial division (1923-29), the provinces were liquidated, they were replaced by regions and territories.

Lit.: Gradovsky A.

D. Beginnings of Russian state law. SPb., 1883. T.

ON THE NEW DIVISION OF THE STATE INTO THE PROVINCE

3; Bogoslovsky M. M. Regional reform of Peter the Great. Province 1719-1727 M., 1902; Eroshkin N. P. History public institutions pre-revolutionary Russia. M., 1983.

B. Kamensky, S. G. Lanina.

Provincial reform of Peter I

At the first stage, there were minor changes in the system of local government: with the creation of the Burmister Chamber (1699), the townspeople were removed from the jurisdiction of the voivods; 1702-1705 - local nobles are involved in the voivodeship administration.

This was the first provincial reform, which completely changed the system of local government. In its final form, it was formed only by 1719, on the eve of the second regional reform. The main goal of this reform was to provide the army with everything necessary: ​​with the regiments of the army, distributed among the provinces, a direct connection was established between the provinces through a specially created institute of krieg commissars.

According to this decree, the entire territory of the country was divided into eight provinces:

At first, Moscow, Ingermanland, Smolensk, Kiev, Azov, Kazan, Arkhangelsk and Siberian provinces were formed. In 1711 there were 9 provinces, and in 1714 - 11 (Astrakhan, Nizhny Novgorod, Riga).

Administrative-territorial division of the Russian Empire

This was Peter's first administrative reform.

At the head of the provinces were governors, governors-general, who combined administrative, military and judicial power in their hands.

The functions of the governor were joined by other duties - the organization and activities of the court and the police. The provincial reform strengthened the power of the landowners in the localities.

Peter made an attempt to introduce collegial and electoral principles into the provincial administration. Under the governor, a council of "landrats" (8-12 advisers) was formed, which was to be elected by the local nobility.

However, life turned the named undertaking of Peter into something directly opposite to what the reformer dreamed of. Landrats were not elected, but appointed from the nobility by the Senate or the governor (the latter selected the people he needed).

The encirclement of the governor by the landrat council did not create any gain for the Russian provincial self-government. Landrats did not exist even for five years, they were liquidated. The province did not become a self-governing public union.

Governors were appointed by royal decrees only from among the nobles close to Peter I (Menshikov, Apraksin, Streshnev, etc.). The governors had assistants who controlled the branches of government:

  • chief commandant - military administration;
  • chief commissar and chief food officer - provincial and other fees;
  • landrichter - provincial justice, financial boundary and search affairs;
  • chief inspector - collecting taxes from cities and counties.

The meaning of the reform was to shift the center of gravity in management to the localities. With the vast distances in our country and the means of communication of that time, it was impossible to quickly manage such a vast territory directly from the center, as they tried to do in the previous period. A reasonable decentralization of power was necessary, but the reform failed at the first stage.

By appointing major statesmen as governors, Peter I wanted these people to be able to make decisions quickly on the spot on behalf of the tsar. However, this step also had negative consequences - for the most part, these people were burdened with numerous duties (for example, Menshikov and Apraksin - presidents of the "first" colleges, senators) and practically could not continuously stay in their provinces, and the vice-governors who ruled instead of them did not had such powers and trust of the king.

The second regional reform was carried out on the basis of those transformations that had already been made.

In 1718, the Senate established the states and the nomenclature of posts for provincial institutions, and in May 1719 a clear schedule of provinces, provinces and cities by provinces and provinces was given. From this period, the division into provinces is introduced throughout the country.

The province becomes the basic unit of regional government.

In accordance with the second reform of local government, 11 provinces were divided into 45 provinces, headed by voivodes.

The provinces were divided into districts - districts, where the chamber-collegium appointed such leaders as zemstvo commissars. Since 1724, a new tax began to be collected from the population - the poll tax. To collect the poll tax, the institution of new zemstvo commissars elected for 1 year by the local noble society is established.

This was the second, after the landrats, an attempt by the Petrine legislation to increase the initiative of the nobility in local government.

