Russian Empire Military Records

Military records identify people who served in the military or who were eligible for service.

Conscription Lists
Conscriptions lists are lists of those eligible for military service. Drafting of selected groups began earlier, but as of January 1, 1874, all 21 year-old males were subject to military service. Conscription occurred each year in October. Initially, the term of service was 6 years active and 9 years reserve. The length of active duty was reduced to 5 years in 1876 and then varied between 3-5 years thereafter. Deferments were granted for only sons, sole breadwinners, etc. Over 50 percent of the draftees were not inducted.

The records typically contain name of draftee, and birth date or age. Lists often include the names of the father and brothers as well. They can serve as a census substitute for males, but can be difficult to use as they are organized chronologically by district.

Conscription lists are generally stored in regional (oblast) archives.

Russian State Military Historical Archive
If your ancestor served in the military, you may be able to find additional records in the Russian State Military Historical Archive (Российский государственный военно-исторический архив).

In order to search for archival collections, you must know the following information:

17th Century to the 1860s


 * Surname, given name, and patronymic.
 * Rank.
 * Time and place of service - military unit or institution/military department.

1860s to 1917


 * For officers and generals:
 * Surname, given name, and patronymic.
 * Rank.
 * Approximate time of service.
 * For soldiers, military officials, etc.
 * Surname, given name, patronymic.
 * Rank.
 * Time and place of service - military unit or institution/military department.

For more information about research in the military archives see the Genealogical and Biographical Research page on their site.

World War I (1914-1918)

 * Памяти героев Беликой войны WWI 1914-1918 (https://gwar.mil.ru/), text in Russian. Database of war heroes.
 * The First World War, 1914-1918 (https://1914.svrt.ru/), text in Russian. Database of soldiers.

Reading Records
Military records were commonly written in Russian. For help with learning the handwritten alphabet and deciphering the handwriting see:


 * The Russian Alphabet "How To" Guide


 * Deciphering the Handwriting and Understanding the Grammar "How To" Guide

For free translation help, consider the FamilySearch Community - a place where you can get research and translation assistance. Be sure to place your translation request in the Russian Empire Genealogy Research Group.