Imperial Russian Army

History

Precursors: Regiments of the New Order

Russian tsars before Peter the Great maintained professional hereditary musketeer corps known as streltsy. These were originally raised by Ivan the Terrible; originally an effective force, they had become highly unreliable and undisciplined. In times of war, the armed forces were augmented by peasants.

The regiments of the new order, or regiments of the foreign order (Полки нового строя or Полки иноземного строя, Polki novovo (inozemnovo) stroya), was the Russian term that was used to describe military units that were formed in the Tsardom of Russia in the 17th century according to the Western European military standards.

There were different kinds of regiments, such as the regulars (infantry), dragoons, and reiters. In 1631, the Russians created two regular regiments in Moscow. During the Smolensk War of 1632–1634, six more regular regiments, one reiter regiment, and a dragoon regiment were formed. Initially, they recruited children of the landless boyars and streltsy, volunteers, Cossacks and others. Commanding officers comprised mostly foreigners. After the war with Poland, all of the regiments were disbanded. During another Russo-Polish War, they were created again and became a principal force of the Russian Army. Often, regular and dragoon regiments were manned with datochniye lyudi for lifelong military service. Reiters were manned with small or landless gentry and boyars' children and were paid with money (or lands) for their service. More than a half of the commanding officers were representatives from the gentry. In times of peace, some of the regiments were usually disbanded.

In 1681, there were 33 regular regiments (61,000 men) and 25 dragoon and reiter regiments (29,000 men). In the late 17th century, regiments of the new type represented more than a half of the Russian Army and at the beginning of the 18th century were used for creating a regular army.

Introduction of conscription

Conscription in Russia was introduced by Peter the Great in December 1699, though reports say Peter's father also used it. The conscripts were called "recruits". They were not volunteers.

Peter formed a modern regular army built on the German model, but with a new aspect: officers not necessarily from nobility, as talented commoners were given promotions that eventually included a noble title at the attainment of an officer's rank (such promotions were later abolished during the reign of Catherine the Great). Conscription of peasants and townspeople was based on quota system, per settlement. Initially, it was based on the number of households, later it was based on the population numbers.

The term of service in the 18th century was for life. In 1793, it was reduced to 25 years. In 1834, it was reduced to 20 years plus five years in the reserve, and in 1855 to 12 years plus three years in the reserve.

1730s–1740s

In 1731, Field Marshal Christofor Münnich was appointed chairman of a commission aimed at reorganizing the army and finding ways to maintain it without placing an undue burden on the people. He drafted a new structure for the Guard, field, and garrison regiments; formed two new guards regiments—the Izmailovsky and the Horse Guards; introduced cuirassiers; separated the engineering branch from the artillery; and established the First Cadet Corps. He also took measures to standardise military uniforms and equipment and organised twenty regiments of the Ukrainian militia, drawn from the odnodvortsy (single-homesteaders) of the Belgorod and Sevsk districts.

Münnich's successes on the battlefield include Danzig, Stavuchany and other victories over the Ottoman Turks. Field Marshal Peter Lacy achieved such successes as Azov, the Crimean campaign and Villmanstrand.

1750s–1790s

The history of the Russian Army in this era was principally linked to the name of the Russian general and military theorist Alexander Suvorov, considered to be one of the few great military commanders in history who never lost a battle. He left behind a legacy of warfare for future generations of Russian military leaders of the empire. His teacher, in turn, was Pyotr Rumyantsev, who carried out army reforms and won such victories as Kolberg, Larga and, most notably, Kagul. Rumyantsev's mentor was Pyotr Saltykov, who defeated his Prussian opponent at Kay and Frederick the Great himself at Kunersdorf. Suvorov also managed to successfully fight the Prussians in small skirmishes.

