It is believed that the Russian army was reorganized according to the European model by Peter I. Is this statement true?
Archers and militias
In fact, the first detachments, armed and organized according to the European model, appeared in Time of Troubles. The backbone of the Russian army at that time was made up of rifle regiments and the noble mounted militia. The noble cavalry did not have uniform equipment, battle tactics and was unreliable. There were only about 20 thousand riflemen, and the peculiarities of manning did not allow them to quickly increase their number.
First they recruited "free walking people" - Cossacks, baptized Tatars, noble offspring... Then they recorded mainly Streltsy children. "From the outside" was rarely accepted - in the presence of three guarantors from the regiment. The service was lifelong, but by inheriting the place, one could retire.
Sagittarius were assigned to a specific city. Half to Moscow. They were paid a small salary annually, but they armed themselves at their own expense. Upon entering the service, they received a land allotment and lifting (about a ruble), for which they were supposed to acquire a subsidiary farm.
When transferred to another place of service, this estate could be sold, and after the death of the owner, it was inherited. This is how a closed class developed, no longer too eager for war. If the archers coped with the duties of peacetime (fire brigades, city guards) and the Tatar raids, then they predictably suffered defeats from the Poles.
In 1608 Vasily Shuisky agreed with the Swedes for help. In exchange for the city of Korelu, he received a 15-thousandth corps Jacob de la Gardie but the government soon ran out of salary money. Only the colonel remained loyal Christer Somme , who began to train the Russian infantry in European linear tactics.
Pikemen of the 17th century. 17th century engraving. from "Teachings and tricks of the military structure of infantry people"
Then it was based on the strict interaction of shooters and pikemen, covering the first from the cavalry, and made the troops on the battlefield more mobile. The innovation required from the fighters not outstanding personal data, but memorization of a maneuver. Mushtra made virtually any recruit fit for service. Such shelves were called "Soldiers".
Foreign order shelves
In the late 1620s, Russia was preparing for a new war with Poland. Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich decided to create a new model soldier and reitar regiments (they were also called "regiments of a foreign system"). Colonel was sent abroad Alexandra Leslie to recruit officers and sergeants.
In the early 1630s, the new-style regiment consisted of 1,600 lower ranks and 176 "initial men." It was divided into 8 mouths. Of the 200 soldiers of the company, 120 were with muskets, 80 with pikes.
The battles near Smolensk in 1632-1634. Fragment of an engraving by V. Gondius "The plan of the siege of Smolensk" (1636) In total, before the Smolensk war of 1632-1634, 8 soldiers' regiments were formed. Noblemen without an estate and the children of boyars, volunteers from the free estates, were enrolled there, they hired foreigners and forcibly took away "tributary people" from the communities. At the same time, cavalry regiments began to be formed according to a foreign model - Reitar and Dragoon regiments.
The total number of regiments of the new system was approaching 20 thousand. This was half of the troops assigned against Poland.
Equipment, weapons and salaries were received from the state treasury. Moreover, the soldiers' and dragoon regiments were paid a lump sum of 3 rubles "for a dress." All command positions were still held by foreigners - starting with company commanders and their deputies, and for the Russians there were already lower positions - such as a sergeant or a corporal.
Alexey Mikhailovich began to create even more active shelves of a new type. Under him, they made up more than half of the army and showed themselves excellently in the wars with Poland and Sweden.
In 1681, under the son of Alexei Mikhailovich - Fedora Alekseevich , there were 33 soldiers (61 thousand people) and 25 dragoon and Reitars (29 thousand) regiments with the number of archers in about 55 thousand. Actually, it was already a regular army, which Peter I right in the course of the Northern War, he simply modernized it in accordance with the requirements of the 18th century.
Alexander Gavriluts
Peter I is undoubtedly one of the brightest and most talented statesmen in Russia. The time of his reign fell on the 18th century, and it was during his reign that Russia finally turned into one of the strongest states in Europe, primarily militarily. The topic of the reign of Peter I is very extensive, so we will not touch upon all of his many achievements, but will only talk about the reform of the Russian army by Peter. The reform envisaged the creation of a new type of army, more effective and efficient. The further course of events showed that Peter's plans were brilliantly successful.
1. What is a regular army and how did it differ from the Russian army of the "old type"?
First of all, let us note the difference between the cadre (regular) army, which Russia acquired during the reign of Peter, and the army that Russia had before the military reforms. The Russian army of the old type was in fact a militia, assembled in case of military necessity. Such an army was completely heterogeneous in composition - it was recruited from among service people, most of whom lived in peacetime on the lands allocated to them by the state for service and were engaged in occupations far from military affairs (boyars, stewards, duma clerks, etc.) ) This unit, which formed the basis of the Russian army before the reforms of Peter the Great, was distinguished by the absence of constant military training, uniform weapons and supplies - each soldier was equipped at his own expense.
Another small part of the old type army, somewhat reminiscent of the future regular army, was recruited for permanent service and received salaries from the state (gunners, archers, etc.) This part of the army was more combat-ready and trained, but still its training left much to be desired the best. The numerous difficulties faced by such an army in a collision with well-trained, trained and armed forces like the Swedish, put Russia at an extremely disadvantageous position in the event of a war with such a serious enemy.
What is the fundamental difference between a regular army and an army of the old type? First of all, a regular army is a standing army. Such an army does not dissolve in the absence of military necessity, but exists and is on alert even in peacetime. In the absence of hostilities, it is engaged in military service, training of soldiers and officers, maneuvers, and in every possible way tries to strengthen its combat potential.
