Amusing regiments of Peter 1. Amusing regiments of Peter the Great are the basis of the Russian army. History of the amusing regiments of Peter I

He received no education other than simple literacy and some historical information. His amusements were childish and military in nature. The situation of his life gave him several difficult impressions. Being a tsar, he was at the same time under disgrace from the age of 10 and had to live with his mother in amusing villages near Moscow, and not in the Kremlin palace. Such a sad situation deprived him of the opportunity to receive proper further education and at the same time freed him from the shackles of court etiquette. Lacking spiritual food, but having a lot of time and freedom, Peter himself had to look for activities and entertainment. One might think that the mother never embarrassed her beloved only son and that Peter’s teacher, Prince Boris Golitsyn, did not watch his every move. We do not see that Peter was particularly subordinate to his mother’s authority in his tastes and activities, so that Peter was occupied by others. He himself chooses his comrades from the close circle of courtiers and servants of the Tsarina’s court, and with these comrades he seeks his own fun. Peter's adolescence was marked by amateur activity, and this amateur activity went in two directions: 1) Peter continued to indulge in military amusements, 2) Peter strove for self-education.

Soldiers of Peter I's "amusing regiments" in a circle (tavern). Painting by A. Ryabushkin, 1892

Since 1683, instead of “amusing children” near Peter we see “amusing regiments” (“amusing” because they were stationed in amusing villages, and not because they served only for amusement). In November 1683, Peter began to form the Preobrazhensky regiment of hunting people (until his last years, Peter remembered that the first hunter was the court groom Sergei Bukhvostov). In relation to this amusing regiment, Peter was not a sovereign, but a comrade-in-arms who studied military affairs along with other soldiers. With the permission, of course, of his mother and with the approval, perhaps, of B. Golitsyn (even, perhaps, with some of his assistance), Peter, as they say, spends his days and nights with his amusing ones. Maneuvers and small campaigns are undertaken, an amusing fortress is built on the Yauza (1685), called Presburg, in a word, military affairs are practically studied not according to the old Russian models, but according to the order of regular military service that was used in the 17th century. was borrowed by Moscow from the West. These military “funs” require military supplies and funds, which are given to Peter from Moscow orders. The government of Sophia does not see any danger for itself in such “fun of Mars” and does not interfere with the development of amusing troops. It became afraid of these troops later, when the amusing ones grew into a solid military force. But Peter grew this power without hindrance. One should not think that Peter was having fun with just the servants of the courtyard. Along with him in the ranks of the amusements were his comrades from the upper strata of society. Standing outside of court etiquette, Peter mixed well-born people and commoners into one “squad,” as S. M. Solovyov put it, and from this squad unconsciously prepared for himself a circle of devoted collaborators in the future. Military affairs and the personality of Peter united heterogeneous aristocratic and democratic elements into one society with one direction. While this society was having fun, it later began to work with Peter.

Somewhat later than Peter’s war games were organized, a conscious desire to learn awoke in him. Self-study somewhat distracted Peter from exclusively military pastimes and broadened his mental horizons and practical activities. Deprived of a proper education, Peter, however, grew up in a circle that was far from completely ignorant. The Naryshkins from Matveev's house gained some familiarity with Western culture. The son of A.S. Matveev, close to Peter, was educated in the European way. Peter had a German doctor. In a word, not only was there no national isolation, but there was a certain habit of the Germans, familiarity with them, sympathy for the West. This habit and sympathy passed on to Peter and made it easier for him to get closer to foreigners and their science. This rapprochement took place around 1687 in this way: in the preface to the Maritime Regulations, Peter himself says that Prince. Ya. Dolgoruky brought him an astrolabe as a gift from abroad, and no one knew how to deal with a foreign instrument; then they found Petra a knowledgeable person, the Dutchman Franz Timmerman, who explained that to use the astrolabe you need to know geometry and other sciences. It was from this Timmerman that Peter “much eagerly began to learn geometry and fortification.” At the same time, he found an old English boat lying in a barn in the village of Izmailovo. Timmerman explained to Peter that on this boat you can walk against the wind and maneuver (which the Russians could not do). Peter became interested and found a man (like Timmerman - from the German settlement), the Dutchman Karsten-Brant, who began to teach Peter how to control the sails. First we studied on the narrow Yauza, and then in the village of Izmailovo on the pond.

