Reserve and Reserve Troops and their Place in the New Organizational Structure of the Russian Army after the Reform of 1874

The article deals with the recruitment system of the Russian army after the unsuccessful Crimean War, which revealed its shortcomings. It is shown that the recruitment reforms that began after the abolition of serfdom in 1861, as well as the reforms in the army as a whole, had as their main goal the transformation of the domestic armed forces into a modern mass army. The emphasis is placed on the fact that after the introduction of universal military service in 1874, conditions were created for the formation of the required mobilization reserve, which proved its effectiveness in practice. It is concluded that due to the implementation in practice of important transformations of the military organization, one of the main tasks of reforming the army has been solved — the creation of a modern mass army. Previously unknown archival and other little-studied sources and literature are being introduced into scientific circulation.