Topic # 5 for sergeants (petty officers), soldiers (sailors)

questions:

1. Formation of the druzhin system in Russia.

2. Domestic territorial militia army.

The history of the creation and formation of the Russian State is inextricably linked with the history of the construction of the military organization of Ancient Russia. From the princely squads that performed military service in peacetime and wartime, from the fortress cities erected and defended by soldiers-townspeople and villagers, the national military glory originates. During the heyday of the state and during periods of its decentralization by various forces, the national troops defended its interests with honor and dignity, defended its independence.

1

In the 8th - 9th centuries, two states with their centers in Novgorod and Kiev existed on the territory of Ancient Russia: Slavia in Northwestern Russia and Kuyava in Middle Transnistria. The unification of the northern and southern lands, the subsequent annexation of tribal territories and peoples living in them, allowed the future Russian state to significantly strengthen militarily. Already at the beginning of the tenth century, a large military organization was established, representing the military potential of almost all of Ancient Russia. The first mention of the construction of an army in Russia: "Posem Igor and Oleg pristroista voya mnogy and korobly mnogy beshisleny" refers to 904. And in 907, this mighty Russian army under the banner of Prince Oleg on 2000 rooks of 40 people each, i.e. 80 thousand people, makes a military campaign against the strongest power of the era - the Byzantine Empire. At the same time, Oleg's Russian army consisted of armed formations with a druzhinny management structure. The mercenary squad was formed from the Varangians, and tribal armed militia formations from the Slovenes, Tschudi, Krivichi, Meri, Polyany, Severians, Drevlyans, Radimichi, Croats, Dulebs and Tivertsy. All this shows that practically the Russian army consisted of warriors, or, as they were called at that time, "voev" or "warriors" - the indigenous population of the Russian state. In those days, tribal troops were militias composed of all the adult males of the tribe. The tribal leader had his own retinue.

In the period of the birth and formation of feudalism, the recruitment of troops was carried out according to a mixed system, in which the main part of the troops consisted of militia, and the developing feudal state formed a new armed force - feudal squads. Already at the turn of the VIII-IX centuries in the West, the system of military squads turned into the main system of recruiting the feudal army. However, in the Old Russian state, the main part of the army was made up of the militia (people's militia), and the princely druzhinny army was formed from princely and boyar druzhinny detachments.

The squad was an armed cavalry detachment consisting of professional soldiers in the permanent service of the feudal lord (prince, bishop, boyar), formed from soldiers close to the feudal lord and maintained at his expense.

In a broader sense, the term "druzhina "was used in Russia both for the generalized name of the senior and junior squads, and for the name of the entire druzhinny army, where the senior squad is no longer represented only by its administrative and state position, but also by the real military potential of each of the" younger men", i.e., by the boyar's druzhinny detachments. Russian militias were also called squads during the hard times of war, for example, in 1812 and 1854, which consisted of thousands of squads.

For the first time about the Russian princely squad is mentioned in the chronicle under 862. But up to 980. it was an element of the mercenary army, because its backbone was made up of Varangian mercenaries. Only after 980, i.e. with the coming to power of the first "Grand Duke of Russia"

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Vladimir I Svyatoslavich (980-1015), the druzhinny army begins to be recruited from the local population. The era of Russian Prince Vladimir I is bright and interesting. In 980, he and the Varangian mercenaries came to Kiev and, becoming a single-power ruler, "gave" his Varangian squad to Byzantium, and he completed a new squad army. In 981, already essentially Russian in its composition, the prince's squad made military campaigns under the leadership of Vladimir: to the west to Lyakhov-to Przemysl and Cherven; to the east - to Vyatichi. In 982, Vladimir's retinue army made a second campaign against Vyatichi and consolidated its success. In 983. Vladimir leads the Russian soldiers to yatvyagov in Sudovia. In 984, Vladimir's retinue army conquered the Radimichi. 985 is marked by the victorious campaign of the Russian army against the Volga-Kham Bulgaria, which ended with the conclusion of peace by the voivode of Vladimir - Dobrynya. The result of the Crimean campaign to Kherson in 988 was the beginning of the adoption of Christianity in Russia. By the way, it was Vladimir's vigilantes who were among the first to accept it.

As follows from sources, the druzhinny army of a single Russian land (from the middle of the XII century - the Grand duchy) consisted of a set of armed formations of the druzhinny army of the senior prince and specific druzhinny troops headed by specific princes. The supreme commander of this druzhinny army was the senior prince.