However, the institution of elected commissars did not last long either; it faced the pronounced absenteeism of the local nobles (many of their congresses could not take place due to the absence of the nobles). The zemstvo commissar, who handed over the poll tax to the colonel, became completely dependent on the latter.

The dominance of the civilian bureaucracy in the province (governor, voivode, zemstvo commissar) was further complicated by the dominance of the military regimental authorities. Under the double pressure of both, the germs of self-government quickly withered away. The rural land community, the subject of self-government in the countryside (collecting taxes, supplying recruits), was also under the weight of fiscal duties.

In the estates, where management was based on secular (communal) representation (a gathering of peasants who elected the village headman and his deputies - forest, land, hay, etc.).

The social dualism of the community was most clearly manifested as an instrument of patrimonial administration, on the one hand, and on the other, as an instrument for protecting and preserving the interests of the peasants in front of the feudal lord and the tsarist administration.

The provincial governors were subordinate to the governors only in military matters, otherwise they were independent of the governors. The governors were engaged in the search for runaway peasants and soldiers, the construction of fortresses, the collection of income from state-owned factories, they took care of the external security of the provinces, and from 1722

performed judicial functions. The governors and provincial administrations were appointed by the Senate and reported directly to the colleges. Four collegiums (Cameras, State Offices, Yustits and Votchinnaya) had their own apparatus in the field of chamberists, commandants and treasurers.

The province was usually headed by a voivode, in the county the financial and police administration was entrusted to the zemstvo commissars, partly elected by the county nobles, partly appointed from above.

The decree on the establishment of provinces completed the first stage of the reform of local government.

Provincial administration was carried out by governors and vice-governors, who performed mainly military and financial management functions. However, this division turned out to be too large and did not allow the management of the provinces to be carried out in practice, especially with the communications that existed at that time.

Therefore, in each province there were large cities in which the former city administration exercised control.

The provinces, in turn, were divided into districts, governed by zemstvo commissars.

Thus, a three-tier system was created on the ground: province, province, district.

Gradually, the number of provinces grew both due to the annexation of new lands to Russia, and due to the disaggregation of excessively large provinces. As a result, by the time of the new provincial reform by Catherine II, by 1775 there were already 23 provinces in the empire, and by the end of the century their number had reached fifty. The growth in the number of provinces, and, consequently, the decrease in their territories, led to the abolition in principle of the provinces created at the beginning of the century, which became an unnecessary intermediate link.

True, in some provinces the provinces have been preserved.

At present, few people can say what a province is, since the territorial division of the country is carried out differently. This phenomenon refers to the times of the Russian Empire, the RSFSR and the USSR.

Provinces were considered the highest units of the administrative-territorial division of the state. They took shape from 1708 to 1929 as a result of the construction of an absolutist state. These territorial units were headed by governors.

Interpretation of the term

To answer the question of what a province is, let's turn to the etymology of the word. The term "province" comes from the Latin word "gubernator", which means "ruler". On December 29, 1708, Peter the Great issued a decree on the division of the state into new administrative-territorial units - provinces. Until this year, the Russian Empire consisted of 166 counties. Thus, 8 provinces were formed.

Above we have already explained what the word "province" means. Next, we will consider the issue of the history of the emergence of new territorial-administrative units in more detail.

The first reforms of Peter

The creation of provinces took place in accordance with the decree of the sovereign. The original lineup was as follows:

  1. Moscow province: the territory of today's Moscow region, large parts of the Tula, Vladimir, Kaluga, Kostroma, Ivanovo, Ryazan regions.
  2. Ingermanland province (two years later renamed St. Petersburg). It included modern Leningrad region, Novgorod, Tver, Pskov, south of Arkhangelsk, west of Vologda, Yaroslavl regions and Karelia.
  3. Arkhangelsk province, which included Arkhangelsk, Murom, part of Kostroma, Karelia and Komi.
  4. As part of the Kyiv province - Little Russia, the categories of Belgorod and Sevsky, part of the Oryol, Belgorod, Bryansk, Tula, Kaluga, Kursk regions.
  5. The Smolensk province included the current part of the Bryansk, Tver, Kaluga and Tula regions.
  6. Kazan province - the Volga region and Bashkiria, Volga-Vyatka, part of the Tambov, Penza, Perm, Ivanovo and Kostroma regions, Northern part Dagestan and Kalmykia.
  7. Azov included part of the Tula, Oryol, Ryazan, Kursk, Belgorod, the entire Voronezh, Rostov, Tambov, part of the Kharkov, Lugansk, Donetsk and Penza regions.
  8. The Siberian province includes Siberia, most of the Urals, the Kirov region and part of the Komi Republic.

Interestingly, by the end of 1719 there were eleven provinces. This happened due to the fact that the Nizhny Novgorod, Astrakhan and Riga provinces were separated. At the head of these territorial units was a governor-general, and each share of the provinces was headed by a landrat.

The second administrative division of the provinces (Second reform of Peter the Great)

The second reform took place in 1719, on May 29. In its course, the provinces were divided into provinces headed by the governor, and the provinces, in turn, were divided into districts with commanders of the zemstvo commissars. Thus, 47 provinces were formed, which are part of 9 provinces, with the exception of Revel (now it is Tallinn) and Astrakhan (they were not divided into parts). The documents of that time described in detail what a province was and what powers it was vested with.

Third administrative reform

What were the provinces in a later period? During the third administrative reform, districts were removed and counties were reintroduced. As a result, there were 250 counties in 14 provinces. The Belgorod and Novgorod provinces were formed, the districts began to be headed by the leaders of the district nobility.

Still, the local nobility put pressure on the tsarist government in order to feel like the owners of the lands. Administrative unit for a long time remained stable, and if new units appeared, then at the expense of the acquired territories. At the end of October 1775, the Russian state included 23 provinces, 62 provinces, and 276 counties.

Reform of Catherine the Great

Catherine's decree of November 7, 1775 stated that it was necessary to disaggregate the administrative territories of the state. The creation of provinces stopped, and their number decreased, the provinces were removed and the principle of formation of counties changed. The bottom line was that the county should have 20-30 thousand people, and in the province - about 300-400 thousand.

Also, the purpose of the reform was to strengthen power after the invasion of Emelyan Pugachev. Governors and governors obeyed prosecutor's supervision, headed by the Attorney General, and the Senate.

By the end of the reign of Catherine II, Russia included 48 governorships, 2 provinces, 1 region and the Dwelling of the Don Cossacks. The governor-general was appointed by the empress, the counties were ruled by police captains. Until 1796, the creation of new governorships was due to the annexation of territories.

For a long time, the question of what a province is and why it was created did not arise among the population for a long time. The emergence of new administrative units remained virtually unnoticed.

and Alexander I

The formation of provinces during the reign occurred as a result of the replacement of the names of administrative-territorial units. In the course of the reform in 1776, consolidation took place: the governorships officially became provinces, in territories where there was a likelihood of an uprising or a foreign attack, governors-general remained in place.

The management scheme of the provinces during the reign of Alexander I did not change, but in the period from 1801 to 1802 the abolished territories were restored.

Consider what were the provinces during this period. It should be noted the division of territorial units into 2 groups: in the European part of Russia, a general provincial organization remains (comprising 51 provinces), while on the outskirts, a system of governor-generals is monitored (a total of 3 provinces). In some regions - Kuban, Ural, Trans-Baikal, Don Cossacks, Tersk - the governors were at the same time chieftains of the Cossack troops. In 1816, 12 governorships arose, each consisting of 3-5 provinces.

From province to region

By the end of the 19th century, 20 regions were formed - these are administrative units similar to provinces. The word "region", in contrast to the overseas "province", is truly Old Slavonic, and means "oblada" (possession).

The regions were located on territories bordering other states, they did not have their own Duma and were infringed in other rights, they were controlled by military governors and were part of huge governor-generals. The apparatus of local self-government was simplified and subordination to the governor himself was strengthened.

