Military History of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Professor of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences

questions;

State of the Russian Armed Forces in the first half of the 19th century

2. The Russian army and Navy in the period of two military reforms.

Russia entered the 19th century with a strong, numerous, and well-trained army. She has accumulated considerable combat experience and traditions. The Russian National Military School has prepared a galaxy of talented military leaders, under whose leadership the soldiers of the Russian Army and Navy have continued the work of their grandfathers and fathers with dignity.

1

In various periods of its history, as the material, technical, socio-economic and political conditions of society developed, the Russian armed forces changed their organizational structure, composition, methods of recruitment, weapons, and methods of armed struggle. The nineteenth century, which began with a series of anti-Napoleonic wars, was no exception. The Russian Empire, which at that time had the strongest army, was also in the coalition against France. On January 1, 1801, it numbered 446 thousand people in its ranks.

The main branch of the army was still the infantry. It began to be divided into linear, which operated in columns and struck the enemy with a bayonet, and light - jaeger. Chasseurs were armed with rifled rifles, daggers and knives. They fought in a loose formation, conducted targeted fire, were used to cover and bypass the enemy and cover their flanks. Initially, a jaeger team was created in each infantry regiment, and then-battalions and regiments.

There were also changes in the cavalry. Its number and share in the army increased. The ratio of infantry and cavalry was approximately as follows: one cavalry regiment for two infantry. The bulk of the cavalry was still dragoons. Heavy cavalry (cuirassiers) appears, designed to deliver a decisive blow to the enemy in battle. There were selected tall, physically strong people. Cuirassiers were armed with long heavy broadswords and carbines, had protective equipment-metal cuirasses (armor) and helmets. A significant role was played by light cavalry-Hussars and lancers. Horse-jaeger regiments are being formed for reconnaissance, patrolling, searching and raiding the enemy's rear.

The Russian army continued to be recruited according to the recruitment system. A noticeable increase in the population of the state made it possible to replenish the troops with physically healthy and combat-ready people.

The wars that Russia waged in the first half of the 19th century showed that one regular army is not able to actively fight the armed forces of other countries. Therefore, the government was forced to create temporary militia formations to help the army. In 1806-1807, due to the threat of an invasion by French troops, a militia of state-owned and landowner peasants was convened. It consisted of 612 thousand warriors, of which about 200 thousand people went to replenish the regular troops. It was necessary to call up the militia again when the Napoleonic army invaded Russia.

The Patriotic War of 1812 was an outstanding event in the history of the Russian armed forces. Soldiers, officers and generals covered themselves with unfading glory in fierce battles with the Napoleonic army near Smolensk, Borodino, Tarutin, Maloyaroslavets, Krasny, on the Berezina. With the broad support of the people, the Russian army completely defeated the foreign invaders, defended the honor and independence of the Motherland.

By the beginning of the war, the Russian field army numbered 597 thousand people. Organizationally, it consisted of eight infantry and four cavalry corps, two Cossack detachments, equal in strength to the corps. These troops comprised four field armies - the 1st and 2nd Western, the 3rd Reserve, and the Danube. However, the fighting required an increase in the size of the army. In 1814, together with the state militia, it was almost 710 thousand people. With the growth of the army ranks, their organization also changed.

The Patriotic War of 1812 made significant changes in the composition of the Russian cavalry. First of all, the number of dragoon cavalry as mounted infantry was increased. Mounted chasseurs reappeared, light lancers were developed, and the role of cuirassiers, which formed the basis of heavy army cavalry, was strengthened.

In the 1940s, the Russian army adopted a smooth-bore percussion capsule rifle. However, only two buildings were armed with new guns: the capital Guards and the 2nd Army. In addition, these guns fired only at 300 paces, while in the Western European armies, the fitting was beaten at 1200-1300 paces. In our country, only 24 of the most accurate shooters in each infantry battalion had modern rifled weapons. The Crimean war showed the backwardness of small arms, which were in service with the army infantry.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Russian artillery still met the requirements of the time and successfully competed with all European gun systems. But by the middle of the 19th century, it was significantly behind in its development. The artillery still consisted of smoothbore, muzzle-loading, mostly cast-iron and copper guns. It was not possible to establish the production of steel tools in the first half of the century. In the Crimean War, Russian smoothbore field guns in terms of firing range did not stand up to competition even with enemy guns.

