Level of education among the lower ranks of the Naval Guards Crew in the early 1860s

The paper considers the level of education among the seamen of the Naval Guards Crew of the Russian Empire in the beginning of Emperor Alexander II reign, namely in the first half of the 1860s. It provides statistical data on the literate seamen number dividing them into different categories by the level of education. Information is provided on conducting internal examinations to check the level of education with lower ranks of the Crew, examples of examination tasks are given, and all stages of the literacy tests are analyzed. Attention is focused on the activities of both the supreme command and the Naval Guards Crew commanders to improve the level of education with the Guards seamen. The paper provides information on periodicals that were distributed among the lower ranks, considers the content of these magazines and newspapers, and notes the seamen interest in those publications. Much attention is paid to the documents and materials from the Russian State Archive of the Navy, which made it possible us to assess the education issues from an angle not of the general military level, but using the example of a separate unit.

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