Lietuvos istorijos institutas

The article reviews development of the military of one part in the Commonwealth of Both Nations, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, from the viewpoint of estate based structure, calling and professionalism. It reveals that, just like in the other armies of the eighteenth century, in Lithuania most of the estate structure could be found in cavalry, especially in the National Cavalry Brigades, and the least – in artillery and engineering corps. Estates did not carry only the negative meaning if the general level of education and skills among nobility was higher than the indicators in other estates. However, because of the generally low level of education before the reforms of the Commission of National Education, military units with estate based privileges (e. g. National Cavalry Brigades) were noted for a low level of professionalism and showed themselves poorly in the course of 1792 war with Russia and the uprising battles of 1794. At the same time, front guard regiments, made-up of Tartars and less privileged individuals, demonstrated much higher standards because estate exclusivity was accompanied by experience and military traditions carried over from the Seven-Year War. The highest standards of professionalism were maintained in the Lithuanian artillery and engineering corps. The progress was notable during the Four-Year Sejm, especially in the winter of 1791–1792. Infantry units were able to harmonize privileges of the estate structure with professional requirements and could be considered as matching the military of other countries in peace time. There was no place for calling in the army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania prior to 1788 drive for expanding the military, and only during the war of 1792 attention was given to the skills of people, holding offices. During uprising of Tadeusz Kościuszko many gifted soldiers came to the fore, and even civilians with leadership gifts who led both improvised rebel units and large military units, thus opening pages of the noble tradition of uprisings in the nineteenth century, where calling and professionalism gradually pushed out the relics of estate-based military.