When solving a number of foreign and domestic problems, the druzhinny troops of the principalities united under the command of the Grand Duke and formed the all-Russian druzhinny army. For example, at the Dolobsky Congress, Princes Svyatopolk II Izyaslavich and Vladimir Vsevolodovich decide to go to the Polovtsian steppe. Other princes decided to take part in the campaign against the Polovtsians. Thus, the all-Russian army in this campaign was formed from seven druzhinny princely troops. Joining forces made it possible to crush the Polovtsian army and return "with glory and great victory."

According to the socio-ethnic composition, each specific squad was a consolidated elite unit of all the diverse military estates of Russia. The All-Russian army was an all-Russian union not only of all the principalities, but also of peoples, tribes and ethnic groups of Ancient Russia, including the Turkic-speaking, Urof, Baltic, North Caucasus, etc.

The responsibility for the defense of the state, and consequently for its military organization, lay with the prince-ruler. At this stage of the construction of the Russian army, the princely squads were the core of the entire military organization of the Russian state within the framework of the all-Russian system.

The Grand-ducal squad was a pillar of the grand-ducal table of the ruler of Russia, and its members took part not only in wars and campaigns, but also in the administration of Russia-the state. Squads of princes-vassals helped their eldest in the family prince-suzerain to manage affairs in a particular region of the state-the fatherland, the lot. The princes asked advice from the boyar vigilantes about starting a war, establishing peace, collecting tribute, protecting the border borders of the principality, trade routes, bridges, fords and caravans, and organizing military campaigns. Junior vigilantes, in addition to performing military (military) service, also performed other duties: hunting and catching birds in the princely domains and boyar destinies; searching for and catching fugitives, thieves, robbers; providing embassies, legal proceedings, etc.

We also note the fact that the prince's senior vigilantes were very educated people. They had extensive political, economic, and military knowledge. In reality, they were also endowed with extensive state powers, and they knew the theater of military operations well. In addition to the functions of a state manager in peacetime, vigilantes were also irreplaceable in times of war. They were able not only to form (complete) and lead regiments, but also used them for battle, managed "banners" (the so-called individual armed formations of regiments), i.e. they had knowledge of the art of war. To a certain extent, the creation of people's militias also depended on them.

The squad had a clear social gradation, perfectly mastered the art of war, was well-armed, received a salary for its service, and was the core of the squad army. The totality of the princely druzhin detachments represented the core of the army of the Russian land, or, at an even higher level, the all-Russian army. Its location (dislocation) was gridnya (prototype of the barracks), located in the princely courtyard. All the vigilantes had the appropriate titles - titles (ranks). They were distinguished by discipline and efficiency. The druzhina was a forge of cadres of Russian military leaders, which also allows us to consider it as an officer corps of its era and the basis of the militia army of feudal society. Therefore, we have the right to consider any individual squad as a permanent armed formation. In turn, the set of druzhin detachments of the prince (princes) and boyars formed a permanent druzhin army of a particular principality (principalities, lands), organized within the framework of the current druzhin system. In general, the Russian druzhin system was the progenitor of the permanent army of the future Moscow state.

The all-Russian druzhin system was measured in the number of several tens of hundreds of legitimate armed druzhin detachments. And even if the squad of each boyar reached only ten people, the number of all-Russian squad system will correspond to several tens of thousands of people. Of course, all these druzhinny armed detachments never gathered in one region at the same time and did not conduct full military operations, because, on the one hand, they had to perform state and defense functions in their regions, and on the other, the era did not allow this (the size of the state, principalities, its components, lack of communication, transport communications, and transport capable of transferring troops over long distances, etc.).

In general, the druzhin system in Russia was a large, influential, well-organized and constantly operating organization of armed people with broad powers and functions for the implementation of state and military administration - ensuring defense capability,

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mobilization activities of the state's judicial and police functions, border guards, customs and tax services, etc. Druzhinnye detachments were legitimate armed formations of the state, and each individual squad was a forge of cadres for Russian military leaders, which makes it possible to consider the squad as an officer corps of its era. This gives us the right to consider the senior squad as an organization of senior officers - the generals of Ancient Russia; the middle link of the princely warriors was the senior officer staff, and the junior link was the junior officer staff. Each of the princes had several military voivodes with him, and also managed the boyar institute of governors and posadniks, representing city voivodes.

At the same time, it should be concluded based on facts that the druzhin system in its general form was a permanent armed formation of feudal Russia, so to speak, the progenitor of the permanent army of the future Moscow state.

