When was the Streltsy army created? Establishment of the Streltsy Army

Service people who made up the regular army in the Russian state of the 16th - early 18th centuries.

They were armed with firearms (arquebuses). During the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, they played the role of a privileged army that served as a pillar of state power. After his death, they actively participated in the confrontation between power groups and were the driving force behind the uprisings of 1682 and 1698. At the beginning of the 18th century, the Streltsy army was abolished by Peter I with the creation of a regular army.

Streltsy army at the initial stage

Initially, at the beginning of the 16th century, warriors armed with squeaker guns were called “squeakers.” They were recruited from the free rural and urban population, for the most part from “people walking from children’s fathers, neighbors and backbenchers, not tax workers, not arable land and not serfs” - in other words, from impoverished peasants or townspeople who did not have their own farms, but also from free people who worked for hire and did not have their own home. Over time, the service of the archers became lifelong and hereditary.

The importance of the Streltsy increased under Ivan IV, during the Livonian War. By this time, the number of streltsy troops reached 12 thousand, of which 5 thousand were in Moscow (2 thousand of them formed the tsar’s guard and were called stirrups). The remaining 7 thousand in peacetime formed garrisons in cities on the borders with Lithuania and on the southern borders of the state. In the cities, the archers received courtyards from the treasury and lived in special settlements in the suburbs, had families, and were engaged in crafts and trade. The archers' salaries were paid in money or bread, less often in land. In addition, they enjoyed many benefits regarding trade and court fees. The Streltsy army was divided into regiments or orders, and those, in turn, into hundreds. The order was headed by a streltsy head, subordinate to the local governor; under the leadership of the head were the centurions, and so on. The order consisted of 200 to 500 or more people, but sometimes this number reached 1200. Streltsy heads later became known as colonels and were supposed to be nobles. The Streltsy army had its own court and “retribution”, which dealt with cases other than “robberies and thieves” and large claims.

The Streltsy were the best trained and armed part of the Russian army. They gradually turned into the internal security of the state and almost did not participate in the hostilities of the Russian army. The archers were equipped with official weapons - both cold steel and firearms (arquebuses). The number of archers constantly increased and by the 80s of the 16th century reached 55 thousand people (out of 165 thousand military people). The bulk of the archers were in Moscow: the regiments of the Moscow archers numbered 20 thousand people.

Sagittarius during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich

In the middle of the 17th century, many archers showed dissatisfaction with the actions of the authorities, in particular with the austerity policy, and took part in the unrest. During the Salt Riot of 1648 in Moscow, the archers refused to disperse the crowd of rebels. In order to regain armed support and split the protest movement, the state had to give the archers a salary. At the Zemsky Sobor in 1648, the interests of the streltsy stratum were represented by 15 elected out of 300. The authorities understood the danger of the streltsy and, after the Salt Riot, set a course to transform the Moscow streltsy into a privileged army that could be relied upon in the event of anti-government movements in the capital. Against the backdrop of increasing privileges for the archers, they even began to differ outwardly from other service people in their rich outfits.

During the Copper Riot of 1662, the Streltsy also ensured the suppression of protest and protection of the state and, unlike the events of 1648, did not support the posad's performance. At the decisive moment, the rifle regiments of Artamon Matveev and Semyon Poltev arrived at Kolomenskoye, the royal country residence, and, by order of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, attacked the crowd of nine thousand who had come to him.

In the 1660s, the archers took part in hostilities with the troops of Stepan Razin. Some streltsy units went over to the side of the rebels: for example, in 1670, S. Lvov’s five-thousand-strong detachment from Astrakhan went over to Razin. In 1668, the Streltsy army was sent to Solovki, where the brethren of the Solovetsky Monastery refused to accept the new liturgical books and innovations of Patriarch Nikon. The siege of the monastery lasted eight years, and only in 1676 the archers managed to penetrate its territory: the detachment was carried out by a defector monk.

