The Code of Honor of the Russian Officer

In the Russian army, the officer rank always determined belonging not to a social group, but to a caste that lived by its unwritten laws – by the code of honor. In the case where the provisions of military regulations conflicted with the provisions of the code, the officer's choice was obvious – in favor of the code of honor. An officer's court of honor was more authoritative than a military tribunal, for it was better to be exiled, degraded than to lose dignity. During the Russo-Japanese War, captain Valentin Kulchitsky wrote Advice to a Young Officer, which summarized the rules developed over the years, and it became the Code of Honor of the Russian Officer. The continuation of the officer's code was the Duel Code of Vasily Durassov. The difference being that it defined the rules of duels of honor for both military ranks and civilians.