Such an army has a uniform uniform and weapons, as well as a system of organization. The regular army is maintained and supplied by the state. It is more mobile, better armed and trained, and therefore much better suited to solving foreign policy problems than the militia. Peter I perfectly understood all this. It was simply impossible to create one of the strongest states in Europe without a regular army - and Peter enthusiastically took up the solution to this problem.
2. Why did Russia need a regular army?
The main foreign policy task of Peter I was to establish control over the Baltic, access to the Baltic Sea, which ensured an advantageous economic and political position for Russia. The main enemy standing in the way of Russia in this matter was Sweden, which possessed a strong, well-equipped and trained regular army. In order to defeat the Swedes, gain a foothold in the Baltic and finally resolve the issue of control over the Baltic Sea in its favor, Russia needed an army that was not inferior to the Swedish one.
Peter diligently, step by step, moved in the direction of reforming the troops. He drew conclusions from the hardest defeat of the Russian army near Narva in 1700, after which he consistently strengthened the combat capability of the Russian army. Gradually, the Russian military forces, in terms of order, training and organization, not only reached the level of the Swedish army, but also surpassed it. The Battle of Poltava in 1709 marked the rebirth of the Russian army. Competent tactical actions of the new Russian regular army became one of the significant reasons for the victory over the Swedish troops.
3. How was the regular Russian army created?
First of all, Peter I changed the order of recruiting troops. Now the army was staffed at the expense of the so-called recruitment sets. A census of all peasant households was carried out and the number of recruits - soldiers who were to be put up by the courtyards to replenish the Russian army - was determined. Depending on the needs of the army in soldiers, a different number of recruits could be taken from a certain number of courtyards at different times. During active hostilities, more recruits could be recruited from the courtyards, respectively, in the absence of an urgent need for people, fewer recruits. Recruitment was carried out annually. The peasants who went into the soldiers in this way received liberation from serfdom.
However, it was not enough to recruit soldiers and form an army - it needed to be trained. For this, Peter I began to hire military specialists from Europe for a lot of money, and also to train his own officers. Military schools were opened - artillery, engineering, navigation. Commanders were trained on the basis of the best regiments of the Russian land army - Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky. in 1716, a military charter was created, which determined the procedure for performing military service.
A well-trained and well-prepared army demanded a good rear and supply. This task was also brilliantly solved by Peter. As a result of the transformation of the control system, Provision, Artillery, Naval orders, etc. appeared. We are not talking about orders - these "orders" were institutions that were involved in supplying the army and were responsible for a certain area.
All these measures made it possible to radically transform the Russian army, which literally in 15 years from a "cathedral" army turned into a modern well-organized and armed army, with trained soldiers and officers. Now the Russian troops were in no way inferior to the European armies. Peter did a really tremendous job - without the creation of a regular army, the transformation of Russia into a great power with weight in Europe would have been impossible.
The reforms were aimed at a radical reorganization of the country's armed forces: creation regular armies and the construction of a powerful domestic fleet... The "amusing" shelves of 1687 were nothing more than the core of the new armies... They became a kind of combat training school for new formations.
Reorganization armies started already in 1698, when the Streltsy regiments began to dissolve and regular regiments were created. Their recruitment was based on the experience of recruiting soldiers and dragoons, which developed in the second half of the 17th century. A recruiting system was drawn up, in accordance with which the soldiers of the field armies and garrison troops began to be recruited from peasants and other taxable estates, and the officer corps - from nobles. The decree of November 19, 1699 provided for the formation of 30 infantry soldiers' regiments from "datochnye" and "willing" people. And the decree of 1705 completed the folding of the "recruitment".
As a result, from 1699 to 1725, 53 recruits were carried out into the army and the navy (23 main and 30 additional). They provided more than 284 thousand people called up for lifelong military service. And if in 1699 in addition to two guards 27 infantry and 2 dragoon regiments were actually created, then by 1708 the Petrine army was brought to 52 infantry (including 5 grenadier regiments) and 33 cavalry regiments. After the victory at Poltava, states armies decreased slightly: almost 100 thousandth Russian the army consisted of 42 infantry and 35 dragoon regiments. However, the new table of 1720 determined in the composition armies 51 infantry and 33 cavalry regiments, which by the end of Peter's reign made up a 130,000-strong army of three branches of the army - infantry, cavalry and artillery. In addition, about 70 thousand were in the garrison troops, 6 thousand - in the land militia (militia) and over 105 thousand - in the Cossack and other irregular units.
For the training of soldiers and officers, in addition to the "Military Regulations" (1698), numerous instructions were prepared: "Anticipation of battle", "Rules for a military battle", "Military articles", etc. Finally, in 1716, the "Military Charter" was published. , summarizing 15 years of experience in continuous armed struggle. To train officers back in 1698-1699. the bombardment school at the Preobrazhensky regiment, and at the beginning of the new century, mathematical, navigation (naval), artillery, engineering, foreign languages and even surgical schools were created. In the 1920s, 50 garrison schools operated to train non-commissioned officers. The internship of young noblemen abroad was widely practiced for training in military affairs. At the same time, the government refused to hire foreign military specialists.