Participation of the Streltsy in the Moscow Uprising of 1682

At the end of the 17th century, due to the creation of a new type of regiment, the archers ceased to exist as a military unit, lost their former importance and lost many privileges. The bulk of the Russian army now consisted of regiments of the new system. The Streltsy resisted in every possible way attempts to teach them the new soldiery system: they did not want to break away from their usual activities of trading and trade, which were an important help to their meager salary. If earlier the rifle regiments partially provided for themselves, now the authorities had to coordinate the conditions of their training and service with the new principle of maintaining troops. Streltsy were forced to pay taxes and duties on trades and shops, their salaries were often delayed, and property inequality grew among the Streltsy. If wealthy archers and the regimental elite were guided by one of the boyar parties - the Miloslavskys or Naryshkins, then ordinary archers adhered to anti-boyar slogans in general. The dissatisfaction of the Streltsy was expressed in two petitions submitted by them at the end of the reign of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich. At first, the archers filed a petition against their superiors with accusations of abuse, but boyar I.M. Yazykov, close to the tsar, ordered that the petitioners be punished with a whip. A new petition soon followed - against the Streltsy Colonel Semyon Griboedov himself. This time Yazykov conducted an investigation, as a result of which Griboyedov was exiled to Totma.

After the funeral of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich and the accession of Pyotr Alekseevich, in April-May 1682, the archers demanded payment of delayed salaries and punishment of arbitrary colonels. Peter's mother, Natalya Naryshkina, satisfied most of the claims, removing 16 of the 20 Streltsy colonels - they were beaten by batogs and sent into exile. However, soon after this, the Moscow archers formed the mainstay of the opposition to the young Tsarevich Peter, his mother and her relatives. The leader of this opposition was the daughter of the late Alexei Mikhailovich from his first marriage, Sophia, and her mother’s relatives, the Miloslavsky boyars. A rumor was spread around Moscow that Peter's elder brother, Tsarevich Ivan, had been strangled. On May 15, 1682, the archers entered the Kremlin territory with the beating of drums. Natalya Naryshkina brought both princes - Peter and Ivan - to the palace porch, but the archers did not calm down. For three days they controlled power in the capital: during this time Kholopy and the Judgment Prikas were defeated, some boyars were executed: Peter’s tutor A.S. Matveev, his uncles Afanasy and Ivan Naryshkin, as well as the head of the Streltsy Prikaz M. Yu. Dolgorukov. In honor of their performance, the archers erected a pillar on Red Square with cast-iron boards nailed to it, on which the merits of the archers and the names of the boyars they executed were listed. In accordance with the demands of the rebels, Ivan was proclaimed the first king, and Peter the second. Sophia was appointed regent until they came of age. After the riot, the Streltsy received a reward: by a special order they were elevated to the rank of “outdoor infantry” and received 10 rubles each, and Prince I. A. Khovansky, popular among the Streltsy, was appointed head of the Streletsky Prikaz.

The Streltsy's performances did not end there: in the end, the Streltsy leaders tried to put Khovansky at the head of the state, but Sophia took decisive measures in time. The head of the Streletsky order was captured and executed. After this, the archers captured the Kremlin, but Sophia, relying on an army of servicemen under the command of the princess’s supporter Fyodor Shaklovity, forced them to obey and repent. Many archers were executed or sent to distant cities. Shaklovity became the new head of the Streletsky Prikaz.

The end of the Streltsy army

In 1689, Peter reached adulthood. One August night, he was awakened in Preobrazhenskoye by the news that the Streltsy regiments, raised on alarm, were preparing to seize him: Shaklovity spread a rumor in Moscow that Sophia was in mortal danger, thereby trying to raise the Streltsy units. On a horse, Peter rode off to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, where the Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky regiments loyal to him soon arrived. Sophia found herself isolated: even some rifle regiments took the side of her brother. On September 10, 1689, the day Peter arrived in Moscow, along the road at the entrance to the capital, archers lay on scaffolds with axes stuck in them and asked for mercy. The head of the Streletsky order, F. Shaklovity, was extradited and executed.

The last Streltsy riot broke out in the summer of 1698 during Peter’s departure abroad. After the capture of Azov, the rifle regiments that took part in the military campaign were not returned to the capital: some remained in Azov, some were sent to Velikiye Luki and further to Toropets. Separated from their families, from traditional trades and trades, the archers grumbled. Many went to Moscow without permission and submitted petitions to the then head of the Streletsky Prikaz, Troekurov, to return to the capital. But the petitions were not accepted, and the authorities increased severity towards the archers.

Peter's long absence from the capital gave rise to rumors about his death, and supporters of Princess Sophia took advantage of this. On June 16, the archers decided to move to Moscow. In the summer of 1698, Peter received a secret report about a new Streltsy rebellion. The Streltsy regiments moved to Moscow, but even before Peter returned there, near New Jerusalem, they were scattered and then defeated by government troops under the command of Shein and Gordon. 130 archers were executed, 1845 were imprisoned in monasteries and prisons. Many were whipped and exiled to different cities. The Tsar, returning to Moscow, decided to reconsider the verdict and personally took charge of the new investigation. Throughout September, interrogations and torture took place, during which hundreds of archers died. As a result, a connection between the rebels and the Moscow boyars and Princess Sophia was established. On September 30, 1698, Streltsy executions began in Moscow, which continued until February 1699. Ultimately, over a thousand more archers were executed. The king himself took part in the executions. The Streltsy army was disbanded. It finally ceased to exist in 1713. Streltsy were forbidden to live in Moscow and also to enlist as soldiers. With the transition to a recruiting system for staffing the army, other structures of instrumental service people were also eliminated.