From 1768 to 1774 Suvorov served in the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774), against the Bar Confederation, and fought victorious battles. From 1777 to 1783 he served in the Crimea and in the Caucasus, becoming a lieutenant-general in 1780, and general of infantry in 1783, on the conclusion of his work there. From 1787 to 1791, he again fought the Turks during another Russo-Turkish War and won many victories. Suvorov's leadership also played a key role in a Russian victory over the Poles during the Kościuszko Uprising. His victories over Ottoman Turkey and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ensured Russia's further expansion to the south and west. Suvorov's Italian campaign reversed Napoleon's gains of 1796 and 1797 while Napoleon himself was campaigning in Egypt and Syria. During it, he outmaneuvered and defeated in several battles the French Army of Italy (including its offshoot, the Army of Naples). However, the Austrians were unable to hold Italy back from Napoleon's renewed onslaught. The Swiss campaign, launched at the direction and initiative of Austria (the Habsburg monarchy), failed due to a lack of human and material resources and also largely due to the inept actions of Suvorov's colleague, Alexander Rimsky-Korsakov.

Suvorov's successes on a battlefield include such impressive military encounters as Orzechowo, Lanckorona, Stołowicze, Turtucaia, Kozludzha, Kinburn, Focsani, Rymnik, Izmail, Krupczyce, Brest, Praga, Adda, Trebbia, Novi and Muttental (the last victory is also in many ways the achievement of General of Infantry Andrei Rosenberg).

Napoleonic Wars

As a major European power, Russia could not escape the wars involving Revolutionary France and the First French Empire, but as an adversary to Napoleon, the leadership of the new emperor, Alexander I of Russia (r. 1801–1825), who came to the throne as the result of his father's assassination (in which he was rumoured to be implicated) became crucial.

The Russian Army in 1805 had many characteristics of Ancien Régime organization: there was no permanent formation above the regimental level, senior officers were largely recruited from aristocratic circles, and the Russian soldier, in line with 18th-century practice, was regularly beaten and punished to instill discipline. Furthermore, many lower-level officers were poorly trained and had difficulty getting their men to perform the sometimes complex manoeuvres required in a battle. Nevertheless, the Russians did have a fine artillery arm manned by soldiers trained in academies and who would regularly fight hard to prevent their pieces from falling into enemy hands.

Both the Russians and Austrians met a decisive military defeat at the hands of Napoleon during the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805.

The War of the Fourth Coalition (1806–1807) involving Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Sweden and the United Kingdom against France formed within months of the collapse of the previous coalition. In August 1806, King Frederick William III of Prussia made the decision to go to war independently of any other great power except neighbouring Russia. Another course of action might have involved declaring war the previous year and joining Austria and Russia. This might have contained Napoleon and prevented the Allied disaster in the Battle of Austerlitz. In any event, the Russian Army, an ally of Prussia, still remained far away when Prussia declared war.

Napoleon smashed the main Prussian armies at the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt on 14 October 1806 and hunted down the survivors during the remainder of October and November. Having destroyed all Prussian forces west of the Oder, Napoleon pushed east to seize Warsaw. In late December, the initial clashes between the French and Russians at Czarnowo, Golymin, and Pułtusk were without result. The French emperor put his troops into winter quarters east of the Vistula River, but the new Russian commander Levin August von Bennigsen refused to remain passive.

Between the 1820s and the Crimean War

Following the Napoleonic Wars, Emperor Nicholas I maintained a large army to keep Russia as a major power in Europe, which at the start of the Crimean War in the 1850s numbered 1,151,319 troops. The main focus of the army was on parades and artificial war games overseen by the emperor. During the period in the title, commanders such as Ivan Paskevich and Ivan Dibich distinguished themselves, achieving success against the Turks, Poles, and Iranians.

In 1849, Russia intervened in the Hungarian revolution with 200,000 troops on the side of Austria leading to the defeat of the Hungarian Honvéd Army.

Further reforms

Following Russia's defeat in the Crimean War during the reign of Emperor Alexander II, the Minister of War, Count Dmitry Milyutin, instituted a series of military reforms, which had their basis in the emancipation of the serfs in 1861. The modernization of the Imperial Army included reorganizing the Ministry of War for better centralized leadership, the creation of new technical and support organizations, changes to finances, and the system of military training getting a complete overhaul. The Main Staff of the Army was subordinated to the Ministry of War and the Department of the General Staff became the operations section of the Main Staff. The engineering, medical, supply, and ordnance services of the army were also placed under the Ministry of War.