As well as creating regular armies the construction of a naval fleet... The fleet was built both in the south and in the north of the country. The main efforts were focused on the creation of the Baltic fleet... In 1708, the first 28-gun frigate was launched in the Baltic, and 20 years later Russian the Baltic Sea fleet was the most powerful: 32 battleships (from 50 to 96 cannon), 16 frigates, 8 shnyafs, 85 galleys and other small ships. The navy was also recruited from recruits (for the first time in 1705). For training in naval affairs, instructions were drawn up: "Ship's article", "Instructions and articles of the military Russian fleet "," Marine Charter "and, finally," Admiralty Regulations "(1722). In 1715, the Naval Academy was opened in St. Petersburg, which trained officers fleet... In 1716, the beginning of the training of officers through the midshipmen company was laid.
Considering all the stages of the creation of the armed forces of Russia, it is necessary to deeply immerse oneself in history, and although during the times of the principalities there is no talk of the Russian Empire, and even more so of a regular army, the emergence of such a concept as defense capability begins precisely from this era. In the XIII century, Russia was represented by separate principalities. Although their military squads were armed with swords, axes, spears, sabers and bows, they could not serve as reliable protection from outside encroachments.
The unified army begins to exist only during the time of Ivan the Terrible. During all this time, there have been many changes both in the formation of the composition and in its management, but the decisive, pivotal reforms for history will remain the transformations of Ivan IV, Peter I, Dmitry Milyutin, as well as modern reforms that are nearing completion.
Army of Ivan the Terrible
The history of the creation of the RF Armed Forces dates back to the formation of the Moscow state. The structure of the army vaguely resembled a regular force. The army numbered about 200,000 trained warriors from among the nobility. Tsar Ivan IV, after the famous Kazan campaign, issues a decree on the creation of permanent units of the archers. This event dates back to 1550. At the same time, foot troops were established with a total number of up to 3 thousand, which were divided into hundreds of riflemen. Service in the hundreds was lifelong and was inherited.
This era went down in history as the establishment of the order of manning the troops. Attempts were made to organize a centralized management, which since then only confirmed its viability. Artillery now exists as a separate type of troops, and a guard service has been organized on part of the Russian borders. By 1680, the structure of soldiers' regiments began to contain companies. The officers were trained according to the established programs of tactical and drill training. Subsequently, they passed on their knowledge to the soldiers.
Transformations of the Petrine era
For many, the history of the creation of a regular army in Russia is associated precisely with the reforms of Peter I. Here the word “regular” has a key meaning. The period of transformations fell on the years 1701-1711. The need for reorganization arose sharply after the defeat that the Russian troops suffered at Narva. Now the army was recruited from recruits. From a certain number of households, one representative was to be nominated for life-long service. The transition to a recruiting system made it possible to increase the number of troops. The rank of officer could be obtained by nobles after serving as an ordinary soldier of the Preobrazhensky regiment. The army of the Russian Empire at that time consisted of 47 infantry regiments and 5 grenadier regiments. Artillery was ranked among the cavalry regiments.
Changes were also observed in the organization of management. All powers to resolve military issues were transferred to the government senate. The military collegium served as an analogue of the modern Ministry of Defense. The Peter's era was distinguished by the creation of a fleet in the Baltic Sea. Since that time, tactical exercises have covered all types of troops, and they were held bilaterally, that is, with imitation of real combat conditions. All this could not but affect the success of the Russian army. In 1721, the army won the final victory in the Northern War.
Catherine II is known for her managerial skills. During her reign, the Military Collegium was transformed into an independent army management body - the War Ministry. Jaeger corps appeared, the basis of which was light infantry and cavalry. The total number of the contingent reaches 239 thousand people. High achievements were also achieved in the training of officers. The era of great commanders begins. They develop their own battle strategies.
P.A. Rumyantsev, who served under Catherine II, became famous for offering the tactics of breaking up the infantry into squares - squares. The scheme of the offensive movement assumed the placement of cavalry behind the infantry. Artillery was positioned along the flanks. Such a system was more manageable, which made it possible to quickly rebuild, depending on the objective situation.
All significant victories of the 18th century are associated with the transformations of Peter and Catherine.
Reforms of the 19th century
As analysts have noted more than once, the key changes associated with the transformation or restructuring of the army occur after certain "sad" events, accompanied by defeat or significant losses. The Crimean War of 1853 showed that the time had come for unplanned changes that could increase the combat power of the Russian army. The history of this period is associated with the name of D.A. Milyutin, Minister of War, famous for his far-sighted thinking and reformist views.
The main idea of the minister was that there was no need to spend state funds on the maintenance of a large army in peacetime. On the other hand, the state must have a fully trained stock, which can be attracted in the shortest possible time in the event of aggression. In 1864, a reorganization of the personnel took place, in which the number of servicemen decreased, and the number of storerooms increased. Military service is changing and the concept of recruits is becoming a thing of the past. Now all men who have turned 21 years old are obliged to serve in the army. The new charter detailed the procedure for conscription. Now active service is 6 years, and then the soldier remains in reserve for 9 years. Thus, the total period reaches 15 years.
Finally, proper attention has been paid to the literacy of the soldier. He necessarily studied reading and writing, as there was an urgent need for professionally trained personnel. Reform in the army is a nationwide program that covers many areas. By the end of the 19th century, the number of military schools, where future career officers are trained, sharply increased.
This time will be remembered for the massive rearmament of the army. In 1891, the legendary Mosin rifle was adopted, and the barrels of large-caliber guns became rifled.
And again the test is in force. The victory in the Russian-Turkish war, as noted by Milyutin, was realized only thanks to the preparedness of the army and its timely rearmament.
