High Policing and Gendarmerie in the Russian Empire: Transfer and Innovations

Abstract. Quite a few historians pointed out that Russian Third section of His Imperial Majesty’s Own Conciliary and the Corps of Gendarmes, both established in 1826 by A.C. Benckendorff, were transferred from the French experience. However, no one has provided any details nor compared two systems of high policing. The point of this article is to offer structural and functional comparison of the J. Fouché’s Ministry of Police (1799–1810) and its Russian counterparts: A.D. Balashof’s Ministry of Police (1810–1819) and Benckendorff’s Third Section and the Corps of Gendarmes. For the description of the French police, French and English historiographical sources were used, for the Russian police – Russian research and archival documents. The article shows that, although an original and rational structure was developed for the Balashof’s Ministry, the Third Department took after the French prototype rather than from its own predecessor. The differences between the Benckendorff’s system on the one hand and the Fouché’s and Balashof’s on the other are largely explained by Benckendorff’s special relationship with the monarch and more tranquil political situation. The main innovation of Benckendorff was the establishment of a special position – a regional staff officer of the Gendarmes Corps, who was entirely engaged in the so-called "surveilling", and not the general (civilian) police.

Keywords: Ministry of Police, Third section of His Imperial Majesty’s Own Conciliary, Gendarmes Corps, J. Fouché, A.D. Balashof, A.C. Benckendorff, high policing, secret police.