"Grandfather of the Russian fleet." Franz Timmermann shows Peter I a shoe. Painting by G. Myasoedov, before 1911

The art of navigation fascinated Peter so much that it became his passion. He took the study of this matter very seriously. In 1688, dissatisfied with the fact that there was nowhere to sail near Moscow, he transferred his fun to Lake Pereyaslavl (more than 100 versts from Moscow to the north). His mother agreed to Peter’s departure, and Peter began building ships in Pereyaslavl with the help of Dutch craftsmen. At this time, he did not want to know anything except mathematics, military affairs and shipboard fun. But he was already 17 years old, he was very developed both physically and mentally. His mother had the right to expect that her son, who had reached adulthood, would pay attention to state affairs and remove the hated Miloslavskys from them. But Peter was not interested in this and did not think of giving up his studies and fun for politics. To settle him down, his mother married him (January 27, 1689) to Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina, to whom Peter had no attraction. Obeying the will of his mother, Peter got married, but a month after the wedding he left for Pereyaslavl from his mother and wife to the ships. But in the summer of 1689, he was summoned by his mother to Moscow, because the fight with the Miloslavskys was inevitable.

FUN

Firstly, these are “funny troops!” Back in 1682, in Moscow, near the Kremlin Palace, a playground was made for the war games of 10-year-old Peter.

A child of these years enthusiastically commanded adults, several years older, boys given to him for entertainment. Military commands, shooting, rifle techniques - all this gives him serious pleasure, Peter is increasingly drawn into the game.

With the deportation of the Naryshkins to Preobrazhenskoye, the “amusing army” also moves there. The very word “amusing” makes sense to clarify - the army is indeed being created for the king’s amusement, but his weapons are not “entertaining” at all. Divided into “warring armies,” the amusing army fires at each other with not real bullets and cannonballs, of course. The guns have blank charges, and only the wad flies at the enemy (which, however, can bruise and burn). The guns are loaded with steamed turnips or peas. It’s not a cannonball or a grenade, but a hot sticky mass flies for several tens of meters, which may well get into your eyes or ears, knock you down and concuss you.

In 1685, a military camp was built on the Yauza, which Peter ordered to be called the “capital city of Presburg” (or Preshburg). Since then, one “funny army” has taken the city, while the other has fought back according to all the rules of martial art. I don’t know what it was like before this time, but starting from this year, the “amusing troops” are quite definitely getting killed.

The “amusing” ones also attack civilians. They faithfully, as befits military men, carry out orders when they are ordered to point guns loaded with turnips at a merchant caravan or at a noble boyar with his retinue who came to admonish Peter, to persuade him to stop the disgrace. This is not my invention! Several times, on the direct orders of Peter, the “amusing” ones attacked the subjects of the Romanov family and the future subjects of Peter himself. For those who, a few years later, will swear allegiance to him.

And later, having matured, he would throw his “amusing” army at the population of his own country - in 1687, and in 1690, and in 1694. At this point, Alexey Tolstoy writes the pure truth: when Fyodor Sommer became the “amusing” general, 16 real guns were brought from the Pushkarsky order and

“they began to teach the amusing people how to shoot cast iron bombs - they taught them strictly: Fyodor Sommer did not want to receive a salary for nothing. There was no time for fun anymore. They killed a lot of different livestock in the fields and maimed people.”

A completely fair description based on historical sources.

A surreal picture: soldiers in metal helmets on their heads and with guns at the ready are chasing a village herd, firing cannons at peasants harvesting their crops! Nevertheless, this picture is completely real, and there is no one to complain about material expenses and even about murders. After all, at the head of the outrage is the king himself!

Since 1686, adults have also been enrolled in the “amusing” ones, and battalions have been formed from the “amusing” ones. In 1687, entire “amusing regiments” were created - Semyonovsky and Preobrazhensky. Peter is not yet the only king, but the “second” - but he is already the commander-in-chief of a small army.

Some historians give great credit to Peter for the fact that he carried out longer maneuvers in the army, especially earnestly preparing and training the soldiers... But these were not maneuvers at all in the strictly military sense of the word; it was more about a favorite toy, which Peter was unable to part with.

After the coup of 1689, which made Peter a full-fledged tsar, and having entered his thirties, Peter continued to have fun in the same way. On June 2, 1690, his face was severely burned during the “amusing assault” of the Semyonovsky courtyard. On September 4 of the same year, an “exemplary” battle took place near Preobrazhensky: the best rifle regiment, consisting of mounted and foot archers, was supposed to fight against the Semenovsky regiment and mounted courtiers. On this day they fought until complete darkness, there were many wounded and burned.

In October 1691, “a great and terrible battle took place at Generalissimo Friedrich Romodanovsky, who had the capital city of Presburg.” On this day, the regiments of Captain Pyotr Alekseev distinguished themselves very much, who, in the end, captured the “enemy Generalissimo Romodanovsky.” That the tsar was hiding under the name of Peter Alekseev is already clear to the reader.