Let's pay attention to one more component of the armed organization of Ancient Russia. In addition to the princes and boyars, the church nobility also had their own armed formations. The Metropolitan of Kiev, Vladyka of Novgorod and other bishops of the Russian dioceses had their own squads, which were called regiments. Thus, at the end of the XI - beginning of the XII century, Russia had sixteen dioceses, and consequently, sixteen separate episcopal regiments.

Monasteries also had their own armed formations, created on the principle of militias. They were complex fortifications united in a single church-state ensemble. The fortress walls with towers, loopholes, and embrasures served for the defense of the monastery. As a rule, in addition to the walls, it also had other external fortifications - earthen ramparts, ditches, forts (prisons), and villages. Monasteries were built near trade routes on high ground at the mouths of rivers, swamps and lakes. In winter, in the event of a military threat, furrows were cut in the ice near their walls. Inside the monastery there were warehouses of weapons stored in armory chambers, blacksmiths, means of notification and communication-belfries and bell towers, refectory chambers, state cells, and hospital wards.

And if first of all monasteries as fortresses were erected to cover trade routes and collect duties, then in the second place - as reliable shelters for the period of military danger. In total, the monastic system of Ancient Russia of the XI - XII centuries includes 117 monasteries. Monastic fortresses significantly strengthened the urban fortress construction in Russia, which contributed to ensuring the defense capability of the state territory.

2

When the Old Russian state, in the interests of creating a large army necessary to repel external and sometimes internal aggression, or to make an important, fateful military campaign for the state (principality), needed soldiers, the prince, princely governors, posadniks-voivodes, church hierarchs, elders of the veche or city tysyatskiye militia masses. This was done on the basis of the implementation of traditional military service, which was carried by all the free male population of Russia. F. wrote eloquently about this. Rediger: "In ancient times, every citizen was a warrior already by his upbringing." Recall that in 234 years (from 1228 to 1462), Russia experienced 160 external and 90 internal wars and armed conflicts, which served as a good military school for its soldiers and militia. At the same time, the army of Ancient Russia never broke away from the people.

The military organization of Ancient Russia was built in compliance with the principles of minimal violation of the individual characteristics of the principalities and taking into account the interests of the feudal elite leading them. The construction of its main component, which was the militia, was carried out on the principles of forming a territorial militia army, which made it possible to observe the interests of citizens. This structure of the armed military organization of Russia provided such a form of defense as territorial with its armed formations.

The territorially fragmented militia forces of the Russian principalities "adopted" the principles of the druzhin system. They relied on both the princely and church-monastery druzhin systems. Such an armed organization (collectively, the druzhin system and the system of urban and princely militias) was an all-Russian druzhin-militia system, which was a mixed type of Old Russian army: permanent detachments of princes, boyars, church and monastery hierarchs, city militias and armed formations of settled Turkic-speaking "federates", meeting the political, economic and military requirements of the era the Middle Ages.

Organizationally, the militias were built on the basis of the decimal system. The militia regiments consisted of thousands, hundreds, fifty and dozens. The territorial-militia system was most typical for the troops of almost all Russian princes of the Middle Ages, including in the tenth century - Oleg and Svyatoslav Igorevich, in the XI century-Yaroslav the Wise, Izyaslav and Vsevolod Yaroslavich, in the XII century-Vladimir Monomakh, Mstislav the Great, Izyaslav Mstislavich, Yuri Dolgoruky, Andrey Bogolyubsky, Vsevolod Bolshoe From the 13th century onwards - Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Ivan III, Ivan IV the Terrible, Dmitry Pozharsky (the image of these outstanding leaders of their era and talented commanders can be seen in the sculpture ensemble "Millennium of Russia"). Later national militias are also known - the militias of 1610-1612, 1806-1807, 1812, the period of the First World War, the militia in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, etc. The principles of the territorial-militia system have not lost their significance even today.

The militias were armed by cities, princes, and other feudal lords (including the metropolitan, bishop, and bishops), or even independently.

For their military activities, participants in military campaigns received a fee. For example, Prince Yaroslav, after one of the campaigns, ordered to give his centurions 10 apiece.

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to the Smerdas (voy-militias) - 2 hryvnias each, and to the Novgorodians (voy - militias of another land who acted on his side) - 10 hryvnias each.

The militia lived in their own homes located in cities and villages. It would seem that this is natural, but this is the most important feature of the construction of one of the components of the old Russian military organization, coupled with the defense of Ancient Russia, with the construction of fortress cities and the creation of armed formations.