Surprisingly, the development of the armed forces is happening in a spiral. In principle, this is a normal phenomenon, since even the most successful transformations cannot bring victory forever. Over time, the technical capabilities of potential adversaries change. Response needs to be taken. If you do not have time to do this, then defeat cannot be avoided, and this happened in 1905. And again, the impetus for transformations allowed Russia to enter the First World War with proper preparation, but there were already drawbacks on the political front, so the successes of the Russian army are still discussed by leading historians.
The Soviet army was able to reach its climax after the Second World War. She was considered the most powerful in the world, but at the beginning of the century, when a new state was born and the remnants of the empire were categorically discarded, the army experienced certain difficulties. First of all, it should be noted that the Russian armed forces were abolished after the revolution. In 1917, a recruitment of volunteers for the Red Army was announced. It was transferred to the regular one only in February 1918. The Day of the Soviet Army and Navy is timed to coincide with this date.
After the end of the Civil War and the First World War, the Red Army continued its formation. The Compulsory Service Act came out in 1925. Already by 39, the model of the Red Army closely resembled the structure of the Soviet army. The approach of the Second World War was inevitable, but the Soviet government hoped to avoid active actions until the last moment.
One way or another, the USSR had to repel the attack of the German aggressors with old weapons, without trained professional commanders, with the forces of a half-reformed army. Until 1941, all activities were carried out at an incredible speed. Thanks to the general mobilization, the number of the active army amounted to almost 6 million people, and then there was a war ... We know how the workers of the rear provided the front, how talented designers in military conditions invented new equipment, at what cost Victory was won.
For many years the Second World War gave experience in conducting all types of hostilities, nominated many brilliant commanders, showed the solidarity of the Soviet people, but we will not consider such changes, because until now we will do everything so that this will never happen again on earth.
The exploration of outer space and the development of the construction of jet vehicles led to the emergence of a new type of troops, and the exploration of outer space already at that time prompted the idea of using it to ensure state security.
Modern Russian army
The Russian Federation, as the successor to the Soviet Union, adopted the vast experience of the once most powerful army, leaving only its best sides. However, this did not succeed immediately. The 90s showed the extent to which the armed forces depend on the economy and domestic policy of the state. The birth of the regular army falls on May 7, 1992, when the RF Armed Forces were formed by the decree of the President of Russia. For twenty years, attempts were made to improve the professionalism of not only the officers, but also the non-commissioned officers, but short-sighted actions, the war in Chechnya, the deplorable state of the budget either contributed to the choice of the wrong direction of development, or even thwarted any attempts at reform.
The latest reform program began in 2013. It is considered one of the most ambitious and will last until 2020. Already today it is possible to summarize the preliminary results of the work of this program.
- Russia has regained its status as a key player on the world stage.
- The military-industrial complex works for the state order, which means sufficient allocation of funds for rearmament.
- The level of social security for servicemen has increased.
- The issue of providing housing under various state support programs has been resolved.
- The prestige of the military profession has increased.
- Successes in Syria have shown a high level of technical equipment and the level of professionalism of the command.
- The unified control center of the aircraft began to work.
- , which plays a huge role in ensuring the security of the state.
This is how the approximate history of our national army looks like.
Peter's Army 1- a regular army created by the Russian emperor Peter I on the basis of the so-called. foreign regiments, taking into account the latest European achievements in this area. She replaced the irregular local troops, which were a feudal remnant, and the streltsy units that opposed Peter I during the struggle for power and then were repressed by him. The army was recruited on the basis of conscription (also, until the middle of the 18th century, the obligatory service of the nobles was preserved).
Russian army before Peter
The Russian state of the 17th century was able to field more than 200 thousand people. But this huge army at that time was very heterogeneous in its composition and training. Basically, it consisted of a militia of service people who lived on the land provided to them by the state "for service". At the call of the government, they had to go on a campaign on horses and with weapons, which corresponded, according to a special painting, to the amount of land given to a serviceman.
The core of the Moscow army was actually a militia and did not at all resemble a regular army. It was a hereditary army. The son of a servant person was to become a servant person with age. Each warrior went on a campaign and supported himself in the army at his own expense; this army did not have any training bearing and monotonous weapons.
Since the 17th century, service people were settled especially densely on those outskirts of the state, which at that time were especially threatened by enemies - the Crimean Tatars and the Commonwealth, that is, service people lived more along the southern and western border of the state. In the 17th century, wars with Sweden began, and the north-western border, which was less densely populated by servicemen, acquired particular importance. Thanks to this, the Russian army could not concentrate here quickly enough and therefore often suffered defeats.
The Moscow government was aware of all these shortcomings in the organization of its troops. Even in the early days of the Russian state, in support of the equestrian service militia, the government began to set up detachments of infantry and artillery that were constantly serving and trained in their business - these were regiments of archers and detachments of gunners and gunners. The device of the streltsy army was, however, such that the streltsy, living in peacetime in their settlements and engaging in crafts and petty trade, looked more like a settled militia than a regular army. In addition, the training of this army was very poorly delivered from a military point of view. When faced with the better trained regular troops of the Swedes, the Russians, if not overwhelmed in numbers, were forced to retreat.
Since the time of Vasily III, the Moscow government began to hire entire detachments of foreign infantry for service. At first, these detachments played only the role of an honorary convoy under the sovereign, but since the Time of Troubles, detachments of hired service foreigners began to enter the Russian army. The government of Tsar Michael in 1631, awaiting war with Poland, sent Colonel Alexander Leslie to Sweden to hire 5,000 infantry soldiers.