The first governor-general in Russia - A.D. Menshikov - took office in 1703.

Administrative composition as of 1914

Until the beginning of the 20th century, the provincial apparatus had its own power in local government. From 1907 to 1910, during the time the Council of the United Nobility was created.

The provisional government retained provincial divisions, they were headed by provincial commissars, and counties - county. In parallel with this, a system of Soviets was formed in opposition to the Provisional Government.

The original provincial division remained for some time after the revolution in October 1917, but the provincial executive committee was established. This is an executive committee elected at the provincial congress of Soviets.

By the end of 1918, the state included 78 provinces, and in the period up to 1920, 25 of them joined Finland, Poland and the Baltic states. From 1920 to 1923 throughout the territory of the RSFSR, new autonomous units appeared - every year a new province was formed.

The composition changed regularly, but as a result of the reform, by 1929 the provinces completely disappeared, regions and territories appeared, and they, in turn, included districts, districts, village councils, which we observe to this day.

Finally

In the article, we listed which provinces were on the territory of Russia. In addition, we considered key concepts and the history of the emergence of various territorial-administrative units.

Public Administration Reform

Creation of the Near Office (or Council of Ministers) in 1699. It was transformed in 1711 into the Governing Senate. Establishment of 12 collegiums with a specific scope of activity and powers.

The system of state administration has become more perfect. The activities of most state bodies became regulated, the collegiums had a clearly defined area of ​​activity. Supervisory bodies were created.

Regional (provincial) reform

1708-1715 and 1719-1720.

At the first stage of the reform, Peter 1 divided Russia into 8 provinces: Moscow, Kyiv, Kazan, Ingermandland (later St. Petersburg), Arkhangelsk, Smolensk, Azov, Siberia. They were ruled by governors who were in charge of the troops located on the territory of the province, and also possessed full administrative and judicial power. At the second stage of the reform, the provinces were divided into 50 provinces ruled by governors, and those were divided into districts led by zemstvo commissars. The governors were stripped of their administrative power and were in charge of judicial and military matters.

There was a centralization of power. Local governments have almost completely lost influence.

Judicial reform

1697, 1719, 1722

Peter 1 formed new judicial bodies: the Senate, the Justic College, the Hofgerichts, and the lower courts. Judicial functions were also performed by all colleagues, except for Foreign. The judges were separated from the administration. The court of kissers (an analogue of the jury trial) was canceled, the principle of the inviolability of an unconvicted person was lost.

A large number of judicial bodies and persons who carried out judicial activities (the emperor himself, governors, governors, etc.) brought confusion and confusion to the proceedings, the introduction of the possibility of "knocking out" testimony under torture created grounds for abuse and bias. At the same time, the adversarial nature of the process was established and the need for the verdict to be based on specific articles of the law corresponding to the case under consideration.

Military reforms

The introduction of recruitment, the creation of the navy, the establishment of the Military Collegium, which was in charge of all military affairs. Introduction using the "Table of Ranks" military ranks, common for all of Russia. Creation of military-industrial enterprises, as well as military educational institutions. Introduction of army discipline and military regulations.

With his reforms, Peter 1 created a formidable regular army, numbering up to 212 thousand people by 1725, and a strong navy. Subdivisions were created in the army: regiments, brigades and divisions, in the navy - squadrons. Many military victories were won. These reforms (although ambiguously assessed by different historians) created a springboard for the further success of Russian weapons.

Church reform

1700-1701; 1721

After the death of Patriarch Adrian in 1700, the institution of the patriarchate was actually liquidated. In 1701, the management of church and monastery lands was reformed. Peter 1 restored the Monastic order, which controlled church revenues and the trial of the monastery peasants. In 1721, the Spiritual Regulations were adopted, which actually deprived the church of independence. To replace the patriarchate, the Holy Synod was created, whose members were subordinate to Peter 1, by whom they were appointed. Church property was often taken away and spent on the needs of the emperor.

