Strelets troops, the establishment of which relates to 1550, originally consisted of three thousand people.All of them were kept in individual "orders" for 500 each and were the personal guard Ivan the Terrible.
History
ancient Slavic word "Sagittarius" refers to the archer, is the main component of medieval troops.Later Russia became the first representatives of the so-called regular army.Strelets troops replaced the militia Pishalnikov.Commanded the "orders" knights children.
Archers were stationed in the suburban settlement.They determined the salary of 4 rubles a year.Gradually strelets army was be a permanent garrison of Moscow.
first baptism of fire as a regular army
Immediately after his appearance strelets army received its baptism of fire.Putting it in 1552 warriors to capture Kazan, Ivan IV of the regular army and this included novoorganizovannoe unit.In the history of the siege and subsequent storming of the city strelets army played an important role.It is largely contributed to the success of the campaign of conquest of the Kazan Khanate.
Tsar Ivan IV, to appreciate their archers became rapidly increase their number.And in the 60s of the 16th century there were about 8 thousand.By the end of the 80s, already in the reign of the successor of Ivan IV, Fyodor Ivanovich, - more than 12 thousand.At the same time, more than half - 7000 archers - resided in Moscow, and the rest - to other cities, where mostly carried garrison or police service.
What strelets army
2000 Moscow archers were so-called "aspiring" actually dragoons and infantry landed on the horses.It became an important part of the Moscow armies of the late 16th and early 17th century.Virtually none of the major campaigns, including the campaign during the Livonian War, and the reflection of a raid on the Moscow Crimean Tatars did not do without them.
However, for all the importance we should not overestimate this unit.Streletskoye army was created to oust or even replace the Local cavalry.However, this did not happen.Despite the fact that this army is a fairly formidable force.Nevertheless, armed with musket firing slowly (matchlock gun, weighing 8 kg, caliber 22 mm, with a range of up to 200 m), the archers did not have much chance of success.They had to cover up the existence, because of which they were able to hit the enemy without risking being killed at the time of recharging his antediluvian weapons.
Failures
In Europe, where the food, too, were armed with a similar cover for the gunners began pikemen, but in the Russian steppes, they were useless.Therefore strelets army for this purpose to use the natural folds of the terrain, forests and groves.Sheltered behind them, it was possible to count on a successful reflection of enemy attacks.It happened, for example, in 1555, the year in the battle of Sudbischami where strelets army was defeated by Krymchaks, hidden in the oak and defend until the evening when Khan, fearing the arrival of fresh Russian forces, did not retreat.
strelets army What is the difference from the regular army
much more successful "orders" acted in the defense and the siege of the fortress.After all, they had time to arrange the necessary protective structures - tours, trenches or fence.Therefore, historians believe that, when you create a body of musketeers Ivan the Terrible and his advisers tried to successfully adapt European experience of creating a regular infantry to Russian realities.They did not blindly copy the "Overseas" military establishment, arming two specialized types of infantry, but limited to one, but the most effective particularly in terms of Russia.
Education Strelets troops can be called a Russian military response to thoughts while increasing the effectiveness of manual fire-arms.It was supposed to act as a supplement to the local cavalry, which was armed mainly propelling and machetes.However, a dominant place in the Russian regular army Musketeers army could not take another.For this were to be the other not only weapons and tactics, but also the enemy.And until that happens, this army remained an important and necessary, though minor component of the Russian army of the 16th century.
This was evidenced and the proportion of 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 strelets army has about 12,000 soldiers, while not all were able to participate in long-distance hikes or campaigns.Nevertheless, the basic step towards the creation in Russia of a new type of army has already been taken.
Strelets troops Peter
regular army of Peter, organized by the German model, was much more effective.Military service for paying salaries.In addition, for the nobility service was obligatory.For ordinary people have declared conscription.
Streletskaya the army for the service of soldiers endowed allotments.Most of them lived with their families in the Musketeers District in a separate settlement.Therefore, it was impossible to conduct hostilities during the planting or harvest: archers refused.
created by Ivan the Terrible strelets army and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich shelf "new order" constitute an important milestone in the history of the regular army.But as long as these troops have coexisted in parallel, they could not represent a single army.The Warriors were not constantly in the military.Moreover, even the shelves of the "new order" after the end of hostilities had to dissolve and then re-dial, essentially calling on untrained peasants.
sad end
After Azov campaign of Tsar Peter I was convinced that the army he inherited, absolutely unsuitable for complex military-political tasks it set itself.Therefore, the most important component of reform that time was a radical reorganization of the military structure of the state.And above all, it was the creation of a regular army, which was based on the recruiting system and is completely different from the principle of Education Strelets troops.
Nevertheless, Pishalnikov Basil III and Ivan IV archers have paved the way for the direct rulers soldier regiments Mikhail Fedorovich with Alexis.And already on them - directly to Peter's fuzeleram.
Immediately after the rebellion in 1699 Peter the Great ordered to disperse strelets army, leaving some of it to serve on the outskirts of Russia.
