BIOGRAPHICAL DISCOURSE OF EVERYDAY ARMY SERVICE AT THE END OF THE XIX CENTURY (based on letters from lieutenant A.N. Lupov)

The article is devoted to the topic of the “private gentleman” which relatively rarely attracts the attention of researchers and, meanwhile, it is invariably relevant and timeless in large-scale, significant historical and social processes. The purpose of the study is in line with modern trends in the development of historical science and is to use the cognitive capabilities of historical biography genre to reveal the characteristic features of everyday life in military training and in further army service of a part of the Russian army’s junior officers on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War. Materials and methods. Verification of the research results is ensured by using an ideographic approach and an essential descriptive analysis of source information in line with two relevant directions of new social history – historical biography and historical everyday life. The documentary basis for studying the topic was mainly the autobiography and letters of Lieutenant Alexei Nikolaevich Lupov, addressed to his elder brother Sergei Nikolaevich Lupov and stored in the State Archive of Yaroslavl region. The documents involved in solving the task are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. Research results. The first part of the article explains the motivation of A.N. Lupov when choosing military service as a social elevator and achieving material well-being, it describes the conditions of his studies in Nizhny Novgorod Cadet Corps and Moscow Infantry Military School. The second part of the article presents the analysis of social and everyday aspects of army service in the fortress artillery in Batumi and Alexandropol and considers career opportunities. It also contains information about how junior officers and enlisted personnel of the fortress garrison were sent to Kwantung Artillery, about preparations for the long journey to a new duty station and first impressions of Port Arthur. Conclusions. The final part of the article contains a number of observations on the research topic. Focusing on life conflicts of an ordinary, not distinguished by talents and heroics second lieutenant A.N. Lupov, his lifestyle and mentality, the author offers a documented understanding of social and everyday aspects of the life of a part of the Russian army’s junior officers at the end of the XIX century.