There are different opinions about the time of the appearance of the Streltsy army in historical literature. This is explained by the fact that documentary sources testifying to the establishment of the Streltsy army have not been preserved, and perhaps they never existed. Therefore, some researchers of PSRL, vol. VIII, pp. 206, 501, 502 limit themselves to only mentioning the middle of the 16th century. or the reign of Ivan the Terrible. Most pre-revolutionary historians claimed that the archers appeared in 1550; some historians attributed the time of their appearance to the 15th - early 16th centuries, considering the squeakers as archers. By identifying the Streltsy with the Pishchalniki, they thus removed the question of establishing a Streltsy army.

Soviet historians joined the opinion of the majority of pre-revolutionary authors who believed that the Streltsy appeared in Rus' in 1550. For historiography and more detailed information about the Streltsy, see A.V. Chernov, Education of the Streltsy Army, Historical Notes of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, vol. 38, 1951.

A careful study of the sources makes it possible to clarify this issue.

On January 16, 1547, Ivan the Terrible was crowned king. Noting in this regard the position of the military men under the new king, the chronicler points out: “... and again, add to them a lot of fiery archers, much studied in military affairs and not sparing their heads, and at the right time fathers and mothers and wives , and forgetting their children, and not being afraid of death...” PSRL, vol. XIX, p. 44

The chronicler's message gives the right to assert that the Streltsy army was established under Ivan the Terrible. Noting the appearance of the Streltsy in connection with the accession of Ivan the Terrible, the chronicler apparently recorded a fact that took place even before Ivan the Terrible’s accession to the throne, that is, before 1547. Other sources confirm this assumption.

K. Marx points out in his “Chronological Extracts” on the history of Russia that in 1545 Ivan IV established a permanent personal guard (Leibwache), which he called archers, since it was armed with arquebuses, that is, firearms instead of bows and quivers. He sent part of this guard as the main core to the troops. See Archives of K. Marx and F. Engels, vol. VIII, p. 164

K. Marx's instruction is confirmed by some Russian sources.

In June 1546, a supporter of the Moscow government, Kasimov's Tsar Shah-Ali, sent from Moscow on April 7 of the same year, was imprisoned in the Kazan Khanate. “The Legend of the Conception of the Kingdom of Kazan” reports on this occasion that Shah-Ali went to Kazan, accompanied by a three-thousand-strong detachment of Tatars and did not take with him “neither fiery archers” nor “attack” (artillery).

Shah-Ali stayed in Kazan for about a month and was expelled by the former ruler of the Kazan Khanate, Khan Safa-Girey. Sources indicate that the next year after the expulsion of Shah Ali, Ivan the Terrible sent his governors Semyon Mikulinsky and Vasily Obolensky Serebryany to Kazan with a large army, which included the “fiery archers” The most ancient discharge book, p. 128. Thus, the archers took part in the hostilities of the Russian army in 1546-1547. and, therefore, appeared earlier than this time.

In 1550, “elected” rifle detachments were formed. “Russian Chronograph” talks in some detail about the appearance of these archers. Under 7058 we read: “... the tsar made ... elected archers and 3000 people from the arquebuses, and ordered them to live in Vorobyovskaya Sloboda, and killed the children of the boyars...” In total, six “articles” were created "(detachments) of elected archers, 500 people each. The “Articles” were divided into hundreds, headed by centurions from the boyars’ children, and probably into dozens. Sagittarius received a salary of 4 rubles per year.

The creation of elected archers was part of the major military reform of Ivan the Terrible and was closely connected with the establishment of the “chosen thousand” in the same 1550 (see below). The “thousand” was a detachment of elected cavalry; elected archers made up a three-thousand-strong detachment of selected infantry. Both of them were the personal armed guard of the king. The elected cavalry and foot units created by Ivan the Terrible were the predecessors of the Russian Guard.

Elected archers differed from the local militia primarily in that they lived in a special settlement and were provided with a constant cash salary. The Streltsy army in its structure approached the regular army.

