Everything about Streltsy totally explained
Streltsy (Стрельцы in
Russian) were the
units of
Russian guardsmen (
sl. strelets, стрелец. literally "shooter"; often translated as "musketeer," but more properly "harquebusier") in the 16th - early 18th centuries, armed with
firearms (
riflemen). They are also collectively known as
Strelets Troops (Стрелецкое Войско).
Creation and structure
The first strel'tsy units were created by
Ivan the Terrible sometime between
1545 and
1550 and armed with the
arquebus. They first saw combat at the Siege of Kazan' in 1552. Initially, the strel'tsy were
recruited from among the free
tradespeople and
rural population. Subsequently,
military service in this unit became lifelong and
hereditary. This, while initially an elite force in the sixteenth century, their effectiveness was reduced by poor training and lack of volunteerism in recruiting.
Strel'tsy were subdivided into
viborniye (выборные), or electives (later – of
Moscow) and
gorodskiye (городские), or
municipal (in different Russian cities). The Strel'tsy of Moscow guarded
the Kremlin, performed general guard duty, and participated in
military operations. They also carried out general police and fire-brigade functions in Moscow.
Grigory Kotoshikhin, a Russian diplomat who had spied for and then defected to Sweden in the 1660s, reported that they used axes and buckets and copper pumps as well as hooks to pull down adjacent buildings so the fire wouldn't spread, but Adam Olerius, a Westerner who traveled to Russia in the seventeenth century, noted that they never used water. The Municipal Strel'tsy performed
garrison and
border duty and carried out orders of the
local administration. Strel'tsy subordinated to the
Streltsy Department (Стрелецкий приказ, or
Streletsky prikaz), however, in times of war they subordinated to their superiors. The Municipal Strel'tsy were also under the
jurisdiction of the local
voevodes. Strel'tsy had identical
uniforms (usually red, blue or green coats with yellow boots), training and
weapons (
arquebuses,
muskets,
poleaxes,
bardiches (used to steady their gun while firing),
sabers, and sometimes
pikes).
The strel'tsy were used in static formations, often against set formations or fortifications. They often fired from a platform and employed a mobile wooden "fortification" known in Russian at a "gulai gorod" (literally a "walking fort"). They reportedly fired in volley or caracole fashion; the first line firing and then stepping back to reload while the second line stepped forward to fire.
The biggest military administrative unit of the strel'tsy forces was
pribor (прибор), that would later be renamed into
prikaz and in
1681 – into
regiment (полк, or
polk).
Commanders of the Strel'tsy unit (стрелецкие головы, or
streletskiye golovy) and
colonels in charge of regiments were chiefs of
prikazi. They had to be
nobles and appointed by the
government.
The regiments (
polki) were subdivided into
sotni (сотни, or hundreds) and
desyatki (десятки, or tens). They could be mounted (стремянные, or
stremyanniye; стремя (
stremya) in Russian means “
stirrup”) and unmounted (пешие, or
peshiye; пеший (
peshiy) means "
foot soldier").
The Muscovite government was chronically short of cash so that the strel'tsy were often not paid well. While "entitled" to something like four rubles a year in the 1550s, they were often allowed to farm or trade in order to supplement their incomes. This reduced their combat effectiveness and often their desire to go on campaigns (since a season on campaign meant loss of income). Streltsy lived in their own neighborhoods or districts
settlements and received money and bread from the State
Treasury. In certain locations, Strel'tsy were granted strips of land instead of money. The Strel'tsy settlement in Moscow was located near where the main campus of Moscow State University now stands.
The Strel'tsy in Politics
At the end of the 16th century, there were 20,000-25,000 strel'tsy; in 1681, 55,000, including 22,500 in Moscow alone. Strel'tsy’s engagement in
handicrafts and trade led to a significant proprietary
inequality among them and their blending with tradepeople. Even though Streltsy demonstrated their fighting efficiency on several occasions, such as the
siege of
Kazan in
1552, the war with
Livonia, the
Polish-
Swedish invasion in the early 17th century and military operations in
Poland and
Crimea, in the second half of the 17th century Streltsy started to display their backwardness compared to the regular soldier or
reiter regiments (see
Regiments of the new type). Military service hardships, frequent salary delays, abuse on the part of local administration and commanders made for regular Strel'tsy's (especially the poorest ones) participation in anti-
serfdom uprisings in the 17th and early 18th centuries, such as the
peasant wars in the beginning of the 17th century and in
1670-
1671 (leader –
Stepan Razin),
urban uprisings (
Moscow Uprising of 1682,
Streltsy Uprising of
1698,
Astrakhan Uprising of
1705-
1706).
At the same time, those strel'tsy, who had been on top of the
hierarchy, enjoyed their
social status and, therefore, tried to hold back the regular Streltsy forces and keep them on the government’s side. In the late 17th century, Streltsy of Moscow began to actively participate in a struggle for power between different government groups, supporting the
dissidents and showing hostility towards any foreign
innovations.
The strel'tsy became something of a "pretorian element" in Muscovite politics in the late seventeenth century. In 1682 they attempted to prevent Peter the Great from coming to the throne in favor of his half-brother, Ivan.
Disbandment
After the fall of
Sophia Alekseyevna in
1689, the government of
Peter the Great engaged in a process of gradual limitation of Streltsy’s military and political influence. Eight Moscow regiments were removed from the city and transferred to
Belgorod,
Sevsk, and
Kiev.
In spite of these measures, the strel'tsy revolted yet again while Peter was on his Great Embassy in Europe. While the revolt was put down by the Scottish general
Patrick Gordon (he had entered Russian service under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in 1661) even before the Tsar's return to Russia, Peter nonetheless cut short his embassy and returned to finally crush the strel'tsy with savage reprisals, including public executions and torture.
The corps was technically abolished in 1689; however, after having suffered a defeat at
Narva in
1700, the government stopped their disbandment. The most efficient strel'tsy regiments took part in the most important military operations of the
Great Northern War and in Peter’s
Prut Campaign of
1711. Gradually, Streltsy were incorporated into the regular army. At the same time, they started to disband the Municipal Streltsy.
Liquidation of the streltsy units was finally finished only in the
1720s, however, the Municipal Strel'tsy were kept in some cities until the late 18th century.
The
Preobrazhensky and Izmailovsky regiments of
Imperial Guards replaced the strel'tsy as the tsar's bodyguards.
Image:Streltsi.jpg
Image:Ryabushkin strelets ilynsky.JPG
Image:Orenburgsky.jpg
Further Information
Get more info on 'Streltsy'.
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