The church reforms of Peter 1 led to the almost complete subordination of the clergy to secular power. In addition to the elimination of the patriarchate, many bishops and ordinary clergy were persecuted. The church could no longer pursue an independent spiritual policy and partly lost its authority in society.

Financial reforms

Almost the entire reign of Peter 1

The introduction of many new (including indirect) taxes, the monopolization of the sale of tar, alcohol, salt and other goods. Damage (reduction in weight) of the coin. Kopeck Stano Regional Reform

In the years 1708-1715, a regional reform was carried out in order to strengthen the vertical of power in the field and better provide the army with supplies and recruits. In 1708, the country was divided into 8 provinces headed by governors endowed with full judicial and administrative power: Moscow, Ingermandland (later St. Petersburg), Kiev, Smolensk, Azov, Kazan, Arkhangelsk and Siberia. The Moscow province gave more than a third of the proceeds to the treasury, followed by the Kazan province.

The governors were also in charge of the troops located on the territory of the province. In 1710, new administrative units appeared - shares, uniting 5536 households. The first regional reform did not solve the set tasks, but only significantly increased the number of civil servants and the cost of their maintenance.

In 1719-1720, the second regional reform was carried out, which eliminated the shares. The provinces began to be divided into 50 provinces headed by governors, and the provinces into districts headed by zemstvo commissars appointed by the Chamber Collegium. Only military and judicial matters remained under the jurisdiction of the governor.

Judicial reform

Under Peter, radical changes were judicial system. The functions of the Supreme Court were given to the Senate and the College of Justice. Below them were: provinces - hofgerichts or court courts of appeal in major cities, and provincial collegiate lower courts. The provincial courts handled civil and criminal cases of all categories of peasants except monasteries, as well as townspeople not included in the settlement. Since 1721, the magistrate conducted the court cases of the townspeople included in the settlement. In other cases, the so-called one-man court acted (cases were decided solely by a zemstvo or city judge). However, in 1722 the lower courts were replaced by provincial courts headed by the voivode

Church reform

One of the transformations of Peter I was the reform of church administration he carried out, aimed at eliminating church jurisdiction autonomous from the state and subordinating the Russian church hierarchy to the Emperor. In 1700, after the death of Patriarch Adrian, instead of convening a council to elect a new patriarch, Peter I temporarily appointed Metropolitan Stefan Yavorsky of Ryazan as the head of the clergy, who received the new title of Custodian of the Patriarchal Throne or "Exarch". including the peasants belonging to them (approximately 795 thousand), the Monastic order was restored, headed by I. A. Musin-Pushkin, who again became in charge of the court of the monastic peasants and controlled income from church and monastic land holdings. In 1701, a series of decrees was issued to reform the management of church and monastery possessions and the organization of monastic life; the most important were the decrees of January 24 and 31, 1701.

In 1721, Peter approved the Spiritual Regulations, the drafting of which was entrusted to the Pskov bishop, Feofan Prokopovich, an approximate tsar, Little Russian. As a result, a radical reform of the church took place, which eliminated the autonomy of the clergy and completely subordinated it to the state. In Russia, the patriarchate was abolished and the Spiritual College was established, soon renamed the Holy Synod, which was recognized by the Eastern patriarchs as equal in honor to the patriarch. All members of the Synod were appointed by the Emperor and took an oath of allegiance to him upon taking office. Wartime stimulated the removal of valuables from the monastic vaults. Peter did not go for the complete secularization of church and monastery possessions, which was carried out much later, at the beginning of his reign

Reforms of the army and navy

Army reform: in particular, the introduction of regiments of a new order, reformed according to a foreign model, was begun long before Peter I, even under Alexei I. However, the combat effectiveness of this army was low. Reforming the army and creating a fleet became necessary conditions for victory in the Northern War of 1700-1721 years.

240 years ago, on November 18, 1775, a manifesto was issued on the new regional division of Russia. The Russian Empire was divided into 50 provinces. The first 8 provinces were formed by decree of Peter I in 1708. Empress Catherine II continued the reform. Instead of provinces, counties and provinces, the division of the country into provinces (300-400 thousand people) and counties (20-30 thousand people) was introduced, based on the principle of taxable population.