The social status of the archers was different from that of the local cavalry from the nobles and children of the boyars; the archers were recruited from the people, mainly from the tax-paying townspeople population Russian Chronicle (Moscow Chronicle), 1894, pp. 177-183.

The structure of the Streltsy army was reminiscent of the existing organization of the Russian army (hundred division), but this army also had its own characteristics (reducing hundreds into five hundred detachments - articles). Streletsky “articles”, later orders (devices), existed until the second half of the 17th century. In the second half of the 17th century. they began to gradually be replaced by combined arms regiments, and hundreds by companies, and soon lost their originality.

The Streltsy received their first major baptism of fire during the siege and capture of Kazan in 1552. Chronicle sources tell in some detail about the actions of the Streltsy army in this campaign.

The Hertaul, advanced and large regiments were sent to storm Kazan. Ahead of the regiments, foot archers and Cossacks with their heads, atamans and centurions went on the offensive.

A shootout ensued, in which the archers also took part. When the mounted Tatars made a sortie against the foot archers, the king indicated the Ertaul commander to the governors. regiment to “help” the archers. By order of the governor, the archers “buried themselves in ditches” on the bank of Bulak and did not allow the Tatars to make forays out of the city.

The second governor of the large regiment, M.I. Vorotynsky, was ordered by the entire regiment to dismount from their horses and ride on foot to Kazan.

Vorotynsky “first ordered the archers led by their heads to go to the city,” then the Cossacks with their atamans, the boyar people with their heads and the tours to roll to the indicated place, “and you yourself go with the boyar children after them.” While the tours were being installed (“50 fathoms from the city”), archers, Cossacks and boyars fired at the city with arquebuses and bows. When the tours were installed, all the people were taken to them. “And before the tours, the archer and the Cossack are ordered to dig into ditches against the city.” The battle lasted all night M. M. Bogoslovsky, A few words about one project of reforms of the 16th century, Proceedings of the Archaeographic Commission of the Moscow Archaeological Society, vol. I, no. 1-3, M., 1898, pp. 5-12.

On Saturday, August 27, Voivode M. Ya. Morozov was ordered to roll out a “large outfit” to the tours. Artillery shelling of the city began. The archers, who were in the trenches before the tours, actively helped the artillery, “not allowing people to be on the walls and climb out of the gates.”

On Monday it was decided to stage tours along the river bank. Kazankas. The governors sent forward the archers under the command of Ivan Ershov and the atamans with the Cossacks, who dug in the ditches. The archers responded to shelling from the city with arquebuses, and the Cossacks with bows. Meanwhile, the governors placed the tours in the designated place. The same thing happened when installing the tour from the Arskoe field; the Kazan forays were repelled by archers, boyar people and Mordovians.

To intensify the shelling of the city, a 12-meter tower was built near the tour, on which guns were raised. Active assistance to the artillery was provided by the archers, who fired day and night at the city walls and streets with hand-held arquebuses.

According to the royal decree, the first to attack the city were the archers, Cossacks and boyars. They had to withstand the main attack of the besieged and capture the city walls. The attackers were helped by the governors with the boyar children from the regiments. The archers and other foot soldiers filled the ditch with brushwood and earth and moved towards the city walls. “And so,” the chronicler adds, “he soon ascended the wall with great strength, and put up that shield and fought on the wall day and night until the city was captured” PSRL, vol. VI, pp. 307, 310.

Sources show that the decisive force in the capture of Kazan were archers, Cossacks and boyar people (slaves), i.e. foot soldiers. The Sagittarius also took an active part in the Livonian War. The siege and capture of all Livonian cities and castles took place with the participation of archers. The siege of Polotsk showed quite well the role and importance of the Streltsy army in the armed forces of the Russian state in the 16th century.

On January 31, 1563, the Russian army approached Polotsk. On the same day, Ivan the Terrible ordered his regiment to set up a convoy (“kosh”) and placed archers in front of the regiment, near the city, who guarded the royal regiment all day. Polotsk residents opened gunfire on the Russian regiments. Situated on the banks of the river. Dvina and on the island the gunners and archers knocked down the enemy gunners from the island and killed many people in the prison. The next day, the king sent two more devices (detachments) of archers with heads to the island; The archers were ordered to dig in and begin shelling the settlement.
On February 4 and 5, the deployment of tours and detachments began, the protection of which from possible attacks by the enemy was carried out by archers, Cossacks and boyar people. At the same time, the archers of the device of the head of Ivan Golokhvastov lit the tower of the PSRL prison, vol. XIX, p. 425; The Legend of the Conception of the Kingdom of Kazan, pp. 94, 95 from the direction of the Dvina and through the tower entered the fort. However, the tsar ordered the archers to be taken back, “without intent” they went to the fort, since the siege tours had not yet been set up everywhere. In a bold attack, the archers lost 15 people killed.