In the words of Peter himself, “that day was equal to the day of judgment,” and the tsar’s closest steward, Prince Ivan Dmitrievich Dolgoruky, “from his grave wounds, especially with the will of God, moved to eternal shelters, according to the order of Adam, where and for all of us in time to be." It is unknown how many other people of lower birth and rank moved there. Those about whom the king will not write and will not even recognize. We only know that there were many wounded and killed.

In the fall of 1694, the famous Kozhukhovsky campaign was organized - the movement of two “enemy armies” towards the village of Kozhukhovo, near the Simonov Monastery. These were the “Russian army” under the command of Fyodor Yuryevich Romodanovsky and the “Polish army”, commanded by Ivan Ivanovich Buturlin. Many serving people were mobilized into both armies, not really paying attention to their age, state of health, and even more so - desire.

Romodanovsky, in the “Russian army,” had the Semenovsky, Butyrsky and Preobrazhensky regiments, eight Reitar companies, three companies of grenade soldiers, two companies of datochny people, called Nakhalov and Naletov, and 20 companies of stolniki (that is, raised for the “fun” of courtiers). In the “Polish army” there were about 7,500 people - companies of archers and consisting of clerks and clerks, that is, clerks, divorced from business and also driven for “fun”. In total, the number of participants in the “fun” is approaching 30 thousand.

The “Polish king” settled in a fortress - a military camp built in an open field, and Romodanovsky took it. Bombardier Pyotr Alekseev again, of course, accomplished glorious feats - he captured a Streltsy colonel. Having lost the fortress, the “Polish king” settled in a new fortified camp and “fought very desperately” until Romodanovsky forced him to surrender. In a word, the battle was long and brutal, almost “for real,” and this time we know that “24 people were killed with wads and other cases, and 50 were wounded,” as Boris Kurakin reports.

It is also known that Peter was very pleased with the “fun”... and, of course, no one was interested in the opinion of the relatives and friends of those who died for the Tsar’s entertainment.

Simultaneously with the “fun” on land, there was also “fun” on the water: already in the spring of 1691, the tsar himself made and launched a yacht on the Moscow River, and in the fall he left for Lake Pereyaslavl. Lev Kirillovich Naryshkin and Boris Aleksandrovich Golitsyn specially went for Peter - so that he would personally receive the Persian ambassador. On May 1, the first ship was launched at the Pereyaslavl shipyard, and in July the entire yard went to Pereyaslavl and stayed there until September (after which Peter immediately began a new land “fun”).

It turns out that Peter, already an adult, spent most of the year in the “fun troops” and in the ship “fun”... And an involuntary question arises: what is this?! Is it really a long-running game of toy soldiers, where instead of tin figures real people participate and real blood flows? In the end, the “amusing army” fought real battles, in which there were wounded and killed... And they were led, organized, first by a boy of 12, 15 years old, and soon by a young man of 20, 22 years old...

Or are we talking about some kind of manic love for the army? To her paraphernalia in the form of commands, weapons, orders, bandit songs, campaigns, corpses in the roadside dust?!

Or Peter simply doesn’t feel confident in the royal palace - he’s not ready, he’s not educated... and, finally, he doesn’t want to! And in the army, especially in an army he created with his own hands, he feels comfortable, cozy...

These assumptions, at least, make it possible to explain why the army in its “amusing” version became Peter’s long-term game and why this game disappeared with the beginning of constant campaigns. At first, it was generally difficult to distinguish between what was a “fun” trip and where was the real deal. Let's say, on May 1, 1684, Peter sets out on his “second sea voyage” to Arkhangelsk. In essence, this is just a trip of the tsar to Arkhangelsk to look at foreign ships, and nothing more. But Peter moves with part of his “amusing army”, and of course, with its command staff. Romodanovsky was appointed admiral, the “Polish king” Buturlin was appointed vice admiral, and Gordon was appointed rear admiral.

The smooth transition from the “amusing war” to the real war itself is very clearly visible in the example of the Azov campaigns - in the 1st Azov campaign in 1695, a real “amusing army” fought. The local army and Cossacks were sent to the lower reaches of the Dnieper to distract the Turks; they were led by boyar Boris Sheremetev. And the Semenovsky, Preobrazhensky, Lefortov regiments, city riflemen and Gordon’s regiment moved to Azov, to the lower reaches of the Don. They walked as cheerfully and dashingly as on “funny hikes.” Peter wrote to Apraksin: “We were joking near Kozhukhov, and now we’re going to play near Azov”; and in another place: “We drink vodka and Renskoe, and especially beer, about your health.” Azov turned out to be little similar to Preshburg, and the case near Azov turned out to be far from “amusing”, absolutely from any point of view - but this is the second question. The main thing is that Peter went to Azov to have fun.

All of Peter’s wars directly follow from his “amusing” wars and campaigns and are intertwined with fun. Until the end of his days, he adored the army and very often was in it under the pseudonym “Peter Mikhailov”, “Peter Alekseev”, “captain-scorer” and so on. He never made a fundamental difference between a real active army and a “funny army”.