The last part of Milyutin's reforms focused on military recruitment and occurred in 1874. On 1 January 1874, the emperor approved a conscription statute that made military service compulsory for all 21-year-old males with the term reduced for land army to six years plus nine years in reserve. This conscription created a large pool of experienced military reservists who would be ready to mobilize in case of war. It also permitted the Russian Empire to maintain a smaller standing army in peacetime.

The system of military education was also reformed, and elementary education was made available to all the draftees. Milyutin's reforms are regarded as a milestone in the history of Russia: they dispensed with the military recruitment and professional army introduced by Peter the Great and created the Russian army such as it continued into the 21st century. Up to Dmitry Milyutin's reforms in 1874 the Russian Army had no permanent barracks and was billeted in dugouts and shacks.

The army saw service against the Turks during the Russo-Turkish War.

During the Boxer Rebellion 100,000 Russian troops fought to pacify part of Manchuria and to secure its railroads. Some Russian military forces were already stationed in China before the war, and one of them met a grotesque end at the Battle of Pai-t'ou-tzu when the dead Russians were mutilated by Chinese troops, who decapitated them and sliced crosses into their bodies. Other battles fought include Boxers attacks on Chinese Eastern Railway, Defence of Yingkou, Battles on Amur River, and the Russian Invasion of Northern and Central Manchuria.

World War I and revolution

At the outbreak of the war, Emperor Nicholas II appointed his cousin, Grand Duke Nicholas as Commander-in-Chief. On mobilization, the Russian Army totalled 115 infantry and 38 cavalry divisions with nearly 7,900 guns (7,100 field guns, 540 field howitzers and 257 heavy guns). There were only 2 army ambulances and 679 cars. Divisions were allocated as follows: 32 infantry and 10.5 cavalry divisions to operate against Germany, 46 infantry and 18.5 cavalry divisions to operate against Austria-Hungary, 19.5 infantry and 5.5 cavalry divisions for the defence of the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea littorals, and 17 infantry and 3.5 cavalry divisions were to be transported in from Siberia and Turkestan.

Among the army's higher formations during the war were the Western Front, the Northwestern Front and the Romanian Front. The war in the East began with Russian invasion of East Prussia (1914) and the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia (1914). The first ended in a Russian defeat by the German Empire in the Battle of Tannenberg (1914). In the west, a Russian Expeditionary Force was dispatched to France in 1915. Great success against the Austro-Germans was achieved in the Brusilov offensive. Amid the Russian Revolution of 1917 the Imperial Russian Army collapsed and dissolved. The rebellious remnants of the Imperial army evolved to become part of the new Red Army.

Organization

Napoleonic era

The Imperial Russian Army entered the Napoleonic Wars organized administratively and in the field on the same principles as it had been in the 18th century of units being assigned to campaign headquarters, and the "army" being known either for its senior commander, or the area of its operations. Administratively, the regiments were assigned to Military Inspections, the predecessors of military districts, and included the conscript training depots, garrisons and fortress troops and munitions magazines.

The army had been thoroughly reorganised on the Prussian model by the emperor's father Paul I against wishes of most of its officer corps, and with his demise immediate changes followed to remove much of the Prussianness from its character. Although the army had conventional European parts within it such as the monarch's guard, the infantry and cavalry of the line and field artillery, it also included a very large contingent of semi-regular Cossacks that in times of rare peace served to guard the Russian Empire's southern borders, and in times of war served as fully-fledged light cavalry, providing invaluable reconnaissance service often far better than that available to other European armies due to the greater degree of initiative and freedom of movement by Cossack detachments. The Ukrainian lands of the Empire also provided most of the Hussar and Ulan regiments for the regular light cavalry. Another unusual feature of the army that was seen twice during the period was the constitution of the Narodnoe Opolcheniye, for the first time since the coming to power of the Romanov dynasty.