The enemy tried to stop the siege through negotiations, but the siege continued. The tours were deployed, and the arriving battering squad joined the shelling of light and medium cannons; The archers settled under the tours. On February 9, the Polotsk governor ordered the fort to be set on fire in several places, and the townspeople from the fort to be driven into the city. Streltsy, Cossacks and boyars burst into the fort, and hand-to-hand combat ensued. Reinforcements from the royal regiment were sent to help the archers. After the capture of the fort, tours were placed around the city, followed by large and mounted guns, and they began round-the-clock shelling of the city. The arrangement of the tours and their protection were carried out by archers and boyar people. On the night of February 15, the archers set fire to the city wall. The regiments were ordered to prepare for the assault, but at dawn on February 15, Polotsk surrendered. Russian Chronicle (Moscow Chronicle), 1894, pp. 177-183.

The success of the siege of the city was the result of the active actions of artillery and archers, who numbered up to 12 thousand near Polotsk. Here, as well as near Kazan, the burden of the siege of the fortress fell on foot soldiers, the central place among whom was occupied by “fiery” archers.

Having briefly traced the participation of the archers in the siege and capture of Kazan and Polotsk, we will draw some general conclusions.

The absence of permanent infantry in the Russian army has been felt for a long time. A long and unsuccessful struggle with Kazan throughout the first half of the 16th century. was partly a consequence of the fact that the Russian army did not have permanent detachments of foot soldiers.

The government sent dismounted cavalry to Kazan, but it could not replace standing infantry, especially since the noble cavalry considered it beneath its dignity to carry out military service on foot. Neither the pishchalniks, temporarily convened for military service, nor the Cossacks, armed primarily with bows, could replace the permanent infantry.

The Streltsy were the embryo of that standing army to which F. Engels attached great importance. Localism is the monopoly of the princely-boyar nobility on the highest positions in the army and government.

Engels wrote that in order to strengthen and strengthen the centralized royal power in the West (and therefore the tsarist power in Russia), a standing army was necessary. See K. Marx and F. Engels, Works, vol. XIV, part 1, p. 447.

It is important to note the fact that the archers were armed with arquebuses. For the Russian army, whose noble cavalry was armed with bows and edged weapons, the appearance of detachments with firearms was of great importance. The universal arming of the archers with firearms placed them above the infantry of Western states, where some of the infantrymen (pikemen) had only edged weapons.

Sagittarius were good at using firearms. Already near Kazan, according to the chroniclers, “the archers danced byahu skillfully and learned military skills and arquebus shooting, like small birds in flight, killing with hand arquebuses and bows” PSRL, vol. XIX, p. 425; The Legend of the Conception of the Kingdom of Kazan, pp. 94, 95.

Finally, repeated indications in the chronicles indicate that the archers knew how to adapt to the terrain and use artificial shelters, and this was possible only as a result of the archers being trained in military affairs.

Thus, it is impossible to identify archers with squeakers. Pishchalnikov can be called the predecessors of the Streltsy, but only in relation to the nature of the service (branch of the army) and weapons. Both of them (the squeakers predominantly) were foot soldiers, and both of them had firearms. This is where the continuity ends. The Streltsy army, which was permanent, in its organization and combat capability stood incomparably higher than the detachments of temporarily convened pishchalniks - militias. Therefore, even after the formation of the Streltsy army, the pishchalniks could not have disappeared, but remained part of the march army, although sources, mostly foreign, sometimes call Streltsy by this name.

The creation of the Streltsy army dates back to 1550, when, based on the already existing scattered and poorly organized detachments of “official” and “staff” squeakers, 3,000 people were “selected”, combined into 6 “articles” of 500 riflemen each. At the head of the articles were the heads - Grigory Zhelobov Pusheshnikov, clerk Rzhevsky, Ivan Cheremisinov, Vasily Pronchishchev, Fyodor Durasov, Yakov Bundov. Subordinate to them were centurions from the boyars' children, fiftieths and tens (the articles themselves, later renamed orders, were divided accordingly). For settlement of elected archers within Moscow, a special settlement was allocated - Vorobyova. From the very beginning, archers were more or less regularly trained in the art of handling matchlocks.