The administration was headed by the governor or governor-general, subordinate to the Senate and prosecutorial supervision, headed by the prosecutor-general. At the head of the county was a police captain, who was elected once every 3 years by the county noble assembly. The provincial division existed in Russia until the 1920s, when the provinces were replaced by regions, territories and districts.

Regional reform of Peter

From the end of 1708, Peter began to carry out the provincial reform. The implementation of this reform was caused by the need to improve the system of administrative division, which is largely outdated by early XVIII century. In the 17th century, the territory of the Muscovite State was divided into counties - districts that had close economic ties with the city. At the head of the county was a governor sent from Moscow. The counties were extremely uneven in size - sometimes very large, sometimes very small. In 1625, the number of counties was 146, in addition to which there were volosts. TO XVIII century relations between the center and the provinces became extremely complex and intricate, and the administration of the counties from the center became extremely cumbersome. Another important reason for the regional reform of Peter I was the need to create new system financing and material support of the armed forces for the successful conduct of the war.

In addition, it was necessary to strengthen the "power vertical". The Astrakhan uprising and the uprising on the Don showed the weakness of the local government, it needed to be strengthened so that the heads of the provinces could solve such problems without large-scale intervention from the center. The governors had full military power and the necessary military contingent to nip the unrest in the bud without bringing in troops from the front line. The governors had to ensure the timely collection of taxes and taxes, the recruitment of recruits, and mobilize the local population for labor service.

The decree of December 18 (29), 1708 announced the intention "for the general benefit to create 8 provinces and paint cities for them." Initially, Moscow, Ingermanland (later St. Petersburg), Smolensk, Kiev, Azov, Arkhangelsk and Siberian provinces were created. In 1714, the Nizhny Novgorod and Astrakhan provinces were separated from the Kazan province, and in 1713 the Riga province arose. The essence of the reform was that between the ancient counties and the central institutions in the capital, to which the county administration was directly subordinate, an intermediate instance appeared - provincial institutions. This was supposed to increase the manageability of the territories. The provinces were headed by governors, endowed with full administrative, judicial, financial and military power. The tsar appointed people close to him as governors. In particular, the St. Petersburg province was ruled by Menshikov, the Kazan and Azov provinces were headed by the Apraksin brothers, and Moscow by Streshnev.

Peter's reform was "raw", hasty. Thus, the principle of completing the provinces was not determined. It is not known what the tsar was guided by when he attributed this or that city to this or that province: the size of the province, the population, or economic, geographical factors, etc. The provinces were too large for the provincial governments to manage them effectively. The regional reform did not clearly define the place of the provincial administration in the government mechanism of Russia, that is, its relationship to the central institutions and the district administration.

In 1719, Tsar Peter carried out another reform of the administrative division. The provinces were divided into provinces, and the provinces, in turn, into districts. At the head of the province was the governor, and at the head of the district - the zemstvo commissar. According to this reform, the province became the highest regional unit of the Russian Empire, and the provinces served as military districts. In 1719, the Revel province was established. 1725 Azov province was renamed into Voronezh.

In 1727, the administrative-territorial division was revised. The districts were abolished, instead of them counties were again introduced. The boundaries of the "old" districts and the "new" counties in many cases coincided or almost coincided. Belgorod (separated from Kyiv) and Novgorod (separated from St. Petersburg) provinces were formed.

In the future, up to 1775, the administrative structure remained relatively stable with a tendency to disaggregate. So, in 1744, two new provinces were formed - Vyborg and Orenburg. Gubernias were formed mainly in new territories, in some cases several provinces of old provinces were separated into new ones. By October 1775, the territory of Russia was divided into 23 provinces, 62 provinces and 276 counties.

