Streletskoye army of Peter I. What distinguishes the archer's army from the regular army

Streletskoye army, the creation of which refers to 1550, originally consisted of three thousand people. All of them were consolidated into separate "orders" of 500 each and constituted the personal guard of Ivan the Terrible.

History of creation

The Old Slavonic word "strelets" denoted the archer, who was the main component of the medieval armies. Later in Russia, the so-called representatives of the first regular army became so. Streletskoye army came to replace the volunteer militiamen. Commanded "orders" boyar children.

Streltsy were quartered in a suburban suburb. They were given a salary of 4 rubles a year. Gradually the musketeer army began to make up a permanent Moscow garrison.

The first baptism of fire as a regular army

Immediately after its appearance, the Archer army received baptism of fire. Collecting in 1552 warriors to seize Kazan, Ivan IV included in the regular army and this newly organized unit. In the history of the siege and the subsequent storming of this city, the Archer army played an important role. It is in many ways contributed to the success of the campaign of conquest of the Kazan Khanate.

Tsar Ivan IV, appreciating his streltsy, began to rapidly increase their number. And already in the 60 years of the 16th century there were about 8 thousand of them. And by the end of the 80's, already under the reign of the heir Ivan IV, Fedor Ioannovich, more than 12 thousand. At the same time, more than a half - 7,000 streltsy - lived permanently in Moscow, and the rest - in other cities, where they carried mostly the garrison or police service.

What is a musketeer army

2000 Moscow archers were the so-called "stirrup", actually dragoons or horse-mounted infantry. It was she who became an important part of the Moscow host at the end of the 16th and early 17th centuries. Virtually none of the serious campaigns, including the campaign in the years of the Livonian War, and the reflection of the raid on Moscow by the Crimean Tatars did not do without them.

However, for all the importance, this division should not be overestimated. Streletskoye army was created to squeeze or even replace the local cavalry. However, this did not happen. Despite the fact that such an army was quite a formidable force. Nevertheless, armed with slow shooting guns (wick rifle weighing 8 kg, caliber of 22 mm and with a range of shooting up to 200 m), the archers had no big chance of success. They needed a cover, because of which they could hit the enemy, without risking being killed at the time of recharging their antediluvian weapons.

Failures

In Europe, where the squeaks were also in service, pikemen became such a cover for the shooters, but they were useless in the Russian steppe. Therefore, the Archer army for this purpose used the natural folds of the terrain, forests and groves. Hiding behind them, one could count on the successful reflection of the enemy's attacks. This happened, for example, in 1555 in the battle of the Destinies, where the Streletsky army, defeated by the Krymchaks, disappeared in the oak forest and defended itself until the evening, until the khan, frightened by the arrival of the Russian fresh forces, retreated.

What is the difference between the army of Strelets from the regular army

Much more successfully, "orders" acted during the defense and siege of fortresses. After all, they had the time to arrange the necessary defensive structures - tours, trenches or tyins. Therefore, historians are sure that, in creating the corps of archers, Ivan the Terrible and his advisers tried to successfully adapt the European experience of creating regular infantry to Russian realities. They did not blindly copy the "overseas" military institutions, arming two highly specialized types of infantry, and limited only one, but the most effective specifically in the conditions of.

The formation of the Streltsy troops can be called the response of military Russian thought to the then growing effectiveness of hand-held firearms. It was supposed to act as an addition to the local cavalry, which was armed mainly with propelling and cold weapons. However, the ruling seat in the Russian regular army of the strelitzkaya army could not yet occupy. For this, not only weapons and tactics, but also the enemy had to become different. And while this did not happen, such a force remained important and necessary, although a minor component of the Russian army of the 16th century.

This was indicated by the specific weight of the archers in it. By the end of the sixteenth century, according to various estimates, the number of soldiers in the Russian army ranged from 75 to 110 thousand people. While the archer army consisted of about 12,000 soldiers, not all of them were able to participate in long-range campaigns or campaigns. But nevertheless, the main step towards the creation of a new type of army in Russia has already been done.

Streletsky army of Peter

The regular army of Peter, organized according to the German model, was much more effective. Military service paid salaries. At the same time, for the nobility, the service was compulsory. For simple people, recruitment was announced.

In the archer's army, for the service of soldiers, they were given land plots. Most of them lived with their families in Streletskaya Sloboda in a separate village. Therefore, it was impossible to conduct military operations during sowing or reaping: the archers refused.

Created by Ivan the Terrible, an archer army and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the regiments of the "new system" constitute the most important stages in the history of the establishment of a regular army. But while these forces coexisted in parallel, they could not represent a single army. The warriors were not permanently in military service. Moreover, even the regiments of the "new system" had to be disbanded after the end of hostilities, and then recruited, in essence, calling on untrained peasants.

Sad end

After the Azov campaign, Tsar Peter I was convinced that the army inherited from him was absolutely unsuitable for the complex military and political tasks that he set for himself. Therefore, the most important component of the reforms of that time was the radical reorganization of the entire military structure in the state. And first of all, it was the creation of a regular army, which was based on the recruitment system and completely different from the principle of the formation of the Streletsky troops.

But nevertheless, Vasily III's burglars and Ivan IV's archers laid a straight road to the soldiers' regiments of the princes Mikhail Fedorovich and Alexei Mikhailovich. And already from them - directly to Petrovsky fuselers.

Immediately after the rebellion of 1699, Peter the Great ordered to disperse the Streletsky army, leaving some of it to serve on the outskirts of Russia.