The creation of elected archers was part of the major military reform of Ivan the Terrible and was closely connected with the establishment of the “chosen thousand” in the same 1550 (see below). The “thousand” was a detachment of elected cavalry; elected archers made up a three-thousand-strong detachment of selected infantry. Both of them were the personal armed guard of the king. Elected cavalry and foot units created by Ivan the Terrible were the predecessors of the Russian Guard

Participation of Streletsky troops in the siege and capture of Kazan and Polotsk

Almost immediately after their appearance, the archers received a baptism of fire. Gathering warriors for a campaign against Kazan in 1552, Ivan IV included his newly organized “elected” archers in its composition. During the siege and assault of Kazan, the archers played an important role, largely contributing to the successful completion of the campaign and the conquest of the Kazan Khanate. Elected archers differed from the local militia primarily in that they lived in a special settlement and were provided with a constant cash salary. The Streltsy army in its structure approached the regular army.

The social status of the archers was different from that of the local cavalry from the nobles and children of the boyars; The archers were recruited from the people, mainly from the tax-paying townspeople.

The Streltsy received their first major baptism of fire during the siege and capture of Kazan in 1552. Chronicle sources tell in some detail about the actions of the Streltsy army in this campaign.

The Hertaul, advanced and large regiments were sent to storm Kazan. Ahead of the regiments, foot archers and Cossacks with their heads, atamans and centurions went on the offensive.

The success of the siege of the city was the result of active actions of artillery and archers, who numbered up to 12 thousand near Polotsk. Here, as well as near Kazan, the burden of the siege of the fortress fell on foot soldiers, the central place among which was occupied by “fiery” archers5. Chernov A.V. . Armed forces of the Russian state in the XV-XVII centuries. M.: “Voenizdat”, 1954. 224 pp.

There are different opinions about the time of the appearance of the Streltsy army in historical literature. This is explained by the fact that documentary sources testifying to the establishment of the Streltsy army have not been preserved, and perhaps they never existed. Therefore, some researchers limit themselves to only mentioning the middle of the 16th century. or the reign of Ivan the Terrible. Most pre-revolutionary historians claimed that the archers appeared in 1550; some historians attributed the time of their appearance to the 15th - early 16th centuries, considering the squeakers as archers. By identifying the Streltsy with the Pishchalniki, they thus removed the question of establishing a Streltsy army.

Soviet historians joined the opinion of the majority of pre-revolutionary authors who believed that the Streltsy appeared in Rus' in 1550.

A careful study of the sources makes it possible to clarify this issue.

K. Marx's instruction is confirmed by some Russian sources.

The three-thousand-strong detachment of Tatars did not take with them “neither fiery archers” nor “attack” (artillery).

Shah-Ali stayed in Kazan for about a month and was expelled by the former ruler of the Kazan Khanate - Khan Safa-I Prey. Sources indicate that the next year after the expulsion of Shah Ali, Ivan the Terrible sent his governors Semyon Mikulinsky and Vasily Obolensky Serebryany to Kazan with a large army, which included the “fiery archers” . Thus, the archers took part in the hostilities of the Russian army in 1546-1547. and, therefore, appeared earlier than this time.

The Streltsy received their first major baptism of fire during the siege and capture of Kazan in 1552. Chronicle sources tell in some detail about the actions of the Streltsy army in this campaign.

The Hertaul, advanced and large regiments were sent to storm Kazan. Ahead of the regiments, foot archers and Cossacks with their heads, atamans and centurions went on the offensive.

A shootout ensued, in which the archers also took part. When the mounted Tatars made a sortie against the foot archers, the tsar ordered the commanders of the Ertaul regiment to “help” the archers. By order of the governor, the archers “buried themselves in ditches” on the bank of Bulak and did not allow the Tatars to make forays out of the city.

The second governor of the large regiment, M.I. Vorotynsky, was ordered by the entire regiment to dismount from their horses and ride on foot to Kazan.

On Monday it was decided to stage tours along the river bank. Kazankas. The governors sent forward the archers under the command of Ivan Ershov and the atamans with the Cossacks, who dug into the ditches. The archers responded to shelling from the city with arquebuses, and the Cossacks with bows. Meanwhile, the governors placed the tours in the designated place. The same thing happened when installing the tour from the Arskoe field; the Kazan forays were repelled by archers, boyar people and Mordovians.

