The article is devoted to the Russian military construction on the example of the St. Petersburg Military District in the period from 1864 to 1917. Without taking into account the military factor, it is impossible to reconstruct the socio-economic development of our country’s regions. The scale and priority of military construction affect the long-term goals of the state. “Strategic” motives could both give an impetus to the economic growth of some regions, and on the contrary significantly restrain the development of others. St. Petersburg contains the results of many years of headquarters work such as all plans for mobilization and the sequence of replenishment, loss and restoration of the armed forces, stocks of maps. The main gunpowder, cannon and shell factories were located near St. Petersburg, while pipe, cartridge and mine factories are located in St. Petersburg itself. In St. Petersburg are stored the vast reserves of the State Bank, the Mint, the treasures of the Hermitage, the incalculable capitals of private financial enterprises, the money reserves of the State Treasury.The conditions of quartering significantly determine the combat training of troops in peacetime and, accordingly, their combat qualities in military conditions.