STARODUB COSSACKS IN IRREGULAR UNITS OF THE RUSSIAN ARMY AT THE END OF THE 18th – 19th CENTURIES. TRANSFORMATION OF THE BORDER REGION

The article, based on a wide range of archival sources, examines in detail the history of the participation of Starodub Cossacks in irregular units of the Russian army at the end of the 18th – 19th centuries. through self-identification of representatives of the class. The research was carried out using methodological practices of new local history. As a result, the author characterizes the period under study in the history of the Starodub region as post-border. But he comes to the conclusion that it is necessary to consider the history of the region at the end of the 18th – 19th centuries. taking into account the existence of not only an administrative, but also a phantom border between Starodub region and the lands of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was the presence of such a border that largely determined the behavior of representatives of the Cossack class. Despite the liquidation of the Starodub regiment – the military-administrative unit of the Malorussian Government General at the end of the 18th century, the Cossacks back in the 1860s. continued to identify themselves with the military class and were ready to guard the border following the example of their ancestors. At the same time, it is emphasized that the lack of their own army was one of the main reasons for the active resettlement of the Starodub Cossacks to the Caucasus and the Black Sea region. At the same time, the Russian government was fully aware of such local specifics and took measures to channel them for the benefit of the state in difficult periods for it.