According to the royal decree, the first to attack the city were the archers, Cossacks and boyars. They had to withstand the main attack of the besieged and capture the city walls. The attackers were helped by the governors with the boyar children from the regiments. The archers and other foot soldiers filled the ditch with brushwood and earth and moved towards the city walls. “And so,” the chronicler adds, “soon he ascended the wall with great strength, and erected that shield and fought on the wall day and night until the city was captured.”

On January 31, 1563, the Russian army approached Polotsk. On the same day, Ivan the Terrible ordered his regiment to set up a convoy (“kosh”) and placed archers in front of the regiment, near the city, who guarded the royal regiment all day. Polotsk residents opened gunfire on the Russian regiments. Situated on the banks of the river. Dvina and on the island the gunners and archers knocked down the enemy gunners from the island and killed many people in the prison. The next day, the king sent two more devices (detachments) of archers with heads to the island; The archers were ordered to dig in and begin shelling the settlement.
On February 4 and 5, the deployment of tours and detachments began, the protection of which from possible attacks by the enemy was carried out by archers, Cossacks and boyar people. At the same time, the archers of the device of the head of Ivan Golokhvastov set fire to the tower of the prison from the Dvina side and entered the prison through the tower. However, the tsar ordered the archers to be taken back, “without intent” they went to the fort, since the siege tours had not yet been set up everywhere. In a bold attack, the archers lost 15 people killed.

Having briefly traced the participation of the archers in the siege and capture of Kazan and Polotsk, we will draw some general conclusions.

The Streltsy were the embryo of that standing army to which F. Engels attached great importance.

Engels wrote that to strengthen and strengthen the centralized royal power in the West (and therefore the tsarist power in Russia), a standing army was needed.

Sagittarius were good at using firearms. Already near Kazan, according to the chroniclers, “the archers danced byahu skillfully and taught military skills and arquebus shooting, like small birds in flight, killing with hand arquebuses and bows.”

Thus, it is impossible to identify archers with squeakers. The Pishchalyshkov can be called the predecessors of the Streltsy, but only in relation to the nature of the service (branch of the army) and weapons. Both of them (the squeakers predominantly) were foot soldiers, and both of them had firearms. This is where the continuity ends. The Streltsy army, which was permanent, in its organization and combat capability stood incomparably higher than the detachments of temporarily convened pishchalniks - militias. Therefore, even after the formation of the Streltsy army, the pishchalniks could not have disappeared, but remained part of the march army, although sources, mostly foreign, sometimes call Streltsy by this name.

Streltsy army of Ivan the Terrible

On October 1, 1550, Ivan the Terrible issued a Verdict on the placement in Moscow and surrounding districts of a selected thousand service people, which laid the foundations for the first standing army in Rus', which had the characteristics of a regular army. It is on this day that the Day of the Russian Ground Forces is currently celebrated.

Having suffered a series of defeats from the Mongol army, the Russian princes began to think about what could be opposed to the Mongol and, later, Tatar tactics, which consisted of remotely hitting the enemy with arrows.

The first victory of Russian troops over the regular Horde troops was won in 1285, when the son of Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Alexandrovich, opposed his brother Andrei, who brought the Tatar army with him to Rus'. The main role in this victory was played by the participation of Novgorod archers in the battle (see about them in the article Why didn’t the Tatar-Mongols go to Novgorod?), whose almost two-meter infantry bows surpassed the Horde cavalry in firing range.

However, the most radical means of fighting the Tatars were the squeaks - the first examples of Russian firearms, and the immediate predecessors of the Streltsy were tweeters. They appeared at the end of the 15th century.

First mention of participation squeakers in military operations dates back to 1508 - when Grand Duke Vasily III ordered to send them to Lithuania. In 1512, 1000 were recruited from Pskov squeakers who took part in the campaign against Smolensk. Since 1512 tweeters began to participate in border defense. In 1515 tweeters together with the boyar children and Cossacks they guarded our embassy in Azov.

In 1545, along with foot soldiers, horsemen were noted tweeters: Yes, those squeakers on horseback and on foot, every person would have a squeaker by hand. The main disadvantage of the pishchalniks was the temporary nature of the army - they gathered for the duration of the campaign, after which they went home. Another disadvantage was the need to arm yourself at your own expense. Therefore, they were able to turn into a permanent regular army only under Ivan the Terrible. He was the first , Ivan IV, later nicknamed Grozny, issued the same Verdict, which played a primary role in the construction and development of the Russian regular army.

At first Sagittarius recruited from the free townspeople and rural population. Subsequently, their service became lifelong and hereditary.

The Streltsy headquarters was originally called the Streletskaya Izba, and later the Streletskaya Prikaz.