However, as happened in 1634 in the Russian-Polish war near Smolensk, it was possible for foreign mercenaries to go over to the side of the enemy. Therefore, several infantry and cavalry regiments were created, including from homeless and unplaced service people who were trained by foreign officers. By the end of the reign of Fyodor Alekseevich, there were already 63 regiments of such an army of 90 thousand people.
Together with the device of the regiments of a foreign system, a change in the structure of the army of the Russian state was also planned, according to "New in military fictions", for which, under Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, in 1681, a commission of elected officials from all service ranks was formed under the chairmanship of Prince V.V. Golitsyn.
The introduction of troops from a foreign system changed the composition of the army: it ceased to be of a class at its core. In the soldier's regiments it was impossible to recruit only service people - landowners. The soldiers were required constant service and constant exercise in military affairs, they could not be allowed home in peacetime and summoned only in wartime. Therefore, soldiers in foreign regiments began to be recruited in the same way as recruits later.
Peter's transformations in military affairs
Thus, Peter inherited an army from his predecessors, if it did not meet all the requirements of the military science of that time, then it was already adapted for further reconstruction in view of the new requirements. In Moscow, there were two "elective" regiments (Butyrsky and Lefortovsky), which were headed by Peter's teachers in military affairs: P. Gordon and F. Lefort.
In his "amusing" villages, Peter arranged two new regiments - Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky - completely according to a foreign model. By 1692, these regiments were finally formed and trained. At the head of Preobrazhensky was Colonel Yuri von Mengden, and Ivan Chambers was appointed Colonel of Semyonovsky, "A Muscovite of the Scottish breed".
Kozhukhov's maneuvers (1694) showed Peter the advantage of the regiments of the "foreign" formation over the archers. The Azov campaigns, in which, along with the streltsy army and irregular cavalry, four regular regiments participated (Preobrazhensky, Semyonovsky, Lefortovsky and Butyrsky regiments), finally convinced Peter of the little suitability of the troops of the old organization. Therefore, in 1698, the old army was disbanded, except for 4 old regiments (their total number was 28 thousand people), which became the basis of the new army:
- Pervomoskovsky regiment (Lefortovsky)
- Butyrsky regiment
- Preobrazhensky regiment
- Semenovsky regiment.
Preparing for war with Sweden, Peter ordered in 1699 to make a general recruitment and begin training recruits according to the model established by the Transfiguration and Semyonovites. At the same time, a large number of foreign officers were recruited. This first recruitment gave 25 new infantry regiments and 2 dragoon cavalry regiments. The entire newly recruited army of 35-40 thousand people was divided into three "generals" (divisions): A. M. Golovin, A. A. Veide and Prince A. I. Repnin.
The war was supposed to start with the siege of Narva, so the main attention was paid to the organization of the infantry. Operations of the field army were to be supported by the local cavalry (only two dragoon regiments managed to form from the "new" cavalry). There was simply not enough time to create all the necessary military structure. There were legends about the tsar's impatience; he was eager to enter the war and test his army in action. Management, combat support service, strong well-equipped rear still had to be created.
By the beginning of the Northern War, Peter's teachers, Generals P. Gordon and F. Lefort, as well as Generalissimo A.S. Shein, had died, so the new army was entrusted to F.A.Golovin, who received the rank of Field Marshal. However, Peter did not dare to entrust an excellent administrator, but not a military leader, with his army in a real battle against the Swedes. On the eve of the Battle of Narva, he, together with F.A.Golovin, left the Russian army, and the main command was entrusted to the Saxon Field Marshal Duke de Croix.
The defeat at Narva showed that everything had to start from the very beginning. The appeal of the Swedish king Charles XII against the Saxon elector and the Polish king Augustus II gave Peter time to carry out the necessary transformations. The campaigns of 1701–04 in Ingermanland and Livonia made it possible to give combat experience to the emerging Russian units. General military-administrative orders were assigned by Peter I to the boyar T.N. Streshnev.
In 1705, Peter I introduced a regular recruitment. In the same year, despite many objections, Peter introduced separate command of infantry and cavalry: the infantry was led by Lieutenant General G.B. ... GB Ogilvi brought in brigades of the 4th regiment and divisions of 2-3 brigades. In the fall of 1706, GB Ogilvy joined the service of the Saxon Elector; after that the Russian infantry was led by B.P.Sheremetev, and the cavalry - by Prince A.D. Menshikov.
By the beginning of Charles XII's campaign against Russia (summer 1708), the infantry of the Russian field army consisted of 32 infantry regiments, 4 grenadier regiments and 2 guards regiments (57,000 in total). The Russian cavalry in 1709 consisted of 3 horse-grenadier regiments, 30 dragoon regiments and three separate squadrons (Menshikov General, Kozlovsky and Domashny BP Sheremetev). The Russian army also included garrison infantry regiments and parts of the land militia. In addition, the streltsy regiments existed until the second half of the 18th century: in 1708 there were 14 in 1713 - at least 4.
As a result, during the Northern War of 1700-1721, a new Russian army was created, built on recruitment. It became permanent and regular, in it, without distinction of class, all the people of the Russian state were obliged to serve (except for the inhabitants of a part of the national outskirts). Simultaneously with the creation of the army itself, the management of this military force of the country was also developed, institutions were created that were in charge of the economy of the troops, the combat training of soldiers and officers, uniforms and equipment. By the end of Peter's reign, these functions were transferred to the Military Collegium with the departments subordinate to it, at the head of which were: General-Provisionant Master, General-Kriegskommissar (Chief Military Judge), General Feldzheichmeister (Chief of Artillery, Engineers and Sapper Unit) and General Staff (General Staff) ...