Reform of Catherine II

On November 7 (18), 1775, Empress Catherine II issued a decree “Institutions for the management of provinces”, in accordance with which in 1775-1785. a radical reform of the administrative-territorial division of the Russian Empire was carried out. The reform led to the disaggregation of the provinces, their number was doubled, twenty years after its start, the number of provinces reached fifty. I must say that under Catherine the provinces were usually called "governors".

The need for reform was due to the same reasons as in the time of Peter. Peter's reform was incomplete. It was necessary to strengthen local authorities, to create a clear system. Peasants' War under the leadership of Pugachev also showed the need to strengthen local power. The nobles complained about the weakness of the local authorities.

The division into provinces and districts was carried out according to a strictly administrative principle, without taking into account geographical, national and economic characteristics. The main purpose of the division was to resolve tax and police matters. In addition, the division was based on a purely quantitative criterion - the population. About three hundred to four hundred thousand souls lived on the territory of the province, and about twenty to thirty thousand souls lived on the territory of the county. old territorial bodies liquidated. Provinces were abolished as territorial units.

At the head of the province was the governor, appointed and dismissed by the emperor. He relied on the provincial government, which included the provincial prosecutor and two centurions. Financial and fiscal issues in the province were decided by the Treasury. Issues of health care, education were in charge of the order of public charity.

Supervision of legality in the province was carried out by the provincial prosecutor and two provincial lawyers. In the county, the same tasks were solved by the county lawyer. At the head of the county administration was the zemstvo police officer (captain) elected by the county nobility, and the collegiate governing body - the lower zemstvo court (in which, in addition to the police officer, there were two assessors). The zemstvo court led the zemstvo police, oversaw the implementation of laws and decisions of provincial governments. In cities, the position of mayor was established. The leadership of several provinces was transferred to the governor-general. The governors were subordinate to him, he was recognized as commander-in-chief in the territory of the governor-general, if there in this moment the monarch was absent, he could introduce a state of emergency, directly address the report to the king.

Thus, the provincial reform of 1775 strengthened the power of the governors and disaggregated the territories, and strengthened the position of the local administrative apparatus. For the same purpose, under Catherine II, other reforms were carried out: special police, punitive bodies were created, and the judicial system was transformed. Among the negative points, one can note the absence economic importance, the growth of the bureaucracy and a strong increase in the cost of it. In general, the costs of maintaining the bureaucratic apparatus during the reign of Catherine II increased 5.6 times (from 6.5 million rubles in 1762 to 36.5 million rubles in 1796) - much more than for example, spending on the army (by 2.6 times). This was more than in any other reign during the XVIII-XIX centuries. Therefore, in the future, the system of provincial government was constantly improved.

It must be said that the provincial (regional) division of Russia according to territorial and demographic principles has more advantages than the division of the USSR and the Russian Federation into autonomous republics, territories and regions. The national character of many republics carries a "delayed-action mine" leading to the destruction of Russia. The first such disaster occurred in 1991. If with the separation Central Asia and Transcaucasia can still be reconciled, although our ancestors paid a great price for these lands, and their loss hurt the military-strategic stability of Russia, then the loss of such parts of Great Russia as the Baltic states, White Rus', Little Rus' and Bessarabia cannot be justified by anything. The military-strategic situation in the western and northwestern directions has deteriorated sharply, in fact, the achievements and victories of several centuries have been lost. The ancestral lands of the Russian superethnos have been lost. The superethnos of the Rus (Russians) has become the world's largest divided people.

The internationalist Trotskyists, by creating national republics, planted a "mine" of enormous destructive power under Russian civilization. And the process is not complete. The national republics within the Russian Federation are a blow to the Russian people, who are denied the privilege of developing their own characteristics in special, "hothouse" conditions and the threat of further disintegration. Economic crisis in Russia and the beginning of the Third World War, with Russia being drawn into the conflict along the South-North fault, lead to aggravation of internal contradictions in the Russian Federation, and the ambitions of ethnocratic elites and national intelligentsia, who are supported from abroad, can be very dangerous for the unity of the country. Therefore, in the future in Russia it is necessary to return to territorial division, with the preservation of only the cultural autonomy of small peoples.