Not a single person who wanted to have a good relationship with Peter could avoid participating in his wars, and in his youth - in the “amusing wars”. The exceptions, perhaps, are his uncles, Natalya Kirillovna’s brothers. But the terrible head of the Preobrazhensky order, Yuri Fedorovich Romodanovsky, and Franz Lefort, and Boris Golitsyn - all of them, like cute little ones, commanded “amusing” armies.

Apparently, the “amusing troops” are not only a place of entertainment, but also a kind of royal club - a place where he finds suitable people for himself, communicates with them informally, “without uniforms.” Where reputations are created and hierarchies are built, plans are hatched and appointments are prepared. But this anonymity of the Tsar himself is still interesting! Is there something behind it?!

And besides, Tsar Peter had another club...

From the book A Brief History of the Russian Fleet author

From the book Aryan Rus' [The Heritage of Ancestors. Forgotten gods of the Slavs] author Belov Alexander Ivanovich

“Amusing men” - demons And here is how V. Sarianidi, using materials collected by Robertson, describes the temple of the main god of the infidels: “The main temple of Imra was located in one of the villages and was a large building with a square portico, the roof of which

From the book Course of Russian History (Lectures XXXIII-LXI) author Klyuchevsky Vasily Osipovich

Fun Carrying things needed for fun from the Kremlin storerooms, Peter gathered around him a crowd of his fun comrades. He had plenty of material on hand for this set. According to established custom, when the Moscow prince turned five years old, a courtier came to him

From the book Satirical History from Rurik to the Revolution author Orsher Joseph Lvovich

Streltsy and amusing When Peter grew up and became a young man, he began to be interested in state affairs. The first thing he paid attention to was the Streltsy. These were people hung with reeds, self-propelled guns, knives, curved and straight sabers, clubs, king bells and

From the book A Brief History of the Russian Fleet author Veselago Feodosius Fedorovich

Chapter II Amusing voyages and the Azov fleet of Peter I “Grandfather of the Russian fleet” and the Pereyaslav flotilla Young Peter Alekseevich, who had a passionate love for the sea, from educated foreigners close to him, his mentors and interlocutors, especially from the Dutchman Timerman and

From the book Peter I author Dukhopelnikov Vladimir Mikhailovich

From the book Living Ancient Rus'. Book for students author Osetrov Evgeniy Ivanovich

Ovsen, Parsley, amusing fellows and children's toys Ancient Rus' loved ritual games, loved fun, all kinds of spectacular performances, mummers, buffoons - amusing fellows, street acrobats, fist fights, sleigh rides, round dances, lapta. Many customs have their own

From the book Complete Works. Volume 11. July-October 1905 author Lenin Vladimir Ilyich

The last word of “Iskra” tactics or amusing elections as new incentives for an uprising We have already repeatedly spoken about the inconsistency of Iskra’s tactics in the “Duma” campaign. Both main features of this tactic are untenable: the desire to support

Amusing troops

Amusing troops arose from the so-called Peter's Regiment, which was formed by Tsar Peter I for gaming battles. Contemporaries did not leave any notes about the original structure of the “amusing” ones; it is only known that their number, which at first did not exceed 50, quickly increased, so that, due to lack of premises, some of them were transferred to the village of Semenovskoye.

  • Since 1682, the Moscow Kremlin Palace had a special funny playground.
  • In the spring of 1683, 11-year-old Peter, physically advanced beyond his years, transferred military training to the field, and from that time on, the former game of toy soldiers turned into real military-practical training. At the end of this year, adults also began to register as “amusing” ones. The first to enroll in the amusements on November 30, 1683 was the court groom S. Bukhvostov. He is considered the first soldier.
  • In 1684, an amusing town was built in the village of Preobrazhenskoe near Moscow. "Presburg", on the construction of which Peter himself worked; then the amusing troops stormed this fortress and maneuvered on two sides.
  • In 1691, the amusing troops received proper organization and were divided into two regiments, Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky, equipped according to Western European standards.

Various military training exercises led by foreigners culminated in the “Kozhukhov Campaign”. During these years, Peter I's views on military education began to take shape. Historian A. M. Nazarov, author of a book about “amusing” ones, wrote that the goal was to train future warriors and military leaders, for whom “service would not be a heavy Lenten burden,” but, on the contrary, “a lapidary workshop in which they would become crystal amazing shine." Taking into account his own experience, Peter and his associates developed the first military-professional orientation program for young men in the history of Russia.

