ESTATE OF SERVING BASHKIRS AND SOUTH URAL MISHARS IN THE XVII–XIX CENTURIES: EVOLUTION OF STATUS AND SOCIO-LEGAL STATUS
Authors:   Ufa University of Science and Technology, Shayakhmetov Fidail Fanilevich 
Published: November 2024

The article is devoted to the consideration of the history of the formation and development of the status of the service (military) class of the Bashkirs and South Ural Mishars in the 17th–18th centuries as part of the Russian state, as service classes who made a significant contribution to the defense of the south-eastern borders of the country, ensuring internal order and took part in all significant wars and conflicts of Russia in the specified period. From the earliest stages of its history, Russia was formed and developed as a multinational state, the peoples of which, having entered it at different periods, made their invaluable contribution to the development of the Motherland that became a single homeland for all. The unity and cohesion of the multinational people of our country turned Russia into an impregnable cultural and civilizational bastion for any enemy during critical periods of its centuries-old history – during the Russian Troubles, Napoleon's invasion, the Great Patriotic War – when the peoples of the country united around the state, government or individual charismatic leaders into a single whole to repel aggression, to save the common fatherland. Today, in the conditions of an acute geopolitical conflict with the “collective West” led by the United States on the territory of Ukraine, the multinationality of Russia and the cohesion of the entire Russian society have become one of the most important factors in the successful repulsion of Western aggression against our country. The current geopolitical crisis, caused by attempts by Western countries to split Russian society, sow discord and hostility along national and religious lines, and divide our country into many small quasi-states, once again highlights the need for a renewed study of the mechanisms and principles of forming our country as a multinational and multi-confessional state with a special role and place in the historical and modern system of international world order. With its multinational people, Russia has demonstrated for many centuries an unbreakable will and readiness to defend its national interests by any means and methods – a single territory and the riches located on it, the main one of which is the unique Russian community of the population, united by a single history, common traditional values inherited from previous generations, and a heroic desire to save its homeland from any challenges and threats. In understanding the history of the formation and development of Russia as a multinational state, it is of great interest to study the socio-legal status and status of non-Russian peoples of the country in the tsarist period, who differed from the Great Russians in a number of fundamental features (language, religion, culture, way of life, etc.), but faithfully served their fatherland. The Bashkirs and Mishars were among the faithful sons of their country, having gone through a difficult and contradictory path of their ethnic and social history – in the period of the 17th–18th centuries, their class rights and responsibilities were not clearly defined, and after the introduction of the cantonal government system in 1798, the history of their final transformation into service classes ended. After the abolition of the cantonal government system in 1863–1865, the Bashkirs and Mishars were deprived of the status of a military class and classified as part of the Russian peasantry. And in their new social status, the Bashkirs and Mishars continued to be part of Russian society, contributing to the further development of Russia through their active work, various occupations and trades.