In 1806, most of the Inspections were abolished, and replaced by divisions based on the French model although still territorially based. By 1809, there were 25 infantry divisions as permanent field formations, each organised around three infantry brigade and one artillery brigade. When Barclay de Tolly became the Minister of War in 1810, he instituted further reorganization and other changes in the army, down to company level, that saw the creation of separate grenadier divisions, and dedication of one brigade in each division to the jaeger light infantry for skirmishing in open order formations.

The Nikolaev General Staff Academy was established in 1832 with the involvement of Antoine-Henri Jomini, a Swiss officer in Russian service, to prepare General Staff officers, though it did not have a significant role in the army until the post-Crimean War reforms.

World War I

The Emperor of Russia was the commander-in-chief of the armed forces while the Ministry of War was responsible for carrying out his orders. By 1913, the War Ministry included the Military Council that advised the Emperor and was headed by the War Minister; the General Staff responsible for military operations and divided into six branches, which included the Quartermaster-General's branch, military communications, military topography, organization and training, and mobilization; an administrative headquarters staff; a military technical directorate; and inspector-generals for infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineers, military training, and railway troops. In 1909 the infantry inspectorate was abolished and replaced with a musketry inspectorate.

The Russian General Staff originated during the Napoleonic Wars and the beginning of mass armies, but it did not develop into an important and prestigious institution within the military until after the Crimean War, and even more so after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, when General Staff officers had a major role in achieving victory. In 1865 the General Staff became the operations section of the Main Staff of the War Ministry, while the latter oversaw organization, training, intelligence, mobilization, and coordinating all branches of the army.

The Russian Empire was organized into 12 military districts for recruiting and mobilization. The head of a military district had both civil and military powers, and answered to the Minister of War. Recruiting was done throughout the military districts of the Empire on the basis of 208 recruiting districts, which corresponded to one of the 208 line infantry regiments. But this system was not entirely territorial, as it was estimated only 30 percent of recruits in each regiment came from their corresponding district.

The forces in the field were led by a Supreme Commander appointed by the Emperor. He was assisted by a headquarters staff comprising a Chief of Staff, the Quartermaster-General's department, the Adjutant-General's department, and the railway department. The Quartermaster-General assisted with operations; the Adjutant-General assisted with organization and personnel, and also oversaw the medical services, chaplains, lines of communication, and military police; and the chief of the railway department organized the railways in the theater of war and assisted the lines of communication. The field army was the largest field command prior to World War I. In wartime, several armies could operate together under one command as an army group. An army consisted of 3–5 army corps, 1–2 cavalry corps, 3 batteries of heavy artillery, 1 squadron of field gendarmerie, 1 wireless telegraph company, and various support and technical units, such as hospitals, supply trains, artillery and siege parks, pontoon units, and an airplane detachment. Senior members of the field army headquarters besides the commander and his chief of staff were the Quartermaster-General, the Adjutant-General, the general of communications, the chief of supply, the inspectors of artillery and of engineers, the chief paymaster, and the chief controller.

Ethnic and religious minorities

The Ministry of War had a policy to keep the soldiers of non-Orthodox Russian, Ukrainian, or Belarusian origin as no more than 30 percent of any regiment, and no more than 26 percent of the regiments that were stationed on the Empire's western border. Although the War Ministry preferred to keep regiments as at least two-thirds to three-quarters Orthodox Russian, an effort was made to ensure harmony in units by encouraging soldiers of all religions and backgrounds to treat each other with respect, as stated in the Russian Soldier's Catechism.

Among the cultural and religious groups, the Cossacks and the Muslims in particular served under unique sets of regulations.

