Personnel Composition of the 2nd Mountain Soviet Rifle Regiment (Autumn 1918): An Experience of Microhistorical Analysis

Abstract

The article is devoted to a microhistorical analysis of the personnel composition of the 2nd Mountain Soviet Rifle Regiment during its formation and first battles in the autumn of 1918. Based on unpublished documents from the funds of the Russian State Military Archive and the State Archive of Socio-Political History of the Sverdlovsk Region, the author reconstructs the socio-demographic characteristics, motivation of the Red Army soldiers and commanders, national and party composition of the regiment. The study employs prosopographic method, quantitative and qualitative analysis of documents, which allows to recreate a collective portrait of the unit and to identify behavioural strategies of servicemen. Special attention is paid to the regiment’s recruitment system and the ratio of mobilised soldiers to volunteers in various subunits. It has been established that rifle companies were staffed primarily through mobilisation (up to 93.5 %), while specialszed subunits (machine gun team, mounted reconnaissance) were staffed by volunteers (up to 97.5 %). The average age of a Red Army soldier was 25–27 years, the majority were married and came from a worker-peasant background. The national composition was notably diverse: internationalists played a significant role, their motivation ranging from ideological to material. An analysis of party affiliation revealed political heterogeneity: Bolsheviks constituted a minority, while non-party individuals, anarchists, and Socialist Revolutionaries held command positions. The author concludes that a pragmatic approach dominated over an ideological one in the personnel policy of the early stage of the construction of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army: professional competence and combat experience came to the forefront, rather than party loyalty. The microhistorical analysis of the regiment confirms the thesis about the non-linear nature of the Red Army’s formation process and the combination of centralised directives with local recruitment practices.

For citation: Sil’chenko I.S. Personnel Composition of the 2nd Mountain Soviet Rifle Regiment (Autumn 1918): An Experience of Microhistorical Analysis. Vestnik Severnogo (Arkticheskogo) federal’nogo universiteta. Ser.: Gumanitarnye i sotsial’nye nauki, 2026, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 51–61. https://doi.org/10.37482/2687-1505-V537