The military professional orientation program for young men included:

  1. development of physical strength and dexterity of children 9-12 years old through outdoor games and gymnastic exercises; military formation was not given much importance;
  2. developing courage and enterprise in children by introducing a certain amount of danger and risk into games. For this purpose, they used climbing cliffs, ravines, crossing unsteady bridges, logs, and playing robbers. During this game, the “amusing” ones learned guard duty, reconnaissance, and through experience they came to the understanding that “reason and art win more than multitudes”;
  3. training to use weapons: not only gun techniques, but also the ability to shoot and stab. Tsar Peter fired a cannon from the age of 12;
  4. familiarizing the “amusing” ones with military equipment and teaching them how to use it;
  5. developing discipline, a sense of honor and camaraderie;
  6. knowledge of the fatherland and an understanding of its historical tasks by familiarizing the “amusing” with the brightest and darkest pages of Russian history, as well as with the forces and aspirations of the most dangerous neighbors;
  7. development of love for the sovereign and the fatherland;
  8. instilling in the “amusing” ones a love for the army.

Preobrazhentsy and Semyonovtsy became the basis of the future regular army of Russia. They left on their first campaign to the Turkish fortress of Azov on April 30, 1695. Subsequently, participation in the Northern War gave both regiments the opportunity to show combat training and measure themselves against the exemplary troops of Charles XII.

Memory

In memory of the Amusing Troops in Moscow until 1917 there was Amusing Embankment (now Gannushkin Embankment); Poteshnaya Street still exists. The street is located on the site of the Poteshny town in the village of Preobrazhenskoye, where at the end of the 17th century. they lived a funny life.

There are streets in memory of the first soldier Sergei Leontievich Bukhvostov - 1st Bukhvostov Street, 2nd Bukhvostov Street, 3rd Bukhvostov Street.

Literature

  • Maslovsky, “Notes on the history of military art in Russia”;
  • “Peter’s Brigade” (“Russian Antiquity”, vol. XXXVIII, May book, pp. 239-272).
  • P. Dirin Amusing regiments of Peter the Great
  • Bobrovsky P. O. Amusing and the beginning of the Preobrazhensky Regiment. - St. Petersburg: Type. Main Administration of the Estates, 1899 on the Runiverse website

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See what “Fun Troops” are in other dictionaries:

    Officer and soldiers of the Semenovsky regiment. Amusing troops are military detachments of “little robots” created by the king for the “fun” of the prince. In 1682, a special site for war games was set up near the Kremlin Palace. In the spring of 1683, eleven-year-old Peter suffered... ... Moscow (encyclopedia)

    They arose from the so-called Petrov Regiment, which was formed by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, from small robots, for the amusement of Tsarevich Peter. Since 1682, the Moscow Kremlin Palace had a special amusing platform; from the spring of 1683 11 year old Peter ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

    "FUN" TROOPS- military detachments in Russia in the 80s and 90s. 17th century, created for the military. games (“fun”) of young Peter I from the court servants and their children. Until 1682 military. the games were held on a specially equipped “amusing” site near the Kremlin Palace, with... ... Military encyclopedic dictionary

    OKSVA on the march... Wikipedia

    A. P. Ryabushkin “Amusing Peter I in a circle.” 1892 Amusing troops arose from the so-called Petrov Regiment, which was formed by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, from “little robots”, for the amusement of Tsarevich Peter. Contemporaries did not leave any... ... Wikipedia

    - “amusing troops”, groups of children and young people created in the early 80s. XVII century for the “war fun” of the Russian Tsar Peter. At the end of the 17th century. from them the guards Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments were formed... encyclopedic Dictionary

    This term has other meanings, see Peter I (meanings). The request "Peter the Great" is redirected here; see also other meanings. Peter I Alekseevich ... Wikipedia

    Artillery major, "the first Russian soldier"; genus. in 1642, d. November 30, 1728. In 1674 he was enlisted as a groom in the place of his father who died in the same year, in 1682 he was taken to Tsar Peter for “fun” and in 1683... ...

    FUNNY, oh, oh; shen, shna. 1. Funny, amusing (colloquial). P. child. Funny story. It's funny (adv.) to copy someone. 2. full Intended for war games, for entertainment (obsolete). Fun lights. Amusing troops of Peter I. For the send-off... ... Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

    General Admiral of the Russian Fleet, b. in 1661, d. November 10, 1728 His father was a steward under Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, and his younger sister Marfa Matveevna was married to Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich. F. M.’s official activities were dedicated to... ... Large biographical encyclopedia

The infantry regiment of Peter the Great's times consisted of two battalions, with some exceptions: the Preobrazhensky Life Guards regiment had 4 battalions, the Semenovsky 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. At the head of the company was a captain. He had to “educate” his company militarily and, for this purpose, understand all “military procedures.” In addition to the commander, the company had three more officers - a lieutenant, a second lieutenant and an ensign. the lieutenant was an assistant to the company commander and had to “report in detail on everything” to the latter about everything. The second lieutenant helped the lieutenant, while the ensign was obliged to carry the banner in the ranks; in addition, he had to “visit the weak all day long” and intercede for the lower ranks “when they fall into punishment.”