After the military reforms of Emperor Nicholas I in the early 30s, the army became 165 artillery batteries of 8-gun composition, united in 4 grenadier and 21 field artillery brigades. They were armed with 6-and J 2-pounder guns, 1/4 - and 1/2-pounder unicorns.

A major innovation in the armament of the Russian army was the fairly widespread use of combat missiles. The range of firing missiles exceeded the barrel artillery and reached 3000-4000 meters. Combat missiles were used in the wars with Turkey, as well as in the Crimea during the defense of Sevastopol.

Engineering troops were constantly developing in the first half of the XIX century. If in 1812 the Russian army had two pioneer regiments, one sapper regiment and one Guards sapper battalion, then in the second quarter of the century the main combat unit of the engineering troops was the 4-company sapper battalion. It also had a pontoon park consisting of 16 leather pontoons.

Russia has had significant irregular troops since the time of Peter the Great. They included the Cossacks and "non-native" military formations. In 1853, the Ministry of War was responsible for 10 Cossack troops: the Don, Black Sea (Kuban), Caucasian linear, Orenburg, Ural, Danube, Azov, Astrakhan, Siberian linear, Trans-Baikal and Siberian city regiments.

The so-called "foreign" units were on foot and mounted. The first were the Balaklava Greek battalion and the Georgian infantry squad. The second group included cavalry regiments and hundreds formed from the peoples of the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia, the Crimean Tatar squadron and the Bashkir-Meshcheryak army.

Along with the irregulars, Russia had quite numerous garrison troops, which formed the nearest army reserve. They guarded the internal order of the empire and its borders. In addition to the garrison troops, there were so-called "reserve recruiting bureaus", reserve units for branches of the armed forces, local and auxiliary military formations.

Thus, in the first half of the XIX century, Russia had a large regular army, the number of which constantly increased and by 1856 was 1 million 800 thousand people. In addition, there were significant irregular, garrisoned troops. Fear of Russia's power has united European powers in a desire to limit its influence on the continent. The long and difficult Crimean (Eastern) War of 1853-1856 began.

2

The defeat of the Russian Empire in the Crimean (Eastern) War led to a radical transformation of the Russian army and the military organization of the state. The initiator of military reforms was the head of the Military Ministry, Field Marshal General D. A. Milyutin. The most important components of the military reforms were: the introduction of universal conscription and new terms of service, improvement of the officer training system, reorganization of military administration bodies, rearmament of the army, improvement of combat training, etc.

First of all, the system of recruiting troops has changed. In January 1874, the Charter on military service was approved. According to the charter, instead of recruiting sets, all-family military service was introduced. All men were recruited to serve in the army when they reached the age of 20. The period of active military service was significantly reduced. Conscription provided reliable and systematic replenishment of the armed forces with personnel in peacetime and wartime, made it possible to deploy a mass army in case of war by conscripting reserves and militia.

Major changes were made in the organization of troops and military administration. The armed forces of the country were divided into permanent troops and state militia.

One of the main issues of reorganization was the creation of a unified infantry. Now the infantry regiments have become three-battalion. One of the battalions was a reserve one. Such a system was not introduced immediately and not everywhere, but it was the main one for the army.

At the end of the XIX century, the corps system of distribution of troops was eliminated in Russia and 13 military districts were formed: St. Petersburg, Finland, Vilna, Warsaw, Kiev, Odessa, Moscow, Kazan, Caucasus, Turkestan, Omsk, Irkutsk, Amur. The Don Army Region remained a special military-territorial unit.

An important part of the military transformation was the rearmament of the army. The Russian infantry received rifled small arms - a single-shot rifle of the Berdan system. A big event was the adoption in 1891 of a five-shot three-line (7.62 mm) magazine rifle developed by S. I. Mosin. It was distinguished by the simplicity of the device, trouble-free operation, and high combat qualities. The artillery was re-equipped with steel rifled guns, which were loaded from the breech.