Cossacks

The Cossacks, who originated as Slavs that chose to live on the steppe instead of integrate with either the tsardom of Russia or the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, were organized into several voisko (hosts) named after the regions of their location across the Russian Empire, whether along the Russian border, or internal borders between Russian and non-Russian peoples. After their rebellious early history, from the 18th century on the Russian Imperial government saw these cavalrymen as useful border guards and created new hosts on the Russian frontier as it expanded into Siberia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Each new host developed its own traditions, and was led by a core of leaders taken from existing hosts, who presided over new Cossacks that were either peasants, discharged soldiers, or members of the local population. The Cossacks distinguished themselves in service to the Russian Empire during the French invasion of 1812, when they were effective at raiding French troops on the retreat from Moscow. After the Napoleonic Wars the Russian government created an image of Cossack loyalty to the Romanov dynasty, and in 1827 Emperor Nicholas I declared his heir, the tsarevich, the honorary ataman of all Cossacks. In 1832 the Cossack hosts were given ownership of their territories as Imperial lands in return for military service.

The 1875 law on military conscription defined all Cossack men between the ages of 21 and 33 as active duty soldiers. As they got beyond this age they served as first line and then second line reservists in the militia. Cossacks were required to provide their own uniform, horses, and saddles, though the Russian government began giving them subsidies as they faced financial problems in the late 19th century. The Cossack hosts east of the Ural Mountains never became economically self-sufficient, and increasingly the older hosts in southern Russia also needed government support. During the Russo-Japanese War all active Siberian, Transbaikal, Amur, and Ussuri Cossacks were mobilized and sent to Manchuria, along with some reservists. After the outbreak of the Russian Revolution of 1905 the government used them as mounted police and mobilized nearly all Cossack regiments in the empire. Emperor Nicholas II praised them for their service and gave out medals and cash bonuses. A new unit, the Combined Cossack Life Guards Regiment, was created so that every Cossack host was represented among the Imperial Guard. Despite their popular image as janissaries of the tsarist government, some of them opposed being used to put down protests and wanted more autonomy.

Cossacks were mobilized at the outbreak of World War I. During the war the Cossacks made up two-thirds of Russian army cavalry, contributing over 500,000 men for the war effort. Out of these, 200,000 were Don Cossacks, while the rest were from other hosts. There were also some infantry battalions (plastun) from the Kuban Cossacks. All Cossacks were trained to fight both on horseback and on foot. Cavalry charges were used early in the war but became rare by the end of 1915. They were used to raid enemy positions and lines of communication, and also increasingly for duties behind the front line in rounding up deserters. During the Great Retreat in 1915 the Cossacks performed a scorched earth campaign in Polish and Ukrainian lands that were being abandoned and enforced the mandatory evacuation of hundreds of thousands of local peasants further east. In October 1916 Cossack regiments were used to put down a strike at a factory in Petrograd after regular soldiers refused. Additional Cossack units from the Northern Front were deployed to the capital after the incident. But during the February Revolution some Cossacks joined with the protestors.

Muslims

The Muslim subjects of the Russian Empire were exempted from the military draft and were recruited on a voluntary basis into certain units. As of 1913 these were the Dagestan cavalry regiment and the Turkoman cavalry division. Before the start of World War I it was estimated there were about 400 Muslim officers in the Russian army, including 30 generals.

The Cossack institution recruited and incorporated Muslim Mishar Tatars. Cossack rank was awarded to Bashkirs. Muslim Turkics and Buddhist Kalmyks served as Cossacks. The Cossack Ural, Terek, Astrakhan, and Don Cossack hosts had Kalmyks in their ranks. Mishar Muslims, Teptiar Muslims, service Tatar Muslims, and Bashkir Muslims joined the Orenburg Cossack Host. Cossack non-Muslims shared the same status with Cossack Siberian Muslims. Muslim Cossacks in Siberia requested an Imam. Cossacks in Siberia included Tatar Muslims like in Bashkiria.

