Document 5
… In 1722 the establishment of the Table of Ranks brought to its logical conclusion a process
that had been evolving for three centuries. It imposed obligatory lifelong state service on all
ranks of the nobility. It established fourteen equivalent grades in the military, naval, and civil
service and required that even princes of the most exalted families should begin at the lowest
grade and work their way up the ladder. The Table of Ranks offered the privileges of nobility to
anyone who performed state service and made service to the state the principal basis for
privilege.…
Source: Peter Brock Putnam, Peter, The Revolutionary Tsar, Harper & Row, Publishers
According to Peter Brock Putnam, in what way did the introduction of the Table of Ranks attempt to reduce
the influence of the old aristocracy?