In the second half of the XIX century, the transition from sailing to steam armored fleet was carried out. By the end of the century, Russia ranked third in Europe in terms of the number of warships: England had 355 ships, France - 204, Russia-107.

The military reforms of the 60s and 70s of the 19th century were of progressive significance. They increased the combat capability of the Russian army. Their expediency was shown by the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878, in which Russia won.

However, there were not only glorious victories in the history of our army and navy, but also bitter defeats. The heroic and the tragic often come together. This was the case during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905.

The Russo-Japanese war led to a sharp weakening of the armed forces of tsarist Russia. In order to restore the combat capability of the army and navy and prepare them for a new war, the tsarist government implemented significant military reforms in 1905 - 1912.

In 1912, a new law on conscription was introduced, which reduced the terms of active military service. The Government has taken certain measures to streamline the training of officers. Improved combat training of troops. New charters are introduced, which summarize the experience of the Russo-Japanese and other wars of the late XIX-early XX centuries.

In the pre-war years, significant work was carried out to rearm the army. The relatively rapid development of industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries created a material basis for improving the technical equipment of the army and navy.

In 1909-1910, 122 - and 152 - mm howitzers and a 107-mm cannon were adopted. Corps and field heavy artillery were created. Machine-gun teams (8 machine guns) were formed in the regiments. Engineering, railway and communications troops were reinforced. Radio was being introduced in the army. Air detachments appeared in the buildings.

In 1906, the restoration of the Russian Navy began.

In 1914. Russia had the largest army in the world - over 1.4 million people. It was armed with 7,088 guns, including 240 heavy ones, 4,157 Maxim machine guns, 263 aircraft, and 4,000 vehicles. The main branch of the army was infantry, its share in the land forces was 70%, artillery-15%, cavalry-8%. The highest tactical unit was the army corps, which consisted of 2-3 infantry divisions. A territorial recruitment system was introduced. Corps, divisions, and regiments received their own manning areas, which greatly facilitated mobilization in the event of war. In August 1914, after mobilization, the Russian army had 5,338,000 men in its composition.

The First World War was a severe test for the Russian army. During the war, Russia had a huge army. In three years, about 16 million people were mobilized.

The Russian Front had a great influence on the course and outcome of the war. He diverted large German-Austrian forces and made a significant contribution to the disruption of the German strategy of a short-term war. The Russian army repeatedly inflicted heavy defeats on German, Austro-Hungarian and Turkish troops, and by its active actions saved the allied Anglo-French troops on the western front from defeat.

The war led to a sharp increase in military formations. Thus, the number of infantry (army) corps increased from 37 to 69, divisions - from 113 to 205. The structure of the infantry division has changed: it consisted of two infantry brigades of two regiments, an artillery brigade, a Cossack hundred, a cavalry division and a Cossack escort fifty. The main tactical unit becomes a company consisting of 4 officers, 20 non-commissioned officers and 202 enlisted men.

The war doubled the number of Russian cavalry. The cavalry became predominantly Cossack.

Artillery also underwent major changes during the war years. Not only its quantitative, but also its qualitative composition has changed. In 1915, the first mortar and artillery divisions appeared at the front. In 1916, 200 batteries of anti - aeroplane artillery were formed, including 9 automobile, 140 coastal and 41 fortress batteries. In the same year, the Supreme military Command began to form the TAON corps , a special-purpose heavy artillery unit. In total, in 1917, the army artillery was armed with 8748 field light guns and 1086 field heavy ones.

The war caused the growth of engineering troops. A large number of new sapper companies, telegraph, pontoon, and spark (radio) companies were formed. Engineering companies were introduced into the composition of even cavalry corps. The outbreak of hostilities also required the creation of new railway battalions and automobile armored units.

The Russian army at the beginning of the XX century was one of the most massive among the participants of the First World War. Its organizational structure, weapons and military equipment were constantly improved. Germany and its ally Austria-Hungary never succeeded in crushing the Russian army, either in 1914 or in the following years. The events of October 1917 found Russia with a combat-ready and efficient army at the front, capable of fulfilling its allied obligations on all fronts. The October Revolution ended Russia's involvement in the First World War. After October 1917, the vast expanses of the former Russian Empire were engulfed in the flames of a fratricidal civil war.

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