Infantry regiment under Peter I
The infantry regiment of the Petrine times consisted of two battalions, with some exceptions: the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment had 4 battalions, the Semyonovsky Life Guards Regiment, as well as the Ingermanland and Kiev infantry regiments - three each.
Each battalion had four companies, the companies were divided into four plutongs. The captain was at the head of the company. He had to "educate" his company militarily and for this all "Military order to be prudent"... In addition to the commander, the company had three more officers - a lieutenant, a second lieutenant and a warrant officer. The lieutenant was an assistant to the company commander and had to report everything in detail to the latter on all days. The second lieutenant helped the lieutenant, the warrant officer was obliged to carry the banner in the ranks; besides, he had to "All the days to visit the weak" and petition for the lower ranks "When they fall into punishment".
Among the chiefs from the lower ranks, the first place in the company was occupied by two sergeants, who had "a lot to do in the company"; The ensign had his task to replace the ensign at the banner, the captenarmus was in charge of weapons and ammunition, the corporals commanded the plutongs.
The regiment was headed by a colonel; according to the charter, he should "like a captain in his company, have the same and even more first respect for his regiment." The lieutenant colonel assisted the regiment commander, the prime major commanded one battalion, the second major — the other; moreover, the first major was considered older than the seconds-major and had, in addition to the command, the duty to take care, "whether the regiment is in good condition, both in the number of soldiers and in their weapons, ammunition and uniform."
Cavalry
The various cavalry of the beginning of Peter's reign (reitar, spearmen, hussars) in Peter's army were replaced by dragoon regiments.
The Dragoon (horse-grenadier) regiment consisted of 5 squadrons (2 companies in each) and numbered 1200 people. In the dragoon regiment, 9 companies were fusilier and one grenadier. A separate squadron consisted of 5 companies (600 people). According to the states of 1711, the regiment included headquarters and chief officers - 38 people, non-commissioned officers - 80 people, privates - 920 people, non-combatants - 290 people. The company consisted of 3 chief officers, non-commissioned officers - 8, privates dragoons - 92.
Artillery
The artillery of Peter the Great consisted of 12-, 8-, 6- and 3-pounder guns (a pound is equal to a cast iron core with a diameter of 2 English inches (5.08 cm); the weight of a pound is exceeded in this case by 20 spools (85.32 kg) , one-pound and half-pound howitzers, pound and 6-pound mortars (pound equals 16.38 kg). It was inconvenient for transportation of artillery: a 12-pound cannon, for example, weighed 150 pounds with a gun carriage and front end, and 15 horses carried it. constituted the regimental artillery; at first such guns relied on two per battalion, and from 1723 they were limited to two per regiment. - and depended on the caliber of the gun.
From the gunners and grenade launchers of the old days, Peter ordered the formation of a special artillery regiment in 1700, for the training of artillerymen, schools were established: engineering and navigation in Moscow and engineering in St. Petersburg. The arms factories on Okhta and Tula, organized by Peter, produced artillery and guns for the army.
Garrison troops
Garrison troops in the Russian imperial army were intended to carry out garrison service in cities and fortresses in wartime. Created by Peter I in 1702 from city archers, soldiers, reitars and others. In 1720, the garrison troops consisted of 80 infantry and 4 dragoon regiments. In the second half of the 19th century, they were transformed into local troops (garrison artillery - into serf artillery).
Armament and uniforms
The armament of each soldier consisted of a sword with a sword belt and a fuzei. Fuzea - a gun that weighed about 14 pounds; his bullet weighed 8 spools; the Fusée's castle was flint; a baguette, a five- or eight-vertex triangular bayonet, was mounted on the fusée, if necessary. The cartridges were placed in leather bags attached to a sling, to which horny natrus with gunpowder was also tied. The captenarmuses and sergeants were armed with halberds instead of fuzei - axes on a three-armed shaft.
One of the companies in each regiment was called a grenadier, and a feature of its armament was wick bombs, which were kept by the grenadier in a special bag; the fusées of the grenadier were a little lighter and the soldiers, when throwing a bomb, could lay their fusées on a belt behind their backs. The lower ranks of the artillery were armed with swords, pistols and some with a special "mortar". These "mortars" were a cross between a fusée and a small cannon attached to a fusée box with a fusée lock; when firing from mortars, they had to be supported with a special halberd; the length of the mortar was equal to 13 vershoks, while it fired a bomb equal to a pound core. Each soldier was entitled to a knapsack for carrying things. Dragoons for foot combat were armed with a fusea, and for horsemen - with a broadsword and pistol.
Since 1700, the uniform of a soldier consisted of a small flattened cocked hat, a caftan, an epanchi, a camisole and trousers. The hat was black, the edges of the brim were trimmed with braid, and a brass button was attached to the left side. When listening to orders from the elders, the younger ones took off their hat and held it under their left armpit. The hair was worn by soldiers and officers long up to the shoulder and on ceremonial occasions they powdered it with flour.