Sagittarius were divided into elected (later - Moscow) and police (in various cities of Russia). Moscow Sagittarius guarded the Kremlin, performed guard duty, and took part in military operations. Policemen Sagittarius carried out garrison and border service, carried out instructions from the local administration. Sagittarius obeyed the Streletsky order, and during the war - to military leaders. Policemen Sagittarius were also under the jurisdiction of local governors. Sagittarius were uniformly uniformed, trained and armed (hand-held arquebuses, muskets, reeds, sabers, and partly pikes). The highest military-administrative unit of the Streltsy army was an instrument, later called an order, and from 1681 - a regiment.

Initially, the staff strength of the Streltsy Orders was 500 people, divided into five hundred. Subsequently, their numbers constantly increased. In the second half of the 17th century there were differences thousandths And seven hundredths orders. In the 1680s, the staff of the Streltsy regiments was unified, after which there were 1,000 people in each regiment, and in the regiment there were 500 ranks of 1 person, a bailiff 1 person, Pentecostals 20 people, foremen 100 people, but in practice the number of Streltsy in The regiments still ranged from 600 to 1,200 people.

Teners and Pentecostals made up the non-commissioned officer corps; bailiffs, re-elected annually, served as adjutants to order commanders. In the 1650s, the position was introduced five hundred bailiff or simply five hundred, chosen from among ordinary riflemen or junior commanders. He had the responsibilities of deputy commander of the order for organizing logistics support.
Until the middle of the 17th century, the officer corps of the rifle regiments consisted of heads and centurions. In the 1650s, the position of half-head was introduced - the first deputy commander of the regiment. During the Russian-Polish War of 1654-1667, the practice of the Streltsy service introduced the awarding of Streltsy heads with the rank of colonel, which initially had an honorary meaning. Accordingly, the half-heads complained with the rank of half-colonel. In 1680, the renaming of Streltsy Heads into Colonels, Half Heads into Half Colonels, and Centurions into Captains was carried out. From that time on, senior rifle commanders began to automatically be assigned the court rank of steward, after which their official name began to sound like steward and colonel, steward and half-colonel.

At the head of the orders were the Streltsy heads (at the head of the regiments -), appointed from among the nobles by the government. The orders (regiments) were divided into hundreds and tens, and were mounted ("stirrup") and on foot. Sagittarius They lived in separate settlements, receiving cash and grain salaries from the treasury. In a number of places Sagittarius Instead of a salary, they were given land, which was allotted to them for joint use for the entire settlement.

The Streltsy army was armed with squeaks, reeds, half-peaks, and bladed weapons - sabers and swords, which were worn on a belt belt. To shoot from a squeaker, the archers used the necessary equipment: a sling ( Berendeyka) with pencil cases with gunpowder charges attached to it, a bag for bullets, a bag for the wick, a horn with gunpowder for rubbing gunpowder onto the charging shelf of the squeak. By the end of the 1670s, as an additional weapon and for making obstacles ( slingshots) sometimes long peaks were used.

The archers, like the Janissaries and Taborites, fought under the cover of field fortifications forming a camp, convoy, kosh, secondly, using the rich traditions of Russian military wooden architecture, a special fortification was created - walk-city, the device of which clerk Ivan Timofeev described in detail in his Temporary.

Walk the city was specifically designed only to fight the Tatar cavalry; its design took into account the features of the weapons and tactics of only the Tatars, since it successfully protected against arrows. Shots from firearms pierced the walls walk the city, especially since it was not protected from field artillery shells.

If walk-city was pulled together in a ring, then he could fight surrounded, and if the shields with loopholes stretched in a line, then he could cover a front 2 to 4 km long. Considering that in walk in town There were cannons, we can confidently assume that the main tactical technique of the archers in a field battle was to stun the enemy with a powerful fire strike, inflict maximum damage on him, disrupt his ranks and expose him to cavalry attacks. Gulyai-Gorod became a tactical prerequisite for the linear arrangement of the archers.

The Streltsy army showed its combat effectiveness during the siege of Kazan in 1552, in the Livonian War, repelling the Polish-Swedish intervention in the early 17th century, as well as in military operations with Poland and. Special role Sagittarius played in which the Tatars had a fourfold advantage over the Russians. In view of this advantage, our entire army occupied defensive fortifications. Sagittarius, being under the protection of the “walk-city”, they used tactics that the Dutch would later use. They, firing from behind cover, inflicted significant damage on the Tatar cavalry and exposed it to the attack of our cavalry led by Mikhail Vorotynsky.

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