Among the commanders 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 the task of replacing the ensign at the banner, the captain was in charge of weapons and ammunition, and the corporals commanded the plutongs. At the head of the regiment was a colonel; According to the regulations, he must “as a captain in his company, have the same and even greater first respect for his regiment.” The lieutenant colonel assisted the regiment commander, the prime major commanded one battalion, the second major commanded another; Moreover, the first major was considered older than the second major and, in addition to command, had the responsibility to take care “whether the regiment is in good condition, both in the number of soldiers and in their weapons, ammunition and uniform.”

The various cavalry of the beginning of Peter's reign (reiters, spearmen, hussars) in Peter's army were replaced by dragoon regiments. The dragoon (horse grenadier) regiment consisted of 5 squadrons (2 companies each) and numbered 1,200 people. In the dragoon regiment, 9 companies were fusiliers and one grenadier. A separate squadron consisted of 5 companies (600 people). According to the states of 1711, the regiment included 38 staff and chief officers, 80 non-commissioned officers, 920 privates, and 290 non-combatants. The company consisted of 3 chief officers, 8 non-commissioned officers, and 92 private dragoons.

The artillery of Peter the Great's time consisted of 12-, 8-, 6- and 3-pound guns (a pound is equal to a cast iron cannonball with a diameter of 2 English inches (5.08 cm); the weight of a pound is exceeded by 20 spools (85.32 kg) , one-pound and half-pound howitzers, one-pound and 6-pound mortars (a pound is equal to 16.38 kg). This was inconvenient artillery for transportation: a 12-pound gun, for example, weighed 150 pounds with a carriage and limber, and was carried by 15 horses. Three-pound guns made up the regimental artillery; at first there were two such guns per battalion, and from 1723 they were limited to two per regiment. These regimental guns weighed about 28 pounds (459 kg). The range of the guns of those times was very small - about 150 fathoms (320 m) on average - and depended on the caliber of the gun.

In 1700, Peter ordered the formation of a special artillery regiment from the gunners and grenadiers of former times, and schools were established for the training of artillerymen: engineering and navigation in Moscow and engineering in St. Petersburg. Arms factories in Okhta and Tula, organized by Peter, produced artillery and guns for the army.

Garrison troops in the Russian Imperial Army were intended to perform garrison service in cities and fortresses in wartime. Created by Peter I in 1702 from city archers, soldiers, reiters and others. In 1720, the garrison troops consisted of 80 infantry and 4 dragoon regiments. In the 2nd half of the 19th century, they were transformed into local troops (garrison artillery - into fortress artillery).

The armament of each soldier consisted of a sword with a sword belt and a fusée. Fusee - a gun that weighed about 14 pounds; his bullet weighed 8 spools; the fusee castle was made of flint; In the necessary cases, a baguette - a five- or eight-inch triangular bayonet - was mounted on the fusee. The cartridges were placed in leather bags attached to a sling, to which a horny powder with gunpowder was also tied. Captains and sergeants, instead of fusees, were armed with halberds - axes on a three-arch shaft.

One of the companies in each regiment was called a grenadier, and a feature of its weapons were matchlock bombs, which the grenadier kept in a special bag; The grenadier's fuses were a little lighter and the soldiers could put their fuses on a belt behind their backs when throwing a bomb. The lower ranks of the artillery were armed with swords, pistols, and some with a special “mortar.” These "mortars" were something between a fusée and a small cannon attached to a fusée stock with a fusée lock; when firing from mortars, they had to be supported by a special halberd; The length of the mortar was 13 inches, and it fired a bomb the size of a pound cannonball. Each soldier was given a backpack for carrying things. Dragoons for foot combat were armed with a fusée, and for mounted combat - with a broadsword and a pistol.


The rank and file of the bombardment company of the artillery regiment wore leather caps with copper emblems in the form of grenades. Red camisoles, caftans and trousers are designed to evoke associations with battalion smoke and flames bursting from a gun muzzle. The bombers were armed with a sword, a pistol, and a copper mortar, which rested on a halberd when firing.

By the end of Peter's reign, the regular army numbered in its ranks more than 200 thousand soldiers of all branches of the military and over 100 thousand irregular Cossack cavalry and Kalmyk cavalry. For the 13 million population of Peter's Russia, it was a heavy burden to support and feed such a large army. According to estimates drawn up in 1710, a little more than three million rubles were spent on the maintenance of the field army, garrisons and fleet, artillery and other military expenses. The treasury spent only a little over 800 thousand on other needs: the army absorbed 78% of the total expenditure budget.