Bashkirs and Kalmyks in the Russian military fought against Napoleon's forces. They were judged suitable for inundating opponents but not for intense fighting. They were in a non standard capacity in the military. Arrows, bows, and melee combat weapons were wielded by the Muslim Bashkirs. Bashkir women fought among the regiments. Denis Davidov mentioned the arrows and bows wielded by the Bashkirs. Napoleon's forces faced off against Kalmyks on horseback. Napoleon faced light mounted Bashkir forces. Mounted Kalmyks and Bashkirs numbering 100 were available to Russian commandants during the war against Napoleon. Kalmyks and Bashkirs served in the Russian Army in France. A nachalnik was present in every one of the 11 cantons of the Bashkir host which was created by Russia after the Pugachev's Rebellion. Bashkirs had the military statute of 1874 applied to them.

From 1914 to 1917 the Caucasian Native Cavalry Division (later the Caucasian Native Cavalry Corps; often called the "Savage Division"), grouped together mainly Muslim volunteers from the Caucasus region.

Jews

On 26 August 1827, Nicholas I of Russia declared the "Statute on Conscription Duty". This statute made it mandatory that all Russian males ages twelve to twenty-five were now required to serve in the Russian armed forces for 25 years. This was the first time that the massive Jewish population was required to serve in the Russian military. The reasoning for Nicolas for mandatory conscription was because "in the military they would learn not only Russian but also useful skills and crafts, and eventually they would become his loyal subjects."

Many Jewish families began to emigrate out of the Russian Empire in order to escape the conscription obligations. Due to this, the government began to employ khappers who would kidnap Jewish children and turn them over to the government for conscription. It became known that "the khappers were not scrupulous about adhering to the minimum age of 12 and frequently impressed children as young as 8." "By the time the empire collapsed, around 1.5 million Jewish soldiers fulfilled what was often seen as a highly burdensome and intrusive obligation." At first many Jews were hesitant, but by 1880 Russian Jews were fully integrated into the Russian military. During and after the post-Crimean War reforms there was an effort to improve the treatment of Jews in the army, such as to assimilate them to become like other Russian soldiers and to even convert them to Orthodox Christianity. These policies were somewhat reversed during the reign of Emperor Alexander III.

Jews usually staffed no more than six percent of a Russian regiment.

Latvians

Starting on 16 August 1915 the Russian Stavka began forming Latvian Riflemen battalions in the Imperial Army. Initially there were eight battalions, each named after a city or region in Latvia. On 3 November 1916 the Latvian battalions were expanded into regiments, organized into the 1st and 2nd Latvian Rifle Brigades, with four regiments each. They notable took part in the Christmas Battles in late 1916 alongside other units of the Russian army and achieved a victory against German troops. After the Russian Revolution, the majority of them joined the Bolsheviks and became the Red Latvian Riflemen, while a smaller number, mostly officers or 1st Regiment soldiers, joined the White Russian movement.

Titles, ranks, and insignia until 1917

See for a more detailed history, ranks, and insignia

In 1913 the army received a universal field grey (green-grey) service uniform for all regiments. The Imperial Guard, cavalry, Cossack, and horse artillery units continued to maintain a separate dress uniform in addition to the field uniform. Kuban and Terek Cossacks wore a type of coat called cherkesska instead of the field service uniform blouse, though it was a similar color to the field service uniform.

The main ways to distinguish between individual units and arms of service based on the shoulder strap were the color of the piping and buttons in the case of Imperial Guard units and the distinguishing marks of all other units. The distinguishing marks could include one or a combination of the following: the number of the regiment (or the number of the corps, division, or brigade for each of their staff officers), sometimes with letters that the indicated the region or the branch of service; the monogram or the initials of the titles of the monarch or other royalty that were the honorary colonel-in-chief of the regiment; a symbol for artillery or technical units, or small letters for medical, transportation, and other support units. The colors of the shoulder strap on the service uniform greatcoat were different colors, and these varied depending on the sub-type of infantry or cavalry, or the Cossack host, though artillery and engineers had scarlet shoulder straps and support units had blue. The same colors were used on the reverse side of the shoulder straps of the field service uniform blouse.

The form of address for generals was "Your High Excellency", for lieutenant and major generals "Your Excellency", for field grade officers "Your High Honor", for other officers "Your Honor", and for NCOs it was "Mister" (gospodin) followed by their rank.