Spearmen

German regiment spearman , in the XVII century ^[1] .

Spearmen - permanent formation in the infantry and cavalry in the armies of the Russian , German and other states of the world, in the XVII century, the main weapon of which was the spear .

Ambiguity of lighting

Fig. from WES

Armament and equipment of musketeers and pikemen

According to the unsubscribe and from books from Belagorod, nothing and the governor of Prince Grigory Grigoryevich Romodanovsky with goods from October 15 on the current day of the 171st year Belogorodtsky regiment [8] of the great sovereign people was seen on September 18 on the 18th day of the same year 171.
Cookers 1 hour , noblemen 2 hours, tenants 6 hours, goals 3 hours, Yesaul 46 hours, conquerors 75 hours; / 24 l. / Total 133.
Kapeyny system .
In the 1st regiment .
Mayor Petr Dmitriev is the son of Stromichevskaya, and in his regiment: captain 1 hour, captain and lieutenant 1 hour, lieutenants 5 hours, warrant officers 8 hours, quaitymeystra 5 hours, convoy 2 hours, spearmen 560 hours; total 583 hours
In the 2nd regiment.
Colonel Yeremey Ondreyev son Marlent, / 25 l. / And in his regiment: major 1 hour, captain 4 hours, ...
- Estimated paintings of the sovereign people of all regiments and a brown statement about the collection of half-half money in 171.

In some sources there are disagreements about what kind of weapon spearmen formations belonged to.

The Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary indicates that the spearmen were part of the infantry ^[2] . In turn, the Sytin Military Encyclopedia claims that the spearmen formations were part of the cavalry ^[3] .

According to Malov A.V., confusion in definitions arose in the first printed military charter - “ The Doctrine and Cunning of the Military System of Infantry People ” published in 1647. When translating from German into Russian the charter developed by , the term " pikemen " referring only to infantry, was conveyed by the Russian word "spearmen". In the future, in his opinion, various historians who knew that the spearmen referred exclusively to cavalry, covering this topic used various interpretations, referring to the spearmen as either "horse pikemen" or simply "pikemen". The lack of references to “spearmen” as “pikemen” in documentary sources indicates that the type of weapon used by pikemen, otherwise called “spears long lists” or “long lists” , in Russian documents was exclusively infantry weapons ^[4] .

Creation and appointment of spearmen formations

The creation of spearmen formations was part of the complex task of forming a new type of regular army in the Russian state, which had not existed before. The regular army was created according to the standards of the western military school: tactics were adopted; staff structure of troops ; Western military advisers were involved in the training. The initiative to introduce Western military art was given by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich . According to his plan, under the leadership of foreign military experts , two soldiers (mercenary infantry) regiments trained in European methods should be created ^[5] .

The reasons for the need to reform the army were hidden in the expiration in 1633 of the Deulin ceasefire . In this regard, the government of the Russian state appeared plans to prepare for war with the Commonwealth with the aim of returning the occupied territories of Smolensk , Chernihiv and Novgorod-Seversky principalities .

The center of the occupied territories was the city of Smolensk, which was a well-fortified fortress . The troops of the Russian state were poorly adapted to conduct a siege of fortresses and had no experience. The government understood that the troops needed reorganization and training. In April 1630, orders were sent to several cities for recruiting military training in Moscow from foreign military advisers in two formed soldier regiments of 1,000 soldiers each. These regiments were called “ regiments of the foreign system ” ^[5] or “regiments of the new system”. The initial intention of the government to form these regiments at the expense of the recruits from among the boyars was not crowned with success. The government was forced to expand the circle of estates taken into recruits, allowing Tatars, Cossacks and other estates to be recruited as soldiers. By December 1631, 3323 people were recruited in two regiments. The staff of each regiment (called the soldier's) was determined to be 1,600 privates and 176 commanders (“initial people”). Each regiment had 8 companies . In addition to the officer posts, each company included 200 ordinary soldiers, of which 120 were armed with beeper ( pishchikov or musketeers ) and 80 were spearmen. By the beginning of 1632, the number of regiments was increased to 6 ^[6] . Also by 1632 there was one Reitersky (cavalry) ^[5] .

Further references to lancers refer them only to units in the cavalry. In 1662, two separate spearmen regiments were created in the Belgorod discharge regiment . Functionally, the lancers were closely associated with the raiders. The regiment of spearmen included a squadron of reuters, and the regiment of the regiment had a squadron of spearmen.

By the end of the reign of Fyodor Alekseevich , the number of regiments of the "foreign system" reached 63: 38 soldiers and 25 horse dragoons , also called Kopeyn-Reytarsky.

The purpose of the spearmen was close combat , in connection with which the spearmen in battle advanced ahead of the reitars ^[6] .

Arms and uniforms of spearmen

Spear abolition by Peter the Great

Notes

↑ Fig. 115.116. // Historical description of clothing and weapons of the Russian troops, with drawings, compiled according to the highest command : in 30 tons, in 60 books. / Ed. A.V. Viskovatova . - T. 1.
↑ Spearmen // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
↑ Spearmen // Military Encyclopedia : [in 18 vol.] / Ed. V.F. Novitsky [et al.]. - SPb. ; [ M. ]: Type. t-va I. D. Sytin , 1911-1915.
↑ Malov A.V. article "The cavalry of the new system in the Russian army in the 1630-1680s." The magazine "Patriotic History" . January 2006. pp. 118-131
↑ ¹ ² ³ Grishinsky A.S. Nikolsky V.P. Klado N.L. Chapter VII. XVII century // "History of the Russian Army and Navy" / Ed. Elchaninov A.G. . - M .: "Education", 1911. - S. 69-74. - 192 p.
↑ ¹ ² Chernov A.V. Chapter V. The Origin of the Regular Army in Russia // “Armed Forces of the Russian State in the 15th – 17th Centuries” / Ed. - M .: Military Publishing House, 1954. - 224 p.

Literature

Chernov A.V. Chapter V. The Origin of the Regular Army in Russia. // Armed forces of the Russian state in the XV-XVII centuries .. - Moscow: Military Publishing , 1954. - 224 p.
Grishinsky A.S. Nikolsky V.P. Klado N.L. Chapter VII. XVII century. // History of the Russian Army and Navy / Elchaninov A.G. . - Moscow: "Education", 1911. - T. I. - S. 69-74. - 192 p.

[1] Fig. 115.116. // Historical description of clothing and weapons of the Russian troops, with drawings, compiled according to the highest command : in 30 tons, in 60 books. / Ed. A.V. Viskovatova . - T. 1.

[2] Spearmen // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

[3] Spearmen // Military Encyclopedia : [in 18 vol.] / Ed. V.F. Novitsky [et al.]. - SPb. ; [ M. ]: Type. t-va I. D. Sytin , 1911-1915.

[4] Malov A.V. article "The cavalry of the new system in the Russian army in the 1630-1680s." The magazine "Patriotic History" . January 2006. pp. 118-131

[ИРА-5] ¹ ² ³ Grishinsky A.S. Nikolsky V.P. Klado N.L. Chapter VII. XVII century // "History of the Russian Army and Navy" / Ed. Elchaninov A.G. . - M .: "Education", 1911. - S. 69-74. - 192 p.

[ЧАВ-6] ¹ ² Chernov A.V. Chapter V. The Origin of the Regular Army in Russia // “Armed Forces of the Russian State in the 15th – 17th Centuries” / Ed. - M .: Military Publishing House, 1954. - 224 p.