Elaboration of a draft for the introduction of universal military service in the Caucasus in the 1870s and 1880s

From 1874 to 1886, the government leaders of the Russian Empire considered seven projects for the introduction of military service in the Caucasus. A large number of projects were explained by the divergence of views on the principles of reform between the Caucasian administration and the St. Petersburg higher bureaucracy. In 1874-1881, the principles of imperial unification, increasing the military power of the state and saving money were put in the first place in St. Petersburg. Meanwhile, in Tiflis, priority was given to the principle of administrative and legal isolation of the outskirts, which made it possible to maintain the loyalty and tranquility of its population. After the accession of Emperor Alexander III in 1881, the Caucasian administration and part of the St. Petersburg bureaucracy began to take into account the ethnic and religious characteristics of the "native population" of the Caucasus to a greater extent than before. Following lengthy discussions in May 1886 in St. Petersburg, it was finally decided to extend military service only to the Christian indigenous population of the Caucasus, while it was decided to exempt the Muslim population from active service, replacing it with a monetary tax.