The infantrymen's caftans were of green cloth, and the dragoons were of blue, single-breasted, without a collar, with red cuffs. The caftan was measured up to the knees and was supplied with copper buttons; The cape for cavalry and infantry was built of red cloth and had two collars: it was a narrow cape that reached the knees and did not protect well from rain and snow; boots - long, with light sockets - were worn only on guard duty and during a campaign, and stockings and blunt-nosed greasy heads with a copper buckle were ordinary shoes; the army soldiers had green stockings, and the Transfiguration and Semyonovites after the Narva defeat - red, according to legend, in memory of the day when the former "amusing" regiments did not flinch, with general "confusion" under the onslaught of Charles XII.
The grenadiers of the Guard differed from the Fuselors only in their headdress: instead of a triangular hat, they wore leather helmets with an ostrich feather. The cut of the officer's uniform was the same as that of the soldiers, only trimmed around the edges and along the side with gold galloon, the buttons were also gilded, the tie, instead of black cloth, like the soldiers, was white linen. A plume of white and red feathers was attached to the hat. In full dress, officers were required to have powdered wigs on their heads. The officer was distinguished from the private by a white-blue-red scarf with silver tassels, and the headquarters officer's - with gold tassels, which was worn high on the chest, at the collar. The officers were armed with a sword and in the ranks they also had a protazan, or, in the then, "partazan" - a kind of spear on a three-armed shaft. The grenadier officers had a light fuzee on a gold belt instead of a protazan.
By the end of Peter's reign, the regular army numbered more than 200 thousand soldiers of all branches of the army and over 100 thousand irregular Cossack cavalry and Kalmyk cavalry. For the 13 million population of Peter the Great's Russia, it was a heavy burden to maintain and feed such a large army. According to an estimate drawn up in 1710, a little more than three million rubles were spent on the maintenance of the field army, garrisons and navy, on artillery and other military expenditures, while the treasury spent only 800 thousand for the rest of the needs: the army absorbed 78% of the total budget of expenditures ...
To resolve the issue of financing the army, Peter ordered by a decree of November 26, 1718 to count the number of taxable population in Russia, all landowners, secular and church, were ordered to give accurate information about how many male souls live in their villages, including the elderly and babies. The information was then checked by special auditors. Then they accurately determined the number of soldiers in the army and calculated how many souls, counted according to the census, are for each soldier. Then they calculated how much the total maintenance of a soldier costs per year. Then it became clear how each tax-paying soul should be taxed in order to cover all the costs of maintaining the army. According to this calculation, for each taxable person there were: 74 kopecks for the proprietor (serfs) peasants, 1 ruble 14 kopecks for the state peasants and single-family farmers; 1 ruble 20 kopecks per bourgeoisie.
By decrees on January 10 and February 5, 1722, Peter outlined to the Senate the very method of feeding and maintaining the army, he proposed to "lay the troops on the ground." Military and infantry regiments were supposed to contain them. In the newly conquered regions - Ingria, Karelia, Livonia and Estonia - there was no census, and regiments were to be appointed here, the feeding of which was entrusted to individual provinces that did not need constant military protection.
The Military Collegium drew up a list of regiments by localities, and for the quartering itself they sent 5 generals, 1 brigadier and 4 colonels - one to each province. Having received from the Senate for the layout, and from the Military Collegium - a list of regiments that were to be located in a given area, the sent headquarters officer, arriving in his district, had to convene the local nobility, announcing the layout rules to him and invite them to assist the layouts. The regiments were located as follows: for each company a rural district with such a population was assigned that for each infantryman there were 35 souls, and for a horseman - 50 souls of the male population. The instructions instructed the distributor to insist on the resettlement of the regiments in special settlements, so as not to place them in the peasant households and thus not cause quarrels between the peasants and the inns. To this end, the distributors had to persuade the nobles to build huts, one for each non-commissioned officer and one for every two soldiers. Each settlement was supposed to accommodate at least corporality and be at such a distance from the other that a cavalry company was deployed no further than 10 versts, and a foot company no further than 5 versts, a cavalry regiment for 100, and a foot company 50 versts ... In the middle of the company district, the nobility was ordered to build a company yard with two huts for the chief officers of the company and one for the lower servants; in the center of the regiment's location, the nobles undertook to build a courtyard for the regimental headquarters with 8 huts, a hospital and a barn.
Having located the company, the distributor handed over to the company commander a list of villages in which the company was deployed, indicating the number of courtyards and the number of souls listed in each; the distributor handed over another list of the same kind to the landowners of those villages. In the same way, he compiled a list of villages in which the whole regiment was located, and handed it over to the regimental commander. The nobles of each province were to jointly take care of the maintenance of the regiments located in their area and for this to elect from among their midst a special commissar, who was entrusted with taking care of the timely collection of money for the maintenance of the regiments settled in the area, and in general to be responsible to the nobility as a clerk and mediator of the estate in relations with the military power. Since 1723, these elected zemstvo commissars have been granted the exclusive right to collect the poll tax and arrears.
The regiment settled in a given area not only lived at the expense of the population that supported it, but, according to Peter's plan, was to become an instrument of local government: in addition to drill exercises, many purely police duties were assigned to the regiment. The colonel and the officers were obliged to pursue thieves and robbers in their district, that is, the location of the regiment, to keep the peasants of their district from escaping, to catch those who fled, to watch the fugitives coming to the district from outside, to eradicate innuendo and smuggling, to help forest overseers in pursuing illegal of forest felling, send their own people with officials who are sent to the provinces from the governors, so that these people do not allow officials to ruin the townsfolk of the county, and help officials to cope with the willfulness of the townsfolk.
