Garrisons of Ostrogs of Upper Ob and Forts of Upper Irtysh in First Half of 18th Century: A Comparative Analysis of Strength

This article examines the strength of garrisons stationed at the ostrogs (fortified settlements) of the Upper Ob and the forts of the Upper Irtysh during the first half of the 18th century, contextualized within the processes of territorial expansion and the establishment of a security system in southern West Siberia. The relevance of this research is underscored by the fact that, while the historiography has addressed the significance of these fortifications in the colonization of the West Siberian frontier and their engineering aspects, the issue of the quantitative composition of garrisons has remained largely overlooked. The primary sources for this study consist of previously unutilized materials from the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts and the Russian State Military-Historical Archive. The author concludes that the dynamics of troop strength in these fortifications exhibited a wave-like pattern, characterized by two pronounced yet poorly comparable peaks. The first peak was short-lived, occurring during the construction phase and the initial years of operation, while the second peak manifested in the late 1730s to mid-1740s, driven by heightened militarypolitical tensions in southern West Siberia alongside significant regional administrative restructuring.

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