All cities in Russia were originally built as fortresses and had almost the sole purpose of protecting the citizens. The old name for city fortifications is firmament, stronghold. Russian feudal lords, pressed by their opponents, took refuge behind the city's monastic walls - fortifications. Fortress cities should be considered, of course, from a broader perspective. The city is not just a fortress with its external and internal fortifications, but also a source of human resources, a warehouse of food and weapons. The city is the property of the principality (country) and the army of the principality usually always came to its rescue during the hard times of war.

Investigating the issues of fortress construction in Russia in the 12th century, we will find 269 Russian cities that provided the Russian lands with a decent defense capability with their 269 militia regiments, consisting of armed formations of cities, suburbs, volosts, adjacent to these cities of pogosts, appanages.

For the construction of grandiose city fortifications, people were needed who were responsible for the construction of the fortress. They maintained the fortifications in good order, carried out guard duty, in case of military danger were part of the city militia, and finally defended the strongholds. The personnel of local militias (militia cadres), from thousands and up to the howl, was updated throughout the life of urban society, its evolution. Urban people were closely connected with the economic life of a particular region. Each of the representatives of the militia enjoyed a certain and well-deserved authority, had a broad knowledge of military affairs, had a family, and therefore even more strongly felt the need for their participation in the defense of the Fatherland and the city.

Especially increased the importance of the militia in the dashing year of the Semiboyar region. It was it that was the only force that defended the freedom and independence of the Russian State. First Militia (Ryazan)

In 1611, as a liberation army (rat), it was created to fight the detachments of the pro-Polish army of False Dmitry II in the cities and counties of the central and northern regions of the Russian state. The activities of this people's army were led by Prokopiy Petrovich Lyapunov. In March, the main militia forces (up to 30 thousand people) besieged Moscow, occupied by Polish troops, but could not capture it. Armed militia units were forced to leave the capital. In the summer of 1611, the militia broke up. Part of it in August 1612 joined the Second (Nizhny Novgorod) militia in 1611 -

1612. It was organized by the zemstvo headman Minin Kuzma. After the collapse of the First Militia, he called on his fellow citizens to rise up to fight the enemies of the Motherland, expel the invaders from Moscow and the borders of the country. Kuzma Minin led the movement to raise funds and create a people's militia as an" elected person of the whole earth". He was engaged in the provision of the treasury, recruiting the militia, supplying it with weapons, ammunition, food, clothing, etc. From the end of October 1611, Pozharsky Dmitry Mikhailovich became the military leader of the Second Militia and the Provisional Zemstvo Government. He put forward a program of struggle for national liberation, which united various segments of the population. Established in Yaroslavl in early 1612. The "Council of All Lands" served as the government of Russia, under which the people's militia legally acquires the status of a state armed force, i.e., the Russian People's Liberation Army. The militia national Russian army included infantry, cavalry and artillery and was recruited from volunteers of all classes. Militia soldiers, regardless of their background, were divided according to their combat experience. Military leaders were also selected according to their level of military training, with special consideration given to their loyalty to the Fatherland. Thanks to the heroism and dedication of the Russian people, the interventionists were expelled from their native land.

In the XX century, the national character of the militia was most clearly manifested during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Driven by a deep patriotic feeling, the entire Soviet people rose up to defend the Fatherland. It was a natural desire to protect their homeland, their land, their relatives and friends. In that terrible hour, the militia of the People's Army multiplied the exploits of great Russian citizens a thousandfold-Alexander Nevsky and Dmitry Donskoy, Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky, Prokopy Lyapunov and Gerasim Kurin, and many others.

Summing up a brief summary of the above, it is necessary to emphasize the importance of Russian squads and militia troops in ensuring the defense capability and preserving statehood, marking the most important feats of military glory of the Fatherland. So, the princely squads have a special merit in repelling external aggression, fighting for the unity of Russian lands, forming a squad army, building defensive lines and fortress cities, training command staff, protecting trade routes and performing other legislative functions provided for armed detachments. Especially great was the role of the people's militia, which in Russia at all times was greater than in Europe. The army formed with the help of the people's militia should be considered as the army of the state of a certain era. Until the reign of Alexey Mikhailovich (1645-1676), the Russian army basically consisted of armed militias, the cementing core of which continued to be state permanent armed formations.

Colonel Valery RUSANOV, Head of the Department of the Institute of Military History of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

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