[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Tsarist Draft

[gpvjem]

    My Grandfather Emil Marsch, left Poland for Volhynia with his father and siblings in 1873 and in 1878 he returned at the age of 21 to Poland to "fulfill his military duty" as he wrote. He served in the Russian army for 5 1/2 years.  It appears there was draft program in place at least in at that time..  
    In July of 1905 Emil's father Karl Gustav wrote to his son who was now in Canada, "that the Russian-Japanese war was causing a great deal of stress in the community.  Many men have already been called up to serve as occupation troops".  Men were taken to serve in the army with total disregard for the wives, children and elderly dependants who were left behind with no means of support.

John Marsch
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  Can anyone tell me when Volhynian young men would have been subject to  
  being drafted into the tsarist army?  I have in mind the period around  1900.  
  (It seems several of my relatives emigrated at age 19 or 20, even if  it 
  meant the family came later.)
   
  Can anyone recommend a book that would answer similar questions of  
  interest, including those I can't think to ask?
   
  Dan Pratt