To resolve the issue of financing the army, Peter ordered, by decree of November 26, 1718, to count the number of tax-paying population of Russia; all landowners, secular and church, were ordered to provide accurate information on how many male souls lived in their villages, including old people and infants. The information was then checked by special auditors. Then they accurately determined the number of soldiers in the army and calculated how many souls were counted in the census for each soldier. Then they calculated how much the full maintenance of a soldier costs per year. Then it became clear what tax should be imposed on every tax-paying soul in order to cover all the costs of maintaining the army. According to this calculation, for each tax-paying soul there were: 74 kopecks for the owning (serf) peasants, 1 ruble 14 kopecks for state peasants and single-lords; 1 ruble 20 kopecks per tradesman.

By decrees of January 10 and February 5, 1722, Peter outlined to the Senate the very method of feeding and maintaining the army, and proposed to “lay out the troops on the ground.” Military and foot regiments had to support them. In the newly conquered regions - Ingria, Karelia, Livonia and Estland - no census was carried out, and regiments had to be assigned to billet here, the feeding of which was entrusted to individual provinces that did not need constant military protection.

The Military Collegium compiled a list of regiments by locality, and for the cantonment itself, 5 generals, 1 brigadier and 4 colonels were sent - one to each province. Having received from the Senate for layout, and from the Military College - a list of regiments that were to be deployed in a given area, the sent headquarters officer, arriving in his district, had to convene the local nobility, announcing to them the rules of layout and inviting the layoutrs to assist. The regiments were distributed as follows: each company was assigned a rural district with such a population that there were 35 souls for each infantryman, and 50 souls of the male population for each horseman. The instructions ordered the dispatcher to insist on dispersing the regiments in special settlements, so as not to place them in peasant households and thus not cause quarrels between the peasants and the inns.

To this end, the planners had to persuade the nobles to build huts, one for each non-commissioned officer and one for every two soldiers. Each settlement had to accommodate at least a corporal and be located at such a distance from the other that a cavalry company would be deployed no further than 10 versts, a foot regiment no further than 5 versts, a cavalry regiment no further than 5 versts, a cavalry regiment no further than 100 versts, and a foot regiment no further than 50 versts. . In the middle of the company district, the nobility was ordered to build a company courtyard with two huts for the chief officers of the company and one for lower servants; In the center of the regiment's location, the nobles were obliged to build a courtyard for the regimental headquarters with 8 huts, a hospital and a barn.

Having positioned the company, the dispatcher handed over to the company commander a list of villages in which the company was located, indicating the number of households and the number of souls listed in each; The spreader handed another similar list to the landowners of those villages. In the same way, he compiled a list of villages in which the entire regiment was stationed, and handed it over to the regimental commander. The nobles of each province had to jointly take care of the maintenance of the regiments stationed in their area and for this purpose elect from among themselves a special commissar, who was entrusted with taking care of the timely collection of money for the maintenance of the regiments settled in a given area, and in general being responsible to the nobility as a clerk and intermediary of the class in relations with the military authorities. Since 1723, these elected zemstvo commissars have been given the exclusive right to collect poll taxes and arrears.



The first capitation census of 1718-1725.

The regiment settled in this area not only lived at the expense of the population that supported it, but also, according to Peter’s plan, was supposed to become an instrument of local government: in addition to drill exercises, the regiment was assigned many purely police duties. The colonel and his officers were obliged to pursue thieves and robbers in their district, that is, the location of the regiment, keep the peasants of their district from escaping, catch those who fled, monitor fugitives coming to the district from the outside, eradicate tavern and smuggling, help forest guards in pursuing illegal forest felling, send their people with the officials who are sent to the provinces from the governors, so that these people do not allow the officials to ruin the district inhabitants, and help the officials cope with the willfulness of the inhabitants.

According to the instructions, the regimental authorities had to protect the rural population of the district “from all taxes and insults.” V. O. Klyuchevsky writes about this: “In fact, this authorities, even against their will, themselves laid 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 in the economic orders of landowners and in peasant work, but the grazing of regimental horses and domestic officers' and soldiers' livestock on common pastures where landowners and peasants grazed their livestock, the right of the military authorities to demand in certain cases people for 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 authorities and ordinary people.”

Obliged to monitor the payers of the poll tax that fed the regiment, the regimental authorities carried out this supervision in the most inconvenient way for the average person: if a peasant wanted to go to work in another district, he had to receive a letter of leave from the landowner or parish priest. With this letter, he went to the regimental yard, where the zemstvo commissar registered this letter of leave in the book. Instead of a letter, the peasant was given a special ticket signed and sealed by the colonel.