According to the instructions, the regimental authorities had to protect the rural population of the district "from all taxes and offenses." V.O. Klyuchevsky writes about this:
In fact, this bosses, even against their own will, themselves laid down a heavy tax and resentment on the local population and not only on the peasants, but also on the landowners. Officers and soldiers were forbidden to interfere with the economic orders of the landowners and peasant work, but the grazing of regimental horses and domestic officers and soldiers' cattle on common pastures, where the landowners and peasants grazed their livestock, the right of the military command to demand, in certain cases, people for the regimental work and carts for regimental parcels and, finally, the right of general supervision over order and security in the regimental district - all this was supposed to create constant misunderstandings between the military commanders and the townsfolk. |
Obliged to monitor the payers of the poll tax feeding the regiment, the regimental authorities carried out this supervision in the most inconvenient way for the layman: a peasant, if he wanted to go to work in another district, had to receive a vacation letter from the landowner or the parish priest. With this letter, he went to the regimental yard, where this letter of leave was registered in the book of the zemstvo commissar. Instead of a letter, the peasant was given a special ticket signed and stamped by the colonel.
The supposed separate soldiers' settlements were not built anywhere, and the ones that had been started were not completed, and the soldiers were stationed in the philistine courtyards. In one decree of 1727, introducing some changes in the collection of the poll tax, the government itself recognized all the harm from such placement of soldiers, it recognized that "Poor Russian peasants go broke and run away not only from grain crop failure and capitation taxes, but also from disagreement between the officers and the zemstvo rulers, and between the soldiers and the peasants."... Fights between soldiers and men were constant.
The heaviest burden of the military post became during the periods of collection of the per capita tax, which was collected by the zemstvo commissars with the military teams attached to them "for the Anshtaltu", that is, for order, military teams led by an officer. The tax was usually brought in in thirds, and three times a year the zemstvo commissars with military men traveled around the villages and villages, collecting fees, collecting fines from non-payers, selling goods to the poor, feeding at the expense of the local population. “Each detour lasted two months: for six months a year, villages and villages lived in panic under oppression or in anticipation of armed pickers. Poor peasants are afraid of one entry and exit of officers and soldiers, commissars and other commanders; peasant belongings in the payment of taxes are not enough, and the peasants not only sell their cattle and belongings, but also mortgage their children, while others even run apart; commanders, often replaced, do not feel such ruin; none of them thinks about anything else but to take the last from the peasant in order and curry favor with it, ”reads the opinion of Menshikov and other high officials, presented to the Supreme Privy Council in 1726. The Senate in 1725 pointed out that "by paying the capitation money, the zemstvo commissars and officers are so oppressive that the peasants are not only forced to sell their belongings and livestock, but many even give away the grain sown in the land for a pittance, and therefore must be forced to run abroad.".
The flight of the peasants reached enormous proportions: in the Kazan province, in the area where one infantry regiment was settled, after less than two years of such military-financial management, the regiment did not count 13 thousand souls in its district, which was more than half of the revision souls who were obliged to support them.
Promotion and training
The promotion to the ranks in the Petrine army took place in a strict gradual manner. Each new vacancy was filled at the choice of the officers of the regiment; the rank to the captain was approved by the commander of the "generals", that is, the corps - the general-in-chief, and to the colonel - by the field marshal. Prior to 1724, patents for all ranks were issued with the signature of the sovereign himself. Production for colonel and general ranks depended on the sovereign. To prevent family ties, patronage, affection and friendship from among the officers of people who are not familiar with military affairs, Peter decreed by a decree of 1714: “Since many make their relatives and friends into officers from young people who do not know from the foundation of the soldier's business, for they did not serve in low ranks, and some served only for the appearance for several weeks or months, therefore, such a statement is required how many such ranks there are since 1709, and henceforth to say a decree so that noble breeds and others from the outside should not be written at all, which did not serve as soldiers in the guard. " Peter often looked through the lists of persons promoted to ranks himself.
In 1717, Peter demoted Lieutenant Colonel Myakishev "to the Preobrazhensky regiment in the bombardier company as a soldier so that he got that rank by intrigue, and not by service."
The tsar made sure that the nobles who entered the guards regiments as soldiers underwent a well-known military education, "decent for an officer."
In special regimental schools, noble niggards (up to the age of 15) underwent arithmetic, geometry, artillery, fortification, and foreign languages. The officer's training did not stop even after he entered the service.
In the Preobrazhensky regiment, Peter demanded that the officers know "engineering." For this, in 1721 a special school was established at the regiment.
Having made the guards regiments, as it were, schools for studying everything that "a good officer should be in charge of," the practice of training abroad continued.
In 1716, the Military Regulations were issued, which strictly defined the rights and obligations of the military and their service.
The results of Peter's transformations in the army
As a result of Peter's transformations, Russia received a permanent, regular, centrally supplied modern army, which subsequently, for more than a century (before the Crimean War), successfully fought, including with the armies of the leading European powers (Seven Years' War, Patriotic War of 1812). Also, the new army served as a means that allowed Russia to turn the tide of the struggle against the Ottoman Empire, gain access to the Black Sea and expand its influence in the Balkans and the Transcaucasus. However, the transformation of the army was part of the general course towards absolutizing the power of the monarch and infringing on the rights of the most diverse social strata of Russian society. In particular, despite the abolition of the local system, the duty of service was not removed from the nobility, and the functioning of the industry necessary for the technical equipment of the army was ensured through the use of serf labor along with free-hired labor.