The supposed separate soldiers' settlements were not built anywhere, and those that were started were not completed, and the soldiers were housed in philistine courtyards. In one decree of 1727, which introduced some changes in the collection of the poll tax, the government itself recognized all the harm from such deployment of soldiers; it admitted that “the poor Russian peasants are going bankrupt and fleeing not only from the shortage of grain and the poll tax, but also from the disagreement of the officers with the zemstvo rulers, and the soldiers and the peasants had constant fights.”

The burden of military billets became heaviest during periods of collecting the poll tax, which was collected by zemstvo commissars with military teams assigned to them “for anstaltu,” that is, for order, headed by an officer. The tax was usually paid in thirds, and three times a year zemstvo commissars with military men traveled around villages and hamlets, making collections, collecting fines from defaulters, selling property to the poor, feeding at the expense of the local population. “Each detour lasted two months: for six months of the year, villages and hamlets lived in panic, under oppression or in anticipation of armed collectors. Poor men are afraid of the mere entry and passage of officers and soldiers, commissars and other commanders; There are not enough peasant belongings to pay taxes, and the peasants not only sell livestock and belongings, but also pawn their children, while others flee separately; commanders, often replaced, do not feel such ruin; none of them thinks about anything else other than taking the last tribute from the peasant and currying favor with this,” says the opinion of Menshikov and other high officials, presented to the Supreme Privy Council in 1726. The Senate in 1725 pointed out that “the zemstvo commissars and officers are so oppressed by the payment of per capita money that the peasants are not only forced to sell their belongings and livestock, but many also give away the grain sown in the ground for next to nothing and therefore are forced to flee beyond other people’s borders.”

The flight of 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 was missing 13 thousand souls in its district, which was more than half of the revision souls obliged to support them.

Promotion to ranks in Peter's army took place in strict gradual order. Each new vacancy was filled by the choice of officers of the regiment; the rank up to captain was approved by the commander of the “generalship”, that is, the corps - general-in-chief, and up to colonel - field marshal. Until 1724, patents for all ranks were issued under the signature of the sovereign himself. Promotion to the ranks of colonel and general depended on the sovereign. To prevent family ties, patronage, affection and friendship from leading people unfamiliar with military affairs into the officer ranks, Peter, by decree of 1714, decreed: “Since many are promoting their relatives and friends as officers from young people who do not know the basics of soldiering, for they did not serve in low ranks, and some served only for appearances for several weeks or months, so such people need a statement of how many such ranks there are since 1709, and henceforth a decree must be issued so that both noble breeds and others from outside should not be written down, which did not serve as soldiers in the guard." Peter often looked through the lists of persons promoted to rank himself.

In 1717, Peter demoted Lieutenant Colonel Myakishev “to the Preobrazhensky Regiment as a soldier in the bombardment company because he got that rank through intrigue and not through service.” The Tsar made sure that the nobles who entered the guards regiments as soldiers received a well-known military education in them, “decent for officers.” In special regimental schools, young nobles (up to the age of 15) studied arithmetic, geometry, artillery, fortification, and foreign languages. The officer's training did not stop after entering the service. In the Preobrazhensky Regiment, Peter demanded that officers know “engineering.” For this purpose, in 1721, a special school was established at the regiment. Having made the guards regiments like schools for studying everything that “a good officer should know,” the practice of studying abroad continued. In 1716, the Military Regulations were published, which strictly defined the rights and obligations of the military during their service.

As a result of Peter's reforms, 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 fight against the Ottoman Empire, gain access to the Black Sea and spread its influence in the Balkans and Transcaucasia. However, the transformation of the army was part of a general course towards the absoluteization of the power of the monarch and the infringement of 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 nobles, and the functioning of the industry necessary for the technical equipment of the army was ensured through the use of serf labor along with civilian labor.

Amusing troops arose from the so-called Peter's Regiment, which was formed by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and named after his regimental commander, a colonel, to give the games of the future emperor a more correct character, since the tsar noticed in his lively, active and energetic son a special attraction to military affairs. Petrov regiment was dressed in green uniforms, had banners, guns and was supplied with all sorts of regimental things. The prince himself was appointed regimental commander - colonel, in accordance with this he was reported on all the needs of the regiment, and orders were also demanded from him. The Emperor personally observed the orders of the four-year-old commander and directed his actions. For Peter's amusing regiment, a small fortified city was built, which Peter himself called the “Capital City of Presburg.”

The name “amusing” was determined by their location, for they were located in the royal amusing villages.

Contemporaries did not leave any notes about the original structure of the “amusing” ones; it is only known that their number, which at first did not exceed 50, quickly increased, so that due to lack of premises in the royal village of Preobrazhenskoye, some of them were transferred to the royal village of Semyonovskoye.

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A. M. Nazarov writes that the goal was to train future warriors and